Thanks to the German band Trio for making a song that was right to the point. Just substitute the woman’s name for my port of call.
With women, at least both parties gain. With bureaucracies, it’s more of a matter of minimizing the pain. And there has been a lot of pain.
From the day, I left Martinique at the end of January to my arrival in Mexico, a few days ago, Customs, Immigration, Port Captains and the occasional Dog Catcher have been nothing short of a big PIA.
Mexico and Puerto Chiapas, Marina Chiapas, have been a breath of so very much needed fresh air. Yes, it’s still a bureaucracy, but guess what? Marina Chiapas makes sure you want to come back and never leave.
After taking literally three days and $160 in taxi rides to the airport twice just to check-out of Costa Rica at Playa Coco, we arrived in the late afternoon at Marina Chiapas after a difficult 4-day passage from Costa Rica.
We knew and expected the Mexican Navy inspection upon arrival, but instead were told, “Go to the restaurant before it closes; it the Navy comes while you are there we will come get you”.
That was music to our ears. So nice. So pleasant.
An hour and a half later, as we are walking back to Dauntless, the Navy shows up, about 6 people and a dog. They inspected the boat, looked at my papers, filled out some papers and were done in 15 minutes.
Very respectful and quiet. At check-out a few days later, I heard the gentlest of knocking on the gunnel. At first, I thought it was a bird. It was my check-out inspection. Again, courteous to the utmost. Never getting on or in the boat without being invited.
Now, this was not the check-in to the port and country, just the inspection, but the tone, courtesy and professionalism set the tone for the coming days.
Next morning, Rolf, the Asst. Manager of the marina took my boat documents and spent about an hour preparing the documents I’d need to check-in.
He then made copies of everything, including the 6 copies the Port Captain needed for each office (Immigration, Customs, etc.).
He, Cliff and I were then chauffeured around town to the various offices where everyone got some of the papers and stamped some other papers. Rolf did all the talking. We had to pay about $30 for our passport stamp and about $10 for something else.
That’s it.
I had not obtained my Temporary Import Permit (TIP). An official looking document that allows me to keep Dauntless in Mexico or return for 10 years. But no problem, I’d get it the next day.
The Marina arranged a driver to take me to the border of Guatemala and Mexico. Again, I did nothing, I just went along for the ride and at the appropriate moment showed my passport, that the official verified with the copy Rolf had made that morning. The office time 20 minutes, the drive each way, 45 minutes. My driver, who did all the talking and even got an unexpected copy of my driver’s license. We even went stopped by Wal-Mart on our way back. All that cost me $50.
Today I am in Marina Chahue in Huatulco. I took my papers to the marina office yesterday and 10 minutes later I was all done.
I am also thankful to Rolf at Marina Chiapas for pointing out that I could get a Zarpe to my final destination in Mexico, alleviating me of having to get a wed one at every port.
Let me in, Let me out. OK It is a bit monotonous, but then I had just gotten over an infatuation with a woman named Tala. Oh Tala.
I know I am skipping ahead here. Last you heard I was somewhere up a creek in Costa RIca.
Well, I will write about the trip to Mexico. It was a hard 4 days and 3 nights. Cliff joined me for the trip and that’s the only reason I kept my sanity.
Dauntless in Mexico
It was literally one of those trips where coming and going were all uphill.
But I wanted to pot this while it was hot on my mind. I got fuel today and changed the oil for the first time since Martinique.
Everything’s put away and tomorrow I tackle the T…. thing.
Here are a few pictures:
The Maretron data shows the list of the boat as I transferred about 150 gal of fuel to the port tank and then filling the starboard tank with about 300 gallons.
By the way, Mexico has been the best thing since Martinique. I think I will soon do a post of the best 10 places of 2017. Umm, there are only 2. Everyplace else will be on the bottom 50 list.
OK, the best 10 places of 2016 and 2017. I have at least a half dozen of those.
