Hi ,

We arrived in Belize and anchored 15 minutes outside Belize City.  I tend to write about the positives in all our adventures and will continue that but I do have to say Belize City is not really a place to go at all. The harassment factor is about a 9 on a scale of 1-10. The sad thing is the folks , men and prostitutes following us and constantly asking us to, do this, buy that..and they really have nothing to offer. During our pre-port diplomatic briefing we were informed that the murder rate in Belize is #3 in the world per capita! Gangs and drugs are isolated mostly to the south side of Belize city across the river. So it is obvious where to avoid, the whole place is desperate. Again it’s a Central American country / Caribbean nation that was determined to gain their independence from the British Empire and Belize got their wish in 1962 and promptly realized economics and expenses of running an independent nation are difficult to maintain. A friend on the ship went to a 7^th grade classroom to see what they were learning. She told us they were learning exactly what she learned in 4^th grade.  

Belize is beautiful and has wonderful Mayan history and ruins to discover along w/ some amazing diving opportunities , sailing , island hopping, cave tubing , jungle zip lining, all kinds of hiking and adventure.  You just need to set up somewhere other than Belize city. If you find yourself there just get on a boat and leave.

Our second day, Traci was off work so we planned to get to Caye Caulker. After much delay on Belize time we got there in the rain (it is the beginning of rainy season) The Island had a great vibe the locals were very friendly the shops restaurants and housing was primitive Island style. Very cool.

We have met some good new friends on this voyage and feel truly lucky to have had another substantial travel Adventure as a family.

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware” Martin Burber

Lat – 21’ .31N

Long – 085’. 38W

We are circumventing Cuba and on our way to Ft. Lauderdale,

See you all soon thanks for checking out our stories on this whirlwind Central and South American trip, we created some amazing memories

Capt. J

Looking forward to local waters East of Cape Cape!!!

Hi ,

The jungle canopy was calling. We found a place all to ourselves yesterday. It also had a Zip Line!!

I told Declan he would be a superhero in training so he would have little apprehension. Turns out mom was the only one w/ butterfly’s in her stomach.  We all geared up w/ climbing harnesses and helmets, it is exciting and often beautiful. The maze of zip lines took us on 12 separate dangling rides from tree platform to tree platform. Some were 1700 yds long w/ about a 200 foot drop to the jungle floor, good speed ! It’s actually very safe, perhaps not by US amusement park standards but that’s not where we are.

Anna went all by herself the whole time, Layne was able to go all by herself most of the time except when they felt she might not weigh enough and come up a little short. Young Declan hopped on the lap of one of the guys “Harry” I called him. All of us were loving it and we were the only ones in the park, good joss that day. Declan even did the last stage about 250 yds all by himself!! It was classic to see the guide hook him up then grab his little bum and sizzle him down the line like a shot put, he looked tiny but loved it and was very proud of himself and even got a couple reluctant…’ nice going’ Declan from the girls.

Oh , I forgot to mention eagle eye Layne picked out a sloth on the move high up in a tree near us, we also saw a red poison dart frog and Anna was bit by a bullet head Ant which was the size of her pinky finger. She was clearly in pain and boarderline panicked that she had been poisoned by it ? She said it burned then it started to turn all red instantly and hurt! The guide said it will hurt potentially for hours but was not posionous. He was bit on the thumb and his whole hand swelled up and the pain was serious. Fortunately Anna must have got him off before her could really get his choppers into her. By the time we made it back to the taxi she said it wasn’t feeling too bad.

Our next stop was an animal rescue sanctuary. The cutest things there were a pair of baby howler monkeys w/ little diapers on. The kids were in heaven, the monkeys were so playful . After that a dip in ocean at Playa Bonita a nice lunch of rice beans and chicken and it was back to the ship for our last port before Belize .

Hope all is well. Look forward to seeing everyone.

“Sail away w/ me , what will be will be…”  david gray

Capt . John

Out on our first rough day at sea. 6-8 ft and a steady wind, the ship is moving

Latitude- 12’ 01min

Longitude – 82’ 31min

Sea depth 6546 feet (over a 1000 fathoms)

146 miles from the coast of Nicarauga

Over and out

Vamos a la Playa!!!

Costa Rica has to be one of the most laid back countries in the world. The people are so kind and comfortable w/ life, tranquillo. I don’t want to sound naïve as it is a poor developing country where people struggle for the basics every day. The thing you do see is acceptance and smiles. It is beautiful!

