It’s Sunday and Pandora is in St Maarten, where we have been working feverously to prepare Pandora to begin her run to Spain via Bermuda and the Azores.

There have been a number of weather briefings and get-togethers and the group is getting excited. Last night a few of us got together at a local bar to celebrate the pending departure, now expected to be Monday morning.

Dave, second from the left and George, on the right, are my two crew members, heading to Bermuda.

The marina is new, having been built to replace a facility that was destroyed a few years ago by a hurricane. The new facility is built to a very high standard, designed to survive a category 5 hurricane. It’s built like a bunker, albeit a bunker with a pool on the second floor.

And the docks, substantial concrete. Pandora’s on the left about half way down.

So, there you have it, here we are and we are about ready to go. But I can tell you that it hasn’t been anywhere that simple. Let me explain.

About two weeks ago I met my friend Ken in Trinidad to head the near 500 miles north to St Maarten with the plan of arriving here about 5 days before our planned departure for Bermuda.

Before I left Trinidad I asked to have a mechanic check out Pandora’s engine and to pull the injectors to be sure that all was in order. I had noticed a bit of smoking and wanted to be sure that everything was right before heading out on a big run.

He pulled all four injectors, had them tested and declared that they were in very good shape and running at nearly 90% efficiency. I wanted to be sure that all was well and in case I had to order new ones, that there was time to get them to one of my crew so he could bring them with him on his flight to St Maarten.

Well, the tech that re-installed the injectors really messed up the job and I can not begin to describe the leaking mess that ensued and several days that it took to try and stabilize things. I tried to get the leaks fixed along the way and finally determined that the tech had damaged part of two injectors when re-installing them and now they needed replacing.

It was a mad rush but I was finally was able to order new ones and get them shipped to my crew member Dave who brought them to St Maarten. After that installation, a few days ago, all was still not well as other problems had cropped up. I learned that the original work not only messed up the injectors but other related parts and the mess got much worse and while some of the original leaks were gone, new ones had cropped up.

It has been two weeks of torment and as of yesterday I began to fear that the whole trip might have to be called off when I learned that there might be a problem with the high pressure pump. If that was the case, it would need to be pulled off and sent to the “factory” to be rebuilt, a delay that would have kept me here for at least another two weeks, a delay that would have been fatal to my entire plan as we would be into the hurricane season. Remember hurricane Beryl last June?

I was very anxious, as you can imagine, but after yet another day of work from now two mechanics, the problem was finally solved. Well, I hope…

No leaks now. Whew…

And the engine is just part of it. as it has been a crazy couple of weeks on a number of levels as a few months ago I had a major tooth issue and thought that I needed a root canal. But after two visits to my dentist at home, we determined that a simple replacement of the filling would do the trick. Oops, bad decision. Root Canal needed!

After leaving Trinidad the pain came back with a vengeance and now I HAD TO DO SOMETHING! And so began a mad search for a dentist that could fit me in. I won’t go into all of the gory details but I finally found a clinic on in French St Marten and they agreed to do the procedure on Thursday, two days ago.

I was very pleased with how things went. Well, as pleased as anyone can be with a root canal. No, it wasn’t fun but was clear to me that the facility and the dentist who worked on me were top notch. After the procedure I was feeling a bit shaky and a bit run down and treated my self to a very French chocolate mousse because I was such a “big boy” during the procedure. No lollypop for me. Not in France. And to add an even more surreal moment to the whole affair, when was the last time you went to the dentist BY BOAT?

I have friends that have had dental work done in the Caribbean with good results and when Brenda and I have had medical issues over the years have been happy with the care we received. And it is always way less expensive than in the US.

It is worth noting that my root canal was $500, about a third of what it would have cost in the US and the clinic was huge, with a dozen dentists and the latest equipment. I was impressed. I am always amazed with how much less treatments cost here than in the US and friends that have traveled in Europe have also said that medical treatments there are way less expensive, and very high quality, when compared to the US

So, perhaps I can take solace in the belief that the savings on my root canal partially made up for the “pain” of having so much work done on the injectors. Now, there’s a first rate rationalization.

