OK............this is my news letter update.
The last 7 days has seen the start of the great voyage...
We left Palm Beach, Florida on Friday afternoon 29th May.....and to day, 10.30pm Sunday evening 6th June we are arriving in Colon, the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal
What an amazing trip it has been passing down through the inside passage of the Bahamas, then thru 'The Old Bahamas Passage’ then along the northen shore line of Cuba, turning right(or South)to pass between Haiti and Cuban en route to Panama.
We went quite close to the US detention center Guantanamo Bay in Cuba......as we went past a US Coast Guard Cutter stood off us and once we spoke to them they moved on.!!
Jets fly over contantly coming out of the Key West US airforce base so its all pretty well guarded. The US Govt has a 300 year lease on Guantanamo Bay so it needs to protect it.. Apparently by having the detainees in Cuba they do not have any US Civil rights etc.!!
The seas have been generally good although we had a few nights of a 20NMPH wind on our port bow quarter which was a little uncomfortable......the boat handles it all right but it is not really designed for rougher water and things move around quite a lot....we had sandwiches for dinner a few nights running.!!
The run past the Bahamas was fascinating.....going quite close to many islands we saw really old lighthouses that reminded us of all the olden days of shipwrecks and pirates etc...we are actually traveling over many old wrecks from 100's of years ago.
The trip across the Mexican Gulf was uneventful except for all the ships travelling past us ..either going down to the Panama Canal or having just been through it.
Our fishing exploits have not been brilliant...we have 3 large Dolphin Fish to date. all were eaten and how yummy they were.
We passed a small pod of Killer Whales, they have huge Dorsel Fins..a bit scary.
Today we will recieve instructions about our passage through the Canal.....we will have to wait in line and go through when we are told.
Once we are through the canal we will spend a day in Panama city and then we are off for our 800 NM run to the Gallapogas Islands and think back to what Charles darwin first thought of when he saw the Islands in the 1700's.
Cheers now.
Rick
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Update 2nd June 2010
Island Voyager has now been to sea for four days. They have been running with no auto pilot and have been experiencing 20knot winds on the ¼. The winds have generally been north east and it has been extremely hard to steer. Everything is together now so things should get better. It has been too rough to do much work. Rick and Mick start their shift at 2am and work till 6am. They then have time off and come on shift again from 2pm to 6pm.
Their bearing as we speak is North 2o .25.800
West 074.06.9500
They are on the north east corner of cuba just about to enter the passage called windward passage with lies between cuba and Haiti. They then have approx 700 to 750 nautical miles straight on to Panama. They are travelling 140 nautical miles per day so if we divide the 750 nautial miles to Panama by 140 they are travelling, they will expect to get to panama in 5 and a half days from right now.
Rick said that they have been travelling at times about 7 nautical miles off shore and have been able to see villages at night and storm cells during the day and night.
He sounded very tired and said he would try and call again when they get to Panama. He said to say everything is fine and there will be more good news soon.
Their bearing as we speak is North 2o .25.800
West 074.06.9500
They are on the north east corner of cuba just about to enter the passage called windward passage with lies between cuba and Haiti. They then have approx 700 to 750 nautical miles straight on to Panama. They are travelling 140 nautical miles per day so if we divide the 750 nautial miles to Panama by 140 they are travelling, they will expect to get to panama in 5 and a half days from right now.
Rick said that they have been travelling at times about 7 nautical miles off shore and have been able to see villages at night and storm cells during the day and night.
He sounded very tired and said he would try and call again when they get to Panama. He said to say everything is fine and there will be more good news soon.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Update 27.5.2010
Well it looks as though we will be back in the waters of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida today , after 3 weeks of the boat sitting in a boat yard. doing maintenance, complete sanding back of the hull and hull repainting, engine and electronic maintenance etc.
We are now stocking the galleys with heaps on long distance food....everything in America is so full of sugar no wonder they all have bad teeth and are overweight.!
A typical breakfast ( not for us I might add ) is pancakes cooked in heaps of butter covered in sweet sticky maple syrup....then 3 cups of coffee with more sugar....or as we found out in the motels we stayed in on our incredible journey down over 37 bridges to Key West on the weekend cover the pancakes with hamburgers and cheese and more sugar.
Anyway we are stocking up on all healthy stuff.....lost of frozen veggies and we will do a meat order today.
