Check-in/OK message from S/Y Juno SPOT Personal Tracker

S/Y Juno
Latitude:12.63564
Longitude:-61.38745
GPS location Date/Time:01/31/2011 14:52:26 GMT

Message:Juno's latest position:

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Juno from the top, Take 2

Insofar as the first attempt included a photo of a malfunctioning boat part, rather than the pretty view from aloft that was promised.
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Swimming with sea turtles

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Our daily snorkeling outing

Today off the beach of Petit Bateau.
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Juno from the top

A nice view down of the waters here in the Tobago Cays from a trip up the mast.
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Interesting Sea Creatures

Interesting Sea Creatures

In the past three days we have seen many very interesting marine animals. First, there is a big patch of turtle grass near our boat, and we keep seeing sea turtles there. Some of them are tagged, and they usually won't mind if you swim up to them. They will just turn their heads at you and look at you as if to say, "Well? What are you looking at?" I also saw several spiny lobster under a rock two days ago. The Tobago Cays are a marine park, so we couldn't take any. Then we saw an octopus the same day. It wasn't really swimming, it was almost walking along the bottom. Later, we saw a spotted eagle ray. Apparently they don't have stings in their tails, but we didn't get too close to it. Dad and Rigel also saw a cuttlefish. I don't know what it was doing, and I've never seen one either. Both they and the octopus were capable of squirting ink, but neither did. Maybe they knew we wouldn't hurt them. Octopi can be very intelligent. Anyway, the Tobago Cays have proved to be absolutely full of marine life.
--Orion Date
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Che cosa?

Non ci sono pizzerie in le Isole Tobago?

Allora. We'll just make our own, then. Che delizioso!
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Sea turtles and eagle rays and all sorts of things

I have never seen so much sea life in two days. We saw several sea turtles swimming gracefully near the bottom. We saw a spotted eagle ray with the longest tail that I have ever seen. We saw a mostorus, fat, fish lurking in the reef. Yesterday we saw two cuttlefish making rude gestures at us, and today, we saw very peculiar-looking shrimp in a crack peering at us, a child conch walking on the seafloor, and an eel that was two inches long to top it all off.

--By Rigel
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Back to the Tobago Cays

Huh. Glad we got here before the squalls (35 knots plus, so far) did.
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Check-in/OK message from S/Y Juno SPOT Personal Tracker

S/Y Juno
Latitude:12.63036
Longitude:-61.35587
GPS location Date/Time:01/25/2011 18:20:21 GMT

Message:Juno's latest position:

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Back in Clifton

Back in Clifton

Yesterday we moved the boat back to Clifton Bay, the anchorage in Union Island that we were in for more than two weeks. For the past three days we have been in Chatham Bay, on the other side of the island. We are unable to fish in Clifton, due to the shallowness of the water and the absence of plentiful weed. Perhaps we will move back to Chatham Bay, where we can fish, sometime soon. Anyway, we were getting low on supplies, so we had to come back here, where there is a grocery store. There is not much at all in Chatham except for a few beach bars and restaurants. We weren't able to get anything in Petite Martinique or Petite St. Vincent either. So we had to come back here. I'm not complaining, but eventually this place is going to get pretty old. That probably won't be a problem, because Dad has started asking us where we should go next.
--Orion Date
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Check-in/OK message from S/Y Juno SPOT Personal Tracker

S/Y Juno
Latitude:12.59608
Longitude:-61.41144
GPS location Date/Time:01/21/2011 17:16:22 GMT

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Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing

We didn't actually go anywhere to fish, but we still went fishing. This was the first time either of our rods has caught a fish of any type or size. Rigel and I each caught fish on a school trip years ago, but with different rods. I learned how to do it properly from Dad this afternoon. I had completely forgotten what I had learned on the school trip, because I went six years ago. It's a lot harder then I thought, with the drag and bail and sinker and all that. To cast, I put my finger on the line and open the bail, and release the line when I start my swing. Sometimes the hook goes far out, sometimes it just plops in the water a few feet away. I'm not that good at it, but I'm getting better. Then I take up slack on the line and wait for something to bite. To set the hook I put my finger on the line and give the rod a good hard yank. Then I reel in the fish and see what it is. If it is a good fish to eat and big enough to eat, we keep it. If it is the wrong kind of fish or too small, we let it go. Rigel caught one on my rod, but it was too small. Then I thought I kept getting nibbles, but when I reeled it in to see if the bait was still there, there was a tiny yellowtail snapper, which we let go. We decided to give up for the day because it was getting dark, but what remained of the bait wouldn't come off the line. We put it in the water to let the small fish nibble at it until it was gone, and I really hope that a giant fish doesn't come and make off with the rod.
--Orion Date
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If I don't catch something soon

It's spaghetti and sauce for dinner. Again.
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Sunset from Chatha Bay, Union Island

Finally, a truly sheltered anchorage.
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Check-in/OK message from S/Y Juno SPOT Personal Tracker

S/Y Juno
Latitude:12.6043
Longitude:-61.45041
GPS location Date/Time:01/18/2011 18:40:00 GMT

