Jungle Jim: From Home Holidays to the BVI

So what have 'ole Cap'n Jimbob, and lovely Jenée been up to? Lets catch up, shall we - over a little sushi.

We met up with Atlantic crossing pals Linda and Ron. Fun times.

Met up with Boston to Provincetown crossers (not sure that sounds right) Randy and Kathy to exchange Christmas presents in January.

Met with fellow Yorba Linda friends Chris and Kathy Galbo. They drove hundreds of yards to meet with us, very tiring. Chris is the biggest Boston Bruins fan in SoCal. Trust me, under that sweater is his Bobby Orr #4 jersey.

And of course, Lori and Dennis. No big travel plans to report, we met at their house, but still they like to drink - Yahtzee! Lori is holding a special white we sailed all the way back from the Ott vinyard in France. It's gone.

Dennis is sporting his boot of Italy apron. It has names of many Italian cities, I'm sure there are no others like it. It also protected Dennis while he made us his Mom's roast while wearing only chaps. Hey, I'm only the messenger. Imagine my surprise when he turned around!

It was a chilly night in SoCal, so Denny loaned me Patriots Poncho. Didn't bring the good luck I'd hoped for.

Nothing better than a group hug.

And I'm back on the hard (land) in the BVI. Time for finishing work on Jungle and getting back in the water.

They are busy at the Nanny Cay Marina with expansion plans - taking a little bit of paradise. Great marina here.

One of my first jobs, cleanup from a leaky gas can stored on deck. This stuff doesn't come off easy.

Done!

Stainless welding repair to our dinghy Davits - done.

Looking at the hull, we see the dire need for repainting with the antifouling that will keep us from growing a reef on Jungles bottom.

Pretty tired looking. This was last painted 2 years ago in Titusville, Florida. The problem is the bottom gets covered in growth within days of being in the water. Slows the boat down significantly.

Even the prop needs a good cleaning.

So I hit the prop, and get onto the hull sanding.

In many places, the sanding brings us down to the original Fiberglas. Here we need to prime, before painting. You an see my roll of tape to make sure we get a nice straight line.

And we are ready to paint.

While I was away, my mate Simon Lucas, from New Zealand, watched over Jungle for me, kept the watermaker in good shape, among other things. Turns out, Simon is quite the photographer. He setup a complete time lapse of the hull painting which I'm figuring out how to show on this blog - the hull painting in 1000 photos 10 seconds, very cool. For now, here is the first photo ...

... And here is the last. Hull painting complete. Simon painted the other side. Jungle is now ready to get wet tomorrow!

And wet she is. Hey, this looks just like a picture from the last blog when Jungle was taken OUT of the water. Well, in the profession, we call this "file footage". Unfortunately, I'm not in the profession, but I was busy collecting stuff while Jungle was dropped in. These folks at the marina move a 26 ton boat around like a toy!

We are now less than two hours out of Tortola and Simon, who turns out to be quite the fisherman, fillet-er and chef. We went from fish on board to excellent sushi and pan fried Mahi in less than 2 hours. Jenée will be jealous - no one enjoys fish more than my darling. She is sitting this leg of the return trip to San Diego out. It is the first time since owning Jungle that we have been apart and I miss the Admiral tremendously, but sail on we must.

Perfect fillets. This will make 4-5 full meals for the crew.

As mentioned, Simon is quite the photographer. Check out these shots, compliments of Simon Lucas Photography. Good news for meis Simon is a knowledgeable sailing mate and a great guy.