Hello everyone! I'm back and have a lot to catch up on!
I am writing this blog post about 7 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico at 4am waiting for the sun to poke it's head above the horizon. But before I get into our current passage I must update you on what has gone on over the past year.
After arriving in St. Thomas in December last year, I spent the winter there basking in the sun, enjoying the sights, working on a charter sailboat and living on Tilikum. My sailing partner Sam did much of the same and got a great job as a boat captain driving tourists all around the US and British Virgin Islands. After 4 months of living in paradise I flew back home to return to work, which was also very exciting. I had a great summer but missed Tilikum very much. I had left Tilikum in Red Hook Harbour on a brand new mooring that I had installed before I left. I had also arranged to have a friend of mine live on her as a tennant. Choosing to leave Tilikum in the water over the summer where she would be vulnerable to hurricanes and the elements was a tuff choice but after looking at prices for dry storage the decision was made for me.
When I bought the boat from the former owner she said to me that "the boat did not like to be tied up". I took this as mostly a joke and figured that surely with the right mooring and lines that Tilikum would sit nicely in Red Hook Harbour and await my return. This was not the case. Tilikum decided to break free from her mooring and "go for a stroll" not once but twice. The first time she received damage to her stanchions (life line posts for all you land lubbers) when she found herself side by side with my friend Pauls boat. This ended up costing me double in fixing both my boat and his. The second time she navigated her way all the way to the beach before my friend/tennant noticed she was loose. Thankfully no damage that couldn't be fixed took place and Sam had a friend of his with a boat with some horse power to pull her off and put her back on a mooring. But I have learnt my lesson... I will never ever ever store a boat in the water when I'm a full days flight away.
Over the course of this summer a lot of things have changed. Sam got a good job, he is renting a house, and he has a great girlfriend. Needless to say, where we thought we were going be now, last year is totally different. Sam has decided that he is stepping away from the journey and I can't blame him. When we begun this trip we said it was a 3 to 5 year plan. That isn't something that can be considered concrete. Things change over time and I totally understand his position. Sam was a HUGE help in getting Tilikum ready for the next leg of her voyage and I can't thank him enough for that.
That being said the adventure continues and if you get a chuckle or enjoy this blog in any way I hope you donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to help support a cure. This is a cause that is still near and dear to me. There is a button on this page that links you to the JDRF Web page where you can donate (https://jdrfca.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.event&eventID=2159). Thanks in advance!
That leads us to where we are now, 7 miles north of San Juan, PR. I have a new sailing partner. His name is Logan. Logan and I have been friends for a few years and we've been on many sailing day trips together. Logan and I were at a pub in Mahone Bay in November when I was explaining to him my predicament of not yet having to confidence to do long passages solo but still wanting to continue on with the Tilikum to more places to explore. I explained that I was exploring routes that could work for a solo trip. That's when logan mentioned that he was planning on being in the Bahamas in February on a family vacation and that sailing there sounded like a cool way to get there. So right there on the spot, a general route had been selected and a plan had been made.
Logan and I flew down to st thomas in the second week of January hoping to be leaving on the 20th of January or earlier. When I got back to the boat I realized how huge of a job we were about to take on. For starters, the engine wasn't starting, the stanchoins and life lines were all in need of replacement, we no longer had a tender, the bottom of the boat had a micro eco-system living on it complete with full sized crabs crawling around, the bildge pumps weren't working none of the navigation lights were working, and the house batteries were toast along with a host of other things.
We immediately went to work on her. Priority one, get the engine running. After many a trip to the marine store the fuel filter housing was replaced, impeller replaced and lines were bled. She fired up blew out some black smoke and then purred like a kitten. Once this was done an appointment for haul out to deal with the micro ecosystem was made. Although I shouldn't call it an appointment. On island, that's not how things work. We were put on a list with no idea what time we would be hauled. With a little charm and a lot of phone calls we managed to get a date. Out on the Thursday and back in on the Monday. We motored-sailed over to christmas cove, closer to where we would be hauled at Independent Marina. In christmas cove we did a little relaxing, we snorkeled a lot, ate pizza from the pizza boat which was our new neighbor, and even got a surf day in on the west side of the island at Botney Bay. We got a call on Thursday from the marina, and we found out we were being pushed back to Friday haul out on Tuesday...
After all was said and done we managed to get all of the various jobs done in a mad dash working day and night at the marinas boat yard. We made some friends and managed to get a lot accomplished.
We set sail for Mayaguana on Tuesday.
To be continued.
