Continuing with the saga of our shakedown voyage, we were still in Grand Turk getting fuel so we could leave the next day. This was without doubt the hardest time we've ever had fueling the boat. We had to take the dinghy ashore filled with empty fuel cans, carry the cans to the gas station, fill them, carry them back to the dinghy, take the dinghy back to the boat and put the fuel in the tanks. As it turned out we should have made one more of these fuel trips but we decided we had enough fuel to get to San Juan, Puerto Rico, our next stop.

The next day, June 17, we left for San Juan and one of our crew caught another fish. That fish was the only highlight in what was otherwise one of the roughest passages we've ever made with wind and waves on the nose. Because of trips like this we now watch the weather more closely and never sail on a schedule.

June 21 we docked in San Juan, running literally on fumes and totally exhausted, but since our guests were coming aboard the next day, we did laundry, got fuel and cleaned the boat. We also made the acquaintance of a couple aboard a large fishing boat who normally divided their time between Alaska and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but had come east for a major fishing tournament. We had a very spicy dinner aboard their boat.

We could still operate the port engine only when necessary, and the parts we had ordered had not arrived in San Juan. In addition, the generator quit so now we had no air-conditioning, watermaker, hot water or refrigerator. Despite this we picked up our 4 guests as scheduled. Our boat has a total of 5 cabins and every one was now filled, with the cats remaining in the center cabin. Thanks to the ingenuity of our crew and us, at no time during their week aboard did any of the guests realize that anything was wrong with the boat. Because weather was brewing we decided to set sail immediately for St. Thomas.

To be continued.