Our Most Challenging (Read Terrifying) Passage

 

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, Kyrie checked out of Panama and departed Shelter Bay. We easily motored up to Linton Bay and spent the night with our buddy boat at anchor – enjoying a pizza at their fantastic little restaurant for the last time.

Early the next morning, we pulled anchor and ran down to the Swimming Pool anchorage in the Holandes Keys in the Guna Yala (San Blas) Islands. We spent a lovely night and day there, walking on the islands and cleaning the bottom of the boat prior to our passage to Jamaica. We checked all the engine fluids, folded our dinghy and lashed it to the cabin top, cleared the decks of anything that can move, and secured everything in the cabin for a long passage. It was to be around 675 miles, and roughly 5 to 6 days of travel to get to Jamaica non-stop, easily double the longest time we had ever been to sea. The butterflies in the stomach were strong, but we pulled anchor at 4pm on November 11^th, bound for Jamaica. 

Kyrie at anchor in paradise - San Blas Islands

 

Bumblebee - our dinghy on the beach in San Blas

 

Our weather window looked good. 12 knots average wind, with 80% on the beam, max gusts of 19 knots and max seas of around 1.3 meters. 0% of the time was to be running upwind into wind greater than 15 knots, which our boat really does not like. Boy had we wished that was the truth.

The evening departure was lovely, sailing under spinnaker until around 10pm before the wind died, and we started the motor. We motored slowly through the night to save fuel, and about 6am encountered the first of many squalls, and just about the fiercest one of the trip as well. It lasted about half an hour, with winds near 40 knots, and torrential rain. After it let up, we had a lovely day motoring through the sunny calm southern Caribbean towards Colombia. 

Our buddy boat - No Regrets that night

 

About 10 at night, the seas began to kick up, with gentle winds of around 9 knots on our nose, but large confused seas that didn’t match the wind at all. They were coming from 3 directions, short and steep, around 5-6 feet. We gritted our teeth, trying to make as much easting as we could before making the turn towards our destination of Jamaica, and hobby horsed and pounded the boat mercilessly at 2-3 knots of forward speed for the next 12 hours.

At first light, the seas just were not improving, and out of desperation, 70 miles prior to our intended turn, both Kyrie and our buddy boat decided to make the turn towards Jamaica, which would at least put the worst of the seas on our starboard quarter and make the ride a bit better. We hoped as we got further from the lee of the land the irregularity of the seas would normalize and we could make better, more comfortable headway.

By about noon that day, the seas did indeed even out, and the trade winds kicked in, about 18-20 knots over our starboard bow. We were pointing as high as we could and sailing along at 7-8 knots, but still aiming directly at the west side of Cuba. The seas were lumpy and bouncy, but passable. We had no good option but to go on, as we were about 125 miles from the nearest land at that point.

So we soldiered on, hoping for the wind to change to its predicted direction (due east) in the near future. It blew from the northeast all night, and with night came four squalls, with winds easily near 40. Thankfully with our radar on we were able to shorten sail before the winds hit, and were trucking along at a steady 7 knots, unfortunately towards Cuba.

By the next morning, the sea state had really deteriorated, but the wind direction had finally improved, allowing us to at least point towards the island of Jamaica. We were close hauled in 25-30 knots of wind, with every other wave over the bow all day long. The seas were 8-10 feet, short, steep, and breaking. Just for fun a 12-14 foot wave would tag along every 20 minutes or so and crash over the coach roof of the boat. It was extremely uncomfortable and hot down below, and we had no idea how much worse it was going to get.

Around 10am one of the kids pointed out that we had a little water running down the cabin sole. I tasted it and it was salty. Not good.. So I began to look around. Where was the water coming from? I immediately traced it to one of our can pantries, and then to the lockers under the master bed. So, out came everything from those lockers and out came the wet-dry vac to get the water out before it did serious damage to anything.

But where was the water coming from? Kyrie had been taking a serious beating for over two days straight now, and I noticed that we were getting a slight leak from the front windows – that must be it, right? I proceeded to dry everything up as good as possible, while everything from the lockers was spread all throughout the boat – making her nearly unlivable.

Thinking I had it figured out, we continued on.

I didn’t have it figured out. . .

After another terrible night run, I came into the cabin, and the previously dry lockers had a few inches of water in them, water was flowing down into the port hull, and somehow the cap for one of our water tanks had dislodged and water was flowing down into our freshwater tank.

The mess was way worse than before. Our port bilge was nearly full to the top of the floorboards, our water tank was now contaminated and undrinkable, and on investigation, we were taking on about 1-2 gallons every time we hit a wave (every 20 seconds or so). At this point we were nearly halfway to Jamaica, and around 300 miles from land.

