Last Ocean Crossing

We had another change of plan as our plans are like the weather - fickle. If we stick with the Waterway, we have further shoaling to contend with at St. Augustine and cannot get 'out' until Jacksonville, FL, another 100 miles off. The norther we had been hiding from has now dropped right down and the sea is smooth with a change to favourable south westerlies forecast for this evening, so we are planning to head out right now.

Ponce de Leon from the lighthouse

"Sea Tow", who gave us such great advice yesterday, were equally helpful in person and we are confident we can extricate ourselves out of the "dangerous" and "difficult" Ponce de Leon inlet "which should be avoided by cruisers without local knowledge." With the drop in wind has come a rise in temperature and the skies are still clear blue. We took the kids ashore to explore the Ponce de Leon lighthouse - the tallest in Florida. From the top gallery, we admired the shoals which plagued us yesterday and confirmed our route out into the ocean.

We expect to have to motor today into 5kt north-easteries and then begin sailing tonight as the wind dies and veers into the east then southeast. By tomorrow, we're expecting a fair sou'wester which is forecast to increase to 30kt as a front moves through on Sunday. We should arrive in Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, on Monday

Aground....(twice)

I blogged too soon. We had enjoyed a fantastic day's run. The waterway was nerve-wrackingly shallow in parts and we bumped the bottom uneventfully, but we soon learned to ignore the depth sounder and just plough on regardless along the marked channel. I watched all the shorebirds as we passed - colonies of white pelicans, egrets and roseate spoonbills - and ospreys nested on the channel markers. We had an almost constant guide from the bottle-nosed dolphins who thought nothing of almost going aground themselves. The weather was clear and cold, and we somehow managed to arrange our arrival with the scheduled bridge opening times. The quoted distances seemed to be in statute rather than nautical miles so we hoped to make Daytona before sunset.

Then we ran aground. The first 40 miles had been easy so James hadn't spotted the warning in the guide to favour the east side of the channel after the New Smyrna Beach Bridge. We were overconfidently doing 6kts and hit the bottom hard. We managed to flag down a local boat who eventually managed to drag the bow round and we got off. However, two marks further along we had to turn left into the cut which bypasses the Ponce de Leon inlet. We had read the guide and nav warnings for this area. It was always going to be tricky in such a deep draft boat, but we hoped to follow the advice and trickle through. No such luck. Immediately we made the turn for the cut, we hit the bottom hard once more. This time we had been slower and more cautious, but we were now stuck properly.

James swinging on the boom to try to lift the keel

The tidal range here is only a couple of feet so we were not hopeful to float off anytime. We flagged down another passing boat who tried to pull us off but failed. The tide was now rising, but the flow and the breeze would be pushing us more onto the shoals. We had to inflate and launch the rib, and with judicious use of Croix des Gardes' engine and the rib, we crept inordinately slowly off the bottom.

Navigating through the 'dangerous' shoals

The guide told us there was a 6' shoal across the entire channel and it was worse at the other end of the cut. A local told us they could guide us through the 'dangerous' inlet itself for a $300 fee. We turned that down, but SeaTow did give us detailed advice of how to navigate the inlet. We tiptoed anxiously into the inlet and out of the marked channel as advised, and found ourselves in 11' of water. Further in was a secluded row of docks, complete with fine dining bars and live music. Now we were doing fine, one of the boats that had helped us before rejoined us and told us where the best spot to stop was, so we are now anchored for the night off a torch-lit pontoon with a band playing R'n'B whilst we watch the ever-present dolphins cruise lazily in the setting sun.

Waterway Wildlife

The USA seem to be very eco-savvy. The Federal Law on pollution is stringent and enforced. We are not permitted any discharge within 3nm of any shore, nor within any of the inlets or estuaries. Vessels must have a holding tank and pump out facilities are frequent. In the UK, yachts often pump out anywhere in tidal waters, and many of our race colleagues were smelt to even pump out in confined marina waters. If the US board a vessel without a holding tank, they will forcibly close the seacock and wire lock it shut to insist occupants use shore facilities.

As a consequence, the marine life is profuse. Our first venture into the ICW via the Canaveral Barge Canal was idyllic. The waters were calm and fringed by mangroves and palms. Fish were plentiful, the sea birds were feeding, and we even passed two alligators, a manatee and a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins in our first hour. We also had to negotiate several opening bridges and a lock. All the operators have come out in person to wish us a safe trip and admire our yacht. It is still perilously cold (for Florida) at 6C and we are the exception, moving north so early in the season.

