“Better late than never;” “If not now, when?” “Now or Never!” The Fort Pierce Christmas Boat Parade finally took place this weekend. Boats lit up like Las Vegas, decorated with Santa Clauses on surf boards, and sporting sound systems designed for communication with lunar stations paraded past the dock. Every kind of boat was represented from small fishing skiffs to tug boats to sailboats whose masts provided the perfect support for strings of lights. The parade was a good excuse for a waterfront party, as if an excuse were ever needed. We accompanied some of the Dock 6 Bubba and Bubbette club to Cracker Boy Boatworks where we joined Rich and Cindy on “s/v Shapa-ay” (gateway to the stars) and about 30 other people for smoked ham, beer-soaked brats and an assortment of other dishes. You can have your white Christmas; palm trees, warm breezes and beautifully decorated boats almost turned this Scrooge into a believer.

A couple of nights prior to the parade, we took in the “son et lumière” at the waterfront park. Multi-colored lights affixed to every surface were synched to Christmas music. The park was filled with people and children chased each other with squeals of delight. The whole scene, illuminated as it was with the lights and surrounded by music was truly magical. I must say, Fort Pierce knows how to do Christmas.

Yesterday was Sunday—all you can eat champagne brunch at Mangrove Mattie’s. We heard that they had “all you can eat” oysters on the half shell. We knew we could get our money’s worth; we can put away a lot of raw oysters. Five and a half dozen each is our record, but we know we can do better! So we figured we’d work on a new record. Wow! What a brunch buffet; salads, lox with capers, a whole smoked salmon, roast beef, salmon and grouper poached in cream sauce, raw oysters, steamed mussels, pastries, waffles, omelettes cooked to order. All of this was served with bottomless glasses of champagne (or Mimosas if you are inclined to desecrate a perfectly good glass of champagne with orange juice!). The shear variety of food soon enticed us to abandon our search for a new record and we stopped after two dozen each.

The “Spartite” is finally poured around the mast where it passes through the deck. I think it will finally solve the problem of leaks and will definitely keep the mast in place. The next project will be to install a new roller furler and then adjust all the stays. The work will be finished before Christmas and we can be on our way. However, we will stay until after Christmas in Fort Pierce where we have friends.

The Conga Line

Alas. A rained out boat parade. But never fear! There is another Saturday – next!!! It’s been raining all day. The mast is running water, big time. But my trusty Boy Scout read somewhere, sometime about such a situation (maybe not a mast) whereby you tie a line around the upright and leave a long end – the line catches the leaks and the water runs down the line into a bucket!!! Ah. Knew there was a reason I’ve kept him around for 38 years!!

Just talked to our friends, Jim & ‘conga’-Ellie, s/v FinniRish, and they are worn out!! 14 bridges from here to where they are 13 miles north of Las Olas. They are finished with bridges. But they have 6 more to go tomorrow! A stiff gin and tonic is helping unwind the tensions of the day! Must explain the “conga” . . . the awful thing about this otherwise really nice marina is the finger piers. Ours is only about 10 -12 feet long and starts out at the dock at maybe 2 ½ feet wide and narrows down to maybe 2 feet! And it is wobbly!! I am petrified of walking those few feet!! Ellie suggested going behind Peter (whom it doesn’t bother in the least – same with Jim) and hanging on to him. It works!! The other night we went to their boat for night caps and Ellie said “Ok, let’s form the conga line!” So we did!!! I am getting better and not gripping too hard – no wedgies!



Today is Monday and we have seen the sun all day!!! Our friend, Bill, on s/v Memento Mori from, you guessed it, Dock 6 arrived today! And according to observers, his single-handed docking was flawless. Another Dock 6 reunion (say, “dock party”) is in the works!!!

We are tied up in front of the Harbor Cove Restaurant--quiet by day but increasingly animated as the colorful stools fill up with patrons at the bar for happy hour.

Reunion

The Dock 6 Bubba and Bubbette reunion has happened. Several of us Dock 6ers gathered at the pavilion at Harbortown to catch up on everything important and everything trivial. It was good to see Dave and Lori, Don and Ann and Ray and Sandy. Dan and Nancy whose boat “s/v Maja” spent some time on Dock 6 a couple of years ago, joined us.

