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Purchases and Plans

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:10:46 -0500

I’m beginning to think our home port should be changed to Ft. Lauderdale since we seem to spend so much time here. This isn’t because it’s our favorite place, but it is where we tend to get repairs made or lately to wait to have work done. We spent all last cruising season, November through May, in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, waiting to get Seas the Day converted from a hybrid propulsion system to twin 40 hp diesel engines. We couldn’t come to an agreement with Lagoon, so in June we returned to Charleston for the 2011 hurricane season and then came back here this November. We now have a date for the work to be done and it should begin on March 19. While we are excited to finally get a new reliable propulsion system, the late date is somewhat disappointing as we will miss most of this cruising season. However, if all goes well, we will leave for the Bahamas as soon as the conversion is completed and we’ll spend two months in the Bahamas.

While we liked the idea of the hybrid, we had too many problems with it and finally came to the conclusion that for a variety of reasons it was time to remove the hybrid system and install twin diesel engines. Other work we plan to have done in the next few months are installing solar panels, getting the mast cut down so we can get under the 65 ft. bridges on the ICW and getting the bottom painted.

While we were in Charleston last year, we had our salon cushions recovered in ultraleather. We also had a sunscreen enclosure made. Besides providing shade and lowering the temperature inside the cockpit and salon, it affords us privacy. During the day it blocks the view into the cockpit and even at night with interior lights turned on the screens block clear views of the inside. We are still able to see out, however.

In Charleston we purchased kayaks and took paddling lessons. We’ve been using them on the New River and are looking forward to taking them to remote areas in the Bahamas. A purchase we didn’t plan on was new bikes. In December, someone came to our slip, cut through two very good chain locks and stole our two Dahon folding bikes. It happened around midnight but the bikes were locked to a fence under a bright light. Someone walking their dog saw a man riding down the street on one of our bikes with the other under his arm and called the police, but they were never found.

A few days after I returned from Duluth, we drove to Orlando and spent the week before Christmas at Disneyworld with my daughter Jennifer. December is always a fun time to be there as the decorations are festive and there are special productions for the holidays. In the photo Jennifer and I are on “New York Street” at Hollywood Studios surrounded by the “Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.” Millions of holiday lights covering the building facades are synchronized to holiday music. Another favorite of ours is the “Candlelight Processional” at Epcot. The Christmas story is read by a celebrity while a filled stage of choirs sing Christmas songs. This year, country singer Trace Atkins narrated the story on the night we were there. The weather was unusually warm for Orlando with temperatures in the high 70’s all week which helped make it even more enjoyable for me, having just spent a month in Duluth.

We now have several months in Ft. Lauderdale to get some things done before the boat is hauled out for the conversion. Anyone who has been on Seas the Day lately knows that we have way too much “stuff.” There isn’t room to move things out of the areas where the work will be done, so we rented a storage unit for a few months. We’ve moved boxes of items we aren’t using, clothes we aren’t wearing, etc., into the unit. Even though we have ample storage space on board, some of the “stuff” had been stacked on top of the two guest beds and in the two guest bathrooms. Now we actually have two beds for guests and bathrooms for them to use! Of course, the problem will return if we move all of these items back on the boat. Perhaps it’s time for some donations to Goodwill.

Ruth Wick, March 29, 1913-December 3, 2011

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 16:30:59 -0500

At the end of October, my mom had a stroke. She was 98 years old and very healthy at the time. The stroke did not harm her physically, but her speech was affected. She spent a few days in the hospital and then went to a rehab center to receive therapy. The photo above was taken at the rehab center. Being a very articulate, bright woman, it must have been extremely frustrating to lose the ability to communicate. She was able to say a few words but then changed to a gibberish language which sounded similar to Norwegian. She would ask for a paper and pencil and tried to write what she wanted to say, but actually wrote in the exact same “language” she was using. After a few weeks at the rehab center, she expressed the desire to return to Primrose, the independent living apartment she had been living in since my dad died in 2003. By then, she had contracted pneumonia but still seemed physically healthy.

I arrived in Duluth on Friday, November 18, a few hours after she had come home from the rehab center. Hospice brought a bed and other items for her to use as well as medications we could give her for pain. While she had been using her walker at the rehab center, her arthritic knees hurt when she had to stand for us to help her move from her bed to a chair or the bathroom and she would cry in pain. The photo at the left was taken on Sunday as she watched her favorite football team, the Vikings. By Monday morning, we decided that she needed to be moved to a Hospice house where she could get care from people trained to keep her pain free and comfortable. As the social worker told us, we could go back to being her family instead of caregivers. That was a gift we welcomed. Mom didn’t like being at the rehab center, and while she wanted to be home she must have realized it wasn’t working. She willingly agreed to go to the Hospice house and from the moment she was brought to her room there she seemed to be at peace.

Solvay House has 12 private rooms and became our home for the next two weeks. Pictured at the right, it looks like a house, both outside and in. Solvay is a Norwegian word (spelled differently) which means “path of the sun.” It was designed so that during the day, the sun shines in each of the rooms as it moves across the sky. The stated goal is to keep the patient comfortable and pain free as he/she goes through the process of dying. In addition, every effort is made to keep the families comfortable. We shared with the other families a living room, sunroom, dining room, kitchen, multiple sitting areas, a meditation/prayer room, several restrooms and a large shower. Each room has a chair which converts to a comfortable bed so one of us was always able to spend the night.

The Hospice team included nurses, doctors, aides, a cook, social workers, spiritual advisors, a grief counselor, music therapists, and volunteers. As Mom traveled through the process of dying, we were kept informed about what stage she was in and of course she was always treated with the utmost sensitivity and respect, as were we. We spent every day with her and as she got to the point where she was not responding verbally, she still let us know she was aware we were there. One of the most poignant moments for me was one morning shortly before she died. I woke up in the chair/bed and looked over at her. She was on her side looking at me with her hand stretched out. I went over to her and she grabbed both my hands and squeezed them with more strength than she should have had. She did not eat or drink anything after the first day she was at Solvay House and of course had lost quite a bit of weight. She couldn’t talk at this point, but she obviously was able to communicate. People at Solvay House were surprised at how long Mom lived without food or water. Her heart was very strong and it just kept beating. She died at 11:42 pm on December 3rd, 2011.

At Solvay House, when a patient dies two special things happen. First, a battery operated candle is lit near the front door. It stays lit for 24 hours. After the funeral home takes the body, the bed is cleaned off and it is covered with a very special handmade quilt. A bright spotlight is turned on above the bed and the room is left empty for the next 24 hours, in honor of the person who died there.

Everyone who knew my mom knew what a special person she was. A very touching eulogy was written by her grandson Brad and read at her funeral by his son Joseph. I’ve copied it below.

I was asked to provide a description of Ruth Wick, my grandma. With 98 years to work with, at the surface this seemed like an easy assignment to fill a few minutes. After 30 minutes of staring at a computer screen, I had nothing. 98 years on this earth and I was unable to define Grandma Ruth, pretty discouraging huh? But after a while it dawned on me that Grandma Ruth was just that, as soon as you think you had her figured out, she would change. She was a wife to Al and as soon as you defined her as submissive wife, along came her grandson’s wife Linda and Ruth seemed to grow as a person in her relationship with Al. Growth that I am sure Grandpa appreciated. Then with the passing of her husband after 60 years of marriage she became a widow. But rather than presenting herself as a piece of the whole she became a single lady who seemed content with the world around her. Rather than contemplating her lost youth and husband, she moved forward looking for activities that both interested her and helped others. She focused on keeping track of her family which was well into its third generation. She loved to talk about her kids, her grandkids and her great grandkids. Whenever you swung by her home she had to share the latest events in the lives of Steven, David, Kristen, and Amy talking about their spouses and her great grandchildren. She would excitedly talk about the latest goings on of Peter and Jennifer. She was a doting wife, mother, maternal grandmother, fanatical hockey fan and a Christian.

Grandma Ruth always seemed to have a group of “ladies” with whom she would socialize. In fact Grandma was one of the original “Tea Partiers”. As a special treat, and likely inspired by the holiday classic “Christmas Cup of Tea”, her granddaughter Lisa hosted a Christmas Tea for grandma and her friends. The edition of the book that Lisa used as a reference was likely published in New York seeing that the tea involved rather than being of the Earl Grey brand was of the Long Island variety. I have heard that taste is one of the first things to go with age, which explains why after multiple “rounds” the ladies did not seem to notice. The following morning may have been one of the few times that Grandma slept in.

Being that I was born at a time that allowed parents to send their kids off in the mornings and expect them back in time for supper, more often than not I would find my way down the road to “visit” with grandma. I remember her as someone who always answered her door with cookies, or would take your hand and go out to the garden to pick sweet peas or raspberries. She would have a one gallon container, and hand me a small plastic cup. After 30 minutes Grandma’s bucket would be filled and she would send me on my way with an empty cup and a full stomach. It dawned on me at that time that Grandma was always doing something, always in motion. If you wanted to spend some time with her you simply hung on for the ride. Even when she was sitting, she was busy, be it knitting or writing letters.

I had the opportunity to spend some summer weeks with Grandpa and Grandma at their cabin on Long Lake. The rule was that if Grandpa saw you sitting around he would find something for you to do that he needed done, and if Grandma saw you sitting around she would find something that you would want to do. Grandpa Al had a strong personality and presence, and up until recently I did not appreciate the inward strength that Grandma possessed. Grandpa’s voice would make you jump; Grandma’s suggestion would make you move.

One of the attributes that made her universally loved by all of her family and those around her was her ability to accept things. You knew that she had some serious core values that she lived by, but she never seemed to judge others. I never heard her make a judgmental comment regarding any family member, and knowing this family, she had a lot material with which to work. And with subjects and topics that you would expect to throw a nonagenarian for a loop, she would just shake her head in wonderment and laugh at everyone’s discomfort.

Grandma was very active up until a couple of weeks ago when she suffered a stroke. And during the time since the stroke I have wondered why she had to spend her last few weeks sad and frustrated by her inability to communicate or get around independently. But since they say there is a reason for everything, I can only guess that Grandpa Al needed a couple of weeks to prepare himself for seeing his wife again. Since they last met Grandma had continued to grow as a person. And as a suggestion to Grandpa Al, the last thing that he will want to yell is, “It’s 12:05 where’s dinner?” unless his reflexes have improved since they last met.

I once gave Grandma a digital recorder and asked her to talk about her life, growing up in northern Minnesota, her school, her courtship and marriage, the exciting times in which she lived. Year after year I would ask how the project was progressing, and it was always the same response, “I haven’t had time, but I will.” She never did get around to it, and in looking back the fault was mine, you see. I asked her to talk about herself, when I should have asked her to talk about those around her, for she always seemed to have time for others. And while it would have been neat to have a narrative to the life and times of Grandma Ruth, the only narrative that would have meant anything for Grandma Ruth would be that written by the lives that she left behind, because Grandma never seemed to spend much time in the past, or worrying about the future, she was too busy living in the present, all 98 years of it.

Titusville to Ft. Lauderdale

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:53:16 -0500

After spending a great week in Titusville with Peter and Jennifer, we left for our cruise to Ft. Lauderdale. We went to Port Canaveral first as it took a few hours to get from Titusville to the Port Canaveral inlet and we didn’t want to add that to the trip. We spent the night at the Ocean Club Marina and left early the next morning. Above, Peter is on the foredeck as we leave Port Canaveral. That was the last flat seas we saw for awhile. Daisy found her “spot” as soon as we left the marina and stayed there for the entire trip south as she always does.

We did an overnight to Ft. Lauderdale and arrived there Saturday afternoon. This was Peter’s first cruise with us and although it was short, it was wonderful to have him aboard. Even though it wasn’t our most comfortable ride, he didn’t get seasick so that was a good sign for future visits.

We had problems with the genset for most of the trip, as it died about once an hour. Mark was always able to start it right back up, and while we were sailing it wasn’t a problem. However, we were a bit nervous once we went under the 17th St. Causeway bridge and turned up the New River. This is a rather narrow waterway with large yachts tied up to docks on either side. There is barely room for two boats to pass each other. The genset failed twice but we were able to stay on course to get to our slip up the river.

Peter stayed with us for several days and enjoyed exploring the river on one of our kayaks. There are lots of canals off the river to explore. Since we didn’t have a car, he biked around town a bit and of course, there is always time to just sit back and relax on a boat.

After several days, I rented a car to drive back to Charleston where we had left our car in the parking lot of the Maritime Center. On the way, I dropped Peter off in Merritt Island where he stayed for a few more days with his dad and Jennifer and then flew back to his job as a geologist working on oil rigs in Pennsylvania. After getting the car in Charleston, I continued on to Duluth, planning to stay with my mom as she recovered from a recent stroke.

St. Augustine to Titusville, FL

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 16:07:46 -0400

We left St. Augustine at 9:30, sailing overnight to Titusville. We were going too fast and knew we would get to the Port Canaveral channel in the dark. Therefore, we turned off the motor, put a reef in the mainsail (lowered it), and pulled in the jib (foresail) but we still were going over 5 kts. The winds were above 20 kts all day and night and we were flying at over 9 kts. Unfortunately, we had huge swells hitting us on the beam (side of boat) most of the time. We would go up with the swell and then drop down, rocking from side to side. Not comfortable.

We were in the Port Canaveral harbor by 6:10 am, only to find that the lock and bascule bridge we needed to go through to get to our marina would not be opening until 8:30 am, after rush hour traffic. Rather than motor back and forth in the harbor that long, we pulled up to the Ocean Club marina in the harbor and tied off at their fuel dock. We’ve stayed there before, a beautiful but expensive marina in the harbor. At 8 am we got our fuel and made the 8:30 opening of the bridge and went into the lock. It took another 3 hours to go across the barge canal (photo left), under one bascule bridge in the canal, north on the Indian River, under another bascule bridge and finally to the Kennedy Point Marina. The vast majority of sailboats can go under the 65 ft bridges on the ICW so for anyone else getting to this marina from the north, they would already be on the Indian River traveling south and it wouldn’t be out of their way. In addition, we passed several nice marinas on the barge canal, but they don’t have slips for catamarans.

The photo above is our temporary backyard, the ICW on the Indian River. A short distance father north is the Titusville City Marina, but it is on the other side of a fixed 65 ft. bridge. This marina is much less expensive than the Ocean Club, where we have stayed on our previous trips north in June and South in November. In fact, we can stay here for a week for the price of two nights at the Ocean Club. This area was a prime spot for watching the space shuttle take-offs across the river.

We will stay here one week, visiting with my daughter Jennifer who lives in nearby Merritt Island. In addition, my son Peter is going to try to come for a visit next week. Then, it’s on to Ft. Lauderdale and hopefully the Bahamas.

Charleston to St. Augustine

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 16:37:24 -0400

We left Charleston at 9:36 on October 30 and arrived at 5 pm in St. Augustine on October 31. We made great time, with NE winds gusting from 20-28 kts most of the way and following seas. When swells or waves are “following” they come from behind. Following seas are usually not as uncomfortable as seas hitting the side of the boat or worse yet going straight into them. The roughest parts of the trip were in the two channels, Charleston and St. Augustine. The photo at the left shows Daisy sitting in her sod box, which we put together hoping she would “go” on live grass. Sadly, the box flew off the deck and floated away in the Charleston harbor as we were going into high waves and crashing up and down. The seas were too rough to attempt retrieving it. However, Daisy surprised us that evening and actually used the trampoline on the forward deck to relieve herself. Much praise and treats will hopefully make her realize this is a good thing for her to do. At the top of this page, during a walk in old St. Augustine today, Daisy insisted on continuing her practice of sitting a bench watching the world go by while accepting compliments of how pretty she is from people walking by her.

When we reached the St. Augustine channel and entered it, the waves became HUGE. We were entering during a “rage” which happens when the wind is blowing the opposite direction from the tide. We were dipping down into the waves and the wall of the wave in front of us was taller than our salon roof so all we could see was the wall of the wave ahead of us. In addition, St. Augustine’s channel has a notoriously shifting bottom. We were told that the channel markers have been moved three times this year. At first we started following our track on the chart plotter from last May when we stopped here, but quickly realized we were out of the channel when we suddenly were in 6 feet of water. After a harrowing few minutes, we entered the harbor, went under the Bridge of Lions, and proceeded to the fuel dock. We had planned on taking a $20 mooring ball, but for several reasons, we decided to splurge and stay in the marina. The transient rate for us is $91 a night, so not something we would ordinarily do.

We had two problems along the way which necessitated being at a dock. Just before we left Charleston, Mark was cleaning the sides of Seas the Day and discovered that under the rub rail right outside our cabin, there was an opening. He recalled that we hit a post coming into the Maritime Center last June but never saw any damage at that time. We had many heavy rainstorms while in Charleston and had no leaks. However, with waves crashing against us all the way to St. Augustine, water was pushed into the cabin just above the window shown in the photo. While I was resting on the bed in the middle of the night and Mark was on his watch, I rolled over and the bed felt wet. Checking it out, I discovered that everything on that side of the bed was soaked, including some books. In addition, there is an outlet on that wall which got wet, causing a circuit breaker to go off. That circuit includes all outlets except one for the TV in the salon and one in the master head. In the photo, Mark is in the dinghy repairing the leak. He was able to fill it in and also he found the problem and fixed the outlets.

We had planned on leaving this morning to sail either to New Smyrna Beach or all the way to Titusville where we’ll stay for a week. However wind was gusting to 30 kts and we don’t feel like going through that channel in heavy wind and huge wave conditions again. Therefore, we are staying two nights (maybe three) at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina.

We are now using a SPOT GPS device that tracks our route. Our SPOT Google Map page at at this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0HCY2dMojD74kC4xO5MKqMb2HphyqCROz

Reunions in Duluth

Fri, 5 Aug 2011 20:58:05 -0400

We had a great time in Duluth. Above Lisa surprises Mom with a belated cake for her 98th birthday which was last March 29. In March, 2013, Mom will be 100, Duane’s son Mark will be 40 and his daughter Carly will be 20. The three of them agreed to each get a tattoo that says: 20-40-100. Well, maybe Mom isn’t quite convinced yet. Mark suggested Mom also get one that says, “Life is Good......and Long.” The second photo is Great Grandma Ruth with Doug’s grandchildren. I sure hope I look that good at 98.

The photo to the left is six of our “group” after a brunch at Bridgemans. Diane couldn’t make it, although we got together with her a few days later for lunch. Nancy was the only one missing, as she is in Denver, but is coming to Duluth in September. I don’t think the eight of us have ever all been together in Duluth since we graduated from high school together, so this was a great reunion. We are holding the books I gave each of them, A Morning Cup of Yoga. I’m hoping they will each try the 15 minute yoga routine found in the book.

On Sunday the weather was perfect for our family get-together. Pike Lake’s water was warm and inviting as Doug’s children and grandchildren went swimming. The photo below the water scene shows some of the Wick family sitting on Duane and Jeanette’s deck, a few feet from the water. The weather all week has been very pleasant, in the 80’s and not humid.

