Don't waste a day

Four months ago I didn't know what an Atrial Fibrillation was. I didn't know what Sinus Rhythm was either. I didn't know a left atrium from a left ventrical. I didn't know what a Cardioversion was or a Catheter Ablation was either. Now I know more about the human heart than I ever wanted to know.

Four months ago months ago I had a routine physical that Chennie insisted I do. Everything was good. Cholesterol was 160 or so, and the rest of me was fine too. The doc listened to my heart and he asked if I knew I had a heart flutter. I said no, and he couldn't believe I didn't know I had a heart that was not beating in rhythm.

Well it's now October. I've had one cardio-version where they shock your heart to try to get it into rhythm. I've had two catheter ablation procedures as well. One on July 8, and last one on September 27. Both were tough. I was on the operating table 8 hours or so. I had morphine for the pain in my chest and throat and was in the hospital up to 5 days. I'm on blood thinners and heart rhythm meds, and heart rate control meds.

The bottom line is that anything can come over the horizon to change your life anyday. So make each day count in your life. You only get so many days. If we knew how many we have left we might all do things differently. Make them ALL count. So go sail off into the sunset, write that book, volunteer at the shelter, what ever is your passion. Do it.

So, today we bought a new sailboat. She is a 1991 39' Beneteau. She needs a little work, but we'll get her the way we want her over the coming 12 months. Next year at this time we will be in Key West headed out to the Western Caribbean.

We'll be anchored in Isla Mujeres for Thanksgiving with any luck.... So this year we will enjoy our grandkids, our life together, and our friends.

Sailings Done for Now

As you may have seen from our last post, we shipped Wy'East back to Oregon. She arrived a couple of weeks ahead of us about the first of May. We arrived from our cross country trip on May 12. We immediatly began the process of putting the boat back together, starting with the mast and rigging. We then gave the bottom a new coat of red paint and polished all of the salt and rum stains off the topsides from the Bahamas.

We launched her a few days later and brought her to her new home at the Hayden Bay Marina. We had to continue working on her, removing the finish or what was left of it from the teak on the exterior of the boat and re-coating it with new. We tuned up the rigging, cleaned and cleaned. We then went sailing about the end of June on a warm Friday night. The Columbia River was running with a strong 3 to 4 knot current, and the wind was blowing from the NW at about 15. We sailed up the river against the current for about an hour, then flew back to our little bay in about 15 minutes! Chennie and I knew that the Columbia River is too small a place for us to sail now after being out in the Bahamas and the Atlantic Ocean. The water is muddy, while the water in the Bahamas is crystal clear. We just decided it was time to take a new tack for a while and sell the boat.


We called Jason Kettlestrings. We met Jason and his family in Vero Beach, FL and then met up with Jason again in Georgetown Bahamas. Jason lives in La Connor Washington about 4 hours from here. He owns a yacht brokerage. He came down, and we listed the boat for sale. To our surprise, she sold in two days, of all things to a fellow Hood Riverite. It seemed it was meant to be. Now the boat is in the capable hands of Kelvin, and he plans to sail her to Seattle, then Alaska soon. Looks like new horizons and much colder water for Wy' East. He plans to keep the name the same, and of course the home port of Hood River. We wish her and all who sail on her following seas and fair winds and at least 6" under their keel.

I know Wy' East will take care of him like she did us.

So till we drop anchor in our next port....

Chennie and Preston and now NEWMAN!!

Remember these words to live by:

"If it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there"

"Captain Ron"

Voyages End / Back in the US of A....

We left Chub Cay at 7:00 a.m. April 6th. As we left the harbor and headed out of the channel towards the the Tongue of the Ocean we were climbing 6-7 foot waves which were breaking! It was pretty rough, and we thought we were in for a long day. We were the only boat crew brave enough to leave the marina. After a few tough miles we turned with the waves and wind and put up our sails. It became much smoother and we started really going fast in the 8.5 knot range. The 13 miles through the tongue of the ocean was not bad at all, and once we
got onto the banks it was like a lake. The Tongue of the Ocean is a couple of thousand feet deep, and then it shoals to a water depth on the banks average about 10 feet. If you hit it against the tide and wind it can be very dangerous. We were with the tide and the wind.