While we all enjoyed our sundowners and getting together again, we were joined by Gray, a short guy with a stylishly stubby kind of beard and a ten gallon straw hat properly curved down fore and aft. His shirt was unbuttoned to several inches below his Adam’s apple and grey, curly hair showed through. Gray was raised on a boat by his mother and father from Crossville, TN. He regrets that he cannot remember if his father ever put his arms around him. He describes himself as a coward. However, he related an episode from his high school days that reveals a hidden courage in his character. It seems that there was a boy in the school, Beau Gay by name. Poor Beau was the object of ridicule and bullying. One day, the bullies were demanding that Beau lie in the dirt and eat grass. Gray approached the bullies and said, “Mah name’s Gray. Ah live on a boat. You leave this boy alone or Ah’ll whup yer ass!” He never had to “whup their ass” and they never bothered Beau again.






Then, a couple of nights later, we all gathered at 12A Buoy for a fine supper. We were joined by Jim and Ellie whose boat “s/v FinniRish” spent time on Dock 5 this year. Then there were Chuck and Renee, “s/v Second Wind.” We met Chuck and Renee at the City Marina when we first landed at Ft Pierce. Chuck rushed over to greet us and virtually thrust his car keys into our hands saying, “Borrow it anytime.”



The bad news is that we will be in Ft Pierce for a while. The good news is that we could be stuck in worse places. The roller furler foil on our forestay is kinked at a joint indicating that the joining sleeve is broken there. All of our stays and shrouds are too loose. This is not a result of the problem with the mast. The shrouds are actually tighter now than before. However, I’ve always suspected that they were too loose. In examining the problem with the foil, the rigger said that everything was too loose. The fix will involve shortening all the stays. In doing so, the attachments will have to be replaced and the roller furler will have to be dismantled. In question is the availability of parts to repair the furler. They may have to come from Sweden or they may not even be available! Stay tuned for later developments.

Beethoven, step aside!

Sunday. Harbortown Marina.
Ahhhh. . . back on the water
It is so very nice to be back on the water.
The shiny new maststep that Joey at Riverside Marine made fit perfectly. And, with the help of a couple fellow sailors, the re-masting went flawlessly. A halyard slapping on the mast is an annoying noise. But it was music to our ears because it meant that our mast was back where it belongs and not lying across sawhorses!!! Beethoven, step aside!

Saturday morning we “splashed” at about 10:30 and by 11 were safely snug in a slip here at Harbortown Marina. A word about our stay “on the hard”. The yard name is Riverside Marina. It is huge. It is a family run do it yourself yard: Sally, mom, runs the office, Jason, son, runs the all important travel lift (that takes boats out of the water and ‘splashes’ them back in), Joey, son, is a welder. All in all really nice, helpful people. A yard to recommend in this area.

Yesterday was mainly spent just enjoying being here and on the water. We found 3 boats from our Brunswick Dock #6. Two will spend the winter here the third is as yet undecided. I’m sure a Dock 6 reunion is in our future! We went to the onsite restaurant for supper. We shared. The crab stuffed artichokes had too much breading but the artichokes were good. And the hamburger was good. This afternoon Ray and Sandy (dock 6ers) will pick us up and we will go to the Christmas parade in town. Should be fun.

We will need a couple of days to put things back in order. We have to tighten all the stays, put the boom back on the mast, hoist the sails and reinstall the radar. Then, we have to wait for decent weather for our trip down to Ft Lauderdale.

Alas. What a difference a day makes. Problems – big time! The forestay and shrouds all need to be shortened. Aggg. The rigger will be back this afternoon to take measurements etc.

On the Hard Again!

I guess Willie Nelson would say, “On the hard again.” The boat is not gently swaying with the currents and the wind just whistles and howls through the rigging—well not so tonight since the rigging is on the ground! We left Fort Pierce City Marina last Wednesday for Riverside Boatyard expecting to have the mast pulled on Friday. Riverside is a huge boat yard. There are easily 2 or 3 hundred boats here in various states of repair and disrepair.