Of course, at this point, you need to take stock in your surroundings. With the incredible beating the boat was taking – had we cracked the hull somewhere? The exact location the water was coming in was hard to locate, but after an hour or so looking I finally found the culprit. One of our large bow lockers had a pair of open holes on the port side. With the strong wind and heavy seas over the bow, the locker was partially filling up and the excess was flowing down into the cabin. What a relief – the boat was actually fine, and this was something I was pretty sure I could fix out here.

So, out came the magic goop bag. I slowed the boat down to 3 knots to ease the ride, and with Levi’s help, emptied out the bow locker (not an easy feat when the deck has an inch of water running over it every 2 minutes or so). I then was able to get some sealant in the holes, and stopped up the leak for the remainder of the trip.

With the leak sealed, we then began the process of trying to put the boat back together at least a bit. Another not-easy task when you can’t stand as the boat is pitching so violently. We managed to somewhat get one locker cleaned up and put back together, but the boat still looked like a bomb had gone off.

With no other good option, we soldiered on. Thankfully the next day brought somewhat easier conditions – still strong winds, but the large seas abated a littlee. We only took a wave over the bow every 1-2 minutes or so by that point.

The next day is a bit of a blur. Conditions were still very rough, but we chose to motorsail one night just to have the soothing sound of the motor running, and so we could point a bit higher at our ultimate destination--Port Antonio, Jamaica. I think we were so fatigued and emotionally spent at that point we were solely in survival mode. We had barely eaten anything for 3 days, barely slept... but had to continue on.

The following day dawned with steep seas right on our nose. We turned on the motor and began motorsailing, trying to point at Port Antonio, but again, could only make 2-3 knots due to the sea state. It was blowing around 20 knots, with seas around 8 feet, short, steep, and breaking. Around 2pm, and about 90 miles due south of Kingston, Jamaica, I had had enough. Out of desperation, I turned the bow to point at Kingston, thinking it might be a bit better, but the ride was much the same. I then turned the bow to the western tip of Jamaica and we could instantly hear the angels singing. The seas suddenly were on our starboard quarter, with winds on the beam at 20 knots. 

 

At that instant, it became clear. 24 hours of beating into the waves to Port Antonio, and possibly breaking the boat even worse or an easy beam reach to Montego Bay. Choice made.

We had an amazing last night, surfing at 9 knots through the waves, and arriving at dark on the West coast of Jamaica. Total time in transit was 6 days and two hours.

Sunset our last night at sea.  Conditions had finally abated, it was lovely.

 

We dropped the anchor, shut the motor off, and slept the sleep of the dead.

So what went wrong? Our best estimation is the weather models we were relying on were off by one day, with the strong system we were trying to avoid showing up 24 hours early. By turning when we were about 50 miles offshore of Cartagena, Colombia, it sealed our fate in having a close hauled sail the next 4 days to Jamaica. Had we been able to make it the planned 70 miles further east, the winds would have been much more on our beam, and the trip would have been much easier and more comfortable. The forecast wind strength was also way under-reported, with actual winds normally being 10+ knots stronger than forecast.

 

As to damage to the boat?  It wasn't as severe as I had feared - we got lucky.  We broke the tabbing loose in two places from the bulkheads - a relatively easy fix with some fiberglass work we had done in Montego Bay; got some new leaks in the corner of the front windows due to the constant pressure of the seawater - also sealed that back up at anchor in Montego Bay; and lost one of the pivot pins to our outdrive. Thankfully the drive stayed attached to the boat - it could easily have been ripped off the back of the boat.  I had a new pin made at a machine shop in Montego Bay and it was good as new.

Tabbing broken loose in one of the two areas.

Bottom line: we arrived safely in Jamaica, beat, battered, and worn out, but by no means done with cruising. Give us some time to recuperate and we’ll be ready to continue our travels.

Sourdough on Cruising Boats

 **This is an update to a previous post**

 As we travel, one of the things we have done is offer sourdough starter to fellow cruisers as we encounter them. It has been curious to note how many times people are afraid of sourdough or unsure what to do with it if they have it. The most prevailing belief is that sourdough has to be used everyday, or a portion has to be thrown out, which is simply untrue. In our opinion, sourdough is an amazing addition to your cruising boat and should be included in every boat's galley.  It is cheap, nutritious, and fun. In fact, our kids refer to it as the pet they can eat!

