Day 2: Pennsylvania to Ohio

A cold night it was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Got down to freezing and when I woke up at 6:30 to the line guy saying, “what time you wanna get up?” all I could see was fog – pea soup. I went for a run in the spare time waiting for it to burn off and finally leapt into the air past 10:00am – not quite the early start I was hoping for.


The flight was smooth up at 6,500 feet…but it was not fast. Fifty-five miles and hour at times. Slower going than a highway car! Descended to 4,500 feet. (When going west the flying altitudes are always even thousands plus 500 feet for traffic separation purposes.) At 4,500 the plane quickened a bit, sometimes going as fast as 80 mph but the ride was a bit bumpy – sometimes in the fun way.

The strong head winds would have made me run out of fuel before my planned destination so I had to land short at another airport. Got out my airport directory and found a suitable alternate and all of its pertinent info: runway lengths and directions, communications frequencies and field elevations and I was set to go for a straight in approach to landing.

The landing though was not so straight forward. The strong turbulence would carry down to the ground and manifested itself as a nasty crosswind and to make matters worse, the runway was sloped downhill for the first half! Not an ideal situation. So land I did, twice. The first time just a bounce, but for the second, a few seconds later, the wheels held their grip on the pavement. Not my best landing by a long shot but as they say, a good landing is one you can walk away from and a great landing is one in which you can use the aircraft again. Which I did!

The excellent part about the landing was that the slight jar encountered during touch number one somehow fixed the issue with the automatic direction finder (ADF) which points towards strategically placed ground beacons to aid in navigation. I’d been listening for the Morse identifier to sound in my earphones for the last hour to show we were getting the signal. No signal. I left it on so that I’d gear the code once we were in range. But once in range…no code. It was not until we touched down that, what’s that noise? Morse code! Happily the ADF was in back in business. Seems Freddy just had a successful visit with a chiropractor of sorts.

Onwards: fueled up Freddy with 100 low lead octane aviation gas and fueled myself with two pieces of wheat bread, raisons, Triscuts, an apple, a can of pineapple chunks and a few pieces of dried fruit for good measure.

Then the next leg to plan. Found a good one after a few no go’s because of landing fees or distances too long for the amount of sunlight left. 2:30pm it was. Found my spot. Class E airport ( no control tower and usually lower key.) Very close to its home town, shown in yellow on the flying charts.. Bucyrus, Ohio here I come. One hundred and twenty miles.

The highlights of the leg: leaving Youngstown (no offense to the Young’s), seeing a field that had GET LOST written into it and landing at Bucyrus just before the sun went down. Farms surrounding most of the airport. Landed, taxied to the pump, fueled and spayed (3.95/gal). Upon a discussion with Kevin the instructor/airport worker, I asked him if I could sleep in the plane. He said sure and then having already offered me the “courtesy car” (I declined in favor of my bike) I took me to hanger three where his buddy has a live in hangar and a couch for me to sleep on to say nothing of the bathroom and shower. Living it real tonight.

Biked into the farm land in the early twilight throwing my arms in the air and saying, "mon dieau", speaking French like my favorite cyclist character in the movie Breaking Away. A happy bike rider, exploring what I’d seen from the air – though the ride was almost abruptly ended when an un-athletic looking dog tore off his farm land onto the road to chase me. I gave a burst of the pedals as if to say "yeah nice try buddy" and figured he was toast. However, i looked back a few seconds later and not only I had not lost him but he was gaining on me at an alarming rate. A sustained firing was needed this time and thankfully Buddy reached his aerobic threshold before I did and quit the chance. Sadly, Buddy did not respond to my taunting whistles on the return trip.

Then into town I went to find a place to teat and to get the feel for the town. Went opposite the fast food joints and found a Greek family place on the edge of the main road through town. I sat at the front table and had a chicken Gyro - a wonderful chicken sandwich on a fat pita with lettuce and some special sauce. The owner and his worker came out the chatty, just as I had hoped and soon got the question, "you from around here?" The woman - born, raised and lived most of her life in Bucyrus. Now lives in the next town over. The man started the place eleven years ago after he left the local garden/automotive/etc hose plant as a senior manager who had no experience. They said the town used to be an industrial town but most of the industries have gone away now leaving a quiet place. In good sprits though they were and their food delicious.

Biked back to the hangar, stopping once to get some fabric to sew a pencil holder onto my pants. Planned the next leg of the flight and went to bed.

More to come,
Ben

Day 1: Massachusetts to Pennsylvania

And so the flying adventure has begun. Initially conceived years ago, the expedition has finally taken off. Postponed for years because of this annoying thing called “college,” I finally thought I would get my chance. But then a chance came up to sail in the Mediterranean with outward bound. Flying mission scrubbed. Another chance the following year. Enter the crazy horse voyage…flying trip scrubbed again. Was I forever going to be stuck doing circles around the traffic pattern of my local airport?

But alas, a word I love using, on this day, after much planning, packing and dreaming, we have left. Yes, I use the possessive we to describe us: myself and my plane, just as Charles Lindbergh did when he crossed the Atlantic. Does this other have a name? Well, yes, officially his name is N7202G – G phonetically is GOLF, which naturally led itself to the name Freddy in honor of my favorite golfer, Fred Couples – also the favorite golfer of my friend Geoff Young and my brother in law Dan Cignarella, two fine golfers in their own right. Coincidence, I think not. I digress.
Mom and dad drove me to the airport this morning after loading the car and doing my customary trampoline front flip and swish on the basketball net (if the ball hits you after the swish you have to do it over.) A wonderful tour of Norwood’s airport’s control tower followed the drive and I was then ready to load the plane now that I’d seen the face of the voice I’ve heard for many years over the radio.

The plane was loaded, I said goodbye to ma and pa, the flight was planned with the latest weather info, specifically the winds aloft, and then the cockpit was organized: GPS plugging in and programmed, checklist under right thigh, kneeboard strapped onto the left thigh, chart, aircraft manual, airport directory and circular slide rule in pocket by left leg, voice recorder wires plugged in and navigation planning sheet within easy reach. It was time to “light this candle” as Alan Shepard said before he became the first American in space. And so I went through the steps:


Breaks: hold
Fuel: on both tanks
Fuel/air mixture: full rich
Carburetor heat: off
Circuit breakers: in
Primer: primed and locked
Throttle: set
Master and alternator switches: on
Flashing beacon: on


I then called “CLEAR” out the window, turned the key and lit the candle. Got my taxi clearance from the controller then proceeded to go all of two feet forward to the edge of the taxiway which the main wheels would not roll over from their parking location on grass abutment. Canceled my taxi clearance and shut down the engine.