Back to getting ready for the run to Bermuda.

One of the issues that we face for our run north is a lack of wind. Recent runs from Predict Wind, shows the large band of virtually no wind that awaits us. We had a weather briefing last evening by Chris Parker who suggested that we’d be motoring about half of the 850 miles to Bermuda unless we are willing to wait a week or more before departing, which we aren’t.

The course shows beginning in St Maarten and ending in Bermuda. The blue area is no wind, green, perhaps 15kts and yellow, not much. That’s a lot of motoring.

Yesterday we trussed up the dink on the cabin top and filled the fuel tanks as well as did some provisioning. And don’t forget the hours that the mechanics were on board but there is still lots to do to get Pandora ready to head out so today will be very busy. A few days ago I went shopping with Dave and purchased a load of stuff, canned, frozen and fresh but today will bring another round of provisioning, mostly for fresh food.

So, it’s looking like we will depart on Monday as part of the Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores and I will continue to post along the way. If you want to get a message when I post, which I plan to do regularly, sign up at the top of this page.

You can follow the fleet at this tracking map or follow Pandora alone on my Garmin page.

I guess that’s about it for now. Still lots to do so I’d better get on it.

Let the rally begin…

It’s Saturday and Ken will be arriving today, two days later than planned. Life has a way of getting in the way.

The few days after I arrived were hectic, getting everything ready for Pandora to splash and move into a slip for some last minute work before departing. The original plan was for her to go in a day before Ken arrived so that we’d be ready to depart on Friday morning, bound for Bequia, about 145 miles to the north.

However, when Ken arrived at the airport and handed his passport to the agent he realized, much to his horror, that the “passport case”, while it looked lovely and protected his precious passport, was empty. It seems that he had set it on his home copier and left it there after doing a scan.

An honest mistake but one that had a cascading effect on everything. Of course, he had to head back home and arrange for a flight the next day but when he arrived the next morning he learned that he was going to be on standby on the second leg.

As luck would have it, while he made it to Miami he didn’t make it onboard the second leg to Trinidad. However, it wasn’t until an alternate flight later that day took off that he learned that the bag was now in Trinidad as he had been told that since he wasn’t on the flight, his bag didn’t make it. We both thought that the airline always cross-referenced every passenger with their bag. I guess not, at least not for the transfer to the second flight. Live and learn.

So now, here we are several days later and he’s finally going to arrive and assuming no surprises, we should be able to depart on Sunday morning, tomorrow. Better late than never.

While the delay was frustrating, and ate into the time that we have to get to St Maarten, where I will lead the Salty Dawg Rally to Bermuda, I was able to get some last minute work done on Pandora and to spend time “smelling the roses”.

In this case, the “roses” consisted of trying some of the local food and seeing some really interesting fauna. How about this iguana? He/she was more than 2′ long. Quite a beautiful shade of green. They are at their most brightly colored when they are alarmed. Somehow it is comforting that there is at least one creature that feels threatened by Moi.

This amazing beetle wasn’t amused to have me pick him up.

Top and bottom, a remarkable critter.

I also was able to finish a number of other projects that were well underway. Given my concerns about having my primary rudder bitten off by a juvenile orca near Gibraltar, I had an auxiliary tiller fabricated for my vane steering. It is probably a bit over-engineered and a work of art in itself.

The idea is that If my primary steering fails I will be able to steer the boat and move the auxiliary vane tiller with lines connected to pullies on the radar arch. Well, that’s the theory. I hope that I do not have to test the theory in rough conditions. If it isn’t clear, it’s the S shaped handle. Lot’s of stainless around Pandora.

To that point, you can really get a feel for the complexity of the stainless work on Pandora in this photo.

In addition to the metal work I also had some canvas work, electrical and engine work, some of which would probably not have been completed unless Ken was delayed. I guess that is the silver lining.

Pandora is an impressive boat but what a contrast she is against this lovely teak festooned ketch. What a contrast to the “sans wood” Pandora. She is a virtual teak forest and in perfect condition. She’s beautiful but I can only imagine what it costs to keep her in perfect varnish.