Mick tells us we must allow 1 pound of meat per person per day, so given we will be at sea for 40 days until French Polynesia we will need 90+ kg's of meat........that’s half a bullock. The Americans call there beef cuts a different name to us.......and they cut it in a different way.......
I am hoping that I will be suppling heaps of fish to our diet...Mick and I are have been getting our fishing tackle all ready.
Remembering we will be travelling at 6kts and not able to stop in a hurry like Reel Lady ....(Island Voyager weighs in at 90 tonnes ) we will be trolling lures with 3/8 inch rope. They will have 250lb traces on them finishing with 170 lb standard wire....then our lures.
We expect to catch 50 kg+ Wahoo..(big critters with very sharp teeth ) Yellow Fin Tuna up to 60 kg and smaller Dolphin Fish ( Mia Mia ) up to 40 kg.
All great eating and very healthy..( no sugar )...in fact as the fish will be so huge we will just cut a fillet off them and let them go!!!!!
It will be great to be up and away....life in a boat yard has its moments......we are locked in from 6.00pm each night. Mick and I have found a way to escape, we jump in the rubber duck and travel down the canals and find some nice little waterfront bar or restaurant!!
Talking of canals the real estate market here is interesting...we heard some horror stories last night in a restaurant....beach side homes that sold for $600+K 4 to 5 years ago now being sold by the banks for $80K......
Canal homes here in Palm Beach Gardens are down form $3ml to around $700K.......I am now thinking Oz real estate is so overpriced.....values have been underpinned by capital growth expectations, greedy developers and supply shortages created by greedy buyers........mmmmmm........best not to tell to many people that one.
Our passage from Miami will take us down along the northern shore line of Cuba.....interesting.....but better than our old proposed passage taking us to the western end of Cuba.
We will be going down the 'Old Baham Channel'.....this takes up within 10 miles of Cuba....actually inside their territorial waters...but there is heaps of shipping using this passage so they don’t seem to mind.
There are some stories getting around about Cubans boarding the vessel and demanding money etc but the US have planes etc patrolling that part of the world daily so a phone call on the Sat phone will bring in a couple of F18's.(hopefully). We have our Australian flag flying at the moment but we think we might change it back to a US flag when we go past Cuba....they seem to like Americans now but not sure if they would even know what an Oz' Ensign looks like.
All being well we will be sitting in the Panama Marina have cocktails watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.....
More news in 10 days.......
Rick
We are now stocking the galleys with heaps on long distance food....everything in America is so full of sugar no wonder they all have bad teeth and are overweight.!
A typical breakfast ( not for us I might add ) is pancakes cooked in heaps of butter covered in sweet sticky maple syrup....then 3 cups of coffee with more sugar....or as we found out in the motels we stayed in on our incredible journey down over 37 bridges to Key West on the weekend cover the pancakes with hamburgers and cheese and more sugar.
Anyway we are stocking up on all healthy stuff.....lost of frozen veggies and we will do a meat order today.
Mick tells us we must allow 1 pound of meat per person per day, so given we will be at sea for 40 days until French Polynesia we will need 90+ kg's of meat........that’s half a bullock. The Americans call there beef cuts a different name to us.......and they cut it in a different way.......
I am hoping that I will be suppling heaps of fish to our diet...Mick and I are have been getting our fishing tackle all ready.
Remembering we will be travelling at 6kts and not able to stop in a hurry like Reel Lady ....(Island Voyager weighs in at 90 tonnes ) we will be trolling lures with 3/8 inch rope. They will have 250lb traces on them finishing with 170 lb standard wire....then our lures.
We expect to catch 50 kg+ Wahoo..(big critters with very sharp teeth ) Yellow Fin Tuna up to 60 kg and smaller Dolphin Fish ( Mia Mia ) up to 40 kg.
All great eating and very healthy..( no sugar )...in fact as the fish will be so huge we will just cut a fillet off them and let them go!!!!!
It will be great to be up and away....life in a boat yard has its moments......we are locked in from 6.00pm each night. Mick and I have found a way to escape, we jump in the rubber duck and travel down the canals and find some nice little waterfront bar or restaurant!!
Talking of canals the real estate market here is interesting...we heard some horror stories last night in a restaurant....beach side homes that sold for $600+K 4 to 5 years ago now being sold by the banks for $80K......