Switches: off
Mixture: lean
Ignition: off
Master and alternator switches: off

Got out, waved down the fuel guy and together I pulled and he pushed Freddy’s main wheels onto the taxiway. Take 2. Light candle, candle lit. Taxi clearance obtained, taxied to runway 35 (which points to 350 on the compass) did my run-up engine check, then saying goodbye to my nervous-antsy feeling as we gathered speed down the runway, the nose wheel lifted off and Freddy decided it was at last time to get the show on the road.

Climbed at full power circling to the right to fly over the airport, heading at last: WEST! The clouds looked near scattered as they were, to my cruising altitude of 4,500 feet but as I nudged upwards finally out of Boston’s airspace, I stayed just below them.

And so it went. Beneath the scattered clouds, above the trees, the lakes, the houses, the people oblivious to our passage thousands of feet above them. From one checkpoint to another I went until landing at Sullivan county airport, New York. Fantastic runway – long, wide and no other airplane traffic.


Took a much needed bathroom break, called home as I do after each leg, fueled up ($80 worth of fuel at 4.25 a gallon. ) then planned the next leg, and away we went! Over hills, over a row of large wind mills churning away on a ridge line. Absolutely beautiful. Video taped the sun setting in the direction I was flying then my approach and landing between the hills into a Pennsylvanian valley. Beautiful.

Got fuel, got dinner in town at a Chinese restaurant and am now here in the back of Freddy ready to bed down for the evening. I told the fuel guys that I was supposed to meet a friend. Eventually I asked if I could sleep in the plane saying I wasn’t able to contact my friend and that I didn’t want to pay for a hotel. They laughed, bewildered. No one had ever asked them that before, he said. He called his manager. There were no policies against it because no one does it. I got the go ahead from the friendly guys.

I have taken out the three other seats to the plane, making it now a single-seater. In the back I now have my sleeping bag, a bivi sack, my sister's bike, a back pack of clothes, another pack of miscellaneous things - tools and such, a bag of operational flying equipment, manuals, charts, airport directories and navigation planning sheets, a few quarts of oil, and a bag of food. Bike is now outside, and all my other gear is organized on the starboard side, while I sleep on the port side, feet under the copilot controls and head in the back looking up through the rear window. Just like winter camping tonight.

So wonderful to be exploring again. Biking through town made me feel like I was back on the crazy horse adventure. New ports are so interesting, so fascinating. A new part of the world. My days are once again invigorating, pages in the journal written now instead of only a sentence or two for a day. It is wonderful and now I must do my exercises and stretches and call it a day, a wonderful day.

HOME AGAIN, SAFE AND SOUND

ladies and gentlemen, the concluding voyages:

Before we left charleston, there was the maritime/naval museum to check out. the others went off to walk around town but i sought out the WWII era submarine, aircraft carrier, destroyer, and coast guard cutter. walked around for hours of intense enjoyment. the submarine was my favorite part. felt like i was walking through a space ship. i don't want to be in the military but i'm fascinated by the technology, the similarities to space, and the organization and efficiency of the military structure. mainly, though, i like seeing the different environments that people live in.

The other highlight of charleston was playing baseball. we bought a bat and some balls and had some mitts on board, so we went to a park and for hours we hit fly ball after fly ball, "way back...way back". it was great exercise and we were all sore the next day from long throws and many hits.

Then we departed Charleston at 6pm, sailed into the night towards beaufort, north carolina, where we arrived two nights and many threatening thunderstorms later. From beaufort, we made our way into the intracoastal waterway, motoring for two days and one night to norfolk, virginia. the motoring got tiring on the ears, but we made progress, and went through the night, to make one less day of it.

In norfolk, we stayed just long enough to get some groceries, some fuel and a good night's sleep, then off again, this time for our home port! The highlight of this passage was at 2am, rob woke us up to say that there were dolphins on the bow lit up by phospherecense. i was tired and having once before seen this sight a few years before, i hesitated but then realized i had to pee, so i ventured up on deck to kill two birds with one stone. what i found were missle like contrails streaking through the water as if we were being attacked by some unseen force. we could see the entire outlines of the dolphins as they rode our bow wave in such sparkling clarity. and when they would dive, the light would become a dull glow that would increase in brilliance as the dolphin came back to the surface. we were giddy with delight and could not bare to leave the scene. more than five of them, there were, sometimes in formation like a pack of jet aircraft, then breaking formation, they would go every which way only to regroup by the bow. fascinating. another highlight for the others was shooting ted's new $35 bb gun rifle at full coors light cans that we have had stowed onboard for nine months - they were given to us and none of us really drink beer that much. they were much more valued for their spray after being poled out away from the boat and used as targets. great satisfaction for hitting your target.

we had a good bit of fug once we got into massachusetts waters, and thanks to the radar, and our trumpet which doubles as a fog horn, we stayed clear of buoys and other boats. finally made it through the cape cod canal, below hords of cars gonig to and from the cape. into cape cod bay we went, and were finally able to hoist the sails one more time. a few hours and we were into duxbury bay where a boat with all of our families waving and smiling. a few moments later and we were on the dock having gone nearly 7,000 nautical miles enroute to panama and back. many hugs, hand shakes and congratulations from the fams. throughout the last days on the haus, we've all had a bit of time to think about the fact that this whole thing is really coming to a close. it's been over a year long project with so many unknowns, and now our voyage has come a complete circle. it all seems like it went by so quickly. nine months was a great length for the voyage and while it seems very strange to be home, we are all looking forward to new adventures. these new adventures span a wide spectrum for each of us, but between us they include perhaps a dog, a girlfriend, moving in with a girlfriend, moving back to montana, moving back to oregon, moving to portland, maine, high school teaching, weed mapping, contruction, more sailing... many unknowns, but i know i'm excited about mine. for the upcoming winter i've applied for a job in antarctica as a field instructor. it's a long shot, but i've wanted to go there for many years and this would be my dream job that i've been waiting to apply to for years.

