No Name to Great Harbor Marina

Departing Biscayne Bay, Florida

We are excited to share with you our recent sailing adventure from No Name Harbor near Miami to Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands.

The Planned 130 nm route direct to the Berrys.

We have a fleet of five boats!

We departed from No Name Harbor on March 7, 2023, at 7 a.m. We were eager to set sail on this exciting journey with IP 35 Just Ducky, IP 350 Traveller, IP 370 Sea Lyon and Fleming 55 Our Eden with former IP380 & 440 owners aboard. Our destination was Great Harbor Cay, in the Berrys, a group of islands in the northwestern Bahamas. We charted a course via North Rock, which is located north of Bimini. After passing North Rock at 2:45 a.m., we prepared ourselves for a night of motor-sailing on the Bahamas Banks which are only 10 feet deep.

Cape Florida Lighthouse as we head out to sea.

Sunset brought Full Moon Rise!

As the sun began to set, we eagerly awaited the rise of the full moon on the Bahamas Banks. Finally, at 7 pm, we were greeted with a spectacular view of the full moon as it rose above the horizon to the east. The moon’s radiant glow illuminated the surrounding shallow waters and gave us an amazing view of the white sandy bottom. It provided us with awe-inspiring sights that we’ll never forget. The sound of the waves against the hull and the gentle rocking of the boat put us at ease as we motor-sailed through the night.

Sunset as we push east on the very calm Bahama Banks
Full Moon RIse at 7 pm, perfect for an all-night run, no reason to stop and anchor in this calm.

Digital Radar Approach at Night

At 3 am, we navigated the approach to the island and dropped anchor at last, feeling a sense of accomplishment and excitement for what lay ahead. The Berrys are known for their pristine beaches, crystal clear waters, and abundant marine life, and we couldn’t wait to explore Great Harbor Cay from the marina of the same name, renowned for its friendly staff and fun activities.

Navigating at night under digital radar and chartplotter as we arrive at 3 am!

The Bahamas Waters are the BEST

In conclusion, our sailing journey to the Berrys was an incredible experience that we’ll always cherish. It was the calmest Gulf Stream Crossing we have ever experienced. From the stunning full moon rising on the Bahamas banks to the exhilaration of motor-sailing through the night, this adventure was one for the books. If you ever have the chance to sail in this beautiful part of the world, don’t hesitate – you won’t be disappointed!

Radeen taking in the beautiful Bahama Banks Blues as we push east
Down with the Q flag and up with the Bahamas Flag, welcome to the Bahamas, our 9th season here!

Thank you for reading our blog, yes, we are a bit behind and trying to catch up. We are also posting nearly in real time on our public Facebook PAGE. Please like and follow our page there, you do not need to have a Facebook account.  Thank you all. PS: Messages and comments are sent directly to our email. We will see them immediately.

https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit

Christmas 2021 Simpson Bay SXM

Arriving Simpson Bay last night, Dec 24th at 11pm with all the island lights and all the yachts in the bay lit up was a real challenge. It was far more difficult than we expected. HELLO….you are entering a new harbor at NIGHT on Christmas Eve….what did you expect? I know, I know, I know….don’t enter a harbor at night. But that is how it worked out and we knew we would be arriving around 11 pm. Thanks to digital radar and C-Map NT charts on our B&G Zeus 3 Chartplotter set-up in split-screen mode, we did it.  Here you can see the screen at 11:30 pm and we are going 0.5 knots as we are ready to drop anchor!

The Chartplotter in split-screen. Charts on left, radar on right. The red dots are boats or anything SOLID around us. Radar is in heads-up orientation, so 12 o’clock is dead ahead.

Christmas Day Shared with John Knight

Our long-time friend and sailing buddy, John Knight had just crossed the Atlantic sailing from Spain on IP 420 Adventuress. His crew had left and he was waiting for his lovely wife Nancy to fly in. He was smartly anchored over on the French side off Marigot, and we sailed into the Dutch side into Simpson Bay. We did this because the Dutch side did not require covid testing and would accept our triple vaccination status. Plus, our new outboard was on the Dutch side. So we decided to check in there.  We invited John to come on over and share Christmas Dinner aboard Island Spirit. He took us up on this and the next thing we knew, he was dropping anchor off our port beam. What a JOY! While Radeen was baking, John took me ashore to clear in with Customs and Immigration. All of our documents had been uploaded from USVI, but I still had to fill out every single one of them again by hand. 

