Crossing, West End, Port Lucaya and Great Harbour

Crossing the Gulf Stream is not an event to be taken lightly. Going east, we have crossed seven times now. Sometimes we have had a great crossing and sometimes not-so-great. For those who have not done it, the key to crossing the Gulf Stream is finding the right weather window. Personally, I watch the weather like a hawk, catching the updates from as many sources as I trust as soon as they are issued. Most update about 1600 daily. Chris Parker (a weather guru who focuses on forecasts for cruisers – particularly in and around the Bahamas) sends his e-mail updates about 1700. I study them pretty hard, trying to tell exactly what they say and what they mean for the following week or ten days AND where the various forecasts agree and where they disagree. I started watching the weather closely about 10 Jan and saw two possible weather windows opening up, one around the 14^th and 15^th and one around the 18^th and 19^th. After that, nothing looked promising until the 26^th or so; that meant paying at least an extra week of marina fees.  Not good. As discussed in our previous entry, the 13^th-15^th were taken up transporting Spot back to VA, so we were trying very hard to make it the 18^th.

On the 17^th we turned in our rental car and made our final run to the grocery store (and, of course, Starbucks). By that evening we were at anchor in Lake Worth and on the 18^th we were off. The crossing was probably the second or third best we have had – even Spot would have approved. The waves were 2-3 feet tops and they had a period that was long enough that we didn’t feel any chop. At about 2PM we arrived at Old Bahama Bay Marina, told them which slip we wanted and pulled in. It was great!

Normally we try to leave Old Bahama Bay within a day or two after checking in with Immigration and Customs. Often, however, we get caught by a cold front coming in from the US. They do call it a “weather window” for a reason – it is the space in between two frequently nasty weather events. We arrived on Friday, vegged out on Saturday, and planned to leave on Sunday. Mother Nature, however, had different ideas and produced one hell of a wind storm. Winds were sustained at 30kts and gusted to 38 (that I saw) inside the marina. In fact, the wind pushed us so far from the dock that we were unable to get off the boat the next morning. Only when it calmed down a little that afternoon could we pull the boat closer to the finger pier and get off.

The Freeport News headlines. We were on the

front lines of Bahamian politics for a day or two.

We are glad we left when we did!

When we finally got off the dock, we saw a flyer stapled to various pilings telling us that Old Bahama Bay Marina was closing effective 21 January and that everyone would have to leave the marina! Apparently there are two owners of the marina and they were having a spat (kind of like Trump and the Congress) with both acting immaturely. At any rate as we learned the following day there is no small spat in the Bahamas as you can see from the one billion font headlines in the Freeport News. And to think, if we would have stayed at the marina one more day, we, too, could have been interviewed and memorialized in the News. 

Just before we left on the 21^st, Tracey, a young lady in her mid-thirties or early forties with flaming red hair, also decided to leave. We didn’t get to know Tracey very well but we do know that her boat – a low-slung, sleek catamaran that looked to be designed more for speed than cruising – was new to her and that she didn’t have much experience with her boat or with sailing in general. She had two crewmen who, it would turn out, also knew very little about boat operations. She asked if we would help her leave the dock and of course we did. It was pretty clear, however, that Tracey didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t have a steering wheel, instead she had a steering bar – and didn’t appear to know how to use it. She kept hollering in a very loud, almost panicky voice, “I can’t turn right!!” But she was the one on the boat in the captain’s chair and none of us could help her. In the event, four dock hands literally walked Tracey’s boat out to the main channel and let her go – at least I hope they let her go. We gave up after about 20 minutes of trying to assist; four dock hands is plenty, and besides we wanted to leave the marina at a reasonable hour as the weather was supposed to get worse that afternoon.