so now i'm home, returning to the haus for the next week or so to clear it out, clean it out and get it ready for winter, and for sale. if any of you or folks you know are interested in a crazy horse adventure of your own, let me know.

though i usually have no trouble adjusting to being home, when i think of being on the haus, it's strange to think that my patern of living has just been wildly broken. no longer will i have to go outside to go to the bathroom, spit my toothpaste out, or wash the dishes. no longer will i have to set my bed up every time i go to sleep, nor roll it all up when i wake up. no longer will i live in a 35 by 9 foot house (including deck) with three other guys for days on end. no longer will i live by the compass, and the winds, no longer will i have to check the weather forecasts each day, no longer will i have to use a hand pump to get my drinking water. it is all very different, but living in different conditions and in a different style is one of my favorite aspects of living on a sailboat, or a spacecraft for that matter. just like a submarine. there are more comforts here, and i'm enjoying them, but i'm planning to get out and about as soon as possible. i cannot stand for long living without the compass, the weather, and the sun, moon and stars. i hope to be indoors just long enough to get cleaned up, debriefed, and prepared for the next chapter. already, i get antsy. thought the time had come to get a cell phone, so i went to the verizon store, waited an hour, had my phone and plan all picked up, waited for an hour while this one guy started raising his voice, workers had to tell him to calm down, and not yell. others were pacing the room, waiting to be helped, but there were not enough workers, patience of the masses were wearing as thin and mine was too for my frustration and disgrace of our unhappy and impatient human race. thankfully i began talking with an italian man, and we shared bits of our stories. so seconds before it was my turn, i decided, i wanted no part of this maddness and bitterness so i walked out. so maybe i'll get one next week, but it was too much to go from the simplicity of the haus to the anger and stress that was the verizon store.

well, it has been very enjoyable for me to write for an audience for the first time and i hope you've enjoyed our stories. thanks very much for reading and for your notes in return. though there are many different directions which we will be going in a few short weeks, we are hoping to have some sort of party for everyone so we can show pictures, a video and maybe a story or two - maybe even some reenactments. would probably be in the first half of august if it happens. no telling though. will email if we are able to pull it together. otherwise, thanks again, crazy horse kept us safe because she knew how many people we thinking of her and her crew.

adios muchachos.

KEY WEST, FLORIDA, USA

hi gang,

we made it into the darkness of key west, florida last night at 11pm. nice to have so many lighted buoys and other navaids to follow and nice to again have good, acurate charts of where we're sailing - especially ones that were taken from data collected in the 1900s. the passage was four days, three nights, about 80 hours. it took lots of motoring as the forecasted SE 10-15 often arrived as E 5. so it goes. our attempt to find the gulfstream was somewhat unsuccessful, but we made it here safe and sound and are now planning on going north as fast as possible, which is as fast as the weather allows. strange to be back in the states, but it's nice to be in our home country. adios and thanks to all who replied to my last emails.

ben

Mexico

hello all,

part two that i wrote yesterday got erased so i´ll try again.

xcalak was nice, very quiet, not many people, fun tag with the local kids, they seemed to be quite delighted to be chased by me, having joined in a game with three brothers aged 7 to 10, while waiting for the others to get off the bus. each morning a tropical wave would come through, which is a little less than a tropical disturbance. it would bring wind up to 35 knots, horizontal rain and nearby thunderstorms. the second morning, the anchor broke loss, which i was expecting due to the poor holding ground, so i enacted my plan and was on deck with the engine going barely able to see due to all the rain. finally managed to get the anchor up while turning back and forth through the wind to allow me to pull in 10 feet of anchor line at a time without the bow of the boat falling off which would head us towards shoals. very exciting, the engine did well, and i was happy to have managed the situation alone. lots of adrenaline going.

otherwise, i did a lot of reading, thinking and writing. contemplated living on a boat a lot, and i love producing my own energy, and being conscious of what energy i´m using, always aware of the weather, always aware of the other cruisers around me (the cruisers at xcalak monitor the vhf radio and have a common channel to chat on), love having a floating home that´s made for travelling and exploring.

the guys finally made it in on the bus, and we left soon after towards the tip of the yucatan. the passage was fine with good winds (15 knots) from the SE, close hauled all the way. happily made it to isla mujeres at 5am after two two overnights. explored town, got some resupplies and then later went to cancoon (10 minutes away by ferry) (SPRING BREAK `05 BABY!) not really but we wanted to go because we´ve heard so many people go there for spring breaks and such. wasn´t too spectacular and i don´t recommend it to anyone unless they really want the mtv grind life. happy to return to the boat, i was. now we´re in the process of checking out of the country and this afternoon we will head for FLORIDA!

yes, we´re coming back to the country, despite the fact that we´d hoped that by the time we got back , G.W. would no longer be in office. we are looking forward to returning, though will still have 1500 nautical miles to make to the north before we´re home. but it´ll be nice to be in phone range with friends and family, it will be nice to not have to bleach the water we get from marinas, and it´ll be nice to be heading home. we have had a wonderful international experience and we have all spent much time thinking about our future years, and now the time is drawing near to put those plans into action. we have 400 miles to go to key west, maybe our longest passage yet. the winds are supposed to be E SE and then S SE all about 10 to 15 knots so we should have pleasant sailing and hopefully little motoring, always my hope. strange to think of being in the states before the weekend is out. hope you are all well.

ben

Guatemala-Belize

Hello gang,

The outward bound course went very well, though because the forecast for the first week of the course was calling for 45 knots of wind with gusts up to 50, including rain and visibilities less than one nautical mile, we took the cadets backpacking in the rain on the appalachian trail. much fun it was, everyone got through in good spirits, and we eventually did get to go on the pulling boats, where we did some rowing, some sailing, and some sailing in the fog. all the essential parts of an outward bound course. i stressed attitudes from the beginning, as i knew the weather was going to make things challengine, and the cadets did a wonderful job and hopefully learned a lot.

