Ok we are still in Colon trying to find all the crap we need to haul out with. Everybody just said sofar good luck.
Karen and I are on Nagana or better known as Diablo village because of the Rio Diablo.
We where at a bunch more islands but if you have been to one uninhabited island you have pretty much seen them all. i'll post some more photos in a few days but all this conn. will allow is 2 at a time.
See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

OK, we left off leaving Ustopu for undisclosed islands and here we are in Tupile ( Too- Pee-Lee),we overnighted in Mono Island but there was nothing there so we moved on that AM. Tupile is a major market area for the Kunas and they bring there trade goods here for staples they can't grow on there own islands. Things like Spam and real heathy thing like cokes and candy.
The Kunas main tranportation is a dugout canoe and oars, some are more into using the wind that blows here at 17 to 25 knots every day as you can see from the photo.
We did a little shopping here and I found $ 14.50 a case beer and a bread that the Kunas bake thats ok but doesn't beat sliced bread at all. We met the young man that I played pool with in Ustupo and he carried us form store to store until Karen had everything on her list. I had to slow the boy down a couple of times because he liked to run and Karen & I are way to advanced to keep up with the young.
I watched the man from the boat work on the new dugout and the only tool he was using was a hatchet. That's all they use from stat to finish. This one looks like a 2 or 3 man canoe but they get bigger trees and dig one out that will be 5 ft of beam and 25 to 30 ft. long, raise the sides with hand cut 2 by 6 or 8 in. boards and slap a hand steered 85 or 90 HP. Yamaha and you have there version of a ferry and put 10 to 20 people in it to go from one island to the next.
Well that's about all for today Karen & I are going to sail to Colon today so I can Haul the boat out and do some repairs but I'll finish the San Blas Island while there and maybe catch up to the present.
See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

OK, just a couple of photos to show y'all two diff. villages, as you can see if you have seen 1 Kuna village you have seen them all,so no more photos of the villages.

Where did I leave off, I think it was Isla de Pinos. We left Pinos ond skipped on up toUstupu( S- Stew- Poo) where we met a few people and walked the village. This was a larger village with real restaurants and cold beer, the first cold beer on any island. I played a game of pool with a young Kuna and ofcourse let him win. We bought a few stables for the boat,(not much of grocery stores on these islands) and left the next day.

After missing all the reefs and skinney water we made another 5 or 6 miles, thats about as far as you travle in a day, to the next island. Now since I'm going to draw this out you won't find out for a day or two what that one is called.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Hey Y'all

I'm going to start by saying it's been awhile since I had an internet conn. and this one is kind of slow. I'll just let you know what we have been doing. We left Santa Marta Feb. 9 and sailed for 2 days along the coast of Colombia arriving at a little bay on the Panama coast called ( Punta Perme).

The first couple of hours there we were visited by several Kuna Indians in dug out canoes wanting to sell us Molas and trinkets. We managed not to buy any at that moment but as you know things change. Next to visit us was 2 Kuna ladies in full Kuna dress and handed me a piece of paper with $ 10.00 on it. It seems you pay 10 to 15 dollars at each island for anchoring. We stayed there for a couple of days and started heading up island.

There is something y'all should know, there is no night sailing in the San Blas,daylight only. This is due to no charts of the area. My electronic chart plotter has blue areas and brown areas on it and thats all. When you are anchored at an island it may show you on the island are on the next island. This is not fun with all the reefs that are here. You look out at what you think should be open sea and all you see is breaking reef line everywhere.

Well the next island to visit was Isla de Pinos, a large bump in the road about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide with a small mountain in the middle. This is our first look at a Kuna village, we will see plenty more before we get out of here. Well because of the guide book we had to climb to the top of the little mountain because of the breath taking view. Nobody thought to tell karen that the guide book was published 12 years ago, you guessed it the breath taking view was all grown over with trees and scrub brush. The Kunas can care less about the view. Oh well we had a nice 3 hour climb anyway.

One of the Kunas came out to the boat telling us of his restarant that he had so we went in for lunch. Now this is a joke, here we are in a pole and grass hut with a dirt floor with the whole family eating at there table. I will admit that the food was good,but that's because it was coconut smoked fish, just because it was a Parot fish off the reef didn't mean anything.

I have uploaded 2 photos up top because I can't get the damn things to load where I want them, but as you see the village is rather primative and the restarant owner is short as are all of these indians. Ok thats enought for to day as I have a couple hundred e-mails to go through. I'll go to the next little island in a day are two with a couple more photos.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Hey Y'all, well it's been a month since the last post and that's because for a while I had no computer and I had a trip to Pureto Rica for a Doctors appointment.