Our experience with keeping sourdough started with Joe's grandparents.  They would make a lovely batch of fresh sourdough pancakes every time we visited, and both us and the kids loved them.  Shortly after moving aboard on Kyrie we took home a little batch of starter from them and have been enjoying it now for nearly 7 years of living aboard and cruising.  It has meshed perfectly well with our cruising lifestyle, and has been extremely easy to maintain and keep.

**Understanding Sourdough**

Sourdough is simply a mix of flour (both wheat or standard all purpose work well), water, and wild yeast.  The wild yeast eats some of the sugars in the flour, creating lactic acid and carbon dioxide in the process, in turn giving sourdough its sour tang, and creating bubbles to raise your bread or baked goods.

Sourdough will change depending on where you are in the world.  It is a wild colony of yeast, after all.  Sourdough in San Francisco will inherently taste different from sourdough in Seattle, for instance.  As you move your home around, it is fascinating to note how your sourdough will change.

Freshly recharged sourdough after
making pancakes this morning.
We only added water and flour.

Every time you use some of your starter, you add fresh water and some flour to the previous mix until roughly the consistency of pancake batter, and let it sit on your counter for a couple days until good and bubbly.  In cool climates, you can just leave it on the counter if you're going to use it at least twice a week, or if you're not going to use it for a while, put it into the fridge.  Ours has traveled from Alaska, down the Pacific coast, through Mexico, Central America, and now we are in the Caribbean and has had very few issues, like a bit of mold after we forgot about it for 3 weeks.  See below for the fix for that issue.

In addition, you can use wheat flour, white flour, or even potato flakes for your sourdough.  Experiment!  We found half white flour and half potato flakes made a particularly interesting sourdough!

It is best to start with an existing sourdough starter from a friend or family member, but starter cultures can also be bought on ebay or amazon.  You can even start your own by mixing water, flour, a pinch of sugar and a bit of bread yeast and letting it sit on the counter in a non-sealed container for a couple weeks to let the natural yeasts in your environment take over.  Note for the first few months, this new sourdough can be a little unstable and will require watching and careful tending to get your healthy, stable crew of wild yeast to take over.  The longer you let the starter sit between uses, the more sour it will get, so if you like it nice and strong, let it sit a little longer!

**A Home for Your Sourdough**

Normally, in a home environment a crock with a lid is used for sourdough, but this is just too fragile on a boat.  For our sourdough, we use a plastic container with a "steam vent" lid similar to this one.

Note the steam vent lid is important as the starter needs to breathe, but the small hole helps to prevent flies from getting to your sourdough.  If you overfill your container, it also keeps the lid from blowing off as the sourdough kicks!

**Sourdough Health Benefits**

First things first, sourdough is a fermented food, so much like raw sauerkraut, pickles, kombucha, and yogurt, it is fermented with lactobacillus cultures. Those cultures are probiotics, those much-touted good gut bacteria. The cultures don't survive the baking process, but they do create lactic acid. What good is lactic acid? Plenty! Lactic acid helps decrease the amount of phytic acid in bread, which interferes with absorption of certain nutrients. Break down that phytic acid and voila! More nutrients are suddenly available to be digested and absorbed by our bodies. That wild natural yeast also helps the bread last longer without the addition of any sort of preservatives. Not to mention, in my opinion, few breads taste better than a good sourdough. Try it out for yourself if you haven't done so already.

**Sourdough Recipes**

_________________________________________________________________________________

Basic Sourdough Pancakes

2 cups sourdough starter
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix all ingredients except baking soda in a bowl - do not overmix.  Add a little water or flour to get the consistency desired for lighter, thicker pancakes or thinner pancakes as desired.  Just before cooking add the baking soda and cook on lightly buttered non-stick skillet, flipping once.  Serve with butter, maple syrup or honey, and peanut butter.

Optional mix-ins are berries (blueberries and raspberries are both amazing), thinly sliced bananas, chocolate chips, and anything else your heart desires. 

Alternately, mash 3 very ripe bananas and omit the sugar in a double batch recipe for amazing banana-sourdough pancakes.

Sourdough Bread 

(adapted from the "basic white bread" recipe from The Boat Galley Cookbook)

1 cup warm water (100-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon regular yeast
1/4 cup of sourdough starter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups white flour, or more as needed.

Mix the water, yeast, starter, and sugar together and let sit at least 10 min. in a warm spot to proof (look for bubbles on top).  Add salt, oil and 2 cups of flour to that mix and mix thoroughly.  Add more flour as needed to form a stiff dough.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Put a small amount of oil in a bowl and toss the dough to ensure it is lightly covered in oil.  Cover the bowl with a tea towel.  Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume (1-3 hours).  Punch down, let rise until doubled again.  Then place in your favorite greased pan.  Place in cold oven, turn oven on to 350 degrees F and set timer for roughly 55 minutes (may vary by how quickly your oven comes to temperature)  Start checking bread for doneness at around 45 minutes.  When fully baked, remove from pan to cool on counter and serve.

