Neato Ned Additions to Our Home Sweet Home

When up, this mirror’s positioned perfectly to
monitor the cabin’s control panel switches from
the cockpit, a happy accident.

When we met with former Journey owners, Ned and Cath (click here for more about that), one of the biggest surprises was how many cool pullout conveniences that we thought were a Pearson trim kit, were Ned’s additions.  All are built in beautifully finished cherry.  Ned’s great woodworker, with even better sensibility on how to make a boat more livable.  His much welcome additions include:

•       Framed mirror with extra canned good storage inside that converts to a dining drop-down table.
•       Fiddled foldout tv-tray-like pop-up table with 2 cup holders; great for holding smaller laptops.
•     Bookcase with sliders, alternating between easy access and secure holding of the bookcase’s contents.
•      Companionway hatch board case integrated uner the nav table, with Journey’s name embedded on the case cover.
•     “Surprise!”  Look for an article in September 2013’s Cruising World for more about that (link forthcoming upon publication).

Thanks, Ned!

When open, this cabinet creates an interior dining
spot while also providing additional food storage.

The table is opens to a wider position, for
bigger meals or for more than a cosy spot for two.

Eating, drinking or using his laptop, this is Wayne’s
favorite spot in Journey’s cabin, thanks to Ned’s handiwork.

When not in use; this table hinges flat against the
fridge back / settee side wall.  Note Wayne
added a 12-volt DC outlet next to it for more
efficient PC power use.

Storage under companionway ladder; closes
securely when not needed.

Storage under companionway ladder, open;
a convenient place for dishes.

The bookcase is to the right of where the

main mast comes through the cabin.

It’s a great place for storing watches

and necklaces, as well as my  favorite

cookbook, “Moosewood Restaurant

New Classics.”

The bookcase is to the left of the

pop-down dining table.

Just a few feet away from where they’re needed, Ned built
this nifty companion hatch board case tucked under the
nav table and out of the way.

Your 2 Cent’s Worth?

Would you kindly take a few moments to share some much appreciated feedback and info with Galley Wench Tales?  There’s just 12 questions, mostly multiple choice.

Click here to get to the survey (it’s the same one labeled “Your Feedback?” on the upper right hand corner of my website).

Thank you!

Dana Greyson aka “Galley Wench Tales”

Swimming Pigs Attacked by Seagulls

Pigs swimming toward our dinghy at Major Cay.

“Maybe we should have a pig roast on Major Cay beach, and invite all the cruisers,” Wayne suggested.  He was joking… I think.  We were sorry we missed out on the legendary “lechon” roadside stands selling succulent roasted pig in Puerto Rico.

Major Cay’s famous for its aquatic porkers.  Clever of those wily Bahmian ranchers to draw in tourists and get their pig herd fed for free! 

To my vegetarian friends and fellow pig lovers…. In truth I can neither confirm nor deny whether anyone ever eats the swimming pigs of Major Cay.

Wayyy closer than I’d like to our dinghy. They’re
overly friendly, weigh ~400 lbs. each and
reportedly sport sharp hooves.  

Savvy seagulls knew it was feeding time, too!

The birds descend; shades of Hitchcok’s “The Birds.”
Truth is stranger than fiction.

Snarfing “Cherry Garcia” pancakes.  We sped away!

 

Apparently eating is not the only thing these birds do with gusto.

Meeting Journey’s Former Owners

Ned & Cath Ciesielczyk holding a framed, matted

photo of Journey, taken during her

racing days with them.

When Wayne made an offer to buy Journey (click here for Journey’s specs), part of what sealed the deal was Ned Ciesielczyk, Journey’s owner.  He was genuinely friendly, willing to spend time with Wayne on the phone and flew in to meet him, and spend a few days answering Wayne’s questions and explaining Journey’s details.  Ned didn’t have to; there were several interested buyers and the sale was managed by a broker. Even though Ned was selling Journey for a bigger boat, Wayne could tell Ned loved Journey.  Journey’s sale was akin to Ned walking a daughter down the aisle, “giving her away” for marriage, knowing he will no longer be responsible, but caring, and willing to be there nonetheless.  We kept Journey’s name the same in homage to Ned’s care.

We bought Journey in March 2012. September 2012 we flew to St. Lucia to meet her, and begin our cruising life (click here to read about that).

Fast forward over a year from when we bought Journey to May 2013; I finally met Ned and his wife, Cath, in the Exumas Bahamas.

Molly, Ned & Cath’s miniature

pincher, guarding “her” boat.  