It’s been a wonderful vacation for all of us. The trip up, other than the few emergencies, was fantastic. There was plenty of time to spend with everyone and the party was the perfect way to end the week.

On Tuesday we left in the RV to go back to South Carolina and then Doug, Zhanglin and Amy continued on to Florida. This time, the trip had no surprises. We also had no plans. On the way up, Doug had scheduled about 400 mile drives each day and we had reservations at each stop. Going home, we drove until we were ready to stop and only stayed one night each time. About a half hour before we wanted to stop, we would look on our RV Park APPS, find a place that looked good within a half hour’s drive, and call for reservations. The first night we stayed in Wisconsin Dells and actually got a spot in a campground. This is a very busy destination for Midwestern families so that was lucky. Wednesday night we stopped at a somewhat rural campsite, but very quiet and clean.

The third night we stopped in the mountains of North Carolina, near Ashville, at an RV Resort. The campers seemed to be here for a month or more, so we were one of the only “transients.” It was actually more like a retirement village. Most other campers were in elaborate motor homes. This was probably the nicest campground we stopped at and still was only around $30, which was the average cost of all of our stops. Unlike marinas, prices at RV Parks aren’t based on the length of the vehicle. This one had a beautiful pool and very nice showers. A sign in the women’s restroom/shower room said, “Please do not dye your hair in our sinks.” That was a little clue about the age of the campers.

We reached Charleston on Friday. It was “tax free weekend” in South Carolina, another good reason to go shopping. Doug’s family will leave for Florida on Sunday. While I was glad to be home, I will never forget this great vacation, especially getting to spend so much time with Doug, Zhanglin, and Amy.

Another Emergency

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:37:23 -0400

We made it to Duluth Sunday afternoon with no car or physical problems. For anyone from Duluth who has traveled by car to the city, driving through Superior and getting your first glimpse of Duluth houses dotting the hill overlooking Lake Superior is a sight one never tires of viewing.

After parking the camper at Duane and Jeanette’s home on Pike Lake, we spent a pleasant evening visiting with some of our Duluth relatives, including our mom.

Monday morning, Doug woke with excruciating abdominal pain. Duane drove him to the emergency room and the diagnosis was a kidney stone. Doug admitted later that he was “crying like a two year old.” On Tuesday after an appointment with a urologist he had surgery a few hours later to remove what the doctor described as an oddly shaped kidney stone. Above, Doug is in his hospital room after the surgery.

This makes two car emergencies (transmission and brakes), two hospital emergency room visits followed by surgeries, and almost skidding off a mountain road in the RV. Camping is sure fun! In all cases, the emergencies occurred almost immediately after arriving at a new destination, allowing three to four days to rectify the situations.

We still have lots of plans for our week-long stay in Duluth including a family reunion at Pike Lake on Sunday. All of Duane and Doug’s children and grandchildren will be there coming from various homes in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan. We will be celebrating our Mom’s 98th birthday which occurred on March 29. Doug, Duane, and I were in sunny Florida at the time with our families, so she didn’t get a party. We found out that this is also Mom’s 80th class reunion year. She was in the first graduating class from Alborn, Minnesota. There were eight students in her class and until recently they held yearly lunches at a local restaurant. There are now just two living class members. Since the other classmate is in a nursing home, Mom is the only one mobile enough to celebrate, and she isn’t interested. Oh well, in two years we can send her photo to Willard Scott and she can appear on the label of a Smucker’s jelly jar for all the world to see.

Picnics, Pools, and Playgrounds

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:01:22 -0400

We spent four nights in Illinois and were able to see two of Doug’s children, Kristen and Steve, with their families. During that time we went swimming at the campground, visited Kristen and Matt’s home, and went to an indoor playground, The Odyssey Fun World, in Naperville with Steve and Kristen’s families. Above are photos of a picnic at the campground, Kristen swimming with Peter, and Doug playing with Amy and Peter. At the left, baby Benjy is enjoying it all.

We spent the next day at the playground. The photo at the right is of Matt relaxing while Peter and Amy ride a dinosaur. Below is the maze the children (and Matt) crawled through. More photos will follow.

The four nights spent at the KOA campground in Illinois were emergency free. Hopefully our run of bad luck on the trip is over. We certainly had an enjoyable time here. Of course, no stop can occur without at least one shopping trip. We traveled to Geneva Commons and spent some quality time in the shops there. Doug’s only responsibility was carrying a few packages to the truck.

Tomorrow we will travel to Duluth where we will spend nine days with family and friends.

KOA in Union, Illinois

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:48:16 -0400

What a brother! Every time we have to stop for gas, Doug asks me to check where the next Starbucks is located. The Starbucks APP shows all the Starbucks along the route so I can find one that has gas stations next to it and is right off the Interstate. Today, we stopped in Lafayette, Indiana. Two-tenths of a mile from the exit was a gas station across the street from the Starbucks. (Photo above taken from the gas station.) I’m the only one in the truck who wants to stop there, but so far I’ve gotten a Frappaccino every day.

We left the campground in Kentucky at 8 am and arrived at a KOA around 3 pm. It is 95 degrees outside so we’ll be sitting in air conditioned comfort for awhile.

Tomorrow, Doug’s daughter Kristen and her family, who live close to this campground, are coming over here to swim in the pool with us.

Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:57:46 -0400

We’ve been in Union, Kentucky at the Big Bone Like State Park for three days and will leave tomorrow for Rockport, IL. There wasn’t very much to do in this park, although it is very peaceful. We are about 10 miles from Florence so we’ve gone there several times, but today we did do some actual camping activities. We drove into the park area and visited the museum. It contains various artifacts found here from prehistoric periods. The wholly mammoth was in this area so there are many bones from them.

The park has a small herd of bison which are kept in an area 1/4 mile from the museum. They are behind a fence but came very close to us.

One female looked VERY pregnant and when she stopped near us breathing heavily, we thought we might see a birth, but then she continued on down the path.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee and APP’s

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:21:19 -0400

Last night, we drove into Gatlinburg to see what was there. The streets were bumper-to-bumper cars for many blocks and the sidewalks were packed with people watching other people. Numerous benches on the sidewalks were filled with people also watching people. Basically, the entire downtown area of Gatlinburg is restaurants, shops, and motels. The motels all had balconies from which more people were watching people.

There is a lot to do in this area: Dollywood (amusement park), white water rafting, canoeing and kayaking, fishing, hiking, camping and various other tourist attractions. However, apparently at night everyone converges in downtown Gatlinburg. Every few blocks, we were entertained by singers, tap dancers and various musicians. They were all “Hillbilly” type acts. There were even some little girls doing a tap dance show. We left at about 10 pm and the city was still crowded.

Yesterday morning we left the campground in Gatlinburg and traveled 300 miles to Union, Kentucky. What did people do before APP’s and a GPS when traveling?? First, we used the Starbucks APP to find a store near an exit from I75. Then, we used Gas Buddy to find the cheapest gas nearby. We arrived at Big Bone Lick State Park in the afternoon. After we got to the campground, we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate Zhanglin’s birthday. She chose Mexican, so we used Foodfinder to select a restaurant. Oddly, the nearest city, Florence, Kentucky, has lots of Mexican restaurants. We drove by a few fast food places and finally selected a sit down restaurant which turned out to be very good. Next, we had to find a Walmart which was nearby for some grocery shopping. Doug and I had a race to find it, with him using his GPS and me using the Motion X GPS Drive APP . I think it was a tie. However, if we had just looked around us when we came out of the restaurant, we would have seen Walmart in a strip mall down the street. Perhaps sometimes technology shouldn’t be the first choice.

Tomorrow, we’ll go back to Florence as Zhanglin loves to shop and with the Mall Maps Mobile APP we found a large mall in Florence. The APP lists all the stores and their locations in the mall. Naturally, I’ll use the Starbucks APP again to direct us to one along the way.

We almost made it through the day with no mechanical or physical problems. However, when Doug removed the bikes from the bike rack at the back of the camper, he discovered that the rim of his bike was damaged from bouncing around too much. The same bike lost its seat on the way to Charleston. Luckily for me, my bike does not fit on their bike rack and is stored in the camper when we are on the move.

We’ll be here three nights and then leave on Wednesday morning for Illinois.

Emergency Room visit in Dolly Parton’s Hometown

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:06:39 -0400

The fun continues.....Yes, that is ZhangLin in a hospital bed. A week before they left home, she had a colorectal polyp removed and on the way to Gatlinburg, she started to have bleeding from where the polyp was removed. It became bad enough that after we arrived at Arrow Creek Campground, Doug took her to an emergency room. They couldn’t help her so she was transported by ambulance to a larger hospital in Knoxville. The surgeon came at 3 in the morning and repaired the tear, but she had to spend two days there until her blood count became “normal.” A Starbucks, two blocks from the hospital, probably helped.

So far we have experienced transmission problems in the truck, took a wrong turn and almost went off the side of a mountain, and ZhangLin had a hospital visit. We wondered what would be next and got our answer quickly. Doug discovered a problem with the truck brakes and brought it to a repair shop in Pigeon Forge this morning. That is the home of Dollywood and about 20 miles from us. Dolly Parton was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, which is a few miles from us also, and the location of the first hospital ZhangLin visited. Oddly, he had the truck checked out before he left home, but perhaps brakes and transmissions were not on the list.

The sun has not shone in the Great Smoky Mountains since we arrived, but the temperature is about 20 degrees cooler than Charleston so we aren’t complaining. Tomorrow, it’s on the Kentucky.

Road Trip to Minnesota

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:43:35 -0400

My brother Doug, his wife Zhanglin, and daughter Amy came to Charleston on July 10 from their home north of Tampa, FL in their 5th wheel camper. They spent three days there, mostly going to the waterpark at James Island County Park where they were staying. We also went to Isle of Palms Beach and Folly Beach. There is so much to do and see in Charleston, but with temperatures in the 90’s and high humidity, going for a tour in a horse drawn carriage through the historic area of the city, walking through plantations, or shopping in the straw market and upscale downtown area was not inviting. The beaches were cool and pleasant. At left, Zhanglin and Amy played in the sand. On the right, Mark and Doug relaxed in the sand.

Unfortunately, Doug’s truck had mechanical problems on the way here and it was in the repair shop for the three days they were in Charleston. They got it back Wednesday afternoon and we left at 9 am Thursday morning for a 300 mile drive to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, home of “Dollywood.” Mark stayed in Charleston with Daisy as there wasn’t room for five people and a large dog in the truck.

The trip was uneventful until we got a few miles from the RV park. The GPS kept losing its signal in the Smoky Mountains and gave us a wrong turn. In a car this wouldn’t be a big problem, but towing a 5th wheel camper behind us, it was. We started up a winding mountain road, barely wide enough for two cars to pass with no opportunity to turn around. At one point, the pavement stopped and we were driving on gravel. There was no guardrail next to the steep drop-off. Far below, we watched groups of people white water rafting. On one sharp curve, we got stuck in the gravel and the trailer came very close to the edge, with the truck on one side of the curve and the trailer on the other side in a jack-knife position. We couldn’t go forward or backward. Doug could back up about three feet, but if that didn’t work, there was no place to go but down the side of the mountain. Instead, he put the car in four wheel drive, gunned it, and got around the curve.

We continued on this mountain road for about ten miles until we came to civilization and eventually found Arrow Creek Campground in Gatlinburg. Dollywood, the theme park, is a few miles away. We’ll be here for three days.

Our next stop is Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, Kentucky. The main attraction seems to be a buffalo herd. As with many state parks, this one has a lake and miles of hiking/biking trails.

St. Augustine to Charleston, SC

Wed, 1 Jun 2011 16:55:47 -0400

We left St. Augustine at 6:30 am on Tuesday, May 31 and unfortunately the wind was not good to us. We were heading directly into it for most of the day. Just as we started to get a good angle, we had to turn NE and again headed directly into it as we followed the coast. Luckily, the wind speed was below 10 kt, so while we were going slowly, it was a comfortable ride.

The weather was excellent, with sunny skies and flat seas the whole first day. The second day, June 1, was the opposite. First, early in the morning we just missed a huge thunderstorm which was a few miles east of us on the ocean. I was sleeping, but Mark said he had never seen so many lightning strikes, and we have seen our fair share of thunderstorms over the water Shortly after sunrise, the wind started to pick up and clocked....NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, N and back to NE where it stayed the rest of the day. Wind speeds were over 20 kts all day, getting as high as 27 kts. The waves started to build with huge swells breaking over our foredeck. Most of the day we were “hobby horsing” down and up with the swells. Luckily, there were no storms in the area - just huge waves and strong winds and we were going right into them as we headed NE. We had considered going straight out about 35 miles and then turning north, but it’s a good thing we didn’t do that as we would have been in the middle of that thunderstorm this morning.

We missed the “good weather window” by one day. A sister ship, JMJ, was one day ahead of us and they also did an overnight from farther up the coast at Fernandina Beach, arriving in Charleston at 10 am today. We should have been here by 4 pm if the weather had held. JMJ actually had to slow down to get here in daylight this morning. Of course, they do have twin 75 HP diesel engines (hybrid conversion) and our one electric engine limits our power. Hmmmmmm...what is wrong with this picture? Most hybrid conversions put in twin 40 HP diesels. In conditions like this, we simply don’t have enough power to push us through these waves. We tacked for a good part of today, but between the waves and the wind direction we seemed to be going backwards at times, and definitely making very slow progress.

Poor Daisy had to “hold” herself for 36 hours. On other overnight sails, we have tried numerous times to “take her for a walk” up on the trampolines, wearing her leash and commanding her to “go poop” but she never fell for believing that was “outside”. Today, she stood in the cockpit with sad eyes (photo above), and I think if it hadn’t been so rough she would have gladly gone on that walk. She even went forward once by herself which she never does while we are moving, but I had to drag her back or we would have been doing a “dog overboard” exercise. Eventually, after waiting 36 hours she stood in the cockpit in the same place she is standing in the photo, and released a very full bladder. We praised her and gave her treats, but I think the only way she’ll go again is after 36 hours.

We didn’t make it into the Charleston channel until after dark and then had to wait for a container ship to pass in front of us before entering the channel. This is a very busy commercial port, so the channel is well marked, wide, and easy to follow in. The Maritime Center is directly off the channel. We were in contact with our friend Rick (Makeitso) and when we talked earlier he asked where we were. Mark replied, “To Hell and back.” This was one of the most frustrating days of traveling we’ve ever had. We’ve had rougher weather, but while this was uncomfortable, we just didn’t have to power to break through the waves and that was frustrating.

One might wonder what our big rush was in getting to Charleston. First, we had to be here by June 1, for insurance purposes, as this is the first day of hurricane season. However, with no hurricanes forming, we would be comfortable taking our time. The more important reason was that last Saturday, as we left Miami, I noticed something in my eye which looked like lightning flashes. I googled it and the comment with these symptoms was “go to a doctor immediately.” I suppose we could have pulled over at Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, St. Augustine, HIlton Head, etc., but we didn’t and five days later I was able to see an ophthalmologist in Charleston. Luckily, I did not have a tear in my retina, but rather the floaters and light flashes were caused by the vitreous detaching. The doctor could tell right away that this was not a serious problem, which was a huge relief to me. My father was almost blind by the time he died at age 95. Watching him struggle with reading, watching TV and recognizing other things was heartbreaking. This is one of many Internet sites explaining the problem of eye floaters and flashes: http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/spotsfloats.htm I wonder if someone has written a health book explaining all of the things that can happen as you grow older. This was very scary, as was the benign positional vertigo I experienced several years ago, the first year we lived on the boat. Of course, it’s probably better to know that these are problems that can be serious, so one doesn’t avoid going to the doctor. Dr. Grady told me today if it happens again to assume the worst and seek medical help immediately.

New Smyrna Beach to St. Augustine

Mon, 30 May 2011 08:14:32 -0400

New Smyrna Beach to St. Augustine is an easy day’s sail. We left New Smyrna Beach at 6:30 am and arrived in St. Augustine at 4 pm even with winds under 10 kts all day. We’ve stayed here several times, but lately they have added a new mooring field by the fort where we have always anchored. We went through the Bridge of Lions 4:00 opening to get fuel and then back through it at 5:00 to find a spot to anchor. There is still a small anchorage area north of the mooring field. We would have paid the $30 to get a mooring ball if we were staying longer, but we are planning on leaving early in the morning.

Above is the pirate boat which takes tourists out for a sail on the ocean. They passed close to us with a shout of “Argh!” St. Augustine has a lot to offer in the downtown tourist area, but it is just that - all tourist. There is not even a convenience store or drug store to buy any food or supplies within walking distance.

It was nice to have two nights in a row to get good rest. Tomorrow we will leave at sunrise and head north with our next, and final, stop in Charleston. We did this overnight coming south last November and it took 30 hours. However, the forecast is for calm seas but NE winds around 10 kts. We will be lucky to get 6 kts once we start heading right into the wind. At least the skies are clear with no chance of rain and the seas are calm with two foot swells.

Miami to New Smyrna Beach, FL

Sun, 29 May 2011 07:23:01 -0400

We left Dinner Key Marina on Saturday, May 28, at 7:45 am with sunny skies and the threat of thunderstorms later in the day in SW Florida. The plan was to sail (motor) to Ft Lauderdale, top off the fuel and water, and anchor for the night in Lake Sylvia. After going under the 17th St. Causeway bridge at 1:30 pm, we got fuel and changed our minds. We headed back out under the bridge to the ocean and decided to do an overnight to Port Canaveral or New Smyrna Beach, which is just south of Daytona Beach. When we reached the Port Canaveral inlet the next morning we decided to keep going, as we knew we could reach New Smyrna Beach during daylight. There was very little wind, but for awhile we did have about a 2 kt push from the edge of the Gulf Stream, so we were motorsailing along at 9.4 kts. One might wonder why we didn’t turn off the engine and just sail. Sadly, when you can only go on the ocean because your mast is too high to fit under the numerous 65 ft. fixed bridges on the ICW, you don’t have the luxury to save fuel and enjoy a quiet sail if you need every minute to reach an inlet when there is still light.

By 7:15 pm, we were tucked into a small inlet off the ICW in New Smyrna Beach where we have stopped on other trips. There is a small island just east of where we anchor, so Daisy got to go ashore. She had been off the boat in Ft Lauderdale, but that was almost 30 hours earlier. Unlike most boat dogs, Daisy refuses to “go” on the trampolines or deck.

It was the day before Memorial Day so a few other boats were near us, some rafted up five across. The no-seeums were so bad we had all the windows and hatches closed. We left New Smyrna at 6:30 am on our way to St. Augustine, which is an easy day sail.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Fri, 27 May 2011 15:14:28 -0400

We will have been on a mooring ball at Dinner Key Marina in Miami for over three months. For six months we have been in Florida, the first three in Ft. Lauderdale. We came here in November hoping to get our electric engine converted to twin diesels and then sail to the Bahamas but thus far have not been able to do so. This is the culmination of a frustrating non-cruising season for us, some of it good, some bad and some downright ugly.

