Rio Dulce, Guatemala, December 17.

The deal was done this morning. I have a new home to replace “Fleetwood III”, which is up for sale in Amsterdam  https://cometosea.us/?page_id=7922  The particulars and pictures of the new boat can be found in the advertisement: https://www.boats.com/sailing-boats/1986-elan-boats-31-9609788/   

I spent many hours poring over the ads for a replacement on the Pacific and Atlantic coast as well in Europe. Rio Dulce is not very accessible to the average hull kickers and the sellers had the same advantage by purchasing their larger replacement at a lower price than elsewhere. She is not a Spring chicken, but, just like myself, well maintained and well equipped. This boat has an Icom SSB radio and a Pactor modem, just like I had on “Fleetwood I”, if I can recall the complicated procedures, I would be able to update my blogs, text only, from anywhere again and send and receive e-mails. The sellers, are Staša and Bostjan Paradiž, a Slovenian couple. Bostjan grew up with the boat he took over from his father. They already have an  impressive blue water distance on the boat but decided to get a larger boat for the rest of their circumnavigation.

This is la lifechanging experience to go from wood to polyester. I carry a set of identical decals of my previous two “Fleetwoods”. But that might be dishonest and a bad ommen. I’m considering “WreckJack”. Any other suggestions? Since most marine insurers have the fear of God for the American ambulance chasers, I will most likely change the Slovenian ensign to a more convenient flag. Poland has been suggested. I’m keeping the decals, just in case I find a proper wooden boat on the east side of the Atlantic. My new boat will be easier to sell in Europe where this model is better known and it is set up for 220 volt AC.

My plans from here are still in the planning stage. I’d love to head north to the spot I have had on my wish list for a long time to visit Cartagena and do some bus travel further south. But I will most likely head for the Chesapeake. I still have not been able to penetrate the fortified access to the Microsoft monopoly to recover my e-mail address and content. I did not manage to reach the lady who has that magic telephone number, I used to own, to obtain a passcode to access my account. And coordinating a way to use her to arrange an exchange is impossible from here.

Next, would be the beginning of an attempt to make that second circumnavigation in an easterly direction. With a stop in Holland to pick up items I have on “Fleetwood III” and find her a new home. And recover all or most of my expenses from the crooked seller of this boat in Holland.

Since my last blog of November 30, I left on Sunday last week from the North West and travelled by train to Sacramento, California and by air to Las Vegas. I made a stop in Eugene to visit my long time friend Evert Slijper and his wife Judy and to visit my youngest son Seth and his wife Carly in Roseburg, Oregon.

My favorite step granddaughters L. Elizabeth R. Tabitha at my oldest son, John’s home in Las Vegas. Their grandfather is 1st Dutch -US generation van den Berg. My great grandmother was a van den Berg and her mother a van Ommen. So, when I familiarized John’s fiancee with this, she quipped: “Oh, John, we can’t get married”

On Thursday 12 December, I had no clue where to go after my stay in Las Vegas on December 14. And where I would be for Christmas. Later that day I discovered the ad for my new senior floating independent living address. And a spot for my heavy backpack with winter and summer clothes I have been lugging through 8 airports, numerous train stations, a long bus ride and last on the water taxi and lanchas.

I was on my way to Rio Dulce on February 3^rd 2022, from Havana when I had my third shipwreck. I wanted to check it out for when I grow up. It sounds like a place I can afford on my social security and royalties and socialize with similar folks and get rid of my long underwear.

I ended up missing my flight out of Las Vegas on Saturday that connected with the flight from Houston to Belize City. The TSA (Transportation Security Agency) was terribly disorganized and sloppy. Over half of all the carry on baggage was double checked. My laptop went through the scanner three times and then all my stuff ended up on a different track and I finally discovered it for the third check. It took nearly one hour to get from the check in counter to the departure gate. So, my checked baggage went to Belize. But, thanks to United’s generosity, I had a free overnight and meal coupons in Houston. The short taxi ride from the Belize Airport to the bus cost more than the 9 ½ hour bus ride to Punta Gorda on the shores of the Rio Dulce delta. The bus was just ready to depart. My lucky Sunday, the next bus would have arrived near midnight instead of 21.30 My butt still hurts from the hard seat and bumpy roads and the fast ride on the water taxi and lanchas on the Rio Dulce. The 3 hour stop in Livingston, to clear into Guatemala, was an experience into a totally different world, I had become acquainted with on my sail south in 2017 to the Panama Canal. The diminutive Mayan Indians in their colorful wear, the noise, smell, good food and dismal poverty.

In Livingston, Guatemala

Psalm 33-12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

A prancing Great Egret in Livingston

the ride from Livingston on the Rio Dulce

I had a very upsetting experience yesterday morning at the “Happy Iguana” marina and hotel after I concluded my purchase of the boat. The broker for the boat had made a reservation for me at the hotel for Monday night. I gasped when I found out that the room was going to cost me $117 for the night. The Texan owner wanted me to pay up front in either Pay Pal or Zelle, no VISA. So, I paid with Zelle. And since he appeared so suspicious of me, I e-mailed him a Screenshot of my bank’s confirmation. In the morning he came to the boat while I was inspecting it and told me that I had not paid and that I intended to defraud him by sending just the confirmation that only showed him being added to my payee address list. Which turned out to be correct and I had not fully finished the transaction. I still have a heck of a time working my cellphone for this. So, when I was done with the purchase and wanted to check on the payment, he had locked my access to the room and my laptop. And his Texan Buddy Guard came up to me and said: “Gary is nicer than me, if you don’t pay I’ll knock you in the water!” It was a very nice room with two double beds and a bunkbed. But the room I’m staying now, in town, for $38 has a table and chair and a TV and I do not need to use my headlamp to write this. The $117 room did not and had no storage. The place needs a more appropriate name instead of the Happy Iguana.