We also got reacquainted with Charlie and Peggy aboard Tranquility Base. They had a problem. One of their engines needed to be repaired. Charlie had identified the problem and ordered the part – but it was not going to arrive until the 24^th, several days after the date by which we were all supposed to leave. I really don’t know what happened, but I am pretty sure they just stayed in place until they could repair her. Charlie and Peggy have an interesting approach to provisioning. During the summer, Peggy cooks 85 meals which are promptly vacuumed pack and frozen for the Bahamas. They have two large freezers on board from which they extract their meals when the time comes and voila, dinner.

We had originally intended to go north, then east to get to the Abacos. However, after a brief respite the wind was due to pick up and come from the north the following day. A trip to the Abacos would have exposed us to winds on our beam and would likely have been somewhat uncomfortable. Instead, we decided to head south to Port Lucaya, staying in the lee of Grand Bahama Island. We were thereby protected until we got to the marina itself. So, we left Old Bahama Bay just before 1000 and pulled into Grand Bahama Yacht Club early that afternoon. The trip was surprisingly uneventful. Given that there were still substantial winds, the cruise was as smooth as any we have seen recently. Apparently my plan of keeping to the lee of the island worked perfectly (said with a good bit of smugness).

At Lucaya we met our fellow cruisers Ian and Lynn aboard Windward, Steve and Jill aboard Jillaroo and Agnes and Oliver.  We had a small gathering aboard Traveling Soul where we all ate, drank and made merry. We discovered that Ian and Lynn charter their boat four times during the year in the Exumas. It makes a little extra money for them and sounds like a great way to get a fresh look at the Bahamas – from a newcomer’s perspective. Steve is an Aussie, as you might expect from the name of his boat which is Jill’s name with “roo” as a suffix. Kind of cutesy, huh? I looked it up. I wonder if Jill knows that a Jillaroo is “a woman who is a trainee worker on a sheep or cattle farm.” Next time we see them I’ll ask. J

We also met another of our temporary dockmates, Vince, on the way to the grocery store. Vince kind of keeps to himself (with his two kids and – I think – a wife, though we have never seen her) aboard his 67 foot Nordhavn. For those of you who don’t know, the Nordhavn is kind of the Rolls Royce of power boats. A slightly used 67-footer would cost between three and four million. In case you are feeling sorry for the kids, you need not. They speak three languages and when they are not on the boat, they are in one of Vince’s houses – the big one in Cancun or one of several in Europe. Yea, it is this kind of people with whom we hobnob – on our way to the grocery store.

"The Big Girl Special" at Daddy Brown's

Conch 

Port Lucaya is kind of fun because of the marketplace. There may be twenty restaurants, ranging from Daddy Brown’s conch stand to some fairly high end restaurants, like Flying Fish or Luciano’s. On Tuesday’s we went to Daddy Brown’s, ordered the Big Girl special consisting of cracked lobster, cracked conch, some excellent fried shrimp, some conch fritters and of course a Kalik (the local beer). We finished up at Zorba’s Coffee, Pastries and Greek Cafe. Zorbas coffee is really good. As I pointed out to Ann, “it may not be Starbucks, but we are drinking it in 75-degree weather in the middle of January.”

 We had visited the marketplace last year and had gone to Flying Fish, one of the high end restaurants. It was good, but not as extraordinary as we had been led to expect. Last year, too, we downloaded the dinghy and explored the canal system in the area. This year, the wind kept the dinghy in its davit and we didn’t get the opportunity to explore. Finally, on Sat the 26^th the wind abated enough for us to depart Grand Bahama Yacht Club and head to Great Harbour Marina.

The view from the restaurant at CarriEarl.

