Saturday, December 17, 2016

T H E G R A N D F I N A L E !!!!!!

The voyage is almost complete, and it's hard to FATHOM that after cruising 
20,000 miles the boat is finally getting off-loaded in Ensenada! 
Once Brad & his dear friend Sid departed the marina, he snapped 
some neat pix of the shore & its environs.
And the border of California & Mexico was no big event to write home about.
And later that evening... INCOGNITO arrived
from Ensenada, Mexico to Newport Beach, CA. 
HALLELUJAH!! HOME sweet home!
The boys cruised in and awoke the neighborhood at 3:30am, as Brad's car alarm that was sitting in the parking lot went off to alert the neighborhood... INCOGNITO is home... And that's how it's DONE!

This little map outlines our entire crazy adventure. 
We LOVED every second of it!!!!!


We couldn't be more excited to have completed this massive journey on the sea without incident, accidents or anyone getting maimed. (OK- minus Buddy & the fish hook he met briefly.)
                             
Our best advice?


For fun I thought I'd include some of the "411" and details you might enjoy...

                20,000 miles of cruising. Eeesh..I'm worn out at the thought of this. HA!
                               
                                  INCOGNITO went thru the canal for the 3rd time! 
             (The first time was in 2005 when Brad brought it home from New York City, 
                   and the second time was with our whole fam during Christmas 2014)

Gas prices were cheap the ENTIRE trip. Boy, we sure picked the right time to travel during the oil glut. The weather wasn't hot or too humid, which made for FABULOUS cruising!

Outside the US was definitely a humbling experience. To see how some people live without hardly a roof over their head, but a BIG smile and pride in their eyes. 


                                                    80+ flights...How crazy is that?!!
1. Manzanillo to LAX
2.     LAX to Manzanillo
3.     Ixtapa to LAX (Kathleen)
4.     Tapachula to Mexico City (Brad)
5.     Mexico City to LAX (Brad)
6.     LAX to Mexico City
7.     Mexico City to Tapachula
8.     Quepos to San Jose
9.     San Jose to LAX
10.  LAX to San Jose
11.  San Jose to Quepos
12.  Panama City to LAX
13.  LAX to Panama City
14.  Bocas del Torro to Panama City
15.  Panama City to LAX
16.  LAX to Panama City (Brad)
17.  Panama City to Bocas del Torro (Brad)
18.  Cancun to LAX (Brad)
19.  LAX to Cancun
20.  Ft Lauderdale to LAX
21.  Orange County to Atlanta
22.  Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale
23.  Charleston to Atlanta
24.  Atlanta to Orange County
25.  Orange County to Atlanta
26.  Atlanta to Charleston
27.  Washington DC to LAX
28.  LAX to Washington DC
29.  Newark to Orange County
30.  Orange County to Newark
31.  Portland, ME to Chicago
32.  Chicago to Orange County
33.  LAX to Charlotte
34.  Charlotte to Portland
35.  Norfolk to Dallas
36.  Dallas to Orange County
37.  Orange County to Washington DC
38.  Washington DC to Norfolk
39.  West Palm Beach to Newark
40.  Newark to Quebec
41.  Quebec to Toronto
42.  Toronto to Calgary
43.  Calgary to Denver
44.  Denver to Bozeman
45.  Bozeman to Salt Lake City
46.  Salt Lake City to Orange County
47.  LAX to Ft. Lauderdale
48.  Georgetown to Miami (Kathleen)
49.  Miami to Provodenciales (Kathleen)
50.  Provodenciales to Miami
51.  Miami to LAX
52.  LAX to Miami (Brad)
53.  Miami to Provodenciales (Brad)
54.  LAX to Miami (Kathleen)
55.  Miami to San Juan (Kathleen)
56.  San Juan to Tortola (Kathleen)
57.  Tortola to San Juan
58.  San Juan to Miami
59.  Miami to LAX
60.  LAX to Miami
61.  Miami to San Juan
62.  San Juan to Tortola
63.  Phillipsburg to Miami
64.  Miami to LAX
65.  LAX to Miami
66.  Miami to Phillipsburg
67.  Antigua to Miami
68.  Miami to LAX
69.  LAX to Miami
70.  Miami to Antigua
71.  St. Lucia to Miami
72.  Miami to LAX
73.  LAX to Miami
74.  Miami to St. Lucia
75. San Jose, Costa Rica to LAX
76. LAX to San Jose
San Jose to Golfito
77. Gulfito, Costa Rica to San Jose
San Jose CR to LAX
78. LAX to San Jose
79. San Jose to Golfito
80. Golfito to San Jose
81. San Jose to LAX
Train to San Diego, car to Ensenada
Boat home.


         If you'd like  to read all of our previous travels, just click on the bottom 
                                   right corner where it says"blog roll or older posts". 
                                   That's where the 411 nuggets are hidden and are 
                           best viewed on a desktop computer.  Enjoy Life & Godbless!


