Sunday, January 29, 2012

Good Mornin' Captain!



I was sitting quietly in the cockpit enjoying the fresh air, listening to the birds and reading. “Good morning, Captain.” It was a voice from the dock. I looked up to see a young man carrying a green gunny sack. “You want to buy some lobsters?” YOU BETCHA! The lobster guy. “Sweetheart, put the lamb chops back in the ice box!” A few minutes later, a half dozen spiny bugs were crawling around on the cockpit floor. Within a short time their tails were in the ice box and two hours later some of them were on the grill. Oh, I love the Bahamas!









A sting ray I happened on during a morning stroll on the beach.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Paradise and the Crossing From Hell


Well, we, like many others, waited for a good weather window to cross from Ft Lauderdale to West End. Now, West End was not in our original plans. We’d planned to go to Coconut Grove, south of Miami, enjoy some great meals at some nice restaurants and then move on to Bimini. Bimini is a quiet backwater place whose only attraction for most people is its proximity to South Florida and the easy access it offers to boaters leaving the US. We happen to like Bimini for itself. OK, I digress. We were in Ft Lauderdale and a common Bahamian destination from there is West End. It is the gateway to the Abacos, a string of islands and cays that stretch across the northern part of the Bahamas. Another “easy” crossing. For the non-boaters among you, I should explain. Getting to the Bahamas from anywhere in the US requires crossing the Gulf Stream, a river of water that moves from South to North at an average speed of 2.5 knots (about 3 MPH). At the center of the stream, it can reach speeds of nearly 6 MPH. That may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to dramatically affect the course of any vessel. Add to that the effect of wind and you have some really interesting situations. If the wind is from the north and is sufficiently strong, it can blow up some really nasty sea conditions—8 to 10 foot seas or more that toss your boat about like a cork.


OK, so we left Ft Lauderdale expecting light North winds shifting to South East by afternoon. We expected 1-2 foot seas. The trip should take about 12 hours max. Things were beautiful as we bid farewell to the coast of Florida speeding along at 7-7.5 knots. We were congratulating ourselves on picking a great time to go. We were looking forward to arriving in West End and proceeding on to points unknown to us. About 6 hours into the voyage the wind shifted. “Well, that was expected,” we said. It was now coming from the Northeast and we were headed North East. It doesn’t take a genius to know that you can’t sail directly into the wind. Still, the seas were not terrible and the forecast called for the wind to shift further south and we would again be able to raise our sails and get some speed on. So much for weather forecasting. For the rest of the journey, the wind remained North East, right on our nose. To make matters worse, the seas were also coming at us from the North East, close to 3 feet at some point. Those factors combined to slow our speed to about 3-3.5 knots and we still had 40 miles or more to cover! The easy 11-12 hour crossing suddenly turned into a slog of 18 hours.

We arrived at West End in the dead of night. There was no moon. In the words of James Weldon Johnson, it was “Blacker than a hundred midnights down in a cypress swamp.” Now in many inlets, this is not a big problem. The channels are well marked and lighted and, while a bit confusing in the dark, it is relatively easy to find your way. However, this is the Bahamas. There are lights indicating the entrance to the channel, then nothing. It is a narrow channel with hard rocks on both sides and about 500 feet from the entrance light a stony breakwater that extends into the channel about two thirds of the way across--all but invisible in the dark. Bright flashlights and a chartplotter made it possible to do what others said couldn’t be done. We tied up at the fuel dock at 10 PM, 18 hours after leaving Ft Lauderdale. We had our customary rum punch to mark the safe arrival.
The road to Paradise is often rocky. So here we are awakening to “another lousy day in Paradise.” The weather is sunny, warm and we are bathed with tropical breezes. Exotic flowers, birds, waters around the boat teeming with fish. As the Seabees said,
“We got sunlight on the sand,
We got moonlight on the sea,
We got mangoes and bananas
You can pick right off the tree,”

Except for a resort, there is nothing here at Old Bahama Bay. The resort is well maintained and well appointed. There is a nice beach and we will do a bit of snorkeling. We had planned to move on quickly, but a stomach bug told us to stay put for a few days. We will probably go into town and into Freeport.



Thursday, January 19, 2012

Boats, People and Dogs


Fort Lauderdale delivers as usual. Docked at Las Olas, sitting in the cockpit, one sees an endless parade of every kind of vessel imaginable—speed boats sporting multiple motors, kayaks, beautiful sailboats, Sea Ray cruisers loaded with deck lizards and huge motor yachts offering every comfort imaginable—check out Steven Spielberg’s boat that carries 3 jetskis and a thirty foot motor launch in its belly!