We left Grand Bahama about the same time that Jillaroo did, and we became buddy boats for the crossing. The first half of our 70 mile trip to went just fine. Although there was a little rain, the seas were 2-3 feet, the wind was abaft our port beam and all was right with the world. As we went further, however, not only did the rain continue, the wind seemed to pick up, the seas increased to maybe 3-5 feet, and the winds shifted so they were almost directly on our beam. Beam seas means they were coming directly from the side of the boat, so when a five-footer came at us, it would raise the port half of the boat several feet in the air until it passed under us, then it would drop the port side and lift the starboard side of the boat in the air. The result was a rolling from side-to-side. It was NOT comfortable, so, we decided to tack a little. Rather than follow the direct route (the rhumb line) to our destination we headed 20 degrees to starboard (to put the seas off abaft our port beam, then turn 20 degrees to port, whence we would be taking the seas on our forward port quarter. While it did not eliminate the problem, it reduced the roll considerably. It wasn’t until we reached the Bahama bank and, simultaneously, the protection of Great Stirrup Cay – which was between us and the wind (hence, for any landlubbers out there, we were in the lee of Great Stirrup) – that the roll disappeared. We arrived at Great Harbour Marina at 1530 or so on Monday.

The next day it was a bit windy outside, but the sun was out and it was a great day. We first went for a walk and explored a little of the ruins of the Golf Clubhouse. In the late sixties, Great Harbour was going to be the “next big thing.” It saw visitors like Cary Grant, Brigitte Bardot, Telly Savalas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ingrid Bergman, Jack Nichlaus and others. The reason was the nearness to the US and the beautiful, beautiful beaches. What do you put in when you are trying to attract celebrities in the sixties? A golf course, of course. And put in a golf course they did. It was built by Joe Lee, who designed over 125 courses in seven countries. According to one web site, Joe considers the original 18-hole, par 72-regulation golf course to be one of his best. Apparently, it was quite the thing as it was the site for three major tournaments. Over time, however, it became clear that Great Harbour wasn’t “the next big thing,” and investment funding started sliding. The golf course is a shadow of its former self. Great Harbour is another of those “can’t miss” Bahamian developments that missed. It sucked up a lot of money and left ruins in its wake. It is still a nice place, even though Bardot doesn’t visit any more. The marina is nice, the beaches are fabulous and there’s this one restaurant …

After our walk we, along with Steve and Jill from Jillaroo, went to Carriearl, in our opinion one of the best restaurants in the out islands of the Bahamas. Run by Angie and Marty, two British ex-pats, Carriearl is a boutique hotel and restaurant. Unfortunately, since it is open for dinner only Wednesday For the two of us our brunch cost $88, including tip and VAT.

Monday morning was a bit blustery so we just stayed on board. It started clearing up in the afternoon so we borrowed some rather decrepit bicycles from the marina and headed off to the beach. We didn't go on the beach as far as Ann wanted, but we still got some great pictures of the (almost) famous Sugar Beach.

Ann’s Notes:  Well after proof reading the blog, Michael presented a lot of information.

We have been hiding from the wind since we got here, the good news is we meet some old cruising friends and made a few new ones. Stephen and Jill are a very nice couple, I think the both of them are new to cruising the Bahamas, they had many questions and Michael had a few answers since we have done this trip more than once. Having the gathering on our boat, was fun, having four cruising couples on board all talking about different subject make for an interesting evening. I think Michael and I would like doing charters on Traveling Soul, something to think about.

I am still adjusting to not having my sweet little feline on board. Dave and Joan send daily updates and pictures of Spot, they are so sweet. Since Spot is not with us, it has lead to my next segment of the blog.

The Top Five Things That Are Different Without Spot On Board :

1.       I can leave my computer lid open and not have Spot sit on my keyboard and leave strange feline messages on my screen.

2.       I can keep a glass of water on any table without a lid on it, no little paws to stick in the glass and play with the ice cubes, than get bored and knocks the whole glass and it contains on the floor or carpet

3.       No kitty litter to vacuum off the galley floor, steps, hallway or carpet at least twice a day. What will I do with all that extra time I spent vacuuming?

4.       I can now leave the midship doors open and stern door open without snapping in the screens. There is no sneaky Spot to try to escape from the boat and go exploring.

5.       Last but not least, No Spot to say good morning to, or tell her we are leaving, or returning, or time to go to bed. I miss my little space heater at night in bed with us.

Traveling Soul…OUT

Preparing to Depart

This was going to be a very brief and relatively uninformative blog entry and was simply going to serve as a precursor to our Bahama blogs. I was going to discuss the two repairs we had to do – or pay to have done and  the provisioning we had to accomplish. What a difference a week makes!