The local craftsman are known for their woodworking skills and they use a LOT of teak. It’s is sourced here in Trinidad and is farm raised and harvested from trees that are about 75 years old. These boards easily weigh more than a hundred pounds each and a single piece one foot square and 2″ thick costs more than $20. Each board is worth in the neighborhood of $800-$1,000 and a boat can use a lot of teak. A friends of mine are getting new teak decks on their boat and the installation is likely to cost somewhere in the $60,000 range. And that assumes that everything else is AOK on their boat. Big job.

Ken won’t arrive here until around 8:00 tonight and we will still have to clear out with customs near the marina. Fortunately, they are open 24 hours a day due to the very busy commercial ship traffic. But it’s still a process.

With luck we will depart early tomorrow morning to make the 145 mile run to Bequia. I expect that the run will take about 20-22 hours assuming good wind.

Wish us luck. Departing is good and better late than never.

Don’t forget that you can sign up to get a notice when I post and I will be posting regularly for the next few months.

There is also a tracker aboard so you can see where we are in real time under “where in the world is Pandora”. As the rallies get underway I will also be posting a page so you can follow the rally fleet and see where all of the boats are located

Well, it’s finally here. My departure from Trinidad is in a few days and as I prepare for departure, Pandora is crawling with workers. Just today, a welder, canvas guy, electricians and Amos of Perfect Finish who’s group has done a wonderful job of painting Pandora’s hull.

Yes, there was lot of work done last summer on Pandora but after spending the season aboard, it seemed like a good idea to head back to Trinidad and have some last minute work done to get her in as perfect shape as possible before departing on my run to Horta.

The work that Amos and his gang did aboard Pandora last summer was first rate but with any job that big (check out older posts for a blow by blow as they replaced much of the side decks) I had a few items that needed work and decided to bring her back. After all that, it somehow seemed like a good idea to get the hull painted. I do like a shiny hull.

So now, Pandora is in spectacular shape having been worked over from very bottom of the keel, the hull and up to the top of the hard dodger and that really doesn’t begin to cover all that was done.

And now, she’s really shiny and with brand new graphics. I know that soon someone will come up to visit and their dink will chip the name. It happens every year. I guess that’s the risk of having friends. I’ll take it.

And to keep from getting scratches on her new shiny hull, I sewed soft covers on my new huge fenders. Figuring out how to do the pleats was not all that hard but I did have to do a bit of head scratching to be sure that I had it right before cutting the fabric. All’s well that ends well in spite of the fact that it took 3 yards of fabric that was 72″ wide to get the job done.

If you saw my last post, you know that these fenders are a lot BIGGER than they look.

After more than a decade of use, our anchor was looking a bit worse for wear so I had it tended to as well. The shank was a little bent and it was not even a tiny bit shiny. Now it is, thanks to the welder/metal worker, Mitchell. He does great work.

My crew Ken, who I have been sailing with off and on for decades, will be arriving in two days and will help me move Pandora up the islands to St Maarten where I will join the Homeward Bound Salty Dawg Rally.

Once Ken and I depart Trinidad, our first landfall will be Bequia, an overnight, where we will connect with Bill and Maureen aboard Kalunamoo, our oldest cruising buddies. We plan to stop a number of places as we make our run north to St Maarten where I will connect with the Homeward Bound Salty Dawg Rally, heading to Bermuda to prepare for my departure with the Azores rally, departing on or about June 1st.

Well, it’s 6:30pm and the electrician is still aboard. I have had great luck with all of the vendors except this one. He’s a very nice guy and gets a lot done when he is here but it seems that he’s always running out for something and stays away for hours at a time.All and all, I have had terrific value and great work here in Trinidad and of the “army” that has worked on Pandora, I have been overwhelmingly happy with the outcome.

I just can’t wait till everyone goes home and I can begin to put the boat back together again.

Perhaps a good place to wind up this post is a link to a number of webcams for the Azores. There are a LOT of them but you might find something worth looking at. The general site for all the webcams for the Azores check out this link. For a real time look at the harbor in Horta, check out this link.

