It’s about a month before the Salty Dawg Rally heads to Antigua and everyone is wondering what life in the Caribbean will be like this winter.

As rally director for the group, it is my job, among other tasks, to try and tease out what the coming season in the Caribbean will be like and how restrictive conditions will be for those heading south this year.

My primary focus has been on Antigua and in particular, the arrival of the fleet in mid November and the two weeks of events that are on the calendar.   When the fleet arrives in mid November, that’s early in the season so it is still unclear as to what we will encounter.

A big part of this uncertainty is that most islands in the Caribbean have seen tremendous vaccine hesitancy among their population and, as a result, a large increase in virus cases.  Unlike here in the US, where being vaccinated is more of a political statement and a desire, especially in the RED states, to show solidarity with a certain ex-president.

In Antigua, hesitancy is driven more by some of the more far out hoaxes like Bill Gates putting microchips into the vaccine.  Injectable microchips?  I thought that there was a “chip shortage” right now.  Heck, how can they put chips in billions of vaccine doses when car manufacturers can’t get enough to make cars.  Hmm…maybe Bill Gates purchased all of them and they have been injected…  Oh boy, that’s an idea…

Anyway, government leaders in Antigua realize that without tourists for yet another winter season visiting the island, that they will be in real trouble.  The simple fact is that the vast majority of cash fueling their economy is from visitors and with the virus raging there won’t be nearly as many tourists.

With that in mind, the Prime Minister recently implemented a mandate that makes vaccination compulsory for anyone employed by the government, hospitality workers and I think those businesses that get a large amount of their funding from the government.  Don’t hold me to the exact makeup of who is subject to this new ruling except to say that it effects a large part of their population.

So, as of October 1st, next week, anyone in those groups that hasn’t had at least one dose will be on furlough and stuck at home.  And, by October 15th, they will stop being paid.   Hesitant or not, I expect that not getting paid will be a big motivator.

And, speaking of personal liberties, curfews are now in place and beaches are closed except from 05:00 to noon every day.   Additionally, pleasure boating is banned on both Antigua and Barbuda.  No more clandestine trips to the beach for partying.

The goal of this program is to reach herd immunity by November and the only thing that really stands in the way at this time will be if officials back down.

I understand that there are even some highly placed government workers that are resisting this mandate and it will be interesting to see how things unfold.

“So, what about the rally?  How’s that going Bob?”

Thanks for asking.  The rally is going really well with more applications nearly every day.   As of a week ago we were running pretty well, well ahead of last year at this time.   We had a Zoom briefing to talk about all this and I was astounded that nearly 225 signed up to hear what we had to say.   Our record arrivals in Antigua was about 55 boats and I expect that we will easily beat that number this season.

So, from now until the week before the rally departs on November 1st we will be having weekly briefings for anyone who is signed up and paid on Fridays.   I expect that they will be well attended.   And, once we are in Hampton we will have daily briefings, again via Zoom to keep everyone up to date on plans and to keep an eye on weather for the passage.

One big question about the coming season will be how easy, or hard, it will be to travel from one island to the next as that inevitably means clearing in and out of yet another country.  In particular, France and the French islands have been cracking down very hard and the islands are basically closed to cruisers.

However, like Antigua, France is taking a very hard line with their “refuseniks”, with furloughs, banning the unvaccinated from restaurants and even outside dining.  Not unexpected, when these restrictions went into place, the vaccination rates went up overnight.

Getting many that are hesitant about “taking the jab” to go for it is often as simple as saying, sorry, you can’t visit your favorite café or bar unless you are up to date on your shots.   Simple yes and it seems to work.

Well, not so simple in the US, the land of liberty, where everyone feels that they can do what they want, when they want and to whom they want.   So much for social responsibility.

Fortunately, keeping everyone safe in the rally will be at least a bit easier as anyone who participates must show proof of vaccination in order to join the ra;ly or the fun in Hampton, our point of departure.  Heck, unless you are vaccinated and show proof of a negative PCR virus test,  there is no visiting Antigua anyway. Simple…

And speaking of “mandates” I have had a few uncomfortable discussions with those who want to do the rally and yet refused the shots, but the overwhelming reaction has been very positive.

And, speaking of being safe, we are working with a well known infection disease specialist, Dr. Richard Wenzel.  At the risk of pushing a pun to the limit, he’s a “big dawg” in the ID field.