Another window for my collection




Who let the dogs out?


Hollywood Broadwalk

Every time we’ve visited Fort Lauderdale, we’ve said, “We should take the Water Taxi tour. Then, one thing always leads to another and, like the bateau mouche in Paris, we never do it. Finally! Along with Jim and Ellie, s/v FinniRish, we became tourists in Fort Lauderdale. The tour was fun. The commentary about the houses (mansions) that line the New River was worth the trip. Not having to worry about driving the boat was wonderful. Brunch at a crêperie provided some great people (and dog) watching. We took advantage of connecting to a boat that took us down to Hollywood. The beach and the Broadwalk were crowded. More people watching par excellence!


A "bicycle" built for four?


I just love this house on the New River. It's for sale--just several million dollars!





We spent a bit of time with our friend Al. He had a couple of projects to do on his boat, “Moon Taxi.” We went with him on its maiden voyage. It was the first time he had ever sailed the boat. Under Claudia’s careful and expert helmsmanship we sailed North from Ft Lauderdale and back.














This house is pretty nice, too.


The audacity of the owner of this yacht to choose to paint his tub the same color as Now or Never!




Steven Spielberg's yacht is 282 feet long. If you want to spend time aboard, don't bring along too many friends, its crew of 26 can only accommodate 12 passengers!


In the belly of the beast


Things get a little whimsical

Whimsical, indeed!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Fort Lauderdale


Wednesday, December 28.
Brrrrrr! It’s time to move on. Woke up yesterday to 51 degree temps. OK, so it wasn’t snowing! Big deal, it was COLD. It warmed up nicely under cloudless Florida skies. The Northeast wind was a bit chilly, but the sunshine felt great. We did some provisioning. We had planned to do this in Fort Lauderdale, but with a car it was so easy in Ft Pierce. One of our stops was at Papa’s Meat Market. This store could easily become a favorite! The clientele is purely island and Latin American. The inventory is what they come there for. Sure, you can get taro root and papaya and all kinds of exotic veggies at Publix or Kroger’s. But, can you get chicken feet? How about lamb shanks? Then, what about smoked goat heads? How about a whole suckling pig for Xmas dinner? Spices? Anything needed for Caribbean cuisine. Prices? 5 huge, juicy limes for 99 cents. A big bag of shallots, 99 cents.

Since we had the use of a car, that of our friends on s/v Dream Chaser, Don and Ann, we drove down to Stuart to pick up our headsail from Mack Sails who had replaced the sacrificial cover. We had a good lunch at New England Fish Market and returned to the boat in an unexpected rain shower. Thank goodness we had closed our hatches!

Friday, December 30
Headed South! Finally. Ft Lauderdale, get ready! We left Harbortown with hardly a breath of air stirring. By the time we got out of the inlet, a light breeze had developed so we raised the sails, as much for stabilizing the boat as for a bit of extra power. Within a short time, the breeze strengthened and we were making better than 6 knots motorsailing. So, we weren’t in a big hurry and we shut down the Iron Genny and proceeded under sail alone, still at about 5 knots. Finally, sometime in the afternoon, the wind died and we had to furl the sails and turn on the motor. During the night, there was again enough wind to unroll the jib. How sweet! Thanks to the new furler, the jib unrolls itself!

It was a bit chilly overnight, what with a light breeze, no sun and temps in the lower sixties. Hot chocolate time. Morning brought one of those crystal clear sunrises and a few hours later we were approaching the inlet at Ft Lauderdale. The peppermint stick smokestacks welcomed us and the sunrise reflecting off the high rises was a beautiful sight to see. It was made more beautiful by the knowledge that within a short time we would be dockside and in the company of friends who were already there.


The beauty of the morning was briefly shattered by the insistent sounds of a ship’s horns. We looked behind us and a huge container ship had materialized out of thin air! Believe me, nothing compares to the sight of a huge bow rising 30 feet above you and barreling down upon you.



Now or Never! on approach to Las Olas





Docking at Las Olas


New Year’s Eve
Jesse and Ginny on s/v Wind Dust and Jim and Ellie on s/v FinniRish met us and caught our lines. Ginny documented our arrival with pix from the Las Olas bridge. It was good to see familiar faces! We invited them and another couple on the dock, Don and Betty on m/v Ram-Sea, to the boat that evening, New Year’s Eve, for drinks and a few of Claudia’s famous pizzas. New year’s found us aboard Wind Dust.