Soon, out to dinner with a fellow Salty Dawg cruising couple.

Pandora splashes at 10:00 tomorrow morning and it will be good to have her ready to go. In particular, having a fridge and freezer working will be awesome.

It’s been six weeks since I left Pandora to fly home and now I’m back. Sadly, it will be another six weeks till I see Brenda again when we meet up in Horta.

Lots still to do but that’s about it for now. Time for dinner.

It’s hard to believe that I will be heading back to Trinidad and Pandora in two weeks. The month that I have been home has gone buy in a blur. I have been working hard to get things in shape at home as once I leave I will not be back until sometime in the first half of August.

Over the years we have developed extensive gardens and I have no idea how I am going to keep them looking nice when we are away for much of the summer. Oh well. While we see ruins in Europe our gardens will become just that…

When I took Pandora back to Trinidad the plan was to do a bit of “mopping up” on a number of small things that needed attention from her refit last summer. However, as is so often the case with me and boats, it morphed into a much larger plan including painting her hull.

The hull, last painted in 2019 was getting a bit dull in spite of yearly touchups and buffing. A big motivator for “do it now” was that with Pandora in the Med, where I am told, work is a LOT more expensive and I doubt that I would be able to justify the expense, dull or not.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but the paintjob in the US, even though it was six years ago, cost more than twice what I am paying in Trinidad. And to add insult to injury, the US job ended up with a crooked boot top which is being straightened out.

If you are thinking of having major work done on your boat I encourage you to consider a run south to get it done. Even if you are a racer and not a cruiser, there are plenty of major races over the winter in the Caribbean. So, consider running your boat to Antigua in the fall and after a few races, run the boat to Trinidad for work. After all that is completed, run her back north in the spring for a summer of cruising. Just Sayin…

From Trinidad, beginning on May 2nd, I head north to St Maarten where I will meet up with Salty Dawg boats to lead a rally heading to Bermuda and then onto the Azores. The rally from St Maarten will also include a number of other Dawg boats participating in the “Homeward Bound Rally” to points north.

And this brings me to the subject of this post.

Some 2,000 miles and around two weeks later, after leaving Bermuda, we plan to arrive in Horta, the most common place to make landfall in the Azores and, I am told, one of the most visited harbors in the world with between 1,000 and1,500 visiting every year. The small marina is in the distance on the right. Anchoring is on the far end with the commercial port in the foreground.

Nearly 900 miles from mainland Europe, this stunning archipelago is a common stopping place for boats heading to northern Europe or the Mediterranean. Most that make landfall tend to stay for a short time and continue on but we plan to spend a month taking in the beauty before I head to Gibraltar and on to Spain, where Pandora will be hauled for the season.

The map shows Horta, our first port of call, and the other islands.

The weather in the Azores by mid June will be mild with typical daytime highs in the mid 70s, dropping to the mid 60s at night. After 9 seasons in the Caribbean, the cooler temperatures will be a delight, especially for Brenda. However, not a lot of swimming will be in our future, as my skin has become very thin from the mid 80s water we are used to.

We are very excited to spend time in the Azores, and many who have visited there say that is perhaps the most beautiful place that they have ever been.

This short video reviews some of the highlights of Horta. The first segment, a few minutes long focuses on the harbor and it looks very charming. Interestingly, I have heard that the cost of slips in the marina is quite low, about half of what you’d expect to pay for a mooring in New England. I like that.

We do not yet know where we will go while we are in the Azores and which parts of our explorations will be by ferry or aboard Pandora verses moving around with Pandora.

At the end of our visit, Brenda’s flight on July 16th will be from Sao Miguel, the capital of the Azores and the largest island. My crew for the run to Spain will meet me there. This short video certainly paints a picture of a lovely place to visit. I can’t wait.

The last month has been a whirlwind of details as I sort through every imaginable detail to prepare for the run. Visiting a travel clinic to get a variety of prescriptions for whatever might come up on the passage and a medical kit that is the size of a piece of carry on luggage plus. I never imagined that I would have a skin stapler on board, that’s for sure. Happily, one of my crew has extensive medical training but let’s hope that keeping all this stuff on board is akin to carrying an umbrella on a sunny day.