Transferring fuel from one tank to the otherThe data for the trip from Costa RIca. Look at the pitching (the graph on the lower left)
Southern Costa Rica is like Vietnam, hot, 30° and humid. Maybe more humid. But that thought prompted me to check the latest obs from VVTS, Tansonnhat Int’l. Nope, their morning dew point is 77°, while it was only 72° this morning in Golfito.
My chart of the anchorage. The marks are where where my anchor is and the mooring ball
In any case, after the stress of leaving the marina for the first time in almost 4 months, it’s time to check and double check.
While still in the Caribbean, I had tried to use the generator. It ran for a minute a then shut itself off. So, we had spent a miserable night before arriving at the marina in Colon, Panama.
I’ve planned on anchoring a lot over the next three months, so a working generator was no longer an option but a necessity.
Last week I tackled the problem, having been guided what to look for from a mechanic friend on the East Coast.
In minutes, I found the suspected problem, a bad connection to the exhaust temperature sensor, and set it right. The generator than started and ran for 30 minutes, with load, no problem.
Saying goodbye to Fish Hook Marina
I was leaving in mid-afternoon, as much to save another $40, but also to get my sea sense back. We were only going a few miles to anchor, so after a hot day, in the heat of the afternoon, the generator would be called upon almost immediately.
Not being born yesterday, just before leaving the dock, I started the gen for just a few minutes, just to make sure, maybe 5 minutes.
15:00, finally ready to leave.
But Sergio, who was going to be with me for some days, then told me he had to go home.
OK
Maybe a language issue? Certainly not the first time for me.
Then the guy on the marina is throwing off the dock lines. OK. I’m sort of ready.
But what about the two pangas fishing 20 feet in front of Dauntless? No problem, they were told to get out of the way. Slowly evidently.
Once the lines are off, I need to get underway. My bow wave must have nudged them the last few feet,
Now, out of the slip and safely past the pangas, I look to my chart to check my route in and the depths.
But the chart isn’t on. Why?
Computer’s on, Coastal Explorer is running, but the magic “M” key is not bringing up the C-Map.
This kind of crap happens when rushed by other people’s schedules or perceived schedule.
I had put Dauntless in neutral not wanting to go in water I had no idea what was the depths.
Finally, I see the keyboard was turned off. Easily solved, my chart comes up and confirms that my route into the marina was good and the one to follow out
I poke along at 5 knots in no real hurry. Just happy to have the sea under my feet again.
The spot I was anchoring in is a quarter mile off the beach in front of a friend’s house I meet on the bus to Golfito. It’s a steep slope with a big 15’ tidal range. I can’t get too close, even though I have 35’ below me now.
I drop the anchor, it catches quickly like it always does (a much beloved Delta). It’s hot, very hot and humid. I’m dying. I put out 110 of chain on top of the anchor. Then I realize the mistake I made. With the steep slope, large tidal range and 100+ feet of chain out, when Dauntless swings around (we’re now facing the beach) her behind may end up high and dry. Not the first time, but I’m trying to have a year without a grounding.
I decide to throw the stern anchor in. Oh, no stern anchor. Must have been stowed for the Atlantic passage. Just then I see a mooring ball, just within reach of my short boat hook (they charge more for longer ones!)
I quickly grab the line from the mooring ball and put a short line thru it.
Worked like a charm. Dauntless soon went parallel to the beach, but that was fine.
Now I’m sweaty, almost dead for the heat, stress and whatever else.
I turn on generator to get a much-anticipated relief.
It runs for one minute then clearly can’t handle a load. It putters to a stop.
I feel like crying.
I start it again, it starts, but with no power, like before. What changed? I asked myself. Only I put the cover back on. Could it not be getting enough air?
I take the front cover off, it continues to run poorly, then stumbles, then starts running normally.
I power up all the accessories, A/C’s, Inverter Charger.
For the next few hours, with the passing of every bird and fish, I think the gen is dying, but no, it runs steadily, until I turn it off for bed.
Now, the next test, how hot will the boat become without the A/C. The water temperature is 92°. I’ve never been in such hot water; the engine room never gets below 100° and that’s only with the Inverter and Water heater working there.
