Heading South

Enjoying Brookgreen Gardens at Myrtle Beach.

In the past 2 years of cruising we had out boat north in the summer and then headed south on the water to follow the sun. This year we were driving to take care of business; visit with friends and family; and work on our next year's travel support. In organizing our plans we considered lots of options like; where do we fly to/from the US, where do we need to go, what made sense for our acquisition and how could we accomplish the most in our limited time available.

After much thought and analysis we decided that flying to/from Chicago made the most sense as we could make a big loop around the eastern half of the country. Anyplace else and we would spend time going and coming.Then we began filling in the calendar with stops, visits, business and requirements as we traveled. It meant we would spend about 2 months living out of a car since our home was in Guatemala. Thus, we packed for that when we left Guatemala and now we have spent most of the first month on the first leg working our way from Chicago to the IP Rendezvous in Boothbay Harbor and now looked forward to heading south and back to warmer weather.

View looking up the beach at Myrtle Beach, SC.

As an aside, we really have become acclimatized to warmer weather and anything under 75 really does feel chilly and cold. Beginning with our stops in Pennsylvania and north we started seeing evening temps in the 50's and that was cold. In many of our hotel rooms the air conditioner had been set down in the 60's and we put the heat on to warm it up. In the middle of summer, even in Florida we were running heat at night so getting back to the sun was welcome.

We left Boothbay Harbor on Sunday 30 July to drive down to New London, Connecticut where we planned to do some shopping at Defender Marine.  Traffic almost all the way from Maine to New London was very heavy. Traffic going to Maine on Friday had also been heavy. Traffic in New England was heavy when we lived there in the 70's and 80's and it has only increased. We were able to get a room at the Navy Lodge at the Navy Base, New London for the night before we going to Defender about 20 mins away.

Us with Michael and Tammy Hetzer at Brookgreen Garden.

In the years we've been sailing we've been buying from Defender but we never had the chance to visit the store and took this opportunity to do that. With their huge inventory I expected the store to be bigger. We had several items on our list and we found them after perusing the inventory available. After that we headed south through New York City and back to Virginia. Already the weather was getting warmer as were now about 500 miles farther south than Boothbay Harbor. We love visiting Maine but even in the summer it's cold.

How bout them Cubs?

Another garden visitor.

 In a way it was nice to get back to the DC area before heading on. Having lived here for several years we are always nostalgic for places we used to frequent but we're happier where we are. We sold out here because we decided we would never move back to the area in the future because of the cost and growing congestion. It was fine when we lived here but we're done with it. So after a few more days of follow-up with our medical folks we headed south. Before we left we got to spend a night with our great friends Al and Trish Del Negro at their beautiful home on Spa Creek in Annapolis. Over the years we've spent many wonderful evenings with them and hope to spend more next year when we return.

"Pegasus", by Laura Gardin Fraser, one of the magnificent large sculptures.

After leaving DC our first stop was in Myrtle Beach, S.C. to visit with our friends Michael and Tammy Hetzer. Michael and Tammy were with us in Jamaica and had planned to go on to Guatemala with us before changing their minds and then heading off toward Providencia in what turned out to be an ill-fated voyage as they lost their Aria on the way. This was our first chance to visit with them after their loss. They are out looking for a new boat to begin their adventures again. Good luck to them.

Entry into the Gardens.

What was supposed to be one night in Myrtle Beach grew into 2 as we were having such a great time and Michael insisted we visit the Brookgreen Gardens. What an overwhelming experience with the sculpture and botanical gardens accompanying them. A truly beautiful experience. Many thanks to Michael and Tammy for suggesting it. We would like to go back there again. There was so much we didn't get to see.

Welcome to Florida.