At any rate, we expected to have the mast pulled on Friday after Thanksgiving. Then we learned that we could have it pulled on Monday or Tuesday. There were two or three other boats whose owners wanted to pull or restep their masts and there is economy in numbers. Economy only goes so far when you have to pay for each day you sit on the jackstands even when no work is being done. So, this AM, we contracted for a crane and the mast was pulled. It was a really painless operation completed in a matter of 30 minutes.

The unwelcome surprise came when Peter removed the original mast step and found it to be unsalvageable. So now, the welding shop is fabricating a new step, adding 3 ½ inches to its height to compensate for the corroded part of the mast that Peter cut off. While the mast is on the ground, Peter will move the radar further aloft in order to add track to the front of the mast so we can store the whisker pole on the mast. This is for Claudia’s comfort and pleasure when “scampering” along the sidedeck uncluttered by the likes of a whisker pole. Then, he will replace the incandescent steaming light with LED and maybe replace the coax for the VHF with heavier coax.





The mast step



The bottom of the mast

We spent a somewhat uneventful Thanksgiving Day. Friends on board “Second Wind,” we met them at the City Marina, volunteered at a mission and brought us leftover turkey and fixings from the meal that was served there. Mostly we spent the day preparing to have the mast pulled; removing the mainsail, the lazy jacks, binding all the halyards to the mast, disconnecting wires, etc.
Before we left the City Marina, we had a night visitor, an osprey that was completely unfazed by the fake snake dangling from the bow pulpit of the boat next to ours. The osprey was equally unfazed by the flash of our camera and remained perched for well over an hour. The next day, he had lighted atop our mast and sat there for quite some time. Later, we saw him with a fish in his talons.

Yesterday, Peter took a walk from Riverside to Harbourtown Marina. There is a big citrus shipper about a quarter of a mile from the boatyard. If one were so inclined, he could help himself to Indian River grapefruits off a semi trailer. Then, the road is lined with bushes bearing gourmet pink peppercorns. Finally and of ultimate importance, about a half a mile away is a store that sells that all important commodity—RUM.

Exotic Flowers and Not So Elegant Mussels

Finally, the wind has abated. For thirty-six hours it howled in the rigging and the dock lines creaked and the boat rocked in the slip. By afternoon, the gray skies of morning and occasional drizzles gave way to bright sunshine and warmer temps. We took in the famous Ft Pierce farmers’ market. We really don’t need any provisions but it is fun to see what other things are being sold—crafts and the like. The market seems to have greatly expanded since last December when we were here. We took a fancy to a wind chime on board one of the boats in the marina. The skipper told us he got it at the farmers’ market. So, we looked up the vendor, a really nice guy named Jeff. His wind chimes are made of bits of stained glass, shells and glass beads. Hanging from Now or Never’s bimini frame is a tinkling wind chime of cobalt blue glass.
A bit further on, we came across a vendor who specializes in bromeliads and exotic flowers. We saw an air plant that we just had to have. A ball of greenery with a few patches of red beginning to show. We hung it from the dodger frame.
When we were here last March, we had a delightful meal at Yellowtail Grill—Thai Ginger Mussels, an interesting variation on the classic Moules Marinières and Ahi tuna with a wasabi cream sauce. We have been looking forward to a repeat performance. Unfortunately it was not to be. The mussels were not up to the standard that we expected and the tuna, while good, was not what it should have been. The bottle of Australian Pinot Grigio, however, was very good and we still had a pleasant evening out.

We’ve decided to repair the mast step here in Ft Pierce rather than risk the 17 or 18 hour trip down the coast with the problem. We expect to hear from the boatyard on Monday or Tuesday to schedule a haulout or a slip where we will await the haulout. It looks like we will spend Thanksgiving in Ft Pierce. Actually, the weather does not look good for sailing down the coast anyway, so maybe things will work out well.