**The longer the bread is allowed to rise the more sourdough flavor will develop.  It is especially good if you allow it to rise overnight in the fridge, then finish rising in a warm spot.

We love our Lekue pan for bread. It makes the above recipe in one batch, with only one dirty dish.  It can be found on Amazon or sites.  Lekue Breadmaker on Amazon

 

 Cranberry Sourdough Scones

**This recipe was given to us by a friend, and has quickly become a breakfast favorite**

2 cups AP Flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup dry cranberries

4 Tbsp. butter - cold and cut into small cubes 

1/2 cup sourdough starter

1/3-1/2 cup cold water (or milk for a softer, cakier scone)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (added to the water or milk)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  Stir in cranberries.  Cut butter pieces into the flour with a pastry cutter or fork until mix is crumbly.  Add Sourdough starter, mix, and then drizzle in water or milk (with vinegar added) until the dough just comes together in a ball.  Try not to handle the dough to keep the butter from melting, and try to not overmoisten it.  You just need enough liquid so the dough comes together with no visible dry flour.  Roll the dough into a disc about 1/2" thick.  Cut dough into 8 or 10 wedges, and place on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes until lightly golden top and golden-brown on bottom.  

Serve warm with jam, cream cheese, honey, or butter.  This recipe makes enough for our family of 5 for breakfast. 

The dough can be refrigerated overnight if desired to bake in the morning.

**Common Sourdough Problems & Fixes**

1.  Sourdough overflows your container
Don't overfill your container!  Leave an inch or two after mixing up your starter for expansion as the sourdough "kicks".  It isn't a bad idea to put your container on top of a plate the first few times you mix it up to contain it if it overflows a bit.
2.  Mold grows on your sourdough
This one is extremely easy.  With a clean spoon, carefully scrape off the mold on top of the batch.  Take one or two clean spoonfuls from the center of the batch and place in a clean bowl.  Dump out the remainder of your old sourdough and wash the container thoroughly.  Add the sourdough you retained to inoculate the new batch with the wild yeast, and let sit on the counter for a couple days - you're good to go!
3. Flies or maggots on your sourdough
This is the most disgusting one that can happen if you don't keep a good lid on your sourdough.  If it happens and the maggots are only on the surface, you can dig down to the bottom as in #2, and restart your batch.  If it's too far gone, you might need to dump the batch and start over.  To help if you fear this, read the last paragraph in this section.
4. "Dead" sourdough
Most likely this won't happen to you, but even if it does appear to die, just simply pour off half the batch of starter, add fresh flour and clean water and let it sit on the counter for a week.  If you see bubbles, you are good!  Also note if you chlorinate your water tanks be sure to filter the water you are using through a carbon filter for the sourdough as too much chlorine can easily kill your starter!

If you aren't going to be using your sourdough for a while, you can take a piece of plastic wrap, spread a bit of your starter on it and let it dry.  Keep this powder in a ziplock bag in your freezer for up to a year to inoculate a new batch!

From all of us on the Kyrie crew, we hope this has been a little educational. Sourdough is not something to be feared--it's to be used and enjoyed! If you have a favorite recipe using sourdough, could you please include it in the comments section? We'd love to hear about your experience with these wild little creatures. For a little bit of history on yeast and some fun, watch Alton Brown's "Dr. Strangeloaf" video with his yeast puppets.

Reflections on a journey

This is Kristen. I've admittedly been out of the practice of writing for a long time. My only excuse is that I've been experiencing this life with my family, enjoying the ups and getting through the downs. The last time I wrote anything was in El Salvador, back in February. Since then, we survived the Golfo de Fonseca (two weeks of insane wind and having to move anchorages at least every other day, sometimes twice a day), played panga ping-pong on our way down the Nicaraguan coast, experienced a little bit of Costa Rica (including a troop of Capuchin monkeys dropping limes on our heads!), and at last crossed a huge item off our bucket list by traversing the Panama Canal in our own boat, traveling with friends and making new ones all along the way. 

The adventures have been many. The experiences vast. The trials character-building. This journey has changed and shaped us individually, not to mention as a family. The kiddos are 15, 12, and 8 now, and it's shocking every time I stop and reflect how much of their lives they have lived on a boat and travelled. How will it shape their future lives? Their directions and decisions? I hope so much that they use this life we have tried to give them to continue living what many people apparently see as "abnormal." "Normality" is overrated! LOL 

Bahia Drake, Costa Rica. We'll be back!