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Another morning in paradise

The beach at Petite St. Vincent.
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Just the Three of Us

Just the Three of Us

Ever since Mommy left, its just been the three of us on the boat. This hasn't been a problem, since we haven't moved the boat since Mom left. Until today that is. This morning we took in the second anchor, made the boat ready to leave, and headed for Petite Martinique. We needed to get fuel there, and had been planning on going there for some time. Pulling up the primary anchor was a challenge. It was just Rigel and I, and although we had done this operation by ourselves before, we had never done it in these kinds of winds. When we finally got the anchor up to the roller, its shackle snagged on the roller assembly, and eventually I just had to manhandle it over the roller. This is not as easy as it sounds, because the anchor doesn't want to come over that roller, you have very poor leverage, and the thing weighs sixty pounds. That's about as much as heavy as Rigel, but I don't think he would enjoy being dragged over that roller either. After we made the forty minute trip to Petite Martinique, we tried calling the fuel dock on the radio and the phone, but they appeared to be closed. We gave up and headed for Petite St. Vincent, only a minute away. We found a good anchoring spot and dropped anchor. We had some problems with the chain, it kept jamming in the windlass. When we finally got settled, we had dragged the anchor into deeper water, but it was good and buried, and we are satisfied.
--Orion Date
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Check-in/OK message from S/Y Juno SPOT Personal Tracker

S/Y Juno
Latitude:12.53397
Longitude:-61.38568
GPS location Date/Time:01/16/2011 19:03:23 GMT

Message:Juno's latest position:

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Yet Another Repair

Yet Another Repair

Guess what? Something else broke. It hadn't been three days since we fixed the spreader when we found out that the inner forestay needed a new chain plate. The chain plate is what holds the stay to the hull, and the one for the inner forestay had totally corroded. The plate had for some reason been made out of aluminum, and that made it a target for galvanic corrosion. The thing should have been made out of stainless steel, but it was aluminum instead. Don't ask me why, I have no idea why you would do that. Dad thinks the inner forestay might have been added at some point, and that whoever made the installation might have made a mistake. Or he could have been told that the plate was stainless and have been cheated. Either way, Dad replaced the plate with a piece of stainless steel today, but it took most of the day. I also repaired the broken fan while he was working. The fan had been poorly placed and was doused with seawater and rain multiple times until it finally stopped working.
--Orion Date
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Starting the motor

Starting the motor is nothing like starting a lawn mower. A lawn mower has a smaller flywheel. And with a lawnmower, you just pull until it starts. With an outboard motor, first, you open the air valve on the tank, then, you pump the fuel, after that, you turn the throttle to the center, and open the choke all the way. that's when you pull. Well, for the third time, I got everythig to work and the motor started. It was going so weakly that Daddy didn't notice Only when I throttled up and revved the motor did he notice.

--By Rigel

--By Rigel
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A celebratory Coca-Cola

At Happy Island, on the occasion of starting the outboard, cold, for the first time.
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We're pretty sure

The chainplate for the inner forestay isn't supposed to look like this. Particularly insofar as the notch on the right is supposed to a hole, through which a stainless clevis pin is supposed to hold the tie-down wire for the forestay firmly to the hull (otherwise the load is taken by the deck fitting -- probably okay in a light breeze; bad news in a severe gale, when the stay would be flying the storm jib).

The hole happened because the metal is aluminum. Add that to stainless, season with salt water, and you get an ugly, galvanically corroding mess.

Fortunately we found a piece of stainless steel here on Union Island. All we have to do is drill the holes, bolt it in place, and we're better than new.
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Our old windscoop

Was getting beat up badly in the Caribbean. Spinnaker-weight nylon, it wasn't ever designed for the tradewinds.

So, a piece of canvas, a length of PVC pipe, and some spare line and -- voila! A down-island wind scoop.
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Wind

You must know that we do not have air conditioning on this boat. So, you may ask how do we stay cool in the blazing heat of er- winter. I's hot here in the Caribbean. Instead of AC,we use windscoops. We put then on the ford companionway, and the ford hatch. It causes a lot of wind to go down below. But when it rains, we have to close the hatches and it gets stifling hot down here.

--By Rigel Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Field trip!

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Garlic-ginger-lime grouper

And coconut rice pilaf.

Finally found a fisherman with reasonable prices.

