A Visit from St Nick?

Christmas Day.
What a wonderful sail!!! Leaving Fernandina the water was glassy. We did, however, raise a bit of the main while in the inlet not knowing what it was going to be “outside”. We needn’t have gone to the trouble. The seas were absolutely calm!!!! The wind was so light that the boom swung from side to side. There was no sign of St Nick, but we did see dolphins and we saw pelicans—flight after flight of pelicans. Two, three four or more of them would come up on the boat, skimming the water. It is absolutely amazing how they can fly in concert and skim just a fraction of an inch off the surface of the water without touching. Later, you can see one, a hundred feet or so off the water. He will fold his wings and dive straight down. Sometimes, he will come up with a fish in beak, but more often he won’t. As we were coming in the St John’s inlet, one of them decided to take a ride along with us. He perched on our lifelines for a while and then left. Maybe he decided we weren’t going his way.

We pulled into the Morningstar Marina next to the Naval Station. It was early and the weather was great. We had a couple of drink outside in the cockpit to celebrate! We turned in early because we were both tired—fresh air, rum and Peter’s cold.
During the night, the promised cold front passed through and the wind picked up – at least 25+ knots! At about a quarter of 8 in the morning, there arose such a clatter. Peter rushed from the berth, threw open the hatch to see what was the matter. Was this a belated visit from St Nick? No, the wind had taken hold of the jib and had managed to unfurl a couple of feet and it was flogging like crazy. Fortunately, it had not gone so far as to be completely unmanageable. He got it under control and was able to enjoy his coffee and sweet rolls. Throughout the day we had to check our lines and reposition our fenders.

FINALLY FLORIDA!

Fernandina Harbor Marina.
22 December 2010
Had a great sail from St. Simons today. Even though we were motor sailing. The wind was our friend, our sails were full and we were making 7 kts for much of the trip. We had dolphins on the bow and that is always welcome. Think we’ll be here a couple of days. Much wind and wave predicted. Today, Thursday, we really rocked and rolled at the dock! Quite a wind from the north and swift tidal current from the south. But we have all we need and if we run out of rum, we’ll drink wine!!! ;)

A New Season

I thought that I would be making this season’s first entry from Fernandina Beach, Fl. A day’s sail from our home marina in Brunswick, GA. Alas, it was not meant to be. As we were leaving the dock, the Captain noticed right off that something wasn’t right; black smoke at anything over 2000 RPMs and not as much power as usual. He said maybe it was the fact that the diesel was old. We were chugging out the St. Simons channel, approaching a green buoy which was to our south with a north wind and not a lot of power AGGGG! That close up they are huge!!!! Fortunately we got past it with a split second to spare. Then the warning on the engine went off – we were overheating!! Peter turned it off. We put up some more sail and somehow I got a hold of myself and was able to call SeaTow! Boy was he good. It was amazing to see how gently he put us up against the dock. So here we are at Golden Isles /St Simons. We had a guy dive the bottom and prop and sure enough he said that the prop was completely encrusted with barnacles. He cleaned it. (he also said the bottom was great!) So we’ll try again tomorrow.

Home again!

We’re home! Er, wait a minute – all winter we were at home on the boat. So, I guess I should say we are home in Kentucky. Our well-loved Great Pyrenees, Lucette, is home too. I really missed her this winter. She is her usual loveable self. I really want to thank family and friends who kept in touch all winter. Although this winter was different we still appreciated the e-mails. Also thanks to our “comment”-ers to this blog. And Shar, what a nice surprise of a birthday card to come home to. Our winter was not at all what we planned. You know about “the best laid plans . . .” well, that sure describes our winter. But, we were not alone in our non-traveling. I don’t know the exact number, but at least a dozen other boats never left the marina either. We all were constantly checking the weather and whenever we’d see another cruiser the invariable conversation was “well, how does this week look to you?” “not good, wind is supposed to pick up later and probably rain” “yeah, that’s what we saw too”. And on it went that way all winter. We kept telling ourselves ad nauseum that here in Brunswick at least we had friends, were plugged into shore power so had a little heater to keep us toasty, and had a car. We were able to shop at Harris Teeter a very nice upscale supermarket on St. Simon’s island as well as at Publix and Winn Dixie in Brunswick. (Not to mention all the ‘biggies’ like Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc) And the Oyster Shak had oysters for 25c apiece on Monday!!!!! I have to mention our new dockmates Janice and Greg. They just bought their lovely Allied Luders sailboat (s/v Glenice) this past fall and have already sold everything at their Tybee Island home and moved aboard! Such grand folks. We have enjoyed their company immensely. I already miss many of the folks that we hobnobbed with all winter, Sherrie, Cindy, George, Carol, John and Helen, Mary Jane & Art, Clyde & Sherri, Lynn & Ann and everybody else!!!
I don’t know the exact date that we finally came to the realization that we weren’t going to the Bahamas this winter. We really weren’t going anywhere. We got word from several of the people who did go further south (and Galen and Cheryl on the west coast of Florida), and all reported unpleasant weather. And poor Peter his plan of varnishing in some secluded cove with white sand beaches and palm trees was not to be. He couldn’t leave the wood bare or else all of his hard work of sanding would be for naught as it would have to be sanded all over again next fall/winter! So he started varnishing. He needed to put on at least 4 coats to protect the wood. Of course the weather still was not cooperating. Why were we not surprised? Finally, (after again turning the boat around) he was finished – really finished. So it was time to pack up and off- load things that we hadn’t used or eaten for over a year – We did leave many canned goods on board but took home a lot, too. We didn’t take as much wine home as we had arrived with, however. Well, duh. A whole winter had passed. And you know that a day without wine is . . . well, you know. So here we are back in Kentucky. We have had some rain (which is ok since I guess it has been dry here and living in the woods as we do, it did wet down the dry leaves and twigs) we have also had some lovely spring weather – today has been sunny and in the 70’s. 

