Ship's Log August 2001, BaltimoreThis month we enjoyed more visitors. Val's mom Betty and neice Kristina came for a weekend, Mike's Aunt Elsa and Uncle Bob came for a week, and we hosted Dan & Charlotte Yaw's New Years Eve group in Annapolis. Then we headed home and to other parts of the country until October when we plan to sail back down to the islands.
Ship's Log July 2001, BaltimoreWe enjoyed hosting the Yaw family reunion aboard Good News in July. This included Mike's mom and dad, Dan & Charlotte Yaw, Kathy (Mike's sister), husband Bill, Lindsey & Lauren Zegowitz, David (Mike's brother), wife Barb, and Danee Yaw (Brian was at school), Tana (Mike's daughter), husband Mike (son-in-law), Ryan and Amber Morrisett, and Carey (Mike's daughter), husband Ray, Shelby and Sydney Moore! We also hosted Dan & Charlotte Yaw's retirees group for a sail around the harbor, the Zegowitz family for a sail around the Bay, and Mike Morrisett's family for a weekend. Mike's family included his parents Kelly and Linda and his brother Andy. Later in July Hazel & J.B. Kirbie, Lucille Roberts and Dorothy Cadwallader came for a weekend, also. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every guest and had a great time with them sailing and sightseeing!
Ship's Log June 16, 2001, Inner Harbor Marina, Baltimore, MDVal arrived from Seattle on the 12th. We are so happy to be together after about 10 days apart. We went to an Orioles game with Mike's parents, had dinner at his sisters, and cleaned up the boat for our departure today to Oklahoma for our granddaughter Amber's birthday.
Ship's Log June 9, 2001, Chesapeake BayWe are motoring up the Chesapeake Bay. We are stopping for the night, Saturday, at Windmill Point Marina. Then tomorrow we will anchor another 50 miles up the bay and arrive at the Inner Harbor Marina between 3 and 5 pm on Monday.
June 8th ship's log, 34*53'N73*24'W.I was awakened by Morris and Mark at about 11:15 PM. There was a line of showers ahead at about 8 miles out. We had already reduced sails so I spent the time getting on my foul weather gear and lifejacket. Thirty minutes later we were inside the storms and sailing way too fast. I saw 24 knts on the speedometer and Mark saw 45 knt winds on the wind instrument. I think that was apparent wind, but am not sure! I know that Good News can plane now. Plaining is what the dingy does and immediately goes faster. After about 30 minutes we emerged on the other side of the squall line. It was huge! Everyone was fine. We have to cross the Gulf Stream. We are about 180 miles from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and 360 miles from the marina. It looks like we will be early! We will anchor as we go up the bay (maybe) and should arrive on Monday. Fuel looks good, but may have to stop along the bay for more. That should be no problem.
Captain Mike
PS I forgot to tell you that the genaker unfurlelled about 6 inches and tore. Mark and I had to take it down and stow it in the port engine room. It can be fixed. I may have it re-cut so that we don't have this problem again.
Thursday, June 7th, 2001It is midnight and I just started my watch. It has been a perfect trip so far except that we could use some more wind. Just before dinner we set sail after about a day and a half of motoring. If we sail all night, I think that we will have enough fuel to get into the marina. The weather has been beautiful, but we expect it to get a little rougher as we go farther north. The crew is getting along well and having good conversdations. Keep praying for us.
Tues., June 5th, 2001We left Providenciales on Sunday, June 2nd at 1100. The winds were 16 knts ans seas were less than two feet. We sailed at over 7 knts for the first 24 hours, logging 185 miles and covering 176 miles to the good (towards the outer marker). Today, Monday, June 3rd, at about noon, we decided to unfurl the genaker. It is the larger asymmetrical sail for light winds. Finally, at 1500, we had to take in the sail and begin motoring. The seas are no more than two feet and wind has dropped to five knts. Thank God that we can easily motor at over 7 knots in flat seas on one engine! I think that we can make it all the way to the Chesapeake Bay on the fuel we have aboard. Will know better as we cover more ground (or ocean, as our case may be).
All aboard is well. Morris and Mark have enjoyed each others conversation. Mark is still focused on his business, this is a great place to think it through. We are eating like kings. Fresh bread at every meal, thanks to JoLene and Sally, and great fish and steak filets, thanks to Val. All systems aboard Good News are working, even the watermaker; however, three old guys like us when alone on a sailboat hundreds of miles from land drink as much water as we use for showers. The computer died this afternoon, but is now working again. I do not have an Atlantic Ocean chart so the best I could have done navigating would have been "go North a few days and turn left!" By the way, I have all the needed paper charts if the computer dies again.
