Newsletter June 2004

"Back in the USA where things are sure expensive! "

The fourth cruising year of the Pipe Dream saga is drawing to a close. It’s time again to put Pipe Dream to bed in a secure place for hurricane season and get back to reality for two months. Yuck!!! If you will notice, the usual humor is always absent in the last cruising newsletter of the season. We hate to leave this wonderful life, even for a couple of months! Jutta and I have sailed over 9,000 miles in the last four cruising seasons. We have seen all of Central America on the Pacific Ocean side. Last November we crossed the Panama Canal, then traveled north on the Caribbean side to the Bay Islands of Honduras, through Belize, along Mexico’s Yucatan coast, and to Isla Mujeres. We also spent a month backpacking in Ecuador. For those of you in Yuma, Arizona, my hometown, Ecuador is in South America. That seems like a lot of traveling but I think we have just begun!!
Jutta’s daughter, Kat, and her boyfriend Jeremy joined us in Belize City in May and sailed with us to Isla Mujeres. For those of you who don’t know where Isla Mujeres is, it’s a resort island across the bay from Cancun. On our arrival, we had an awards presentation for Jeremy for not throwing up once during the trip. We kept him well medicated! Jutta’s oldest son, Brandon, joined us in Isla Mujeres. Jutta and I made the mistake of introducing Kat, Jeremy, and Brandon to the best taco stand on the island. For the ten days they were in Isla Mujeres we ate dinner there almost every night. We are sure we set a great, health-smart example.
People always ask us which country or place we enjoyed the most. This is a difficult question to answer. We loved Mexico for the fabulous taco stands, the teeming market places, the ice cold Pacifico Beer, the friendly people and, of course, the Mariachi music. We visited Guatemala from both coasts (Pacific and Caribbean). Guatemala has very diverse landscapes from cool mountains to steaming jungles. You can find remote mountain villages or international travelers’ destinations like Flores and Antigua. The Mayan site of Tikal is one of the best we have visited. We enjoyed El Salvador because of all the friendly people at Bahia del Sol and the refreshing Pilsner Beer. Traveling through El Salvador and Nicaragua gave us a first hand glance of two countries struggling to come back after ten years of civil war. Costa Rica has beautiful coast lines and many great anchorages. However, prices are higher and it has become a land of petty thieves. Ferdy and I spent an entire year in Panama and are very partial to that country. We have hiked Panama’s rain forests, sailed for miles through the most picturesque mangrove channels, anchored at remote islands, witnessed their 100 year festivities in Panama City, and transited the famous Panama Canal.
From Panama City we flew for a five day visit to the Columbian port of Cartagena and were mesmerized by the painstaking restoration of its colonial Old Town. We also enjoyed fabulous dinners at fine restaurants for minimal prices. Another side trip took us on an adventurous four week back packing trip through fascinating Ecuador.
Sailing on the Caribbean side, we could easily have spent more time on the Columbian islands of San Andres and Providencia. The Bay Islands of Guanaja, Roatan, and Utila (part of Honduras) were pretty in the tourist areas but the towns were fairly dirty. The Cays along the Barrier Reef of Belize were post card images of tiny islands surrounded by pristine turquoise water. The rest of Belize seems slightly overrated in the travel brochures. In fact, the country’s capital, Belize City, is an ugly, dirty, and in parts dangerous city. Belize is also the most expensive country we have visited so far.
After a great time in Isla Mujeres, we left together with cruising friends on “Gitana”, “Far Niente”, “Enkidu”, and “Compania” for our last passage to Florida and checked into Key West on June 20th. We had not returned to the States in 12 months and our arrival into Florida was real culture shock. Key West is just a giant tourist trap, everything is very expensive and life is very fast. What happened to the $1.50 pitcher of beer we were used to? Key West is also one of the “gay” Mecca’s of Florida. I dropped a dollar at dinner one evening and had to kick it all the way to Miami before I dared to bend over and pick it up! Just kidding, I’m a little homo-phobic.
It took us about a week to travel along the Florida Keys to Miami, gunk-holing all the way. For those of you who don’t remember, gunk-holing is stopping to party, snorkel, explore and just hurrah.
In the Miami area we anchored off of Key Biscayne for about five days. This gave us time to sample delicious Cuban food, dance some salsa, and watch the Fourth of July celebration in Miami City.
It was time to end the partying, say good bye to our cruising friends, and head north in search of a secure, protected, marina for Pipe Dream. We found a temporary home for Pipe Dream at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce, Florida, on the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW). On July 15 we will fly back to the West Coast to visit friends and family. In September we will return to Pipe Dream and cruise north on the ICW for a few months or until its gets too chilly. We then will sail back to Florida, cross the Gulf Stream and spend about four or five months in the Bahamas. It looks like another kwel adventure.
This is all for now, we are frantically packing to vacate the boat and fly to the West Coast. Be safe this summer and remember the adventure will continue in October.


From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta