Holiday trip to YOLO

Stay tuned to the blog for pictures from our upcoming adventure to ring in 2013 in Puerto Rico.  Tomorrow my good pals Andrew Plehal, Eric Alms, and I are leaving for a 10 day new years trip.  Tonight we are filled with excitement and can't wait to get back to paradise!  

A November Return

A Return is in Sight!!  Come On November!! 

It feels as though it was just yesterday that Andy and I (Chris) were sailing YOLO around the SVI's with our friends Kaleb, Stacy and buddy boats LeeLoomiani, Billie Rae and Sold The Farm,  but a quick glance at the photos reminds me that it has been nearly 7 months!!  With only weeks to go until we can again hoist a sail and send her barnacle ridden hull out into the blue waters off the coast of Puerto Rico, YOLO's list of chores has been growing by the day!


Stay tuned for more updates from Andy, Lance, Mark and Chris!

I guess we live more than once. Perhaps we are Hindu!

Breakfast with the whole crew aboard yacht Sold-The-Farm left to right: Doug, Leeloo, Dylan, Emily, Bruce, Bobby, Andy, Stacy, and Kaleb

Here is the tale of Captain Chris Warrington, the Silverberg`s, and myself (Andy) gallavanting around the Spanish Virgin Islands seeking and finding the good life! 

It has been over a year since my last blog post and since leaving the salt-life and moving back to Minnesota. In that time YOLO has moved back to Puerto Rico to her semi-permanent home at Palmas Del Mar marina.  After renting a car in San Juan and driving south to pick up groceries/booze along the way Chris and I made it to the marina to find YOLO waiting just as chris had left her one month ago. When we entered the cabin filled with our tropical possessions and catching up with our friendly marina staff, we both had the same feeling of coming home.  We had finally made it back to where the weather suits our clothes!



YOLO powering through some 7 footers


The plan for this week was to beat into the wind to Culebra where the next day our newlywed friends from Red Wing Kaleb and Stacy would be meeting us.  Another old friend named Dylan would also be meeting us.  If you are a dedicated YOLO blog follower you will know Dylan as the bartender of the Willy T`s floating pirate ship bar where we spent many nights misbehaving.
Here is the link to Dylan and Emily's new blog:    http://www.leeloominaiadventures.blogspot.com/
I'm sure they will get caught up in all kinds of adventure and this should make for some fantastic reading!  Their vessel is also a fine Bristol Yacht named Leeloominai after their baby girl Leeloo, she is ridiculously cute and i'm sure Dylan will post some pictures of the beautiful ladies in his life. (including the Bristol)

"Leeloominai" Dylan and Emily's floating home.  She's a beautiful Bristol 35 and they have done loads of work on her!

Culebrita, view from the lighthouse

As our luck would have it we had two professional photographers onboard and thousands of dollars of camera equipment.  So for your viewing pleasure I will be sure to post many spectacular photos.  If you would like to purchase any copies I`m sure Capt. Chris or our mate Stacy Silverberg would be happy to send them to you.  They both have their own photography businesses so google them!

Captain Chris is ready to take on these storms with his lifejacket, raincoat, and gigantic balls!



Perfect hammock location on Vieques


Everything was going as planned!  Kaleb and Stacy showed up at the dock and we swam in to meet them for lunch at Mamasita`s in the town of Dewey.  It was really great catching up with them as it had been nearly a year since their wedding which was the last time we had gotten to enjoy each others company.

Kaleb and Stacy Silverberg, our newlywed guests 

Some of you may be wondering why we swam to shore for this reunion instead of just taking Papa Smurf our trusty blue dinghy.  During an unexplainable event during Chris`s last visit Papa Smurf was Stolen/lost and we were dinghyless!  Luckily Dylan and his crew were coming to meet us with a spare dinghy we could use.  Yet they weren`t arriving until later in the day so at this point swimming or hitching a ride was our only way to shore!

Luckily Dylan and crew made it.  We spent the day meeting his wife Emily, and beautiful baby-girl Leeloo!  They named their boat Leeloominai and have a built in Crib on one of the settees!  What a way to raise a baby, they make it work very well.  There were also 2 more boats in our new flotilla.  One of them is called the Billie-Rae and the other one is called Sold-The-Farm.  Bobbie and Doug of the ``Billie-Rae`` are Leeloo`s godparents and very close friends will Dylan and Emily as they spend their winters anchored in the same bay as the Willy T on Norman Island in the BVI.  Sold-the-Farm is captained by Bruce a wonderful man from Nova Scotia who quite literally did sell the farm and bought a 43ft boat.  He lives on the boat and does captained charters for groups up to four people.  He invited us over several times for breakfast and a potluck as his cockpit could easily accommodate the 10 people in our group.  Once we even had everyone aboard YOLO for breakfast burritos.  It was very tight but a fun morning with little Leeloo crawling around in the cockpit!

It`s wonderful to have new friends in the islands to buddy boat with.  Sailing into a harbor and seeing familiar boats and people is one of the greatest parts of traveling aboard a boat!  We are all looking forward to another flotilla with these fine people!!!



Kaleb, Stacy, and myself.  Kaleb wore his ``fancy shirt`` for our potluck aboard Sold-the-farm!



Dylan and Emily`s 8-month old boat-baby Leeloo

Leeloo is laughing and happy because she's aboard another Bristol



Look at those eyes!



YOLO`s new home at Palmas Del Mar marina Puerto Rico


The next morning we spent trying to fix up the dinghy that Dylan brought for us but to no avail as it turned out to be a piece of shit.  We used it anyway one person bailing and one person pumping with the third steering, it was quite a sight for our neighbors.  Dylan helped us out big time by giving it to us though and the motor that came with it works very well.  We plan on selling one of our 2 dinghy motors and buying a hard bottomed dinghy that should our saga of dinghy issues.

Chopping some limes in YOLO`s cockpit

Another award winning Photograph courtesy of Capt. CW!  Stars in Vieques with YOLO`s anchor light on the bottom left.

Parting ways.  Time for me to go home and for Kaleb, Stacy, and Chris`s adventure to continue.   From this point I hitch-hiked to the airport on Culebra holding my uniform  ready to jumpseat on an island hopper to SanJaun.

 

I got to be the copilot on this Britton-Norman Islander from Culebra to San Juan.  Absolutely love taking advantage of my jumpseating benfits!

Isla Grande airport in San Juan.  Right at the Cruise ship terminal.

Our ``New`` Dinghy and motor nicknamed Rinky-Dink



This Hawksbill sea turtle let us get as close as we wanted to!  Could have had turtle-soup, if we wanted.  Anchorage off the coast of Culebra.

People often ask what the best part of this whole experience has been and my answer is always the same, ``meeting new adventurous people that all have a story to tell!``  The highlights of this short trip were definitely meeting old and new friends, snorkeling and fishing, and the phenomenal potluck dinner! Captain Chris and the Silverbergs are still aboard YOLO and are taking great pics and videos so check back soon, I will make sure they update the blog!

Cheers