Breakfast aboard when it's 6 degrees C

The Waterway itself is somewhat shallow for us, narrow and not overly obviously defined. The depth sounder regularly reaches 0.1m below the keel and we’ve seen zero a few times. At least the bottom is soft so we hope to be able to dredge our way through the worst bits. It was unnerving to see a fellow yacht hard aground at anchor just off the channel.

Bridge opening for us on Canaveral Barge Canal

The Marine Stewardship movement also seems healthy in the US. At Tampa Aquarium, I picked up the US equivalent of our UK Marine Conservation Society “Good Fish Guide” which informs consumers which species are sustainable and which should be avoided. The US “Seafood Watch” is produced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and includes both general and sushi guides. They not only colour code the best choices, good alternatives and avoid species, but also annotate which should be consumed in moderation due to concerns over mercury and other contaminants in large species higher up the food chain. We’ve been eating plenty of crab, local tuna and catfish – the latter is delicious wrapped in smoky bacon and pan-fried.

Moving On North

Yesterday, the kids were frolicking in the outdoor unheated pool at Cape Marina, Port Canaveral. This morning it is 6C and properly cold. At least we don’t have snow here. The weather continues as typical for Florida – a few days of easterlies, swinging to the south and southwest before a fresh cold front brings a norther which lasts for a few days. We are just into that fresh norther and so it will be foolish to try to sail to Hatteras ‘outside’. James has a plan that we will chug up the ICW instead and then pop out at Jacksonville FL to sail the remaining 300nm outside. It means three days of motoring but that will be cheaper than another three days in the marina and at least we’ll be moving on again.

The wildlife continues to astound – the ospreys at Sanibel allowed us to walk almost within touching distance of them on the causeway, whilst the black vultures here at Canaveral were similarly accepting of our presence as they delicately picked at a discarded fish carcass.

We have some more boat jobs to finish up today, such as replumbing the propane system to take a US gas cylinder, then we’ll be doing battle with the locks, opening bridges and shoaling of the ICW.

Normality and Storms

For a few days, we reverted to being a ‘regular’ family. ‘Normality’ began with Elizabeth’s birthday on Friday when she opened presents, visited a Toys’R’Us, ate waffles, visited the Florida Aquarium and then visited my father’s cousin, Jane, who had organised supper, birthday cake and balloons. The next day, Jane had arranged her friend to give us an insider’s tour at Lowrie Zoo, Tampa and then on Sunday we travelled further south to see nesting ospreys and kayak among the mangroves and alligators., however the highlight for Elizabeth was “staying in a real house and sleeping in a real bed again.”

The aquarium was as special as I had remembered with a wetlands section where you walk between pools with glass sides in a mangrove swamp whilst ducks paddle above the fish and other waterbirds fly around your head. The zoo was also memorable – we were introduced to the penguins inside their enclosure (although one had a taste for Matthew), fed the giraffe, listened to the gibbons sing, watched wild manatees recuperating from cold shock and red algae ingestion and photographed the many wild birds who take advantage of the safety of the zoo.

Jane’s company was enthusiastic and she was delightful to stay with. At her home, I watched the many brightly coloured native birds on her feeders – American goldfinches, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, mourning dove, red cardinal, the massive Carolina wren, yellow-throated warbler and red-bellied woodpecker. We were also lucky enough to spot swallow-tailed kites and white storks.

We had to drive through a horrendous thunderstorm on our return which straddled over 60 miles from central Florida to the coast. We stopped for supper at a Golden Corral which offered a ridiculously good value buffet complete with steaks, rib and shrimp, as well as a chocolate fountain and unlimited drinks. However, our good mood evaporated as we reached the marina – the thunderstorms had been accompanied by unusually severe gusts and even a real tornado was reported on the news as touching down at Canaveral. This obviously had caused some localised damage in the area. Many boats had been “bruised” including Croix des Gardes. We lost our burgee mast and burgee, and the expensive bespoke sun awning was ripped apart and carried off into the bay. She looked a sorry sight, even in the darkness, with tattered rags hanging off the stays.

Space Center

We nearly missed our trip to the Space Center today. Everyone slept like the dead last night, including the kids who never even had to do a night watch.

We did all the usual things at Kennedy, including getting astronaut Bob Springer's autograph. When asked what the best bit of today was, Matthew replied "the alligators!" He saw thirteen today - mainly in the water, but two "sunbathing" as well. The wildlife was spectacular with freshwater turtles, 'gators and loads of waterbirds including several heron species, two types of ibis, two types of vulture, roseate spoonbills, ospreys and bald eagles.

