Thought For The Day - All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. -
Walt Disney

A reminder that we cannot let security issues stand in the way of our dreams of cruising where and when we want to go. We just need to take a few precautions and remain vigilant. We are blessed with a lifestyle that allows us to move on to another port if there are problems in a particular area.

Five years ago we were in Porlamar, Margarita, an island off the coast of Venezuela, when we learned there was going to be a general strike the next day. What did we do? We simply raised our sails and headed for Trinidad with a small group of boats. Some cruisers remained in Margarita where, as it turned out, nothing happened. The point here is we have the freedom and responsibility to make our own decisions to stay or go. Stay safe.

Thought For The Day - "I loved cruising the coast of Maine. For one thing, it helped me conquer my fear of fog. Not that I have learned to feel secure in the fog, but at least I have learned how to grope without panic". - Herb Payson

Finally, I'm back after a week of intermittent internet. They're upgrading the internet connection in this marina and had a few problems along the way. It's still not complete, but at least I can once again connect from the boat.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chavez has seen fit to sound off against the U.S. once again, this time at the U.N. General Assembly. Reminds me of the time Khruschev banged his show on the podium at the U.N. If Mr. Chavez would spend a quarter of the amount of time on his economy that he does courting the Islamic fascists, I believe Venezuela would be a much safer place to cruise.

Stay Safe.

Thought For The Day - Am I the only one who sees the irony in 9/11 and the 911 emergency line used all over the U.S.?

On this, the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I would like to add my experience of 9/11 to the legions of accounts available on the web and elsewhere. Being a native New Yorker, this event has special significance for me.

I was in Curacao waiting in line at the local phone company to get a phone line for the house we had rented there for a few weeks. They had a TV monitor with CNN on it. I hadn't been paying much attention to it until I heard someone saying something about the World Trade Towers. I then turned my attention to the TV where I saw smoke billowing out from the first tower and thought I must be watching a movie. But no, I was watching this live. Then the second plane struck and the towers proceeded to disintegrate. I was born and raised in New York. To me, this was an assault on my home town.

Later that day we went over to the marina where one of the boats had TV. Even though they barely knew us at the time, they asked me aboard to watch it again on their TV. I'll never forget that act of kindness. I'll also never forget the U.S. flag our neighbors at the house displayed at half mast as a show of respect.

As I watched the "Path to 9/11" on ABC tonight, I realized that, though painful, it's necessary to watch it so that we never forget what happened that day in a totally unprovoked attack on thousands of innocent people by Islamic fascists. Rather than laying blame, let's use these lessons learned to help us catch these guys and prevent future disasters.

No matter where we are in the world we need to be aware of our surroundings and stay safe.

Thought For The Day - The difficulty with marriage is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character. - Peter De Vries

And I might add that once you move onto a boat with your partner, you'll discover exactly what that character is. Stay safe.

Thought For The Day - "Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by the things that you didn't do than the ones that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover." - Mark Twain

One of the neatest things about cruising is that you never know what sort of boat you'll see next. Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of touring Mistress, an approximately 50' yawl built in 1930 that her owners found on the Great Lakes and had shipped to St. Augustine, FL. There they spent 6 years restoring her to pristine condition, and, in the process, modernizing her for worldwide cruising. One of her owners is a master shipwright, and his skills were evident throughout the boat especially in details like the beautiful transom and the world map inlaid in the top of the nav station.

The boat came into our marina for only one night. Today she had her main mast unstepped for a cruise upriver to the dock where she'll spend the rest of this hurricane season. After that, plans are for her to start her voyage around the world. Fair winds, Mistress. Stay safe.

Thought For The Day - "It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better." -
Sir Francis Drake

Couldn't have said it better myself. Stay safe.

Thought For The Day - " A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives". - Anne Davison

Which says a lot about why we cruise - to get that unique viewpoint of a place that you'll never see as a tourist. When we arrive in port, we live as the locals do, not as the tourists do. Stay safe.

Thought For The Day- "I don't know who named them swells. There's nothing swell about them. They should have named them awfuls". - Hugo Vihlen

It's Labor Day weekend here, we had no problems from Ernesto and don't have to deal with John or, God forbid, Ioke, that super typhoon churning in the Pacific, so I'm taking a little vacation and just posting quotes this weekend. Of course that might change if I get a disturbing report on the world situation...
Stay safe.

Enough of the comic quotes - there's just too much going on in the world today. For instance:

Thought For The Day - Hezbollah is actively working in Venezuela. - Read all about it at Venezuela Today.

What has this got to do with personal security especially on cruising yachts? The way I see it - everything. One way we cruisers can protect ourselves is to stay informed about what is going on in the world. I realize it's easy and desirable to forget these things when you're in a safe peaceful anchorage or marina and living the good life offshore. After all, we set sail to forget about all this, right?

The problem with this train of thought is that, given the world situation today, it pays to stay informed before something happens that directly affects you. Venezuela is a great example. Many cruisers have boat insurance policies that dictate the boat must be below 12 degrees latitude during hurricane season. One look at their charts and they realize they have a choice of Trinidad or Venezuela in the eastern Caribbean.

This season we've heard reports of increasing crime in both these areas and now comes a report of Hezbollah openly recruiting in an area not that far from where cruisers sail in Venezuela. This report is not meant to scare you away from Venezuela, only to inform you of what is happening there so you can make an intelligent choice as to where you want to go in that country. Stay safe.