Dauntless hardly moved.
Just when I was finishing my shower, a peal of thunder overhead made me think that we’d run hard aground. I flew out of the shower.
It was only Mother Nature having a little chuckle before I went to sleep.
Since spring happens once a year in most places, one would think that spring cleaning is a yearly event.
Though not on Dauntless. With a surely, lazy crew, when I have even thought about a through reorganization, the look I see in the mirror is downright mutinous.
Of course, besides being, Master, Captain, Skipper, I am also the crew.
So, it’s no surprise that upon returning to Dauntless after my 3-month hiatus, it was time to evict the hitchhikers and other life forms.
I’d managed to go four years with nothing worse than the occasional fly or mosquito on board.
Well now the intrepid explorer has been put in his place by a bunch of roaches and a mouse or maybe two.
Dauntless in Golfito
Last week the whole upper part of the boat was cleaned and I threw away, I’m embarrassed to say about 8 trash bags, large ones, of crap that should have been thrown away eons ago.
I need a watch bird like that
Stuff like three copes of the bus schedule for the Waterford Bus. Won’t need that for a few years.
The skills we learned in the pre-internet years, have gone by the wayside. A coveted bus schedule, or even a phone book could always come in handy.
Maps though. Only when we got Dauntless did I reduce my map collection. How can I explain to someone who uses Google to get anywhere, how I use to have two or three maps of places and countries of interest? Balancing them on your knee, finding the quickest way, having to know when and where traffic was bad and hot to avoid the worst.
Even with this week’s boat cleaning, I had one small file of European maps. My most coveted ones, that I justified in not throwing away saying to myself that the next time I go to Europe, I’ll use them.
But it’s not to be. I put them on the dock and only later after the latest rain storm did I remember them. In a normal environment, I would have dried them out, but on a boat, nothing dries out that is not already dry. Into the dust bin they went.
Today, it was time to empty the engine room. Well not really empty, but to take out all the things that are not fastened down.
The picture below shows the things stored in the back of the engine room, on either side of the generator. It’s a lot of stuff. Most of which I’ll never need. But it gives me piece of mind to venture far away or at least far away from the closest Amazon delivery.
It’s spare parts for almost all of the systems on Dauntless. It’s plumbing, electrical (both 220v and 110v) and woodworking, parts, replacements and spares. It’s what allows this 29-year-old Kadey Krogen to make its own electricity, power, water. Just like a self-contained city, the only thing missing is snow removal; Oh, we’ll have that next year.
This was quite spectacular because I have never seen office workers actually getting “hands-on” learning how to use a fire extinguisher to put out propane and liquid fuel fires.
They also watched how to deploy and connect the firefighting hose that are everywhere, as well as outside my apartment door.
So, I thought you would you find this interesting and it is certainly applicable to boaters like us.
Opposite my Apt Door by the Exit Stairwell
The Videos below, show the following:
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Putting out Propane Fires
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Propane
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Putting out Propane Fires
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Getting Fire Hose (which is then used to fill tub for the liquid portion of the training
This was quite spectacular because I have never seen office workers actually getting “hands-on” learning how to use a fire extinguisher to put out propane and liquid fuel fires.
They also watched how to deploy and connect the firefighting hose that are everywhere, as well as outside my apartment door.
So, I thought you would you find this interesting and it is certainly applicable to boaters like us.
Opposite my Apt Door by the Exit Stairwell
The Videos below, show the following:
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Putting out Propane Fires
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Propane
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Putting out Propane Fires
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Getting Fire Hose (which is then used to fill tub for the liquid portion of the training
With my new USCG Document clutched in my sweaty hand, Dauntless and I will get underway in July.
It will be three months of moving north to winter in northern Mexico. So, the trip that started in Ireland a year ago will come to a close this fall.
But I also find myself alone for the first time in a long time. Being on the ocean, cruising alone is not so bad, boring more than anything.
Coastal cruising, what we’ll be doing for the next couple years, is much more stressful. People, rocks and fishing nets are all close to shore and give you the opportunity to get into trouble.