After Kennedy, I persuaded James to drive up the the Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge where we did the seven mile birdwatching drive. These Americans know how to do birdwatching. Just cruise around a one-way trail in your car and the birds are just metres from your vehicle. No need to walk anywhere or even leave the car for fantastic wildlife shots. We even saw more alligators. A little further north, they had been cutting the veges and I spotted an armadillo in the grass. Matthew didn't even know they existed and says they're now his favourite animal "with two mouse ears, a rabbit's head and a zebra body." OK.... Back at the Cove we saw there really is something for everyone here. The entry sign advertises all the restaurants and stores including Brown's Taxidermy. Might have to pop in to see if there's anything for Sue.

Welcome to the USA

My goodness, this marks a step change in our trip. The cold front has brought temperate weather (almost). Despite daytime temperatures in the low twenties (that's still cold for us!), the night temperatures here are in single figures. James is rummaging for the duvets and mumbling about running the boat central heating, whilst the kids still want to play in the unheated outdoor pool.

The wildlife is astonishing. Just sitting on the foredeck, I am watching squadrons of brown pelicans in breeding and non-breeding plumage. We now have real gannets and eiders, as well as gulls and terns, but all the species a British birder would twitch at. As I glance at the sky, I can see an osprey soaring above the boat accompanied by red-tailed hawks and a black vulture, whilst the grackles continue to call and mob wildly.

The culture is so different too. We hired a 'compact' car which is bigger than a large UK SUV. James is struggling with the sheer size and lack of turning circle. We also took the kids to a mall as promised in search of Harry Potter and Lego. The kids thought it was the best day of the trip yet, with real stores to browse, lots of gifts, soothies and a trip in a real car. I got cornered by a skin-care saleman. "What do you use on your face?" he asked, rashly. "Er.... only sea spray recently," I replied. It's also the land of the message board. "Jews for Jesus" proclaimed one such sign. I was bemused, but James reckoned it was for those who thought they hadn't killed him off properly the first time round.

We bought a bottle of very drinkable red wine for $4 and are now snuggling down for a chilly night aboard.

Transat Complete

James pointed out that we had only really crossed the Atlantic when we arrived on the eastern seaboard of the USA, so today we completed our transatlantic crossing, taking 3 months, 18 days. In reality, our last night at sea was very quiet as the wind and seas dropped to nothing. The fabled Florida Current was as strong as predicted, helping us along with an extra 3kts mid flow.

We sighted Canaveral and the Space Centre launch pads a couple of hours before dawn and entered the port at breakfast. The approach has various turtle- and right whale habitat restricted areas, and right on cue, a large leatherback turtle surfaced as we entered the channel. We literally arrived just in time, weather wise. We had no sooner secured our lines when an almighty thunderstorm hit the coast.

Now we have a day to sort ourselves out and recover before we visit the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow, then head for Tampa to visit relatives and the zoo / aquarium. The forecast for the next few days is poor for sailing but we have paid for a week here and then it's off to sea once more for the three day passage up the coast to Beaufort NC and the start of our adventure on the Intracoastal Waterway up to Chesapeake Bay. If any of you reading this have suggestions of things not to miss between here and there, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

For those who asked about the tracking during the race, we had to carry a bespoke Argos tracker which pinged our position every fifteen minutes. Once the race finished, we had to give it back!

Nearly There!

We had our best run ever yesterday. The Florida Current was sweeping us along with a healthy breeze and we were average 8.5kts for several hours. James was worried about midnight arrivals at Canaveral.

The Northwest Providence Channel was worse than passing Dover at home. It was literally heaving with cruise ships inbound to Nassau and commercial craft for Freetown. At one point I had 34 ships on the AIS as I passed the oil terminal.

By morning, we were still hurtling along when the weather began to change. A new cold front was drifting south and we ran into it just off the west of Grand Bahama Island. The wind increased and veered rapidly round to the northwest - bang on the nose. I had to wake James to reduce sail in a hurry and consider our options. The direction was not forecast for this area and James was concerned that if it built into a true "norther" we'd get hammered by the steep seas it would generate in the Straits of Florida. We tacked and battled it for a time whilst I tried to persuade any Bahamian station or marina to give us a meaningful forecast - they were all a bit too laid back to be honest. We recalculated a course for Lake Worth, the nearest mainland inlet, and decided to give it a couple of hours.

