Our Beginning
Brazil-April '06 March 27, 2006
Brazil to Trinidad - April 2006
April 1 - After a good night of sleep on the boat, we were up and doing our final check before finally departing Aracaju at 7:00am. As we were approaching the Bahias from the river, we were suddenly hit with a short rain lasting about 10 minutes. This cloud was the only one we saw all day. What was really cool was the double rainbow it created as we entered the Atlantic Ocean crossing the sandbars known locally as the bahias. We decided that this was a good luck sign as we started the long journey.
Trinidad - April 2006
TRINIDAD - APRIL 2006 The marina was just a short walk to the swimming pool, which was very nice. The marina was full of sailboats from different parts of the world. The one thing in common seemed to be that everyone there was getting work done on their boats and pulling them out of the water to be on the hard for hurricane season. Of course, our primary reason for being here was to have additional gear added to Free Spirit.
Grenada - Miami - 2006
GRENADA – MIAMI – 2006 After a great week of cruising the Grenadines with Kya and getting her off on the flight from St George to Houston, it was time to head north and island hop towards Miami. Kya was really upset that I hadn’t called anyone to help with the trip, but as I explained to her, I really wanted some one on one time with the boat and felt as though I could handle the boat alone and really wanted to just take my time and work my way slowly through the islands.
Miami - Cozumel
MIAMI - COZUMEL (Departing June 27,2006)
Conceicao from Panama
Buenos everybody, Buenos is how they all greet each other here. My Portunhol, there is Portuguese/Spanish mix is getting better every day. I want to relate our immigration problems here as it took me back to Brazil 20 years ago.
Cozumel - Panama - July 2006
COZUMEL – PANAMA – JULY 2006 With Chris, Kehrer, Tawa, and everyone from the pink house waving us off, Jerry, Conceicao, and I set sail for Puerto Aventuras on a beautiful afternoon, beam reaching with a nice breeze. The plan was to make it there in time for fuel and dinner and then be back underway for an overnight run to Chincharro Reef. Our timing was looking great until we pulled up to the fuel dock to find out that the guy who runs the fuel dock had left early for the day and wouldn’t return until the next morning. Oh well, the dinner at Richard’s on the waterfront was good and a good night of sleep at the fuel dock really wasn’t that bad.
Panama canal crossing
I have been out of touch for a while because for many days we did not have internet connection for the computer. I was sending some notes from my Blackberry (my cell phone). It is amazing that we got a signal in so many far away places.
The Doctor Is In
Another day in this frontier town. I am amazed by what I have seen, even though I grew up in Brasil and traveled the Amazon, which has so many similarities to this area. It is kind of late and we just came back from dinner. That is, Russell and I. Jerry came earlier. We had dinner in this simple Italian restaurant. The owners, an Italian lady and her husband, are so nice. We ate there twice. The food is so good and so simple. We feasted in this simple salad, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta cheese, and green peppers, and good bread and pasta with shrimp. The wine was not too good because it is so hot and they keep the wine at room temperature. But the Panama cerveja was cold and the right choice for the evening. Our captain, Russell, made the right choice.
Las Perlas Islands - Panama
LAS PERLAS ISLANDS – PANAMA Well after an exciting trip through the Panama Canal, it’s off to the Las Perlas Islands. This is a group of islands approximately 40 miles south of Panama City which we were told would be worth taking a look at. The fishing and diving as well as the scenery were reportedly very good. We were sailing along really nice on a close reach all afternoon until the wind dropped just before sunset. This sunset was probably the best of the month. Theresa and Conceicao couldn’t resist taking several pictures. Anyways, because of the late start out of Panama City, we were again faced with a night approach. We double and triple and quadruple checked everything, verifying depth readings with the charts, along with position readings and checking radar etc. We managed to slip in alongside the lee of Isla Contadora without any hitches and set the anchor. Dick along with a little help from the others prepared another fantastic dinner, popped open a good bottle of the wine he had picked up in Bocas, and all was well.
Panama - August 2006
PANAMA - AUGUST 2006 After the Las Perlas Islands, Jerry, Conceicao and I sailed to Panama City to await the arrival of Sean from LA. We were given an end tie at the Flamenco Marina, nice but no shore power. Not feeling well, Conceicao took a room at the Country Inn for a couple of nights. We found a good rigger at the marina and had him help us get the screecher halyard back up and then found a machinist in Panama City to make a new bow sprit, which put the screecher back in operation. We topped off the fuel and propane, cleaned the boat, toured the city, shopped, ate really well, and just basically had a few good days in Panama City before picking Sean up at the airport.
