Trip Recap:

We took possession of the new Knotty dog on January 12, 2003 and left almost immediately for Santa Barbara to provision and get ready for our trip from Santa Barbara to Fort Lauderdale.  We were part of a group of 30 boats sponsored and organized by Nordhavn, planning to cross the Atlantic in April together.  We had a big challenge ahead of us: 1) Getting used to a new boat and working the bugs out quickly, 2) Getting to the East Coast in time to rest and prepare for the Atlantic crossing, and 3) Reach Golfito, Costa Rica by a certain date to pick up crew along the way that would accompany us across the Atlantic (this would be a shake down cruise for them to get ready).  We figured it would take us approximately 120 days.  This was a big challenge for us and we felt a bit overwhelmed at the thought of it but anxious to give it our best.

 We left Santa Barbara January 19^th for San Diego where we picked up crew that would be with us until Costa Rica.  We also did some final provisioning there.  We left the 27^th and traveled south along the coast of Baja California stopping only once for a short 4 hour anchorage in St. Mag, and then crossed the Sea of Cortez.  We had to prove that we could travel non stop in the open sea for a period of 600 miles to assure ourselves that we were capable to cross the Atlantic.  This would be our proving ground.  The first two days I spent below sleeping due to exhaustion getting up only to prepare meals and take our dog Zig on the deck to relieve himself.  After that I was fine with the nonstop cruising.

Our first stop in Mexico was Puerto Vallarta, then south to Ixtapa, and on to Acapulco for refueling.  Our last stop in Mexico was Huatulco.

Leaving Mexico we crossed the fierce Gulf of Tuantepec to Guatamala.  As we passed the coastline of Guatemala we were amazed at the number of volcanoes. We soon crossed the border into El Salvador and made a stop at Las Barillas.

After a brief stop we left El Salvador, we crossed the even fiercer Gulf of Papagallo into Costa Rica.  Our fist stop in Costa Rica was Los Suenos.  We dropped our crew off, took two weeks to enjoy the area with friends and explored the islands in the Gulf of Nicoya off the Costa Rican Peninsula de Nicoya.

Soon, on our own for the first time, headed south,  stopping at Manuel Antonio, Isla Del Cano, Drake Bay and the last stop in Costa Rica, Golfito.  In Golfito, we picked up our North Atlantic crew and another friend experienced in crossing the Panama Canal.  We soon headed south to Panama.

Our first stop was the Isla Secas Islands now owned and being developed by a friend.  We took our first sheltered anchorage in the remote Bahia Honda and had our first taste of Panamanian friendliness as villages would canoe out to talk and trade with us.

Continuing south, we had a continuous two day trip from Bahia Honda to Panama City.  As we made our turn eastward we crossed the notorious Punta Mala and the seas that greeted us explained the name “bad point”.  It was a rough hard ride but nothing that we couldn’t handle.   It was a welcome site to see the skyscrapers of Panama City and the sea filled with monstrous freighters anchored waiting to traverse the canal.  We felt exhilarated.

It took us a week to make preparations to traverse the canal.  Things weren’t going smoothly with the new crew and we were becoming concerned about the trip ahead.  We went through the canal without any problems and it was a life time experience though the joy of the moment was dampened by the mood on the boat.  It was becoming evident that the crew was not going to work out for the trip and now we had a dilemma.  We were determined to try and make it work if possible.

Coming out of the canal we were greeted with bad weather, rough seas and strong winds and our only place to hide out was the notorious city of Colon.  We spent at week here and it was tough and edgy with the crew.  After a week, it came to a head and we parted company.  This threw a wrench in our overall plans but we were not discouraged but relieved.  We were not anxious nor did we think it possible to find a crew to join us across the Atlantic at this point in time and due to our remote location, communication to coordinate something like that would be difficult.  We decided to cut the weather a slant and head West to Bocas Del Toro and regroup from the experience.  The weather was bad and the seas were running 6-8 feet, but going West the sea would be with us.  We were disappointed not to see the San Blas Islands but could not take Colon any longer. Our friend was still with us and he continued on to Bocas.

As it turned out Bocas was a delight and just what we needed.  Our friend flew home from there and we rested two weeks in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.  We decided that at this point our momentum for the Atlantic crossing was gone.  We were getting tired of the rough seas and winds and decided we would slow down and see some things along the way and enjoy ourselves.  We would make the most of it.  Once we reached the US we would spend the summer cruising the East Coast of the US instead.  There was so much to see that we felt like we would be satisfied with that so we began our course again.   We hired a crew member and flew him down from Florida to join us for the trip back to Florida.

As soon as the winds died down a little we headed  East across the Caribbean Gulf to two small islands in Columbia called  Isla San Andres and Isla Providencia.

From Columbia we headed NW to a remote and uninhabited reef called Cayo  Vivarillo just off the NW corner of Honduras.  Our next stop, took us West to the Bay Islands, Honduras.  Our port there was Roatan.

Stuck in Roatan much longer than we anticipated, due to bad weather again, we made the most of it but the lengthy delay gave us reason to scrap our plans to go up the Rio Dulce River in Guatemala.  It was getting near hurricane season and that gave us incentive to head in the direction of home (USA).  Our first stop along the way would  be Belize.

The weather was determined not to let up and we were tired of Roatan so we decided to bite the bullet and left Roatan in bad weather.  We headed NW to a small cay called Glovers Reef for a brief over night stay.  We then battled our way from there through the never ending bad weather N to Ambergris Cay, Belize, figuring we would wait out the weather here.  It was a resort island and that sounded pretty good at the time. 

Again, the weather never let up and we extended our stay there much longer than anticipated.  By now, the stabilizers had gone out and we were faced with waiting another extended period trying to get repair parts sent in.  Our other alternative was to just to go the last stretch without stabilizers.  We were anxious to get to the US by now and decided no more delays, the  Knotty Dog would head home without stabilizers  and no further delays.

So, when the weather lifted a bit, Knotty Dog left Ambergris and reached Isla Mujeres, Mexico for a brief stop and some refueling and then made the long stretch to Key West, Florida.  We arrived in Key West, May 3, 2003.

Needing repairs and normal maintenance we still needed to keep going to reach Stuart, Florida where the Nordhavn service center was.  We also, wanted to reach Fort Lauderdale in time to see the North Atlantic Rally off.  So again, with out much rest after spending the week in Key West washing the amazing amount of salt off Knotty Dog we left together for Miami Beach with a stop along the way in Miami Beach.

It was quite a site to reach Miami.  It was such a metropolis after where we had been for so many months.  We quickly entered the protection of the Intracoastal Waterway thrilled that we would no longer have to face the rough seas for awhile when we suddenly went aground north of Miami!  Though, perfectly centered in the channel, the bad weather struck us again with non dredged shoaling and $570 later we were on our way but very timidly to Fort Lauderdale where we were anxious to wish the North Atlantic Rally participants good luck May 16th!

With a brief stop in Fort Lauderdale, we headed up the very, very shallow ICW to Stuart, stopping along the way at Boca Raton Resort, then Old Port Marina, and finally to Stuart.

Now on to Chapter 1  Key West to Stuart