My best guess it that we will arrive Monday or Tuesday, depending on how and where we stop coming up the CHesapeake. We may sail only in daylight for safety's sake, but that will be determined later. It is now 0200 on Tuesday June 5th. We are at 26*34'N and 072*15'W. That is 494 miles from waypoint #2 which is our "left turn" 210 miles outside the Chesapeake. The moon is full and beautiful. We are all missing our better halves.
Sun, June 3, 2001We are under way at last! We are traveling due north at about 7 knots. All aboard are well. If this holds up, it will be a terrific 7 to 8 day trip. Fishing lines are in the water, but no fish as yet. The water maker is not working so your prayers are welcome. Also the generator has stopped running and I had to prime the fuel lines. I am hopeful that it will be working soon. Mark and Morris are talking in the cockpit and I am just checking everything out. Keep us in your prayers.
Captain Mike and the Good News crew Mark and Morris
Ship's Log 5/27/01 NW Point, Provo.
Two days ago after we received our friends from South Africa, Arnold and Joy Mol, we left the marina the same day and went to anchor near the Club Med dock in Grace Bay in the hopes that we would see JoJo the dolphin. JoJo is a wild dolphin that has been living here for over 13 years, and has befriended a man named Dean (who is now his warden). Dean swims with JoJo every day when he is on island. Right now, Dean is away, but he told us where we might have an opportunity to encounter JoJo. JoJo loves people and often swims near the boats and snorkelers. As we were nearing our anchorage, Joy said something about seeing JoJo, and I looked down and there he was, right next to the stern of the boat! I immediately jumped in (fully clothed, of course) and began swimming with him as Mike took the helm and slowed the boat, eventually dropping the anchor so we all could get into the water with JoJo. Unfortunately, the visibility was only about ten feet! We could only see him when he was close up. He would swim next to the boat and around us, and then swim away, turning around, and return for the same sweep of the boat and swim next to us. At one point he swam a very close (2 feet away) circle around me, and I was turning with him also. It was wonderful!! The next morning of course we were hoping to see him again. As we began to up-anchor, he appeared again! We were so delighted! This time, Mike got in first and he and JoJo swam two tight circles around each other, each with his eyes on the other. Then Mike swam alongside him for a while. On subsequent passes, I swam alongside him for a little while, and then Mike. Once, we held hands and both swam alongside. It was a precious time. Also, Arnold got it on film, so we will be able to relive the moment.
Today, we are anchored at NW Point, where the abandoned Tiki huts are. It is calm, sunny, and there are no other boats in the area. We plan to swim to the beach in a little while.
Ship's Log 5/13-20/01 Turks & Caicos IslandSteve and Ralinda Owens arrived on Sunday the 13th. We showed them around, picked up groceries (at the beautiful and well-stocked IGA), and had a nice mahi-mahi dinner at Tiki Hut. We left the marina the next day and went around to the NW point of Provo. It was overcast and rainy, but that didn't stop us from suiting up for our first scuba dive together! The diving was excellent! We spent two nights at NW Point, then had a beautiful sail to West Caicos, where we stayed two nights, also. Then we headed back to NW Point for a night, then Grace Bay for a night, then into Turtle Cove Marina on Sunday the 20th.
The diving here in T&C is incredible! On one night dive at NW Point we descended to the bottom at about 45 feet and a 4' nurse shark swam up to us and we all gathered around to look at it for a few minutes before it swam off. It was literally three or four feet away! On other dives we saw many lobster, including a mama with lots of eggs on her underside. One lobster came out of its hiding place while we were gathered around it and walked backward over the reef. Mike caught it and we got a few great photos before it jerked away. We saw several other sharks while diving and snorkeling. One day, while Ralinda and I were snorkeling, we spotted two reef sharks in about 35 feet of water at West Caicos. We were watching them swim around when suddenly one started swimming right for us, at an angle up from the bottom! Without our men we had no confidence, and so we bolted back to the boat in record time! We all had a big laugh over that one! Another day while snorkeling we counted four reef sharks! We snorkeled around watching them patrol their section of the reef, at about a 35 foot depth. It was exciting! At one anchorage we had a school of about 40 barracuda swimming around the boat, along with huge schools of big-eyed jacks circling under the boat. We snorkeled among them and tried to dive down to get closer, but they always swam away. At another anchorage there was a lone, friendly barracuda. He would swim right up to within one or two feet of us! He got so close that we could see his teeth and these little cleaner bugs on his nose! We actually touched him several times. We named him Barry Cuda, Barry for short. We tried to feed him, but he didn't like anything on the menu, mahi-mahi, salami, turkey, Oreos or cheese wiz! But when we fed the food to the schooling jacks, Barry got jealous and bullied them all away from the food! It was funny! Then next morning when Steve put down the swim ladder, there was Barry, swimming right up to the stern to greet him. It was great. On another dive, we encountered a southern stingray on the bottom. Mike and I went low and lied right next to the sand and sat there looking at him. He moved toward us closer and closer, until he was about one foot away from us! We could see his big brown eyes looking us over.