The wind stayed put in the NW, then dropped. James began to motor. The wind shifted - we tacked. It shifted again - we tacked again. It died - we resumes a direct course for Canaveral and now has come back in WNW so we are motor sailing back on our original course. With just over 100nm to run, we are estimating Canaveral at lunchtime tomorrow and will be grateful of a few unbroken nights' sleep. The children have behaved brilliantly whilst James and I try to catch up on lost hours' rest during the day but they will be pleased to have our full attention again and the chance to run around on land.

What's in a name?

So far on this trip, we have visited Port Elizabeth, passed by Matthew Town and rounded James Point. What did those ancient pioneering mariners that first named these shores have against me?

The wind has continued to drop and the seas remain resolutely flat despite the fact that we are running the east coast of Eleuthera Island and so are exposed to the full brunt of the Atlantic. In fact, the wind was so light yesterday afternoon that we actually flew the spinnaker. This was its first airing since December and the poor thing was still sopping wet in its bag. We were pleased that Dave and Ollie had left us a little gift when they last packed it in the Atlantic – I lifted the spinnaker bag to reveal a small and rather smelly flying fish stuck to it. We dropped the spinnaker in the night and stuffed it into the saloon to pack in the morning, and now the whole boat smells somewhat fishy.

We've noticed that many commercial vessels do not alter course until quite close to us so we hailed a passing cruise ship to ask for details on our returns. They had a "strong radar return" at 7nm but did not pick up our AIS until 5nm, despite us picking them up from about 20nm. I suppose it is a low power limitation of the Class B non-commercial device fitted to yachts, and this reduced transmission range would also help explain our rather erratic position fixes on the AIS website.

It seems to be cruise ship central here with convoys of the things heading south past us, out of Nassau I presume. We've not seen any more yachts since George Town. Under 260nm to run to Canaveral so we're expecting to arrive daytime Wednesday and are currently on a reach powering along at 8kt, but we suspect we may end this passage with 24 hours with the engine.

Land Ahoy!

We spied the old lighthouse at Castle Island late afternoon after an uneventful crossin gof the Mira Por Vos Passage ("Watch out for yourselves!") The light was converted to electricity and has since deteriorated and no longer works, but the 40m high tower remains imposing.

Although the weather is decidedly cooler now, we spied the possibility of a quick stop for a snorkel in a tiny anchorage. The sun was just about high enough, but the route through the reef was indeed minuscule and the chop outside a hindrance, so James had to signal me to turn about before we got in far enough to drop the hook.

We also saw our first other yacht - "Moondog" was also heading north, but she had come from Bonaire. They called us to chat - we were their first sighting also - then we ended up running all night in formation until we eventually overhauled them off Long Island.

We are now at 24N 75W running the west side of Cat Island. We had planned to be bold and take one of the visual routes through the Exuma Cays and into The Tongue of the Ocean, however only two of these are available to Croix des Gardes and both require good sun and good weather. Today is slightly overcast so we have opted for the less interesting passage between Little San Salvador and Eleuthera. This is a relatively deep (enough) passage that we can make in the dark as will will arrive there about 8pm local time.

There is more Bahamian cargo traffic too, most of which seems to set itself on a collision course, refuse to talk to us on the DSC nor channel 16 and then only alter course a bare minimum after the 20 minute collision warning has sounded. This is bad for my nerves!

The sea is now utterly flat and we are making good speed under full sail. We pressed the genoa back on this morning and are running goose-winged and poled out. The forecast is for the wind to continue to drop and we hope to round up onto our northerly track up to the Northwest Providence Channel and back onto a reach before the wind drops much more. We're over halfway with just over 400nm to run to Canaveral so hopeful for landfall on Wednesday.

The Bahamas – going the wrong way in the wrong boat

When we left the UK, we had charts (for the passages) and pilot guides (for the details of where to anchor in which conditions etc) for most of our route. Tim Blackman had kindly given us his complete set from his Transat Classique in 2008, but he had given the Bahamas and Intra Coastal Waterway a miss. James had trouble getting guides in the UK but thought it should be easy to pick them up this side of The Pond. We were wrong. Everything is based on the American boat cruising down from north to south from the USA. Even in the BVIs, it was impossible to find a chart or guide for anything other than the BVIs and USVIs – the limits of the charter fleet excursions.

Whilst we were awaiting our ensign, I had ordered two pilots from Amazon. The delivery had cost as much as the guides. It turns out I spent all that money to find out that there is only one stop in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos suitable for Croix des Gardes and that is Nassau. Despite our fatigue at yesterday's conditions, it still seems daft to pay the $300 clearing fee just to visit Nassau.