IP 420 ADVENTURESS arrives off our stern, Chrismas Day
Perfect, John dropped anchor off our port beam. Merry Christmas, John.
I love to take photos and this view out our porthole is always a great photo. To take this I back up as far away from the port as possible and then zoom in and out the port, keeping part of the port frame. Perfect.

Christmas Dinner, Radeen outdid herself

This is a very brave undertaking, cooking for John. Why? Because he grew up spending summers in France and was taught for many years, as a child, how to cook! Consequently, John is a very, very impressive gourmet French chef. So, here we are, we have just invited John for Chrismas Dinner aboard. What will we make? YIKES!

First off, Radeen LOVES to BAKE so she started with baking homemade banana bread for a gift to John for his breakfast treats. Next, she baked a homemade crustless pumpkin pie for our Christmas dessert. Now, the meal. She planned ahead and marinated a flank steak. (Anyone that has had dinner at Saltbox 13, our home, knows this is our go-to meal. Thanks to Sharon Gabor, IP 420 Lucille, for the recipe!) Next, she made roasted carrots with thyme that were planned to be served chilled. The final dish was white beans and pasta with beurre blanc. This made for a very colorful plate and it all turned out delicious. Here are some photos of the meal.

Our Marinated Flank Steak, 4 minutes per side on a very hot grill pan, as suggested to us years ago by John. Next, rest it, and then slice. Always so good.
The plate with chilled thyme carrots, white beans and pasta and medium-rare marinated flank steak.
Dessert, a homemade crustless pumpkin pie. Radeen loves to bake.. NOTE: Radeen uploads her favorite recipes to a website I made for her…. www.BoatRecipes.com

After Dinner, Cigars and Wine or Bourbon

One of the joys of a fine meal with John is that he always has great cigars, and today was no exception. After the meal, we sat in the cockpit, enjoying the 78f degree Caribbean breeze and we smoked these fine cigars. Thank you, John!

A Gift from John

John gifted us one of their homemade hammocks used to store fruit or snacks while on passage. This hammock crossed the ocean to Europe and then sailed back. John added the dates of each passage to the band on the hammock and also added CHRISTMAS 2021. THANK you, John, and thank you, Nancy for making this. It will be a treasure on Island Spirit.

The handmade fruit hammock that crossed the Atlantic, twice!

A Great Day it was…

Anchored in Simpson Bay with our buddy and sharing great meals together and drinks and stories was a real joy. What a great life the cruising life is. So different from land life, so spontaneous, so unplanned. No schedule, no plan, just enjoy every day to the fullest. Merry Christmas!

This was our Merry Christmas 2021 spot. Simpson Bay, SXM.

Departure Season 20 Begins

Yes, this is our 20th year of owning and sailing Island Spirit. She is family! We never thought we would keep her 20 years, as we always thought we would move up to the IP40. Now after 40,000nm+ we see that she does not stop us from going anywhere we want to go.  We have sailed her 10 times down the East Coast ICW and 10 times north. We have pushed 8 winters into the Bahamas and now this is the 4th winter in the Caribbean. Two of these runs to the Caribbean started in Annapolis, MD and ended in Grenada!  Island Spirit loves to run and we know this boat inside and out due to our 4 total refits. Here is our yearly send off photo….ten x two 🙂 December 20, 2021.

Hayden and Radeen start season #20. Here we are flashing 10 two times :-)…oops it is not a video.

Departing Puerto Rico

Leaving the dock after your yacht has been in storage for 16 months is not an easy thing. The number one concern is…WILL SHE RUN and WILL SHE KEEP RUNNING? Imagine this. You leave the shelter of the protected Puerto Del Ray Marina, turn EAST directly into the tradewinds on your bow. The waves are 4 feet at 6 seconds and you need to power directly off a stone wall jetty UPWIND. Of course, this would be the perfect time for the fuel tank to stir up some dirt and your fuel filter to clog and your engine to die. (This is why we polished the entire fuel tank ourselves before departing.)  We were nervous to say the least. Here is a photo taken about 1/4 mile out as we bashed east!