Dinner's on!
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Riveting the Pole

Riveting the Pole

Today we made a repair on the whisker pole, a lightweight pole that we extend from the side of the mast to put a foresail out perpendicular to the wind. One section was attached to the other using three rivets. Two of these rivets were broken, putting the entire lode of the sail on one rivet. Granted, there were several lines taking the sail's lode as well, but it was still a lot of lode for one rivet. This morning we took the pole down on deck and removed the broken rivets. This took some doing, and for one, we had to drill a hole through it and use a smaller rivet. This was partly because the original hole was too big for any of our rivets, so it was the only real course of action. Then we put in new rivets. This was the first time either of us had used the riveting tool, so we really didn't know what to expect. It worked well, however, and we gained some valuable experience with the riveting tool. We got the pole back onto the mast and into its up and down position, all this just Dad and I.
--Orion Date
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Hmmmm. . . Looks like the downwind

Atlantic crossing left us with exactly one intact rivet on the mast end of the pole. Good thing it wasn't another 100 miles. . .
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Goinhg Up the Mast

Going Up the Mast

Dad went up the mast today. It was not the best conditions to be doing this in, but he had to do it sometime or another, and so decided to do it today. The problem was the upper starboard spreader. It had been sagging for a while, and needed to hold it in place. Originally Dad had planned to adjust the shroud tension above and below the spreader. However, the spreader was not actually attached to the shroud, it just had a hole in the end with the shroud running through it. So there went that plan. We eventually found two bulldog clamps that would tighten around the shrouds. He went up today to put them on, the last attempt being in Bequia. I think the problem might be fixed now, I just hope he doesn't have to go up the mast in such high winds again.
--Orion Date
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Swimming upwind

Swimming upwind is not very easy at all. In fact, It is a virtually an impossible task. On almost every breath, you inhale water. So you stop, spluttering, thinking that you are very stupid to do that. I happens all the time to me. It doesn't help that I usually swim in salt water, so you inhale seawater. The crawl stroke is best for swimming upwind. You breath to the side instead of the front. When you swim with a mask and snorkel, you overcome this problem.

-- By Rigel

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Finally! A restaurant we can afford!

7$EC rotis! We just had to hike to Ashton (and get away from all the places catering to the charter boats in Clifton) to find them.
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The laziest goats on Union Island

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Bakeries all closed Sunday afternoon

So Juno bakes its own cinnamon swirl bread.

Pepperidge Farm? Watch out.
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A Routine Day

A Routine Day

There have not been many places where we have gotten into a routine. Usually, all days are slightly different. Here, we eat breakfast and do schoolwork in the morning, then go swimming or go ashore in the afternoon. Occasionally we eat ashore, but most of the time Dad makes dinner on the boat. It's a variable routine, and will soon be broken, but it is a routine nonetheless. Usually we only get into routines when Mom is not here and we are in a marina. When Mom is here, we are always going places with her, and that never leads to routine. When we're at anchor, we usually swim or go ashore. When we are at a marina, we have plenty of electricity and water, and we are trying to fix things for the first few days. After that things get to be routine. All winter in Sibari, we did things pretty much the same way. Every day we would get up, have breakfast, and do our schoolwork. When we finished, we would eat lunch and either ride our bicycles or the dinghy to the beach. We would walk up to the channel to see how much sand was in the marina entrance, then walk back and return to the boat. On Saturdays we would walk to the restaurant and have pizza for dinner, otherwise we would have dinner on the boat and go to the Skipper's Lounge to watch TV in Italian for half an hour. Then we would return to the boat and go to bed. Every other day was the same, because that was when we alternated between bicycles and the dinghy. Only Saturday was any different. It's hard to get into a routine on the boat, while we took routine as a matter of course back at home.
--Orion Date
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The Fuel Issue

The Fuel Issue

We seem to have a lot of issues, don't we? I mean, we have had numerous electrical problems, including the alternator, the other alternator, the inverter, and the transformer. We have had other problems too, such as the sail, a recent problem with the upper starboard spreader, and a lot of outboard engine trouble. This latest fuel issue started when we replaced the fuel filters a few days ago. When we tried to bleed the fuel lines by starting the engine, it repeatedly slowed down and rattled violently before stopping entirely. We soon found that it only did this when the fuel was coming from the starboard fuel tank. We decided that the intake tube must be blocked somehow, and thought it might be a glove that we had previously accidentally dropped into the tank. We took the access port off the tank and removed several objects, one of which might have been a glove, but the engine persisted in its strange behavior. Today we temporarily solved the problem by using the dinghy pump to blow the blockage back into the tank. For now it seems to have worked, the engine runs normally off the starboard tank, but this is a temporary fix, there is a good chance that it will simply happen all over again.
--Orion Date
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Marking the voyage

Through grocery/garbage sacks -- Conad's from Sibari, Carrefour with Greek lettering from Athens, Jordan's from Bridgetown, Spar from Spain . . . Does anyone remember where Maxcoop was?

Oh right, Lanzarote!
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Union Island

It's a very nice place in my opinion. Everyone seems friendly and there's a great book swap in town. The airport is right by Clifton Bay, where we are anchored, so we get to watch planes take off and land from the boat. We took a walk to the top of a hill overlooking the harbor and runway, and it was a beautiful view with the reefs in the harbor. We found some really yummy cookies at the grocery store, and they're pretty cheap, the problem is we go through them really fast. The island is apparently more expensive than it was when Dad was last here, but it is still a fun place to be.
--Orion Date
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The Tobago Cays

From Fort Hill (the ruins of Fort Murray), Union Island.
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Toll, please.

What does it mean to be gruff?
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Our anchorage

Behind the reef. From the "road" up Fort Hill.

"Can we go back down now?"
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New Year's haircuts

Water and shampoo-saving measure number four.
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