We spent the last 24hrs running under three reefs and staysail only. Matthew was moved to James' berth, Elizabeth took the driest of the saloon berths and James and I slept in our wets. The wild ride only abated in the early hours, but we were reluctant to increase sail. Only by morning did we shake out a reef. The wind dropped rapidly to force 4 and we are now running downwind under full sail once more. We have stopped shipping waves over the deck and things are beginning to dry out down below, although the remains of the swell are still causing a lot of roll.

Having failed to make good progress to windward, we had to discard any ideas of running to Provo, Caicos for respite and bore off for Little Inagua instead. We cleared the north of the island just before midnight and are now tracking for the south west corner of the Crooked Island / Acklins archipelago. I read the pilot in hope of a quiet day stop so we could do a spot of snorkelling but to no avail. The guide tells of exposed Atlantic coasts, shallow coral-infested west coasts and no facilities or sheltered anchorages. "If you have no purpose other than poling around to see what it is like down there, think twice." There is one protected anchorage hereabouts at French Cay where we will find "at least 12ft of water," but it is only by examining the chart that we see we need to cross a sand bar at the entrance with barely 7ft of water at high springs. Yet another haven is denied our deep draft yacht.

This is a shame as the areas sound really interesting. Great Inagua is a National Park and home to the largest flock of flamingos in the Western hemisphere, as well as roseate spoonbills, reddish egrets and other interesting birds. Further on, the Crooked-Acklins-Long Cay archipelago has two interesting and ancient disused lighthouses to explore and amazing beaches and reefs. Tomorrow will take us past Long Island with its internationally famous blue hole – a 4000ft deep cavern just off the shore where the AIDA free diving records are made. Again, every anchorage here is for vessels drawing 6ft or less, and require calm seas, good weather and a noonday sun to make the visual approach round the shifting sands and coral heads. We will press on and hope to see our first land since leaving Puerto Rico this afternoon.

Wind and Rain

We motored through most of the night until we reached in cold front in the early hours. The wind piked up rapidly to 20kts and we were racing along under two reefs by my dawn watch. As day broke, the wind continued to build and then the torrential rain began, followed by even more wind. I had to disturb James twice for sail changes. It peaked around 35kts but then settled to 30kts northerly with building seas to match. We had several slap the hull and then dump over the doghouse.

The conditions are not 'heavy' or dangerous, but they are wet and uncomfortablle. For me, it is a choice between being soaked in the cockpit or sick down below. Croix des Gardes had also developed some interesting new drips. I had to throw out some no longer dry galley supplies and the only dry bunks are James' berth and the children's. However, the fo'c'sle is unusable due to the plunging of the bow. Even the loo roll got soaked and had to be jettisoned overboard. We've also lost a sail batten - the pocket pulled undone whilst the sail was flogging during a reef and the batten was thrashed out into the sea leaving the main somewhat noisy.

We are now 21N 72W below the Caicos islands runninng to pass between Great and Little Inagua. If conditions do not ease up, we shall look for somewhere to anchor and mop up until they do, but it will not be until daylight tomorrow as there are no suitable anchorages in Caicos without a hard slog into wind.

In Search of Whales

Before leaving the UK, I had discovered that the area between Grand Turk and the Dominican Republic is a hotspot for viewing humpback whales. These massive animals migrate here from New England to calf and mate, with the unsurveyed Silver Bank being a prime calving ground. They can also be watched displaying and breaching off Samana, Dominican Republic, and on migration back north from the beaches of Salt Cay, Turks and Caicos. The literature suggests that our planned arrival of mid-February would catch the tail end of the season, so my hopes were realistically low for our crossing now in mid-March.

We had managed to sail for ten hours from supper last night until the early hours, but the wind remains light and the seas calm. We were running about 5nm south of Silver Bank and saw a small boat heading south from the Bank. I surmised it may have been whale watching and persuaded James to approve a course change directly for the bank. I had little hope of seeing anything, but James was game to run a few miles over the bank as the sun was high and we had the best chart of the area.

I was watching for shallows and coral heads when I saw a plume of water some miles off our starboard bow. Through the binoculars, I could see the spouts of breathing whales. We altered course directly towards them, slowing as we approached. There were at least four animals in the pod but possibly several more as they would surface to breathe and then sink below the surface. Their distinctive humped backs were very obvious with each breath, hence their common name. We dropped out of gear and held off a few hundred metres away and watched as they started to display. One animal breached, leaping almost clear of the water with just its tail flukes remaining submerged. Another breached and then we watched the classic fin waving and tail slapping that these whales are famous for. We stayed for some time before choosing again to move on. We saw another two groups of whales from a distance during our passage off the banks but none allowed us so close as this first pod.

