Hi Everyone,
Well 2006 turned out very differently then I had expected, and I must say, it was for the best. After a lot of work I’ve got my motor running well “knock on wood”!
Since my original plan of crossing the Pacific this year I’ve made the money for a new spear gun, laptop, and high-definition video package. I’ll also be able to get a nice “Bottom Job” for Namaste, and have a few grand floating in the bank. I can’t tell you how excited I am to produce my next DVD in Hi-Definition! I’ll bring the Pacific to you in 1080 lines of resolution, how cool is that?
I’ve really enjoyed the people who have come to charter with me in the Las Perlas this summer, it’s been a blast! Everything always seems to work out. My Spanish is better, I’ve become a much better spear fisherman, line fisherman, and I’ve made a bunch of new friends. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about for me, friends. Generally…, all in all…, I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything.
I’d like to mention one of my new friends in particular. I met Roger Olson at the Balboa Yacht Club bar. We had some mutual friends, and after chatting for a while it was obvious that our sailing & cruising philosophies were quite similar. Roger has one of the most beautiful boats I’ve come across in my years cruising. His Bristol Channel Cutter “Nereus” is the epitome of what a small yacht should be. In fact, Roger used to own the Sam L. Morse Company which still builds Channel Cutters to this day. As it turns out it’s the same yard that built “Namaste” in Costa Mesa California in 1976, they produce top of the line, hand-built yachts, and Nereus was built for the owner of the company (she’s special). After all those cruising years Roger is settling down here in Panama, and as a result, Nereus is for sale. Roger is trading down for smaller day sailor. If anyone is interested in this amazing yacht, please feel free to contact me and I’ll put you in touch with Roger. Nereus will sell for over 200K. If you’re ready to go, go, go, Nereus might be the boat for you. If I had the money I’d be sailing a Bristol Channel Cutter.
“Plot your Course to Adventure” by Roger Olson
$29.90* USD
Roger is also the author of “Plot Your Course to Adventure” which was published in March of 2004. You can take advantage of his 25 years (over 75,000 sea miles) as a cruising sailor. I highly recommend that every cruiser or person outfitting their boat have a copy of Roger’s book in their ships library. Roger covers everything from anchoring techniques to yawls. The cruising sailor will find this book a valuable reference tool for years to come. I have a copy aboard and refer to it all the time.
I also finally got a chance to meet David Wilson. David has been a close friend for the past 3 years and the wizard behind the curtains of the Project BlueSphere.com website. The Internet is a funny thing. I have so many friends that I’ve never met, weird! David and I talked a lot about the technical issues & problems that users have with the website and the Internet in general. The most common problem people complain about is speed on the Internet. This is usually a direct result of spy ware. David works in Internet security and knows his stuff better then most. He recommends Webroot Spy Sweeper to battle spy ware. When I changed to Spy Sweeper from Adaware, Spy Sweeper found dozens of security threats that I never knew about. Another recommendation for security and speed is to download and use, Mozilla “Fire Fox” as your internet browser. It really blows Explorer out of the water and has many more options. One more thing I’d like to mention about the internet is Google’s Ad sense. I added Google Ads to the website 4 months ago and they have been generating about $50.00 a month for me. The Ads are sailing based, and often services that my viewers are looking for anyway. If you are going cruising and have a website, you might like a few extra bucks for the cruising kitty. Every time someone clicks on an ad on your site you’ll make money, how cool is that?
Latitudes and Attitudes has bought 6 of my articles this year and they’re still letting me write, go figure! I’ll also be supplying video for the Latitudes & Attitudes TV show for another season. Do you get the “Water Channel”? If so, check out www.seafaring.com for more info and show times.
My current plan is to hang out and explore the Las Perlas Islands until the eastern trade winds start blowing. Roger and I are talking about motoring up Panama’s river system to explore deep into the Darien jungle before I leave to Ecuador (sounds buggy). I’m planning on sailing to Bahia De Caracas Ecuador, then sailing west across the Pacific when the trades fill in and the Pacific Cyclone season dies out (around March). I think I’ll have a little extra time in Ecuador. If I can swing it, I’m planning to bus/walk/hitch-hike down to Machu Picchu. I am sticking to my plan of not making plans though as they always seem to change for one reason or another.
Have you bought your copy of “Project BlueSphere, California to Colombia” yet? Some of the older subscribers will remember Project BlueSphere.com as an on-line TV Show. I had 11 episodes up at one time constituting almost 3 hours of video. It got too expensive for me to serve the bandwidth to everyone so I re-edited the episodes and produced the DVD. This month I’m going to serve the first episode again so you all can see what got this whole mess started. If you would like to watch episode #1, click here . If you like it, I really think you’ll enjoy the DVD.
You can purchase the Project BlueSphere DVD by clicking here or on the DVD cover to the right.
Watch the DVD preview by clicking the Preview icon at www.projectbluesphere.com.
I can’t tell you how happy I am that projectbluesphere.com has become so successful. If anyone has any comments, or ideas for the site please feel free to share your input with me.
Peace, love, and Coconuts everyone.
Alex
S/V Namaste
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