Peacocks and Pelicans

After fifty hours and 33 minutes the first leg of our winter trip is complete. We left Brunswick on Saturday, Nov 12 at 9AM. We passed under the Sidney Lanier Bridge, cruised past St Simons light house and three hours later we were in the Atlantic and headed south—the two of us and a guest. Randy, a fellow sailor from Dock 6 joined us for the trip. He was a big help, a great crew member and fun to have on board. We spent two moonlit nights on the ocean and witnessed two glorious and very welcome sunrises. Monday afternoon, we pulled into Ft Pierce inlet with great trepidation. The inlet can be the “inlet from Hell” with huge, erratic waves that toss the boat about like a cork, especially on a falling tide. As it was, we approached the inlet 3 hours into a falling tide! It wasn’t planned that way; we were supposed to arrive before high tide but the wind just wasn’t cooperative. Luck was with us and our worries were for naught, the inlet was calm.
The only excitement during the trip occurred sometime Monday morning. Passing Cape Canaveral, we heard a heavy thud but couldn’t identify its source. We were sailing close-hauled in about 12 knots of wind and the rig was loaded. Peter noticed that the shrouds on the leeward side were pretty loose but attributed that to the fact that they were not really doing any work. Later, when he went below, he noticed that the base of the mast must have shifted since a bilge cover had been displaced. The mast was becoming unstepped! Furl the ginny and douse the main! Get the load off the mast!
Thankfully the seas were kind and didn’t toss us about too much, sparing any further stress on the mast. The problem was caused by galvanic corrosion between the aluminum mast and the steel mast step. We’d been monitoring the problem for quite some time but didn’t realize that it had progressed so far. So, next stop, Playboy Marine in Ft Lauderdale where we will have the stick pulled and repairs done.
Meanwhile, here we sit in Ft Pierce waiting for a weather window and watching pelicans dive for their dinner. Yesterday, Randy rented a car and chauffeured us from errand to errand. Once, all traffic on Orange Avenue came to a standstill in order to allow a peacock cross the road.

Good night Irene

Well the day has passed and we are well into the afternoon. Soon the sun will set and we can say, “Goodnight Irene.” On Monday, we looked at the weather and saw that tropical storm Irene had Brunswick, GA in its crosshairs. So, let’s close up shop at home and head down to Georgia to check on Now or Never! To make sure she can withstand the hurricane that was sure to form. Let’s see, remove sails, remove dodger, Bimini, solar panels. Extra lines, spiders’ webs all over. Tuesday, after 11 hours on the road, we pull up to our dock. There must have been 15 people there. Welcoming party? Well we’d like to think so, but just folks from our dock and the neighboring dock sharing sundowners before supper. So, one day passes and then the next and Irene, now a real hurricane moves farther offshore. Whew! Today, she is directly off shore but nearly 200 miles away. We’ve got some wind—20-25 knots, clouds come and go, the boat rocks a bit now and then. The only excitement of the day came when I was cleaning our anchor line. It was sitting on the dock where I had hosed it down. I pulled the water hose and 100 plus feet of nylon anchor line fell in the water! Fortunately, it was sinking slowly so I could grab it and pull it out of the water. So tonight we have a hurricane party without the hurricane. Life is good.

Home Sweet Home

When we last posted, we had arrived at Fernandina Beach after a 36 hour, windless trip from Fort Pierce. We like Fernandina Beach. It’s a picturesque town with lots of shops and restaurants. We are not really big on shops, but we do like restaurants and that is one of the reasons we stopped there. We had made reservations at Le Clos, a favorite of ours. We started with Escargots and Claudia had the Ahi Tuna while Peter had the seared duck breast. We washed it all down with a good pinot noir and followed with coffee and a créme brûlée. Sadly, the next day was Sunday and we learned that Fernandina Beach is an old-fashioned kind of place that shuts down on Sunday. Few restaurants open. We had hoped to have lunch at Kelly’s; it used to be known as la Bodega. We enjoyed dining in the open courtyard when it went by that name and we hoped to find Kelly’s as good. Alas! It was closed.

We met some really nice folks who were traveling on a 35 foot Pearson yawl (Anne and John) and their friends on an uncharacteristically navy blue hull Island Packet ( Dennis and Julia). We hope to see them again on our next cruise. Then small world that it is, we saw some folks from Colorado sporting WKU T-shirts.

The trip to Brunswick was largely windless although we were able to get a boost from the wind for a few hours. We passed under the Sidney Lanier Bridge and called the marina. What a welcome! One would think that we were long gone and considered lost! We motored past the shrimp boats and tied up to the same dock we had left, albeit on the other side. It was good to be home. It only remained to do a few boat chores and we could get in the car and head home to Kentucky. We did have two must dos. The first, a tradition, was to head for Fox’s Pizza Den the night of our arrival. The second, there was happy hour at the Oyster Shak the following Monday and several dozen oysters on the half shell.