Canal homes here in Palm Beach Gardens are down form $3ml to around $700K.......I am now thinking Oz real estate is so overpriced.....values have been underpinned by capital growth expectations, greedy developers and supply shortages created by greedy buyers........mmmmmm........best not to tell to many people that one.
Our passage from Miami will take us down along the northern shore line of Cuba.....interesting.....but better than our old proposed passage taking us to the western end of Cuba.
We will be going down the 'Old Baham Channel'.....this takes up within 10 miles of Cuba....actually inside their territorial waters...but there is heaps of shipping using this passage so they don’t seem to mind.
There are some stories getting around about Cubans boarding the vessel and demanding money etc but the US have planes etc patrolling that part of the world daily so a phone call on the Sat phone will bring in a couple of F18's.(hopefully). We have our Australian flag flying at the moment but we think we might change it back to a US flag when we go past Cuba....they seem to like Americans now but not sure if they would even know what an Oz' Ensign looks like.
All being well we will be sitting in the Panama Marina have cocktails watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.....
More news in 10 days.......
Rick
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Introduction
This blog is a diary of the journey from Palm Beach Florida To Townsville Australia on board the 93' Broward motor cruiser "Island Voyager"
Being one of the many victims of the global economic crisis, Island Voyager has been laid up for 18 months in Florida after a charter career in the US Virgin Islands, prior to her purchase by Skipper and new owner Tom and his wife Kaye Hatrick.
Eventually Island Voyager will be doing luxury charters on the Great Barrier Reef as part of Tom's charter business 'Utopia Charters". www.utopiagamefishing.com.au
Tom would like to make a special thanks to John Blumenthal a very helpful ex pat Australian boat broker living in Florida for his invaluable help with an army of available tradesmen and local knowledge. Johns local Florida knowledge and willingness to help has saved us many of the pitfalls experienced when trying to source reliable and honest trades people when in a foreign country. If you're thinking about importing a boat, John's your man.
The huge skill pool we have from our very experienced crew has been invaluable in the process of getting this old classic cruiser and all her systems back up and running again in pristine condition for our voyage. We are all are eager to throw the lines and depart on our adventure of a life time. Watch this spot and see how we go.
Preparation
After purchasing the vessel and having little success negotiating a reasonable shipping rate, I decided to take on a long dreamt about adventure, motor my own vessel across the Pacific. deciding to do it was the easy part as was finding the number of friends willing and eager to join us. In fact almost every one of my friends from the game fishing fraternity I mentioned what I was considering to, couldn't start trying to arrange work leave quick enough.
Sourcing correct information was what I would only describe as a very interesting and very often frustrating experience. In fact weeks of time spent on the phone and internet seems mind boggling for the little amount of vital and important information we actually needed.
Being one of the many victims of the global economic crisis, Island Voyager has been laid up for 18 months in Florida after a charter career in the US Virgin Islands, prior to her purchase by Skipper and new owner Tom and his wife Kaye Hatrick.
Eventually Island Voyager will be doing luxury charters on the Great Barrier Reef as part of Tom's charter business 'Utopia Charters". www.utopiagamefishing.com.au
Tom would like to make a special thanks to John Blumenthal a very helpful ex pat Australian boat broker living in Florida for his invaluable help with an army of available tradesmen and local knowledge. Johns local Florida knowledge and willingness to help has saved us many of the pitfalls experienced when trying to source reliable and honest trades people when in a foreign country. If you're thinking about importing a boat, John's your man.
The huge skill pool we have from our very experienced crew has been invaluable in the process of getting this old classic cruiser and all her systems back up and running again in pristine condition for our voyage. We are all are eager to throw the lines and depart on our adventure of a life time. Watch this spot and see how we go.
Preparation
After purchasing the vessel and having little success negotiating a reasonable shipping rate, I decided to take on a long dreamt about adventure, motor my own vessel across the Pacific. deciding to do it was the easy part as was finding the number of friends willing and eager to join us. In fact almost every one of my friends from the game fishing fraternity I mentioned what I was considering to, couldn't start trying to arrange work leave quick enough.
Sourcing correct information was what I would only describe as a very interesting and very often frustrating experience. In fact weeks of time spent on the phone and internet seems mind boggling for the little amount of vital and important information we actually needed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)