Here we are in Martinque and having a wonderful time. Thé first photos you see are in a little fishing village that we stoped at for the night when we sailed from Dominica. It was a rather picturquest place.

The fisherman started laying his nets before daylight while I was drinking my coffee. As we rounded the south end of the island we came upon Diamond rock, in the 1800 hundreds the Britts could not afford to put ships in the area so the commissioned the rock as a ship an hauled cannons to the top of the snake infested island and caught the Spanish by suprise and whipped there ass.

Someone on my e-mail said we did not include any photos of us and we were still in Texas and downloading photos of the places we were suppose to be. Well here is a not so complimentary photo of Karen and I in the anchorage of Marin, better known as the Cul de Sac. This is just for the nobeliever on my e-mail.

Asyou can see Marin is a sailing commuinty and not much else. There are boats here with no motors and a service that pulls them to the channel where they can start there day of sailing. Ofcourse there is every charter company here also ,but that's to be expected.

OK I have rattled on enough and the light is getting bad here at the Mango Bar so I guess you will hear from us in Bequia in the Grenadines.

See y'all down the road.

Mike & Karen

Hello from the anchorage in Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica. That first photos are of the town of Portsmouth. All y'all can see there are more than a few grounded freighters on their beach. Two of the 5 or 6 were here when we were here in 02. The Government has sold the scrap metal to some African country and they are starting to cut them up and hall it away. I don't look for it to happen to quick, but it's a start.
Dominica is a pretty island and very lush, has one the sweetest grapefruitit I have ever had.
OK enough of praise for the island, Their claim to fame is that in 2005 Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed in part up the Indian River.

This is where Johnny and a few of his crew went to see the Voodoo lady with the really bad teeth,if y'all remember the show.

To your left in that photo is our guide and boat boy. Here just as soon as you pull into the bay a boat comes out to greet you and give you more assistance than you need, but it is all good because they pick up laundry, garbage,or anything else you need.

This is a shot looking up the river and a few of the interesting things we saw.Below is a shot of some Britts that was on another boat at the end of the tour,and of course at the end of the river or I guess the beginning there is a little bar so you can have drink.

Well Karen & I enjoyed ourselves and got back to Drifter just before the bottom dropped out for one of our daily 10 to 15 rains that we get.

OK see y'all down the road.

Mike & Karen

Well here we are in St. Kitts waiting on a part for our water maker. St. Kitts has the best Carib beer in the Leeward Islands but that's about all. You can go on a tour to a fort or a volcano but that's about it. It's a beautiful island but I am ready to get on down island. We have set through 1 tropical wave and there are a couple more behind that one. We have caught up with all the maintenance in the last week and just setting on the boat watching Shrek and doing a bunch of laughing.

Tomorrow we receive the part and will leave for Montserrat. There will be no checking in until we get to Martinque when the windward islands start. I can leave here with enough good beer to get there I believe and then restock there. As y'all can tell this is just a trip to find the good beer.

During the season( thank God we are not in) St Kitts has 7000 tourist a day off the cruise ships
but since we are in the off season they only have 1 ship a week. Got lucky on that one.

anyway here are a few photos of the town and the harbor, just to make sure you know we are not in the same place as last posting.

Nothing really exciting has happened since we got grounded in Puetro Rico so it's been routine sailing. A lot of rough weather with very little sun shine but I'm sure that is due to change shortly.

See y'all down the road.

Mike & Karen

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ALRIGHT we are finally out of Puerto Rico!!!!!!! Stayed in Puerto Real on Vieques last night, went out and got a little tipsy and woke up this morning and left for St. Croix. We will not go ashore because in the morning we leave for St. Kitts. We were warned about the crime here in St. Croix so that's another reason to stay on board. The little fishing village that we were in was real picturesque but Karen can never remember the camera, so just as soon as we got the anchor on bottom I made her get the camera and take some shots of St. Croix here in Frederiksted while on anchor. OK not much of definition in the photos and I am not going to promise that they will get any better but I am going to( try) to remember the camera. before everybody laughs at that my memory is really not that bad.

Today was the first day that we were able to sail from P.R. to St. Croix no engine and it was good. A nice 17 to 20 Kt. wind on about 40 degrees off the bow. With the features in this auto pilot I just push a couple of buttons and the boat stays 40 degrees off the wind, GREAT.

This will be the last posting until we find Internet Cafes or wireless marinas, this is the last of the AT&T. Cost way to much money to use AT&T by the kbs.

Well we didn't make it very far because I wasn't ready for an overnight sail. You just have to have your mind set for a long sail so after about 4 hrs. of sailing with fair winds I told Karen we were going to Salinas and just rest for a few days. I think I'm getting into this retirement thing and slowing way down.

On the way over here we caught a 20 or 25 pound Dolphin or what ever you want to call it but it sure was good eating. After that I put the tackle up, there is no since putting to much fish in the refrigerator at one time.