Rachael & Megan meet a parrot in Shelter Bay.

On the bow in Gatun Locks. Caribbean Sea is right behind us!

Kyrie kids and friends enjoying a sunset in Golfo Fonseca.

Golfo Nicoya, CR

Riding a roller coaster at the carnival in Golfito, CR.

The kids on a wander around El Barranco, Bahia Honda, Panama.

Joe and Kristen in Bahia Honda, Panama

Kyrie locked and loaded in Miraflores Locks.

Welcome to El Salvador

 We're in El Salvador! I know, I know. As usual, I'm running behind. We've been here in El Salvador for a little over a week now and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Kyrie is once again in a new country! Currently, we are docked at the marina at Hotel Bahia del Sol, grateful for power and an air conditioner because it's hot. I mean, 90s in February? Ouch. But I have no complaints. The hotel manager is the bend-over-backwards-to-help type and we've met some lovely people.

     For example, last week, we met a family visiting from San Salvador and chatted with them for quite a while. They were curious about our life on a boat, so we brought them down to Kyrie so they could check it out. Then, they offered to take us out for pupusas, which is pretty much the El Salvadorean national dish. Delicious! They are basically thick tortillas, made from either corn or rice flour, filled with cheese, beans, meat, or some combination thereof. They come to you right off the comala, with the filling at approximately the consistency and temperature of molten lava. Usually a bowl of spicy pickled cabbage sits on the table, inviting you to pile it on top of the rocket-hot pupusa and dive in. I've burned my fingers both times I've eaten pupusas now, but just can't bring myself to wait until my dinner cools down, or to use a fork! 

      I digress a little. Trying new foods in new areas is a huge part of why our family is traveling, but meeting new people is equally important! This family has a son Levi's age and a daughter Rachael's age and they seemed about as fascinated with us as we were with them. We were told that we have to come visit their home when we go to San Salvador, Levi has been in touch with the son all week, and apparently, they are coming back down here this weekend! I love making new friends!

   We'll be here all told about a month. Joe and I are trying to figure out road trips so we can explore this small but vibrant country. We want to find waterfalls to play in, coffee plantations to see the process from plant to cup, and towns with paintings, architecture, and food! If anyone has a location in El Salvador we just have to go check out, please let us know. This is a place I don't know much about and am eager to learn.

These parrots live in a tree outside 
the hotel office. The girls like to feed
the green one Chinese almonds.
The red one isn't as friendly
toward fingers

This turtle has showed up in the marina 
a couple of times. It has enormous 
barnacles all over its shell!

On our way out

    Today's the day! In just a few hours, we'll have our final inspection by the navy and finalize paperwork with the Port Captain, and then we're on our way. After being in Mexico for more than two years, it's quite surreal to know we're leaving and moving on to another country. I'll admit to a bit of apprehension, but in the words of some other cruising friends, it's time to get out of our comfort zone again.

     Mexico is currently our comfort zone. We know enough about how things work to do and experience what we want to. I love it here, and I foresee us returning someday, although I don't know when or for how long. However, when we planned to travel, we definitely intended to visit more countries before we potentially chose to settle somewhere, so it most certainly is time to see other places!

       El Salvador is our next stop. It will take us about the same amount of time to get there as it did for us to cross the Tehuantepec from Huatulco--about 40-43 hours. We're in touch with an ex-pat couple who run the marina and mooring balls in Bahia del Sol and they will bring a pilot boat out to meet us and guide us in for the bar crossing. Here's hoping it's a calm crossing and nothing like our surfing experience coming into Humboldt Bay!

       Here's to our time in Mexico. Two years of new experiences, new friends, new food, and beautiful places. Mostly good times, and only a couple what I might call bad. I have high hopes for the next few months as we travel through Central America.

        The adventures of Kyrie and her crew continue...

58 to 15 -- We've Come a Long Way!

    Thursday, January 20, 2022, marks six years that we have lived on Kyrie. Such an anniversary seems a worthy time to revamp this much-neglected blog. In six years, we have traveled from Washington to Southeast Alaska, then explored much of Southeast, before embarking on this grand adventure we’ve been on for two-and-a-half-years. Juneau sits at 58 degrees north latitude. Today, Kyrie sits in Marina Chahue, Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, at 15 degrees north latitude. If there are 69 miles in one degree of latitude and we’ve traveled south by 43 degrees, we’re 2,967 miles south of where we started… if I don’t include how far east we’ve traveled. We’re on the same time zone as Austin, Texas, and Chicago now. We have come a LONG way since leaving Juneau!