Our adventure started in Port Elizabeth ,Bequia, located in the group of 30 plus islands known as St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Carribbean. We had the opportunity to visit family members cruising in the area on their 51 foot Morgan sailing vessel and after a few days of sailing, anchored in Port Elizabeth for sightseeing.

An expedition to Mustique, 10 miles away, was planned, and what better way than by taking a fully crewed and catered , 100 foot antique wooden sailing vessel for the voyage? The sun was shining, the trade winds were blowing and it seemed an opportune time to take advantage of the ld freighter and mail boat, now retired ,and run as a charter business for tourists hoping to enjoy the flavor of yesteryear. Masts were wooden, sails were canvas, and the tiller/steering wheel sat in the middle of the steering box mounted high on the stern deck. This wheel poked out of a large groove, obviously as old as the schooner, and wobbled back and forth under the watchful eyes of the elderly captain.(reputedly also the boat’s builder)

The crew was made up of an assortment of the laid-back friendly Bequia locals, the captain, the ship’s owner, and a very decorative and curvaceous young blonde girl who acted as waitress and cook onboard. The cheerful crew filled the air with shouts, gestures, and high pitched squeaks and chirps, possibly to enable communication over the sounds of the rigging and water. Our tourist group of approximately 15 people, were given pastries, tea, coffee, wonderful ginger cookies,fudge, treated to champagne, fed lunch, and given an opportunity to nap, tour, or snorkel on the beaches of Mustique for the day. Quite a decadent excursion!

The trip proceed uneventfully to Mustique with a stiff breeze and our day was spent lolling in the sun and sites of this beautiful Carribbean island, it wasn’t until the return voyage that we got more excitement than the brochures promised.

Port Elizabeth is a busy port, filled with hundreds of pleasure boats at anchor, a large commercial area, and also the local ferry dock for the inter-island ferry. So many boats fill the harbor that aisle is formed, leaving space barely wide enough for the ferry to make its stately, if not top heavy , passage on its daily run to St Vincent and back. Envision our return on the schooner at sunset, slowly proceeding down this aisle, a bride without a groom, heading for the mooring buoys, unfortunately located inside the bay next to the ferry dock and shore. In the relaxed atmosphere of our return the ship’s owner gave the captain a break and took over the helm. The captain disappeared down below, never to be seen again, leaving the hapless owner in control of a 100 foot juggernaut inexorably proceeding down the aisle with unstoppable momentum, and possibly no reverse. As passengers we were not aware of any problems, even when the owner left the helm in charge of the cook in order to search for the captain. The cook touched the wheel dubiously, then disappeared into the galley choosing to control dishes rather than sailing vessels. Oblivious to impending danger, and with no captain at the helm, we sat on the deck and enjoyed the expanding view of Port Elizabeth as we proceeded down the length of the bay with the momentum previously generated by sails augmented with the aging engine. It didn’t help that the wind was with us, adding to our forward motion.

Our ignorance was soon cured when we became aware of shouts, chirps, squeaks and whistling noises from the crew on the bow of the ship. In a desperate attempt to communicate with the missing captain, the lookout at the bow of the ship worked himself into a crescendo of noise getting more frantic the closer we got to shore and the numerous ships at anchor there. Our progress was audible….the closer we got to ships at anchor with the majestic bowsprit, the intensity of the noise rose, and as we missed our unintended targets the noise subsided, only to rise again as the next floating victim became apparent. At this point the crew had one goal- to snag a mooring buoy and halt the forward progress of the ship before a collision or beaching occurred. After a few failed attempts a buoy finally was snatched, with the unintended effect of swinging the huge ship in an arc and removing the canvas top structure of a nearby cabin cruiser with the schooner’s 16 foot bowsprit. At this point the crew’s shouting, shrieking and whistling subsided and we assumed the vessel was under control until the noise started up again. The deadly bowsprit was on a collision course with another anchored ship. This process was repeated yet again until the ship had done a 360 and slowed down enough to finally and SAFELY be brought to a halt.

Despite the ending drama of the voyage no major harm was done to any of the other boats involved in this fracas due to the deft buoy snagging. The owners of the damaged vessels were only too happy to have their boats old canvas replaced with new. Perhaps this collision sequence is a normal happening for the old schooner, but since the price charged for the charter couldn’t cover the cruise and the repair costs, perhaps not.