The drive home with a stop at Harry’s (Whole Foods) in Marietta, GA was long. Arrival at Woodside meant stopping along our drive every few feet to remove fallen branches from the road. We arrived after the Redbud blooms but the Dogwoods and spring wildflowers were still in bloom and everything was green.






Our pooch was glad to see us and we more so to see her. So now we're CLODS (Cruisers Living On Dirt) and planning for next season begins. Meanwhile, the adventure continues!

Goodbye South Florida

We left Ft Lauderdale after a very pleasant stay. Our trip to Ft Pierce was a combination of motoring, motor-sailing and sailing. The wind was very light when we left but it picked up later in the morning and came out of the East. As the day progressed, it clocked around to the south and was on our stern. We were able to sail, wing and wing (mainsail to one side of the boat and jib on the other). Since we had caught a tiny bit of the northbound Gulf stream, we were able to make more than 6 knots (6 nautical miles per hour). Sixteen or seventeen hours later and we were tied up in our slip at Ft Pierce.
Peter had extolled the food at Chuck’s, a popular local restaurant right on the water. Claudia’s sesame seared tuna was as good as he promised. We discovered a new restaurant, Yellowtail Grille and Raw Bar. The raw oysters were far too expensive but the menu offered a creative assortment of dishes. Since Moules Marinières is one of our favorites Peter had to try their version, Thai Ginger Mussels; mussels steamed in white wine and herbs with the addition of ginger and coconut milk. This was definitely an original iteration of a classic dish. Claudia’s Sashimi Tuna was outstanding! How can you improve on something like that? Well, instead of wasabi, try wasabi cream sauce.
After a 38 hour windless trip, from Ft Pierce, we arrived at Fernandina Beach at 9:15 PM. There wasn’t a breath of wind the entire trip until we turned into the entrance channel. Suddenly, there was a 10 knot breeze from the south. Where was that when we needed it? By the time we got all the way in and had to turn into the ICW to get to the marina, it was pitch dark. We’ve been to this marina several times and should know our way in. Believe me, things look different in the dark. We tried following the chart plotter, but it was confusing since it was oriented north up and we were headed south. So directions were turned around. Finally, after doing several circles while reviewing our progress, we arrived at a point where we didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t seem to find the next red flashing beacon which was opposite our marina. So, more circles. We could see that there was a marina opposite our position, but we failed to recognize it as our destination. Things look different in the dark. After hailing some people in a passing dinghy, we established that we were, in fact, at our marina. Of course, it was late, so there was no dock hand to help us with our lines.

Peppermint Sticks Redux

The time has come to say “’til we meet again.” We enjoyed our second stay at Coconut Grove. The people at the sailing club are terrific. We will think of Dwayne and Pat and Lee and Terry and Lauren often and look forward to seeing them again next year. If you like restaurants, the Grove is the place to be. French, Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Fusion and more, they’re all here. We ate at George’s the other day. Claudia had Avocado Tartare. We wondered how else you could have avocado. We decided that it was the presentation that qualified it for the moniker. Peter ordered a pan-seared tuna dish. Good fortune decreed that the kitchen had run out of tuna and he had to settle for the best Steak Tartare ever—served with French fries cooked in garlic flavored oil. Superb!
Most of the boats in the mooring field belong to members of the sailing club. We were a bit jealous of them. Most sailing and yacht clubs have reciprocity agreements with each other through national memberships. We were dismayed to learn that our club, Port Oliver Yacht Club, did not have reciprocal agreements with Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Oh well, their loss. They won’t be able to tie up at Port Oliver and join in the festivities on the second Friday of the month. One of the highlights of our recent visit was the moonrise on March 19, when the moon was at its closest point to the Earth in 18 years. It was beautiful!

