April 1 - Engine hours at departure: 1657; generator hours at departure: 896. We were intending to leave the dock at my home in Punta Gorda at the end of the day on the 1st to catch one of the last high tides for the next two weeks high enough to get us through the shallows connecting channel between the PGI (Punta Gorda Isles) canal system and the Ponce harbor inlet, then hang out nearby in Charlotte Harbor overnight and start for Panama the next morning. That plan changed when we learned that there was a front predicted to come through between the 2nd and 3rd which would have made our passage difficult (wind on the nose) and bumpy, so we took advantage of the high tide on the 1st to get off my dock and changed the plan to hang out in Charlotte Harbor until the morning of the 4th and leave then with a good weather window. We left the dock on schedule at about 5:30 p.m; Kryss waved us “goodbye” from the dock at the Ponce Inlet and we threw out the hook for the night out midway between the Ponce Inlet and Alligator Creek inlet. We had calm seas and fair winds overnight without the anxiety of the last 7 days of getting the boat ready - a good night.
April 2 - Wake up to sunshine and mild breezes; trouble shoot some minor matters, and generally take a deep breath and relax. Will remain here today and transit tomorrow to anchorage near to Charlotte Harbor inlet for an early start on April 4.
April 3 - Starts to blow like hell in the middle of the night as predicted and with the 20 mile long fetch of Charlotte Harbor our anchorage is very rocky. Should have made the passage to a sheltered anchorage yesterday. Oh well, hindsight it always 20- 20. Anyway, we have some difficulty in getting the anchor up with the strong winds and sizable swell, but manage by around 10:00 a.m. and start the 15 mile long slog to a protected anchorage behind Pine Island and about 4 n.m. from the Inlet. Passage is slow but uneventful and we’re at anchor in relative calm by around 2:00 p.m. Catch our breath and hang out with a big steak dinner for first light departure through the Inlet tomorrow morning.
April 4 - Wind is around 13 knots, seas have abated as well and we leave for the Inlet around 8:00 a.m. Wind has shifted to the North as predicted so it’s on our beam. Slack tide was 6:30 a.m. (too dark to depart if not necessary), so leave against an incoming tide. Inlet quite rough with beam seas but generally make 5 knots or a little better through the Inlet which we exit around 10:00 a.m. Put the sails up (uneventfully) and steer to our course towards the Yucatan Chanel. We point higher than the rhum line to cross the Gulf Stream in the most advantageous place and then try to pick up some favorable current near Cuba passing through the Yucatan Channel. Winds are moderate (10-15 knts.) and seas begin a little bumpy but subside as time goes by. We’re making very good time at this point, averaging over 7 knts. Late morning I open the engine room hatch to check on and operate the macerator pump and OOOPS, there’s quite a lot of water in the bilge. Tristan locates the problem as a leak from the dripless (supposed to be) engine shaft seal. Bilge pump was off because it was cycling unnecessarily that morning, so we had turned it on. Once we put it back on it seems to hold the leak water level “at bay”, but it’s not draining the accumulation. Burt determines that although the bilge pump is now operating it is clogged with debris and “gunked up” with grease, etc. and he does a yeoman job under very difficult bumpy conditions of switching the existing pump out for a spare that I carried. Once the new pump is installed it rapidly reduces the accumulated leak water and is more than adequate to keep ahead of the shaft seal leak. Tristan tries a few things to address the leak without success, but now that the bilge pump is “handling it, the prior sense of “urgency” is gone. The seas continue to abate, the wind drops to 10 knots or under, but the boat is generally making over 6 knts. with full jib and one reef in the main. Pretty nifty. The boat gremlins don’t give up though. When I tested it the day before, both the on/off switch at the macerator pump and the one under the companionway stairs were working. Now the switch at the macerator pump is operating it, but the one under the companionway stairs seems to be delivering current to it (you can feel it vibrating) but it will not initiate the pump. Hmm. Long day with lots of tension (at least for me) but as the afternoon proceeds we’re sailing very comfortably and relatively speedily on course. I’m kind of worn out, more emotionally than anything else, but the guys have worked so hard that I really feel obligated to do my part and make them a good dinner. Pan fry a pork tenderloin with onions and make wild rice with porcini mushrooms and cubed smoked ham in the rice cooker (an experiment since there’s no setting on it for wild rice) finished with a very tasty young cauliflower. Tristan and Burt reef the jib before dinner which then goes smoothly as we settle in for the evening watches in very moderate conditions. Beam reach, relatively light seas and winds from 7-10 knts. Remarkably we’re still moving along very nicely and more or less on course. I haven’t gotten used to the whine of the autopilot which is right below where I sleep, but I’m too tired to try the earplugs that I bought and I drift in and out of sleep until my watch at midnight. Same conditions continue more or less through the night and by next morning light we’ve made good 128 n.m. on course. Not too shabby in light winds with a reefed main from the “get go” and a reefed jib at night.