Preston & John decided to do some fishing, it took about 45 minutes and we caught a 3/12 foot barracuda. Which we threw back of course.
As we were crossing the banks it was getting dark and stormy, Preston turned on the radar and we could see a big storm coming at us with loaded with rain , thunder & lightning. We fell off our course some to avoid going straight into it. But, we still got hit by the edges of it. It rained hard which washed the salt off Wy'East and us. For about two hours there was thunder & lightning all around us. The sound of thunder only yards away is very scary and loud!

During the long passage we picked up some hitch hikers. 3 or 4 different birds landed on Wy' East for a rest and shelter from the rain and wind. One little guy even went inside, put his head under his wing and slept for a couple of hours! We probably saved his life since he was very tired.

We arrived at Cat Cay about 7:00 p.m. It was a long 12 hour day to cover almost 80 miles. At dusk we dropped the hook just outside the harbor. Chennie cooked a great dinner and just as she was doing the dishes the wind started to blow. The bottom was hard and mostly grass, so we started to drag anchor. By this time it was pitch black, so Chennie grabbed the spot light. Preston hit the windless switch and pulled anchor. The holding was not good, so we made the decision to go into the marina instead of re-anchoring. We eased our way into Cat Cay Marina for the night, so we could get some rest before our crossing the next morning. It cost over $100.00 just to dock the boat! But we had no choice really.

Monday, April 7th we left Cat Cay and headed for the cut at Gun Cay. We were bucking 8-10 rollers for about 5 miles, but once we got through that and in postion to get our sails up it was one of our best sails ever! We were averaging 9.5 knots we had the wind, current and waves with us. We had to sail west to go northwest as the Gulf Stream was moving at over 4 knots.

At 3:00 p.m. April 7th we sailed into Fort Lauderdale. A cruise ship followed us in the harbor channel and we had to get out of the way! The 54 mile trip took us 6 1/2 hrs to cross the gulf stream, and it was the perfect ride. So we were back in the USA! Back to the rat race too!

By 4:00 p.m Wy'East was on a mooring ball at the Las Olas Marina. We got to have hot showers, and walked to the beach for a day. We also had to visit US Customs, and a really nice lady named Pam from WEST MARINE let us use her car to drive there. Like we always say, the people we meet out cruising, and the boaters we meet in general are so nice and always ready to help each other out! So if any of you are reading this...THANKS for the help you gave us! Our great friend John flew out of Fort Lauderdale on April 9th and we were again on our own to finish the last two legs of our nine month adventure.

The next morning we left to head north on the Intercoastal Waterway.
After 21 bridges we dropped the anchor in Lake Worth, FL for the night. After a quiet night, we left Friday morning at first light so we could get into Indiantown Marina. Another long day with about 8 bridges and having to go through the St Lucie Locks. We made the 3:00 p.m. lock opening.

We arrived here in Indiantown about 5:30 p.m. Wy'East was tied to a floating dock in Indiantown. There were alligators and turtles swimming all around us. The turtles eat hotdogs right from your hand. We decided not to feed the alligators!

Wy'East was hauled out Friday morning the 18th of April after removed her mast and packed it all away. She is now on a truck headed home to Oregon.
After 8 months living on her, we miss it. We are a bit overwhelmed by the speed of life here in the states and we know it's much safer out in the ocean in 10' waves sailing than going 70 MPH down the freeway in Florida! I'd trade it any day.

Well we bought a car, a 1999 Nissan Maxima, supposedly owned by an old couple that kept it in the garage for 6 months a year. Now we are driving across the country. First we are visiting Arkansas, then it's off through Texas, New Mexico then Arizona. From there we'll go to San Diego, then north to Redding, CA and then home to Oregon where Wy' East will be waiting for us.

..

From here we will find out what our next adventures will be. We've made some great friends out sailing that we will stay in contact with. We both plan to get our captain's licenses this summer, and then we'll figure out where our bow will point next, this time on the west side of the country.

Thanks for following us.

Maybe we'll do the Baha Ha Ha next to Cabo San Lucas!!!

Chennie and Preston

Eleuthera Island Course Change

We left Princess Cays, on Saturday the 22nd of March on a cloudy, but windy day about 8 o'clock in the morning. We cleared the lagoon just as the Queen Mary 2 was dropping her huge anchors. We heard the loud rumble as the anchors plunged into the water and the chain ran out over the big bow. As the Queen and Princess Cays faded astern of us we started to fish. We caught a Black Fin tuna, then we caught two small Spanish Mackerals, which we threw back. We hooked a huge something out there that took our lure as well, and that was the end of fishing for that day.





