Bittersweet Memories

May brought the anniversary of my mother-in-laws' passing. On the bright side, I had found an old camera chip and found some pics of her that I thought had been lost. She had flown down to Orlando with our niece for Jon's graduation from UCF. We were so happy that she agreed to go for a sail with us even though "boating" was not her "cup of tea".  Jon wasn't able to join us that day and sadly this happened to be the last time the boys and I were with Memaw.  We miss her dearly.

Little Maria turned 8 and Brooksy hosted a party for her.  Sorry, Lilo and Mike don't like pictures of their children posted.  Take my word for it, she's a doll!

Well, while we have been waiting for our transmission, David has been helping to re-rigg the Green Hornet Mike's boat.  He gets to be the one they hoist up the mast.  I'm sure it's a lot harder that it looks, even though he is in better shape than most of the fellows around here. LOL!   In addition to rigging, David keeps busy ~ he helped Excellent Adventure into the harbor and into Brooksy Point.  That's him in front of the catamaran.

We enjoyed getting to know the folks on Excellent Adventure, Jason, Loreen, children Roan, Kestral and Aurora, along with "Bamma" and crew Chip and Angela.  They are from San Diego and recently transited the Panama Canal.  They stayed at Brooksy Point for about two weeks doing repairs and provisioning.  Jason is opening a new West Marine Store near Galveston, TX and Loreen will be working "online" as an editor. 

 

I found it interesting that they make their own "sauerkraut", almond milk, pickles, etc.  The family is allergic to gluten so they bake their own bread and create many other gluten-free recipes on board.  The kids eat the sauerkraut as a snack!  Wild!  I had the pleasure of tasting the bread and I don't think I would miss wheat at all.  We shared a lot of recipes.  They left the dock yesterday enroute to Cozumel.  They plan to go to Tulum to visit the Mayan ruins and purchase some hammocks then get back on the "road" again to Texas. 

Well the transmission finally arrived in early June.  However, it took time to arrange for a mechanic to help with removing the last engine mount and subsequent install of the new transmission.  Ultimately, David had to finish the job and John on Free Spirit was a good helper.  David had to re-drill the armiture for the linkage. We are very happy to report that it's in and it works!!!!!

Not to be an alarmist, but acouple of our friends were robbed near the mid June while at anchor in Port Royal, which is about 7-8 nautical miles east of Brooksy Point.  They have a steel boat and the companionway operated like a "dumb waiter".  Three guys boarded them at 1 o'clock in the morning, indicating they were the "policia".  Unfortunately, the Captain being half asleep did open the companionway and soon got the butt of a shotgun to the forehead.  They stole phones, computers, frozen meats and $1500 USD.  Other friends with them were anchored 50 feet away, but were not robbed. The Captain suffered a concussion and needed five stitches; First Mate just shook up.  They have since left Brooksy Point and are now in Providencia.  Their final destination is Bocas del Toro, Panama. 

Well my "working" days are over at Brooksy Point.  There just are not enough of us to warrant keeping the bar open after 5:00pm.  No fear, Capitan Dave has been keeping me busy varnishing and polishing!  He doesn't pay much though, LOL!

We are hoping that Guanaja is our next destination.  We need to extend our visas for another 90 days with immigration or get a "zarpe" and just go back to the Rio Dulce.   So that is the current dilema, stay or go!  New Horizons bottom hasn't been painted since we left in 2009.  The weather has been sort of strange lately (we had gusts of over 40 knots at Brooksy Point last night) and ultimately we may not get the weather window we want. So we may just be staying in Roatan until after hurricane season.  There are worse places to be!

Guanaja

Stay tuned!