Last Thursday we were notified that the Bahamian Ministry of Agriculture had denied our import permit for Spot! Apparently last June the Bahamian government in all its glory determined that, for some reason, Bengal cats were not welcomed in their country. It is true that Bengals are a relatively new breed of cat and are only a few generations removed from the wild. Our Spot is five generations removed, and, as a consequence, has about 1.5% wild genes in her. Most of you who have met her know how vicious our 8¼ pound cat can be. I mean she tries to lick you to death, to interrupt conversations by purring so loudly and makes a determined effort to knock you down by rubbing against your leg! Why she might almost be as vicious as her fellow banned animal, the Pit Bull.

Exactly why Bengals were banned, we do not know – although we have several theories. One of my favorites is that because Bengals are well known to be a very intelligent breed, the Minister of Agriculture was afraid of having a cat in the country smarter than he was. An alternative is that the Prime Minister said something like “I hate hangnails.” The Ag Minister misunderstood and thought he said, “I hate Bengals.” And then of course there is the most likely – they are just stupid. I think Ann wanted to sign up to the latter.

Ok, now that I have vented, as you can imagine this presented us with a problem. We could, of course, decide to stay in Florida and pay marina fees for the winter. Alternatively, we could find somewhere for Spot to stay while we make what is likely to be our last trip to the Bahamas. We couldn’t ask our son as he is allergic to cats; we couldn’t ask our daughter as she lives on the West Coast. So, we asked our friends Dave and Joan Wolf. They were more than happy to help. All we had to do was get Spot to Northern Virginia in the middle of a snowstorm.

On Saturday we found out the weather might be good enough to travel to the Bahamas late Thursday and/or early Friday. On the same day, we met some friends (Rick and Lynn Nissen) who had just driven from Maryland to Palm Beach in one day. We decided if they could do it, we could do it. We would get up at 0430 on Sunday morning, drive all 968 miles, and arrive in Woodbridge, Virginia later that evening. We would leave Spot at Dave and Joan’s then we would drive back on Tuesday. It was a brilliant plan and it almost worked.

Spot, waiting for her human prey to appear. Count]d it be the 

Bahamian Minister of Agriculture?

On Sunday morning I got up to do what old men do at 0230 in the morning. When finished, I turned on the tap to wash up and get a drink of water. Nothing came out. Now, there were several possibilities. Unfortunately, one of them was that the water pump was broken. If the water pump was broken we were not going to the Bahamas until we replaced it and that would not be by Thursday/Friday, so there would be no need to drive to VA in one day. Clearly, I needed to find out what was wrong. 

To make a long story shorter we found that our water tanks were bone dry. We partially filled them, but the water still wouldn’t flow. It took me a minute to figure out that I might have to bleed the tanks. Once I did, everything worked.  That was, of course, a blessing and a bane. It was a blessing in that nothing was seriously wrong; it was a bane in that we now had to drive to Virginia in one day.

Now you might be expecting me to say that we went up, dropped off Spot, spent a day recovering, then drove back down. You would be wrong. I have worn glasses for nearly 50 years and, over that time have lost maybe two, maybe three pairs. On our “recovery” day I lost my glasses. The rest of the day was spent getting new ones, i.e finding an optometrist open after the snow storm, getting to Lenscrafters, having the glasses made and picking them up. We finished just prior to Lenscrafters’ closing and were on the way again at 0400. Whew! As John Wayne once put it, “Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.” And I was stupid.

We got back to Palm Beach Tuesday evening. On Wednesday we did some last minute provisioning and today (Thursday) are sitting at anchor in Lake Worth waiting for tomorrow morning’s departure.

I know, I know. I promised the gearheads among you a little information on the two maintenance issues we had – our watermaker and two of our three heads.