We can see cirrus cloud ahead of us and this should herald the expected cold front. Brisk winds are forecast as the front passes but it should leave us to broad reach in 15-20kts of wind all the way up the Bahamas in its wake. James and I are now settled in a three hour watch system and I feel much less tired today than yesterday, now my body is again used to sleeping with the motion at sea. I retire shortly after supper leaving James on watch until 10pm. I then cover until 1am, then James and finally me again from 4am. The children were given a project to make and colour a paper fort today and then spent the afternoon watching the whales and "Mamma Mia."

Offshore Again

Once FedEx had delivered, April the autopilot's American "face-lift" operation was quick and painless, and she was ready for action by 1530 compete with brand new control unit. It then only took one quick phone call to US Customs to clear out and we were on our way, escorted by the very friendly San Juan pilot.

The weekend's heavy swell was still causing a large sea, so Elizabeth and I had been taking Stugeron since the morning to try to stave off the inevitable queasiness. I supplemented mine with Dramamine and fortunately both of us were fine. We both enjoyed our steak sandwiches for supper.

The coastal waters of Puerto Rico were thick green for some miles offshore with a sharp line separating the nutrient-rich and coral-poor urban run-off waters from the deep indigo Atlantic Ocean. It is a relief to return to such clear waters after a week in the city. It was also beguiling to see the phosphorescence in the water once again. There is a bay off Vieques to the east of Puerto Rico where the phosphorescence is said to be the brightest in the world.

Overnight, I slept fitfully. I relieved James at 2300 but woke him inadvertently at 0245 by swearing as the now fickle wind caused a noisy but trivial gybe. We rigged the preventer and I left him on watch for another three hours before returning at 0645. Unfortunately, as the day grew brighter, the clouds burned back and the wind dropped, leaving us to motor by noon - an unexpected pleasure after being forced to pure sail by race regulations in previous ocean passages.

We are now north of the Dominican Republic but some hundred miles offshore, over the Puerto Rican trench. This subduction zone between the Atlantic and Caribbean tectonic plates is one of the deepest areas of ocean on the planet with depths of nearly 9000m. The plan is to run WNW just inside the Navidad and Silver Banks towards the southern edge of Turks and Caicos, thereafter up the middle of the Bahamas. The forecast is for lightening winds and we expect to have to motor tomorrow, but then the breeze stiffens as another front passes, but we should be in the shelter of the Bahamas by then.

Next Passage Beckons

We're going back on to "transmit only" now for ten days. The autopilot control unit should be with us by 3pm local time then we'll set off. James estimates ten days to reach Florida and we shall spend a couple of nights' resting at anchor without clearing in on the Bahama bank. James is hoping now to make landfall at Cape Harbour Marine near the Space Center as the rates are half of those further south around Palm Beach etc. Ian Martin has kindly agreed to send us text weather updates daily from the NWS site and the forecast is looking kind. Hopefully we won't break anything else...

Last of the Beaches

Still no news on the replacement autopilot, so it looks like at least another 24hrs here in Puerto Rico. It seems odd to think we'll soon be journeying another 1000 miles north, away from the endless summer, white beaches and turquoise seas of the Caribbean. The weather in Florida will be decidedly cool compared to what we've grown accustomed to - at least five degrees cooler by day and dropping to single figures overnight. The sea will also be cooler and, if memory serves, although the Eastern Seaboard beaches are sandy the Atlantic swells crash in a will almost certainly deter the children.

We had a lazy Sunday on the beach as a result here in San Juan. It seems the whole city makes their way to the shore to picnic and party on the sands. The swell was massive, as forecast, with huge tumbling breakers just off shore, but the bathing areas are completely protected and the children could tumble in the water without worry.

Today we've been provisioning and tidying the yacht whilst hoping the autopilot arrives. We have been joined by a German dismasted catamaran, but she looks so tidy with all her rigging removed that we feel too embarrassed to stare too hard so see how the loss occurred. We shall fill the children up from the unlimited buffet at Sizzler and place our hopes in FedEx.