Therefore, another set of eyes or a couple of sets becomes very helpful.
I have people coming in September and probably late August, so for now, I am looking for a couple or single(s) who would like to spend some time on Dauntless as we cruise north in Costa Rica and then the three-day passage to Mexico.
This will be a good opportunity to experience some coastal and an off-shore cruising. Email me if you think you may be interested and we can talk about more specifics.
Having some time on my hands for another couple of weeks, I thought I would share with everyone what the Cruising Costs have been for Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen Motor yacht over the last two years.
I’ve broken out the numbers, so for instance, if you only go to a marina 10% of the time, you can adjust the numbers accordingly.
If you have any specific questions, I will be glad to answer them, but please email me vice PM.
May Thru October 2016 My approximate route. Most of the little black dots are stops
The number don’t add up to 100% because there are some personal travel expenses, which I track but are not pertinent to the story.
Also, the significant difference is that in 2016 I was able to buy 900 gallons of fuel in Ireland for very reasonable prices (far less than UK “red” diesel).
In 2015 because Dauntless range under such conditions, I had to refuel with very expensive fuel in Finland, Sweden and Norway, arriving back in Ireland with almost empty tanks.
Marina costs were significantly higher in 2016 because Portugal, southern Spain, Atlantic France are significantly more expensive than many Baltic and North Sea marinas.
2015 Baltic and North Sea Cruise
Food costs are pretty much for a couple.
In the next weeks, I will update the latter half of 2016, the trip from Rota Spain to Gibraltar, Morocco, the Canaries and Martinique.
2017 update will be from Martinique to Panama Canal, Costa Rica and up to Mexico for the winter.
I’m having a wonderful time in Vietnam. The longer I am here, the more comfortable I’ve become. Having a motorbike and not having killed myself yet, is a bigger accomplishment than crossing the Atlantic, twice.
But I am missing D so much too. I want to be back on the water. I promise to never complain how hot it is anymore. Even if my eyeballs are baking, I’ll repeat the desert southwest mantra, It’s a dry heat.
So, when I get back in early July, with my new Coast Guard Document clutched in my sweaty little hand, it will be all hands-on deck to get moving north.
All two, hands that is.
Having Micah on board for so many months, clearly spoiled me. I don’t even remember that person who crossed a third of the Atlantic alone. I haven’t been alone since the Stockholm to Waterford run of September 2015. That was eons ago.
The table below is my tentative cruising program. So, for example, it shows I’ll spend about three weeks in Costa Rica, with the last stop around Santa Elena before heading to Mexico.
I’ve made the difficult decision to bypass Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador ends up being a casualty, in that it’s too hard to stop there and avoid the other places. Some of my friends say I’m being ridiculous and too much of a gringo frady cat, but, I am a gringo frady cat.
I know and understand the ocean; people are harder.
I use sites like No onsite and Active Captain, to point out problem areas and then I avoid them. No matter how beautiful a place is, it’s simply not worth it for me, if I have to worry about the safety of my friends & crew, me for the boat.
Here is what the trip looks like so far. The stops listed are the primary overnight or multiple day stops, with there being no overnights except for those with the “P” in the second column. Other than the initial Santa Elena to Mexico, all the others are open to stopping:
Summer 2017
Because of my delay in getting back, I am a bit more pressed for time than I would have liked, but it’s still a third less than I’ve done in the past.
I have friends joining me from mid-August until the end of September (I think J).
My July people are not answering my calls. Ummm, I think I need to find replacements.
It made me envious; I know, that’s ridiculous, but still.
Dauntless has come so far
Dauntless spent two and a half years in Northern Europe because I knew we would like it. The weather, the people, the cultures all, the food, fit my number one criteria of staying off the beaten track and living well as I did so.
I Loved the Baltic, Sweden, Norway, Scotland & Ireland
That was expected. All the lands of coastal Northern Europe have a real seafaring culture. Every boat waves at you, especially fisherman. From Galicia in northwest Spain to the far eastern Baltic, it was a wonderful experience with minimal bureaucracy.