From Maine, it was back home to Sherborn for a few days of rest and volleyball before returning to Guatemala with brother Will. So nice to have company, and on our seven hour bus ride back to Rio Dulce, we made wonderful friends with a 7 year old girl and her mom, both named Lidia. At first will and i just played hide and seek games. bit by bit she grew more comfortable with us and realized we were worthy of talking to. by the end of the trip we were best friends, especially will and her, as i had taken a nap for a few hours. we took lots of pictures kept each other laughing for the entire ride. way better entertainment than any movie would have been. little lidia even asked us for our phone number, which we gave her, and while in belize, we heard that a spanish girl had called our home looking for guellermo (aka willy).

we made our way back to the haus, dissapointed to not have the lidias with us, found rob, and our dingy which then had one side that needed to be reinflated by mouth every two hours or it was unrideable. (our foot pump was recently rendered inoperable, losing the spring first, then operating the bellows by hand, then decreeing it was hopeless.) this necessitated taking off the little 3.5 horse power engine each night for fear that during the night it would end up submerged. the troublesome starboard tube now has two patches on it, one patching the second patch, and has significantly slowed the leak. yet in our last passage, the wooden floor fell out, due to the deflation of the starboard tube, and during the night, slipped quitely into the sea. always an adventure.

rob then relayed a frightening story about the haus while we were all away. apparently rob came back from el salvador late one night and motoring out in the dingy, could not find the haus. all around the harbor to no avail he went, soon growing to tired to deal, got a room and slept till morning. in the morning he could still not find it, and fearing the worst, asked around aroub the "barco gris" or the grey boat until someone said they saw it out in the river. rob later found our floating home in the middle of the river where it was anchored with our back up danforth anchor that we keep on deck. as the story goes, someone cut our anchor line to get our 35 pound cqr anchor (worth about $500) and let our ship go. luckily for all of us, someone saw the haus floating away towards destruction, jumped on her and threw in the back up anchor with what was left of our anchor line. a million thanks to that maksed man, whoever you are!!! certain disaster narrowly averted. much karma there is in that act.

out of the rio dulce and guatemala we went, rob, will and i towards the coast of belize only a day sail away. after clearing into the country we headed north towards the outer reef and islands where we happily made our way north each day. some beautiful clear blue water, some okay snorkling, and some amazing dolphin groups riding our bow wave in water so clear it looked as if they were flying. we also went whale shark hunting as we crossed over the outer reefs. during our diving adventures in utila, honduras we had been able to snorkle with one of these massive fish thanks to our dive boat captain. (whale sharks are the talk of the town in utila - your not worthy unless you´ve snorkled with one.) in belize we wanted to see another, without other dive boats around and without 30 other crazed snorklers all trying to become worthy. so we did what the dive boat captain did and went towards the jumping fish, and jumped in the water with our snorkling gear. the first time we saw nothing, the second time i took the helm, rob and will jumped in to the school with fish everywhere - above, to the side, and below - but saw no whale shark. i had drifted away and was preparing to set sail to pick them up, when i heard, "BENNY, GET OVER HERE, QUICK!" apparently it was not a whale shark that rob had seen eyeing him, but a reef shark. i went as fast as i could to the two nervous snorklers and pulled them in, and we safely continued on our way, deciding it was perhaps better to not jump into the feeding frenzy unless a whale shark was actually sighted from the safety of the boat first.

made it to belize city to pick up yet another brother, brother chad! he was not planning on coming to visit due to a hectic schedule as always, but leaving will and me at the airport to return to guatemala, as he drove away he decided he had to come. so the brothers were together with robby. the temperatures were hot, especially below decks which when we were sailing was the only refuge from the sun. working up to 100 degrees during the day and a cool 86 during the night. needless to say, we were hot, but swimming lots, and had some great water volleyball after we made it to caye caulker north of the city. rob then flew home for a wedding, so it was just us boys on board (needless to say we missed sister far and wished we had coordinated it better so the four of us could have been on the haus together). did some snorkling, tried to pick up some belize ladies for will, sailed in the big ocean blue, and then it was too soon time for them to go home. it was not easy to say goodbye, but it gave me an opportunity that i had thought and read much about: solo sailing.

i had about a week until the three other guys came back from the wedding, so i wanted to make some progress north, at least getting to mexico. so i said goodbye to the bros, ran around doing all the clear out logistical manuevers, changed the engine oil, and left the city at around 5:30pm sailed until an hour past dark, anchored in the lee of a mangrove island, checked the engine oil, got the boat totally clean and organized for a solo sail, plugged all the gps waypoints in, so i would have a navigator, and tried to sleep for a few hours. i was tired, had been running around all day but was too amped up to sleep so i rubbed my temples and leaned my head over the bed in an effort to get blood back to my brain. at 11pm i got up pulled up the anchor and proceeded to beat my way out of the channel to the open sea. it was only blowing about 10 knots so it was easy to manage the haus as we taked back and forth out of the channel eventually turning to the north and towards mexico. the night passed quickly with thunderstorms far off to the north and south and dawn came after a furious battle with mosquitos and other tiny little devils. worst bugs of the trip, even at five miles off shore. the day proceeded smoothly and i made it into xcalak (pronounced ish-kalak), mexico around 2pm. (the wind vane had steered much of the way) i was tired, had taken little five minute naps along the way, and was very happy to be at the anchorage. it was a great experience to have total control of the haus, making all the decisions, and it was nice to be able to maintain a clean boat. it is not often that one of us can know where everything is, especially when underway, but i had a clean boat when i departed and i had a relatively clean boat upon arrival. a great experience, but i have no desire to be on a long cruise by myself. i kept thinking that the others were down below or just about to relieve me of watch, but then i would realize it was just me. powerful at times but also it could be lonesome. overall a great experience to sail alone and it is one that will surely stand out in the sailings we´ve done.

that´s part one for now, more to follow.

thanks ben

Guatemala

P.S. i assume it's supposed to be something other than p.s. but i'm writing this part last, and didn't know what else to call it. this is a long one. breaking it up to make it easier to read...maybe. feel free to read at multiple sittings, or do anything you want to - like read a sentence each morning with your coffee or breakfast, or just as you wake up, for those who don't drink coffee or have breakfast immediatly after getting up.

entering guatemala - we now go back in time to half an hour or so when i began typing, and then back in time again to a few weeks ago when we really entered guatemala for real: hello, it's me again, A. (for ease of reading organization) it's time for the guatemala stories for all those readers who actually read. never know if people read or open, see how long it is, then close it. hope the length of some of these emails don't discourage anyone. we'll see how this one goes.