The daffodils are smiling. The forsythia has blooms here and there, the cherry tree blossoms are swelling as well as many of the hardwoods in the woods around
us. It is Spring in Kentucky and all is well.
Another “adventure” looms on the horizon --- stay tuned!

Of Boat Shows and Garlic Fests

So this past week, we celebrated my birthday at an overpriced restaurant. Then we went to the Miami Boat Show. We must’ve walked a hundred miles, boarded a bunch of boats and sampled the most awful excuse for gyros in the world. The boat show was interesting; it’s always . . . well, what? . . . interesting to see how the other half boats. We went on board several 32, 37, and 39 foot boats, mostly to see how they compared to our piece of paradise. We’re still happy! We were surprised by a Passport 47 whose hailing port was Port Oliver Kentucky. Being members of the Port Oliver Yacht Club, we were naturally intrigued. Turns out that the owner of the boat was from Glasgow, KY! Small world. Nice boat, BTW, very nice boat. Today, mensiversary 445, we went to the 11th annual Garlic Fest in Del Ray Beach. Fun, lots of people and don’t ask why they have a garlic fest in February. But all the food vendors had garlic laced everything, there was an iron chef garlic cook-off and we even tasted garlic ice cream. There may or may not have been garlic in the conch salad that I had for lunch. It was superb! Not quite as good as Friendly Joe’s on Bimini, but location may have had something to do with that. It was unique in that it was served in the cavity of half a papaya. After much searching, we
found Richard from Cote Provence at the Garlic Fest. He and his French partner had a shop on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale. They also did a Sunday farmers’market on Las Olas. It was at the market that I bought one of their wonderful French garlic bowls several years ago. It is a colorful 6” ceramic bowl with “teeth” on the bottom. You can grate garlic, add evoo, a pinch of herbs et voila!!! dipping oil. He also has little plates that can be used for the same purpose or for grating ginger, hard cheese, whatever.
Check out his web site – he has some really neat stuff. http://coteprovenceimports.com

Ahhh! Fort Lauderdale

Ah! We’re sitting in the cockpit, sipping rum punches and enjoying an evening breeze. Shorts, t-shirts, bare feet. Such is life in Ft Lauderdale. Alas! It’s not our boat. We’ve been more or less stuck in Brunswick for several weeks. We failed to take advantage of the scant weather windows that materialized. The forecast for the next 10 days precludes any possibility of leaving during that time period. We were bemoaning that fact and thinking about another 10 days in Brunswick. Don’t get me wrong—it could be worse. At least it is not freezing, we don’t have snow and we do have a car and friends. So, we had resigned ourselves to 10 more days without the tropical sun. Then it came to us! Our friend Al has a boat in Ft Lauderdale. Yes!! Surely he would like someone to check on it for him, run the engine, check the lines, etc. N’est-ce pas? So, here we are in Ft Lauderdale. What would have taken us several days to accomplish on the boat was done in a matter of hours. There are several restaurants that have become our favorites, there is Sailorman (used and salvaged marine supplies) and, of course, the sun and warm weather. So, we’ll hang out here for a week or so, check out the Miami Boat Show and return to Brunswick where we hope the weather will moderate and we can finally get under way. *sigh* (says c.)

Underway?

We left the dock a couple of days ago! Whoo-hoo! Our voyage lasted all of ten minutes. We backed out of the slip in order to turn the boat around so I could sand the toe rail on the port side. It’s so much easier to do that from the dock than from a dinghy. I’ve been involved in sanding the toe rail in preparation for varnishing. I’m saving the varnishing for a nice comfortable anchorage just off a sunny, palm-studded, sandy beach. Anyway, I finished sanding the port side toe rail and proudly proclaimed the job finished and ready for varnish. Claudia burst my bubble by pointing out that I still had the cap rail on the transom and the trim around the companionway to sand. Not a big job, but a job that renders my “Mission accomplished” declaration inaccurate.
We have seen one front after another pass through and even though it would have been possible to leave a couple of times, we would have been stuck for several days elsewhere. It looks like we will have a good weather window this week and hope to get off to St Augustine. It’s time.

Stuck?

OK, we have not posted for a while. I promise to do better.

Christmas came and went. We had our traditional Moules Marinières and champagne for supper on Xmas Eve. There was a pot luck dinner in the marina on Xmas day—turkey, dressing, ham, prime rib, several iterations of sweet potatoes, salads, veggies and oh my-oh-my desserts. Then, New Year’s Eve arrived and we were still in the marina. Naturally, there was a party and, of course, we went. For the first time in years we stayed up until midnight. The first time, that is if you don’t count our being awakened by a beautiful fireworks show at midnight last year in the Saintes!
So, why are we still in Brunswick? We along with dozens of other boats have been waiting for a suitable weather window to head further south. The weather here and points further south has been frigid and windy. Hardly the kind of weather we want when traveling by boat, especially with an open cockpit. Some of the folks who have holed up here have enclosed cockpits and some have trawlers and would be somewhat sheltered from the elements. Still, it simply hasn’t been weather for traveling by boat.
Many boats left during the past couple of days and many more are waiting until next week. We could have left yesterday except that it was our anniversary, 444 months! Then we could have left today in order to arrive at St Augustine on Friday. The weather is supposed to deteriorate on Friday and begin raining for several days and the winds are supposed to pick up. We’d be stuck in St A and no car. So we sit here at Brunswick Landing Marina until we get a better weather window. But it is nice here, the boaters are a nice bunch as are the marina staff. Not a bad place at all to be ‘stuck’.