Island Spirit bashing East into 15-knot trades and 4-foot seas at 6 seconds.

Departed with IP40 Gypsy Soul

We left PR with new friends aboard IP45 Gypsy Soul. Todd and Kitti were heading to STT as well and we all were hoping to depart on the calmest day possible Well, 15 knots and 4-foot seas are calm here. You can see what an Island Packet 40 looks like in this sea state.

Notice the swell as it passes midship at the mast, this is an IP40 and the wave is at the deck!
Of course with 4-foot waves, the ride is a bit bouncy. Many times their anchors would punch into the next wave.

Blue Water is WHY

Why put up with such “calm” conditions you might ask. Well, one of the reasons is that the water is so beautiful. When compared to Florida, or the coastal waters or even the Bahamas, the Caribbean Sea and Ocean water blue is like no other blue. Look at this photo,  just a simple cell phone photo from the helm. The gorgeous is one of the reasons we love to sail here. It is worth all the effort and expense.

Bluewater Sailing

Arrival St. Thomas, USVI

There is something very special about sailing your boat to St. Thomas, USVI, and dropping the anchor off Charlotte Amalie. As the sun sets over your stern and the full moon rises over your bow, the city lights come on and illuminate the harbor. The water reflects the lights and makes a beautiful show of colors. 

Welcome to St. Thomas

Tradition, The Greenhouse for Lunch

Since 1986 we have always celebrated our arrival in STT by going to THE GREENHOUSE and looking out on the water and reflecting on all that we went thru to get here. This year we celebrated with Todd and Kitti and shared a very fun lunch together.  Here is the required selfie in front of The Greenhouse.

Hayden, Radeen, Kitti, and Todd at The Greenhouse on the waterfront in Charlotte Amalie.

You sail, you get presents!

One other tradition we (I, Hayden) have is that I like to buy Radeen a treat for being the great sailor that she is. Every time we sail into STT we go shopping, it is tradition. This year, with an exorbitant amount of boat expenses, and travel expenses, and dockage expenses we did not go wild. We simply wanted a necklace pendant of freshwater pearls and some pearl earrings.  So, off we strolled to our favorite place, GRAND JEWELERS and sure enough, I found exactly what I wanted. Radeen was thrilled and we were very happy with the deal. Again, WELCOME to ST THOMAS.

Notice the streets are empty, with only one cruise ship in port that day. Five ships were scheduled the next day. We had fun finding a pretty pendant for Radeen.
A few small diamonds with a drop pearl and a very nice chain. Perfect.

The Season has FINALLY begun…

Now that we have left the docks and we are out on the anchor, we feel the season has begun. You all know as boaters, the hardest part of any trip is simply leaving the dock. If you can do that and just keep going, then you are cruising. Sure the boat will break down, systems will fail, winds and waves and squalls will build, but, you left that slip and you are finally out, Once out, you simply learn to deal with these normal boat challenges along the way. They say, Cruising is….Fixing your boat in remote locations….and that is so true. We are so happy to have left the dock!

Facebook Page

Here is our public Page, so please bookmark it and follow along there. Of course, if you want to “comment,” ” like,” or “follow,” then yes, you would need a Facebook account. Welcome…

https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit

20 Days of Boat Work

It has been 20 days since we arrived here at Puerto del Ray marina, where we returned to Island Spirit after 16 months of storage on the hard. When we launched, all systems fired up and all systems seemed to be working fine. That is until we put them to the test.  Several systems needed work and service and one died and needed to be replaced. It is a B.O.A.T. and we all know what that stands for. It was expected after all this non-use. Boats do not like to be stored, they prefer to run constantly. Here is a summary.

The Darn AB Cold Machine, Frig/Freezer

We have been dealing with an intermittent frig freezer for a year, and we needed to resolve the issue. FYI, this is a brand new install two years ago and it has never been right. Imagine filling your freezer and then overnight in the morning you discovered it nearly thawed out and then refroze. NOT acceptable in a house and not on a boat either. So, after 3 days in the sail locker working on this Adler Barbour Cold Machine, (AB) resoldering the connections on the circuit board, I found out this did not help. Then a super tech support guy at AB informed me that we did not need this circuit board and he has found that it is the #1 issue on these units. So, he told me how to simply rewire it and remove the board and toss it in the trash. We did exactly what he said, and it has never worked better!