Along with having published over 500 scientific papers published, he is also involved with the New England Journal of Medicine, a very prestigious journal in it’s own right.   This guy knows his stuff.

Would you take medical advice from this guy?  I would and we are…His recommendations to the feet also includes advice on how to keep everyone safe on passage.  Even those that are fully vaccinated run the risk of a “breakthrough” infection and the idea of being at sea, 500 miles from land and getting sick is pretty scary to me.

With that in mind, all of the predeparture events in Hampton will be held outside instead of in the pavilion that we have used for years.  It can be cold in Hampton in late October but we just can’t take the risk of someone getting sick on passage.

Our events will be split between a brew pub on the water, the Bull Island Brewing Company.  With as many as 200+ participants, it’s going to be crowded never the less. Our other events will center on a small street down town with lots of spots for outdoor dining, Queens Way, a short walk from the waterfront.The local Convention and Visitors bureau in Hampton has been very helpful in pulling this all together.  Good thing as I am just swamped with stuff in the buildup to departure.

And, in Antigua there is a small group there that has been very helpful in backing me up and helping to set up events every year.

So, now you can see why I have been a bit remis in writing posts in the last few months, which I will admit pains me.   I’ve been pretty busy.

And add to that a need to get Pandora ready for the run, getting crew and travel plans for the holidays.  No rest for the weary, retired cruiser.  That’s me…

So, with three weeks until I head to Hampton and then on to Antigua, there is a lot to get done.

This morning I meet up with a refrigeration guy to fix a creaky valve on my fridge and freezer so soon that system will be back in operation.  Fortunately, that’s a pretty simple fix, well simple in comparison to problems with my bow thruster where the tech finally showed up after months of chasing him down.

Fingers crossed that they can fix the problem.  The idea of trying to med-moor without a way to control the bow makes me very nervous.

Nope, I won’t go into all the stuff that I have already done to get Pandora ready for the trip except to say that the list is long and involved more than a couple “boat dollars”.  But no project has proven to be more daunting than coaxing Brenda back aboard as our run home to FL during the pandemic still looms large in her memory and not in a good way.

Oh, how I hope that sailing in the Caribbean will be easy and fun this season as being “locked down in paradise” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in spite of what some might think when snow is drifting up against their front door.

So, what will cruising the Caribbean this winter be like?  I am optimistic but only time will tell.   Optimistic?  That’s me, or as Brenda would say, “Bob and the dog, ever hopeful…”

Well, lots to do so I’d better sign off.  More to come soon, I hope…

 

It’s almost time to leave Maine and head home.  With the remnants of Hurricane Ida to our east things are beginning to settle down here in Booth Bay Maine.

As recently as a few days ago, it was unclear as to what track Ida, even though she was much weakened, might take as she headed up the coast, so the forecast for Friday, tomorrow, was very uncertain.

When I spoke with Chris Parker, our weather router, a few days ago, the forecast was completely unclear with forecasts suggesting that the wind could be anywhere from about 10kts to 35kts NW with higher gusts.  It is very difficult to forecast wind with such a fast moving low.  Fortunately, now 24 hours away from our departure, the winds will likely be on the very low end of the forecast and while we will probably have to motor much of the way, it’s nice to know that it won’t be too “salty” a run to the Cape Cod canal.

Last night was really rainy and today the dink had about 5″ of water in it.   That’s a lot but the winds were very light and the rain a lot less than others faced in CT and NY where there was widespread flooding.

In any event, our plan is to head out from here in Boothbay Harbor for the canal, early tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed that the wind will behave and drop to a reasonable level.

The crossing should take a bit less than 24 hours and with an 08:30 current change in the canal on Saturday, that should put us in Buzzards Bay fairly early on Saturday morning before expected westerlies will kick in.  The big question is how far west we will be able to get before the wind picks up right on our nose.

Time will tell but it will be nice to be heading home and wish us luck.

So, change of topic.  Since leaving Rockland a few days ago, Brenda and I made a brief stop at Allen Island, summer home of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth.  They owned, two islands off of Port Clyde, Allen and Benner Islands for many years and built a number of homes on both islands.  It is clear that a great deal of thought went into the design and siting of each dwelling as they blend into a wonderful image that evokes one of Andrew’s paintings. They were even careful about who they picked for their dock builder and the instructions they gave him. The ramp, the supports and railings, and the dock protection, everything was on point and made for people like us that like to sail around and visit here.