So now, it’s back to the peppermint stick smokestacks of Fort Lauderdale. We will have to haul out again. Peter decided to inspect the steering gear (taking a hint from our experience on Second Wind). The steering gear was in fine shape, cables taut, attachments free of wear and so on. However, the nuts and bolts that hold the rudder bearing in place are severely corroded, crying out, “Replace, NOW.” In addition, we have had a persistent problem with the seacock that drains the holding tank. Might as well deal with that as well as long as we are going to be out of the water.

 

Long Island virtually begs you to stay forever. It’s not that there is a lot going on; quite the contrary. But the people are friendly and their lifestyle interesting. We drove to the south end of the island where the road literally ends on a beautiful beach that spills into the incredible blue waters of the Bahamas. Not a person insight!
Serendipity was with us when we picked up a hitch-hiker, Ernest Watson.  Ernest owns a little roadside bar and restaurant where we had an ice cold beer while he entertained us with stories about his life. He told us how to hunt wild boar and land crabs. He told us about spearing lobster and fish. He showed us his garden and the kid goat he nursed back to health. Then he told us how to cook it all. We learned that he was going for land crabs that night and that they were a staple item on the menu.   We arranged to return the next day for lunch. The menu—crab and rice, lobster salad and whatever else he thought appropriate (he chose broiled lobster tails!) Real down home Bahamian food!
Another drive took us north. The difference was striking. Where in the South there were many abandoned houses, some in great disrepair, the North had many fine homes with well-kept yards. We stopped for lunch at Max’s (world famous) Conch Bar in Deadman’s Cay. Coming to the Bahamas and not having a conch salad would be like going to Rome and not visiting the Coliseum. When we arrived, the tiki hut bar was crowded with an international set. We sat next to a French couple who enthusiastically recommended the grilled conch.  We watched Max as he expertly chopped and diced the ingredients for conch salad (recipe below) with a razor sharp 12 inch blade, putting Benihana to shame.
The Queen’s highway that runs the entire length of the island is bordered on each side with stone walls in various states of repair. The walls are remnants of the plantations that were established by Loyalists who fled the American colonies during the Revolution.  There are many architecturally unique churches scattered about the island some reminiscent of Mission style and small chapels in Greece. Clarence Town is known for two of the several churches built by Father Jerome in the Bahamas. 
It is somewhat ironic that in spite of our change of plans, fortune brought us to Long Island, our destination when we first set out in December. Now, having spent a few days there we know we want to return next winter.

Conch Salad
Chop and dice roughly equal quantities of tomato, green pepper and onion. Some people squeeze the juice from the diced tomatoes before adding them to the mix (Friendly Joe on Bimini who prepares the best salad we’ve tasted, does this). Some people also chop and dice a bit of apple for the salad. Then, chop and finely dice some raw conch (the quantity roughly equal to the rest of the ingredients so you have about half conch and half vegetables). Squeeze a good quantity of lime juice into the salad. (Personally, we also like to add some lime zest, but that’s not authentic) Some people also add some orange juice to the mixture. A bit of goat pepper (habañero) or other kind of pepper for heat. Salt to taste. Enjoy. We also use this recipe for diced fresh raw tuna and snapper.

Long Island at last!

Seven or eight hundred miles of water have passed under the keel since Ponce, Puerto Rico. We anchored at Boqueron to stage for crossing the dreaded Mona Passage. Fortunately it did not live up to its reputation and we again experienced an uneventful crossing. However, on our third night out, still off the north coast of Hispaniola, things deteriorated rather rapidly. Peter was on watch while everyone else slept. He was stretched out on the helmsman’s seat reading by flashlight while Otto steered the boat under full sail. Suddenly Otto jumped out of gear and the boat careened off course. The boat crashed through the waves and became a slave to the wind. Peter’s cursing awakened Al. It was apparent that we needed to shorten  

sail. Thankfully the reefing lines for the mainsail are led back to the cockpit and it was a relatively simple matter to take a reef there. The line for furling the jib is also led back to the cockpit, but it was jammed! This required a trip to the bow with the waves tossing and turning the boat. Al finally worked up the nerve to crawl forward to fix the problem and we could finally reef the jib and the ride became more comfortable and the boat was easier to handle. Claudia slept through the entire episode.
 The rocking and rolling in the anchorage at Matthewtown, Great Iguana, Bahamas were a welcome respite from the 25-30 knot winds of the night before and after 3 nights underway a dip in the clear turquoise water was refreshing. After a good night’s sleep we were again underway. Hand steering this time since Otto was apparently on strike for better working conditions. The next morning brought us back to Clarencetown, Long Island, Bahamas where we first stepped on board Second Wind five years ago. Ironically, Long Island was our original destination when we set out from Brunswick back in December!