The Adler Barbour Cold Machine is a simple little compressor with a fan and controller. The evaporator is in the freezer. The copper pipe holds the refrigerant.
To work in a sail locker, imagine working in a crawl space that is 4 feet tall and 5 feet long by 3 feet wide. You have to fit in and then do the work. I spent three days in here doing this job!
This is the solution! Remove the board and wire it directly to the compressor! Too easy.
The direct wiring to the compressor, way too easy.
This is the AB Cold machine circuit board that is NOT NEEDED. Remove this and wire direct. A new one of these costs $160+ USD.

Next, the Inverter/charger died

With the frig now fixed, I could resume the normal yacht service jobs on my list. But NO, Island Spirit said, hold on, this 2005 charger/inverter just blew up. WHAT? Yes, we lost the boat battery charger on Thanksgiving morning. The inverter still worked, but we had no way to charge the battery bank other than solar, wind, or the alternator. That is all OK until you are anchored out and want 120v power. We usually only use 12-volt power, again, remember, we live off a car battery, imagine that! Try it at home and see how long it will last. Ha Ha. We have no idea why it died, but we are guessing it was the power grid here in Puerto Rico. The power goes out daily and then surges and things bet blown up, so that is our best guess as it was working for a week, then died. So, we replaced it with a new Xantrex HF Freedom 1800 watt inverter. This install sent me into the sail locker for a full day but I installed it without electrocution. That is a good thing. Here are a few photos.

This is the new unit we bought, Xantrex HF Inverter/charger, $605.00 plus $50 shipping. Defender.com. Ordered on Friday, arrived Monday.
Our wonderful 2005 Xantrex Prosine 2.0 inverter/charger that died. Sadly I removed this and gave it away $$$$, the inverter still worked and it could send out for service.
The new install. This unit is longer and with the limited room to install, I had to run the wires in the front. In my old install, they ran behind the unit. These large red and black 1.0 sized cables run to the battery bank. This is high amperage power, and dangerous!
The control panels. I will mount the new inverter charger control next to the solar monitor.

Living on the Boat

Even though we are still in dock, as planned for one month, living on the boat is so interesting and different. We walk miles every day, we are eating less, drinking less, and feeling better. Thanksgiving was simple, a whole chicken and veggies roasted in an oven bag, with a batch of my Dad’s pan filling. A fine bottle of French wine was found in the locker, still good, which was amazing.  Canned pumpkin for a crustless pie was found at the fourth grocery store. We are happy, even with all the boat issues and repairs, we both love this adventure. We are anticipating sailing off to the Virgin Islands on Dec 16th all goes well. For now…..we have a new adventure….two weddings to fly off to, one in FLA and one in CALI. Here we go!

The sofas and the bed are also clear,. Do not look int the aft cabin…OMG
Happy on the boat we are….This was Thanksgiving Day 2021

Island Spirit in Dock, PDR

 

Thi$ is our dock at PDR for one month. Needed to $tore the boat $o we can fly off to two wedding$!!!!

Island Packet Yacht Owners in PDR

Our IP Fleet is Worldwide and here we are with IP380 WILLFUL, Adele and Herman and IP45 Gypsy Soul Todd and Kitti as we gather around IP465 No Wahalla boat watching for John and Lisa.

OK…off for an 11 day Wedding loop Coast to Coast from the Caribbean!

LIKE and FOLLOW us on FACEBOOK, it is public and no Facebook account is needed.
https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit

https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit

 

 

Launching a Yacht

We have been playing this boating game since 1982 and the process of launching a boat from land to water is always an exciting process. It is exciting to trailer a boat and use a launch ramp. It is exciting for a forklift to pick up your boat and launch it. But to me, the most exciting process is launching a boat that needs a hydraulic go-cart and then a marine travel lift.  It is exciting because this is the doorway to sailing and cruising adventures on bays, seas, and oceans. Our 20th year of cruising on Island Spirit has started and we are as excited as year #1. Here is our launch process today at Puerto del Rey Marina in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

First Remove the Hurricane Straps

In the Caribbean, our yacht insurance company requires the boat to be strapped down with 2″ hurricane tie-downs hooked into concrete footings. Island Spirit had 8 tie-downs, 4 on each side.  