As we were on a mooring at West Caicos we looked over the starboard side and saw a pod of six dolphin playing right next to the boat. We jumped in and were able to watch them swim a bit before they went on their way. We were thankful and delighted! On the last day we dove "the aquarium" on the north shore of Provo. It was spectacular, a feast for the eyes! There were schools of circling blue tang, barracuda lurking everywhere, trunk fish motoring around, a cute porcupine puffer curiously trailing us, the ever-present yellow snapper looking for handouts, trumpetfish trying to look invisible against anything vertical, a beady-eyed and slightly feisty nurse shark, a tightly balled school of yellow jacks, large lobster hiding in the crevices, blue heads darting around and bullying other fish, parrotfish munching on the coral, and Steve and Ralinda saw a 700 pound jewfish off in the distance! God is amazing is his creativity!
We thoroughly enjoyed Steve and Ralinda. We ate fresh fruit and salads and grilled fish every evening. On Sunday the 20th we attended Bishop's church service at his church which they are slowly finishing constructing. Bishop drives a taxi for a living and also pastors the church. The service was in Creole and English, and we enjoyed the singing and Bishops heartfelt preaching. The Owens departed and in four days we will be happy to receive our friends from South Africa, Arnold and Joy Mol.
Ship's Log 5/11/01 Turtle Cove Marina, Provo. T & CWe had some excitement last night. After arriving safely, we were unpacking and opening up the boat when we heard a catamaran repeatedly hailing the marina for a guide boat to help them navigate through the coral and into the marina. They hailed about fifteen times with no response. There was only one person at the marina so I guess that's why no one went out to guide them in. Also, they were hailing in French and so were hard to understand. After about fifteen hails with no response, they radioed a mayday, saying they were on the coral. I then heard someone else radioing Kyle at the marina office and Kyle said he was all by himself and would need help. I went outside and told Mike and he immediately went to help Kyle. They jumped in the marina boat, came by Good News for some lines and lifejackets, picked up two men on a neighboring boat and headed out. After a couple of hours and darkness was beginning to fall, I got worried and lowered the dinghy, grabbed some flaghlights and a handheld VHF, put on my lifejacket, and took the dinghy out to see if they needed more help, lights, or what was going on. As I approached the cat, it became apparent that she was sinking. Her stern was almost flush with the water, and you could see the rising water inside the main salon. (She didn't actually sink to the bottom, as a cat still has bouyance even though filled with water. The men were employing a high speed pump to try to pump out the water, but it was going in faster than it was coming out. There were three men and a woman on board. Apparently, within the first fifteen minutes, the woman had gathered all of her luggage and brought it up to take off the boat. Someone had picked her and her luggage up and taken her to the marina safely. All of the others were safe, also, working hard to try to save the boat. At this point, they had a lot of help, so Mike came back with me to the marina. After a short while, everyone came in from the damaged boat. They had taken two holes, one 6" wide, and had determined that the effort was hopeless. We feel so bad for them. I guess they had made the decision to try to getthrough the cut in the coral on their own, and landed right on top of it. The waves were about six feet and were breaking all the way across the opening, making it difficult to find. The captain said they were surfing and they took a wave sideways, which pusked them into the coral. We think they were trying to turn while surfing and either didn't have their daggerboards down, had their sail up, or didn't have powerful enough motors to drive her through the turn. In any case, they were vulnerable to the waves and came crashing down on the coral. The boat now sits on the beach, where it was pushed by the waves during the night.
Tomorrow we will receive friends from Arlington, Steve and Ralinda Owens, for ten days of scuba diving!
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