In those 2+ years, 20+ countries, 100+ stops, mostly in towns and cities, I probably spent less than 120 minutes on the formalities of checking in (Passports, boats documents, crew lists) and checking out.
No wait, there was no checking out.
The peoples, the lands, met and greatly exceeded my expectations.
Then, we headed south. 90% of all boats are south, mostly in the Mediterranean, you know, Italy, Greece, Turkey and southern France and Spain. Everyone wants to go there, so that’s a big Do Not Enter sign for me.
So, we headed south with low expectations. Little did I realize they were not low enough.
Prices trebled, temperatures doubled and bureaucracy was like a pig is slop. The first two stops in Portugal took the same amount of time as the last 100 stops of the previous two years.
And then it got worse.
In virtually every stop, 5 to 10 pieces of paper to sign to check-in; make sure you return tomorrow to fill out and sign the same papers to check-out. Don’t even mention the expense.
But you have read all of this before. Turns out Martinique was the high point of the entire Caribbean. It’s almost weird to say that they were the least bureaucratic. In fact, they were just like northern France. But that was certainly the exception.
So now, having endured all of that and more to get Dauntless a quarter of the way back around the world, I sit here with envy of Dirona.
But I realize it’s not Dirona I’m envious of, it’s being in the middle of the ocean.
I’m a traveler, so when I’m not, I’ll always be envious of those who are.
Should I have stayed in northern Europe for another year?
The route I ended up taking between Galicia in the Northwest corner of Spain and the Canaries.
First the additional year. I love Ireland, the people, even the weather (you never got bored). But Ireland itself is not really cruising country. Getting up and down the coasts can be a bitch, at best. I did love A Coruna though. Why not there? That was Plan B after all.
Then Schengen reared its ugly head. For those of you who still don’t know what “Schengen” is, it was the city in Luxembourg in which almost all the countries of Europe (nothing to do with E.U.) decided to have open borders in 1989. Open borders meant just that. Prior to 1991 or whenever it went into effect, one had to stop at each and every frontier and show passport. On my many drives from the Netherlands to Italy, that meant 3 border crossings. But they were pretty quick (nothing like the USA-Canada boondoggle). They never even stamped your passport. While the rule was, you were allowed in 90 days in each country, no one cared and as I said, no one stamped passports other than at airports and not even then many times.
But with Schengen and the open borders, they decided they still had to control immigration. Therefore non E.U. people could only stay 90 days out of every 180 days. So, before you could move from country to country every 90 days a stay within the rules, now, you had to leave the continent or go to the U.K. or Ireland. That’s why Dauntless was in Waterford.
Ultimately, I realized that to keep Dauntless in A Coruna for the winter would not be feasible, since I could no longer go to NYC for 3 months and then return.
By the way. So, Schengen was written to keep people from overstaying, yet today the E.U. gets about 200,000 people a month from Africa and the Middle East.
But they got Dauntless out so all is OOOKKK.
And another aside. While those morons in Washington debate who to let in. NO ONE, Dems or Republicans, talks about we have no system to track who leaves. Wouldn’t you think if we really cared, the first thing would be using one of the billion computers the government has to track people as they leave and compare that list to who came in. What a clown show!
Now, sorry for the diatribe. My route which took me down the coast of Portugal and around the corner to Gibraltar. I didn’t even see the Gibraltar Apes.
I suppose the real issue here is that we were really beaten up almost the entire trip from Porto, Portugal all the way to the Canaries. By stopping in Gibraltar, I added about another 360 miles to our trip.
I actually had a sailor in France tell me that I should go direct to the Canaries from Vigo in NW Spain. But I wanted to see Portugal and I am glad I did.
The route I should have taken
But southern Spain and Morocco, ended up being exactly what I expected, hot, dry and dry and hot.
I could have spent those weeks in the Canaries. The Canaries reminded me of everything I liked about Galicia. Great people, food and a boating culture.
avoid the storm if at sea.
Dauntless at Sea 