2″ wide hurricane straps connect to concrete footings
The beginning of setting her free, the straps are off the cleats and dropped to the ground
NOW, that feels good, she says! This GrL is meant to sail.                                                                 Roll in the U shaped Hydraulic go-cart

This yard uses an under-yacht hydraulic lift cart that is controlled remotely by a very skilled operator. The U-shaped go-cart (as I call it) is driven under the yacht. The jack stands are removed, except the front and the two aft stands. VERY DANGEROUS as any wrong moves and the yacht could fall over or, worse yet, someone could be seriously hurt. Once the cart is maneuvered under the yacht, the skilled workers position the massive hydraulic arms, 3 on each side. The operator then remotely lifts the arms to support the yacht. Now the entire frame of the machine raises and 20,000 lbs are lifted off the final 3 jack stands. Next, the operator drives the cart out into the parking lot to the waiting travel lift.

The U-shaped cart going under the yacht
Three hydraulic arms support the yacht
Once supported, the entire frame raises up and lifts the yacht free
The cart is driven to the waiting travel lift

Why use this cart?

Because this process allows them to park yachts within inches of each other, which maximizes the number of yachts stored on the land. (See below!)

This is a Google maps image of the yard, Puerto Del Ray Marina, Fajardo, PR.

The Travel Lift Ride to the Water

After the yacht has been transferred to the travel lift, it is driven through the yard and down to the water. At the water’s edge, this massive machine will drive out onto a concrete reinforced dock with a slot of water between the wheels. Once over the water, the yacht is lowered enough for us to climb up onto the bow over the anchors. With us on board, the boat is further lowered into the water, BUT it is not let go until all systems below are checked for leaks.

Ruben of R.S. Marine and his helper touch up paint from the jack stands.
Off she goes across the yard heading for water
This yacht storage yard is very large. Here are just some of the powerboat racks
Island Spirit is lowered into the water where she belongs
We are always so excited to see this day, as it is the beginning of new adventures

Check the FUEL, Fire it up

With the yacht still hanging in the slings, but in the water, we fired up the engine and checked the fuel system and the cooling water. Remember, the tradewinds are blowing 20-25 knots directly into this launching well. Once they drop the yacht and toss you the lines, you need to HIT IT, and get her moving, In 2017, we were 2 minutes out of the slip when the fuel plugged up and the engine died. We drifted hard back into the concrete dock and tied up. So, today we were remembering what can happen,

Our fuel was spotless and looked great after 10 minutes of running hard prior to leaving the launch slip
The lil’ Yanmar engine (that we installed) is running great. Lucky us!

OFF WE GO

With all systems checked, we hit it hard in reverse and backed out into the tradewinds. We did a full 360 turn for a photoshoot for our surveyor who was there to inspect the yacht for insurance purposes. Off we motored!

See why BLUE is my favorite color?

The marina sent us to the wrong dock twice!

With 1,000 yachts in dock, this is the largest marina in the Caribbean.  We checked our slip assignment every day for three days. While we were motoring to our assigned slip, the marina radioed us and sent us to a different slip. Once docked and plugged in there, they called again to say. “Oops…..you need to move to yet another slip. WHAT?! So tomorrow, we get to do this all over again. Let the adventures begin, at least Island Spirit ran perfectly with no fuel issues! 

Little Island Spirit next to million-dollar yachts. We need to move… the annual slipholder is coming back.

You Do NOT want your boat to stall…

This is the marina. All these yachts are VERY EXPENSIVE. We do not want to have engine trouble driving around here!!!

HAPPY Hayden

OK, ISLAND SPIRIT, it is time to RUN, and RUN she did!

