The Voyage

Spectacles

Andy and Melissa are sailing around the world on their 48-foot sailboat, Spectacle.

The Position

Bali, Indonesia

The Pictures

The Voyage of Spectacle

Archive for February, 2007

Ocean World

Posted by: andy

I have never seen the movie “Free Willy.”  Given that it was made for kids, I always assumed that the villain’s planned calamity for Willy was something like being sold to a third-world water park where he wouldn’t receive the same pampering treatment that made him such a loveable scamp at his current performing home.

Only now, after perusing imdb.com, do I realize that in fact the villain intended to KILL Willy and collect the insurance money.  Wow … that’s pretty dark for a Disney kids movie.

Had Disney gone with my plot line, Willy would have been sold to Ocean World.  It’s basically Sea World without Shamu – various creepy dolphin exhibits, some sea lions, a fake beach – you get the drift.  Ocean World also gets pretty low points for creativity in branding.  Did you think of that name all by yourself?  Do you serve the “Big Mick”, just like McDowell’s?

Somewhere along the way, Ocean World got the idea to open a marina.  This wasn’t a completely crazy idea, as this particular part of the world (the northern coast of Dominican Republic) has no marinas in the neighborhood.  We previously had been unaware of Ocean World (as it had just opened in December 2006 and was not in any of the books we had), but we decided to check it out once our tribulations at the Old Dock reached the point of multiple shipping boats cutting our anchor rode.

After the 30-minute trip over, we approached and three golf carts with about nine staff members zoomed up to greet us.  I thought, “What service!” as Melissa threw them dock lines.  They stood there holding them, dumbfounded.

“You want to tie up the boat?” I queried somewhat sarcastically.

Apparently, no.  They stood there holding the lines until we got off the boat and did it ourselves.

That sort of sums it up.  This is a very new, very expensive and very crappy marina – the Ishtar of marinas.  They have spent millions on it, and they are going to lose their ass.  They’ve only been open for three months and, already, they have a wide-spread (and well-earned) reputation for having a ridiculous surge even on the far inside of the breakwater – that’s a death knell for a marina.  Indeed, nearly all our docklines are all ruined by chafe.  And, oh yeah – it’s 50% more expensive than any other marina we’ve visited.

Melissa and the Ocean World Fish CouchAs the pictures make clear, this is a ridiculous place.  There is no end to the tacky aquatic décor — fish couches (the picture of Melissa is on one of about ten different such designs), preposterous over-decoration, weird frescoes, a bar shaped like an octopus, etc., etc., etc.

The main building is pretty calamitous.  On the ground floor, there are two awful restaurants, which were totally empty unless a caravan of pre-paid, packaged tour guests happened to roll in for some cheap buffet food (the smell of abusively overcooked lobster permeates the entire marina).  On the second floor, there is a small and decidedly mediocre casino (although it had the loosest Texas Hold ‘Em game I’ve ever seen – it was like taking free money, which paid for much our stay).  The third floor is home to “Bravissimo!” – their “Vegas-style” show.  Never ones to pass up a chance to view unintentional comedy, we bought our tickets.  Wow.  It shatters the Unintentional Comedy Scale.

Next to the main building is some sort of ersatz “fort.”  This may have gone up because they stumbledJust When You Thought That Everything at Ocean World is Nautically Themed, Here's (Inexplicably) the Ocean World Fort upon a discount sale on cannons.  Apparently all marinas need a fort to defend them (see, e.g., Marina Fort Louis).  Needless to say, that French fort has actually been in battle and doesn’t have an empty “supermarket” on the ground floor or golf carts parked in front of it.

However, Ocean World did have an air-conditioned room with high-speed internet, a nearby, off-premises mini-market that sold cheap, cold, large Presidentes, and a few helpful staffers (especially Jolise).  We also got to see a sea lion do the meringue – it’s not every day you get that chance. What a ridiculous place.  More Pictures 

Greetings from Tortola, BVI

Posted by: andy

We arrived in Tortola yesterday (on time!) after a low-drama, almost uneventful passage.

As gloriously uneventful as this passage was, there was one thing that was decided out of the ordinary. Beginning the Approach to Tortola

At around 4:00 yesterday morning we both had to be awake to begin navigating our approach to Tortola through the various out islands in the way.  The sun came up around 6:45 and created some beautiful views, of which we have extensive pictures.  We bisected Hans Lollick Island and Great Tobago Cay and entered the relatively shallow (150 feet or so) and protected “bay” (is that what you’d call it?) to the east of St. Thomas, the north of St. John, the west of Tortola and the southwest of Jost van Dyke.

At around 7:30 a.m., I was looking down at the chartplotter, doing some navigation work.  Melissa was standing up on the port bench, looking out over the dodger.

All of the sudden, she said, “Whale …… Whale!”