Friday, December 16, 2016

Costa Rica - Shipping Boat Home!

1750 miles later since leaving St Lucia, the boys cruised from 
the Pearl Islands of Panama to Los Sueños, Costa Rica. 

Here's an aerial view of the Los Sueños marina in Costa Rica.
You've never seen so many "fish killer" boats all in once place. Sport fishing is THE activity here.
Brad & the gang arrived in Los Sueños and were tucked into a slip in no time flat. 
The end of their long journey is almost here... They decided that after they left the Pearl Islands, they would spend a night in Los Sueños (which is north of Golifto / their final destination where the boat will be put on the freighter) so that they could have some fun zip lining, and the marina there was MUCH more accommodating...better restaurants and civilization since they had some time to kill as the Damgracht freighter was delayed.
Almost every boat in Los Sueños is a fish killer / aka sport fisher. Dun, dun, dun....
Los Sueños rush hour at 7am. Let the fishing begin!
Later the next day the boys ventured over to the local croc pit o' death! Don't get too close...they aren't in a cage and there's no fence. Just a bunch of crazy crocs on the side of the road near a bridge. YIKES! People continuously stop at this bridge and feed the crocs raw chicken. Nom Nom.
With time to spare while waiting for the freighter to arrive, it was time to stir it up.
The guys decided on the ultimate zip-line adventure in Los Sueños.
They were off like a prom dress...
It was a sausage fest and humid as anything out!
Here they are...all dolled up & ready for action!
Jim zips like a seasoned monkey...
Bish has done this before.
And then...BAM! Brad on da' loose...
The boat stayed in Los Sueños for a few weeks. Brad & Jim flew home, and then Brad flew back 2 weeks later. Brad & Bish left the dock that evening and headed back south (yes, backtracking) to Golfito to meet the freighter for GO TIME! 

The boys waited (and waited!) at Banana Bay Marina for TWO DAYS. 

As for the task at hand, all was set for a 7am load in (finally!), however in these parts of the world we've gotten used to the tardiness. The freighter arrived, however the "loadmaster" (Insert corny joke here!) was still in Columbia and on a flight over. Eeesh. 

That meant Brad and Bish wouldn't be able to catch their 2pm flight to San Jose and would have to get a driver for the 5 hours to San Jose in the dark. Bummer! 

Here is the Damgracht freighter which will be shipping INCOGNITO home. 
This is the SAME boat they followed behind through the canal..quite the coincidence!
Other boats are staged with room to spare for us.
And FINALLY, the mighty crane was moved into place.
Brad brought our boat alongside the massive Damgracht.
The cheering section...hold your applause.
The workers were all staged & in place...
Here comes trouble...the straps better hold up.

The engineer guides the crane as the boat is ever so gently loaded.
The boat loaded without issue. However the skies opened up and a downpour ensued. 
There she goes...take care of our baby!
And then it really poured...a deluge of water fell upon them.

Great perspective as these workers guide INCOGNITO into place. Rain much?
Our mighty INCOGNITO is finally loaded and ready to set sail...

Time to CELEBRATE!
Brad stayed overnight in San Jose, Costa Rica and flew home the next day. We're almost done with our adventure, but one more chapter left as the freighter ships only to Ensenada, Mexico and we will fly down there to bring her home. 

Pearl Islands and Coiba Island

Brad, Jim & Bish (Dick flew home after the canal adventure) departed Panama and headed out to the Pearl Islands which were just off the coast. They cruised for a few hours and the seas were mostly flat, and MUCH better than what they had experienced since leaving Aruba!

The large island on the bottom left is the Isla de Coiba.
     
The boys were so happy to be back on Pacific side, however there was nothing overly exciting to see and they were oversold on it. Bummer. So much for all that amazing fishing they were told about around this natural park. It was beautiful, but this photo below was a shot I took from Google...

And this was reality...no wonder they felt ripped off!
They anchored there and could watch where all the infamous skydiving took place. 

Our beloved INCOGNITO taking a well deserved break.


The only peeps on the island are a bunch of twenty somethings jumping out of planes. ha! 

A nice serene shot Brad snapped...

Fishing boats were everywhere!

The islands...

After all that lack of excitement, the boys left the next day for Costa Rica.

I personally have been to Coiba about 20 years ago when it was an actual penal colony. I had to charter a flight to get back to Panama City as my girlfriend and I were on a jungle adventure & that was the only location to do it from. I departed on a dirt path over a cliff and the prisoners not only carried my luggage (that was a shock!) to the plane, but they had to get the cattle out of the road. 
I had NO idea that they would be walking around and so helpful. 
That was a crazy experience! Hard to imagine that the jail cells are now cabins you can rent out.