We met a guy who we hired for the whole day to take us to the beach and a late afternoon meal.($70) The beach / national park was Cahuita about 48 km south of Limon. We passed hectare after hectare of banana groves. Bananas are the #1 export of CR . Chiquita is all over the place.

The National park ran just along side this beautiful beach w/ nice crashing waves and clean, clear ,warm water. The entrance fee was just a suggested donation so it cost us $5 for all of us.

We were immediately greeted by capuchin monkeys, the ones w/ white faces. As we made our way down the path on our own we saw a sloth , Iguana, lizards, baby salt water crocodile, Howler monkeys, armys of ants and not many people.

 Man vs Wild fans are in heaven here. There are all kinds of driftwood and jungle stuff all over to built shelter or fire, heck you could build a nice raft w/ jungle vines and deadfall. I found as many coconuts as I wanted to open for the tasty water and the delicious crunchy white meat. We had a perfect little shady camp for everyone all set up even though no one really got out of the water. Little Declan was getting washed all over the place, but he was loving it. Each of the kids got thrown in the washing machine of a powerful wave which is a great time to remind them that Neptune is relentless and you have to respect the ocean. Learn how to go under , through or over the waves, be prepared. Its scary for Layne , Anna or anyone to be lost to the will of the wave. I was body surfing and got pounded, flipped, bounced off the sand so to someone of Laynes size she must feel like she is being pulled apart and her bikini stolen in the process all on one breath. It happens and everyone learns from the experiences as long as you get right back out there. 

“ Sometimes you bleed just to know you are alive”

After a full beach day of playing in the waves, watching 6 monkeys do battle about 10 feet above our camp we walked back out the park/jungle to a couple makeshift freshwater showers, “heaven” .

We then went to have a typical Costa Rica meal at a small café’ called a “soda”

It consisted of white rice, beans, yuka, plantains smashed and salted, sweet and browned bananas along w/ some chicken. It was delicious! I even got a cold Coke Zero to wash mine down.

Today we are planning our last day on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Should be fun we hope to Zip Line in tree canopy of the jungle, Declan is the wild card.. more on that later.

Best Capt j

 Docked , Puerto Limon Costa Rica

Panama Canal

Shipping through the Panama Canal was fascinating. Just looking at the terrain surrounding the canal one can only imagine how incredibly difficult this project was. The French tried and spent $ 30-40 million dollars and abandon the effort as unachievable not long before the USA decided to take it on.

First things first Teddy Roosevelt had to get access to the land “the Canal Basin” . It was Columbian territory, there was no Panama . The Columbians said no. So mighty Teddy in a very diplomatic way simple backed a coup told the people of “the unrecognized panama territory” America would protect them so in 1903 the people of “Panama” decided to become there own country w/ the help of America the rich and powerful. America sent bags of $ instead of troops to sway the Columbians to go home . By the end of the weekend a bloodless coup was finished. Panama was recognized by the US as it’s own state and promptly sign the sovereignty rights to the Canal basin over to America. The Canal project took from 1904-1914 to complete

They had to dig out mountains and jungles engineer a lock system and do it all when technology was far more primitive . They used steam shovels that could dig up 8 tons of earth at a whack! They then loaded the earth and rocks on to a ever changing rail system they were building along side the canal.

It took us roughly 9 hrs to pass through 3 lock systems at a cost of $130,000

Some 14,000 vessels go through the canal each yr!

We are sailing in the Caribbean sea on our way to Puerto Limon Costa Rica.

Hope all is well, We will bring back some nice weather soon! Go Celts!

Best Capt j

“Traveling in the company of those we love is home in motion.” Leigh Hunt

Lat 9’ 7 min

Long 79’ 42 min

Depth of canal 60 ft

Sea water temp 86’

air temp 86’

Steaming North to Panama

Que tal,

We are en-route to Panama city, Panama. Traci and I had an idea of what to expect on this voyage and the pace is non stop in a good way. The Explorer crew and the deans try to cram all the fun events into a very short time so even the on ship time is loaded. Last night was a talent show. Both Anna and Layne joined the rest of the dependent kids for a song . It was cute.

Traci so far has been able to deal w/ the different minor ailments coming her way . I know she did a wonderful service for the girl who was in the hospital in Quito. She will be joining us for sure in Panama to finish the voyage thanks in great part to Traci’s comfort and encouragement I think.

Yesterday we also had a bridge tour , fascinating stuff. This ship sails almost constantly 12 a year every yr and the crew and Captain keep it oiled, painted ,shined and ship shape along the way.