Ned owned Journey 11 years, sailing her in the Great Lakes, then in 2009, to the Caribbean.  Ned was not Journey’s first owner, so over her 35 years, we weren’t sure what changes were due to Ned, or Journey’s prior owners.  Overall, Journey’s delighted us – Ned took great care of her and did a great job of equipping her for blue water sailing.  Like any Pearson 365, she was built rock solid and designed for stability.  Still, we were concerned about what issues might be like telling a parent his child’s ugly.  And, like any buyer of a preowned home, we made changes of our own.

Hmmm, maybe Molly “smells”

Journey, her old home, on us.

Molly decides it’s okay

for us to board “her” boat.

What did we find out Ned added that we love?  That’s in an upcoming post….

Ned, explaining Jouney’s

workings while Cath looks on….

Wayne and I are just thrilled that Ned’s just as nice and helpful as ever, even though it’s now over a year after the sale.  We feel good about Journey, and even more so about Ned and Cathy.

Thank you, Ned and Cath.  We hope to do you proud!

Seems Cath remembers

it a little differently.

Molly dinghies between “her” new boat,

Rite of Passage, and “her” old boat,

our Journey.  

Rite of Passage, Ned and Cath’s
"new" boat, a 43’ Irwin.

Journey’s framed photo was too large to fit on Journey.
Ned and Cath keep it as a keepsake on Rite of Passage.

Birds In Hand

The pictures tell the story in this plaza in Old San Juan Puerto Rico…. (Thanks, Wayne, for doing a great job capturing this in photos)

We were watching this woman feed the pigeons.
Then she handed me birdseed to feed them too!

This tickles!

“Spread your arms!” the woman instructed.  I did.    

These guys are hungry!

Hurry, hurry, before it’s gone!

Lasso Come Home! Tricky Docking in Puerto Rico

San Juan Puerto Rico’s Club Nautico marina.

Glassy-smooth water!

If only we hadn’t seen the sign in a Culebra grocery store.  It informed us that check-in was required, even for US registered vesels already checked in through the US Virgin Islands (USVI).  That was news to us, as the customs agent in St. Thomas USVI told us we were already checked through Puerto Rico, we just needed to check out upon exiting there.  After our mishap in Sint Maarten (click here to read about that), we weren’t eager to risk another customs snafu.

“We must inspect your boat.  No, there isn’t a customs dock.  You will need to dock at Club Nautico or San Juan Bay Marina. Call us when you’re in and we will meet you there,” insisted the customs officer for Puerto Rico.

Docking at Club Nautico requires lassoing or

finding some other way to tie off against

these tall posts.  The boat on the right is

MUCH taller than ours.

We weren’t too happy about it.  We rarely dock at marinas other than temporarily to purchase fuel or water because we’re frugal, and you pay to stay.  At Club Nautico, it was 1.50/ft./night, relatively affordable, but still our whole daily budget. Club Nautico generously offered to not charge us to borrow a slip (for not boaties, a slip is like a numbered, asssigned parking place within a marina for your boat) for customs.  We decided to pay and stay there overnight, for the convenience of laundry, internet and a long, hot shower with no impact on our water supply. 

Despite San Juan Puerto Rico’s placid, near windless waters, docking was incredibly nerve-wracking.  You know what I mean – one of those experiences when your butt clenches so much you feel sweat coat the hair between the dimples on your lower back. In tight places Journey’s steering is unmaneuverably slow, and reverse is wimpy enough to be practically uselessness.

Our dinghy was a huge help in tying and untying.  

The Club’s primary customers are serious sport fishermen – they host a large internationally renowned sailfish (marlin) tournament.  Their tall sport fishing boats are much more able to “lasso” themselves into position between the tall posts enclosing the marina’s deep, narrow U-shaped slips.

Our bow would be tied to the bottom of the U after navigating through two tall posts with less than a yard’s clearance on each side.  We needed to secure our boat against these posts as part of our docking process.  The posts were ~15’ above the waterline; about 8’ above our boat’s deck.  We needed to try to “lasso” the posts as we passed by, throwing our docking lines well above our heads.  One of the marina staffers secured us one one side from aboard the neighboring fishing boat.

Astride the post on our starboard side, the finger we needed to carefully hop into was a mere 2’ wide finger on one side, only 6’ in from our bow, which is a ways on a 36 ½’ boat.  The finger was so skinny, it felt like a bigger step down from our deck than it was.

We're in!