From Myrtle Beach we went to Jacksonville to visit our storage locker, gather our mail and begin packaging our stuff for shipment back to Guatemala. Our couple days in Jacksonville were very busy. Our first key objectives were to get the pile of mail that had accumulated at our "home" in Green Cove Springs. We had numerous packages shipped there that included many things to be shipped to Guatemala and some things we are taking with us. The second key objective was to visit our storage unit. When we downsized there were things we kept for perhaps an eventual return to dirt-dwelling and we had stuff we accumulated over the past year to leave there.  After doing that and doing shopping we packaged things together for our support back in Guatemala. We need this opportunity back in the States to obtain maintenance and repair items we might need for the next year because other than coming back over the holidays we may not be back in the States again for another year. We can ship maintenance parts back but it is difficult to ship back food supplies that we want and can't get in Central America.

My daughter Kirsten with her oldest son Keith and youngest son Hunter.

After accomplishing our key objectives over a few days in Jacksonville we headed south to Sanford, FL to visit my daughter and her family. It has been almost a year since we visited with them. Over the several days we were there we spent a good bit of time together. One afternoon we all went bowling and even Hunter got a strike and some spares (of course he got to use the bumpers 😍). On Sunday afternoon we took the boys to the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford and had a great time before going back home for a barbecue.

Grandsons Ethan and Hunter when we were bowling.

Monday we loaded the car with our packages to ship and headed to Miami. We had one stop to make along the way and that was to pickup some courtesy flags that Fawcett's had been unable to get before we left Annapolis. We arranged to pick them up at Bluewater Books & Charts in Fort Lauderdale,  To be sure they would have them when we got there I went online and bought them with a note on the order that we would pick them up. Well, whoever processed the order shipped them. Fortunately I called them and they agreed to give me new ones when I stopped and then later we returned the ones they shipped.

With the boys at the zoo.

With this purchase we closed up the last box and headed to the shipping agent near Miami International Airport. About 2:00 pm we dropped off the boxes to go there way to us in Guatemala and we turned around and headed north and west toward Port Charlotte making our second big turn.

After 1,600 miles and another 2 weeks we completed the second major leg of our trip and were heading back north again. This time our destination is Chicago and back to the point of beginning in the final stages of our time back in the States. With so much accomplished we are beginning to think about finally getting back home but using the time left to visit other friends and family before going back to our home in the tropics. 

The Bald Eagles at the zoo.

Enjoying family and friends while taking care of business

Arriving back in the States just before the long Fourth of July weekend we spent it in Chicago at a family barbecue hosted by Linda's niece and her husband before we started our first road trip with a trip to Champaign, IL to visit with son Seth. Then back to Chicago to see the World Champion Chicago Cubs play the Tampa Rays and win at Wrigley Field. Then on to the long road trip.

At Wrigley Field.

Home of the World Champion Chicago Cubs.

While visiting Seth we made chocolate from scratch. We brought a pound of cacao beans back with us from Guatemala and we roasted the beans and then worked them into raw chocolate making a pure natural chocolate where some had coconut and some had nuts and dried fruit. What a treat! Real chocolate! Now that we know how to do it we plan to do it back on the boat. 

Making chocolate.

The cocoa powder.

The liquid chocolate.

Although we had visited for a short time in March we were now back in the States for an extended period for the first time after being gone for about 9 months, Unlike the snowbirds who cruise for 5 or 6 months and then return to their homes for 6 months we have no base to which we could return and so needed to organize for our time here and stage what we needed for our next season adventures.

We have several key objectives to accomplish during our visit. Foremost among our objectives is to visit family who we don’t get to see enough; we need to do our annual wellness visits to doctors; get material we needed to take or ship back to Guatemala and around all that reunite with good friends. As much time as it seemed we would have the time is flying by quickly.

We scheduled our primary medical appointments several months ago so we could get them aligned over 2 weeks although the period grew with follow-ups, additional tests and trying to buy new glasses. and contacts.  The good thing is that even after another year us old people are still ok and not in need of too much work this year.

After leaving the Chicago area on Thursday 6 July our first stop was outside Terre Haute, IN to visit with sailing friends we knew from 2 winters in Marathon and the Bahamas. We stopped for a night at Bob and Kat Lyons's beautiful farm home for a pleasant evening and got to catch up with them and encourage them to expand their sailing horizons. We all went out to dinner with Kat's sister and her husband who we also knew from sharing some wonderful evenings in Marathon. Though our visit was short it was a great time that we hope to repeat at some point in the future when we all meet up in the Caribbean.