While in PR. I purchased a new unit but we still have nothing to post. For the last month we have not dune much except eat and drink. We where going to Minca for a couple of days to see the coffee plantation but the weather has changed and the wind has slowed down below 30 knots so we are getting ready to leave. We are heading to the San Blas Islands for about 2 months. Now I don't want any complaints about no postings because there are no internet or cell phones signals. I will post if we get to someplace in the northern end of the islands and can get a connection. There are 365 islands in this chain and 99 % are empty of people. There will be plenty of photos.


We did go out last sunday night to watch the super bowl at a hostal here in Santa Marta. Now this place is full of young people that are traveling through the carribbean with back packs and nothing else. As you can guess we were the oldest people there , but a good time was had by all. We didn't care how won so we just picked the side that everyone else was cheering against. our team lost.
See Y'all Down the Road,
Mike & Karen

Hey Y'all, here are some photos of Cartagena and ofcourse the all favorite potluck on Christmas day.

We spent 2 days last week in Cartagena looking at the old city and seeing to find some places to get some work done.

There are no places to buy anything for your boat,you have to bring everything with you from some other country. So what I found out was that the cruisers that say how cheap Colombia is for work on your boat, they must not need anything other than hauling out there boat.

On the right is the entrance to the old city. It is a complete walled city and kept up real well.

There we are with our guide taking the photo for our friend in K.W. so he will know that Karen is still weel and I have not got rid of her for one of these good looking Colombian girls.

Now this country like there bronze statues,they are everywhere.

Not to be left behind in the world in the old city they even have a Hard Rock.

Now as for as I'm concerned this is a 3rd. world country. They are trying to become one of the 1st.World countrys in South America but they have a long way to go.

The 18 th. I'm going to Puerto Rico for a few days and will be bring back cigars and meds. that you can get at any W.M. but not here. Now you can get any kind of controled meds by just asking for them,but don't get indegestion and need asn antacid.

The beer here is 4% and taste like it. Just as soon as I get back we will be leaving for Panama.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & karen

Just wanted to say Happy New Year to all y'all and let you know that we are thinking about you out there.
We went to Cartagena last week and will be posting in another couple of days.
See Y'all Down the Road,
Mike & Karen

Hi Y'all,
I left you with the knowledge that my computer had crashed,well after a new hard drive and no operating system I'm back.
Here we are in the oldest city in Colombia, founded in the 15 hundreds by Bolívar. This is also where he died. His body hair is in a grave in one of the churchs here. Other body parts are eleswhere.
The beach area is full of the statues of indigenous
Indians and all are naked. The strees are crouded with people and there cart full of stuff to sell. They set up in front of the stores and block most of the sidewalk, it's pretty neat. We have gone on 1 tour sofar to the lost
city of Taironaka. It's about a 2 hour drive
from Santa Marta and all along the road

are the vegie stands with the freshest
stuff you can find.













Well here are a few photos I hope you enjoy.

This is a photo of the Indigenous Indians that live in the real Lost City. They spend 2 to 3 days of walking down from the Village to spend a 5 to 7 day Vacation here at the replica and hope to pick uo a few pesos.

The little gold looking thing is part of there religion and that to is a replica, the real one is solid gold and protected. After I found that out I got getting a new sail boat out of my mind.



In there huts there are two doors,one for the men one for the women. If the women go in the wrong entrance they get tied up and not fed for 3 days. Now they know how to treat a women.

You can see the hammock in the hut, they are for the men, the women sleep on the floor.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Computer Zapped

Hey Y'all
This is just to let you know that my computer crashed and I lost everything in it. I know your first thought also, surly he had it backed up but no I did not so not another word about it.
We are in Colombia and are enjoying the city of Santa Marta. We have gone on 1 tour sofar and the photos are still in the camera(didn't lose those) but I will not down load until I find a new computer. We are going out today to look. Well I just wanted to keep you informed of why we haven't post until now, didn't know the blog address. See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen
PS. If there are any misspelled words it's not my fault, Spell Check come up in Spanish so everything is misspelled.

Hey Y'all, just a little update and a couple of shots of the anchorage here in Curacao.

This morning we are leaving here and on our way to Colombia. This should take no more than 5 or 6 days but who knows.

Karen and I met several couples that that are heading the same way, so we will have boats in front and back of us.

There really isn't anything else to tell y'all about except rain and more rain. We haven't done anything but get wet while shopping and getting ready to leave.

