November 1, 2006

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the group letter but I’m typing challenged and it’s hard to get things out
with occasional internet access. If you can think of anyone who may have an
interest in this, please pass it on.
Well, we’re in Margaritaville, Isla De Margarita, Venezuela. Beer is .25cents,
gas is .35cents per gallon, and labor is about 1.50 an hour. We are in a bay that
looks a bit like Waikiki, big hotels and mountains in the back. The similarity
stops there however. We can go all over the city on a bus or take a taxi for
about 2$. They have some fantastic malls. Sambill Mall is bigger than anything
I’ve been in. We struggle along with our Spanish but it’s getting better everyday.
The weather is great, about 85degress everyday and get s down to 78
everynight.. No rain for the 1st month we were here. Ali and I sleep out in the
cockpit everynight until about 2am, then we go in. We will be off to Coche, a
small island, then on to Puera La Cruz. From there we will take a 4day trip to
Angel Falls, 1st day, 2 hr ferry ride to mainland, 4 hrs on a bus into interior of
Venezuela, 2nd day airplane into the jungle to reach the basecamp,4hr canoe
ride up to Angel Falls…we are looking forward to that.. From there we sail out to
the offshore islands, The Roches, Aves, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, then
Christmas in Cartagena, Columbia and off to the San Blas Islands off the coast
of Panama.
We have met so many nice cruisers and we all keep cris-crossing through the
islands, always reasons for sundowners and get-togethers. Pirates are always
a hot topic among the cruisers. How do you deal with them? Stay in groups,
guns, confront them, let them have what they want…. Lynda had dinner with
some Swedes, Icelanders, Fins, and Texans the other night and they got into a
big political discussion over George Bush…she said it was very interesting.
Day to day life falls into a routine, up at about 6am, school until about 1 or 2pm
(sometimes longer). We sometimes want to keel-haul Kalen. Although he is
getting better. I spend most of my time replacing systems on the boat and
upgrading as do most cruisers. We are always discussing what works and what
doesn’t. Evenings usually revolve around some social event. Sundowners at
one of the boats or dinner on shore at one of the shacks/restaurants, swimming
always takes up some part of our day, off the boat or to a shore beach. The kids
think they’ve gone to heaven. Kalen is a great help with everything that has to
do with sailing. Ahlani thinks she is on the Princess Cruise with Mom and Dad
to wait on her hand and foot. We have been very lucky so far in that we’ve had
kids around all the way down the islands and they have made so many new
friends. Today we are surrounded by 3 boats with kids, 2 of which we met up-
island.
Out here power and water are king. I’ve added a watermaker, a wind-
generator, and 300watts more of solar panels. He who makes water is God!
There is a guy down here ( he’s anchored in front of us) that we originally met in
Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. He is on the same kind of boat as ours and
is a mechanic. He has 2 wind-generators, 600 watts of solar panels, and a 8KW
generator. He makes 50gallons of water an hour (we make 4) and pressure
washes his deck. They have a washing-machine on board. We all hate him,
the women love him. I think he is evil.
For those of you that have not heard of what has happened to us thus
far….We left Florida in February. Our 1st sail started out of Lake Worth, Florida
at 11pm. Lynda was not at all happy about a night sail right out of the box but it
went well and we did not ship-wreck or die. As it turned out it was the 1st of
many night sails. We had a wonderful time in the Bahamas. It has the best
water, fishing, and diving of all the places we have been in the Caribbean.
Anyway, we went down the Abacos, Eluethra, Nassau, down the Exumas to
Georgetown. This is the 1st chicken stop going to the Caribbean. A lot of
cruisers get stuck here because to go any further is a big commitment. We
pushed on and made it to the Dominican Republic and got absolutely trashed
for 2 days during our very hairy crossing in 30+ knot winds and mountains for
waves. We finally made it to Luperon and had a great time. Wonderful people
and beautiful country. We met up with a crazy Aussie, Terry and his Finnish
girlfriend, Marjatta (who speaks 6 languages ) on catamaran "Lioness" and
have been with them ever since. Our fleet is composed of Us, "Lioness", and
"Neos"..a 48 ft catamaran captained by our good friends Roger and Sue Lloyd.
Roger helped me build our cottage in the Bahamas and started out this
adventure with us. We also sailed with Sundance, a wonderful family we met
from Grass Valley just before we left on our sail. They sailed with us from St.
Martin to Grenada but are now back in California.
We left the Dominican Republic after 2 weeks and went to Puerto Rico,
Spanish Virgin Islands, British Virgins, Martinique, Guadeloupe, the Leewards,
Windwards, down to Grenada. We took off 5 weeks ago from Grenada and
sailed into Los Testigos, a nice fishing community of 150 people, on 4 islands
about 60 miles off the coast of Venezuela. We stayed there 3 days and down to
here, Margarita. We are back to catching fish pretty much when we please but
food is so cheap, we don’t take advantage as much as we should.
That brings you up to date. I’ll try to write every couple weeks and fill you in on
some of the funny details. For now we hope you are all well, Take care.
Phil, Lynda, Ahlani, Kalen, Mokie, and Kiara kitty.
P.S. for you google earthers, we’re at 10degrees 57.285 north and 63deg
49.870, we’ll wave.