Bob and Kat Lyon.

From Indiana we drove to Knoxville, TN to spend some time with son Jeremy and his family while they were enroute from his former duty station at Cherry Point, NC to San Antonio, TX. We spent most of the weekend together on Sunday we spent the afternoon visiting the Ijams Nature Center hiking and enjoying the beautiful natural setting. It's too bad we only had a weekend but it's really great to see my kids and grandkids.

Son Jeremy with his wife Regina, son Jared and daughter Abby.

Me with the kids.

Linda and I with the grandkids.

From Knoxville we drove to our former home area in Virginia to visit all our regular doctors having made appointments months earlier. We find it easier dealing with the same medical practitioners that we have known for years for many reasons including the difficulty of finding new doctors that take new medicare patients who will provide the same level of care we have enjoyed. Generally, everything went well although Linda learned she will need another back surgery next year which may have some impact on our plans for this winter. Additionally, we finally got the immunizations we should have gotten last year before heading to Central America although getting them proved to be more difficult than we expected.

Apparently, immunizations for the hazards of the third world aren't generally available by most medical resources. Our doctors pointed us to an organization called Passport Health who routinely provide these immunizations at a rather high cost. We then asked the local Safeway pharmacy where we used to live and found they would give the shots at a much lower cost.  We got our immunizations and are now good for the places we want to visit to the greatest extent we can be. We also got malaria medicine that we should start taking before we leave to go back to Guatemala,

Wellness is a key issue of concern as cruisers. Many cruisers have found medical support from local providers. Several of our friends have used medical services in Guatemala at very low cost although it requires a trip to Guatemala City. We need to decide if we want to adopt the use of indigenous medical care in the future to avoid our time-intensive medical visits while back in the US.

Over the past several months we found ourselves eating much less healthy than we had been and had less opportunity to exercise than over the past several years. This is a really critical issue for us and had many causes but we have to work to find lasting solutions. When we got back to the states we joined Planet Fitness on a monthly basis but more importantly we have to focus and work hard to maintain a healthy diet. Everyone knows that weight control involves diet and exercise but diet is more important since you can't work off enough calories to lose weight.

With grandson Alex.

We found an excellent plan with Planet Fitness where we were able to join for $20/mo that gave us both access to all Clubs around the country. We used about 8 different PF gyms during our visit and had a chance to regain a decent level of fitness which we will have to maintain once we go back to Guatemala. Looking at the usual daytime heat any strenuous cardio exercise will have to occur early in the morning.

With Jim and Jeanne Upson.

During our stay in NoVa we were hosted by several of our old sailing friends. Skipp Maiden and Maryanne hosted us in their lovely home in Annandale one week and Jim and Jeanne Upson hosted us the second week. We also got to spend a weekend on their boats with them and enjoy some fun social events.

Son Justin.

After we completed 2 weeks in northern Virginia we headed north. Our first stop was in Lancaster, PA to visit with my sister and son Justin. Then we traveled further north to Wilkes-Barre, PA to visit with oldest grandson who is working as an intern this summer for a professor at Wilkes University. After that short visit we traveled to Hull, MA where we spent 2 lovely nights with our good friends Ed and Diane O'Brien in their beautiful waterfront townhome before heading up to Boothbay Harbor for Norm Pierce's IP rendezvous.

Lunch with college classmate Stan Greenwood in Boston.

View from our room in Hull.

With Ed and Diane O'Brien in Hull, Ma.

View of Boothbay Harbor.

Norm Pierce is one of the most knowledgeable people about boating and IP's in particular. His gatherings are always a source of great insight along with the opportunity to meet many other IP owners. The chance to get lots of Maine lobster also helps justify going that far north for this meeting. As usual we got some maintenance insight and had the chance to meet the new owners of Island Packet making this a worthwhile investment of time in our tight schedule.

More view of Boothbay and Norm Pierce's Rendezvous site.