The new adventure has begun! We left “Now or Never!” on a mooring ball at Coconut Grove Sailing Club. We met our friend Al at the airport. He had quite a long layover so, of course, we had to take him to “El Atlacatl” in Little Havana to sample the Mariscada. Then we all boarded a plane and headed to Sint Maarten where we provisioned “Second Wind.” Soon, we were on our way to Puerto Rico. The sailing was great! (see below for “what she said”) We turned off the engine as soon as we left the lagoon. The wind was from the NE at 12-15 knots and we were headed straight West. We set the sails and hardly touched them for the next 20 hours—woo-hoo! 6 knots! 7 knots! Even 8 knots! We were cooking in 6 foot seas (what she said below) We set the whisker pole to sail wing and wing as we came to the southern shore of Puerto Rico. By now, we had a following sea with 8 foot waves and an occasional 10 footer. There is nothing quite like looking aft to see a wall of water towering over the transom.
Our arrival at Ponce provided the only real excitement of the 30 hour trip. Since the jib was poled out certain precautions needed to be observed when furling the sail. Even so, the sail got pinched in the jaws of the whisker pole and we had a problem getting the sail rolled up. We started the engine and discovered that we had no steering gear. Yikes! We dug out the emergency tiller and with some difficulty, we were able to pilot the boat into the anchorage where we dropped the hook and rewarded ourselves with a ‘ti punch (basically rum, lime wedge and a bit of sugar).
“What she said” Great sailing my eye! Sure 6, 7, 8 knots. That didn’t change the fact that the boat was bobbing up and down on every 6 foot wave that passed! I spent the next 24 hours curled up in a fetal position in the V-berth.

We’re wrapping up our séjour in the Grove today. The sun is shining brightly and music is drifting across the mooring field from the park adjacent to the Sailing Club. The 48th annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival is taking place this weekend. It is estimated that 150,000 people attend this event to look at and buy art work from over 300 artists from all over the world. I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many people in one place! The art work, from painting to sculpture to jewelry and tapestry, is truly spectacular and truly expensive. The food vendors represent the usual hodgepodge of gyros, hotdogs and hamburgers with a bit of Latin food tossed in--pinchos, chicharrones and empanadas, all equally expensive.

We ate at a Cuban restaurant this week, La Carreta. Claudia ordered a sampler pletter that had enough food to satisfy our appetites for 2 days. In fact, we brought home the leftovers for lunch the following day. Peter nearly always orders picadillo at Cuban restaurants. It’s a very popular dish which consists of seasoned ground beef. His Cuban friend Carlos taught him how to make it several years ago. It’s been a favorite in our household for years. The version served at La Carreta was almost as good as Carlos’ version.

We went to the Barnacle State Park, within walking distance of the Sailing Club. It is the site of the oldest residence in Miami Dade County still standing on its original foundations. It’s a beautiful home that was well thought out by the boat builder who designed it. It’s located on five acres of Florida Hammock right downtown in the Grove. It’s amazing how quiet and peaceful it is there just a few hundred feet from traffic and city noises.

Tomorrow begins a new adventure. We’ll keep you posted.

Of Valentines and Regattas

Another weekend has come and gone and likewise another Valentine’s Day. The weekend brought yet another regatta to Coconut Grove. This time it was a Melges regatta. This was the second of three Melges regattas in the Miami Winter Melges series. Approximately 60 teams gathered to compete in the Melges 20 and 24 divisions. The Melges is a state of the art racing dinghy. I told a friend about the event and he said that racing dinghies provided a relatively inexpensive way to enjoy sailing. HaHa! The Melges 20 comes with a price tag of $47,000 and the 24 $67,000. That is, of course before spending thousands on new Mylar/Kevlar sails and all the other high tech upgrades these folks put in their boats.