Please LIKE and FOLLOW our FACEBOOK public page

https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit/

Caribbean Sailing Grenada to USVI

Sailing across the entire Caribbean Sea, north and south is a passage of 400-450 nautical miles. We sailed this course, as we ran from Grenada and the COVID-19 lockdown. We sailed north to the USVI where we could find a working and open airport.  Most of the Caribbean Islands were closed to incoming sailboats, but the USVI was open. Tradewind sailing is fantastic with steady 20-25 knot east winds. This course was a broad reach for 200 miles to Isla Aves, and then a turn to the north on a beam reach for another 200 miles. We sailed 400 nautical miles in 60 hours which is an average of 6.7 knots with only one hour of engine time to make hot water for showers. The MK450 wind turbine and solar panels provided all the 12-volt power for the ship’s systems. Enjoy this 5-minute video which shows our helm set up, wind data, and the sounds of sailing.

Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to our little YouTube Channel here as well. 
https://www.youtube.com/islandspirit35

 

Winter at Home 2020-21

With the Covid-19 pandemic raging worldwide, we have been hiding out in Saltbox13 and enjoying our first winter at home in ten years! Obviously, we are normally on  our boat, Island Spirit, spending winters in Florida, Bahamas or the Caribbean Sea. This has been a very different winter for us, but we have made the best of it, playing house. Did I say that we love our Saltbox13 which we designed and built in 1984? Well, we do! This house has been a lifetime joy, so spending time here has been fun, especially with our wonderful neighbors and the fantastic kids on our street. With the new media, bourbon, prosecco room, the weber grill, firepit and large bathrooms, we are not roughing it here. Please enjoy this photo update of winter 2020-21!

Time around our Fire Pit

Our first-ever firepit off the back deck, very enjoyable

YouTube on the Media Room TV, so fun

Sailing vessel DELOS released their 59 North Series. We supported them and really enjoyed the 4 videos!

Well, Let’s Decorate for Christmas

First time in ten years we were home for Christmas, so lets light up the place

We recommisioned the French Godin Petit Stove, so much fun

This is a Godin stove we have had since the 80’s. It really is fantastic and burns coal or wood, The coal storage under the garage floor had a over a ton of coal, so we had plenty of fuel.

SNOW SNOW SNOW, all winter long!

Our home looked so pretty lit up with the snow
We had an LED projector that placed snowflakes on the walls.

Winter at Home was Comfortable

A beautiful selfie that I always enjoy taking with Radeen

Upside Down Snowman and further Snowman FUN 

This was how we felt being home in the snow…argh

Walks, Walks, Walks, doing 60-80 miles a month

Jim and Gail met us for multiple walks and THE ANTUGUA BRIDE-TO-BE, Courtney, made a guest appearance!

Merry Christmas 2020

Hayden and Radeen’s Christmas at Home 2020 photo
Always our go-to bottle for a celebration, the best French Champagne, MOET
STINK, STANK, STUNK…2020

My Favorite Photographic Subject, Radeen

Looking good as usual, Love this

The Endless Winter of 2020

Our shadows as we walked every day
Selfie with Frosty our largest Snowman

We have the BEST Neighborhood Children

The sweet kids on our street knew we were missing the Caribbean, so they made us a Snow-woman with a Bikini top on…tooooo funny

Weber BBQ all winter long

I love to BBQ, so, I shoveled enough snow off the deck to keep the grill open 🙂

Did I say WALKS? Yup, 2.0 miles every day we can

Stretching one mile out with many layers on, it is COLD

Thank you all for following along. This is not our usual posting about sailing and luewater and travel, but 2020 has not been a normal year for anyone. Soon, we will have our 2nd Covid-19 vaccine shots, fly to Antigua for that special wedding and then we will return to sailing….we hope. For now, let’s get into SPRING TIME WEATHER SOON.

THIS IS WHAT WE LOVE…..

Summer at Home

After our storage in Puerto Rico, we flew home to USA where we enjoyed the rest of the summer and into the fall at home isolating from COVID-19. We spent the summer and fall renovating our family basement room into a very cool media / prosecco / bourbon room. We rebuilt the fireplace and hearth with slate tile, we replaced the floor with new floating planking vinyl floor, and we built a six foot black box floating off the floor to hold the large TV. Added to this was a new bar area with slate tile floor, new cabinets and a granite countertop. We still need new furniture and the library re-installed, but so far, this has been a very good stay at home covid-19 project to keep us busy. We have been slacking on the blog as we usually blog all about sailing and travel, but with this normal, we are trying to catch up and post a few updates. Thanks for following along.