THE GOOD
During our time here, we’ve had the opportunity to meet a number of other 420 owners who have passed through Florida. Above are three Lagoon 420’s (L to R) , Makeitso, Anything’s Pawsible, and Seas the Day in the Dinner Key mooring field. We were here together for awhile and then the other two 420’s went south to Marathon in the Keys. We’ve also spent time with two other 420’s in Ft. Lauderdale, Mirasol and Last Dance. They both left for points East in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Finally, new owners on JMJ, came to the mooring field for awhile and are currently heading north. In addition to our sister ships, we have met and waved goodbye to numerous other sailboats who have arrived, stayed for a short time and left. We’ve lived vicariously through many friends’ and acquaintances’ sailing blogs who have spent the winter in the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands.

While in Ft. Lauderdale, Jennifer visited frequently. However, we are now even further south of her home in Merritt Island and she hasn’t come to Miami. We did spend a week with her at Disneyworld at Vistana, the timeshare I own, the week before Christmas and then she and I spent another few days there in January staying at her Disney timeshare. In the photo to the left, Jen is riding on the People Mover at Disneyworld.

We also had multiple opportunities to visit my brothers and their families. Doug (my brother), Zhanglin, and Amy drove their RV to Ft. Lauderdale and we spent a fun weekend with them and Duane (my brother) and Jeanette. We also went to Delray Beach several times to visit Duane and Jeanette as well as Jean (Jeanette’s sister) and Lloyd at their condo. They came to see us a few times in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami along with my niece Lisa (in photo at the right) and Jeanette’s sisters Jean and Joan.

Daisy rides ashore on the dinghy twice a day. She enjoys going for a quick walk and then likes to sit on a bench with Mark for a half hour. She greets various friends, dog and human, from the comfort of her bench and literally drags Mark to it as soon as she finishes her walk. Everyone in the area has gotten to know Daisy and she loves the attention.

While it’s not as convenient being on a mooring ball as at a dock, it has been an economical way to live at $294 a month. (That is cheap in south Florida for winter/spring fees.) The marina facilities here are good and we can’t speak highly enough of Frank and James, the two guys who help us at the mooring field. They bring a pumpout boat to us any day we request them and they pick us up on the shuttle on the hour in almost any weather. In an era where it’s hard to find good service, these two people have done everything possible to make our visit pleasant and always do it with a smile. At $10 a night it’s a bargain staying at this mooring field.

THE BAD
Since we’ve had our SUV here, we have been able to get out and about, but we quickly learned that’s not fun in Miami. The street traffic consists of many lanes of stop and go, on the highways, Interstate, and Turnpike as well as the streets through the city and suburbs. The photo at the left is a city street. Our mooring ball is about 1/2 mile offshore in Biscayne Bay so going anyplace involves taking the dinghy to the dock or riding on the water taxi shuttle. Once onshore we can walk into Coconut Grove, an upscale area with many shops and restaurants. If we have errands to run, we take the car and that involves driving on city streets where going a few miles takes 1/2 hour or more due to stop and go traffic at all hours of the day. The other option is to take the Metro rail system, which we have done several times. We have our bikes and usually ride them around any area we stop in, but haven’t used them once in Miami. The streets are too dangerous and crowded for us to ride anywhere, although there are a lot of bicyclists who are more courageous than us.

Last November, Mark drove his Corvette from Minnesota to Florida to sell. The 2005 car had 16,000 miles on it and was in perfect condition. A week after he brought it to Ft. Lauderdale, someone ran into the rear end at 5:30 am, while it was parked on the street next to our New River Marina slip. The car was pushed into a BMW convertible parked more than a car length away, thus damaging the front of the Corvette and the rear of the BMW. The driver left the scene, but luckily a resident of the high rise condo across the street got the driver’s license plate number. The police were called and at 6 am we were awakened by a knock on the hull and a question from the police, “Do you own a yellow Corvette?” Even without the eye witness, the police would have found the hit and run driver as a trail of fluid from his car led them to his condo, a block away. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the driver has Progressive Insurance which may have cute commercials, but they delayed approving repairs and in the end, the car was in the repair shop for five months, with much of the time waiting for insurance approvals. Finally, we got it back a few weeks ago. Mark tried to sell it, but had no buyers so ended up selling it to Carmax which buys and sells used cars. They could tell the car had been painted and the accident had been reported to Carfax, so the amount they gave us was $10,000 less than we would have gotten from them before the accident. Florida law requires insurance companies to include “diminished value” in their policies, so we have applied for that, but aren’t too hopeful we’ll see the money soon.

THE UGLY
We had a phenomenal time in the Bahamas during 2010 and hoped to do the same this past winter and spring, perhaps even going south to Grenada for the hurricane season. Those plans were delayed and eventually canceled due to trying to get our propulsion system converted to twin diesels over the past six months. That has not happened so now we are planning to leave Miami tomorrow and sail north to Charleston. We have a long list of items we hope to get done there, including cutting down our mast so we can get under the 65 ft. bridges on the ICW, installing solar panels, and getting the salon cushions recovered. We thoroughly enjoy Charleston with its wealth of history, beautiful dog-friendly beaches, sunny weather, and most importantly friendly people. This will be our third summer/fall in Charleston at the Maritime Center. Hopefully next November we can come back to Florida to get the twin diesels and finally head out to the Bahamas and beyond.

Miami, FL

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:52:34 -0500

Yesterday we sailed south from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. We are currently on a mooring ball at Dinner Key Marina on Biscayne Bay. It was not a quick sail from Ft. Lauderdale as we had 1 to 2 kt winds from the north the entire way and we motored at an average of a little over 5 kts. The seas were flat except when motor yachts whipped past us. With an entire ocean available, boats seemed to love to pass us closely at a fast speed. We were constantly being rocked by the wake of numerous megayachts. Many were probably headed here for the Miami International Boat Show which begins next Thursday.

The photo above is part of the skyline of Miami. It’s probably the most beautiful city skyline we’ve seen, as the architecture is unique and the buildings are colorful. Unfortunately, the sky wasn’t blue, but it was still dramatic. If you watch “CSI Miami” look at the buildings in the first few scenes and notice the vibrant colors.

This is a large port, home to many cruise ships, commercial vessels, and numerous pleasure craft. The photo at the right shows part of a long row of commercial vessels just inside the inlet tied up waiting for cargo, with the skyline of Miami ahead. Ft. Lauderdale seems to have more megayachts, but Miami has many marinas filled with sailboats and motor vessels. Biscayne Bay is ideal for sailing as there is usually a good wind, it’s large, and the water rarely gets very choppy. Even today, with small craft warnings (20 kt winds) and rain, a steady stream of small sailboats are on the Bay appearing to either take a class or engage in some type of race. When we took sailing lessons two years ago, we sailed down from Ft. Lauderdale and our instructor lead us through maneuvers on Biscayne Bay.

We left Ft. Lauderdale to find a less expensive place to stay as well as for a change of scenery after spending three months there. Actually, nothing in Florida is “cheap” during the winter season. We need to be near Ft. Lauderdale as we hope to have work done there on the Seas the Day this winter or spring. Miami is about 30 miles south of Ft. Lauderdale. We’ll be here at least a month, and then we might head farther south to the Keys, maybe to Marathon. Staying on a mooring ball (photo at left) in Dinner Key costs $294 a month. We have use of all of the marina facilities plus a free water taxi comes to pick us up and bring us to shore if we don’t want to use our dinghy. Also, a boat comes to us for a free pumpout on Mondays and Fridays. There are 225 mooring balls here and the Dinner Key Marina has 582 slips. It’s the largest marine facility in Florida and one of many in Miami. We can walk to Coconut Grove Village which, according to the marina booklet, has “a fashionable retail and entertainment district along with the world renowned Cocowalk.” Last night, we went to dinner at the Cheescake Factory with friends Linda and Rick on another Lagoon 420, Makeitso.

Today it’s cold (62), windy and raining. It’s probably in the 50’s with the “wind chill.” (That comment is for friends and relatives currently in Minnesota and Wisconsin.) The water taxi wasn’t running this morning because of small craft warnings, so Mark had to take Daisy ashore in the dinghy for her morning walk. They got very wet. Daisy refuses to “go” on the deck. Makeitso is on a mooring ball next to us and their dog Kirby “does his business” on the trampolines. We are going to have him visit us to see if he’ll do business here and leave an odor for Daisy on our trampolines. Maybe then she’ll realize it’s OK to use it. Normally, we are quite happy to take Daisy ashore, but in conditions like today it would be nice for her to take a short walk to the forward deck.

In the meantime, Daisy is happy to stay on the boat. In the photo to the left, she is not really eating out of the bowl on the table in the cockpit, but it was a “Kodak Moment” to show her eating lunch with Mark.

Next week, we’ll visit the Miami Boat Show. One part of it is a “Strictly Sail” show and we are choosing from a list of of interesting seminars to attend. It’s always fun to board other boat models to see what we might be missing or to assure ourselves that we made the right decision with what we have. There will probably be some “boat show deals” on various marine items that will be hard to pass up, but for the most part we are just going to look.

Happy New Year

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:14:10 -0500

December was a very busy month with many activities in Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. We went across the river to the Broward Performing Arts Center to see The Nutcracker. It was a fun evening and the start of a weekend with Jennifer visiting. The next day, the Winterfest Boat Parade entries were staging on the New River right where we were docked so we had to leave our slip for the day and night. We motored a short distance up the river to a slip at the Lauderdale Marine Center. That evening we drove to a park along the river where we watched the boat parade from a grandstand seat. It was a fantastic parade with 100 entries. The theme was “Dance Through the Decades” and most boats included music and dancers with their Christmas lights. A Michael Jackson impersonator was on one and an Elvis was on another. The boat pictured here celebrated “American Bandstand.” Entries ranged from decorated paddle boards to megayachts. I can’t imagine a more festive boat parade.

A week later, we drove to Orlando and stayed in a timeshare for a week, visiting DisneyWorld every day. Jennifer was with us and we had a great time. Above Jennifer and I are enjoying one of the rides. On Christmas Eve, we splurged and went to the Japanese restaurant in Epcot and then watched an annual holiday program called the “Candlelight Processional.” Movie star James Olmos narrated the traditional story of Christmas and a large choir of students and adults, accompanied by an orchestra, sang Christmas songs. It is held every night for about a month, and we were fortunate to hear it on Christmas Eve.

We got to see the “Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights” at Hollywood Studios. The lights which cover all the buildings for blocks on the “New York Street Backlot Set” are synchronized to music.

We were back on the boat the following week for New Years Eve and our good friends from Pascana, Philip and Alison (left), came over to Seas the Day to celebrate with us. We planned on a quiet dinner, but we were surprised to look across the river, a few hundred feet away, to see a large silver ball at the top of a crane, ready to drop at midnight. It did just that, followed by another surprise from the rooftop of the Broward Center, also directly across the water from us...fireworks!

January has been a month of relaxation. Mark had a few boat chores to do and I’ve read a lot of books. One advantage of sitting at a marina is that we aren’t using any of the boat systems so nothing goes wrong. We paid for three months at New River and will be here through the middle of February. Then, we’ll move south to the Keys.

Last week, my brother Duane, sister-in-law Jeanette, and her two sisters Joan and Jean visited us for an afternoon. They are staying north of us in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton in their condos. Early in February, my brother Doug, his wife ZhangLin, and their daughter Amy will be driving from their home on the Gulf side of Florida to visit us. So, while we are very disappointed that we won’t be making it to the Bahamas this year, we are certainly making the most of it in warm, sunny Florida spending time with family and friends.

Month #1 on the New River

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 16:01:27 -0500

In the words of our new friend Bill Shaw, “I need time for stuff to happen to me before I can tell about it.” (Bill is one of the most interesting persons we have ever met and his blog (http://blog.billshaw.org/) about cruising from Canada to Peru in a 22 ft canoe is a fantastic read.) Not much stuff has been happening to us so far in Ft. Lauderdale but that is about to change.

In the photo above, we are at our slip and right behind us is Mirasol, another Lagoon 420. Unfortunately, winter season is the expensive time to stay at marinas in Ft. Lauderdale. Yet we need to be at a dock , rather than anchoring out, for a number of reasons. One nice benefit is that my daughter Jennifer lives in Merritt Island with her father and she has been able to visit weekly for several days at a time. (For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, Jennifer is 30 years old and autistic.) She is quite independent and high functioning but still needs structure. She calls me at 9:30 pm every night, even last year when we were in the Bahamas for five months. Actually, I called her as I used my Bahamas phone which was quite inexpensive for our two minute talks. She has activities scheduled almost every night and hates to miss them, so we work around bowling, bingo, dances, nature night, etc.

It is looking more and more like we are not going to leave the country this year. I must say I am disappointed, especially when I read the blogs of cruiser friends we met last year who are already in the Bahamas. However, there are worse things than sitting on a boat in Florida this winter. Shortly after we arrived here we rented a car, drove back to Charleston, and brought our SUV down here. We had it for the five months we were in Charleston for hurricane season, although it is usually stored back in Minnesota. It’s been great having a car available at all times without having to pay a rental company. While I can deal with having a rental car sporadically, when we stay somewhere for an extended period of time it is wonderful to have reliable, constant transportation.

For entertainment so far we haven’t done much more than see a few movies. This week will be a bonanza. Friday night Jennifer, Mark and I will see the Miami City Ballet perform The Nutcracker. It will be performed across the river, a few hundred feet from us, at the Broward Center. On Saturday we will see the very popular Ft. Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade. We will watch it from a grandstand at Birch Park on the ICW. While we wait for the boat parade to arrive, we will be entertained with music, visit a Seminole Indian Camp, eat, and even have a picture taken with Santa. After the fireworks at 6:30 pm, the decorated boats will start down the New River. The theme is “Dancing Through the Decades” which I know Jennifer will love as she listens to several music CD’s every day from her collection of well over a thousand. We’ve heard that a million people will line the New River and ICW parade route enjoying everything from small boats to megayachts, decorated for Christmas and presumably with dancers on their decks while broadcasting music.

Because the parade begins on the New River and then enters the ICW, we have to leave our slip by 2:30 pm . The staging area is actually right where we are currently docked. We are going to the Lauderdale Marine Center farther down the river for the night, rather than take a chance at anchoring in nearby Lake Sylvia. We figure this small lake, which normally is a great anchorage, will be shore to shore boats, probably rafted together. Since the parade passes right by Lake Sylvia, off the ICW, we could have anchored there, taken our dinghy, tied up in front of some mansion, and watched the parade. This would have been fun, but spending the night in those congested conditions did not sound inviting.

Last week, we took a dinghy ride from our slip down the New River passing by multiple mansions. Jennifer was visiting and we hoped to see elaborate holiday light displays. Unfortunately, we were a little early and only saw a few homes lit up. One in particular is on a curve in the river and has numerous small vignettes featuring a snow scene with singers, animals dressed for the holidays including an alligator with a Santa hat on his head, etc. The city has done a great job of decorating along the river. High rise condos are on our street and also across the river. They must vote on what they will display. One condo building has white lights on most balconies while another opted for colored ones. Yet another has numerous displays of lights in palm tree designs.

Our tabletop Christmas tree is up. That means we opened the box, took it out and plugged it in. We also have strings of lights on the lifelines, the bimini top, and the roof of the salon.

Our next big adventure will be from December 18-25 when we’ll stay at a timeshare (Vistana) in Orlando. It is right next to DisneyWorld, and I suspect we’ll be spending every day there as Jennifer will be with us. Since we are Florida residents we can get special rates to the parks.

Daisy has been enjoying our visit here since we are right next to a little grassy park area and we take her on long walks in the neighborhood as well as over the bridges to the other side of the river where there is a Riverwalk lined by restaurants, theaters, and more high rise condos. Daisy must greet every dog and person, so we have lots of stops. Many people are out walking dogs all day long. Bark Park is a fantastic nearby dog park. It has benches, covered areas, walkways, separate fenced areas, and even equipment for dogs to use for exercising, as well as a lake where dogs can swim. Unfortunately, there are sometimes aggressive dogs which scared Daisy so we haven’t been back. She spends most of her time sleeping under the salon table.

Until the last few days, the weather has been in the 80’s during the day and high 60’s at night. However, a cold front just passed through. I heard that dogs are wearing sweaters to Starbucks in South Beach (Miami) so that says it all. They are even talking about “wind chillls.” (Don’t laugh friends in Minnesota and Wisconsin.) Ft. Lauderdale broke a 169 year old record low this morning. I believe it was 40 degrees. By the afternoon we were in the low 70’s.

On the first Sunday of every month in Ft. Lauderdale, there is a Jazz Concert on the New River. A few days ago, I spent the afternoon swinging in our hammock, reading a book, listening to music from the bandshell a few hundred feet across the river. In the photo to the right, the width of the river is shown, barely wide enough for two large yachts to pass each other, with the jazz band playing under the covered area. Yes, Daisy has an indoor and outdoor bed.

Since this is a wider area of the river it is also a turning basin for large yachts. A few nights ago, a large party was being held on a 100+ ft yacht that turned around next to us and headed back the other way. They came so close, I was tempted to go outside and say, “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?” The megayachts are often being towed to a boatyard down the river. Also, a large number of sail and motor boats are at docks on the numerous canals off the river. People who live in these houses often rent their dock space to boat owners. Several times a day, The Jungle Queen, a local tour boat, comes by us. The people tend to wave. The large windows in the salon are great and give us almost a 360 degree view, however if we don’t close the curtains we are in full view of the people on the boats going by. We gave up ignoring them and usually wave back at the tourists on the Jungle Queen. All day long and into the night, boats pass by but due to the curves in the waterway and a bridge every few blocks, they have to go very slowly. We rarely get any wake from them, and usually the water is very calm.

We have committed to being here three months (30% discount at the marina if we stay that long). Then we are going to have some work done on the boat which will involve being hauled out for three weeks, but after that we have no definite plans. One option is to go south and stay in the Keys for awhile. For the time being, this is a good place to be.

Back in Ft. Lauderdale

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:19:13 -0500

It took us a week and a half to get here from Charleston, but we sat in Port Canaveral for a week waiting first for the shuttle launch and then several more days after it was canceled for good sailing weather. The winds were in excess of 25 kts and seas were reported to be 7-9 feet. Finally, yesterday the wind had dropped so we left Port Canaveral when the bridge lifted at 8 am after closing for rush hour. First we had to go through a small lock and then the Christa McAuliffe Bridge opened for us. The sea was almost flat with swells from behind us. Unfortunately, the wind was below 5 kts most of the way. Still we averaged 6 kts motorsailing and were very comfortable with not a single white cap the entire way here.

We went overnight to Ft. Lauderdale, arriving at the 17th St. Causeway Bridge at 10 am today, so it took us 26 hours to get here. We stayed as close to shore as we could, but were still slowed by the Gulf Stream for awhile.