More Visitors

This morning, I awoke to the now usual light overcast skies and cooler breeze. I gazed about and jumped as I spotted two massive cruise ships berthed a few metres from our anchor. The main cruise dock was full and so these were using the Panamerican dock next to us. Needless to say, the old town was heaving with weekend locals, fours ships worth of tourists and miles of stalls trying to sell tourist tat. We visited the less salubrious parts of the old town, including the cramped and run down area squeezed between the city walls, the cemetery and the rough coast in the north of the old town. The alleys were crowded with folks dressed as tattily as we were and crumbling, small tenements shoulder to shoulder with no room for gardens or sidewalks.

Back at the beach, the locals were out in force with their massive chilly-bins on wheels and fancy lidded barbies running on gas. The children played with locals in the surf whilst James read.

English in the US

As a Briton, this is only my third visit to the USA. My first experience was of central Florida, where the waitresses were made up as if they’d stepped off a TV film set and God was everything, second only to the motor car. My second experience had been in the crumbling backwater that is Pacific Guam. Puerto Rico seems to offer the best in US culture coupled with a perfect climate.

Suddenly, we have large, cheap supermarkets again. Items such as eggs and red meat are not only cheap, but half the price we pay in the UK (eggs are $2 a dozen and Angus steaks $2.79 per pound). However, it is hard to track down any European-style bread or bakery products. The Americans prefer their sickly sweet batch loaves, unfeasibly long-life hotdog buns and donuts to croissants and baguettes here. Bizarrely, Americans seem to swing between eating extremes – most packaged foods vie with each other for the lowest fat content, whilst the freezer section is full of beef patties, popcorn shrimps and high-fat processed potato products.

Again, the car is king. Fuel is oddly sold per litre (and retails about $1 per litre for ‘gas’ or diesel) and sidewalks are the exception outside the old city. We need to navigate several blocks from the marina to the Pueblo supermarket, including crossing three major highways and walking through a highway underpass. None of these busy multi-lane roads has any sidewalk or pedestrian crossing, nor a bridge or underpass, so we have to dash between the Chevvies and Mustangs with our groceries. Similarly, there is a sidewalk along the harbour waterfront into town but no crossings or sidewalks to move to the Atlantic coast where the beaches are. Again, we cross several highways loaded down with masks and snorkels to reach them.

Even Elizabeth has commented on the population. The residents are primarily Hispanics with very few Afro-Caribbeans. Accents seem to be 70% Spanish but then you get surprised by a through-and-through all-American reply. The school groups we encounter seem to speak less American than the adults and in the suburbs we only really hear Spanish.

The local taxi driver told us more about everyday life in San Juan. Down the coast from us is the district of the wealthy where gated mansions sweep down to the private beaches of pristine sand. Closer in are the areas of apartments where the middle classes life. Then, on the outskirts of the old city are the less attractive tenements where the poorer folks can rent a room for just $25 per month if they qualify. The old city itself if very chic and desirable, with lots of apartments being spruced up and renovated, presumably to demand high rents from executives and Government officials.

Tourism is obviously important, especially when the cruise ships are in port. Again, the locals tell us that bars never display their beer prices in old San Juan so they can charge a tourist $6 a beer whilst the locals only pay $1.50. Across the bay is the massive Bacardi factory churning out 100,000 bottles per day and looking more like a chemical processing plant.

It’s been quite fun to wear our faded and torn boat clothes around town. We are obviously not cruise ship passengers and so the tourist touts tend to leave us alone whilst the locals are keen to engage us. The crew aboard The Amistad were happy for us to come alongside in the rib and then even gave us a complimentary guided tour. She is a true working replica run as a charity and requires many hours work from many strong hands. In contrast, a steel-hulled replica Spanish galleon arrived from Malaga under power and is charging $8 a tour before she leaves next weekend.

San Juan Culture

Old San Juan is home to two UNESCO World Heritage sites – the forts of El Morro and San Cristobel. Entry is refreshingly cheap and these are run by the US National Parks service. For a Brit, it is slightly comedic to see the Park Rangers in their khaki shirts, green shorts and distinctive wide-brimmed fawn hats as our only exposure to the traditional uniform is through Yogi Bear cartoons.  However, everyone goes out of their way to help and make the trip enjoyable. The children spent two days exploring every labyrinthine twist and turn in both forts and we were not permitted to leave until they had been down every passage, groped through every tunnel and peeked through every doorway. Even the graffiti is historic with many sketches of Spanish galleons on the walls and shutters.