One of the iconic scenes from Horta is yachts tying up on the breakwater, where arriving crew paint a spot to memorialize their arrival.

And, in order to be certain that Pandora’s new shiny paint will not be scratched, how about some jumbo fenders? Yes, I will be sewing some soft covers.

Big enough? I sure hope so.

“So, Bob, how will you pump them up without busting a gut?” Thanks for asking. I’ll use this nifty battery powered pump. They go from flat to fully inflated in less than one minute. And, it can be reversed to deflate them for storage.

With all that is going on I have to admit that I am having difficulty in keeping everything straight. All the details are a bit overwhelming.

And, to make matters worse, I am heading to the dentist for a root canal right before I depart. The only thing that would be more fun than that would be to have the problem crop up mid ocean. Well, this one, at least, should be under control by then.

Fingers crossed on that front and sorry, no pictures of dental work, just work on getting Pandora ready for her big adventure.

My dad, now gone for over ten years, would approve of our plans, not the root canal, as he once quipped, “Bob, wouldn’t it be great to take Pandora through the Straights of Gibralter?” Indeed dad, it would.

However, I have to get there first. And, first, the Azores. I’m all about that…

Editor: Don’t forget that I will be posting plenty while on passage so if you haven’t already done so, and care of course, consider signing up to get a message when I post. And, no, I won’t be trying to sell youT shirts…

Holly S**t, it’s been a whirlwind since Brenda headed home from Antigua on March 1st.

In the course of only a few weeks, I helped out on the Caribbean 600 race, greeting boats at the dock upon their return, enjoyed some of the events associated with the SuperYacht Regatta and then took Pandora to Trinidad where she is undergoing a few more tweaks to be sure that she is in top shape to run to the Mediterranean.

Now I am back home in CT until I head back to Trinidad in late April.

On March 10th I headed south from Antigua, bound for Trinidad, some 400 miles distant, to address a few new items that I need completed as well as some “mop up” items from when she was there for her big refit over the summer, a few things that weren’t completed because I needed to be in Antigua by November 10th, done or not and just had to leave…

One major problem with having on a schedule is that sometimes the weather isn’t cooperative and our run south to Trinidad was true to form, in this case, with not enough wind. As a result, a lot of motoring. Sadly, being able to delay a few days would have made for a much more fun passage. When on a tight timeframe it can often be frustrating.

On my way north to Antigua, also on a schedule, we motored a lot as well. Normally, Brenda and I don’t move until conditions are favorable but when there is a deadline, you just gotta go.

When I leave Trinidad in early May, it is a very long way, almost 500 miles, to St Maarten, where I will join in a feeder rally, departing on May 18th, bound for Bermuda, to begin my run to Horta in the Azores. From Bermuda we plan to depart for Horta on or or about June 1st, when I will lead the 9 boats that are participating in the Salty Dawg Azores Rally.

One in Horta Brenda will join me for a month of cruising the Azores before she flies to Scotland and will head, again with crew, for Spain.

My run from Trinidad to Horta will be my longest since I retired in 2012. For the last dozen years, Brenda and I have been spending most winters afloat, beginning with a run down the Intra Costal Waterway, ICW, in 2012, as well as four seasons in the Bahamas, two months cruising Cuba’s south coast and most recently, 8-9 seasons cruising the eastern Caribbean.

This screenshot from my Garmin InReach shows Pandora’s tracks every season from the beginning of the pandemic until this current season. That’s a lot of back and forth. The run to the west from the US Virgins to FL, via the Old Bahama Channel, was our track back to the US when crew was not available.

With bad weather on that run and a very reluctant crew (Brenda), it was surely our most miserable passage ever.

When I return to Pandora in late April, I will begin what will be a marathon run to Spain were I hope to arrive by early August.

The total distance from Trinidad to Almaria Spain, where I will leave Pandora from August until the following spring, is nearly 4,500 miles. That’s a long way and will involve crew on every leg, nearly 10 individuals, my most number of crew in one year, ever.