The irony? There was no laundry. The internet was an additional fee and we could tell before we paid for it that it wasn’t very good so we didn’t pay nor did we use internet the whole time on Puerto Rico.  I did take a long warm shower at the marina, mostly it was very long because there was almost no water pressure, so it took a while to do the job. And the customs agent never ventured beyond our cockpit to inspect the rest of the boat, though he did leave black heel makrks from his combat boots all over the decks. On the other hand, he was a great “Welcome to Puerto Rico” ambassador.  We’re just not sure why the inspection couldn’t have taken place over the phone.

The Club Nautico facility was very nice; regularly hopping with events.  Staying there did make it convenient for our big provisioning run (prestocking in affordable Puerto Rico before entering the expensive Bahamas), loading up our boat from a dock instead from our little tiny dinghy.

Everyone at Club Nautico was unfailingly pleasant, attentive and helpful – from the harbormaster to the gate guards.

This gives a better view of how much lower our boat is

relative to Club Nautico’s more typical sport fishing boat.

In retrospect, we figured out alternatives to landing a high lasso on the slip posts, tying off low, instead, from our dinghy.  If we sail into Puerto Rico again – likely as we loved it,  and our stay was far too short -- we will still try to find an alternative to docking in San Juan for Puerto Rico customs check-in.

Dippetty-Do-Dah (Recipes)

Char of Atlantica using her patented carafe for
serving red wine with supper.   Ron of Tovarisch
is on Char's right.

“You really outdid yourself!” Char said, watching me lay out 3 dips, a spreader for each, and a menagerie of crackers.

Momma taught me you just don’t ever show up for dinner empty-handed, even when you’re told it’s okay to.  “She just likes an excuse to cook,” Wayne replied, shrugging his shoulders.

It’s true.  When Juan and Char of Atlantica, our Long Cay Bahamas anchorage neighbors, flagged us down as we were leaving, and encouraged us to stay, we did.  After a week or more without a social life, we even more eagerly accepted their invitation to dinner, joining Ron and LeeAnn from Tavarish.

After I tried out a new beer bread recipe to replenish our sandwhich bread (even if we wanted to buy bread, there was no place to buy it from*), I decided to make a couple dips for appetizers.  One was Wayne’s favorite dip, hummus and sun dried tomatoes (click here for that recipe).  Another was a pesto-based dip.  The last was a chutney-based dip, inspired by Colleen of Goldilock’s yummy mango-chutney chicken salad.  They were all experiments, designed to go well with a fish and beans and rice supper, and good sandwich spread leftovers if they didn’t get finished.

Desi, Ron & LeeAnn of Tovarisch’s Jack Russell
terrier sports her best “No one ever feeds me!” look.

*Tried a couple beer bread recipes now.  Not my favorite breads it seems, but they are quick and easy.

All the dips went over well.  Here’s a rough version of Mango-Chutney and the Pesto Dips.  Adjust each to your own tastebuds, as they as well as the intensity of the ingredients flavors can vary widely.

Mango-Chutney Pecan Dip

Makes about 1 ½ c.

Ingredients

2 T mango chutney

¼ c Neufatchel cream cheese

1 c plain non-fat Greek yogurt (regular plain yogurt, sour cream or more Neufatchel would work, but with less “tanginess”)

¼ t ground nutmeg

¼ c lemon juice (lime juice or unsweetened pineapple juice would work well, too)

¼ c roughly chopped pecans

Preparation

• Blend in a mini-food processor all but the pecans, adjusting to your taste.
• Transfer to a serving bowl.
• Stir in the pecans.   If you have a nice looking pecan half, garnish the dip with it.

Options

Try (I would if I’d had them) adding

½ t freshly grated orange zest

½ t fresh and finely chopped, peeled ginger

¼ c crushed pineapple for a more dessert-y dip

Jose gives LeeAnne and Desi a test-drive on their hammock,
attached between their job and mail masts.

Pesto Dip

Makes about 1 ½ c.

Ingredients

1 ½ T pesto

1 T chopped garlic

1 ½ T finely chopped shallot or red onion (optional)

1 T Herbs du Provence

¼ c lemon juice

 ¼ t black pepper, freshly ground

1/3 c cream cheese

1 c nonfat Greek yogurt

salt to taste

½ T extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

• Blend all ingredients except ½ the shallots or red onions in a mini-food processor
• Transfer to a serving bowls
• Stir in the remaining shallots or onions or use them to garnish the dip.

LeeAnne and Desi approve!

Options

Add finely grated Parmsean cheese, reducing or eliminating the salt

Add ½ t freshly grated lemon rind

Add 1 t capers (haven’t tried this yet, but will)