We have visited this spot many years and have always picked up one of the half dozen courtesy moorings that the family keeps at the ready.  I have asked for permission over the years but on this visit we were the only boat in the harbor so I didn’t want to bother anyone on shore.

It was nice to be there again but sad too as the loss of Betsy and Andrew end an era.  I mentioned a visit “Knitting with Betsy” a number of years ago when we visited and saw Betsy knitting on her front porch while Brenda knitted aboard.   I Wrote about that wonderful experience, if from a distance, in this post.

Now that both Betsy and Andrew have passed, it looks like the only inhabitant on the islands is the caretaker who we saw when he took their resident lobster boat Archangel, to head into Port Clyde.  He didn’t seem concerned with our presence as he passed by in the morning prior to our departure.

This is a shot of the main house and the porch where Besty and her companion knitted so long ago.  Sadly, no Betsy on this visit. Behind, Pandora nothing to disturb the tranquility except the occasional lobster boat out checking traps and plenty of sea birds.On our way to Booth Bay we passed Eastern Egg Rock, where there is a colony of puffins.  Sadly, we did not see any as we passed by.  This is the only colony of puffins on the US East Coast as they were hunted to extinction 100 years ago.  This colony was carefully transplanted from Canada many years ago.

The colony was started by bringing young birds to the island, the first to be there since the late 1800s and became a model for rebuilding flocks of seabirds elsewhere with great success.  Today there are 1000 pairs nesting on the island.  Read about the project at this link, a rare example of us repairing the damage by man so long ago.

Sadly, we didn’t see any puffins but there were many birds flocking around the island, evidence of how many birds make Eastern Egg their home.

Maine is known for the many beautiful lighthouses and we passed on of the most unique one as we approached Booth Bay, the Ram Island Light, with it’s unique walkway heading out to the light.  I wonder what it is like to be on that walkway when the  seas are raging. Booth Bay Harbor is a beautiful spot and one that we have visited many times over the years.   The harbor is well protected and this church is particularly stunning when the sun is setting.  At night the face is lit.  The harbor is pretty built up but being so close to Brown’s Wharf has made for good wifi. Every night the sunset over the far side of the harbor is beautiful.  Of course, last night, not so nice as the remnants of Ida descended on us. However, 24 hours later the sun is out and while it’s still plenty windy, I can see how tomorrow will likely be a wonderful day as we cross the Gulf of Maine.

While I will miss Maine, it will be nice to be back home.

For sure, Mila our Chris’s and Melody’s husky will be happy to see me.

Well, it’s nearly the end of August and Pandora will be heading toward home next week.  As I write this I am in Rockland, counting down the days and not in a good way.

Brenda spent much of yesterday with an artist’s, artist friend who lives in Maine full time and enjoyed her time with her.  Me, I just sat for hours in a coffee shop, wifi and all.

Somehow doing bills, working on some details next steps with Pandora and some Salty Dawg stuff ate up the entire morning.  When Brenda returned after lunch, her response was, “you’re still here?”.  Yup, still here and no blog post to show for myself.

So, it’s another beautiful day here in Rockland.  Last night a cold front came through and instead of the mid 80s humidity that we have endured for days not, today’s high is a more Maine Like mid 60s.  It will be lovely.

