Back at our Home Marina, Part 15
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For expendables, Joan now has 200 rolls of Bounty paper towels and 200 rolls of T paper on board. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Before fall, we will replenish our stock of food and other expendables to last for at least 6 months.
Other items yet to be done include:
haul the boat for hull and bottom painting,
replace all thru hull fittings and seacocks,
purchase more spare parts,
get ham license,
purchase/install TNC for email on the high seas,
do 1998 taxes,
another zillion little things,
collect clothing, school stuff for orphanage in Guatemala,
and, oh yes, relax a bit.
Then what's in store. . .
On July 19, we plan to have the boat hauled out of the water for the paint job. That will take a month or more. During that time, we will not have email or our phone, but anyone can reach us through our son. As we were reminded by Andrea, fish and visiting relatives begin to smell bad after 3 days so we will probably try to find a motel or something for a large part of this period.
Then the plans are to meet the Heide's in the Keys in October. On a weather window, cross the straights of Florida to Cuba. Cruise to the west end of Cuba and cross 110 miles of the Carribean to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. From there, we hope to visit some of the 4000 islands and barrier reef of Belize ultimately arriving at the Rio Dulce (river) of Guatemala before Christmas. There, it is planned, will be our base of operations for other excursions into Guatemala and other coastal Central America cruising. The river and lake complex extend
about 60 miles into Guatemala and in many places have mountains on each side. Thus, it is a good hurricane hole with something like 200 cruisers remaining there year around. From home here at the South Carolina slip, the total round trip will be about 3400 miles.
Thanks for your comments. I am pleased that you are enjoying the newsletter and will do my best to improve on it and keep it up. With any luck, we will be able to maintain constant email contact when the fall cruise begins.