I have decided that sailing is 10% sailing and 90% shopping to leave for the next place you are heading. Most of the shopping is for food for some reason, honestly Karen and I don't eat that much. Ok that's about it,I'll post as soon as we get to Colombia.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Curacao

Hey Y'all, Karen & I are in Curacao and have been for a week now. These photos are of the harbor in Willemstad. It's nice and colorfull and crowded every day because they have 2 cruise ships a day here untill april.

Ok we have found nothing here inCuracao to do, there are no sites or even forts for Karen to drag me to. It's not a easy place for cuirsers either.
These photos of that weird looking sail boat are from Bonaire. Karen & I went on a glass bottem boat and sun set sail while there. Just thought I'd throw these in the mix.

Here is an Enlish ship that curise these waters. Makes Carnaval look like a step child.

We are in an anchorage called Spaanse Waters, It's the Dutch way of spelling spanish, go figure.I think there is 1 more photo here someplace of the anchorage but I can't seem to find it. Hell maybe it will show up later.

Wer are planning to leave Wed. or Thurs. for Santa Marta, Colombia and stay for a week or two and then on to Cartagena for Christmas.

Karen cooked Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and we piged out,only thing it was chicken because the turkeys were $50.00. I think I would have chocked if she had bought one.

Ok thats about it for now hope everyone had a Happy Thanksging and if I don't post before Christmas ( but I will) have a Merry Christmas.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Bonaire and stuff

Hey Y'all,

Here we are in Bonaire having a good time. We are snorkling and diving al over the island.I'm going to try to load some photos, but this new format in my blog and everything is in Dutch I don't know if it will work

These photos are of the salt mine here. If you notice the pink color of the pond thats the shrimp that live there. The pink shrimp are what makes the Flamingo pink. They eat the shrimp and absorb the pink color. In the states it's the Roseta Spoonbill that turns pink after eating the shrimp.

 As you can see Karen is still with me, for you people in KW that worry about her. We rented this scooter last Sunday and road all over the island, It's a small island. Yoy can see how nice the water is here.

 Karen wanted to let everybody know that there is still phone booths in the world, so look close and see some of the last.

 This is taken from the side of the boat on the mooring. We are sitting in 30 to 40 ft. of water and look at the fish and the bottem.

 Karen feeds the small sargent majors in the morning and they kind of remind me of piranha on a feeding frenzy.O.K. folks I know this is not very long but we are leaving to go do something else and I have to leave. Now all y'all go to work and Karen and I will play.

See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

   .

Well we are here in Bonaire. this is the first thing you see coming around the point. It's the sait mine on the southern shore. We left P.R. Sunday at 8AM and was anchored here at 8 AM Wed. So far we have not explored anywhere except to find phone and internet service.

I do wake up every morning and drink coffee with this fisherman. I don't see him catch anything but bait, at least that is the size of bait I use.

This is clearest water we have been in since we left Texas and really like to see the fish under the boat.

OK this is just an update and

We Will See Y'all Down the Road

Mike & Karen

Putting on Stores

Hey Y'all
Karen and I are making trips to the grocery stores and filling up our freezer and making sure that there is plenty of alcohol and cigars on board. It looks like Saturday is the target day. Karen won't let me leave on a Friday or on the 31 of October. The reason for the 31 October is when we left Texas that morning I ran into an unlit channel marker and put the first scratch in the paint so that date is completely out of the question.
Mike and Jon left a comment on the last posting and all I can tell Mike is that the ports that we will stop in are as we get close to them is when we make that decision, but the first stop is Bonaire in the port of Kralendijk and the next is anybodies guess.
Jon we have been following you everywhere you go but thanks for the update. As of Sat.( or when that little low down by Trinidad gets out of my way) we will be posting when ever we have Internet. So keep watching.
See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

Cat & Generators

Hey Y'all,
I guess since I have had a couple of inquires about the cat, here is the storey. Two weeks after she started to live with us and ruling the roost, she decided to take a midnight swim. Being way past Karen & my bed time we did not here the splash. So she must of swam to the land that is about 40 feet from the boat and started her new life without us. At least we hope so.
Now for 13 years I have tried to find a generator that would fit in somewhere in this boat. Well I finally found one. It now sits in the stern of the boat and is very quite. Our batteries now stay at full charge. This next week I will hook up the air con. to the inverter so during the real hot days and nights we will stay cool.
We have about 25 more days here in Pureto Rico, and we plan to head to Bonaire. Karen has got over her fear of putting her face in the water after at least 39 years. She has started snorkeling!!!!!! Now about 15 years ago I taught her SCUBA and certified her but she freaked out in an Atlantic dive so I would not let her dive anymore. Bonaire has some great snorkeling so we'll go there first before we head to Colombia.
See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