Our trip south involved three overnights: Charleston to St. Augustine, St. Augustine to Port Canaveral, and Port Canaveral to Ft. Lauderdale. Poor Daisy refuses to “go” on the deck, so she endured 24+ hours between walks on each leg of the trip. Somehow she knows when we are nearing our stop as she leaves her position at the helm and wanders to the foredeck.

We are now tied up to the dock at the New River Marina on Sailboat Bend. Since they offer a 30% off discount if you pay three months in advance, that’s what we are doing. We’ll be here until at least the middle of February. We plan to have some work done on the boat while we are here and if time permits we could still go to The Bahamas for three months in the spring.

On Saturday, we are driving a rental car to Charleston (@500 miles) where we’ll pick up our SUV and bring it back here.

Waiting in Port Canaveral

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 16:58:32 -0400

We arrived in Port Canaveral before daylight on Tuesday and waited several hours before entering the channel. Unfortunately, just as we entered a military submarine came behind us. The channel was filled with Coast Guard and marine police boats which “escorted” us into the port. The photo above is a little blurry, but I had to wait until they weren’t watching us and then I quickly took a picture. I suppose they wouldn’t mind, but you don’t mess with marine police or the Coast Guard.

After we got into the port we filled up with fuel and water and waited for the bascule bridge to open. Right after the bridge is a lock which we had to go through. We anchored a short distance away to wait for the shuttle launch on Wednesday. We had a good view of the launch pad, but after postponing it several times, we finally heard today that due to a fuel leak, they wouldn’t attempt a lift-off again until November 30.

We aren’t sure when we are going to leave, however, as the forecast for the next few days is winds over 20 kts and seas 7-9 feet. The sky is clear and there are no storms in sight, but this is much like the weather when we left Ft. Lauderdale on our first solo sail in 2008. The waves crashed over the top of the salon roof all day long. The problem with staying here is that the only place we can get off the boat is to take a dinghy to a small island named Ski Island. Daisy likes it and it’s close so at least she can get some exercise.

We have two more day sails or one overnight to get to Ft. Lauderdale. Right now it doesn’t look promising to leave until next Wednesday when the seas are 4-6. While forecasts are often wrong, we aren’t willing to chance going out in the ocean with 7-9 ft waves, even if they are following seas. We have very little protection here, but it is shallow with good holding so the slight bouncing around is fine. If we had continued on last Monday, we would have been in Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday or Wednesday and driving to Charleston to pick up our car by now. Luckily, we have no schedule, and there are worse things than bouncing around in the water in Florida.

On Our Way to Port Canaveral

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 08:14:41 -0400

We were up at 6 am, Mark took Daisy in the dinghy for a walk, and we were on our way at 7:10. Unfortunately it was cloudy so we couldn’t get out quite as early as we planned We did beat the sun and were out of the channel and sailing south by sunrise.

Another sailboat was leaving St. Augustine and took a picture of us with the sunrise in the background. They called us on the radio and got our e-mail address to send them to us. Hopefully they understood the address OK, as they were French and kept asking us to spell it out using the radio telephone alphabet.

Once again we had following seas but the wind was very light, so we could only motorsail around 6 kts. Coming out of the Ponce de Leon (St. Augustine) inlet we were flying at almost 9 kts, but that was due to an outgoing current.

Daisy is adjusting the being a first mate again, but oddly she waits for permission to do almost everything, including coming into the cabin. She stands in the doorway and waits until we tell her to come in. She does the same thing when climbing the few steps to the helm station and won’t come up to her position under the wheel until we say it’s OK. In the photo, Mark is eating a donut and Daisy is waiting for her piece of it. Her head is peaking over his leg.

When we heard that the last space shuttle launch is on Wednesday, we decided to skip stopping in New Smyrna Beach and continue on to Port Canaveral. We will have to slow down to get there in daylight. We should be able to find a good place to anchor although since this is the last launch of the shuttles, it will probably be more crowded than past ones. Most of the water around the launch area is restricted but there are several areas marked as space shuttle viewing areas.

Happy Halloween From St. Augustine

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 18:36:05 -0400

We arrived in St. Augustine yesterday afternoon after sailing for 30 hours from Charleston. Since we were exhausted we decided to stay a day and rest. This afternoon we walked around the city. Many people were in costume and some of the stores were giving out treats to the children in costume. This is our fourth stop in St. Augustine, but still fun to walk on the streets. The weather was in the mid 80’s and very comfortable. We took a lot of photos on our first visit to St. Augustine.

Unfortunately, Daisy’s costume must have been thrown out with some clothes that got wet and moldy. We happened to come to a store with dog items and found the perfect costume for Daisy, Yankee Doodle Doggie. It was appropriate since Daisy is a a Golden Doodle. She was born in Ohio, so is also a Yankee. The costume was a little snug, but stretchy. We didn’t tell her that it made her bottom look big.

It’s been four months since Daisy needed a dinghy to go ashore, but she adjusted quickly. I guess it’s like riding a bike. We always purchase a dinghy dock pass from the city marina for $10 which allows us to use the laundry and showers and there is free wifi and a TV in the boater’s lounge.

We heard today that there is a shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday. We weren’t planning on stopping there, but we should be able to make it by Tuesday in the late afternoon with a stop in New Smyrna Beach tomorrow. We have been on the boat in Port Canaveral for a rocket launching, but a shuttle launch would be great to see. We’ll stay in an anchorage with a perfect view of the shuttle launch pad. This is the last shuttle launch, so it will probably be crowded in the area for viewing. Then again, the launches are often delayed, so it would be disappointing to be anchored and ready to watch and find out it is postponed for another day. No matter where we are in Florida, we’ll be able to see the shuttle, but it’s much more dramatic to watch the take-off from the pads.

Tomorrow we’ll have to leave at first light, since the days are short. We will be sailing about 60 miles, counting the distance from this anchorage, out to the ocean and then in at New Smyrna Beach to our anchorage. If we have a good wind direction and speed, we can make it in 10 hours or less. There are almost 12 hours of visible light tomorrow and we never want to enter an inlet in the dark. We have done that several times, the most difficult being entering Port Canaveral in the early morning at the same time as cruise ships and military vessels.

Last Month in Charleston

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:36:08 -0400

We spent four months in Charleston and are now ready to head south to Florida. We had planned on leaving on October 28, but of course a weather system came through so we decided to wait until Friday the 29th. Also, the winds are clocking to the north from the southwest. Since we are headed southwest, that would not have been a comfortable ride. We will have to wait until about 8 am to leave as low tide is at 7 am and we are on the bottom at that point. We have to consider the wind, current, and tide to get out of this small marina.

These last few weeks have been busy as we tried to get in all of our appointments: doctors, dentists, various medical tests, vet for Daisy, car maintenance, etc. Since we are bringing the car to Florida, we weren’t madly rushing to stores we usually can’t reach by bike or walking, such as Sam’s and Walmart. Mark replaced the shift cables on the bikes, but had to bring them to a bike store to be adjusted. The bikes are fairly new, but salt water and air destroys them, especially since the bikes are stored (covered) on the deck.

We’ve met a lot of cruisers in the last few weeks as the marina has been full with boats going south, most on the ICW. One of the most interesting visitors was the “Canoe Dude,” AKA Bill Shaw. Bill is from Nova Scotia and has traveled from there on his 23 foot canoe. His destination is the Amazon River. He has a very interesting, entertaining blog so we will continue to follow his adventure. He actually mentions us kindly in his October 27 blog. That was probably because we had read some of his entries from precious stops where he mocked various people and we told him that we were on our best behavior and would be checking his blog after he left. On the left, Bill stands by his canoe, Lucky Suz. He does have an enclosure but it doesn’t keep everything out, as his current blog laments. Below he is leaving the marina, waving goodbye, as he passes the Ravenel Bridge.

Several days ago a large cruise ship entered the harbor just as the Carnival Fantasy left the dock. Presently, Carnival and NCL are the only cruise lines which come to Charleston, and this one simply said “The World” on the ship. Googling it, we discovered that this is a “residential cruise ship” where people buy condos and live on it while they cruise.....the world! Prices range from $600,000 for $13,500,000 and you can also rent apartments by the week. The monthly homeowner dues range from $20,000 ”and up.” These cover fuel, crew, maintenance and a meal allowance for the owner. What a way to travel!! There are 165 residential units, a crew of 250 and anywhere from 100 to 300 residents and guests onboard at one time. The World is 644 feet long and has 12 decks. Unfortunately, they left before we realized what the ship was, so we didn’t get any pictures. The were docked a few blocks from us and when they came and left, they went right by our marina.

Until about three weeks ago, there were only two other boats at the Maritime Center with liveaboard residents, and a few empty boats. As the hurricane season comes to an end, many boats are going south and stopping at our marina. We’ve met friendly cruisers lately, some whom we’ve seen before and several whom we know well. Two of these are Mirasol and Makeitso, sister Lagoon 420’s. We’ll probably see them again in Florida, but both are going to the Bahamas this winter season.

We have more or less resigned ourselves that we won’t be able to cross to the Bahamas this year as we are having engine work done in Florida and that may take three weeks. Therefore, we are headed to our familiar slip on New River in Ft. Lauderdale. We might stay there three months, but for sure one month. The reason for this is there is a 30% discount on the dock fees for three months and 15% for one month at the city marina. During this time, Mark will hopefully get solar panels installed and finish up other chores. We will be bringing our car from Charleston to Ft. Lauderdale so we’ll have transportation while we are there. My brother Doug lives north of Tampa, so we can easily drive across the state to visit him as well as high school friend Nancy and her husband Dennis in Matlacha. In addition, my daughter Jennifer is a few hours away in Merritt Island and hopefully I’ll get to see her every often. Our friends from England, Philip and Alison (Pascana) will be back in Florida while we are there, as they keep their sailboat at a private dock in Ft. Lauderdale.

We’ll certainly miss our second home at the Maritime Center in Charleston. We’ve made good friends and so has Daisy. She will miss her buddies Mindy (black Poodle) and Taxi (Golden Retriever) as well as many other friends from the dog park. As soon as we leave here, Daisy will go into “hibernation mode” since she realizes she won’t be taking her regular walks today. What she doesn’t know is that we’ll be sailing all day, overnight and perhaps stopping in Fernandina Beach sometime tomorrow. Then again, if the weather is good, we might keep going. As of now there are no storms in the forecast and the wind is following us from the north. It will clock around and when it gets to the south, we may have to pull over and wait for awhile.

Month #3 in Charleston

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:56:06 -0400

It’s Fall in South Carolina. That means the temperatures have dropped to the high 60’s overnight and are in the mid to high 70’s during the day. The locals are wearing jackets and long pants now. A woman in my yoga class came into the studio this morning and said, “It’s frigid out there.” That brought out a few chuckles, mainly from the people who have lived north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Even though there aren’t beautiful colored leaves falling off trees, it does feel like Fall outside with crisp air and pleasant breezes. South Carolina is called “The Low Country” and the photo at the left is the reason why. It was taken off a road we take to the beach - a busy, well traveled road, not a country road. The marsh grass goes on for as far as you can see along the Intracoastal Waterway. Long docks are the norm to get from houses through the marsh grass out to the water where boats are docked. Also at yoga class, I overheard someone talking about walking on a bank along the river by her house. She said alligators and snakes sunning on the bank slithered off as they approached. Uh.....no thanks. I’ll enjoy the marshes from the roads.

We have one month left in Charleston before we head south and we STILL don’t have a plan. At the end of October, we’ll be leaving our marina, making a right turn away from the Ravenel Bridge and sailing the short distance out to the Atlantic. Another right turn and we’ll be on our way to Florida. That much we know.

In the meantime, we are rushing around making medical appointments, car maintenance appointments, purchasing items while we can still drive to Sam’s, Walmart, West Marine, etc. Well, “rushing” isn’t exactly accurate. A few days ago a friend asked me if I had a busy week planned. I replied that we don’t do busy weeks. Still, we were a little too laid back for the last three months and now we have to finish items left on the “to do list.”

So far no hurricanes have come close to us and the few that have passed by Charleston far out in the ocean have caused little stormy weather. North Carolina recently got over 20 inches of water from Nicole’s tropical storm system and we only received 2 or 3 inches. We did get some good size waves, however, much to the pleasure of local surfers. Hurricane season officially ends at the end of November, but for insurance purposes we are allowed to leave South Carolina on November 1.

Our favorite beach remains the one on Isle of Palms. We drive about 15 minutes several times a week to get there. The tides create beautiful designs in the sand on the beach late in the afternoon under the setting sun. We’ll definitely miss walking on beaches with Daisy, as once we get into Florida dogs are rarely allowed on them.

Now that it is cooler, Daisy has resumed one of her favorite places to rest, on a seat in the cockpit. She spends a great deal of time resting.....until she hears, sees, or smells our food. Below, she assumes her begging position with her head resting on Mark’s lap. She remains motionless for minutes at a time, knowing that if she is very still eventually she’ll be rewarded. In this case she shared Mark’s chips.

Month #2 in Charleston

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:21:53 -0400

We have now spent July and August in Charleston and finally the temperature and humidity have dropped enough to make it comfortable to be outside during the day. Therefore, we have started riding our bikes again, going to the Isle of Palms Beach, and enjoying our morning walks when the day is still cool in the lower 70’s. Every Saturday, we walk to the huge Farmer’s Market in the center of town. Perhaps we’ll now be able to take a few road trips to other cities in South Carolina and the adjoining states and get out of the car without melting. Of course, we won’t be doing that this week as Hurricane Earl approaches the East Coast.

The forecast is for the southern edge of the “Cone of Uncertainty” to reach the Outer Banks of North Carolina and head north. As of Tuesday night, the “cone” prediction does not touch South Carolina. Earl should be near the US coast by Thursday. However, that means nothing since hurricanes often change direction as they approach land. That’s why the “cone” is called “uncertain.” We do have a hurricane plan, which involves leaving the marina and taking Seas the Day about 25 miles up the Cooper River. We can only travel until we reach a railroad bridge which is too low for us to go under. But it should be far enough inland to avoid any surge, which is the biggest problem with most hurricanes.

While we are on a floating dock, the last time a major hurricane came through here, the water went high enough to take boats over the top of the floating docks. A photo of our dock is below. As the water level goes up, the docks “float” up with it, but obviously if the water goes up past the height of the pilings, boats will “float” away. On a daily basis, floating docks are great as the step down from a boat to the dock never varies.

If we do have to leave, more than likely Mark will stay on the boat and I will take Daisy in the car farther inland. While we do have hurricane insurance, the deductible for damage is $22,500. In addition, we are required to be in South Carolina or farther north. If we were south of here, and had damage from a named storm (this includes tropical storms as well as hurricanes) we would have NO coverage. Oddly, many boat insurance policies require you to be in the Chesapeake Bay area or further north. We talked our agent into writing our policy for South Carolina. At least for this hurricane, that was probably a wise decision.

Every morning, Daisy has a walk along the streets of Charleston to a nearby park. She gets frequent drinks of water and we also stop to rest at the park. We take her to the beach quite often. She loves to play in the water, but doesn’t like to swim. Daisy spends most days sleeping in front of an air conditioning grate under the table.

Charleston is a very busy commercial port and we have large container ships passing by us several times a day. Also, Carnival has recently started cruises leaving from Charleston. Below are a container ship filled with cars from a nearby BMW plant and the cruise ship headed for The Bahamas passing our marina.

We have two more months to stay in Charleston. We will probably by driving back to Minnesota to store the car towards the end of October and by November 1 we will be sailing south. We still haven’t decided where we will spend the winter.

Month #1 in Charleston

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:42:17 -0400

it’s been a very hot month in Charleston, not at all like the weather we had last summer when we were here. The temperatures have been over 90 every day, with a heat index well over 100. This makes it almost impossible to be out in the sun during the late morning or afternoon. Still, we have managed to do some things since we got here at the end of June.

Shortly after we arrived in Charleston, we rented a car and drove to Minnesota. There, we visited family and friends, got our car out of storage and drove it back to Charleston. The entire trip lasted one week and then we began to get into our South Carolina routine.

Above are two of Daisy’s friends from the dog park. The Golden is Taxi and the black Poodle is Mindy. Most of Daisy’s friends go to a different dog park now, which is several blocks away. Four days a week, Daisy and I go for a walk with Taxi and Jackie. We walk the streets of Charleston early in the morning before it gets too hot. The other three mornings, I go to classes at my yoga studio, Holy Cow and Mark walks Daisy.

Last year we went to the beach fairly often. This year it’s been too hot to go during the day. We’ve only been to the Isle of Palms beach twice, and that was in the evening. Every Saturday there is a large Farmer’s Market in downtown Charleston. Unfortunately, the prices are fairly high so we mostly look and perhaps buy some locally grown vegetables, mainly peaches. South Carolina grows more peaches than any other state, including Georgia which apparently grabbed the name “Peach Tree State” first. We’ve done a fair amount of shopping, going to movies, and of course the ever present boat work.

Mark has a long list of chores. The main one he is anxious to finish is repairing the finish on the four large windows in the cabins. While we were in Spanish Wells in The Bahamas, he sanded the outside etching off two of them and completed the other two in Ft. Lauderdale. The photo shows the beginning of the process. Last week, we purchased some new film which Mark will apply to pieces of plexiglass cut to match the size of the windows. These will fit inside the windows. Lagoon, for some odd reason, puts the etching design on the outside of the windows and of course if they don’t get scratched, they certainly fade in the sun. Ours had both problems, and were looking pretty bad.

Another thing we are planning to do this summer/fall is to install solar panels. Most boats do have them and of course they will save the cost of running the generator so often to charge batteries.

Since we have the car here, we are going to take some day trips around the area. One destination will be Savannah, which we were unable to stop at while cruising north.

Our plan continues to be to stay in Charleston until the end of October before heading south again.

Going Aground in Hilton Head and 60 kt Winds in Charleston

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:33:05 -0400

The day began at 3 am when I woke up and something seemed wrong. Getting out of bed, I realized that the boat was tipping at an angle. Last night at about 10 pm a marine policeman came by and told us we had to move closer to shore because at high tide we would end up in the middle of Broad Creek’s channel. We were reluctant to move. First, it was high tide when he came and we were not in the channel. We didn’t want to get closer to the grassy shore as there is about a 4-5 ft tidal change and low tide was coming during the night. In the photo at the left taken after we dropped the anchor yesterday, we were already close to shore. Also, we never like to move the anchor when it is dark. Other boats in the anchorage were farther out towards the channel than us, and during the night few if any boats would be coming past us before we would be leaving at 4:30 am. However, those other boats didn’t have anyone on them and we were the only boat in the anchorage with our anchor light on. I guess that wasn’t important to the policeman. I guess we were the only people he could find to assert his authority on. We moved closer to shore and went to sleep.