sailed, yes, happily sailed, without the motor we call RonDog, from honduras to the livingston, guatemala, the entry into the rio dulce. the sea breeze happily filled in right after we got underway so we made good time and made it to the livingston sand bar with plenty of light to spare but not much in the way of tide. the charts and books told us the depth was six feet - we draw about six feet. needless to say we were paying attention when we entered the strip, but we were confident we could get through, with the waves that were following us in. and sure enough, we felt the sandy bottom a number of times but never came to a standstill. i was up on the bow, looking uselessly into the muddy water to try to guide rob or ted at the helm. the boat would slow or move in a way it didn't usually move when it had water below its keel, but then we'd be off again as the waves pushed us further from behind. and in this fashion, we made it to the comfortable depths of the livingston anchorage, where we checked in with the authorities and had some dinner. good to have some land food again, as the state of food affairs on the haus have reached an all time low. generally we never cook, maybe have cereal for breakfast, maybe nothing. nothing is really appatising, especially when there is land food nearby. when we do have to do a few days worth of sailing, our food consists of ramen noodles, some candy bars for the boys, some fruit for me, and that's about it. our last effort at shopping for food to stock the boat ended in our exiting the store with the following crew holding the following items: me: nothing; rob: gatorade and brownie mix; chris: gatorade and cake mix; ted: gatorade and cake mix. the cake mix phenomenon was born in april when two of us had birthdays. ted's girlfriend had sent him the mix, and not having an oven to bake the cake in, we just added water, and ate it by the spoon. quite tasty and quite cake like even in liquid form and without what some might call necessary added ingredients. (other birthday adventures were stirred up when the three others, upon meeting some nice colombian ladies, who were very talkative, invited them back to the boat for my birthday party. i was not present for the act of inviting the ladies, and only later, on their walk back to the boat, did they start to correctly realize that these nice ladies were not the kind of ladies we wanted to hang out with, and i certainly did not want them there for my birthday, nor was a party really planned. so one of the guys nicely turned them away when they arrived, amongst some friendly big smiles from marina security guard, who then confirmed the girls were the type of girls we thought they were.)
B. anyways, after waking up in our first morning in guatemala, we headed up the river and through the canyons - cliffs on both side. strange to be on our boat, might have felt more realistic in a kayak or something. arrived in fronterra after about six hours - we were able so sail a good bit of the way through intermediate lakes and wider parts of the river, with the wind always at our backs funneling up the river. fronterra is a small town, not many travellers there but it's a place where many boats are holed up for the summer hurricane season. that first afternoon there i took a bus for a little solo excursion to the ruins of tikal, which were fantastic. spent two days in the park and for less than what it would cost to rent a hammok and get the sunrise tour of the park, i slipped the two night guards a few bills and they let me sleep on top of highest temple in the park, temple VI, an excellent place to view the sunset and the next morning's sunrise. i had thought about trying to sleep on temple IV, but had not expected to, but as i was heading up to see the sunset, i saw two guards with big guns - this prompting me to decide i was definately not going to sleep on temple iv, but then i figured i'd just go right to the source. they were pleasant fellows, happy to talk, and at first they said that sleeping there wasn't possible, but then all of a sudden, they said it'd be okay. so as the park closed right after sunset, i raced back to the park entry to gather all my belongings, cancel my hammok reservation and early morning tour, and raced back up to the temple. i hadn't had that much exercise in months and it felt great. made it up to the temple just before sunset, which was excellent, and as soon as the guard, friendly rafiel, began escorting everyone down to the ladder, he motioned me to go around the other way. they all left, and i was just me on the top, temples one and two poking out of the jungle to the east, among a few others, and venus and a tiny cresent moon to the west. stayed on the west side for a while, shielded from the light wind, writing in my journal, waiting for the moon to set, and contemplating things worthy of contemplation, feeling like i was having my own outward bound solo.

the night was a bit chilly, having no pad for the rock, and no blanket, just a rain jacket, and having not had enough time to have any dinner, but it was mostly clear and the view made it worth the frequent wake ups. wouldn't be right to sleep soundly through the night in such a unique place. sunrise was cloudy but i stayed there for a while after the crowds had come and gone. (i had ducked around back as the guided sunrise groups came up and then reappeared as if i was on some other sunrise tour - as rafiel had instructed.) after a morning in the park, i headed back to fronterra to see the boys, and to meet sister farley who was coming for a visit. hi far. took a long bus to guatemala city to meet her, and then a bus ride back to the boat, to relax and explore the surrounding fronterra area for a few days, while it was just the two of us on the boat. ted and rob had gone to antigua, chris had gone home for a visit. then to antigua for a few more days and nights, where we hung out with ted and his visiting girlfriend, and also climbed volcan pacaya, which is active and spewed molten rock from it's summit cone only 50 meters away from where we stood at the top of our hike. quite spectacular. great to get into the air and see the clouds and sun and earth from somewhere other than sea level. felt i was in the middle of the atmosphere, rather than on its edge. it took only a few hours to get to the top with guided rests "descansados" every 15 minutes. coming down from the summit was like skiing in loose volcanic rock. quite fun, though only travelling in sandles, i endured some uncomfortable sharp things between my sandles and the soles of my feet. (we had planned to have gone to the volcano the day before but a communication mix up had us at the drop off spot at the pick up time. the guide with whom we had the mix up with just said, "Dios sabe" or God knows. and with that, all frustrations aside concerning everything, because, well, Dios sabe.
C. before leaving antigua, far and i walked the 300 or so steps up to the cerro de la cruz to overlook the city. while doing our overlooking a small mayan boy and girl and two mayan teenagers in their lovely colorful traditional clothes, asked us if we wanted to play tag. i was game and was deemed it. the chase was on as were the smiles and laughs, coming from the kids themselves but also from the 15 or so adults who they came with to see la cruz. much fun we had, my cheeks were tired from smiling so much. i played well, but so did they and seemed to play even better when they called, "gringo, gringo." this just got the adults laughing. sadly though, they had to leave, the game ended, but as they walked up to their van, we waved to the kids and later the adults returned our waves and joined in the fun. we could not hear what they were saying as the departed - only the word gringo, which was followed by much laughter, and more waves. quite a fun afternoon. we had experienced this same type of waving game earlier on the way home from a small castle. bunch of boys riding in the back of a truck coming at us, waving. stuck my hand out a little farther as they passed and slapped one of the boys a high five, which caused much excitement and many smiles and enless waves until they sadly went around the corner. then back to the buses, which are always interesting, especially when, as in during one of my voyages, in the normal routine of natives troughing their trash out the window, i was showered with rice, that initially had been on an outward and awayward trajectory, though as it mingled with the air currents around the bus, it changed course, turning inward along the path of least resistance: my open window. surprising, but a new experience. a lot can be tolerated if it's the first time it has happened. the other bus things that far and i had often were men coming onto the bus to sell miracle drugs to many willing passengers. they talked loudly and with much conviction as they should their biology books, thereby illustrating that the pills they offered, probably for a reduced price, would help every subsystem of the human body and then some. we declined, feeling confident in our own subsystems.