Conceicao from Hawaii
Aloha dear friends, Early morning here in Hawaii. I am having my cup of Palo Alto, great coffee from Boquete, Panama, and thinking of Russell and the Free Spirit. Woundering in which ports his adventurous, free spirit is. Thinking of the wonderful days we had in our "Central America discovery" trip, and sailing again in my mind through Cozumel, Chinchorro, Guanaja, San Andres, Bocas del Toro, Portobelo, the Canal crossing, Las Perlas, Panama City, Coiba, Islas Secas, Pedregal...
Costa Rica Surf Trip
Costa Rica Surf Trip: September 2006 By: Kristi Eddington
Panama to Colombia Journal
SAN BLAS ISLANDS, PANAMA - CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA Feb. 2007
The Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos Islands The Galapagos Islands
The Crossing - Galapagos to Marquesas
THE CROSSING – GALAPAGOS to MARQUESAS This is it. After sailing almost 900 miles to get to the Galapagos, I will now sail 3055 miles to the Marquesas Islands. Joining on in the Galapagos for the crossing is Amy Wilson, a 20 year old South African girl who is making her way around the world crewing on sailboats to get to where she next wants to be. Amy started crewing on sailboats in the Med and then found a good crewing opportunity sailing from France across the Atlantic to the Carribean where she spent about four months in St Barts. From there she crewed on the beautiful 85 foot classic ketch “Velecarina” to Panama and on to the Galapagos. With sailing experience and a very pleasant personality, it will be nice having her on for this part of the journey.
Message in a Bottle
23rd April 2007 Hi! This is Amy Willson aboard the catamaran ‘Free spirit’.
Takaroa and swimming with sharks
Takaroa and swimming with sharks We sailed from Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas, to Takaroa, an atoll in the Tuamotus. We sailed for a bit less 2 ½ days, which was much faster than we anticipated and arrived at night, which we did not want. Anchorage is a serious problem in these atolls so is the reef that makes them. As a testimony we saw a few ships that have wrecked here and the sailing books have plenty of stories about it. Russell knew that there was only one place to anchor outside the atoll and as we approached it there was a small fishing boat in the precise spot. We motored around and around, dropped anchor 3 times but it would not hold. It was late, dark, windy, we were tired and running out of ideas when the fishing boat left and we anchored. Russell set the anchor guard on, and we settled in to get some sleep. The rolling was too much and the gusty wind made this the worst anchorage we had. I was afraid we would not hear the anchor alarm in case the anchor slipped and slept very little. So did Russell and Jerry.
Tuamotu Islands
TUAMOTU ISLANDS 14”25 South 145”55 West
Tuamotus to Tahiti
Tuamotos to Tahiti We set sail shortly after sunrise for the couple hundred mile sail from Faaite in the Tuamotos to Tahiti… our first stop in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The winds were light and the seas calm. With the wind from behind, we were off to a slow start and hoping for the stronger southeast trades to hurry and fill in.
New Zealand to Australia
Auckland, Nz - Sydney, Australia After a trip back to the states and seeing some but not near enough of New Zealand, it was time to ready Free Spirit for the passage to Australia. In order to get into Australia, you have to be able to prove to the officials that your boat has been hauled out of the water and had a fresh coat of anti foul paint within six months of arrival. In order to comply, Amy came up from touring the south island and helped take Free Spirit a few miles north of Auckland to Gulf Harbour Marina where we had her hauled out and bottom painted. During this time we checked all the systems onboard and did some provisioning at the local grocery. In addition to bottom paint I had the sail drives serviced, rudders aligned, as they were pretty far off, and the folding props serviced. After four days out of the water everything looked good and we were off for the Bay of Islands about 120 miles north of Auckland.
Israel
Updated: Oct. 13,2010 We arrived to the modern Tel Aviv – Yafo Airport in the afternoon. Once we got to the small KIA rental car (pronounced Kya in Israel) we decided to meet with our friend from Newport Beach, CA who was visiting family in Herzliya. The streets and highways were full of compact vehicles and the street signs were very foreign and hard to read. As we drove north towards Herzliya we made a wrong turn making a simple 15 minute drive turn into an hour and a half of rush hour traffic and asking for directions. We finally navigated our way to the main freeway and parked at the Herzliya Marina just in time to eat some dinner.
"Mauliola" - Sailing the South Pacific
Lifelong friends, Jerry and Conceicao, after spending time and experiencing the "Free Spirit" sailing lifestyle, flew back home from the South Pacific and got busy having a new high performance 65ft catamaran "Mauliola" built. Jerry, a total perfectionist, made sure "Mauliola" was built to be, not only comfortable, but also, extremely fast and safe. This is not an easy feat as speed generally means sacrificing comfort.
Updated: Jan. 14, 2008