When we looked outside at 3 am, we were on dry ground on the starboard side and titling. The port side was still in water, but also aground. I was actually worried that we would tip over, but Mark assured me we wouldn’t. He went back to sleep, while Daisy and I sat out on the deck and watched until the tide started coming in. Low tide was at 4:30 am and since there was a full moon the low and high tides were more extreme than normal. At about 6 am the water was high enough to attempt using the anchor and the props to get us off the bottom. We were able to get free and we headed down Broad Creek to the inlet by 6:15. It takes two hours to get out to the ocean from this anchorage. We were going against the incoming tide in the channel, so could only get up to 5 kts on the way out. Once we made the turn north along the coast we went to 7 kts and averaged 7.5 kts the entire trip to Charleston, even though the winds remained lower than 5 kts most of the way. We had 3-5 ft swells but since they were from behind, we merely surfed on them. We had to go out ten miles to avoid shoaling and shallow water, and then another ten miles in when we arrived at the Charleston channel. The total trip was 92 miles from the Hilton Head anchorage to the Charleston Maritime Center Marina.

It was a pleasant trip with clear skies. The generator performed well and didn’t stop running until about 3:30 pm when it started to die and then charged back up. It did this several times until it finally died. Mark restarted it and all was well. We will need to get this fixed as it has been a problem all the way north from Ft. Lauderdale. When we were just a few miles from the channel entrance into Charleston Harbor, the sky grew dark over the land. Then the Coast Guard came on the VHF radio announcing that there was a severe weather warning for the coastal South Carolina area, including Charleston Harbor. The storm had up to 60 kt winds and was heading northeast at 20 kts, directly toward us. We quickly took down the sails and prepared to battle the wind and waves. Various reports came over the radio from boats in trouble. A 40 ft catamaran had somehow lost its anchor in a Charleston anchorage and was headed out to sea. We heard a call from a boat out of fuel, unable to get ashore. The Coast Guard continued to advise all boaters to find a safe harbor.

As we entered the jetties, we saw a small fishing boat near the rocks, presumably waiting out the storm rather than heading in. We had heard them calling for anyone in the channel, but there was no way we could get near the rocky jetty to help them. There were numerous small fishing boats passing us trying to get to safety. We are always shocked at people who go miles out into the ocean in these small boats, especially when the seas are rough as they were today, with storms approaching. Some of the small boats going past us at full speed had young children aboard.

Fortunately, the storm went over us quickly and we were only in 25 kts winds with some higher gusts for a few minutes. We’re not sure if they ever reached the predicted 60 kts in this storm system. The photo at the top of this blog page shows the storm clouds after they had passed over us, headed out to sea. However, more clouds were approaching us as we came through the jetties toward the harbor and the storm warnings were still in effect for Charleston Harbor. An added worry was the generator. We are still able to use the electric engine when we lose the power from the generator, but it doesn’t give us quite as much power and uses up our batteries. For some reason, the generator continued to run well in the inlet, even though every time this has happened since we left Ft. Lauderdale, we’ve lost power while leaving the ocean through a channel. As we passed the Ravenel Bridge, the skies were clearing, but we weren’t home free yet. (The Author Ravenel Bridge in Charleston is the longest cable supported bridge in the United States. It runs from Charleston across the Cooper River to Mt. Pleasant. )

The Maritime Center is very easy to get into and we knew where our slip was located. In the photo at the right, the Maritime Center is to the left of the tall condo building in the center. As we entered the marina, the generator suddenly quit. It almost seemed like it was holding off until we were safely in the marina. Perhaps our guardian angel was watching over us once again. Without time to try to restart the generator, the electric engine provided enough power to get us over to the dock. No one was around to help us, but there was no current, the wind was down to a few kts and it was easy to throw the lines over the cleats on the floating dock.

Finally, we are at our summer/fall home in Charleston. We left Ft. Lauderdale ten days ago, stopping for three days in Port Canaveral, so it took us seven days of motorsailing to get here. We only did one overnight, from Ft. Lauderdale to Port Canaveral. Next time we take this route, we might just bite the bullet and go straight through.

We are presently docked right behind another Lagoon 420, Mirasol. Gregg and Jen made the same trip we did from Ft. Lauderdale, but they did it in one shot and it took them 2 1/2 days. Our plan had been to get the mast cut down and take the ICW part of the way but we ran out of time to do it. However, overall, it was an easy trip on the Atlantic. Now we can rest for a few days, get Seas the Day cleaned outside and in, pack up what we are bringing back to our storage garage in Minnesota, and leave on Saturday. By the middle of July we’ll be back here with our car, ready to enjoy the Charleston area again......beaches, yoga class, dog park, great historical sites to visit, museums, shopping, day trips in the car, bike riding, etc.

First on the agenda is to ride our bikes a few blocks to East Bay Deli for sandwiches and then another few blocks to Harris Teeter for groceries. Tomorrow morning, Daisy will get reacquainted with her buddies at the dog park across the street.

Hilton Head, SC

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:19:16 -0400

We left Walburg Creek at 6:45 this morning with the sun rising behind St. Catherine’s Island. At the left is a photo of the wind speed as we entered the channel out to the Atlantic Ocean. We had following seas with the wind speed eventually getting up to about 6 kts. It was a very comfortable sail all day until just as we entered the inlet for Hilton Head Island. Then the generator started turning off again. This is a busy commercial channel, so it was bad timing to lose power as we were in it. While we can use the electric motor without the genset on, it does use up our batteries so we rarely use it. Mark thinks the genset problem must be something to do with a sensor as it is worse when we are bouncing around a bit. Also, when we run it while anchored to charge the batteries and use the air conditioner, it works fine.

We have been to Hilton Head on the boat several times. Upon exiting the inlet, there are two channels. One takes you to Savannah and the other goes to Hilton Head Island. As you approach Hilton Head, the lighthouse at Harbour Town Marina is the first thing you see, after the beaches. We have never stayed there but friends Hal and Cheryl (Mas Bueno) went to that marina last year and were given a bottle of wine as they checked in. We continued on to Broad Creek, got fuel at the Palmetto Marina, and anchored nearby. Last summer on our way north we spent several days here and had a great time riding our bikes on the many miles of bike trails. It is easy to get around as the bike trails take you all over the island.

When we dropped our anchor in Broad Creek (photo left), it was 93 degrees outside - too hot to ride bikes. This is a small anchorage and most of the boats are owned by locals. There is an entrance to Broad Creek from the ICW but at low tide it is only 4 ft deep, so most boats on the ICW don’t come here. For us, it was a two hour sail after entering the inlet to reach this anchorage. Unfortunately, this is a channel for tour boats and speed boats. Most don’t observe the “No Wake” zone. There is a local “No Wake Enforcer” who chastises all speeding boats from his VHF radio as they pass him. We’ve heard him before but have never figured out where he is. It could be near us as none of the small boats seem to slow down. In the photo to the left, one cuts in front of us and speeds through the anchorage.

Another interesting view is in the middle of our anchorage field. This guy has built some type of a floating ice cream store. We aren’t sure if people come to him or if he takes it somewhere to sell his products. It looks like something you would see at a carnival.

We will be leaving here very early tomorrow morning, probably before sunrise, and should be in Charleston tomorrow evening. Last year it took us 13 hours to get there from Hilton Head, but we had excellent wind and averaged 7 kts. We have been motorsailing at an average of 6.5 kts for most of this trip, even with the single digit wind speeds and following seas. The distance from this anchorage to the Maritime Center in Charleston is 92 miles, including the 12 miles we go out and the 12 miles we go back in when we get there . Since we’ve been to the Maritime Center before, we know that it is easy to enter. We already know our slip so we would feel OK arriving in the dark, even though the channel is commercial. Now that we are in South Carolina we have met the “hurricane zone” requirements of our boat insurance.

In May we were in Spanish Wells and met Rita, the Spanish Wells Manatee. She was very pregnant at the time and we heard that she had her baby this week. Below are two photos which are posted on Rita’s Facebook page. Rita has been fed lots of vegetables by visitors and the people who live in Spanish Wells, but the baby needs to nurse for about a year and doesn’t eat solid foods. There is concern that if Rita abandons her baby, the calf will not survive. A vet from the Atlantis Aquarium has been taking care of Rita during her pregnancy and is now advising the people in Spanish Wells what to do to keep her and the baby safe.

St. Catherine’s Island, GA

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:16:12 -0400

We had a pleasant motor sail to St. Catherine’s Island leaving at 7:00 am and arriving here at 5:00 pm. We are anchored in Walburg Creek which is very protected from strong winds. The wind did pick up today to over 20 kts. While we were coming through the channel we were going 10 kts which is very fast for us. Part of this was due to the strong current in the channel. However, we made very good time all day.

We are still having problems with the genset so when we get to Charleston, assuming we can get there, we’ll need to have a repairman look at it. Luckily, it only stops when it is in mode 5, for motorsailing. When we are at anchor and want to use it to turn on air conditioning, charge our house batteries, or to heat water for showers, it works fine. Again today it cut out while we were coming through the channel. We are more and more convinced that something happened while it was being repaired as we have never had this problem before and it happened on our first trip after the new part was put in the generator.

After we anchored, we took Daisy for a beach walk. This will be one of the only beaches she will be able to run free on between Florida and Charleston. It’s at least one mile long next to the inlet, with dead trees on the beach and a tropical forest covering most of the island. In Charleston, we can go to beaches that allow dogs on leashes and at certain hours they can be off leash. For some reason, Florida has the most stringent ordinances concerning dogs on beaches. In almost all cases they are not allowed. In Ft. Lauderdale, dogs are not even allowed on sidewalks next to the beach.

The seas were a little rougher today, mostly due to swells. We had a following wind from the south, so we rode the waves easily. The forecast for the next few days seems to be the same as today. Tomorrow we’ll be in Hilton Head and then we’ll do an overnight to Charleston, arriving there on Monday....possibly Tuesday. This is all assuming that the weather doesn’t change. The last time we were here there were storms and we stayed an extra day to wait for the seas to calm down. We are trying to time our departure tomorrow with a slack or outgoing tide.

Click here for more photos of St. Catherine’s Island from our last trip here.

Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, FL

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:00:28 -0400

We left New Smyrna Beach at 7 am and dropped the anchor at Fernandina Beach, FL at 3:30. We averaged 6.5 kits with following winds under 5 kts. Once again, the generator went off and on while we were motor sailing, and a few times it died. We don’t think it’s a fuel problem anymore, but possibly something the repairmen did, or didn’t do, when they were working on it. It took them several days to find the problem as they had obviously never working on this particular genset before. When we are in the ocean the generator stopping is not a huge problem, as long as it can be restarted. However, today it also quit just as we were in the middle of St. Mary’s Inlet with rock jetties on either side. We still had both sails up and were able to use the electric motor keeping us at 7 kts, but it was still worrisome.

Fernandina Beach is on Amelia Island, which is a popular tourist area. The first thing that greets you is the smell coming from a pulp mill (photo at the right). For any Duluthians reading this, think “Cloquet.” The small town has a few blocks of boutiques, restaurants and bars, but it is 2 miles to a Publix. We need milk so we might ride our bikes there later. There is a good size marina here and several smaller ones. It is also a popular place to stop either from the ICW or ocean, so you’d think there would be at least a convenience store nearby. We took Daisy ashore for a walk in town. Some stores had water in dog dishes by their door. The realty office (above) has a Golden Retriever statue by the door. Daisy was a little confused when it didn’t want to play with her.

Cumberland Island, GA is on the other side of the St. Mary’s Inlet, so tomorrow we will be out of Florida when we leave Fernandina Beach and turn north on the Atlantic. We’ll be starting early in the morning to sail to our next stop, Walburg Creek.

St. Augustine, FL

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:50:00 -0400

At 7 am we left our anchorage at New Smyrna Beach. It took about 20 minutes to be out of the Ponce Inlet and on our way. After about an hour, the generator quit, but started again after a few minutes. This happened several times and then was fine the rest of the day. At 4:00 pm we entered the St. Augustine Inlet and had to wait for the 4:30 opening of the new Bridge of Lions because we were going under it to get fuel. It took five years to replace the old one. They had a temporary bridge last summer and fall when we were here, but now that is almost gone and the new one is finished.

At 4:30 we went under the bridge, got fuel and then had to wait until 5:30, as the bridge doesn’t open at the 5:00 rush hour traffic time.

Last year we were here from June 29 - July 4. The fireworks were set off in a barge right next to where we were anchored. This year, we’ll probably be in Minnesota for the 4th of July.

St. Augustine is the oldest city with continuous settlements in the USA. Last time we were here we saw all of the tourist attractions. Luckily it was much cooler here in 2009. Click here to see our blog from last summer when we were here with good friends Alice and Gavin (Salty Dawg). There are three entries for that visit. We were also here last fall and had to get a new sail sent to us because our jib ripped just before we got here. This time, our only trips ashore will be to take Daisy for a walk. We’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning for Fernandino Beach. between Cumberland Island and Amelia Island. That will be our last stop in Florida.

It is a few degrees cooler here than it was in New Smyrna Beach, but it’s still in the high 80’s and very humid. We ran the AC for three hours and that kept it cool enough to sleep during the night. It’s too muggy to open hatches to get fresh air.

New Smyrna Beach, FL

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:23:25 -0400

We left Port Canaveral at 7 am and arrived in New Smyrna Beach, FL, just south of Daytona Beach, at an anchorage off the ICW at 4:30. We came in the Ponce de Leon Inlet, which has some shoaling, but is fine if you stay in the channel. Rockhouse Creek is a very popular anchorage as it is so close to the ICW and the Atlantic, but tonight we are alone here. Just south of us is a 65 ft. fixed bridge, Harold Saxton, and just north of us is a 64 ft. fixed bridge, Port Orange. We can’t go on the ICW because we can’t get under the many fixed bridges, as they are almost all at the 65 ft height. Cutting our mast down, which we had planned on doing this year in Ft. Lauderdale, would have made traveling on the ICW when we wanted to avoid the ocean feasible.

The swells were a little uncomfortable as we exited through the Port Canaveral channel, but once we turned north, they calmed down and it was a pleasant, if very hot, sail today. Daisy was thankful to have her Chilly Dog Cool Vest to wear again. It’s amazing how much this cools her down.

There is a lighthouse just past the jetty at the inlet and the nearby beaches were crowded today. There were no storm clouds so people had a full day at the beach, unlike most days in Florida when the sky gets cloudy and afternoon storms develop. While the weather continues to be hot and humid, there are no storms in the forecast and only a 30% chance of rain all week. The summer forecasts in Florida always have at least a 30% chance of rain. One resident once told us they never expect rain until the forecast gets to at least a 50% chance. Another guy told us there are two temperatures in Florida, “hot” and “damn hot.”

Although it was 90 when we arrived, we didn’t turn on the AC. It takes almost one gallon of fuel an hour to run the generator for the AC, and we knew we might need to do that once the sun went down as there are lots of no-see-ums here. We have screens for the windows, but no-see-ums get through the tiniest of holes.

Port Canaveral

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:06:25 -0400

We had a nice stay in Port Canaveral for three nights. Jennifer stayed with us and we spent some time going to a movie (Shrek 3 in 3D), walking on Cocoa Beach, shopping, and swimming in the Ocean Club Marina pool. Jennifer swims every day and enjoys doing laps. She did 48 today. Jen always likes to finish on the end of the pool where she starts, so if she chooses to do an even number, she begins on the side where she enters to the pool. If she wants to do an odd number of laps, she walks through the water to the other side of the pool and begins there. Of course, she also spent time using the computer (mostly on YouTube), listening to music and watching TV (mostly the Game Show Network).

While Ocean Club Marina is a little more expensive than the other marinas in Port Canaveral, it might be the only one that can take a catamaran. Of course, we also stay there for the pool which Jennifer enjoys. The photos of the pool area are taken from the second floor of the clubhouse. When we stayed here last summer, we were able to watch a weather rocket take off from Cape Canaveral from the upper level deck. We are not allowed to use the inside of the clubhouse, as only slip owners can go through the locked doors. However, it is nicer than any clubhouse I have ever seen. We are allowed to use all the outside areas, and the second floor deck has cool breezes and comfortable chairs to sit in.

Another view we have at this marina is the cruise ship docks. We are close enough, just across the channel, to hear the announcements from the decks.

One interesting fact about Port Canaveral is that if a hurricane is approaching, all boats in the marinas are required to leave. Therefore, they need to have alternate places to stay, either on the hard or in other marinas farther inland.

We’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning to continue our trip up the East Coast. Our next stop is New Smyrna Beach which is near Daytona Beach, FL. There is a nice anchorage there, but it will be the first time since we arrived in Florida during this heat wave that we won’t be on shore power. We can use AC by running our generator, but that will use close to a gallon an hour, so we won’t be sleeping all night in cool comfort until we get to Charleston and are back at a marina.

Fuel Problems and Nature’s Fireworks

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:22:57 -0400

We left New River Marina at 7 am, filled up with fuel and made the 8 am 17th Street Causeway Bridge opening. We have to pass under two bridges before we get to the 17th Street Causeway Bridge. The two bridges on New River are closed between 7:30 and 9 am, so we always need to make sure we are on our way in time to get through them. They lift on demand while the 17th Street Causeway Bridge opens on the hour and half hour. At the left is one of the river bridges.

On our way out the Port Everglades inlet, we passed one of the large mailboats (below) we had actually seen while we were in The Bahamas. It brings food supplies and other deliveries to the islands and is always eagerly anticipated by cruisers and the local residents.

As we exited the inlet, we were going over 7 kts motorsailing. The wind speed was only about 5 kts and from the south plus we hadn’t entered the Gulf Stream yet where we would pick up more speed. Once we did, we were motorsailing at 9 kts with almost no wind to help us. Then......we heard a sound from the genset which powers our engine. It started to turn off, but started again. It did this a few more times over the next few minutes and then it stopped completely. Since we had just spent one month in Ft. Lauderdale getting the genset fixed (mostly waiting), we were frustrated that we might need to go back for more repairs. We were still in sight of Ft. Lauderdale and it was decision time. Mark took a look at a few possible causes and before he began to start replacing parts, he tried turning the genset back on. It started right up so we decided to take the chance that it would be OK and we continued north. However, it kept stopping about every half hour or less. We’d wait a bit and then start it up. We finally determined we must have something in the fuel, perhaps some water. For five months while we were in The Bahamas, we never put fuel directly into the tank from a fuel dock as we had heard so many reports of tainted fuel there. Instead, we filled our four jerry jugs with diesel at the marina fuel docks and poured the fuel through a filter into the tank. We never had any fuel problems. The first time we filled up in the States directly into the fuel tank, we had this problem. We had put 60 gallons into our 80 gallon tank, so it is possible the fuel left in there was bad, but we hadn’t had this happen before so it was questionable. After several hours, the genset started running well and didn’t stop again.