Yesterday we road around in the dingy and toured the harbor to see the changes that has happened in the last 8 years. The million dollar homes have been built where the old shacks were so I'm sure there is so rich people in Salinas now.

The photo of the boat shows the boat in full cruising mode, something you don't see is the underwear hanging on the life lines the wash clothes drying out and the beer cans in the cockpit. I feel we are coping well with this slow lifestyle.

Today we have to walk to the store because somehow we have no peanut butter on board. Now I can't understand how this happened but I will remedy the problem today. See y'all down the road.

Mike & Karen

Hello folks, we have left Puerto Real with all repairs complete. These photos are some of the people that befriended us and offered us any help that we would need. It was an enjoyable stay but I don't want to stay any longer. We left this morning at o700 hrs. and just went to Boqueron which is only 5 miles from here but we wanted to stay there over night to see if it has changed in the last 8 years. we found the town just about the way it was and enjoyed the time on the beach. Puerto Real is a fishing village and and everyone there ether fishes or they dive for conch. You can go in the village and there is about 30 restaurants and only 35 buildings. So you can see eating in Puetro Real is easy.

The 2 geese in the posting are the meanest you can find. I thought I could at least pet 1 on the head as he poked his head out the fence. Guess what, the SOB was faster than me and bit my finger. I now have several band aids wrapped around my finger. Oh well in the morning we leave for either St. Kitts or Montserrat, it's what ever the wind blows from now on.

I sent my company are letter of resignation on the 1 st. and am now completely RETIRED. Our next posting will come from down island because this is the last of the AT&T Internet. See y'all down the road.

Mike & Karen

Just a short post to let you know that I'm back and Karen and I will be getting under way in a day or two from here and heading toward Trinidad with a few stops along the way. Our first stop will more than likely be St. Kitts. At St. Kitts they brew a good beer and I want to put some on the boat. Karen has been here for a month and didn't find any time to take any photos so today we will take a few of the village here. OK see y'all down the road.
Mike

Hey Y'all Drifter is back in the warter and everything is OK. Karen is boat sitting while I'm in Brazil and is getting the boat ready to travel when I get back in June. This is my last time to work ,I'm retiring after this hitch and we will sail until we can't anymore. So if any of you want to come to Puerto rico and give me a retirement party I'm ready. I'll see y'all down the road.
Mike
P.S. I just hit spell check and everything is misspelled in the land of Portuguese

OK everybody is giving me a hard time because I left ya'll hanging as of the the last posting. As I said we are in Puerto Rico and leaving the D.R. was a great sail over except until 0700 hrs. That's when I went down below for bacon & eggs. Good breakfast. Just as I was finishing Karen yelled at me that the water was getting shallow, I ran up top and before I could slow the boat down we were on a hard rock reef. Now I draw 6' 6" of water and the depth sounder said I was in 3'. Guess what that ain't enough. I called May Day and the San Juan Coast Guard came on and ask what the problem was I explained and ask for a commercial towing co. to assist. After about 6 hours wait and a whole bunch of pounding they showed up and started appraising the crime scene.I say crime scene because of the reef damage, so far nothing has been said but who knows. Anyway about 2 hours later we are off the reef and on our way to the shipyard. Oh I forgot and $ 6000.00 latter. Well a day later they pulled us out of water to see what damage we had. When the boat cleared the water everybody that had anything to do with the salvage was there and the all made the sign of the cross and said gracious Dios. No one could believe that a boat could that kind of a pounding and that kind of a procedure getting it off of a reef and it still had a keel under it. Well I going to show y'all the photos and you can judge yourself. We are having a new rudder made and a new bottom job preformed and that it. I know I forgot to mention that the reason we went on the reef was because the chain broke on the steering and when that happened the Auto Pilot also bent sideways and caused all this but that's another story for later,MAYBE. So as you can see there is no damage to the bottom and we will be back in the water Monday,but I will be in Brazil. That's right no more on the blog until I get back.See y'all down the road.
Mike & Karen,
Oh yeah Puerto Rico is great.

Well we didn't stay in the D.R. long but we did enjoy. This is a new marina on the north side about 10 miles from Luperon and a couple of mikes from Porto Plata called Ocean World. I guess if you are looking for a easy place to check in this would be the easiest place we have found.The navy comes to the boat and checks you in and you walk up to the main marina and there is customs and immigrations right there. It was 23.00 and 20.00 to leave NO Bribes.

They have a Casino water park restaurants liquor stores and Vegas still shows. Just damn near anything you can want. Just down the road with in walking distance are plenty of places to eat & drink on the cheap, if you are like me. The little guy is Cris and his food is good. He's from Canada and very friendly. We made it to Samana and waited for 1 day for weather and left. I really hated to leave because I found a little open air cantina with 50 Peso Bohemia beer in the 32 oz. bottle. There is not a finer beer made and that is the only place you can get it.