“Whale?” I said, not really looking up.  OK, dolphin, maybe…

“WHALE!!!” she nearly shreiked.

I jumped up.  I had missed it.  She pointed.  “There it was, and it’s going that way.”

We followed the path.  About 45 seconds later, the whale surfaced again.  It was a full-grown humpback whale.  It had to be 40-50 feet long.  It didn’t breach, but it spouted air and we had a fantastic view of its back and fluke (which was totally out of the water).  Pretty amazing stuff really.

We will be making lots of repairs here in Tortola, so it’s hard to know how much time we’ll have to really go see the area.

Thoughts on Tortola

Posted by: andy

To be honest, Tortola has been a somewhat weird stop for us.  I think that yesterday I figured out why this is.

It’s hard to think of a place where sailing is more of an “end” than it is here.  Scads of people fly in here, charter a sailboat, go sailing around the Virgin Islands, return the boat and fly The View at Nanny Cay Marina home.  The trip is about the sailing — and the sailing IS indeed great.  Throw in a few rum punches at Foxy’s and Soggy Dollar Bar, and that makes for a pretty nice getaway — I get it.

But, for us, our trip isn’t about the sailing – and it isn’t for a week or two.  Sailing is, for us, a “means” to see the world.  This is a trip around the world that happens to be on a sailboat.

And, speaking of sailing, not much of that is happening for us right now.  You may recall that our original plan was to sail the boat from the Bahamas straight to the Virgin Islands to have some repairs done.  After the Twin Fiascoes and the trip to Puerto Plata, we have even more repairs to add to the list.  Here’s a PARTIAL list:

  • Replace entire battery bank (5 new Lifeline 8D AGM batteries).  Four of the 5 current batteries areNot Only Are the Batteries $675 Each, They Are Also 180 Pounds Each!  Here's Part of the Team Using the Mainsail Halyard to Hoist One Battery onto the Boat!  It Was Quite an Operation! shot.  No sense in replacing   just four.  Good news … they’re only $675 each (not counting labor).  Ouch!
  • A new forward hatch, replacing the old hatch which (inexplicably) had a little solar fan on it, which  ensured that the whole forward cabin would be under 4-5 inches of water if you were sailing upwind.  This is a straight-up design defect – you aren’t doing much upwind sailing with that thing on there.
  • A new companionway slide (which I accidentally broke on the way to the D.R.).
  • Repairs to the companionway screen (another “oops” moment).
  • Reattachment of the autopilot rudder return indicator mount, which spontaneously disintegrated just as we were landing the boat here in Tortola.
  • Repairs and steel reinforcement of both salon tables (these were ridiculously flimsy and had obviously been broken multiple times before).
  • Freezer repair (this has never really worked very well).
  • Fridge repair (ditto).
  • Fix both air conditioners (the forward one needed a new pump, the aft one only minor repairs).
  • A comprehensive rust removal/polishing of all the stainless steel on the boat.
  • Sanding and oiling of the toe-rail (we’re removing the varnish and returning the teak to a natural finish)Quantum Sail Loft Taking Away the Mainsail for Repair -- Unbelievable That the Sail from a 64-Foot Mast Folds Up That Small!.
  • Yet another diagnosis/repair of the generator (we  have some sort of oil pressure problem).
  • Repairs and batten replacement on the mainsail  (thanks to my stupid Christmas Day furling maneuver).
  • About a dozen more “do it yourself” jobs, including sourcing and installing a new, proper-sized fuel-filter head to swap for our emergency, over-sized replacement from the D.R.

Obviously, this is going to be shockingly expensive (probably five figures).  But almost all of it simply HAS to be done.

Given the extent of the repairs, we have workmen coming to and from the boat basically every day.  This means that, by and large, we are stranded in the marina.  Even today (Sunday), we have a guy here working on the boat.  Aside from boat repairs, there are basically two things to do here: sail and drink.  We can’t really sail.  Fortunately, we’ve made some good friends here.  More on that in the next post.

Introduction to the Spectacle Hall of Fame

Posted by: melissa

Along the way, we’ve begun to meet some fascinating characters, and we’re sure there will be more.  We’ve decided to immortalize the crème de la crème in the Spectacle Hall of Fame.  Induction standards are strict – we’ve met plenty of people who are merely “classic.”  The SHoF requires much more.  As we plan on being out here for approximately 40 months, we have decided to induct a class of five every two months, for a total of 100 upon our return.  You will note, at right, there is a new listing under “Basics” called “Spectacle Hall of Fame.”

We’re pleased to announce our first class – the Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson if you will – of the Spectacle Hall of Fame (note that couples count as one entry).

The inductees are Roberto Ventura Rodriguez, the Brenninkmeijers (Felix and Rita), the Schultes (Pat and Ali), the Gillhams (Dan and Selena ), and Joey from Curly Tails.  Congratulations to the first class of the Spectacle Hall of Fame!