took the bus back to guatemala city, and then flew home with far, where i am now, so that i can teach one outward bound sailing course for the coast guard academy. will head back to guatemala city as soon as the course is over, then to belize, if the guys haven't sailed it there already, then up the coast, then to home.

so that is guatemala, sorry it was a long one, but hopefully it was somewhat enjoyable. thanks for reading, especially those of you who have made it all the way down here. i give extra credit, and would stamp your computer with a "super" stamp if i could, for those of you who read the whole thing in one go. i myself would not be able to do it, so don't feel bad, and i know go into the world of the "above" not to proofreed for disjointedness but to add spaces between some paragraphs so it's easier to look at. adios muchachos y muchachas.

ben

San andreas to honduras

hello readers,

we are now in puerto cortez, honduras, poised to make the next move to the rio dulce region of guatemala. from panama, we had an uneventful sail back to the colombian islands of san andreas. here we rested, played lots of basketball and soccer games, had a few fair days of surfing and then headed on to honduras. we were also able to get the satellite radio to receive a signal, which made us all happy, but a few kinks and worn raw places in the wire prevented us from getting a reliable reception. chris has gone home for a visit and will hopefully bring a new one back with him so we can hear all the news and baseball games.

we had initially planned to stop in costa rica and nicaragua on the way to honduras from panama, but the east coast of costa rica isn´t well set up for cruisers and the coast of nicaragua is dangerous because of coral shoals and mean people.

the ride to honduras was smooth, nice sunshine, and some good winds. the highlight was the awahoo, we caught, not sure on the spelling, but it was a three feet long, very muscular and excellent tasting fish. arrived at the bay islands of honduras, at the island of guanaja. quickly moved to rotan, and then to utila, where we stayed for about a week.

the activity here was diving and more diving. utila is basically a diving destination. dive shops everywhere, and divers everywhere. hardly any americans but a ton of folks from canada and the u.k. our new british friends were much amused by our attempt at speaking with an english accent, and we were even more amused when they spoke with an american accent. while in utila, ted did his open water and advanced, i did my advanced, rob did some fun dives, and chris stayed topsides. we did deep dives together to 120 feet, night dives, and wreck dives. the highlight for me was the night dive. we took our dingy out to the dive buoy, all dressed in our wet suits, like navy seals. ted and i spent much of the time upside down, trying to get disoriented, trying to feel like we were in space. it was magical when our lights were turned off, we were in a black abyss, a most unreal experience and the coolest thing i´ve done in a while. on the deep dives the instructors made us do little exercises to test our intellectual functioning at the depths where many divers feel the temporary effects of nitrogen narcossis. like a little anesthesia. i felt fine but was a little slower in counting the numbers scrambled on the instructors wet board thing. we also cracked an egg which stayed together, brought a ping pong ball with us, which imploded at 40 feet, and partially inflated a balloon that inflated as the pressure decreased with our ascent.

the stay in utila was nice. good food, good movies for $2 (i love huckabees, butch cassidy and the sundance kid), and good friends we met though our dive center. hard to leave, but guatemala is calling to us. we should be there tomorrow night. now in puerto cortez, we spent the afternoon with the port captain, the immigration officer and the customs people, getting endless stamps. but all is done now, and we are heading to a soccer game tonight at the local stadium, then heading out early tomorrow morning for livingston, guatemala to continue the adventure. that´s the story from down here. the sun is almost directly overhead and should pass us in a few days or so, heading your way.

adios,
ben

Still in panama

to the crazies,

around the middle of march, i flew home for a brief period because my grandmother on my dad´s side passed away. she was 97, had lived a wonderful life and i was able to talk to her on the phone two or three days before she died. it was great to be with my family and extended family for a week and it was great to get a taste of the cold winter air and snow of massachusetts. by the end of march i was back on the haus, with two visitors, my cousin liza and ted´s sister jenny. the boat at that time was in portabello, panama, and we sailed further east to the san blas islands. before we got to the san blas islands, we stopped at isla grande, where we had some great surfing, and resupplied our food, water and fuel. i was the water man, and i asked a woman walking on the road, and she took me to a house further on. apparently it is not the place that normal yachties go, but i was happy to get water from anywhere. it was a family complex with kids, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, dogs, cats, chickens, parakeets, and ground crabs. they took me around to the tap, put our five gallon jugs down and slowly they began to fill. because of the slowness, they invited me to come sit on the porch of their small concrete house that they had built themselves. none of them spoke english and i had a great time speaking spanish with all of them. they were quite a group, and my spanish improved as i sat there for about half an hour as they checked on the water. the kids looked at a spanish-english picture book, the grandmother and i chatted, and the animals wondered around or relaxed in the shade of the porch. it was one of my favorite times in panama, and i was delighted to return the next day with lize, for another 10 gallons of water on the following day. from there we headed to the san blas islands.

the islands are made up of many little islands, some with people on them, some without. it was much like the bahamas in terms of the wilderness feel. lots of snorkling and a bit of surfing and some island explorations. it was nice to have a break from towns, shops and other money spending places. at the first island we were anchored near, we had a three on three game of wiffle ball which was quite fun. we drew a crowd of the natives, some of whom had been out in their dugout canoes to ask if we wanted any molas, the decoratively woven squares of fabric. we asked them if they wanted to play with us but they were content to watch. when the ball was lost high in a palm tree, we were all amazed as one of our fans climbed up to retrive it like it was nothing. we gave him a round of applaus and he was all smiles. after the game, i gave the bat to a little girl and then we had batting practice, which she loved. no one else wanted to bat, but she had quite a good time, as did we, watching her enjoyment.