Valentine’s Day was special (tongue in cheek humor!). Running out of clothes--time to do laundry. So Claudia heads for the laundry room at Dinner Key Marina. Since we were also running out of rum, certainly a more serious problem than clothes, Peter heads off to the liquor store. After such exertions, we didn’t feel like cooking on the boat so we had lunch at Scotty’s Landing. This visit was not equal to our last. Of course, maybe Valentine’s Day is not equal to Peter’s birthday. All was not bad on the culinary front. We decided to try to duplicate the Tartare de Saumon that was so good at the Bouchon du Grove. Our attempt was aided by logging onto a couple of French cooking sites where we watched instructional video clips. The result is that we have added another recipe to our repertoire.

The other day, a French couple arrived in the mooring field. The Sailing Club staff had a bit of trouble communicating with them. Enter Peter, the angel of mercy. A bit of translation service and the French boat was tied to a mooring ball. Actually, the French couple was probably able to speak adequate English. They’ve made it all the way down here from New York, partly on the ICW. That’s a feat that would be virtually impossible without a working knowledge of English.

We’re still hanging out in Coconut Grove. The weather has been fabulous and the town is great. Some friends of ours went to the Bahamas with the recent weather window. We’re going to stick around here for a bit, another adventure looms. Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy the weather and the town. We had a terrific meal at a local restaurant, le Bouchon du Grove. Peter had Moules Marinières and Claudia a Tartare de Saumon. Moules is one of our favorite dishes (a tradition on Xmas Eve). The Bouchon did a great job, serving up a full kilo of delicious mussels steamed in a white wine broth. The Tartare of Salmon came swimming in a delicate cream seasoned with lime zest and basil oil.

Our walks around town have yielded yet more additions to Peter’s collection of doors and windows from around the world. (pictures, you understand, not the actual ‘things’ ;) One of them looked as if it could have been from Timbuktu. I don’t know what is so fascinating about doors and windows but Peter has pictures of them from all over. Maybe he’ll do a collage some day.

And then there is the varnishing. Peter spent a lot of time last winter sanding and varnishing the toe rail. The elements have begun to take their toll. The plans were to do something about it in some nice quiet, exotic cove. Well, Coconut Grove is not quiet, some may consider it exotic, but it is nice. So, progress has been made to rescue the teak from the ravages of weather. Claudia, the slug, has tried to clean the starboard scoop with the magical “Mr Clean” sponges and after working quite a while, decided that this one would not come as clean as the port one. She is, however, keeping the saloon relatively tidy and the galley spotless!

Went out for lunch for Peter’s birthday. A really local place next to the exorbitantly priced “Chart House.” We had a great view of the water and the boats anchored there. We had a shrimp ceviche that was only so so . And a conch salad that could NOT compare to “Friendly Joe’s “ on Bimini –(or even Peter’s ceviche) then we shared a burger which was also so so. Oh, well we stopped at the “fresh market” and bought some salmon and smoked salmon to try to replicate my tartare, as well as two lovely lamb chops to go with the rest of the fresh spinach that we have. *sigh* LIFE IS GOOD. Even for old codgers!!!!!

Lasers and Windsurfers

It has been exciting to watch the Rolex event competitors come and go. They are all young people, men and women in their late teens and early 20s. They have gone out in some fairly nasty weather but it doesn’t seem to faze them. They seem so at ease with their boats, almost casual. I love to watch them tack. They turn the boat and let the boom swing and they calmly duck under it. Then, they wait until the last minute; dipping the end of the boom in the water; you would think they were about to capsize, before righting the boat. When the windsurfers tack, they step around the mast to the other side of the sail and Wham! They pop the sail so it balloons on the opposite side of the board.
I began calling out support to the French and Italian competitors, “Vive la France!” and “Viva Italia!” I always got a big smile. Then, I looked up the names of the competitors and their sail numbers. “Bonne chance, Sarah!” or “Buona fortuna, Carlo!” That gets a big smile and a “Merçi!” or a “Grazie!” I’m sure they wondered how I knew their names. Ain’t the internet grand?
The races are over now. I was glad to see French and Italian entrants in both the windsurfing and the Laser events were among the finalists. Maybe my cheering had something to do with that.