January 11, 2007 Seattle to Maui

Captain Bob and First Mate Jacque started out the first vacation of 2007 with a number of inauspicious natural and not so natural events. On the day we chose to fly to Maui from Seattle, a date chosen with much deliberation 6 months in advance, Seattle was hit with yet another of a series of fierce winter storms. Snow and ice on roads, freeways and walkways made for a seriously treacherous journey in the early morning hours to the airport.

The inhabitants of the Greater Seattle area are paranoid about snow and ice…a dusting of the “white stuff” on the roadways and schools are closed, cars abandoned in the middle of roads, businesses shut down and public transportation compromised. We were understandably concerned about the dire weather forecasts, and when our planned commercial taxi transport to the airport chickened out a day in advance of the snow, we coaxed a good friend into giving us a ride. This is the true test of friendship….getting up at 4 AM to navigate treacherous roadways and expose your vehicle to the potential danger of snow & ice-crazed drivers in Seattle. Only an intrepid friend of many years would even contemplate such a much appreciated favor , especially since his passengers were heading to a sunny, warm 28 degree destination…..Celsius not Fahrenheit.!

Our ride showed up at the proper time with his vehicle…..which turned out to be a large “duelly” pickup truck. The truck was majestically loaded and stacked with two outhouses and two 15 foot sections of large culvert pipe sticking straight out the back of the truck bed, the whole resembling a strange spacecraft powered with twin rocket thrusters.

Despite our offers to substitute our vehicle for the heavily laden rig, our friend chose to drive his totally inappropriate vehicle to the airport. The vehicle was appropriate in that it had four wheel drive, but visually it WAS inappropriate to take to the airport with all the Homeland Security restrictions in place. (Color Orange for elevated, of course.) Apparently our friend wanted to test the stability of the truck in the snowy conditions that confronted us prior to making his delivery of goods later in the day.

Passengers are not allowed to take more than 3 ounce containers of liquid products packed in zip lock bags- quart size- no weapons, knives, guns or toenail clippers …and here we arrive with an oversized load of culverts and outhouses towering above the cab of the truck. Guantanamo Bay here we come!

We managed to pull up in front of the terminal without mishap in part due to the driving skill of our friend, but mainly due to the unwieldy and unexpected appearance of our rig. Drivers slowed their vehicles and allowed us to proceed in front of them to deposit passengers and suitcases at the Hawaiian Air Ticket Counter.

Perhaps the oddly loaded truck, the rustic appearance of the driver(see picture), combined with the full length leopard skin fur coat worn by the passenger created the impression we were filming a scene from “The Beverly Hillbillies”. No self respecting terrorist would dream of attracting the kind of attention our arrival created. Suspicion was allayed!

 

January 7, 2007
Email to Friends
Next Trepid Sailor Journal!

Hmm think I will do a article on flying and going through the security procedure as a bi-lateral hippy.......the belief by frisking agents that taking my belt off or removing the non-existent keys out of my pocket will fix the alarum problem! The "chicken" pat-down ladies and the stern "touchy-feelie" all over ladies. The lack of comprehension about taking shoes on and off and my ability to touch my toes to do so( or pick up the my articles so kindly dumped on the floor), and last but not least, the credibility problem for pre-boarding with my "cane/walking" stick.

I have tested airline flights to the east coast, to the south as far as the Caribbean, tested once to the mid-west, now for a final test- as far west as one can get in the US...Hawaii. Get set for a detailed report!!!!!!!

Do you think that I will be taken into custody by the Dept of Homeland Security for threatening to write an expose? You wouldn't be able to visit me in a Cuban jail as that might label you into a suspect. Woe is me!

I think the transitory nature of internet access on the waterways of the Pacific North West, Desolation Sound and the Inside Passage are illustrated by the situation we found ourselves in at Echo Bay at the northern parts of Vancouver Island. The internet wi-fi access beamed by our hosts at the dock at Echo Bay functioned one day, then after a windstorm and much rain failed the next…..due to “moss on the satellite dish”.