Before I go into some of the fun details of what the last two weeks here in Maine have been like, I’ll share yesterday’s sunrise, framed by a huge ketch anchored far out in the harbor.  What a perfect way to begin the day. Those of you that sleep late miss moments like this.  And, speaking of memorable sunrises, when we were in Castine, before hurricane Henri passed up the east coast.  The currents are swift in the river there and the sunrise made for a beautiful moment with the current pulling hard on a channel marker.Castine is the home of the Maine Maritime Academy and it was fun to see the cadets out marching through town.  Lots of “hup, hup” stuff going on and plenty of loud chants by the officers, dutifully repeated by the cadets. They also were out for training on their lifeboats, learning to row in perfect time.  Back and forth across the river they went with the bosun keeping time. Their “boat”, the State of Maine was in town.  At one point the cadets filed one at a time up the gangway to board the ship. It was unclear to me if that’s where they live or if there are dorms.  Castine is a charming little town with loads of history. There are a number of very nice independent book stores, something that seems to be fairly thriving in the small towns in Maine.  Perhaps their trade is driven by tourists that want to curl up with a good book when it’s foggy, cold and rainy.  Melody, an artist herself, saw a tiny kiosk mounted on a sidewalk post outside of one shop where artists can swap out their work.  Put in a piece of art and take one.  I love the idea.  Perhaps we need one in our home town. We also spent time in Buck’s Harbor where we had a lobster bake.  I wanted Chris and Melody to experience eating lobster outside on a picnic table overlooking a quintessential Maine harbor.  While we were there a schooner full of vacationers pulled in and dropped her hook.  There are many schooners in Maine that take out vacationers for week long cruises, stopping in one quaint spot after the next. Buck’s is home to a beautifully maintained Concordia yawl, a well regarded design coveted by those that love wooden classics.  Her owner also has a Pulsifer Hampton, another charming design.  I’ve never seen two of them together and with matching canvas, no less. From Buck’s we headed back up to Castine to wait out the hurricane.  Fortunately, it turned out to be a non-event and we never saw winds much more than a brief period in the high teens.  There were many boats in the harbor tucked down near shore including the 1030s vintage Ranger, one of a number of restored America’s Cup boats making the rounds of the classic racing regattas.  She is an impressive sight and huge at over 130′ long. She draws more than a dozen feet, which she needs to, in order to balance her impossibly tall mast. I was taken by this tug boat converted into a yacht.  I don’t know anything about her but our paths have crossed a number of times this season. It’s not always sunny and to see a schooner drifting by in the fog is an impressive and ageless sight. Sun, threats of hurricanes, fog, rain, the weather is always changing in Maine and is one of the reasons that I love being here.

So, as I finish up this post, we are planning to head to Allen Island, the site of the family summer home for Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, now diseased, the famous artist and his wife.  I’ll have more to say about that perhaps in a few days.  From there we hope to go to Booth Bay where my friend George will meet us and help me bring Pandora to Fall River MA where I am having some work done on her electronics.   Conveniently, Brenda will drive his car back home for him.  Very convenient.

Our time in Maine is nearing a close but I am optimistic that our cruising season is not and that we will soon be back in the Caribbean for a winter of cruising. However, I will say that the details of that are still up in the air due to the lasting threats of Covid-19 and the Delta variant.  Life is never simple, even for the vaccinated.

I’d better sign off as the coffee is ready.

 

It’s a beautiful day here in Castine where we moved yesterday after a few days in Belfast.  The sunrise was spectacular.  However, you know what the say about “red sky in the morning”.   Rain this afternoon.  Castine is a wonderful place but that will have to wait on that point as I have scintillating news in the life of the giant rubber ducky Joy.

On our last night in Belfast I was still wondering if I was about to be arrested for illegal transport of the giant rubber duckie  when I moved her from another area of the harbor.  All day long we watched a parade of boats, large and small, passing by Joy to pay her tribute.

Late in the afternoon, three boys showed up in their dink, looking very determined to do something as they strung a rope over her back.   I could not imagine what they had in mind and we took our dink over to inqure about what they were planning. “we want to climb up on her back”, they said.

Ok, AWESOME, go for it!  I just HAD to record this and stood by, but I will admit, I was wondering if such a feat was even possible.  Actually, I was thinking NO WAY!

After perhaps a half hour of prep, here they are, getting ready to scale to the summit.  Note the drone, upper right, capturing the moment.   I have no idea who was the “driver” of the drone.  It wasn’t the trio. The would-be climbers had things pretty well thought out, I guess, and they proceeded to string a rope over her back so they had something to hold onto.  As everyone knows, rubber duckies are notoriously slippery.  To keep her from rolling over, one guy got into the water (very cold water) to balance things out.

Getting a boost.   Still not looking very promising. OMG!  Up he went…What would you do when you finally summit a giant rubber ducky?  What anyone would do.  Strike a pose!And how do you top that?   Jump off, of course, and be quick about it as, as their friend in the water was probably about to succumb to hypothermia. The three of them were pretty proud of their feat and willingly posed for a photo.  I wonder how they chose who would would be the climber?  The one to conquer the biggest rubber duckie in Maine?

