The "Log of Sea Otter" contains our thoughts and experiences as we travel the Caribbean and South America. We hope to include some images of where we are traveling. To see us on Google Map, go here.
April 29, 2009 Antigua, West Indies
The Race Begins	Hello All, It has been a while since we last posted a log. Since we left Grenada we have spent a lot of time in places without an internet connection ( Tobago, Trinidad, Venezuela and her outer islands) and then almost 4 months in St. Thomas where I worked for the winter season to refill the Kitty with cash for our next adventure in Sailing To end the season I had a fabulous show at the Gallery St. Thomas, www.gallerystthomas.com, on the 13th of March. We then left St. Thomas on the 28th of March headed for Antigua via St. Martin. A week in St. Martin was enough to spend a few months worth of income on boat parts .	Our Boat "Metani"
From St. Martin we had a wonderful overnight passage to Antigua where we arrived a little over two weeks ago. Britt had a berth on the schooner Metani for the Classic Boat Races. I chose to just relax after almost four months of working everyday when we were in St. Thomas. Britt enjoyed himself during the races and I enjoyed meeting up with all of the friends we have connected with over the past 4 years of sailing. The parties were fun, the fellowship fantastic and the scenery keeps me reaching for my paints. Now we are sitting with just one other boat in a very quiet anchorage in Hermitage Bay	Calling Traffic	There is a fancy eco-resort overlooking the beach. In the evening we can hear quiet music filtering down to us from the dining area . A pleasant change from the loud music, honking cars, police sirens and the other noises of a Caribbean town we have experienced in the hustle and bustle of the last three places we have visited. It is heaven here. The only challenge is the 25 to 30 knots of wind that is currently howling around the boat causing her to dance a bit on her anchor and not allowing me to paint.
Catch Dem'!	Oh well, I will type this log instead. We plan to sail to Barbuda when the winds subsides and relax for a couple of weeks before heading further south. I will update the log more frequently as we continue to sail south. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the race scattered throughout this log As you can see, Britt had a lot of fun. A big Thank You to Jim. Nori and Niki of Metani for including us in their adventure . Keeping the Dream Alive, Teri and Britt	Checking Trim
The Slog to Windward  Relaxing on the long Beat
July 15, 2008 Hello All, We have been in Grenada ( 12.00.7N, _61.44.4W) for the last 4 weeks, enjoying all the social and land -based adventures that are available here. Life is good. It’s an easy bus ride into downtown St. Georges which is a very colorful Caribbean town built on the side of the mountain full of old buildings, crooked and narrow streets, loud music, crowds of people and a fish and vegetable market that seems to be always busy. Driving here is an adventure, first everyone drives on the left, then the roads are winding and narrow. Add to that, the local “buses” zipping around the island passing cars, trucks and cows with a merry beep-beep and a hairsbreadth of room while playing SOCA music at full blast and you know you are in a different world. So far we have only taken the buses. Taxi’s are too expensive and we really have no desire to rent a car and get behind the wheel on these roads. The good news is that there is a really good system in place here for us to go from point A to Point B. We have managed to get all the way across the island and visit a few waterfalls just by hopping rides on the local transit system. Most buses are Small MiniVans ( in the states maybe an 8 passenger version) that have somehow been refitted to hold 15 passengers plus the driver and a “helper” riding shotgun whose job it is to keep his eyes out for likely fares, collect the money and free the driver up so he can concentrate on whipping past everyone on the road. No one asks for a stop, they just bang on the roof to be let out. If the shotgun sees someone walking toward the road he yells to stop and the next thing you know the bus is driving down the road BACKWARDS, sometimes even turning down the side road driving Backwards to pick up the fare. It is definitely and adventure. I have been enjoying myself here teaching watercolor classes in the clubhouse at Clarks Court Bay Marina. We have been gathering twice weekly to paint. I have students at many different levels and we all seem to be having fun making a mess of the clubhouse and learning a little each time we meet. I hope to talk some of the students in letting me post some of their finished paintings on my new web site. We plan to leave soon to go to Tobago and cruise for about a month before Britt’s son joins us for a week. I have to stock the boat for at least six weeks worth of groceries, make sure I have plenty of household supplies, and figure out where I am going to store everything. Tobago is pretty remote and doesn’t have much in the way of stores so we will be back to baking our own bread and hopefully catching our own fish. Keeping the Dream Alive, Teri and Britt July 1, 2008 Hello All, We arrived in Grenada on the 19th of June from Petit St. Vincent. Sitting in Bequai, listening to weather reports we had decided to skip the southern Grenadines and Tobago Cays again this year as the reports were talking about high winds and rain with a series of Tropical waves scheduled to move thru the area every 3 to 4 days for the next few weeks. As per usual our plans had been made in the sand and a new tide washed then away and found us in Grenada two weeks early.. The sail down here was fantastic. Again we chose the windward side of the island and were able to sail the whole way!!. This is the first time we ever checked into St. David, a very small protected harbor that has a working marina and dry storage area and a very small customs office. After a challenging 2 hours trying to set the hook ( we learned after the fact that in order to set a hook we needed to let the anchor settle for at least a half an hour before we backed down on it), Britt left me on board on anchor watch and went in to check in a half an hour before the posted closing time for customs.. Oops, customs had left for the day, will be in in the morning ( posted time is 8am). After a bit of discussion we decided to take a mooring ball for the night and check in the next morning. After we were settled one of our neighbors stopped to visit and warned us not to trust the mooring ball. We attached our lines to the chain connected to the ball and settled in for a nice evening meal. In no real rush to get up the next morning we didn’t get to customs until a little after 9 am only to find that he still wasn’t in the office. After exploring the area and talking to locals at the bar ( yes, the bar was open at a little after nine!!) we were told that he would definitely be in by lunch time as he had lunch at the bar on most days. With a morning to waste we visited a boat we had never seen before, a Freedom Ketch , “Coyote“, in the harbor. As these things go in the cruising life it turned out that the folks on the Freedom needed a hand getting up the mast to fix a broken sheave . Britt volunteered to go up the mast ,a somewhat difficult proposition because a Freedom has no standing rigging and Britt had nothing but the mast to hold on to as he rose 60 feet above water. Of course, the wind waited until he was at the top of the mast to pipe up to about 25 knots and gusting. Britt managed to hold on and successfully completed the task. After finishing the repair we sailed to Clarks Court bay, another lovely sail!! We anchored just east of the marina and began visiting all our friends in the area!! Clarks Court Bay is the home of two marinas and about 5 anchorages in a small area. At this time of year there are quite a few boats hanging out here. Some have chosen Grenada to sit out the hurricane season and are in one of the two marinas, some anchor off Hog island for the season and others spend a few weeks here before heading further south. Most of these folks have crossed paths with us at some point in the last few years so it is like a family reunion with Pot Lucks, parties, dominos, cards and trips planned for almost every day of the week. The social whirl rivals Georgetown, Bahamas. I also give watercolor classes and quite a few of my students have taken classes from me in other harbors. I will post some of the results on my new web site which is One of the reasons we are hanging out here next to Clarks court bay Marina where we have a GREAT internet signal. Keeping the dream alive, Teri and Britt