April 5 - Somewhat lighter winds and definitely reduced seas in the morning but we’re on course and moving along relatively nicely. Shake the reef out of the jib. Time to run the water maker. As seems to be the pattern, while output was well within range at the dock and two days ago when I tested it, now output is somewhat outside of desirable range. On the other hand, could only reach 600 psi on RO membrane yesterday and reach 700 psi today. Huh? Well kicking myself for not bringing a spare but do some homework and it appears that the problem may be due to excessively warm and salty seawater (there’s no such thing as climate change right?). Also have membrane cleaning kits on board and can see if that remedies the problem. No seeming good reason that quality of output should diminish that much in a few days. Am also working on multiple options to get a spare RO membrane to or in Panama before we depart for French Polynesia. Greg Leja, crewmember on first attempt to sail to the Virgin Islands in 2018 (trip delayed because of rudder problem when we approached Key West), and good friend and sailing buddy of Burt Davis is flying to Panama to meet us for a few days and have arranged to have RO membrane shipped to him for transit to us in Panama. One problem under control. Burt thinks that he may not have oriented the lens in the masthead tricolor when he worked on it, but rather than undertaking the unenviable task of going aloft under way in rolly conditions, he elects to “revitalize” my original running lights, electrician that he is. The aft white light always worked but the forward red/green ones never worked. Tristan finds that the bulb is good and Burt finds the problem with electrical service to the light unit. He jumps power temporarily from a nearby source, installs a temporary switch to control the jump and we have deck hung running lights now which we can use in place of the masthead tricolor until we get to Panama. (weird looking at night after having only used the tricolor since the boat was re-launched in 2013). When we get to Panama Burt will re-orient the tri-color lens and run a new dedicated power line to the forward red/green lights to avoid the need for a switch. Pretty nice to have such a talented electrician aboard. Rest of the day is pretty uneventful. Winds diminish in force over time and come abaft so we take in the sails and turn on the engine. Shaft seal leak remains consistent and is under control by the bilge pump and we power through the night on the way to the Yucatan Channel. Very little boat traffic, both commercial and recreational.
April 6 - At daybreak seas are relatively calm and winds down and it’s nice sunny day. Engine is driving us at a good pace at 2,000 rpm. Wind increases around 9:00 and seas build a little so we put up a little piece of the jib to provide more stability and a little power boost. Rest of the day passage to the Yucatan Channel is combo of motoring and sailing, but mainly sailing. Winds and seas are mild but we played the currents right and used them to our advantage to pass Cuba and enter the Caribbean from the Gulf of Mexico without having to fight any counter-current. Of course it’s sailing so there’s almost always something that comes up mechanically that needs to be attended to. I’m resting in our aft cabin listening to the autopilot whine and I realize that for the last two days I’ve been hearing a “creaking” that I never heard before. I mention it to Tristan who immediately starts to trouble shoot the issue and determines that the bolts on the plate in the lazarette that support the autopilot ram have loosened. Everything has to come out of the lazarette while we’re underway. This shouldn’t wait. Process is a major pain but the guys are great; we get everything out; I don’t know how to use them very well, but I’ve got all the tools that the guys who do know how to use them need to tighten the bolts which are very difficult to tighten because the locking nuts under the bolts which must be held in place during tightening are not very accessible. Long and the short of it is that Tristan and Burt make relatively short work of the problem; everything gets back into the lazarette and it’s time for me to make dinner. I’m exhausted from my part in the foregoing, but dinner is chicken francese, gnocchi with artichoke bruschetta, zucchini and garlic bread (Burt’s request-and easier to accomplish than I feared). I regularly have the Midnight to 3:00 a.m.. watch and shortly into my watch the wind dies down making it difficult for us to adjust course and there is a 600 foot cargo ship with a CPA (closest point of approach) much too close for comfort. I try repeatedly to reach the ship on the VHF but it doesn’t answer and just as I’m getting ready to turn on the engine Tristan and Burt wake up and come on deck and take in the sails while I use the engine to make a course “jog” to stay out of the way of the cargo ship. Rest of the watch is uneventful, but I’m much more tired than usual, probably due to the effort necessary to empty and re-fill the lazarette earlier, and very happy when the watch is over.
April 7 - Generally fair winds and mild seas allowing us to sail, but with the heel angle and rocking I am unable to make coffee to our collective disappointment. It’s a boat right, so right away in the morning Burt goes into the engine room to check on shaft seal leak (it’s under control), but new bilge pump is cycling. Turns out there is a lot of debris trapped under the L-bracket that holds the bilge pump and Burt deduces that it’s “messing” with the sensor. Trooper that he is he goes down into the bilge again and spends well over an hour vacuuming everything out of the bilge. We formed a two man bucket brigade and I must have dumped ten or more buckets of dirty bilge water and sludge over the side. Not so easy to get the bucket outside of the cockpit combing and beyond the hull on a seriously rocking boat, but it gets done. Burt and I are both exhausted when he’s done, but the bilge has never been so clean and free of debris, Of course Tristan has done his part in the engine room by assisting Burt and later cleaning the wet vac, etc. Winds are generally 45-75 degrees and moderate the rest of the day; we reef down and sail for the day and night able generally to stay on course. Aft berth is amidships/transverse and heel angle is so steep that I for the first time move my head to the port side and feet to the starboard so that I’m not “sleeping on my head” so to speak. Very little boat traffic and none of the traffic that there is threatens our line of passage. The night passes without incident and my watch is uneventful.