I’m excited about the new adventure of “Alone at Sea with God and Social Security” and grateful that I can afford to own two boats.

Wishing all a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have lots to be grateful for. This year it was one of the smallest gatherings other than during some of my ocean crossings. On Wednesday we grew from two to three with the addition of one of Lisa’s best friends whose husband was on duty on Thanksgiving. We usually have a much bigger gathering.

Lisa and Roberta

But it reminded me of 1971 when Lisa was 7 years old and the two of us went skiing that Thanksgiving weekend at Whistler Mountain, in British Columbia. I got sick on top of the mountain and had to take the chairlift down. This is one of the scariest memories. To sit in the double chair seats with only the bar keeping you from sliding out into the deep abyss of the downhill view to the valley, with a seven year old next to me. Going up mountain you can almost touch the nearest part of the earth. I immediately went under the sheets in the cabin and Lisa will never forget her 1971 Thanksgiving meal which consisted of a few crackers.

I arrived back in the Pacific N.W. on November 15th. Lisa, my oldest daughter, is my hostess once again. In my last blog of September 13th, I reported that I was going to be homeless from October 1st, since that is the end of the summer season at the Y.C. in Amsterdam where I am moored. I booked for the month of October in a marina where I was allowed to live aboard, north of Amsterdam. But just before my departure, the club sanctioned my stay aboard until November 1st. I stayed those last two weeks mostly with my sister.

The mast was reset on November 5th. I managed to clean the boat up of all the tools, paints and expoxies to be able to add some pictures to my For Sale add. Take a look. https://cometosea.us/?page_id=7922 The price is right. This your opportunity to have your own home for that trip you planned for years, to see all of Europe, from the water at your leasure. Enough room for a family of five and share it with another family for the rest of the season.  I saw more than 20 European countries that way in 2010-2013. Read all about it on this blog for those years. I am selling the boat because it is not fit to cross oceans but perfect for the Dutch inland waters and European coastal and Med summer sailing. Moorage is paid up through March 31st. I plan to be back on March 28th to take your money and give you the key.

I have found an excellent lawyer to help recover all or at least a good part of the expense of the three summers hard work to repair the hidden defects. If any enthusiast of my forced labor efforts is interested in the pictures of my accomplishment and the extent of the deceipt I can send you the google drive link to the three slide shows of the three summers work. I made these and have a crate of monsters in case it comes to a court hearing. If the seller were smart he’d avoid this but I wonder how anyone, in a sane mind, could expect to get away with this crime.

The search is on for “Fleetwood IV” I plan to check a few boats this week, now that I finally have a phone number here again, as of today. But most likely the East Coast will be where I’ll end up with # IV. More hoice for the type of boat I’m looking for. My first choice is another NAJA like my first and 2nd Fleetwood. There are two of the 4 Naja kits I imported in in 1980 unaccounted for. #3 was last seen, a few years ago, in  the Pender Harbour area on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. #4 was built by a Sacramento School teacher, who, I was told, sold it to a San Diego sheriff around 1990. But this week I happened to come across an old post from the, apparent, real second owner in the Sacramento area, by the name Ronaldo. But so far no further trace found. I may have to prostitute my self and the Fleetwood title and join the grownup sailors on tupperware boats.

Last Saturday I was able to meet up with my Cate-Ring friends who served their last 160 plus meals at the Night Watch shelter in Seattle. Cate and Gabe Lichten and their helpers are continuing their 5 Star meal service in Tacoma, which is closer to home.

I anticipate to be visiting friends in Northern Washington State and the Vancouver area. If I can make the appoitments on short notice, now that I finally have my telephone service. Next to see my friends in Eugene, son in Roseburg, Oregon and Las Vegas. I might be back to where I am now, after Christmas, with a possibility to use Lisa’s condo while she visits her daughter and family in Warsaw. Then, depending on the boat shopping prospects, I’ll fly to Virginia to spend time with family and friends until my departure to Amsterdam on March 27th.

If you are on my mailing list that I will, as usual, send out today as well, you will have my new US telephone number. If you are not on the mailing list and want the number send me an e-mail to vanommenjack@gmail.com   For Whatsapp, please, continue to use my Dutch number starting with 31-649……

Now, I can start trying to recover my Outlook e-mails that disappeared into a black hole on June 5th. There is still one problem that I had not foreseen. In order to re-open the account Micro Soft needs to send a code to my old cell phone number that I should have been able to re-open on arrival on November 15. After many phone calls and bad directions from the the two previous services, I discovered, by calling my old number on Sype that it was recently reassigned to someone else. Wish me luck that I can change my old to the new phone number.