Tomorrow AM is a big day for me , I’m going fishing! I have a charter capt lined up to pick me up for the tender as we will be at anchor in Panama.  I am hoping for a Roosterfish.  I also hope to be able to paint something as the inspiration flows everyday checking out new cultures art work and style along w/ hour after hour at sea.

I Hope everyone has a great week!! We are on the home stretch see you all soon!

Best to all you land lubbers!!

4’ 21 minutes N

80’ 01 minutes W

Course 4’

Miles from Columbia 148

Sea depth 3900 ft

Buenos Dias,

We are more than half way through our short term voyage as of this point. We sailed away from Manta Ecuador last night as the Ecuadorian National fotbol team played the mighty Argentina squad … It doesn’t matter much to me who won , just nice to see some national pride.

We are so lucky to have been born in the USA with an attitude that we as a nation united can be so strong and achieve amazing goals. Our healthcare, hospitals, Engineering, Universities, road systems, railways , air transit, software development and Olympic athletes are all world class .Did you know that Ecuador has won only two metal ever in the Olympic games? Both by one guy who does the goofiest event there is , speed walking. We have travelled to many countries on many continents and simply see a different way of life. People make due, I can’t tell you how many cab drivers we met w/ 5 kids and many of those kids have gone on to higher education and “professional jobs”. I can imagine the types of homes they live in, at least 3 to a room (likely converted living space by day to bedroom by night) probably running water which would give you or I rockin’ diarrhea . Which of course would send you to the ever pleasant out house constructed by a cousin out of tin and scrap wood he found.  All transported to the site by 75 cc motorbike on a dirt track.

We really enjoyed our time in Ecuador , found the scenery and the people both unique and beautiful. We had a wild ride about 200 km (1:40 min) in a trashed red van that was barely holding it together. My first tip off was the sever grinding of gears due to a sketchy clutch the second and a bit more dicey was the cans of empty brake fluid in the enter consul and on the floor. No matter to our 5 foot tall 68 year old coke bottle glasses wearing Mario Andretti, he was going to get the Gringos to the boat . We made it w/ many gasps for Mom in the back seat, it is mountainous so the up hills are at walking pace and downhills are like sledding down the Andes’ . I know , Raul the driver was into it because of the way he leaned into the turns like he was on a street bike. Suspention is a good thing!!

Anyway we made it to the coolest little beach town Purto Lopez , had a wild west kinda feel w/ a case of fishing addiction . Trucks , bikes , farm animals and every kind of colorful boat you could think of.  We hopped out of the “taxi” paid our guide the $20 for the safe arrival . He was proud of his skill and knowledge of the road. We then boarded a a solidly built 28 footer w/ twin Yamaha 150’s for our trip to Isla de la Plata and our quest to see the Blue footed boobie. The trip was fun , the other 6 or so passengers were all young Germans so of course not stopping to take a breath our fearless leader/nurse/wife/mom quickly switched to German and carried on w/ our new friends. I was praying for someone from Brazil to greet us at the Island so Traci could again switch languages, then perhaps a west African J … at least our kids will start languages in 5^th grade .

We made it to the deserted mountain island created by a shift in the tectonic plates  and began our march , we marched for 2 and ½ hours in some serious heat . We saw some incredible looking birds and one lizard. I think even bear gril the famed survivor might have a tough one for 4 or 5 days on this rock. that looked liked it might have last rained  in 1990. We then snorkeled w/ sea turtles and some fish, gorgeous water.

Our next move  was to head to the mountains and a city called Quito. We had a wonderful time. Traci had to take on the roll they brought her here for and help w/ a student who the sent to the hospital there. (severely impacted and infected wisdom tooth or teeth) W/out Traci advocating for this poor girl she would have been one very scared 20 yr old in a foreign country where she doesn’t speak the language about to have surgery. Not fun. All seems to be well and the student will be meeting us in Panama.

We drove all through the mountains and visited a school , saw a volcanic crater and basically just explored. The Ecuadorian people nice. I saw an out fit that rents you a big enduro motorcycle and set up a 6 day trip 3 days of straight riding ending up in a bungalow surf village for three days of surfing , fishing and tooling around on your bike… my kinda trip!  Some day perhaps.

Hope all is well . We are on our way to Central America and Panama city.

And if you are wondering what the dish of "food' is , it's que otherwise known as Guinea pig!! Yumm

Our current postion:

Latitude 0’ 24 min N

Longitude 82’ 24 W

course 2'

Signing off

Capt J