April 8 - We’ve averaged just under 140 n.m. over the first four days, which is really very good. It gets kind of “extra” bumpy in the aft cabin amidships berth around 6-7 a.m as the wind increases to 20 knts. or so from around 15 knts. but Tristan smooths it our with a sail and minor course adjustment and we are making generally over 7 knts. at about 60 degrees wind angle without too much rocking and rolling. Burt’s a much better “engineer” than I am and he gets the coffee maker set up in the sink so that we can have coffee this morning. Very, very welcome for all of us. There’s always something, and this morning it’s that the shaft seal leak is modest but that there is a secondary leak now (also modest) that might be from the rudder. Can’t trouble shoot that until we get to Panama. We’re approaching the Nicaragua Bank and learn that wind will shift in the night to be on our nose. Because of shallow water constraints from “sea mounts” along our course we don’t have much room to change course and are more or less resigned to motoring for an extended period of time on this leg of our passage to hold a safe course with only enough sail up to help give us lateral stability. Around 5:00 p.m. there’s a loud sharp sound signaling the parting of our jib furling line-if it rains it pours. The guys get the jib in and secure it after an extended struggle and leave the “fix” until tomorrow. Without the ability to sail to stabilize the boat (we’re headed too close to wind direction to sail) it’s pretty darn rocky, so it’s sandwiches for dinner. We don’t make much headway overnight motoring into the wind and seas, but we are “on course”.
April 9 - During his 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. watch Tristan has an encounter with a cargo ship that causes him to contact the ship by VHF and learns that, while we have AIS reception, we are not transmitting an AIS signal. In the a.m. the guys set about to making temporary repair to jib furling line. Are able to do so, but with shortened line, so only reefed jib available for now. While making repair Tristan notices that radar is “dangling” by only one bolt and cable is disconnected as a result. Another temporary fix is effected to stabilize radome until Panama. Condition of the plug is another story. Will know in Panama. Radar is nice, but with no fog and AIS, not so important. We’re motoring into the wind in moderate seas at around 4.5 knts. on our course. Not great, but not terrible. Rest of the day and night is uneventful. Due to wind direction forecasts and forecasts of substantial seas from the East coming out of Columbia (a common occurrence at that location and this time of year) we change course to a more rhum line to Colon and are motoring with triple reefed main up at 20-30 degrees off the wind. We will pass close to Providencia Island and somewhat close to San Andres Island on this new course as well as some shallow areas so extra vigilance is required to stay on course.
April 10 - Fuel gauge not working. 1,731 engine hours at 9:25 a.m. Fuel is now becoming a factor in our decision making as we have been motoring for quite a while and we anticipate having to motor as we get closer to Colon, but of course gauge is not working so we have to estimate our fuel consumption, etc. Always something. We pass much closer to the shallow bank jutting out from Nicaragua than we planned or is ideally desirable, but we’re still pretty far from the mainland and there’s adequate depth, so that’s our new course. We continue to motorsail and to make good time.
April 11 - We pass to the West of Providencia Island, which is high and easily visible early afternoon about 5 miles off and get a brief respite from the Easterly swells when we do. We keep waiting for a predicted wind shift to the East/Northeast but it never seems to arrive. Later in the evening we pass well to the East of St. Andres Island and there are no more obstacles between us and Colon on a rhum line route. In the middle of the night the wind and swells are up and the autopilot kicks out (that is to say, stops working). We take in more of the jib and hand steer through the night in short shifts as it’s quite challenging in these conditions.
April 12 - We try a number of times to re-engage the autopilot to no avail and continue to hand steer. The swells increase but the East/Northeast wind never materializes although there is a more modest shift of wind towards the East and we are able to shut down the engine for a while and sail to conserve fuel. I guess like everything else, the hand-steering gets somewhat easier as we get used to it and we are able to resume longer watches. April 13 - As we get closer to Colon and we are a little more comfortable with our calculations of remaining fuel we engage the engine again and motorsail, however the swells are considerable (occasionally 8ft. we estimate) and trying to use the autopilot is not an option. We approach Colon in the early daylight hours of the morning, are cleared by Cristobal Signal (the harbor control station) to enter the breakwater with no delay, take the main down once inside the breakwater, enter Shelter Bay marina about 11:00 Colon time (one hour earlier than EST), and back into slip C31. 1,757 engine hours and 949 generator hours.