from there we went to another islands, snorkled, surfed, and read. we had great dinners, partly on account of having guests, and partly because the guests helped out so much. some might even say, they cooked for us a few nights. we were running low on food and water so we went to the island called rio diablo to get resupplied. this was a real village and we were taken around by a great helper to boat folks named fredericko. he was a small but strong fellow who had a great high pitched laugh, and brought us everywhere we needed to go. all the houses are made from bamboo poles and have a thatched type of roof. the roads are all dirt, and everyone knows everyone. i went on a picture taking expedition while the others were trying to make some telephone calls, and a few little girls saw my camera and did some mock poses. i took one picture of about 10 of the girls, probably all under the age of ten, and the next thing i knew, i was cheek to cheek with them all as i held out the camera for a picture of me and 10 smiling girls, one of which was wearing my hat another wearing my sunglasses. we were all laughing and having a grand old time. they loved the pics and loved even more to see themselves on the camera´s digital screen. every time i said, "una mas" meaning one more, there were squeels of delight as they raced around me to take their positions. a few more minutes later and after i had told them my name and tried to pronounce all of theirs, much to their delight, i found myself inside one of their homes, dancing to the song gasolina, which is a huge hit here - we first heard the song in jamaica and imagine it will reach the states soon if it has not already. i took a video with my camera and it is quite amusing to see me dancing with 10 little girls, the coreography, i got by the end.


we moved on from rio diablo to get into the wilderness again, and after some snorkling near an island rob and i did some breath holding trials in about 10 feet of water holding on to the anchor. we took a watch down with us and did our best. 1 minute, then two, and by the end of the time we had both done thee and a half minutes by relaxing completely with our eyes closed. watching each other was great fun, because by about two minutes under, our bodies would want to breath, and our diaphrams would begin going up and down, even though we were not breathing. it began slowly and by the time three minutes and thirty seconds were up, i could not keep my head under water becasue i was laughing so hard at rob´s stomach going in and out faster than i had ever seen a bellie move. it was quite fun and we were proud of our achievement.

we had swam to fifty feet down in the bahamas, rob had said he had gone to sixty feet but was not sure and wanted to confirm his estimate. so, feeling strong, we put a line over the side with a chain on the end to guide our way down and back up and in increments let out all the anchor line until we were about at seventy five feet. we were able to make it down and back up without a problem and i even stayed at the bottom for a few seconds. we took turns and even hauled up the guide line and then rode it´s chain all the way down a bit fast and with less effort than swimming ourselves. we wanted to hit eighty feet but the bottom over which we were floating got no deeper in the range of our anchor. so, mightly satisfied with over 75 feet, we heading for a different island to explore in the light winds. but soon we found ourselves over 80 feet. after a few "should we..."´s we dropped the hook and checked the depth meter. 90 feet, then 100 feet. well, over went the guide line, and on went the mask, snorkle, fins, and my six pounds of lead weight. we did a few exploritory runs down, and could barely see the bottom. i then held on to the line to relax, breathing slowly in an attempt to slow my heart rate, took two deep breaths, then a thrid to go down with. i went down, telling myself to relax over and over, followed the line down, saw the chain, then the bottom, figured i could keep going, all the while with one hand on my nose to clear my ears of the increasing pressure. still felt good, so i kept going, resisting any urge to panic, hesitated twice as it took a more concentrated effort to clear my ears, reached out and grabbed a handfull of the moonscape mud of a hundred feet below the water´s surface. i turn around, and without looking up, i told myself, to just start slowly kicking towards the surface. soon i was half way up, feeling good enough so that i could hold onto the mud in one had, and didn´t need to use the line to haul my way up faster. i saw rob come down, as a safety check, and i gave him the customary thumbs up, and then i was on the surface showing the others the mud in my hand. i was quite excited and even more so when rob followed suit and did the same. it was amazing to be so deep, feel so calm and see the boat from so far down. it was a day i shall never forget. i´m hoping to find gills soon growing on my cheeks. (ang, you´d be proud, i owe my skills to you and farm pond depth dives).

the girls had to leave too soon, so we went back to rio diablo where they caught a flight back to panama city. it was nice to have some feminin types on board and we were all sad to see them go, trying not to feel the loss that i always feel when a visiting family member departs.

we went back to isla grande for two days of surfing, and then headed to bocas. 160 miles it was, we should be able to do it in just of 24 hours in good winds from the north east. but the good northeast winds turned to the 5 to 10, then turned to the west (our direction of travel) and then turned back to 15 to 20, 27 hours turned to 40 and included thunder and lightning striking only a few hundred yards away from our own lightning rod shaped mast. it was pouring rain at times and with the lighting we rigged up a steering system so we could steer using lines and pullies from the inside, away from electrically conducting shourds and masts. we got through the storm and finally made it to bocas this morning at 4:30am. the passage was a long one with a bit of motoring, any bit being too much, and our eating mostly considered of ritz type crackers and a few packets of ramen noodles. upon arriving, we slept, then at the marina, showered, ted and chris shaved their heads, and i my fu man chu, as a sort of cleansing from the passage. the passage consisted of our watch of an hour by day, two by night, and when off watch we would sleep or read, myself finishing The Long Walk aka the long read. it is a strange type of life, during the passage days, with steering sleeping and reading, plus little radio activities to get the weather and to try to contact my dad. we all feel our bodies go down to about 80% but we all stay in good spirits. the days just go by, and time takes a new meaning as i find myself either on watch or on a bunk, it being light or dark outside. don´t really have any meals, just a little snack before each watch.

we´re headed in a few days or so up the coast and onto new countries, eager for a new place, but bocas is nice and has good food, water, showers, and internet with which to gather ourselves. so that is where we are, and what we´ve been up to. hope all is well back home. glad to know spring is coming for you.

ben

Isla de san andreas

buenas,

we have now sailed to san andreas, another island of columbia. we left providencia at 2am and arrived at san andreas at 2pm. a good sail with a good moon to start the journey. we finished our time at providencia with a wonderful hike to what we think was the highest point of the island. it was great to be exercising for a few hours and it was great to be in the forests for a bit. great views from the top.