As the sun was rising in the east, it caused us to be very hot at the helm. Many boats have installed shades on the sides of the bimini cover, and we will definitely do that at some point. Mark suggested that we get out our beach umbrella. The wind was low and from behind us and the seas were very calm, so we set it up over the bimini and off to the side (photo above). This made a huge difference in the heat and the direct sun shining on us. I’m sure we looked a bit strange to anyone who saw us. This further convinced us of the value of something to block the sun’s rays in the cockpit. We don’t really want to do a whole enclosure, but there are clothlike screens which can be made and installed to be pulled down when needed. Normally, it isn’t this oppressively hot on the water, but today the combination of heat and sun was uncomfortable. Daisy wore her “Chilly Dog Cool Vest” all day for the first time since last summer when we took this same route north. It has pockets for the “cool packs” which are similar to blue ice, but not poisonous and safe even if eaten. The vest keeps her comfortable in the hottest of weather for about three hours and then we have a spare frozen set of cool packs to replace the thawed ones. They were designed for military dogs in Iraq. On the Glaciertek website, there is an interesting video about how the vests are used by military dogs. They aren’t cheap but well worth it for pet dogs in hot climates and almost a necessity for military dogs in desert conditions.

All went well until we ran into a squall. During the morning we had seen storms along the Florida coast, but nothing had come the 5 miles out to us. Then the wind shifted, brought the storm clouds toward us, and we couldn’t avoid a huge squall. For awhile the rain poured downhard. We thought how lucky we were that the generator (which runs the engine) didn’t die in the middle of this. Eventually, we got north of the squall. We had heard thunder while in the midst of it, but didn’t see see any lightning as the rain was coming down so heavily visibility was limited. Once we were out of the squall we looked back and saw that lightning was striking into the water as well as lighting up the whole sky. The storm was miles long and wide traveling east. If we had been without power trying to sail through it, we would have been stuck in it for quite awhile. It truly looked like a fireworks display behind clouds which filled the sky behind us especially after the sun set and the rest of the sky was dark. Every minute or two there would be a lightning strike into the water. This was a dangerous storm and we were fortunate to get out of without any damage. While it wasn’t coming north, it seemed very close for many hours into the night.

Except for these two problems, we had a very pleasant sail to Port Canaveral. The seas were smooth and except for the 25 kt wind during the squall, the winds were only about 5 kts therefore not causing any white caps or swells. Once we got out of the Gulf Stream, we were still making 6.5 kts. At midnight, I slowed us down to 5.5 kts and at 1 am I slowed us again to 5 kts, so we would reach the inlet at 7 am. Mark took over for the last shift and only passed one cruise ship. There was very little boat traffic all night long, and with the smooth seas and sky lit up with a half moon, it was a pleasant peaceful sail.

We arrived at the fuel dock at the Ocean Club Marina at 7 am and after getting fuel, they put us in a large transient slip. This is a new marina and their slips are for sale. We are hoping that they don’t sell the few wide slips they have as it is the perfect (although expensive) place to stop when visiting Jennifer.

Finally Leaving Ft. Lauderdale

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:16:56 -0400

We have been here a month - about three weeks too long - and are leaving tomorrow morning. Today we worked around the boat and got things straightened up and cleaned. I made some English muffins this afternoon. I have always wanted to learn to make them and discovered they are quite easy to do. I was forced to learn as I like them for breakfast and they were ridiculously expensive in The Bahamas. They are actually put on a griddle to “bake.” The hard part is transferring them to the griddle as invariably the shape changes a bit, but they are still delicious, much more nutritious than the store bought ones, and of course cheaper. (Obviously, nothing too exciting is happening here if the most interesting thing I can take a picture of is English muffins.)

The genset is fixed and the repair was under warranty so we didn’t have to pay for the parts or labor. Actually, after the company repairing it realized the part was included in the warranty, they decided to give us a new one instead of repairing the old one. Of course, they spent one week getting the old one repaired but we’re glad to get new parts, not repaired ones.

The weather is still unbearably hot and humid here. The entire East Coast, at least through Charleston, is experiencing a heat wave, so we won’t get cooler weather as we go north. We’ll leave in the morning and sail overnight to Port Canaveral. Port Canaveral is commercial and there are always cruise ships coming in during the night so they are at the docks in the morning for the passengers to disembark. That means we’ll see a number of them as we approach the channel and will need to time our trip so we arrive in daylight on Saturday. We’ve experienced this before and will be watching for the ships on radar. It’s 148 miles from the Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) inlet to the Port Canaveral inlet. If we average 6 kts, it will take 24 hours. Winds are from the south and seas are 1-2 feet for the next few days, so we won’t have much help from the wind. However, we’ll be in the Gulf Stream for awhile and that will give us several knots of push. Last time we took this trip we underestimated our speed and had to slow down in order not to arrive in Port Canaveral in the dark. The bridges on New River close between 7:30 and 9 am so we need to leave our slip no later than 7 am to get through all the bridges before they close for rush hour.

We rented a car for several days this week as we had quite a few more errands to run. Our grocery list is short, as we still have lots of food left from the provisioning we did for The Bahamas cruise. We’ll probably just finish those by November when it is time to provision again for a trip offshore. It would be nice to put away the plastic storage boxes we’re using for all the food, but right now it’s filling up a bed in one of the guest cabins.

My daughter Jennifer will be visiting us in Port Canaveral, the only reason we are stopping there. We’ll stay for three days and leave on Tuesday. We’re staying at the Ocean Club Marina, which is fairly new with a swimming pool and fantastic clubhouse. Jennifer swims every day so we chose that particular marina for its pool. Unfortunately, the dockage fees are $2.25 a foot, therefore we will pay $94.50 a night plus electricity. We’re paying 55 cents a foot here at New River which comes to $23 a day.

We’re excited to start moving north. After leaving Port Canaveral next Tuesday, we’ll continue up the East Coast towards Charleston, stopping in several other ports along the way. Since we ran out of time to get our mast cut down, we can’t go on the ICW as we had hoped, but this will mean we’ll get to Charleston quicker. We should be there during the last week of June. Shortly after we arrive in Charleston, we’ll rent a car and drive back to Minnesota to visit friends and relatives, pick up our car, drive it back it back to Charleston, and resume our “hurricane season” life there until November 1.

More Delays

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:20:32 -0400

it seems like every time we come to Ft. Lauderdale, we think we are going to be here for a short time and we end up staying much longer than planned. This is another one of those times. We have been here three weeks with no end in sight. Above, Daisy waits for Mark to get up in the morning and take her for a walk. Delays don’t matter to Daisy as long as she gets fed and walked. However, if she knew she could be in Charleston by now, with a dog park across the street from the marina, she’d be anxious to get out of here too.

The generator repairman came back on Monday with another repairman and after two days they discovered that the problem was the stator, the stationary part of the rotor system. They removed it and took it to a shop to get rewound. We were told they would bring it back today to complete the repair. They didn’t come or call, so we phoned their shop and surprise, surprise, surprise. They won’t be back until next Tuesday. We can’t leave the slip because we have no engine power without the genset. In addition, they are now trying to get out of the warranty, although this is clearly a warranty issue. It could end up costing us $1400 for the repair and who knows how much for the labor time the repairmen were here, at $100 an hour.

This is just another case of anyone and everyone in the marine business assuming they can use the old B.O.A.T (Bring Out Another Thousand) strategy. We’ve found so many cases of overcharging on anything “marine.” We objected to the slowness of the warranty repairs when we first moved aboard Seas the Day. The response was “It’s a boat.” No....it’s poor customer service and we ARE the customers. Things that would never be accepted in any other repairs are standard operating procedure in the marine industry. When we contacted several carpenters for estimates on building the office in the master hull, we got prices of $9000 and $10,000. This was for a few shelves and a couple of drawers. Mark did it all for under $1000 for materials which included having a non-marine carpenter build the drawers. Unfortunately, marine carpenters regularly worked on megayachts where apparently price is no object. For us, it’s the MAIN object.

We recently bought something that should help us communicate better when anchoring. They are called Mariner 500 headsets. We bought walkie talkies for this purpose but they are awkward to use when one’s hands aren’t free to hold and talk into the device. Adding a wireless microphone/earpiece could help, but you still have this walkie talkie to deal with in a pocket or hooked onto a piece of clothing. The headsets were recommended to us by Bill and Judy (Jubilee). We haven’t anchored yet since getting the headsets but it appears they will work well. We use hand signals quite successfully when I am dropping or raising the anchor and Mark is at the helm, but sometimes things get difficult. The joke goes, “We’re not arguing....we’re anchoring.” At the very least, now no one else in the anchorage will hear the “arguing.”

Philip, our friend from England, is here and he came over for dinner on Tuesday. That was fun, as we always enjoy seeing him. Philip and Alison were the first cruisers we met when we moved aboard Seas the Day. They were at the slip next to us on Pascana. We’ve kept in contact and have seen them several times over the past two years whenever our paths crossed.

We also finally got to meet 420 owners Jen and Gregg with son Quinn. We’ve e-mailed each other over the past two years, as they purchased Mirasol about the same time we got Seas the Day. They just returned from the Caribbean and stopped in Ft. Lauderdale for some boat work. It was great to spend some time with them. They are now on their way to Charleston, but will be gone by the time we get there. They (and Rick and Linda on Lagoon 420 Makeitso) recommended the Maritime Center in Charleston and are the reason we went there last year and will return this year.

Mark has gotten some chores done since we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. He finished sanding the etching film off the windows and has painted around the borders. He fixed the air conditioner in the salon which just needed the filter cleaned, but as always it took awhile to discover the cause of the problem. He fixed two toilets and has worked on the air conditioner in one of the guest cabins which has never worked. He also cleaned the dinghy, not an easy job, and it now looks new again. We had no choice when we called repairmen for the generator as it is is a problem Mark couldn’t have fixed. If we had to call repairmen for every problem, we would be forever under the control of their schedules. We’d also be out a lot more money.

We will be here for at least six more days. It would be fine if we had other things to do in Ft. Lauderdale and/or if it wasn’t 90+ degrees and very humid so we can barely be outside. While we don’t have a “schedule,” our insurance carrier requires us to be in South Carolina by June 15. All parts of the policy are in effect after that time except damage done in a “named storm.” No storms are in the forecast and it’s a little early for hurricanes (although there have been hurricanes in June) so we feel fairly safe until we can cross the border into South Carolina a few days after the 15th.

Waiting in Ft. Lauderdale

Fri, 4 Jun 2010 14:33:58 -0400

We’ve been in Ft. Lauderdale for two weeks and should have been out of here 1 1/2 weeks ago. Such is the problem with having warranty repairs done here. We always seem to have to wait. Our main reason for coming to Ft. Lauderdale was to get the mast cut down, which probably isn’t going to happen as we have run out of time. We also came here with several mechanical problems. One was fixed the day after we arrived when a new charger was installed, under warranty. However, we still had a problem with the generator which starts and dies right away. We can’t leave our slip in New River without the generator working as it charges our engine. We have to stay on shore power.

We waited all this time because the person who was supposed to fix the generator kept making excuses. Today we finally gave up on him and called someone else, who came to fix it a few hours later. Unfortunately, this repairman really didn’t seem to know what he was doing....for $100 an hour. He’s coming back on Monday, so we’ll obviously not get out of here this weekend, as we hoped.

While we have been waiting, we haven’t done very much. We did ride our bikes to a theater to see a movie. We also rented a car for two days last week and did some shopping. A large Publix grocery store is very close to us, but it was nice to run errands around Ft. Lauderdale.

The rest of the time we have read, relaxed and done a few boat chores. Mark was able to fix the toilets with some repair kits he ordered. We also connected our Direct TV satellite dish and have been able to watch TV. We only use it when we are at docks and can set it up. The rest of the time it is “on vacation.”

It is very hot in Ft. Lauderdale, in the low 90’s and extremely humid. Therefore, we have run the air conditioner the whole time we’ve been here. We do pay a small amount for electricity in addition to the inexpensive slip fee. We have paid slip fees of $18 a night for part of the time with a BoatUS discount and $23 a night for the rest of the time. Water is free and we have laundry and shower facilities to use. While it isn’t very expensive to stay at New River we just didn’t want to stay this long.

Since we probably won’t get the mast cut down so we can go on the ICW occasionally, we’ll be taking the outside route up the East Coast. We’ll stop in Port Canaveral to see my daughter Jennifer for a few days. The plan was to anchor in a much nicer area where we could go ashore to actually do things but we can’t get under the bridge to Cocoa with our mast. Where the anchorage is in Port Canaveral is mostly industrial and while we can go ashore, there is no place to walk to once we get there. Last year we stayed at a marina, but it was very expensive so we probably won’t do that this time. After we leave there, we’ll sail up the coast to Charleston where we’ll stop for the summer/fall season.

Bahamas Cruise 2010 Reflection

Tue, 25 May 2010 10:47:19 -0400

We spent almost five months in the Bahamas, leaving the States on December 31, 2009 and returning on May 21, 2010. We crossed the Gulf Stream to Bimini not really knowing what to expect. Our expectations were met and exceeded. We left for our first Bahamas cruise with absolutely no schedule, plans, or agenda in mind. The only “schedule” was that we would arrive in Bimini to check in, go to the Exumas first and come back to the States in late May. As it turns out, it was good not to have a schedule. We stayed as long as an area was interesting and moved on when the weather cooperated. We never rushed, never sailed in bad weather, and enjoyed every island we visited. We rarely chose our next stop until just before we were ready to leave. We did a great deal of research about The Bahamas before we left the States. However, we learned that asking questions of experienced cruisers didn’t always get the answers we needed, mainly because our priorities might be different than theirs. We didn’t always ask the right questions, or the right people, so we had to get answers through our own experiences.

Those experiences involved walking on many unique beaches, following paths cut through tropical “forests,” enjoying the company of many Bahamians, eating dinner in someone’s house at their “restaurant,” buying bread from ladies who bring you into their home kitchen, riding our bikes and walking for miles on narrow roads and busy streets. Sunsets, such as the one pictured above, were almost always dramatic in The Bahamas. We learned to blow our conch horn in chorus with other cruisers as the sun dropped below the horizon while enjoying the spectacular colors.

The color and clarity of the water in the Exumas can’t be captured in pictures. No matter how often you see it, it never fails to be awesome. There are always different shades of turquoise and aqua, depending on the depth of the water and what is on the bottom. Often while sailing, one member of the crew has to sit on the bow to watch for shallow water and/or coral reefs by looking at the color of the water. It’s called “eyeball navigation” and is essential in the Exumas.

This was said to be one of the coldest winters in The Bahamas. It was almost always in the 80’s, not humid and we only had rain two times that I can recall. Yes, there were weather systems that came through the area with the threat of 20-30 kt winds and even up to 40-50 kts sometimes, but there was always plenty of warning to move to a protected anchorage. Our Bahamas courtesy flag shows that we did experience strong winds. However, as with most weather forecasts, they rarely were as bad as predicted. We snorkeled without wetsuits and we were never uncomfortable with the sun shining down on us in the water. If this was cold, I’ll take Bahamian cold any time.

We did make some mistakes in our preparations for this cruise. We had no idea we should have brought LOTS of cash. We assumed we would have access to ATM’s to get more money as needed, but discovered that after Nassau we didn’t see another ATM until we reached Georgetown. We couldn’t use a credit card or get cash in between. The smaller settlements had grocery stores, similar to convenience stores, and they never accepted credit cards, not even for an additional charge. The sign at the left was posted in one small store in Little Farmer’s Cay. Once we found an ATM, we took out cash at a 2% charge. When we could use a debit or credit card at fuel docks there was also a charge. However, there was no sales tax on anything. Yes, the prices of most items were higher than in the States, mainly because almost everything was imported and included an import tax and shipping charges, but overall we spent much less money in The Bahamas than we do in the States.

Since we were never at marinas, it was important to have a reliable dinghy as we often took our bikes into towns and of course Daisy went ashore at least twice a day. We usually had a full dinghy with groceries, snorkeling gear or other cruisers. Every night we put the dinghy up on davits and always securely tied it to the big boat with two ropes during the day. This wasn’t for security, but rather for safety so it didn’t float away. When we took it ashore, we never locked it and were never concerned that it might be stolen. Sometimes we tied it to a dinghy dock and other times we beached it or anchored it off a beach.

The people we met, both Bahamians and other cruisers, made the trip very special. In fact, most cruisers would agree that one of the best things about cruising is the people you meet. Once we left Bimini, we saw and heard (on the radio) the same boats over and over again. Even those cruisers we never met became acquaintances as we passed them, anchored by them, and heard them on the radio. We met many cruisers at sundowners, meals and shore activities on beaches. Very often cruisers in a particular anchorage would arrange, via VHF radio announcements, to meet on a beach with snacks to share. Everyone brought their own drinks. We had to learn what we could make on a moment’s notice to bring to these sundowners. This was probably the food area we underestimated and didn’t shop for as we provisioned for the trip. We won’t make that mistake next time.

At absolutely all settlements we stopped at in the Exumas and Eleuthera, every man, woman, and child greeted us with a smile and a friendly hello. They were happy that we were visiting their island and bent over backwards to be helpful. While we never hitchhiked, mainly because we used our bikes, many cruisers walked down a road and Bahamians in cars would gladly pick them up and take them to their destination. Safety was never a concern.

There wasn’t a lot of actual sailing after we made the day long trip to our first island stop after Nassau, Norman’s Cay. From then on, each time we moved it would be five miles or less as we island hopped south through the Exumas to Georgetown and back north to Warderick Wells. The trip to Eleuthera did take a day, but then there were short hops north to Spanish Wells. As we started our trip back to Florida, the longer sails began, first to Nassau, then Cat Cay and finally to Fort Lauderdale. While sailing we often were visited by our favorite sea creatures, dolphins. No matter how many times we see them we can’t resist watching their antics.

If I could choose the most important feature of our boat while in The Bahamas it would have to be the watermaker. We always managed to have our tanks full so we had plenty of water to wash clothes and take showers. Another important recent purchase was our wifi extender. We were always able to reach a wifi although usually we had to pay for it. We also had good phone service using our Bahamas phone as there were towers on almost every island. There were only two or three days during the entire five months when we had no cell phone or Internet service.

Food was another surprise. We thought it would be hard to find fresh fruits and vegetables. It wasn’t. Every settlement had some sort of grocery store, usually similar to a convenience store. In most locations, food was delivered by boat from Nassau once a week. It was good to go to the stores on that day as some products sold out quickly. Because we were worried about having fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as dairy products, we brought powdered milk and dried potatoes. We didn’t use either. Most dairy products are subsidized, so they aren’t expensive. Regarding the cost of food, eventually we realized that we had to just bite the bullet, take a deep breath and pay the price if we wanted or needed some product. We never ran out of staples, and still have months and months of items like spaghetti sauce, pasta, soup, dried beans, rice, etc. Our freezer is still full with meat we purchased six months ago, although we also have lobster, conch, mahi mahi, and grouper caught or purchased fresh from fishermen.