We were heading to a town called Governors Harbor about half way up the coast of 100 mile long Eleuthera Island. We got there about 3 PM, covering the 48 miles in 7 hours which is pretty fast for us. We anchored in about 13 feet of water on a bottom that said "poor holding" on the charts. Everything was cool until Easter night about midnight, when a little squall came up. We were in bed when it started to sprinkle. All of the hatches were open since it had been really still and hot. I got up the close them when it start to rain harder. About the time I got the hatches closed and the the port holes shut, the wind hit, blowing about 30 to 40 knots. I started the engine, removed the cover on the helm station. I calmly went inside the boat as the wind howled and got my and Chennie's foul weather coats out of the closet. By then we started to drag anchor across the harbor. Luckily we were about the only boat there except for a trimaran on a mooring. We had met the owner, Roger earlier in the day. We had to pull up the anchor, motor around in the wind and rain and try to reset it. Chennie took the helm and I went forward to drop the anchor again. Of course it dragged immediatly, so we pulled it up again. Roger saw all of this and yelled to tell us to tie on to him at his stern for the night since he was on a mooring. Since anchoring on an hard bottom wasn't going to work we tied on for the night. The next day Roger helped us set up another unused mooring near him with his "hooka" underwater breathing device. We had to put in new lines and cut old rotten ones off so we could attach to it. That night, we felt secure tied to a huge concrete block and knew we weren't going anywhere even if the wind started to blow a hurricane. God decided to test it. About 5PM the sky got really really black. We could see lightning from far away, and rain, lots of it. It came closer and closer and we knew we were in for it. When it hit blowing about 50 to 60 knots and raining so hard you could hardly see it was bad, but Wy'East and us took it just fine. Then it hit us with a 100 knot gust of wind at least, which laid Wy'East over to the water with the rail nearly under. About then the dingy with the engine on it started to fly, about 4 feet off the water. It flew like that for about 5 seconds until it flipped over upside down, engine and all. A big bolt of lightning hit the docks about 40 yards from us as well about that time. Chennie had had enough. She gathered up some clothes, passports, money, our computer and said we are going to the land.
I flipped the dingy back over, but we couldn't use it. The wind was blowing hard and it was still raining hard. Roger came over in the storm and took us to shore. We walked up the street not knowing where we would sleep for the night, but Chennie was sure it was not going to be on the boat with the lighting storm going on. We walked to a sign we had seen for the "Duck Inn". Chennie called them on the phone and they had a room for us. John was also a sailor from England, and came to Governors Harbor 25 years ago and never left. In fact he had a boat in the Harbor called "Magic Carpet" The invited us down for dinner and wine in their home and were very nice to the two drowned rats that showed up on their door step. The next morning the sun was out and all was well. I went pay for the beautiful room we had stayed in and John said "maybe we can work out a deal". I agreed, and he asked me to repair his outboard motor. I had it running in about 30 minutes. Then we went down to the harbor. Roger came over and brought me out to to Wy'East, and we towed our dingy to the beach. I took the engine all apart, cleaned the carburator, cylinder, replaced the fuel, cleaned out the lines. Roger and I put it back together and it started on the first pull! Man did I feel lucky, and glad I had new Tohatsu motor.



John Byrne flew into Governors Harbor on Thursday the 27th of March. We said goodbye to Roger and sailed up to Spanish Wells, where we planned to rest a day, then head further north to the Abacos Islands. While in Spanish Wells Chennie has been cooking some amazing meals. While there we had Rack of Lamb courtesy of Buddy and Abbie, Shrimp, Stone Crab claws (see photos) and about the best halibut/salmon we've ever tasted, which was also courtesy of Buddy and Abbie at Princess Cays. The stone crab claws, were given to us by a fishing boat captain. Chennie tried to buy some of these tasty things, but he wanted too much. Chennie then was offered the "floaters" which were claws that floated when placed in salt water since they had less meat in them. Well they floated right over to our boat and we ate them all!!! YUM! John bought some fresh tuna from a local fisherman, and we barbecued that as well. It was very very good. We even ate some raw with wasabi and soy sauce.


