Pictures from our Travels - SV Nightwinds, Mike and Bryan's Big Adventure

2005 Panama Canal Transit 12/28&29/2005

John and Amanda from Gingi, Sandy from Little Bit and Del from Delbe 2 where our line handlers for the trip. The transit was easy and fascinating , but the pictures don't do the lock's justice..

New Year's 2003/4 - Bonaire

Curacao

Our second time in Curacao was a lot of fun. We even had time to have a few drinks with people we met

Aruba - The "I survived Hurricane Ivan party, Part 1, 2 and 3

After Ivan passed, we got together with some of our friends to celebrate. All of our boats came through safely, and we did to. If you haven't noticed by now, Bryan has a thing for taking his own picture, after a few drinks, anyway.

Liz and Sarge visit Aruba and US!

In November our friends Liz and Sarge came to Aurba for a vacation, and to visit us. It was great to see them again, since we had not seen them since 2000. They also brought us stuff from the USA like a good quality can opener that will last and quality US. flags for the boat.

New Year's 2003 - Venezuela

We celebrated at Jak's Restaurant. The boat was on the hard in Peurto La Cruz, so we took the ferry to Margarita.

Daysails in Margarita

After getting down here, we realized that we have always been using the boat to get places. We decided to change that! We gathered friends together several times and went out sailing.

Gail's Birthday

Bonaire Highlights

Fun times in Bonaire.

More Bonaire Highlights

More fun times in Bonaire!

Rincon Day - Celebration of the founding of Rincon, the oldest town on Bonaire

Shortly after we arrived in Bonaire, Ton and Renota invited us to join them for Rincon Day, the celebration of the founding of Rincon, which coincides with the Dutch holiday of the Queen's Birthday.

Election Day Party

What else are you to do when the island closes the bars and liquor stores for 24 hours prior to elections, through 24 hours after? You throw a party!

Sotavento - Las Aves

Sotavento is the other archepelego that comprises the Las Aves.

Barlevento - Las Aves, Where all the Boobie birds live

Barlevento is one of the archepelegos that make up the Aves. It is a thriving bird habitat, mostly for boobie birds!

Bryan's Birthday - celebrated with Carol and Ashley from Blind Date

Los Roques - Cayo de Agua and Bryan's Birthday

The Roques

Gary and Josefina come to visit

Los Roques is a national park of Venezuela, about 100 miles off South America containing over 100 small islands and islets. There is a tiny airstrip here, and that is how Gary and Josefina joined us for a few days.

Our first trip to Coche

This was our first trip to Coche. We accompanied Blind Date and Precocious Gale there. Precocious Gale left from here to head on to Bonaire. While we returned to Margarita after a few wonderful days.

Cocktails in Margarita

Occasionally in the evening, instead of going to the local cruiser hang out or spending a quiet evening aboard, we get together with friends for cocktails.

Dinner and a movie

After finding Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone on DVD, we invited some of our closest friends over for Dinner and a Movie.

Lisa and Brian visit

Mike's daughter and grandson came to visit us in August for two weeks. It was great fun having them on board, if a bit exhausting since Brian is 6 years old. We sent them on a tour of the mangrove swamps, and then took them to Coche for some island fun in the sun.

Our time in Peurto La Cruz on the hard

We hauled out, and peeled the gelcoat, to repair hair line cracks that had developed with age on the bottom. Got it before the blisters got the bottom.

Cape Canaveral

This is an actual module being worked on at the International Space Station Center. This module will be sent up either on a rocket or on the space shuttle.

This is an actual engine from one of the shuttles. You can see this at the G 39 observation platform. This platform is the closest you can get to view a shuttle launch.

This is the actual shuttle launch pad as viewed from G39. We are a little over 3 miles from the launch pad.

This is a scale model of the launch pad.

The booster rockets are real, the shuttle is a mock up of a real one. It's pretty cool!

There was also an area dedicated to the rocket missions that had a full Saturn V rocket there. They are absolutely enormous. Check out the reference picture below!

Manatees in West Palm Beach

Ok, so these aren't the best shots in the world, but the manatees are cute little beasties! I tried my best to get a few good pictures of them.

Royal Island

This was our second stop in the Bahamas. Royal Island is a deserted island. The remains of a house are quite visible from the anchorage. We decided to explore.

Georgetown

We stopped in Georgetown to visit with friends headed back to the east coast.

Conception Island

After leaving Georgetown, we went to Conception Island. This is one of the most beautiful snorkeling opportunities we have seen. This is part of the Bahamas National Park system, we think.

Turtle in thirty feet of water, taken while snorkeling at the surface

Dominican Republic

We were in the Dominican Republic for almost a month. We visited The Cristobal (Christopher Columbus) Colon Museum, Sandra went to the a really huge water fall, and we visited the festival of masks museum, and the Three Eyes caves in Santo Domingo before heading around Cabo Samana and on to Peurto Rico.

Leon and Sue enjoy some fast food. It had been a while since we have seen one of these!

St. Lucia

We stayed two places in St. Lucia. Rodney Bay which has great Chocolate Croissants, pizza and chocolate donuts and the Pitons where we anchored between the two mountains. Needless to say, no pictures of Rodney Bay where all we did was eat!

Mike swings from the boom! Wazing & Wazooing

Grenada

We spent 4 months of hurricane season here. While here, we traveled to the Fisherman's Birthday celebration and listened to the steel band at Spice Island Marina.

Friday Night at Spice Island Marina Restaurant

Margarita

Right after we arrived in Margarita, we went on a few tours with Miss P, Stargazer and Boujalais.

Christmas

We celebrated chirstmas with 80 of our closest friends!

Our First Voyage Click the link to view in a new tab

Beaufort, NC -- Our first stop south of Cape Hatteras

The Bahamas!

Our First Foreign Country

Cumberland Island, GA

After making the hard decision to head north, we stopped in Fernandina Beach, FL. We toured Cumberland Island with Bob and Joanne on Timonee

Underway to Charleston

Due to the damage we sustained in Fernandina Beach, FL, we decided to buddy boat with Bob and Joanne on Timonee. We were concerned about our port prop and shaft. It was nice to have people close by, incase we had any problems. Fortunately, there were no problems!