Nigeria Trip -- Cancelled Again

The Nigeria trip has been cancelled again.  Now is the time to sail my own boat.  Dreaming is easy and safe, while the last mile on the road to reality is scary.  The Nigeria trip was a convenient detour to delay diving out of the nest.

Meeting Couch Surfers

Spent Saturday night eating dinner with three travelers who take advantage of the Couch Surfing network  http://www.couchsurfing.com/  One couple, Marc Kramer and Eliana Ardila have driven more than 22,000 miles traveling through the western United States, western Canada, and Alaska.  Their website is at http://www.marcandeliana.com/  The other traveler, Skip Potts, is walking from Boston to Los Angeles raising money for the charity he founded, People for Educational Equality.  Skips website is at http://www.pfee.org/

Nigeria Trip -- Move Aboard Tomorrow

My part of the Nigeria trip is finally getting started.  The local repair shop caused many of the delays in order to squeeze the foreign owner for more money.  The owner changed boat managers and things are moving better.  Will probably leave Biloxi, Mississippi, around January 20 and arrive in Bridgetown, Barbados, about January 27, which should allow us to reach Lagos, Nigeria, sometime around February 22.  Over the next few days, we will concentrate on tracing and marking all the fuel, water, and electrical systems on the boat so that we can repair them at sea, along with a general cleanup of the boat and stockage of fuel, water, and food.