Here are a few photos…

The media room basement remodel. Needs furniture and decorations…
We installed new ceiling heat and ceiling drywall
We installed new LVP, luxury vinyl planking….new floor
The media wall is RUBY RED and we found it is great for selfies. 🙂

Haul out Puerto Rico, PDR

We are trying to catch up on our blog as we now post most live updates to our Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit/ So, this post is a photo essay on the process we went thru to haul out the boat in Puerto Rico and prepare her for hurricane storage July 2020 to Nov 2020. Enjoy this photo essay and the captions. I hope you enjoy this….

Sailing from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico
Heading 270, WEST, very odd
Job one, drop all the sails and store them below deck
We flake our sails on the deck, then fold them and tie them up
We do LOVE our MACK SAILS
Here are two sails stored below deck, nice and neat
We covered all the varnished teak with a new material called CAP WRAP by ULINE, lets hope it works
We covered the ports and all teal with this cap wrap
We pulled out the 250 foot of 5/16″ HT Acco anchor chain and washed it, desalted it and then added WD-40 to the links for storage.
It was a full moon while we were in Fajardo, Puerto Rico
The boats around us had underwater lights that light our boat us and looked so cool
We protected the hatch and wrapped it for dinghy storage on deck
The 10’6″ AB RIB dinghy fits on the bow of an Island Packet 35
We changed the oil
She is now ready to haul out
We buy hurricane tie down straps
Our shade cloth, COOLAROO ships in and we pic this up
We roll out the coolaroo and pre-cut the shade fabric
Haul out time,, we have to back into the haul out slip
They lift her out of the water and drive her to the storage yard
It is always exciting to see this yacht out of the water, 20,000 llbs and 39 feet over all length looks big out of the water
They transfer the yacht to a trailer that is remote controlled. This allows them to move the yacht very tight and close to the next yacht maximizing the storage yard.
We hired Ruben to powerwash the bottom
Next we rolled out our shade fabric and covered the yacht
We extend our spinnaker pole to make a tent aft of the mast
The bow piece is stitched to the aft piece and pulled tight
There she is with a full top shade cover to protect her from the hot Caribbean sun
With the spinnaker pole tent, we can still get into the boat and work
We added 8 hurricane straps to secure her to the concrete footings
Hurricane straps from bow, midship and stern pull down to concrete footings. This is required by insurance companies
The straps and the tie down set up
We wrap the rudder and the stern to keep the hot Caribbean sun off these surfaces
it is recommended to add Vaseline to the straps and stands to keep ants off the boat!
Same thing on the jack stands…. add Vaseline to the stands to keep ants off the boat!
We take a break and tour the rain forest
Oh yes, Puerto Rico
Abd the beach
Welcome to HOME to “SALTBOX 13” our home we built and love….

And that is a wrap on cruising season 2020, where we started in Grenada, launched the boat and made repairs to get sailing by Dec 25, 2020. We sailed up to Bequia for Cruisers Christmas and then on north. We were in Antigua, in February and early March when Covid-19 was breaking out. By mid March we were running back to Grenada to be secure frm covid-19. We docked into Grenada and there we were, “stuck for March, April, May, with a covid-19 lock down. Safe and secure but with a closed airport we decided to sail for USA on May 18, 2020. We sailed 60 hours and 425 nm back up to St. Croix, USVI. There we quarintined 14 days on anchor and then moved up to St. Thomas for provisions. From there we moved to St John and waited for our haul out in Puerto Rico. We sailed over to PR in July 4, 2020 and immediatly had a covid-19 test. Locked down on the boat until results came back we then could begin to derig the yacht.

We down rigged for days and then hauled out July 9th 2020. With the boat now on land we worked on securing her for hurricane season. After we finished that, we moved to San Juan. There we enjoyed a weekend and then flew home to Philly, USA. 

Once home, we were once again quarantined for 14 days. W placed a yellow Q Flag on our home and stayed home. This would make the 4th time we have done 14 day quarantine.  After that, we began to return to a somewhat normal life….whatever normal is…