Jungle Has Landed

A little boat maintenance before I head home. The teak has been sanded down and prepped for varnishing.

A little teak oil will protect the wood until I get to that big varnish job.

It's Christmas Eve and Jungle will be put up on land, or in sailing parlance, on-the-hard. This is my dock neighbor, Cameron Mitchell. Cam and I helped each other all week as I prepared to come out of the water and he went in - lots to do. Cameron was a great help for me - also a great guy to hang with. We now have Jungle in position to be hauled out.

"Ladies and gentleman, I'll be your captain today." This fine gentleman operates the 100 ton travel lift that will navigate Jungle to her land based parking spot.

The Nanny Cay yard crew get Jungle into position. Watching them in action confirmed they were a competent team.

Cameron just splashed down a few days ago with his boat and is spending his holidays with family in the BVI's. He has high regards for the marina - good to hear.

Jungle is up and out. All and all a pretty clean bottom. Our friend Scotty from Australia gave Jungle a good cleaning in the Canary Islands.

Jungle is in position for a full bottom power washing. Jungle weighed in at 28 tons (56000 lbs) on the travel lift. Big girl!

Jungle has front row parking, with an ocean front view. We are looking east towards Salt Island and Dead Chest Island. Man, I dig those 'ole pirate sounding islands!

Looking aft, what have we here? That catamaran in the middle is missing her hull bottom - on both hulls! We're going to check this out.

Wow! Turns out this boat was 3 days old and on her maiden voyage, when the owner went down below "just for a minute" before she slammed on to the reef. That's Simon Lucas from Aukland, New Zealand. Simon was crewing for another boat that just arrived from Newport, RI. Simon will keep an eye on Jungle while I head back to SoCal for the holidays. Hopefully, Simon will be able to join us for our trip through the Panama Canal.

For now we check the cat out. The lesson, as always, is to keep a watch. Another good lesson is dont hit the rocks. Especially around land. Another good lesson is don't hit the rocks. A three day old boat - what a shame.

I believe Knotty Dreams sailing days may be over.

We'll check out Jungle's situation. Looking good.

Bottom looks good. I will be adding another coat of antifouling paint before plashing down in late January. I checked the shaft and propeller for any movement after the replacement of the cutlass bearing in April (Cyprus). Solid, checks out fine.

We're in good shape here ...

... and you cannot beat the view - from the parking lot, no less.

Lovely day to be sailing. The temps re around 85 F, 30 C with strong breezes.

Simon and I have time for at least one beer.

One last peek from the beach bar, so I have this memory as I head home tomorrow - Christmas Day. Back to reality. I can't wait to see Jenée, Garrett and Katie (love fluff).

Bam!! How do you like this reality? Bet it will take a while to erase this one out of your memory. "Hey, What does this doo-hickey do, is this the garbage disposal?" Happy New Year everyone.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean - Part II

It's a new day and time to clean the stain from the diesel fuel (bladder) off the deck. Mike got the deck washing part, I carried pails of fresh water to rinse the deck off. As you can see Mike thinks this job is número uno.

This makes Mike a happy camper - a blue marlin.

What a beautiful fish.

We measured it at 76" and about 50 lbs.

I had nothing to do with it, so I decided to get my mug in there. We decided to let this fella go and he swam happily away.

Meanwhile, Katie was not very impressed. She is our little basket of joy.

Who needs Mike the fisherman? I boated this baby on my own, thank you. It's close to 50 lbs too.

Or maybe not. This guy is a flying fish and he boated himself over night. These guys fly themselves right on to the boat. Every morning we send 3-5 back to the sea. Unfortunately, this little guy isn't flying anymore.

Now we're talking. We take in a Mahi Mahi.

I'm gaff boy. This a 25 lb bull (male). Fresh fish for everyone!

Mike catches it and I smile like an idiot while holding it up. That's how I roll baby! Funny thing is we didn't catch one fish crossing over to the Med. on the way back, we had bites every day. I was the fisherman on the way to the Med using the same rod, reel and tackle. Hmmmm, what could it be ?

The sun sets on another successful day of fishing. Jungle's flag (Marshall Islands) has taken a beating. It definitely looks like a battle flag.

Jungle crew is smiling as we are less than a day away from the British Virgin Islands.

The seas have backed down these last two days, although the wind has hung around at 15-20 knots. We'll take it.

Our last sunset at sea in 2012.

Land Ho! We are looking at the passage into the Sir Francis Drake channel that splits the BVI.

The far island is our destination - Tortola. We planned on a 19 day passage for a 2900 nm trip. We came in right on schedule. Damn, that Jungle Jim is good. Of course it helps that I have a 220 HP iron sail. Yahtzee!

Just need to get between Round Rock and Ginger Island and we're in.

This guy didn't make it.

We did! We are in the Nanny Cay Marina.

Zooming in, we see a small beach and here the music of the beach bar. It's calling us.

This'll work.

As night sets in we are reminded we are close to Christmas.

The crew is happy to be on land after a long, rugged ride.

Very happy!

Happy Holidays every one, from Jungle.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean - Part I

We set sail from the Canary Islands on November 27 and charted course for a 2900 nm, 19 day sail to the British Virgin Islands. I'll kill the suspense, we made it exactly on schedule. I'm writing these updates from the Nanny Cay Marine Center on Tortola, BVI. Now back to the update - here is our last look at the Canary Islands. We are hoping for the typical "milk run" to the Caribbean. Nice, following winds and seas for 19 days of blissful sailing and quiet reflection of this beautiful world.

Then again, maybe not. Or maybe snot, cause that is what it was blowing out there.

20-30 kt winds and 10-12 foot seas that seemed to come from all angles.

In sailing parlance, it's called a washing machine. Still pretty to look at, but rough.

The good news is we averaged close to 7 kts for the trip. Very fast.

Good news for my brother Mike, plenty of time for fishing.

And catching fish.

We love Mahi tuna.

Day and night the high seas and high winds continued.

Nice cool breezes though.

A look down Jungle's deck.

Mike heads out to check the line.

A rainbow for our viewing pleasure.

Mike is doing a good job of relaxing.

And catching Mahi.

Thanks to Mike, we had fresh fish every day.

More big waves.

Here's the proud fisherman.

Now a proud fillet master.

Time for some more chillin'. Mike had a tour in Vietnam with the Marines - so this was no big deal.

What he really likes is fishing.

The Admiral is never far away when fish are involved. Excellent supervision.

We have something on the hook!

Dinner! Or, at least hors dourves. This is a 5 lb Mahi.

Time for a pit stop. This is a diesel fuel bladder which holds 125 gallons (500 liters).

It needs a little urging to empty out.

Mike's holding the fuel line into the tank.

I'm still stomping. I feel like I'm making wine!

Time to call in the Marines. The Admiral is also the ships Safety Officer, so she made sure we wore our safety harnesses.

The bag is drained so it's time to roll it up. Oh, by the way it leaked a little. So we'll have some clean up to do - fun times.

1 week into our trip, we did get a one day reprieve from the heavy wind and seas.

We enjoyed the quiet sailing. We'll finish up on the next update. Until then.