Probably the most memorable aspect of The Bahamas will be the beaches. I had no idea there would be so many of them and that each would be different from the last. Absolutely every island we passed in the Exumas had multiple beaches. In Eleuthera the beaches were pink. In the Exumas, one side of the island would be sandy beaches and the Exumas Sound side would have tall rocky cliffs with crashing waves.

Wherever we anchored we could choose one of the deserted beaches for Daisy to run and play on with no one else in sight. We rarely were on a beach where there were other people. Obviously there were other cruisers around, but with so many places to stop, it was almost always possible to be alone or with one or two other boats in an anchorage or on a beach. All beaches in The Bahamas are public, and on privately owned islands visitors can walk up to the high tide line.

Our first Bahamas cruise was full of surprises and each day was an adventure. These experiences are not ones we could have had on beaches and cities in the US. All the words we have written can’t describe it. The photos come closer, but actually the only way to understand the beauty and uniqueness of The Bahamas is to experience it.

Blogs and photos from our Bahamas Cruise 2010 are here.

The Long Sail Back to Florida

Fri, 21 May 2010 09:55:57 -0400

We left Cat Cay Thursday evening at 6 pm. During normal circumstances we would arrive in Ft. Lauderdale in the dark by leaving that early. However, the forecast called for increasing winds which tend to kick up the waves in the Gulf Stream, making for an uncomfortable ride. We left early to avoid the wind change and also to allow extra time in case we had mechanical problems again. As it turned out, that was a good decision.

The generator was not working well, but it was running when we left Cat Cay. About halfway to Ft. Lauderdale the generator, and therefore the engine, died. Mark couldn’t get it to restart so we simply sailed. Unfortunately, the wind was not favorable, but we were making about 5 kts for awhile. Of course, the Gulf Stream, which was running over 3 kts, did help. Although the wind direction and speed were not what we could have used, the seas were calm.

Our hope was that we could get close to Ft. Lauderdale by sailing and then start the workaround that Mark had tried earlier to run the generator and engine in order to get through the inlet, under the bridge and into the anchorage. All through the night we just sailed, without a motor. When we were about 10 miles from Ft. Lauderdale, Mark tried to get the generator running again by using his previous work around of connecting a fuel line from a jerry jug directly into the generator, but had no luck this time. That meant we were not going to have power to safely get into Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale), a very busy commercial inlet, and over to an anchorage in Lake Sylvia. We resigned ourselves to being towed in. This is not a problem as we have TowBoat US, similar to AAA for cars. In fact, we could have been towed all the way from the Bahamas if we had asked, as we were without power. But, we tried to do it on our own and almost did.

Then, more problems began although these did not have to do with the boat. We needed to confirm that we could get a slip in a marina before we called for the tow. We tried calling Cooley’s Landing Marina on our VHF radio, but no one answered. We then received a call from Darlene and Rodger on a boat we know from The Bahamas, RollsDoc. They had heard us calling on the VHF radio and offered to call the marina on their cell phone. They got us a reservation and then we contacted TowBoat US to come and get us. We were about four miles out.

When the tow boat arrived, the captain attached a rope to a cleat on each hull’s bow and started towing us into port. (See photo at top of page.) Once past the inlet, another towboat joined us and attached a rope behind us, guiding Seas the Day through the narrow New River. (This is the red inflatable boat in the photo above.) There were two other boats being towed up the river in front of us.

At one point, a cruiser tried to go ahead of us but immediately pulled back. One of the towboat captains commented, “I guess the towboat train scared him.” Daisy started to notice where she was and got excited knowing she could soon get off the boat and take a walk. She seemed to remember the view and actually poked her head through the lifelines as she recognized favorite haunts.

We are physically exhausted and weren’t looking forward to paying money to a marina, but in the end it probably worked out well. We arrived at the marina, tied up to a slip, connected to shore power, turned on the AC, and took Daisy for a walk. We now are enjoying unlimited water, reliable Internet with our Sprint Broadband card, Direct TV, cell phones we don’t have to pay for by the minute, power we can use without running our generator, and, OK, Starbucks. We are a few blocks from a large Publix Grocery Store. I suppose we’ll think everything is on sale until we acclimate to US prices. These are all things we did without in The Bahamas, and quite honestly didn’t miss them. But I guess absence made the heart go fonder, as we are sure enjoying them all now. Until we get this generator problem fixed we will have to stay in the marina. Without having the generator to charge our house batteries, we can’t unhook from shore power.

The last few days have been hectic as one thing after another kept us from returning to the States. Mark has worked almost nonstop to find the source of various problems and correct them. Added to the saying, “Everything on a boat is broken” one should continue, “and you better have a good marine electrician, plumber, and mechanic on board.” Luckily, we do. Mark’s ability to diagnose and fix problems as they have developed has been phenomenal. He gets discouraged, thinking he should be able to fix everything. But in reality, a boat, and especially this hybird, have complicated systems which at times seem to be designed to make repairs difficult.

While we thoroughly enjoyed our first cruise to The Bahamas, it’s good to be back in the US. At the left is what is left of our Bahamas Courtesy Flag, required to be flown while visiting the Bahamas. No doubt these are designed to wear out and we’ll be buying another one in the Fall. We’ll be in Ft. Lauderdale a few weeks and then begin our journey north to our hurricane season slip in Charleston, SC.

Cat Cay

Thu, 20 May 2010 12:45:36 -0400

We had decided to go straight through from Nassau to Ft. Lauderdale as we were making very good time yesterday. The wind was only 5 kts or less but we were making 6.5 to 7 kts motorsailing into the wind. We were approaching Cat Cay around midnight intending to pass by it and then.......everything stopped, just like it did on our first trip to Bimini last December. Bimini and Cat Cay are just a few miles from each other and in December we had 15 more miles to go to reach Bimini coming from Florida. Now we were 10 miles from Cat Cay, coming the opposite way from Nassau. In the photo at the left, the tiny spots on the shore are in Bimini, as seen from our anchorage.

It was the same problem as last time. The generator died and wouldn’t come back on. Also, just like before, there was virtually no wind. Luckily, we were on The Banks and were able to drop the anchor while Mark checked out the problem. He installed a new impeller, changed the filter, and still it wouldn’t start. Finally, about 4 am, we went to sleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up, Mark started on it again and discovered a way to get some fuel into it, as it wasn’t coming in the usual way. That worked, it started and we went on our way. We arrived in Cat Cay at 10 am, and decided to stay for the day. We didn’t know this is a private island, but we were able to get two jugs of fuel and Daisy was allowed to take a walk around the marina, even though it is a private yacht club on a private island. She hadn’t been ashore for more than 24 hours, so she really needed to go. In the photo above, we are returning to Seas the Day in the dinghy and Daisy is a happy dog with an empty bladder.

We were going to leave early tomorrow morning for the 59 mile sail to Ft. Lauderdale. Then we checked the weather and saw that the wind is picking up speed and coming from the NE by tomorrow afternoon so we’ll be heading straight into it. Therefore, we will rest this afternoon, leave at dark, around 8 pm, and hope the Gulf Stream hasn’t kicked up higher waves by tomorrow morning, when we’ll arrive there. We should get there around sunrise if we continue to motorsail at 6 kts. If faster, we will slow down to arrive at sunrise. We’ve been into Port Everglades inlet so many times we could probably do it in the dark, even though it is a heavily used channel, but we’d prefer to wait for daylight. Also, we are going to anchor in Lake Sylvia and don’t want to drop the anchor in the dark, especially in such a small area.

However, the problem wasn’t over. After getting back from the short shore visit, we needed hot water for showers, so I turned on the generator for a few minutes to heat the water. (The water doesn’t heat while we are sailing in mode 5 so we need to use mode 3.) It started and then immediately stopped. Again Mark checked everything and couldn’t find a problem. It did start again eventually, but this does not make me excited to leave at 8 pm and start across the Atlantic. However, once we are on our way if the wind is favorable, and tonight it’s supposed to be from the East and we are going northwest, then we can just sail and will get help from the Gulf Stream even if the generator stops again. If all else fails, we can call Tow Boat US and they’ll tow us back to Ft. Lauderdale, just like they did in December we were unable to fix the generator.

Nassau to Cat Cay

Tue, 18 May 2010 15:41:59 -0400

We have been anchored in Nassau for almost a week. This isn’t a place where I would recommend any cruiser to spend this much time. It’s a city to stop in, to buy groceries and fuel, and then leave for another destination. We’ve gone ashore a few times but it’s basically a big city, not very safe, and the nicer areas are geared toward tourists. We did walk to the part of town where the cruise ships stop and went into some stores. They are either T-Shirt/junky souvenir stores or jewelry stores designed to trap people from cruise ships who want to spend money. The sign at the left tells it all. I guess it is always “Pre-Christmas” when you are shopping for “jewellery” (sic). The Straw Market was burned down about ten years ago by an angry boyfriend of someone who worked there. Now it is much smaller and not nearly as authentic, in fact it is said that some of the Bahamian crafts are “made in China.” There are some ruins in the area which make a nice tour, but we didn’t go to them as they would involve a taxi ride or tour bus and we weren’t all that interested.

We thought we’d go to Paradise Island as it’s a walk across the bridge. We could see the Atlantis aquarium and perhaps find a beach. The photo at the left is the famous Atlantis Resort and Casino. The connecting bridge/suite between two parts of the building was “The Michael Jackson Suite” at one time. We didn’t make it to Paradise island. Instead, we stayed on the boat, relaxed and read. At least I did.

Mark, as per usual, did have to spend one entire day trying to find out why the GPS stopped working. We’ve had problems with losing the GPS signal periodically and he figured out why. It involved getting a new power cord, because the current one did not have a strong connection, thus the power to it went in and out. A Raymarine dealer in Nassau had the part but lives in Ft. Lauderdale from Friday to Monday. He came back today and sold us the cord. Mark replaced the faulty cord and now we can leave tomorrow.

We plan to go overnight to Cat Cay and arrive there Thursday morning. It’s 110 miles, so at 5 kts it will take us 22 hours. That’s about all we can count on with very little wind. From there we’ll go to Ft. Lauderdale and will be there Friday afternoon. On that part of the trip we’ll have some help from the Gulf Stream. At least that’s the plan now. Many cruisers go straight through from Nassau to the States, some stop at Bimini, and some anchor along the way on “The Banks,” which are about ten feet deep in most places. Boats follow one of several waypoint routes, and if you pull off the selected route you can drop an anchor and stop for the night.

Above, Daisy gets a bath on the sugar scoops. There is a fresh water hose on the side of the steps, handy for washing off salt water, but also good for a dog’s shower, so she is now clean and nice smelling. We got some laundry done today, the boat is clean inside and out, and we are ready to make the trip back to the States.

Sunset in Nassau

Thu, 13 May 2010 09:26:22 -0400

Today we left Royal Island and sailed 39 miles to Nassau, from harbor to harbor. It was a great day to sail and we maintained 7 kts or more the entire trip. We think some of this was due to the fact that Seas the Day’s bottom is squeaky clean. There is no question that barnacles and bottom growth slow a boat down.

We anchored on the Nassau side of the harbor. Last time we were here in January, we anchored on the Paradise Island side, but we realized two things. First, almost everything we want to do is on the Nassau side, as the Paradise Island side is basically resorts. Secondly, the busy tourist traffic on various charter boats entering and leaving the harbor cuts closer to the Paradise Island side of the channel. At least we don’t encounter any cruise ships as they cannot get under the two bridges.

In the photo at the left, the Paradise Island side of the harbor is shown. The pink building left of center is the huge Atlantis Resort and Casino. There is a marina associated with the resort and if you stay at the marina, you get to use the amenities of the resort. Needless to say, we didn’t stay there. The next harbor photo to the right shows the Nassau side looking back at several marinas. We are amongst the few boats anchored near them.

Soon after arriving, we dropped the dinghy and took Daisy for a walk. We didn’t go far and there was the first Starbucks we have seen since.....the last time we were in Nassau. While we won’t go here more than once as the prices are even higher than in the States, we felt we deserved a reward for getting this far. A better reason is that maybe we were just craving a frappuccino.

We also stopped at a book store and I found a book that was highly recommended as a history of the early Bahamas. The title is Wind From the Carolinas. I thought it was especially appropriate as the wind carried us from the Carolinas to The Bahamas. This, however, is the story of a family who traveled from South Carolina to The Bahamas after the American Revolution.

There is a large grocery store here so we stopped to pick up some lettuce for a salad tonight. I had forgotten how BIG this grocery store was. I only remember that last January as we looked at the food on the shelves we were pleasantly surprised that the prices weren’t ridiculously high. It was all I could do not to fill a cart with items we haven’t seen for almost five months.

Nassau is not a very safe place to be and for the first time since we were here last, we locked up the dinghy when we went ashore. We were told by a Bahamian that Nassau has the highest crime rate of any island in the world. Maybe it was the second highest. You would think that with all of the tourists here, and in particular all of the people who get off cruise ships, security would be heavy. However, tourists are warned to stay off the streets at night. We were lulled into a feeling of safety on all of the small settlements we have visited in The Bahamas. Over the past few months, we have multiple examples of the honesty of the citizens we have met here. They were to a person friendly and helpful. Although we never hitchhiked, we knew many people who did. As Rose, our friend from Rock Sound, told us everyone can’t have a car so we always pick up people who don’t. The children were unbelievably polite and friendly, as if someone had taught them to be nice to cruisers.

We’ll be here a few days and then start our several day sail back to Florida. We have to be in South Carolina by June 15, for insurance purposes. Boat insurance insists that you are north of their hurricane box latitude by a certain date. Usually it is June 1, but we talked them into a few more weeks as we can’t make it there by June 1. We also negotiated a more southern latitude, as we wanted to go to Charleston, not to the Chesapeake. For that privilege, we paid a few extra hundred dollars. Actually, our insurance is in effect wherever we are, except for “named storms” after June 15. For that, we have to be at least in South Carolina.

If You Don’t Want to Rock

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:31:21 -0400

.....Stay at the dock. That’s what old Captain Bill, our ASA instructor, told me several years ago when I commented how rough the waters were while we were sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. Old Captain Bill was a bit of a chauvinist so I have forgotten some of his comments, but this remark has stayed with us.

We are currently anchored just outside Spanish Wells in an anchorage that isn’t well protected from the 22 kt winds with slowly growing swells. Actually, it seems kind of nice getting rocked a bit, after being in a very calm mooring field and then hauled out for the past 3+ weeks. For awhile it didn’t seem like we were even on a boat, except we were surrounded by water. We are here, rather than with all the other anchored boats in the more protected anchorage a few miles away at Royal Island, because we are getting free wifi and at Royal Island there is none available. We need wifi to complete some business over the Internet.

When we arrived at this anchorage yesterday we were hot and tired. It was mentally and sometimes physically draining for the five days we were living on a platform lift. All systems worked well once we left the boatyard, so the voltage problem appears to be from a faulty part. It shouldn’t affect us until we are back on shore power in Ft. Lauderdale and at that point we’ll have parts and a tech person available to fix it. We hadn’t been able to use AC while in the boatyard. We actually have rarely used it in The Bahamas as there is almost always a nice breeze. However, while we were up on the platform there wasn’t any wind and there were no-see-ums and mosquitoes therefore keeping all of the windows open wasn’t an option - just the ones with screens. Of course, then we also heard all the noise on the streets. We rewarded ourselves when we dropped the anchor by turning on the AC. Daisy immediately went to her spot next to one of the blowers, under the salon table. She didn’t move for hours. Today, with the strong winds, we are very comfortable with breezes blowing through the open windows and hatches. Daisy is resting comfortably on the aft deck on a small walkway next to the dinghy davits.

Mark, not getting a day’s rest as we planned, is working on one of the toilets. Actually, of the three toilets, we only use one. The other two are turned off. Yesterday the one in the master head started leaking at the base. Repairing this is not a pleasant job. Picture working in an outhouse for a few hours. That’s the smell he’s enduring. He thinks it’s a seal, but as always nothing seems to be an easy fix on a boat. After fixing it two times and still having leakage, he decided to use one of the toilets we aren’t using for parts.

We are here for the wifi because we are wrapping up our selection of boat insurance for the next year. Once that is finished (hopefully today) we will move over to Royal Island to a comfortable anchorage and perhaps leave for Nassau tomorrow. Winds in the 20+ range are great for sailing, especially if they are coming from a good direction.

While we are gently rocking around here, we are once again enjoying having all the amenities we have grown accustomed to on Seas the Day. For a few days while we were living out of the water on the high platform we missed them. Getting rid of water there was a problem - we couldn’t let it drain out as there was wet paint on the hulls. Therefore, every drop had to be caught in bowls or pails. Showers were possible all but one day which was a pleasant surprise. We couldn’t do laundry, and couldn’t use air conditioning. In fact, due to the electric problems we were experiencing, we turned off power to all outlets and electric systems. Our frozen food was stored elsewhere and the refrigerators and coolers were half full of ice.

We often say that we aren’t camping while living aboard, and while we definitely conserve water, electricity, and our use of paper products, we don’t go overboard. We don’t take showers using one or two cups of water, as some sailors do, but we also don’t take two showers a day, we don’t use a clean towel with each shower, and we don’t take long showers as we did while living in a house. We also don’t collect rain water, let it heat in the sun and take the infamous “sun shower” loved by some sailors. Our watermaker makes more than enough water for all of our needs. I have stopped using a hair dryer and let the wind take care of that. There are numerous other ways we conserve, not because we have to, but rather because it makes sense. We have much less garbage and rarely throw away unused food.

I can’t say that we, or at least I, wear dirty clothes. Mark doesn’t mind wearing the same shirt for a few days but I do, so I wear clean clothes every day. After not being able to use our washer for a week, I’m doing six loads today. However, these “loads” are not in a full size washer, so they would consist of three normal loads, maybe less. Since it is so windy, we moved the temporary clothes lines from the forward deck to the aft cockpit. We are at anchor, always pointed into the wind, so the forward deck is getting the full impact of 20+ kt breezes, not conducive to hanging out clothes on a boat.

We went ashore this afternoon to look for parts for the electric marine toilet but found nothing in four different marine stores. I did get a chance to buy two local cookbooks, which should help us use the conch, fish, and lobster in the freezer. I particularly wanted the cookbooks as the ingredients are all items we can buy in a Bahamian grocery store.

Everything on a Boat is Broken

Sun, 9 May 2010 14:03:51 -0400

.......you just don’t know it yet. That is a quote we heard a few months ago and keeps coming back to haunt us. Having a hybrid complicates things. We’ve had relatively few problems since arriving in The Bahamas 4 1/2 months ago. Anything that did happen, Mark was always able to fix, or at least work-around to get to a fix. All was well, electrically, until we got up on this platform to have the bottom painted. We are plugged into shore power, which means we have a big yellow cable running down the side of the boat to a 50 amp outlet provided by R&B Boatyard. (In the photo above, that cord is slightly in front of one of the workers.) This should mean everything is running off their power, not ours. Wrong. We still have battery systems which SHOULD be charged by the shore power but as we came to find out yesterday aren’t.