One day turned into 5 days as the weather was not good. We were not anxious to sail in 18 foot seas in the Atlantic ocean to get there, so I decided after looking at the weather to head east to Nassau. We left Spanish Wells on the 3rd of April in a 25 to 30 knot east wind. After a rather ominous looking morning, the day brightened up and we flew across the 42 miles to Nassau, making upwards of 8 knots in Wy'East. I think she senses were are headed for the barn. We plan to leave tomorrow morning (Friday) for Chub Cay. From there we'll sail to Bimini, and return to Fort Lauderdale across the gulf stream. John is flying out of Fort Lauderdale next week on the 9th instead of Marsh Harbor in the Abacos. So after this week, we'll be back in the good ol USA.


Tonight we are in Chub Cay Marina, about 80 miles from Bimini, and about 130 miles from Florida. We had a rolly, but good sail over here today from Nassau. We caught yet another Barracuda.

Here is a shark that a fishing boat caught off Spanish Wells.

We'll update this when we get back in Florida.

Till then,

Chennie and Preston

Heading North

We said goodbye to George Town March 5th, and set our sails to head north in a soft SW breeze, perfect for sailing to Cave Cay in the Exumas. After nearly a month in George Town we were needing some new horizions, and some quiet harbors. There were over 400 boats in the harbor when we left!

We sailed north with our friend Harrison, on his boat Strider. When we arrived at Black Point, his mainsail would not come down, and even after two trips up the mast while at anchor there we could not get it down. At night the wind came up and his mainsail was damaged badly when it tore on his spreaders. Sadly his trip ended, and he headed back to the US singlehanded as his boat needed repairs done before he could continue on.


Preston's 49th birthday was spent in Staniel Cay, as he wanted a steak dinner for his birthday present. Harrison on Strider joined us before he left for the states. It was great as usual at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.






We encountered our own mechanical problems in Staniel Cay last week. Our depth sounder decided to start doing wacky things, turning off and on, putting up some weird characters on the display. Preston took it all apart, down to the circuit boards, checked all the connections, washed down the board with electronics cleaner and it started to work a bit better. So we decided to sail across Exuma Sound, in over 5000 feet of water most of the time (no need to have a depth sounder) to visit our friends Buddy and Abbie who run Princess Cays at the south end of Eleuthera Island.

We are at Princess Cays, where Princess Cruise Lines brings their passengers for a 6 hour beach party a few days a week. Already there have been 4 ships here since we arrived last Friday. The ships unload about 4000 people each time. We've not been around large groups of people for months, and it's a bit overwhelming!!!

Wy'East will head further north up the coast of Eleuthera most likely next Monday the 22nd of March, where we'll rendevouz with our friend John at Governors Harbor, who is bringing a replacement depth sounder display for us!!

The next post will be from the Abacos Islands, where we'll be near Hope Town, Marsh Harbor and Treasure Cay.

Enjoy the pictures!

Chennie and Preston
Aboard Wy'East @
24.388 lat
-76.095 long

Hanging out in George Town

We are still hanging out here in George Town... We thought we would be here a week or two, but we've been here 3 weeks as of yesterday.

We've had some weather that has prevented us from moving north, but mostly we are enjoying the beaches, swimming, opening coconuts on the beach and cruising around in our dinghy.
We have seen lots of people here we've met along the way, who keep arriving daily. It's about 85 everyday and getting warmer.

Last night we had a great dinner aboard "Puff", another Tartan 37. Dave and Kathy Rizzo are from New Jersey, and we have known them since we had a little "race" in the Aligator River in North Carolina up in the Intercoastal Waterway.

Two nights ago we had a lightning storm that was magnificent. Lucky for us it was about 20 miles north of us, and would have caused 50 knot winds if it would have been right over us. We got the tail winds though, and it blew about 30 knots all day yesterday and the night before.

One thing about the Bahamas is the weather can change in a heartbeat. One minute it's calm and sunny, then the next all hell breaks loose. You have to watch the weather forecasts daily and sometimes hourly. Watch the sky and the clouds and waves all the time.

We found a place here called Crab Cay. It's a resort under construction, just like most every thing is here. It seems to take years and years to finish jobs here.




We plan to leave here next week for sure, after Preston's birthday.

Enjoy the pictures!

Chennie and Preston