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Bonaire/ Diving Paradise

Irish Blessing Crew heading out to our first boat dive

It’s great to be back in Bonaire, one of the premier dive sites in the world. The entirety of the island is virtually a dive site with no anchoring allowed which has kept the reefs pristine. The last time I was here was almost 30 years ago when I brought my future bride down on a dive trip.

But before diving, we had some work to do. Issy is awesome, it seems she is constantly doing our laundry, as we have a small washing machine on board. Drying on deck in the heat and the wind works wonderful. Issy also says it’s the little touch of love that makes everything smell better.

We also had to repaint the markings on the anchor chain which was about 100 meters or 328 feet. Harry told me a new way to remember the color coding and I’ll apologize in advance. The sequence is which you will now never forget is RUB YOUR BALLS WITH GREASE (Red, Yellow, Blue, White, Green)

Cullen and Issy passed their PADI open water certification.

The fish and the scenery are mind blowing.

Bonaire has done such an incredible job of protecting the reef and the wild life. While there will be many great dive sites along the way, this one will be hard to beat and so different from my first dive back in Lake Okoboji, Iowa in May, 1970.

Departing today January 21st for the San Blas Islands which is approximately a 3 and a half day sail where we are expecting some “fresh winds”. We are leaving at 3 in the afternoon so we get in to the San Blas Islands, off Panama, at around 9 in the morning. We will be without a market from approximately 2 weeks but the Kuna Indians who live in that area are known for exchanging fish and vegetables for extra things you have on board like coloring books and crayons. I guess people are the same all over for wanting to do nice things for your kids. We will talk again soon.

Oyster World Rally Start pt.2

We’ve finally off on a trip of a lifetime. 25 boats, 25 dreams, some with mechanical issues, some with Covid. Reality is this rally is like life, it’s not about what happens its about how you adjust and deal with it. We have arrived in Bonaire after a 3 day passage and learned a lot about sailing and each other. I am now considered the squall king. (A squall is a storm with high winds and a lot of rain.) It is best if you can get your sails reduced in 2 minutes. After 3 squalls, Cullen and I now have it down to a pattern. Thank God.

Passage/Tracker

Irish Blessings first passage was 500 miles of glories sailing over approximately 3 days where we slowed down so we can arrive at sunrise because you do not want to show up into a harbor in the middle of the night. One fact that people do not understand is that once is turns dark you turn all lights off in order to not destroy your eye vision and you run with dim red lights which means you’re literally in the dark the whole night. I took a photo of Harry and Cullen and turned the red lights 40 times up so that you can see them for the photo. Notice at night everyone has life preservers and safety straps which latch them into the boat to keep them from being washed over into sea.

Harry and Cullen 40x magnified so it would show up in the photo

Watching sunrise with my buddy Mikey the morning after

Everyones perception was the rally group travels together. Within 3 hours of the start, I can only see 3 boats. 5 days later we have boats in the BVI (British Virgin Islands), Grenada, Columbia, Antigua, Grenadines, and Guadalupe. The reality is the next time we will all get together is February 10th to be measured to go through the Panama canal.

Traveling 24/7 for days on end means you have to figure out how to stay in your bunk, while sweating, with no A.C., in heavy seas and squalls. You actually do start to adjust after a few days as you set your phone to wake you up for your next watch which is a 3 hour on 3 hours off, followed by 3 hours on 6 hours off. Really looking forward to when we can do single watches which will be 2 hours on and 8 hours off.

When you finally arrive the beer taste really good as all passages are dry (no booze while on sea) The 17 day passage from the Galapagos to the Marqueses will be a dry spell

The nature, the beauty is absolutely amazing. Notice a hundred dolphins greeted as on the way to Bonaire

After 12 hours of scrubbing and cleaning the boat, Issy gave us a wonderful lunch as a reward

We have 7 days of scuba diving in Bonaire with Cullen and Issy getting their PADI Open Water and will hopefully give you an update before we leave about our diving experience’s on this wonderful island.

Antigua Send-Off Party

So… after 30 years of dreaming it’s the night before the start of a 15 month journey around the World and back to Antigua. My plan is to sail the Pacific and see if I want to continue or ship her back ,we’ll see.Here are the 25 Oysters going around the world tomorrow. We heard tonight that a voyage is a trip where you return to where you started vs. a passage which is a leg of a voyage. We’re excited about where we’re going but melancholy about who we will be missing. The people we’ve met from 9 different countries are absolutely wonderful. While we have different cultures, we have the same dreams. Leaving tomorrow for Bonaire at 1pm. I’ll send an update when we get to Bonaire.

The one thing you learn in a survival course is you never want to step down into a life raft. As long as your ship is floating, stay on it. If you notice the writing on the life raft, it’s an 8 person raft and it’s barely big enough for Cullen and myself. Happy we went through the course. I hate to do it in the middle of the ocean for my first time.

How much wine do you need for 30 days? This is half.

We passed our sea mercy course. John, Cullen, and Mikey were taught how to hold eye clinic’s on remote islands. We have 150 pair of reader and adjustable eye glasses. We were told the story of a women who carried a bible for 20 years and yet was never able to read it. She broke down in tears when she was finally able to read it. We thought it would be a great way to give back, especially because we are so blessed to be able to make this voyage.

Here are the 5 permanent crew as we venture. The crew is John, Mike, and Cullen with Harry and Issy in charge (Harry was on the last world rally). Vanessa and Cecelia will be flying in to visit along the way. The organizer of the rally had Harry sign a document saying that he was responsible for the boat and all its members, he then asked if he could sign off for my behavior on shore and they said absolutely.

We leave tomorrow and will arrive in Bonaire 3 days later on Wednesday for a week of scuba diving. If you are being emailed this its because you asked me to keep in touch. If you are not interested, title it as junk or if you think someone else might be interested forward it on and they can be added on to the list. Special thanks to Mike’s daughter Camille who made this happen, who made this all possible and my son Cullen who is typing and figuring out how to add photos.

You and this trip are truly an Irish Blessing.

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