We had a good crossing of the Mona Passage it was almost slick calm. Everything went fine until 0700 hrs. the next morning but I'll save that for the next posting in a few days. Having fun in Puerto Rico in Little fishing village called Cobo Rojo.

See ya'll down the road Mike & Karen

Alright for the last 3 days we have been at Southside Marina in Provo. The view is from the top of the drive coming into the marina. In the first photo thats John and his mate and I can't remember her name but John is from Holand and she is from somewhere else.For you who know me you know I can't remeber s@#$ and especially names. The second photo is Bill and Bob, Bill is on a sail boat and Bob is on a trawler. Bill heading home and Bob is staying in Provo for a while. Next you come to 2 of the nicest people you will ever run into running a marina. I was looking for fuel when we got here and Simon anwsered my radio call for a marina and fuel. When he ask how much water I draw he said wait until tomorrow for high tide. When I arrived at his waypoint he was waiting for us in his RIB and led me in. After we signed in and got settled Simon told us if we needed to go anywhere just let him know and he would carry us anywhere. It is so refreshing to find to people who will more or less bend over backwards for someone and not expect anything in return except that you enjoy your stay with them. Well our stay ends in the morning at about 0800 hrs. and we are off to P.R. One of these days we hope to run into Simon & Charlyn again. See ya'll down road.
Mike & Karen

Hello everyone, we just landed in Provo. Provo is one of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the end of the Bahamas. Thank someone! We have 2 more open ocean crossings left and hope like hell they are not as rough as the last 3. We have had nothing but 8 to 10 ft. seas in the Atlantic with 20 to 25 knot wind on the nose all the time.I should not be surprised because the Windex on the top of my mast always points forward.This is the first time we have touched dry land in 10 days except for a 15 min. break to feed the lizards on Allen'Cay. The iguana you see in the photo was the largest one that showed up and he took a chunk out of my finger along with the damn lettuce. This fellow jumped about 2 ft. to get to my finger and surprised me. The other 2 photos are of Fantasy Island in Nassau, we spent 3 hrs. on anchor before we continued on the way. I would not recommend this way to get down south. If I had more than 25 days to travel we would take our time and see all the islands that we missed the first time through in 02.
We pulled in to Southside Marina yesterday morning to get some grocery's and do a couple of minor repairs. I lost our freezer to some errant saltwater that seemed to find it's way to all the electronic parts that make it run so, overboard all our frozen food and now nothing but fresh, but isn't fresh better for you. Well I'll post again in about 5 or 6 days when we get to Puerto Rico.
See ya'll down the road.
Mike & Karen

Well folks this will be the last posting until we get to Puerto Rico. We are staged at the Elbow, that's by Key Largo and it's a nice deep reef to cross. The Gulf Stream is at 5 to 7 Ft. but is suppose to lay down tonight to 4 to 6. It should take us about 12 to 14 days to get there if we don't lay over at to many Islands. Just to put everyone mind at ease I have plenty of Beer and Karen has plenty wine. We had to lay up for 2 days of weather so I'm a little behind. Karen said we will take plenty of photos to post for our crossing.See Ya'll down the road Mike & Karen

All right we left Marathon at 0900 hrs 3/27/10 and motored down to Rodrique's Key behind Key Largo. Now I don't want ya'll to thank I don't watch the weather because I do. Here we set on anchor for at least 3 days waiting on March to blow out like a lion. It seems that these last 2 fronts here came in a little stronger than I anticipated. As you can see with Karen she just took it in stride and fell asleep.
I'm going to get boared in just about that much time so I'll find something to fix on the boat. About an hour before we arrived here the auto pilot decided to fall apart so last night I put it back together, maybe nothing else will just fall apart for another week or so.See ya'll down the road sometime.

Mike & Karen

OK everyone I'm back from Brazil and not intending to go back. There was no fun in Brazil working for the people I work for. You are pretty much a prisoner onboard there boats, and the man that's in charge is paranoid that he has pick a bunch of immature people to run the boats so we can't take care of ourselves. Oh well that's over and now that I'm not working for the SOB I'll stop bitching about being in Brazil and only getting to see the road to and from the airport.
We are leaving for P.R. Sat. or Sun. so there will be more photos and post right on down the road.
Mike

Well if you don't recognise these two little mountains the one on the right is Crist on the Cross and the other is Sugar Loaf. Sorry for the long distance but we have now been on anchor for 14 days trying to get clearance to move to another port. When we first got here it happened to be Carnival and the government shuts down for a week or so. I ask my boss what he thought would cost to get to shore. He said my job, well for you who know me that did not set well and I started to just throw my bags back on the beach and come home because right now I don't care if I have a job are not. With just a few months before I retire it doesn't make me an difference but to Karen it does. She want a few more months of money in the bank. This really sucks sitting on the boat but just as soon as we get to Macae we will be able to get off the boat and stretch our legs. Will start getting online more that I have an unlimited Internet card. See ya'll down the road.

Mike from Rio de Janerio