Hey, anybody out there.
Karen and I have been doing plenty of maintenance and now are installing a GenSet in the lazerette. We plan to leave here in Nov. after hurricane season. The sail to the ABC Islands will take about 4 days and then from there to Colombia. We'll start getting on the Blog at least every week or so just to get y'all back in the habit of watching us on our journey.
See Y'all Down the Road,
Mike & Karen

Hey Y'all,
I know you want more than I'm putting in here but there is just not that much to tell you. I stuck in Puerto Rico for this hurricane season. The VA has changed my Medications and I have to stay for check ups. I'm not happy with this but nothing I can do about it.
Here is an update for you, we brought home a 6 week old kitten yesterday. She is a feral and scared. This morning at 0245 Karen is on the deck checking out the kitten and she decided to go for a swim. Now as most of you know cats don't like water. All I heard was Karen telling me in a rather loud voice that the cat was in the water, now I'm asleep so I jump out of bed and go looking for the damn cat. Found the little fool swimming down the starboard side heading for the stern. I jumped into the dingy and could not find her. Finally I looked to the bow of the dingy and there she was hung up under the boat so I put my hand and arm in the water and that was all it took.I had cat latched to my arm and nothing was going to shake it off. Well everything so far is O.K. I'm sure my arm will heal up in a week or two. O.K. photos will be coming soon of the young Lioness. See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

O.K. folks we are still in P.R. and I don't know when we will leave here. I'm ready to make a 6 or 7 day run to Columbia but the V.A. are not cooperating. Right now we are adding solar panels on the boat. At the moment I have 4 panels and have 1 more on order, should get here this week and then I'll be putting in 460 watts and about 25 to 30 amps. After this I won't have to run my generator or engine hardly at all.
It seams that being here we have taken advantage of the grocery stores here. Our freezer is so full that i can't get anything in it and the refrigerator is over stuffed also. Along with too much food on board I have gained a small amount of weight. Sitting here with no sailing the meals Karen cooks are getting larger and larger. I'm sure the beer has nothing to do with it.
We had some new cushions made for the cockpit and they don't fit, had them made in Florida and there is no way I'll send them back. I guess I'll bite the bullet and have some made in Columbia if I ever get there. I'll try to post more but it is boring here and not a lot to tell y'all.
See Y'all Down the Road'
Mike & Karen

Well it's me again with not a whole lot to say. We are still waiting on the VA and sitting here in P.R. I did purchase 2 more Solar panels to add to my free power. I have been working on that about a week and should finish in a day or two. Karen finished all the varnish yesterday and celebrated with several rum & cokes. We have about 20 or more coats and we don't have much burning from the sun. Probably will not have to varnish for two years now.
When we Finlay finish here if it's not too late in the year and no hurricanes in the Caribbean we will head to Columbia and stay down that way during hurricane season. After the season we will head north up Central America. Well I guess that's about all I have now,but will keep y'all kind of up to date.
See Y'all Down the Road
Mike & Karen

Hey y'all miss us. We have had a rough 3 weeks, to start with in January we had to buy a new inverter/charger and with this new one our Honda 2000 would not work on the charger part. Well for 3 1/2 months I have had to use the motor to charge the batteries. Not only does it cost a lot of money to buy fuel it puts too many hours on the motor. Looking for a larger Generator I finally found one built like the Honda and it was a 3 1/2 KW, that was plenty of power,Ha Ha. It took about 4 weeks to get here to Puerto Rico, so this last Monday it arrived and everything was good. I got it back to the boat added oil and gas fired that mother up. Boy it worked for an hour and we shut it down to go to movie night at the marina. (Little Fockers is a good movie by the way.) the next morning here we go I start it up and started charging, everything was good. Three hours later it shut down, I thought we ran out of gas. We went out and opened the fuel tank to find plenty gas. I fired it back up and 30 seconds later it shut down, this happened every time I fired it up. OK here is where it gets complicated. I purchased this on Home Depot. Com and this is Puerto Rico and this is Home Depot Puerto Rico. Called HD.com and here is the answer, no problem just take it back to any Home Depot and get your $ 1000.00 back, so we rented a car and drove to Ponce picked up this little object put it in a basket, rolled it in the store and here is the red lights. The little lady said we don't do that. Anyway another lady showed up and about 2 hours later she called us on the phone and said everything was set to give our money back. Happy days are here again. Anyway purchased a regular genset and so far it works OK, a little loud but who cares. This should keep y'all up to date with our trials and tribulations. See Y'all Down the Road Mike & Karen