now in san adreas, we´re waiting for good surfing weather and to pass the time, we´ve paid 10 dollars for access to a swimming pool, a basketball court with soccer goals, a weight room, showers and the like. lots of activity.

san andreas is nice, but lacks the small island feel of providencia. there seem to be endless shops of bathing suits, shoes, electronics, and perfume. we rented scooters again and toured around the island for two hours a few days ago, going easily around the circumfrance of the island, while scouting our surfing spot. we attempted to go surfing on the south end yesterday, but the waves were big and the wind was strong. rob and i attempted anyway, but the current swept us around the point, so we had to do the long paddle to the point where we could safely get out among the sharp coral. a surfing competition had just been completed the day before and rob and i saw 6 columbians walking and pointing in the direction for us to get out. they showed up on the rocks where we were to get out and were very friendly, all there to make sure we got out okay.

that´s all the news from here. shaved my beard off to a fu man chu, long mustache thing. quite funny, i feel like i´m a bad guy from a cowboy movie. got to keep myself entertained.

adios

Panama

Hi folks,

Crazy horse finished about 48 hourse of mostly continuous motoring when we anchored at the island of bocas del toro, panama about a week ago. we were coming from albequerque cays, of colombia, where we had a day of excellent reef snorkling, and met a couple sailing in the same type of boat, an alberg 35. had a potluck on the beach and over a kingfish dinner, it came out that the alberg 35 owner, Dave, was the captain for an important man´s motorboat. the important man: non other than the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, yes, chuck yeager. many can imagine my excitement. many entertaining stories about dave´s own airplane and helicopter flying stories.

the highlite of the passage came when we saw a clumb of bamboo floating in the water. we were trying to sail, but recognizing its futileness, we furled the sails, turned on our engine, Ron Dog, and motored towards the flotsam in search of a mahi mahi dinner. we found lots of fish, including mahi mahi and probably about 50 bull sharks up to 5 feet long. we hooked a few mahi mahi but as soon as the sharks detected any panic out of the hooked fish, it was a gonner. we were running about the deck, quite half cocked, with fishing gear everywhere, and trying to get it all on video tape. the urge to see pandemonium and crazyness in the water overwhelmed our desire for a fish dinner and we hesitated in pulling in the hooked mahi mahi long enough for the sharks to go mad, which caused us to lose our dinner, twice. very exciting and amusing entertainment to an otherwise uneventful motoring. from there we spotted a group of 20 pilot whales which we motored over to as the basked in the sun. the continued basking and a few swam towards us. back to the flotsam and a few circles later, with sharks chasing us, we headed south again.

we came to bocas del toro in search of ´the best surf in the caribbean´. yet we have had nothing but flat calms for over a week with no forcasted signes of improvement. we have entertained ourselves with a bit of snorkling, exploring the island of bastamientos, playing soccer and basketball wtih the local boys, eating cheap food, and sharing in our exasperation about the lack of surf in this legendary spot. one of the highlites has been ´crazy guy with a plane on a stick´. we have a series of ´crazy guys´ that we´ve found on this voyage, including crazy cat woman from jamaica, crazy wood guy, from san andreas, who half the time would give us smiles and say rasta things while the other half of the time he would start yelling at us apparently for not buying his wood things. crazy plane on a stick guy is about 20 and pulls a model airplane on a stick up and down the street during the nights. the first night he just went back and forth, talked to no one, we had doubts about his mental condition. but on the second night, after doing his full check out, and a good pit of taxiing, he started to run, and lo and behold, the thing took flight. you can imagine our excitement, especially mine.

after a week of no surf, we got a weather forecast and it was north east to east 10 knots and 4 foot seas, which in our experience means, no wind with which to sail anywhere, and no surfable swells. so we packed our bags, knowing we would not last in bocas one more day without surf, and came inland, where we are now. got on a boat taxi which goes about 30 miles an hour to the mainland and then ducks into the rivers with no abatement in speed. it is quite beautiful and gets our adrenaline going. from chinguanola, where the boat taxi took us, we took a $8, 4.5 hour bus ride to the city of david, near the pacific.

the bus ride was fantastic. it was wonderful to be inland and we rode over the continental devide into the clouds and cooler temperatures and then back to the warmth of the lower elevations, with spanish music going the whole time, except for one welcom english song that we all sang along with, janie´s got a gun. that night we got two rooms at a hostal, $2.75 each for me and ted for a double without an attached bathroom. $4.50 for chris and rob for the attached bathroom. our deal seemed better until the following morning when our neighbors in the next rooms over woke up, packed up and left, making us realize that though the walls go to an inch above the floor we were essentially in one room with plywood partitions hanging from the ceiling. still can´t beat the price for a night´s rest. that night we watched the movie, hitch, for $2.50, which we all thought was really cheesy but there were many parts where we were laughing outloud and i even clapped a few times in my enjoyment. when we return we´re going to see blade 3. the following day we took an hour bus for 90 cents to the backpacker town of boquete, where we will spend our second night tonight. it´s a cute little town, with friendly people, cute and talkative kids, and cheap food. this morning we woke up at 3:45 am, got our prearranged taxi at 4, then drove to the entrance to the parque nacional, where we proceeded to hike 14 km to the summit of the highest mountain in panama, volca boru, i think is the name, higher than 11,000 feet. the path was a rocky four by four dirt road to the summit, which made for slow going by headlight for the first few hours. but after the sun rose above the clouds that were already below us, we had a great time and made the summit and celebrated in being able to see both the atlantic and pacific oceans from one spot. having returned, we are resting our blisters and almost rolled anckles, and rob and ted prepare for a day of kayaking tomorrow with a rafting outfit. (only two boats available, they´re the experts, so i conceeded.)

we plan to return to bocas in a day or two, and hopefully the surf will meet us there. we love panama; it is beautiful, cheap, friendly and easy to get around. that´s it from the haus, sorry it´s so long, but it´s been a while, thought you´d all like some details, and the internet is only $1 an hour.

(by the way, i apologize for spelling colombia with a u in a previous email. for the correction, i give credit to my friend, frank abagnale. thanks frank.) all the best to everyone at home,

hasta luego,