Thursday, February 23, 2012

Happy Birthday to me again

Hello All,
This last week has been basically visiting with the yacht club members and working on getting crew on the boat. I have a few leads so we will see. Outside of that its been pretty quiet. I am waiting for boat parts in the mail and waiting for a package that mom sent me.
The weather has been good with temps in the 90s and only a squall or two per day. This is my second birthday since I have been gone on land which is nice. The first one was between the states and the Marquesas.
I wanted to thank everyone that that sent me a birthday email. It means heaps being away from home and nice to hear from everyone.
I will keep in touch and let you know whats happening.
Thanks again for the warm wishes.

P.S. I am working on putting some videos together of the trip. I know its been a while. I may work on that tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

PEACE

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Making some new friends

Hello All,
Since giving back the rent a car I have been riding my bike around.I dug it out of the boat and got it all oiled up. It was a little stiff from sitting on the boat for so long. The last time i had it out was in Fiji in July, wow time flys. It needs some new parts so I have contacted Alameda Bicycle in California where I bought it to order some stuff. They have treated me really good so far when I needed to fix something. Its working for now so all is good.
Last weekend a single handed cruiser showed up from the Marshall Islands. He has a 28 foot boat that looks allot like a Westsail. We have been chatting everyday and hanging out. He is from the East coast of America and has traveled a few years now. Steven is his name and is also heading for Japan and Alaska so we have been comparing notes.
Every Friday night the yacht club puts on a dinner for the members. Some are want to be sailors and some have cruised allot and are staying here for the near future. Jane the gal that runs the cafe here and her husband Miguel have cruised for years. They are originally from California and have been here since the early 90s. Miguel has a do all shop where he welds and works on boats or fixes someones plumbing. He is a jack of all trades so we hit it off right away. Jane does canvas work or does anything with a sewing machine. Every one is great here, its nice to feel so welcome.
I have some boat parts on order and should be here next week so I will get busy on projects.
The weather has been pretty nice, in the 80s most days with maybe a rain squall in the afternoon. It is much more comfortable here than in the Solomons thats for sure. I love the heat but now I relise there can be to much of it.
Thats all for now, I will talk to you soon.

PEACE

Friday, February 10, 2012

New pictures and location updates





Hello All,
Sorry its been so long since I have talked to you. We have been busy getting our moneys worth out of the rent a car and the unlimited milage. We have toured from one end of the Island to the other taking in all of the sites. The Island is only 30 miles long but it seems like after all of the exploring the days just zoom by. I have added a bunch of pictures to the album and I have finally got my routes and location updated. The last location update was in Honiara, Solomons so there has been heaps of anchorages since then. I haven't named all of the places yet because I need to look them all up but at least you can see my travels.
As of yesterday I am now crewless. Kaspar left on Thursday to go to Korea a few days and visit his brother before heading back to Wellington New Zealand and Maganus left yesterday to go to the Philippines for a few weeks before heading home to Denmark. I am now looking for crew to get me to Japan. I have already lined up crew from Japan to Alaska so I just need to fill in this 15 day crossing with some willing soul. I will be here till late March early April so I have a little time to sort out crew.
I have met most of the Yacht Club members now and they are all very nice folks. Allot of them sailed here and decided to stay and one couple I have met got here in August and will sail to Japan next year after making some money here on the Island.
I am turning the car back in today so I will dig out the bike and pedal around for a while. Town is about 8 miles away but it is good road and flat and I could stand the exercise.
I will try not to be a stranger here but i think the excitement is over for a while. I am going to take advantage of the U.S. mail and do some boat projects.
Thats all for now so I will talk to you later.

PEACE

Monday, February 6, 2012

Guam road trips

Hello All,
The last few days we have been taking the car all over the place. We spent 2 days in down town Hagahna which is very touristy. The Island sees heaps of Japanese travelers on holiday. The down town seen reminds me of Honolulu with lots of big hotels and shops of every kind. We found a small bar yesterday where we had Mexican food and returned this morning to see the Super Bowl. That is the first time I have sat through a whole game in years. Kaspar wasn't familiar with the rules so I did my best to explain what was happening. After the game we took a road trip to the south of the Island where we saw some great views and visited a few historic places. We didn't have much time so we kept it brief. We will go back again and spend more time at the places we missed.
In our travels the next few days I will find a few repair shops to have some stuff fixed on the boat. I have good internet here at the yacht club and it is a pretty cool little place. It is only open 2 days a week so it is a nice quiet place. It is member owned and they mostly use small laser boats here for racing on the weekends. There is only one other American cruising boat I have met here and they have lived here a year hoping to go to Japan next year.
I will keep you posted on what we are up to and I will get some pictures to post.
Talk to you soon.

PEACE

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Moored in Apra Harbour, Guam

Hello All,
We are moored at the Marianas Yacht Club and arrived as of 0900 yesterday morning. We are all checked into the country and have already made a few friends.
I will fill you in on more details later today or tomorrow. We are here safe and sound and all is well.

PEACE

Friday, February 3, 2012

Land Ahoy

Hello All,
We spotted Guam Island right before sundown at 1800. We are making our approach around the North end of the Island and heading South West along the western shore 28 miles to Apra Harbor. We have contacted the Harbor Master and told him we will be in the harbor at 0800 in the morning. We can see heaps of lights from the Island and we are all very happy to make land fall.
I set a new distance traveled in 24 hours today, 150 miles in one day, not to bad for this heavy boat. The wind and the sea have been in our favor pretty much the whole way.
When we get settled in I will let everyone know what's going on and what our plans are for the next few days.
Okay I am on watch so I will talk to you soon.

PEACE

Thursday, February 2, 2012

12 22.27N 148 02.26E

Hello All,
This morning at 0400 the wind filled in enough to sail the boat. Kaspar got the yankee sail up and we shut down the engine after running it for 15 hours. Since this morning the wind has filled in totally at 12 to 15 knots and we are making 7 knots of speed. The sea is pretty flat so it is a beautiful smooth beam reach ride. We should be into Guam Saturday morning sometime. We have under 200 miles to go and at 7 knots it goes pretty fast.
This kind of sailing is what some only dream about so I have to keep pinching myself. It always seems like you have to earn it though. That's ok, it makes it all the better in the end. It's not over yet so I won't hold my breath but it is getting close. The weather is clear skies, sunny and 83 degrees.
I am going to go out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon so I will talk to you later.

PEACE