Our leaving Boothbay represented a major turn in our trip. We traveled over 1,000 miles from Chicago, through Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and up to Maine.  After being in summer for most of the past 3 years it was cold from Virginia north and we were looking forward to getting warm again. 

So on Sunday, 30 July we made our first major turn and began our trip south that would end up in Miami.  

Back to the old

This post is long overdue for lots of no good reasons. I have been writing as I can but didn’t get around to posting because I’ve been trying to do it as one but there is just too much to cover. With everything we’ve had going on I haven't had the time to wrap this as one so I am working it so that it covers more than just our chronological story but wrap it into posts that deal with topics that are pertinent to our cruising life over the past 2 months. We are currently at this writing still in the States but our discussion goes back to our prep for departure.

We continued our prep for leaving and getting hauled out. While we could have left the boat in the water while we’re gone we would have then had to prep it for hauling out when we get back. Our reason for hauling now is that when we get back we can quickly get down to the work we need to do and there are a few tasks the yard will be doing while we’re gone. Unlike boats left on the hard in hurricane zones there is no weather need to haul out in the Rio Dulce. Boats come and go all the time. So far this season several storms have been projected as heading toward Rio Dulce only to fade out or head north before getting that far west.

Amekaya being hauled.

We were hauled out on Thursday 29 June just a day before we left and the boat was placed on the hard, challenging us with getting her ready for the stay on land.  Once positioned on shore we had to setup the dinghy for storage so it wouldn't be hanging from the arch in the sun. We had to install the dehumidifier and air conditioner so they could run effectively while we were gone to keep the inside cooler and drier for everything we were leaving. Even though the marina has someone that will be checking the boat to keep it cleaned inside and out; ensure the safety of the equipment and that the air stays on. I also smeared grease on the stands and sprayed the underside of the stands to try to minimize the ants getting onto the boat while we’re gone. We also set several insect traps inside to destroy any infestation.

Amekaya being situated on the hard.

This is the first time we ever hauled our boat outside the US. The haul out crew at RAM is excellent and did a great job in the haul out. We watched them haul several boats before us and they always exhibited extreme competence. RAM has a 100T lift with plastic sleeves over the straps that fill with water to cushion the boat when it's lifted to keep the buckles off the hull.  They even have a diver go down to check the straps and ensure the sleeves are full of water. With four lift straps it took extra care to position each one of them.

After hauling out we moved into one of the apartments at the marina for 2 nights so we could clean up the boat and close it up before having to leave. The marina has several apartments available for short-term rentals to patrons while their work is being done. It gave us the chance to organize our packing for traveling.

Stripping cockpit winches and cleaning them. 4 done with 7 to do.

This will be the longest time that we have been away from our home since we moved aboard in 2014. There was so much to be concerned about beyond simply preparing the boat. We had to determine what we needed to take for living out of a suitcase for 2 months, what did we need to take to storage, what did we need to accomplish when we got back and more importantly what did we need to bring back with us. Having the West Marine Store at the marina and hardware stores in town made getting some things in-country easier but there was still much we needed. The challenge was what did we really need and which was the best way to get it. We tried to determine what we could get locally, what we could carry back and what if anything we needed to ship back commercially.

Looking out from our cockpit just before we left the marina.

Heading out to the airport.

Early Saturday morning 1 July our cab arrived very much on time to take us to the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Traveling from Rio Dulce there are 3 potential airports. Many people make the 8-hour trip to Guatemala City. Travel can also be from Belize City or San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The trip to San Pedro Sula was about 3 ½ hours and featured a frontier border crossing. The scenery was very enjoyable and noticing the differences between Guatemala and Honduras raised questions about why things were called by different names in the same language.  

Scenes of the countryside from our trip to the airport.

A cattle drive down the highway.

The border crossing.

Banana trucks on the way to market.

A palm plantation for producing palm oil.

Banana plantations.

Once at the airport the trip back from there was uneventful except our luggage was late being delivered for customs so we missed our Chicago flight and got in much later than expected.

So here we are back in the States for 2 months to accomplish much with what seemed like a long time to do it. After rushing to prepare things to get here, now it is time to execute.