Perhaps their planning discussions were about who would be THE ONE to summit.  Perhaps the same talk that Neil Armstrong must have had with fellow crew Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins as to who was going to be the first to walk on the moon.

Who would take that “first to find the joy of being the first to summit Joy for all mankind”?

Ok, ok, I’ll admit that I am beating this to death but hey, the story was picked up in USA Today, so it must have been big news.   Don’t believe me?  Check out this link. 

Surely the Joy of conquering Joy is worth something.  At least when you are a kid you should take your wins when you can.

I thought it was awesome! Oh, to be young.

Me?  All I would be thinking about is how cold the water is.

But perhaps more importantly, where else will we find Joy?

Well, I am finally back in Belfast and aboard Pandora after three weeks back home.  Since returning from the Down East Rally, I’ve been hugely busy with Salty Dawg stuff and have been spending a lot of time interviewing applicants that are flagged to me as possibly having limited blue water experience.   I want to be sure that they have a good feel for what they might face and plan to invite  crew aboard that know what sailing hundreds of miles from land is all about.

There was also considerable discussion about how we were going to handle the question of vaccine requirement for those making the run south.   After months of factfinding the Board decided that the most prudent approach to insure the safety of all at sea, was to require vaccination for everyone.   Additionally, the islands that we plan to visit are really having a tough time with the virus and with sometimes small numbers of their people unvaccinated, it would not be fair to bring yet another unvaccinated person to their homes.    Additionally, most islands are taking a very hard line with those that are unvaccinated visiting and they are requiring testing and quarantine until they are certain that all is well.

I do expect that event the vaccinated will also continue to be tested before visiting or moving to other but, as of now, if their test is negative, they are free to go.   With breakthrough infections popping up among the vaccinated, it’s hard to say how this will all play out in the coming months.

As of today, Biden has announced that boosters are recommended and, Brenda and I will be lining up to do just that as soon as we are given the all clear.

Given how polarizing and political this issue has become here in the US, I had no idea what sort of blowback we might encounter.   Personally, I felt that most, if not all, cruisers were probably comfortable with the “jab”, but did wonder what might happen when the announcement was made.

Happily, there has been virtually no complaints about the plan, very good news.

We are getting a lot of applications for the rally and the recent webinars on Antigua and the Bahamas were very well attended.  It looks like we are on course to have a larger rally than has been the case in recent memory.   Fingers crossed that there will not be any surprises as we get closer to departure in early November.

So, here we are in Belfast for a few days with our son Christopher and his partner Melody.  Brenda and I are focused on giving them a good feel for what cruising Maine is like.  Wish us luck.

Our arrival in Belfast coincided with the mysterious appearance of a huge rubber duckie named Joy.  She?  He?  Im going with She and she, has been making a tour of the harbor in recent days.   Many have been taking her photo.  Me too. It seems that she recently made her mysterious appearance at the head of the harbor, where we are, and then drifted down and tangled with some of the moored boats.

This morning, under the influence of coffee, I decided that Joy needed to “return to her roots” at the head of the harbor.  The fact that we wanted to have her closer to Pandora had nothing to do with the decision to “rescue” her at all, I assure you.

I approached cautiously so as not to alarm her, lifted her moorings and off we went.
In spite of the fact that Joy has been moving around, it turns out that she has not one but two moorings to keep her in position.  They proved too heavy for me to hoist into the dink so I suspended both of them below the dink as best I could to prepare for Joy’s voyage.

Taking her home.The going was slow, as I did not want to alarm her.

Joy proved to be a willing, if not enthusiastic traveler as she followed obediently behind Hope.   Hope you say?   Hope is the name of our dink.A dink named Hope?   Remember the story of Pandora’s box?    When Pandora opened the box and all the evils went out into the world?   Well, after that, she looked into the box and all that was left was Hope.

Get it?  Pandora’s dink called Hope?

So there you have it, as long as there is Hope,  there’s Joy.  Well, at least there’s joy going for a ride. As she arrives at her new home, Joy continues to pursue Hope as we all do. So, Joy is now among us, as it should be. Guarding over us in the “hope” that we will enjoy Maine. It’s a beautiful day here in May and I am happy that I was able to bring a  bit of Joy, no, she’s HUGE so she’s brought a LOT of Joy into our lives.

I guess that it is safe to say that where there is Hope, Joy will follow.

That’s all for now…

“Yes, Bob, that’s more than enough!”