As the smallest of the Greater Antilles, the wildlife is very different to the smaller Lesser Antilles. Just in the city, it is obvious how much more diverse the bird species are with white-winged doves now common, many more passerines and noisy groups of monk parakeets swarming the old town coast. Nearer our anchorage, the local beach has calm waves protected from the prevailing surf. A sculpture garden has been erected in the shallows and has attracted reef fish in for snorkelers to admire. We now see the distinctive porkfish as well as blue tang and ocean surgeonfish, and even saw a night sergeant. We were not prepared to carry Matthew’s buoyancy aid around town so he was forced into the sea without it and found that he could indeed snorkel unaided. He is thrilled at finally being able to swim, but only with mask and snorkel as he still sits rather low in the water. Back in the old town, we revisited Pigeon Park with broken crackers where the feral pigeons crawl all over you to get a morsel. James and Elizabeth took to catching the tamer birds whilst Matthew just chased them. We then drank cheap beer in a Madrid-style bar and wandered the leafy avenues. We could really get to like San Juan.

Our autohelm is literally just outside warranty based on purchase date but well within time based on installation. Although the UK agent was keen to try for a warranty claim, Simrad dug their heels in and we’ve been forced to spend several hundred pounds on a new unit. James is not impressed as we bought it at the Boat Show in January but the unit was not installed before April, so we effectively lost three months’ worth of warranty for the show discount. The replacement is not as sophisticated as the one that failed but should arrive on Monday which will allow us to continue on Tuesday.

We are now significantly behind our planned schedule and are running out of time to reach Chesapeake before I have to leave at the end of April. James has suggested we miss out the Bahamas completely now and make the 1200nm passage from here non-stop to Florida. This will help make up some time as well as making clearing back into the US mainland easier as we will not have visited any foreign ports, and save us the exorbitant $300 fee charged by the Bahamas to all visiting foreign vessels. We were always reticent about this charge as, with our deep draft, there are very few places we can visit anyway in the Bahamas and will have to miss great chunks of the 700 islands as the waters are far too shoal, with hundreds of square miles less than 1m deep. I had hoped to dive the blue sink holes of Abacos, join a shark feed or kayak the mangroves of Lucayan National Park, but these can wait. Our plan is now to try to reach Miami in time for Elizabeth’s birthday, where we will hire a car to visit Tampa and the Everglades.

Welcome to Civilisation

Puerto Rico boasts many superlatives, much loved by Americans. The smallest of the Great Antilles, has a population of 4 million and the first ‘proper’ cities we’ve seen since leaving Europe. As we crossed the Pasaje San Juan from Culebra to the mainland, it was like a scene from Logan’s Run. We were conditioned to vistas of mountains, forests and small towns and had crossed in heavy rain. As the mist lifted, our eyes took in the rainforests and mountains of El Yunque tumbling down to the skyscrapers among the forested foothills of the coast. The northern coast is similarly contrasting with large developments around the mangroves and reefs until the sprawl of San Juan itself comes into view.

San Juan is the second oldest European-founded settlement in the Americas and the oldest in the USA. The US guide waxes lyrical about the 16^th Century culture, UNESCO World Heritage forts, architecture, galleries and museums. The USA was only ceded the protectorate from Spain after a war just over a century ago, so it is a recent addition and the language is still Spanish. The guide warns of street crime in the capital but also that visitors need not be obsessed with safety and “the overall safety of the area is high in comparison to many other Caribbean destinations”.

It also boasts the USA’s only tropical rainforest, its oldest wildlife reserve and the cheapest beer in the Caribbean. As well as beer, the Bacardi rum factory is just the other side of the harbour to us. Nestling on the north coast, San Juan has “some of the best municipal beaches this side of Rio de Janeiro”, the first one being just a few hundred metres from the anchorage. A little further is the SoFo district “with enough cutting edge restaurants to justify a trip in its own right.”

The city made us forget we weren’t in Europe with the Spanish colonial architecture and 500 year old fortifications. The city’s streets remain as they were when the USA acquired the protectorate, complete with verandas, balustrades and cobbles. It is stunningly beautiful and you only need cross a couple of narrow streets to escape the touristic souvenirs into quiet residential alleys where each frontage is a different pastel shade and each veranda overflows with plants.

The city remains much as it was a century ago with the fortified walls intact. The Governor still lives in the first fort to have been built, La Fortaleza, whilst the other two defences are UNESCO Word Heritage sites. The seat of government is La Casa Blanca – an imposing white marble building not dissimilar to Capitol Hill in Washington and everything is within a short walk. On the sea front, a working replica of the Amistad lies alongside between the cruise ships, whilst a working replica Spanish Galleon (complete with modern diesel engine) is ahead of her and open for tours.