Yesterday morning, I opened the freezer and said, “Hey! I won’t have to defrost the freezer to get the big chunk of ice off the top.” That big chunk was sitting on top of the frozen food on the top shelf. Then it hit us. The freezer had no power. This has happened before. Once we had it fixed and once Mark fixed it. Therefore he set about to do just that, but he couldn’t. Next I noticed one of the two (small) refrigerators also was not working. We soon realized one of our battery systems was not charging. Mark did some more investigation and got part of it back on, but we soon realized we had a big problem as the 72V system was slowly discharging.

We haven’t been connected to shore power since the middle of December in Ft. Lauderdale. It was obvious that the problem lies in being connected to shore power, not running off our generator to recharge the systems as we do when not on shore power. (Without going into a lot of detail, we have five “modes” under which we power this boat: mode 1 is for shore power, mode 3 is what we use at anchor to recharge batteries while we run the generator, and mode 5 is what we use when we are motoring with the generator on charging batteries.) Unfortunately, being out of the water means we can’t turn on the generator since it needs to have water running through it to work. Therefore turning off the shore power and charging the batteries with the generator wasn’t an option.

The first problem we had to solve was what to do with a freezer full of frozen food. Once before we lost everything in it when a part stopped working. Our thought was to get some ice and put it in the refrigerators, freezer, and several coolers to at least keep everything cool while the frozen food thawed. That would include quite a bit of frozen fish and meat. It was about 12:30 pm and the two local places that have ice cubes for sale close at noon on Saturday. It was suggested by a clerk in a grocery store, which didn’t sell ice, that we could check at Sea Life, the company in town that runs the fast ferry and rents golf carts. I walked down there to buy some ice cubes and they didn’t have any. What they did have was a walk-in freezer where they store massive amounts of whole fish as well as huge chunks of ice. I bought two chunks, brought them back to the boat, Mark broke them in half with a hatchet, and we had four solid pieces of ice to cool our food. We thought we better check to see if someone might have a freezer with space in it to keep the frozen food solid so we talked to Robert, owner of the boatyard. He immediately called Abner Pinder, who runs Sea Life. Abner told us to pack up our frozen food, bring it to him, and we could store it in their walk-in freezer. Problem one solved.

We have two sources of help when we have questions about fixing something on the boat. One is an online forum of Lagoon 420 owners. The other is Scott, our tech guru in Ft. Lauderdale. He knows this boat upside down and backwards and has always been very reliable when we come calling. We tried both and got through to Scott first. He gave us some suggestions, but hadn’t run into this exact problem before.....the boat being out of the water when the electrical problem occurred.

Even though we have shore power, keeping anything electric plugged in was draining one of our battery systems, so we needed to turn off everything. That was fine, except one cooler runs on power and was plugged into an outlet. We found a long extension cord the workers had been using and ran it up to the boat. The cooler was then running off another outlet from the dock.

This morning we got a suggestion from our owner’s forum which involved using a car battery charger. At that moment, Robert drove up in his golf cart (the means of transportation for almost everyone here) and found one for us in his shop. The boatyard is closed today, so that was a bit of luck. The batteries which needed to be charged are under a guest cabin bed. We are now getting all the power we need, the supplemental battery charger is doing its job, and we think we know the part which needs to be replaced.

When we get in the water tomorrow and start back in our usual mode of using the generator to charge the batteries hopefully all will be well. If not, we can get the part shipped very quickly from Ft. Lauderdale and Mark can install it. Even though the warranty has run out on the hybrid parts for the boat, Lagoon has continued to support us with any parts needed free of charge.

The anti-fouling paint job on the bottom is completed and we decided to also have the sides cleaned and polished. The photo at the top of this page shows two workers polishing the sides yesterday with Daisy supervising. That is almost finished and after a few more hours of polishing Monday morning we’ll be dropped back into the water. Seas the Day shines better than new and all evidence of ugly scrapes from docks and locks are gone except from the windows (see below). The bottom is spotless with three coats of paint and not a single green growth or barnacle in sight. The price was reasonable, the workers were proficient, the service was excellent, and we are very happy we used R&B to haul out Seas the Day and do the work. Being able to live aboard while it was done was an added bonus.

Another bonus is that the workers aren’t here on Sunday, their one day off. Mark took advantage of having the boat out of the water to do something about the four large windows, one in each cabin and one in the master head, which are scratched and fading. The problem is that the see-through paint pattern film (etching) on them, to keep people from seeing in, adheres to the outside of the windows. Crazy place to put this on a boat which not only comes in contact with docks occasionally, but also is always in the sun and water and the etching wears off. Oddly, the French have not figured out yet that this is a problem, even though many owners of Lagoons who have these windows have tried in vain to at least find out how to fix the them, if not get Lagoon to replace them.

Mark had an idea to sand the windows and possibly replace the etching film. Having ladders and power, as well as not standing in a dinghy while sanding are definite advantages. He could have gotten all four windows finished today, but didn’t get started until late afternoon and only sanded and polished two of them. They look much better already, the worn etching and scratches are now gone.

The “before photo” shows the scraped, scratched and faded windows, most of the damage happening on the commercial Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Yes, you can see into the windows without the etching film in the not completed “after photo,” and they are directly next to the three cabin beds and the head where one doesn’t want people looking in, however all the windows have curtains.

Next Mark will paint the borders back to unscratched white. Then we’ll look into putting some etching film back on the windows. Ideally, the windows would be tinted as they are in many other boats. That’s a novel idea Lagoon might want to try.

We have gotten a lot accomplished in the last few days: the mast has a new anchor light at the top, the bottom is rid of accumulated growth and barnacles and covered with anti-fouling paint, the sides are shiny and clean, and the scratched windows are clear.

In addition, Mark has gotten more knowledge of the boat systems through yet another “How do I fix this?” lesson. I am sure he could live without these lessons, however he is slowly becoming extremely knowledgeable about the various electrical systems on our hybrid boat.

We will no doubt be a little nervous tomorrow when Seas the Day is lowered into the water and set loose from the platform. Hopefully, turning on the generator once we are in the water will return all the charging power we have had in the past. If not, a marina is nearby with shore power, parts can be shipped quickly to here, and we should be able to solve the problem.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the month we have stayed at Spanish Wells but are ready to move on. Photos of our stay are here.

View From the Bottom

Fri, 7 May 2010 12:57:14 -0400

Yesterday afternoon we released mooring ball #8 and motored a few blocks down the Spanish Wells harbor to R&B Boatyard. They have a wide platform to haul us out for the bottom painting. It was a very easy, slick procedure and much safer than the lifts and cranes at most boat yards. We turned into the slip where the platform was resting on the bottom of the water. As we eased in, four men were standing by to catch four lines tied to the bow and stern. Once they had the lines, we turned off the engine and they slowly positioned Seas the Day above the platform using the lines. There were rollers on the posts, so even if we came close to the sides of the two docks nothing could happen. Mark eased it in perfectly with not even a tap on the dock posts.

When we were right over the platform, Daisy, Mark and I climbed off onto the dock so Robert and his workers could continue. (Robert and Bruce, owners of R&B, are pictured in the mural on the front of their building. Many of the buildings in town are also decorated with murals done by a talented artist from England who used to live here.) The platform was raised until the two keels were touching it. Then Robert swam under the hulls positioning support stands. Once everything was secure, the platform was raised until it was out of the water.

We stayed off the boat for a few hours while this was being done and also while they powerwashed the bottom. After the powerwashing, they scraped at the barnacles for the rest of the afternoon. Already the bottom looked 100% better.

We are allowed to live on the boat while the work is being done and for the most part it is pleasant. We have shore power which is fortunate as our generator needs water running through it to function and obviously that is not going to happen. Without being able to recharge the house batteries, we would soon be without any power. We can use the toilets as there is a holding tank. We can’t let water run out of the sinks or showers, however, so we are collecting water as we use it and either throwing it overboard, or using it for the toilets. They normally use salt water to flush, but we are now pouring in sink water.

We took showers last night and the water simply ran out of a thru-hull as it always does. This time it went down to the platform and into the water rather than directly into the water. However tonight we can’t do that as the hulls will be covered with wet paint. We talked with the local marina and for a mere $5 a day we can use their showers. We might do that once or twice but can probably manage to stay reasonably clean without them.

Of course, another potential problem was getting Daisy up and down a steep ladder. Also, after the powerwashing the platform was covered with blue paint and we didn’t want that to get on Daisy’s paws. Therefore we found the booties she wore in the snow in Minnesota, ones worn by sled dogs. We brought them in case she had to walk on something that bothered her, such as sharp rocks on a shore. Then we put her life jacket on which has handles on it. The plan was to tie a rope to the life jacket handles and raise her up, but Mark was able to lift her 60 pound body while he climbed and down the ladder. In the photo Daisy has her climbing outfit on, boots and jacket.

We’ve been here for more than two weeks, first anchored and then on a mooring ball. This always required us to get in the dinghy to come ashore. Now we can just climb down the ladder and go to the beach, get groceries, ride our bikes, walk Daisy, or go to Papa Scoops for homemade ice cream. We spent a good part of the today relaxing and reading. Prior to coming to the boatyard, we gave Seas the Day a good cleaning inside and on the deck. It’s very, very nice to let someone else take care of the mess on the bottom. In the photo Mark gave up on the reading and took a nap. The hardest part of the day was waiting for Papa Scoops to open at 7:30 pm. They always put a sign on the main street listing their two flavors for that night and tonight it is oreo and cherry. That was also the hardest decision of the day.

Earlier, I was on the hammock reading a book and Daisy was on her bed underneath the hammock observing the boat traffic in the harbor. Eventually the sun shifted and she moved to a shady spot on the couch in the cockpit. This didn’t keep her from occasionally running to the bow to check out traffic on the street. Many of the golf carts and cars going by have dogs in them. People do not seem to take their dogs for walks here and most yards are fenced. However, they do treat their pets to car and golf cart rides.

This morning the workers were here at 8 am and for several hours we heard them scraping barnacles. Then they started to sand the bottom of the hulls. They will be applying several coats of a tin based bottom paint. Ideally, we would have liked to use copper based paint, as we have friends from England who painted this on their bottom and it is guaranteed to last for 10-12 years. Obviously, the copper paint is expensive. As the day progressed they were able to start painting and we were told they could probably be finished on Saturday and out of here on Sunday, although they don’t usually work on Sunday. We told them we weren’t in a big hurry and are quite comfortable on the lift. Robert said it should be about two years before we will need the bottom painted again. He also advised us to only use a cloth to remove anything that collects on the bottom, not anything abrasive.

View From the Top

Wed, 5 May 2010 11:50:27 -0400

For over two months we have been without an anchor light. It burned out while we were in The Exumas and it was always too windy and bouncy for Mark to go up 68 feet above the water to replace it. During the interim we had a small light mounted on the bimini which we borrowed from friends. We’ve probably had a number of calm days, but ideally it was nice to be attached to a mooring ball in a field where there was no wake observed by passing boats.

This afternoon with almost no wind, Mark strapped himself into the bosun’s chair, attached two halyard to it, placed a new bulb and tools in the pocket of the chair, strapped a camera around his neck and gave me the signal to start pulling him up. We have electric winches so it wasn’t difficult, but I had to go slowly, releasing one winch at a time, raising that line a few feet, locking it, unlocking the other line, raising it a few feet, etc.

Finally at the top Mark changed the bulb quickly, I turned it on and it worked, then he took a few photos and told me to start lowering him. This was a little more difficult. The halyards were locked in place and I had to release them one at a time and lower him a few feet before locking that line and switching to the other. I no longer was able to use the electric feature, but held on tightly and slipped it through my fingers a little at a time. Obviously, this could be dangerous if somehow the line slipped and I couldn’t control it. However, all was well and he made it back to the deck in one piece. Below are some more photos of his view from the top.

Our friends from Minnesota, Kathy and Gene (Front Page) saw us during the day and invited us to their yacht for sundowners at 5:30. As before, we had a wonderful time and enjoyed meeting their daughter and her husband and children. Kathy was once a kindergarten teacher and made fantastic books for each of her grandchildren, ages 3 and 5. She had taken photos around Spanish Wells and Harbour Island before they arrived for their visit and had written a description of each location. It was the grandchildren’s fun job to use the photos as a scavenger hunt, finding all of the places in the pictures. What a wonderful memory for the children as well as something to bring to “show and tell” when they get back home. Also, what a great idea for anyone having children as visitors in exotic or not-so-exotic places.

Rita the manatee is still waiting to deliver her baby. She gets fed daily with fresh produce provided by local farmers and donations. Manatees need fresh water and Rita drinks water out of a hose. We were told all of this by Desiree, who is in charge of Rita’s Facebook. Yes, it’s true. Just go to Facebook and search using the words “Rita the Spanish Wells Manatee” to see updates. Vets from Atlantis in Nassau and Marine Biologists check her regularly and are performing a color sonogram next week.

Tomorrow Seas the Day will be hauled out to have her bottom painted. This should be an interesting experience as we will be living aboard during the 4 days. It will be a LONG drop to the platform, and while we’ll have a tall stepladder, the interesting problem is how we will get Daisy on and off. She is 60 pounds and very willing to try anything, however this might try her patience. The good news is that they are using a wide platform to haul us out, rather than the crane we would probably use most places hauling out catamarans in the U.S.

Below are photos of the Spanish Wells harbor from the top of our mast. From left to right, top to bottom they show: view to west and channel through town, view of homes on the point of the island and out to the channel going to Harbour Island through the Devil’s Backbone coral reef, Mark taking a picture of himself at the top of the mast (see our tiny 12 ft. dinghy below him), and finally a closer view of some of the commercial boats and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the island. The ocean shore has a beautiful pink beach running almost the entire length of the island.

Seas the Day Beauty Salon

Mon, 3 May 2010 15:45:07 -0400

Today Daisy and I needed Mr. Mark’s skills as a beautician. He has become quite adept at cutting and coloring my hair so today he put some highlights in and trimmed an inch off. He does such good work that I don’t think I’ll need to enter a beauty salon again. Next, Daisy had the hair on her paws trimmed and her nails filed down. We have a fancy little gadget for that called a “Peticure.” Daisy is always very patient while getting her haircuts and nail trims. In the photo above, she is staring off into the distance, no doubt dreaming of being admired by all the potcakes she meets in The Bahamas.

We are moored right next to the channel that runs through Spanish Wells and out past the Devil’s Backbone (coral reef) to Harbour Island. Whenever a large boat is entering a harbor, they make a call on the VHF radio informing all boaters of their position. The Bo Hengy II does this several times a day as it enters and leaves Spanish Wells. The entrance channel is narrow and normally no boats are in it with Bo. Today, we were quite surprised to see Pinder’s Water Taxi passing them in the channel. It was a tight squeeze, but both captains are experienced. These are actually the two ferries we took when we visited Harbour Island. We took the “fast ferry” over and Pinder’s back. A few days ago, a small sailboat entered this channel ahead of the fast ferry and the captain had to slow down until the sailboat was out of the channel. He was not happy and called them on Channel 16. The sailboat captain answered and said they hadn’t heard the call as their “engine is loud and our radio is down below.” Oops! Big mistake not to listen to Channel 16 while sailing.

The captain on Bo Hengy II had another “almost collision” on this same trip, but the Hobie Cat was much quicker than the “fast ferry.” In fact this small sailboat zipped back and forth at the entrance to the channel several times while the “fast ferry” had to slow down as it entered the harbor. Still, it was a dangerous stunt to pass in front of this large ferry and I suspect the captain had to watch the tiny cat closely, hoping it kept going fast enough to get out of his way.

It was laundry day today. We did four loads, which is the equivalent of two loads in a full size washer. That means it was also watermaking day as these small loads still use quite a bit of water. We are in a very small mooring field and we are the boat closest to the end of the harbor. When the tide comes in, we get water that is clean enough to put through our watermaker. We would not want to make water on an outgoing tide here due to the dirty water coming from the fishing village and its numerous commercial boats.

We are in contact with several insurance agencies hoping to get a better deal on our boat insurance. This will be the third year we have purchased insurance for Seas the Day. The first year, we had to get insurance before Seas the Day left France. We closed on the boat in France, therefore we had to insure it when a delivery crew brought it to Florida. At that time, we had no experience on a sailboat so we were actually shocked that someone would insure us. Well, we did have that one week ASA course under our belts. Of course, we paid an exorbitant premium that year due to our inexperience. The next year the price went down dramatically, but it was still very high. This year we hope to decrease the payment even more. In order to do that, we might need to go farther north for the hurricane season and we will also be decreasing the hull value. This is one of the many things cruisers must budget for, including fuel, maintenance costs and repairs, and dock charges. In addition, there is always that “wish list.” Right now we are hoping to do the following before our next cruise out of the country: get the mast cut down so we can get under 65 foot bridges on the ICW, purchase and install solar panels and possibly a wind generator, purchase and install an SSB radio mainly to receive weather reports, and get the bottom painted.

Papa Scoops

Sat, 1 May 2010 17:36:47 -0400

While walking and biking around Spanish Wells we have often passed a sign on the street for “Papa Scoops” and the flavors of ice cream available that evening at 7 pm. It is a small stand outside a house and only open in the evenings. Yesterday, we checked out the sign on our way to the bank and saw they were offering strawberry and coconut ice cream tonight. We combined a visit to Papa Scoops with Daisy’s evening shore walk. Our cones were delicious, a sort of soft serve consistency but real ice cream taste. Daisy enjoyed the bottom of the cone.

We have received the estimate for painting the bottom of the boat with anti-fouling paint. This involves hauling the boat out of the water and they have the ability to fit us on their platform lift. Often it is a problem to find a boat yard that can haul out catamarans. We are almost 25 ft wide and will easily fit on this lift. We can also live aboard for the four days it will take to do the work. They will powerwash the bottom, scrape it, and apply several coats of paint including a primer. Labor here is much cheaper than in the States, so we think it will be about the same cost as getting us hauled out and doing it ourselves if we wait until we are back in the U.S. The problem is they can’t haul us out until Thursday or Friday of this week, which would make over two weeks that we will have been in Spanish Wells. That’s OK, as it’s a pleasant place to be, but it will probably mean that we will skip going to Abaco on this trip.

In the meantime, we’ll have time to get some chores done on the boat. Mark has been putting off going up to the top of the mast to replace the bulb for the anchor light. Being in this protected mooring field, he should be able to do it here. His list of repairs (small ones) is long. My list includes mostly cleaning and organizing chores. We have been busy on the computer as Mark did his taxes online here and we are also negotiating with several boat insurance companies to try to get a lower price than we are currently paying. Luckily we have the ability to do all of this on the Internet, as phone calls would be very expensive and we can scan and e-mail pdf attachments with any information the insurers need.

Of course we are also reading, relaxing, taking walks on the pink ocean beach and through the town and enjoying the sunsets. The one at the left is from our deck a few nights ago.