You have to understand that internet access is my hobby for work, shopping, entertainment, news, communication and general knowledge. The idea of taking off on our 40 foot sailboat , Shadowfax ,for a summer(or longer) was acceptable in my mind as long as I could stay connected. So while my husband was buying state of the art GPS , radar and power windlasses, I was busy purchasing a computer laptop complete with wi-fi capabilities and best of all a Verizon Aircard for remote access to the internet. I found a Verizon guru in Bellevue Square who set me up with a laptop aircard and both US and Canadian data access for my aircard. This setup gets rather tricky, most of the dial up wireless reps don’t seem to know what one is talking about for Canadian data access .(Either that, or I can’t explain myself clearly over the phone) Next came the antenna for my aircard which according to both Verizon guru and my IT tech person, wasn’t necessary. HA! Guys…over the course of summer of 2005 laptop-ing my way slowly from Seattle to the end of Vancouver island on the inside passageways, I proved even my little 4 inch radio shack antenna improved my internet performance greatly.

A little background of my education…I got a Bachelor of Science at the U of W in Botany in 1970, and work as a bookkeeper/accountant. This does give me some credibility when it comes to the scientific process, discipline and the ability to chart a wi-fi and internet access map of our trip. I charted aircard/Verizon bars all along the waterways we traveled, in harbors and underway. The aircard worked amazingly well- even getting access in remote spots such as Lagoon Cove. The marina sponsored wi-fi at docks mentioned in our guidebooks worked sporadically.

Now I have a mission for summer 2006! The inside passage to Alaska with a special antenna booster and 4 FOOT cellular phone antenna for the Shadowfax. Wasn’t cheap….but it will improve speed and connection capabilities. I can hardly wait to compare last year’s performance with this year’s!

This increase in performance is documented in "Journal Entries of A Trepid Sailor" soon to be published. Broadband access speed was measured and charted (on an excel spreadsheet )up our route up the Inside Passage Seattle to Alaska.

Booker Lagoon/Cullen Harbor,Edge of Queen Charolotte Straits

Finally after a few days of rain and 60 knot winds we have sunshine and calm what a relief! We anchored in a enchanting harbor surrounded by mini-islands covered with evergreen trees The trees are perched right to the edge of the grey-white rocky shores and the lower branches are all evenly cut as with a straight edge across the high tide mark. Further out in the lagoon and scattered islands the trees look as if they have been kicked, stamped and twisted by the Queen Charlotte Strait winds, almost like a science-fiction scene of devastation. .

Small porpoises have been gliding around us and small minnows have been jumping(probably to escape) We figured with all that aquatic abundance we would have good luck fishing for Ling Cod, Halibut or Salmon. No such luck! Even armed with our full arsenal of herring, rubber worms, jigs, buzz-bombs and even a fish head the only thing we caught was a lot of bottom and a couple of small rock fish. Good thing we brought lots of dehydrated food!Let me mention the food! My sister(twin,actually) is a real sailor…she sails the Chesapeake, the Bahamas, Carribean, Offshore, Europe…you get the picture. She knows about sailboats and food stuff so she was full of good advice when I asked about what our needs might be.

As a result I immediately alienated our UPS delivery guy when my first order of dehydrated and canned goods arrived fresh off the internet! He stacked up these huge boxes of food in front of our front door blocking all entry and informed me he would not be delivering all these items to our front door in the future.(He has a bad back and weight lifting restriction you see .He also informed me that he was- getting close to retirement –so I guess that meant he didn’t want to carry stuff around anymore.)
I ordered all the wonderful things displayed on this special website…..dried corn,potatoes peas,green beans, peppers,onions,eggs,broccoli,apples,strawberries etc. What an amazing thing to realize that almost everything you can purchase fresh in a grocery store you can also purchase dehydrated! Canned meats and cheeses were also available, and as my sister highly recommended these items I made sure I purchased canned goods also. What I didn’t comprehend is the difference between a number 2 ½ can and a number 10 can. Number 10 size, I found out is the largest size of a coffee can you can buy in the store.Oops! A liftime supply of food.

Some of the food prior to reconsitution looks pretty recognizable. Not so the broccoli and green beans. If we are ever boarded by the Coast Guard and they find my stash of broccoli and green beans, I bet I’ll have a lot of explaining to do.

The canned sausage and hamburger look exactly like dog food, but taste fine, so as long as nobody sees what I am cooking, I am in good shape!