OUR FIRST DATE WAS SAILING (SAN FRANCISCO)

“Our first date was sailing and the second date was varnishing!” That’s what we Scan 15tell people anD however unromantic it sounds, it is the truth.  When Whitey asked me on a date to go sailing with him in May, 1988, I thought it would just be a fun day with an obviously fun guy.  As a single girl living in San Francisco, the opportunity to go sailing on the bay was naturally on my wish list.  As a girl from Utah, I had lived three years in the Bay Area and had yet to be invited on a boating trip on the Bay.  

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RUNNING FROM THE STORM (ST. MARTIN)

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Tamarin sailing

Hurricanes can be devastating and disastrous.   Over the years Whitey and I have had our share of disasters, most (but not all) from hurricanes. Each one is a story of it’s own.

One year, we thought we were being prudent by getting out of the Virgin Islands by early July and heading south for hurricane season. It was 1996 when we scheduled a charter in the St. Martin and St Barth’s region for the first two weeks of July. We were then planning on heading straight to the island of Grenada that is south of the hurricane belt.

The previous year, Hurricane Marilyn in September, 1995 had done tremendous damage to our charter catamaran, Tamarin of Tortola. The complete rebuilding of Tamarin in 4 months is another story. However, with insurance and the hard work of us, friends and the boat yard in Tortola, we were back in business by the end of January, 1996.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DUCK (SAN FRANCISCO, PANAMA CANAL, BVI)

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Being towed behind the boat

We have a duck! Yes, that is right. Deek is the easy child or guest you always wanted. His needs are simple, he doesn’t eat, has no complaints – just sits on the boat with a happy grin on his little beak. He prefers sunshine but is content on the boat if it is raining. Our duck is called ‘Dr. Deek’ which is short for ‘Dr. Decoy Duck’.

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MOVIES AND BREADFRUIT (SAN BLAS ISLANDS, PANAMA)

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Victor and Lisa’s Island

We had become friends with Victor and Lisa, the Chief and his wife of the Western Hollandaise group in the San Blas Islands. One day, Victor showed up at our boat, ‘Tamarin of Tortola’, to collect the $5 Monthly Cruising Tax. It’s just a little fee for anchoring in their little group of islands.

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Nargana in the San Blas Islands

The Hollandaise Islands are approximately 7 miles from the main land of Panama. The nearest populated islands were Nargana and Corazon de Jesus, two crowded islands that were joined together by a bridge. Victor and Lisa were from Nargana, which is also known as Rio Diablo after the nearby river. They and their extended family were in charge of the group of islands known as the Western Hollandaise.

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A HIDDEN CORNER OF THE WORLD (RIO DULCE, GUATEMALA)

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Beautiful Rio Dulce

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Follow the birds

South ofBelize is a little known corner of the Western Caribbean. With the countries of Belize, Guatemala and Hondurus the Bay of Hondurus leads to the entrance of a beautiful, hidden river called the Rio Dulce. This river has become a popular spot for cruisers for years but we have just discovered it.Just a three-hour motor sail from our new home in Placencia, Belize we had a get away weekend to this spot recently. The entrance of the river has a town called Livingston where we are required to check in to the country.   We first have to get over ‘the bar’. Not a bar for a cerveza but a sand bar that is 5’2” at low tide. With the draft on Gypsy Blue at 5’9” we needed to go over at high tide. The cruising guide seems to have fairly accurate coordinates and approach details. The seas were choppy as we arrived late afternoon and we could feel a soft touch on the bottom. Luckily it is soft sand or mud.   We finally get through to the anchorage in front of Livingston. Unfortunately it is 5:00 pm when we drop anchor in front of the town of Livingston.   It is too late to check in so we will have to spend the night in this rolly anchorage. Uggh! We hate rolly anchorages.

We wake up early to a misty morning with at least a hundred local fishing boats returning from their night of fishing. Such a beautiful sight to see in the morning. We put the dinghy in the water to see the Port Captain and all other officials so we are legal in the country and can head up the river. We are on a rushed schedule as we only have a few days for this trip. Our purpose is to take the boat out of Belize after 90 days and also we want to check out the Rio to see about bringing Gypsy Blue there for hurricane season this summer.

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