It is unquestionably a very long way and I will admit that I am struggling to know that when I leave Brenda on April 27th to head to Trinidad, I won’t see her again until mid June. Not to put too fine a point on this but I will be at sea for both our 48th wedding anniversary and my 70th birthday. Not great.

The run…

After last summer I decided that I needed a break from long passages and opted to leave Pandora in Trinidad for some work after a decade of long passages back and forth from New England. It is ironic that after only a break for one season from the long runs, I am now planning on my longest run ever but as they say, “you gotta do what you gotta do”. So much for a shorter commute…

However, after so many years in the Caribbean and going to the same islands, again and again, it’s time for a change of scenery so off we go…

A particularly big negative is that this will take us away from our home for much of this summer, our favorite time of the year to be here. And, that also means that we will be here in the winter, the last place I want to be when it’s freezing.

And speaking of summer, a few days ago we went to a local nursery to get some spring flowers with the full knowledge that after they fade, we won’t be able to plant until sometime in August. Not great but after this season, we will be home for most of the summer following April and May in the Med and a return in the early fall for two more months.

I will surely miss seeing friends and going to our favorite harbors in the Caribbean, especially Antigua but four months a year cruising the Mediterranean with so much history, won’t be so bad. Right?

With crew settled for each leg of the run and Pandora getting last minute items dealt with, I am busy ordering stuff for the passage including spare pumps, medical kits and whatever I can think of to allow us to keep safe and moving if we find ourselves in a fix 1,000 miles from anything.

Whatever spars and parts that I have on board it is likely that something that I don’t have a spare for will break. As they say “everything on a boat is broken. You just don’t know it yet.” Sad but true…

And we won’t even talk about the possibility of an orca biting off my rudder along the way. A few weeks ago I actually ran into a guy on the beach in Falmouth Antigua who had his rudder bitten off near Gibraltar. I suppose when you think about the number of boats sailing around, getting your rudder “removed” isn’t all that likely but it is still common enough to be a real concern.

There is actually a website dedicated to tracking orca sightings and attacks to help boats transiting the area steer clear of harm, or at least try to steer clear of the pods. I have no idea of what the percentage of boats traveling through the area are hit but I’d hate to be one. Check out this site dedicated to sightings and “incidents”.

There are a lot of interactions with orcas in the course of a year. The blue are “we saw”. The red are “they bit”. Looks like a lot to me…

There are many more attacks in the springtime farther south, near Gibraltar. That is why it is not recommended to keep the boat for the winter in southern Portugal with the plan of moving into the Med in early spring as that is when the orcas are most active in the area.

That’s a bummer as I would prefer to keep Pandora in that area for next winter as it is reasonably priced and not all that far from the Azores. But with all the attacks, I will be bypassing that area and heading a few hundred miles farther and into the Med to Almeria, Spain.

Attacks April to June of last year. Lots of them and all over the place.

In summer, July and August when I will be passing the area west of Gibraltar there were not as many interactions but it wasn’t nothing. I am told that they migrate north as the season progresses, following the tuna, their primary food source.

For sure, the risk of being hit by an orca is a concern and I am hopeful that I can avoid the worse of it by consulting the “incident map” and see where the orcas area and going elsewhere.

After transiting the “orca gauntlet”, and making my way into the Med, I’ll head for Almira. Along the way I may very well stop in Gibraltar and Morocco to see some sights with my crew if they can take the time.

And, those plans do depend on my not having to stop along the way to have my rudder repaired.

Gibralter to Almeria.

So, where in the world is Pandora…Going?

From Trinidad to St Maarten, Bermuda, Horta, a month cruising the Azores with Brenda and on to Almeria. After that, in 2026, who knows.

I am looking forward to seeing sights like this castle in Almeria.

I am not looking forward to sights like this…

Orcas aside, here is to an uneventful voyage.

Wish me luck.

BTW: I will be posting regularly on passage so be sure to sign up in the upper right of this page to be alerted when I publish a post. Even if you signed up in the past and are no longer getting alerts sign up again as I had problems with the site but that’s now resolved.