Before we got to Palm Beach, we stopped at Whitakers – a boatyard we have used before that does pretty good work. We asked them to fix our watermaker, to make the davit work so it is easier to raise and lower our dinghy and to give us several estimates on work we may want to have done in the spring. They determined it would cost $6000+ for bottom paint, $8450 to varnish the little teak we have on the boat and $4120 for a new holding tank. (As for the teak, they put something like six coats of varnish and another six coats of a protectant.) I think l can do just about as well with three coats of marine cetol.) Needless to say, we are not going back in the spring. I can do some of that myself, and for that which I cannot do, I think I can find someone in the Chesapeake to do for a lot less.

Anyway, Whitaker’s took the watermaker pump and motor to their expert and he decided it was too old for him to repair and warranty. Really? I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in a boatyard to which we had sent some business over the years. They did give us the name of an individual who used to work at Whitakers who now does work on his own. He took up the challenge, found someone to rebuild the motor and he put everything back in place. It seems to be working as well as or better than it used to. We shall see.

As far as the davit is concerned, all they did was to lift the crane up and apply copious amounts of grease. But since I didn’t even k now you could just lift the crane by hand, it might have been worth the hour or so they charged me. Anyway, we’ll find out how much good they did in the coming days.

The real story was the heads. Our Purasans had not had a problem in over two years. Somehow and for some reason, they both failed within a week of one another. As you may remember, the only people I trust to fix our Raritan products (Raritan’s motto should be: Cool Science, Poor Engineering) are the folks at Marine Plumbing Services. Bob, their Chief Technician, is like one of the family. We see him for one reason or another just about every time we go to Palm Beach. It turns out that one of the systems failed because a small meshed basket dissolved. Raritan’s response, “Yea, we had a batch of those things go bad recently.” No offer of recompense. Once the $0.50 basket failed, it necessitated about $1200 in repairs. The total bill was $3558. Oh well, it is less than 4 Boat Units.

On Friday, we will be on the way to the Bahamas.

Ann’s Notes: Ok ….dear Readers, here is my side of this story/blog…coming from the one that makes all the phone calls and organizes the paper work, reservations and keeps track of our calendar.

We arrived in North Palm Beach on the 15^th of Dec, docked Traveling Soul at Old Port Cove Marina, North Palm Beach FL and got ready to depart for our Christmas holidays back in VA/MD via car. I always make sure the boat is clean before we go away, it is a pre-gift I give myself, I love coming back to clean sheets on our bed when I return. We picked up our car rental on the 17^th of Dec. On the 19^th, we loaded the car with our stuff, including Spot’s travel bag. What, might you ask is in said travel bag? Everything that a feline traveler and staff might need. 2 Food bowls, food (soft and kibble), spoon for the soft food, water bowl, water, litter floor mat, litter, litter box, litter box liner, little box rake, litter bags to disposal of waste in the little box, Pet Rescue to calm her when she travels, a few toys, her carrying case ( airline approved, her “safe place”), her medical records and of course her ‘Purple’ a baby blanket she has had since we brought her home as a wee kitten. I am sure I forgot a few things, Spot is well loved by an overly organized guardian…oh…and treats…almost forgot her treats. We drove half way to VA, stopping in Santee SC for the night, Spot needed to get out of the car.

We had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends, arriving on the 20^th, staying at Dave and Joan’s house while in VA and our condo in MD. It was a yo-yo Christmas, lots of driving between the two homes. Michael celebrated his birthday a few days early at Tim and Carrie home. Tim smoked a turkey and it was yummy, I made mac and cheese and a blitz torte for the birthday cake, a family favorite.  

We departed from MD to FL on the 4^th of Jan, staying in Santee SC overnight and we were back in FL on the 6^th.

Now the story get really interesting…while in MD, Spot got her check up and yearly shots so she could get her International Health Certificate. All was well. I was right on schedule…or so I thought.

On the 7^th of Jan, I gathered the health certificate, Bahamian entry request form, a money order to pay for the fee for asking to bring our cat with us…plus a fee to fax the approval. If you wait for the approval by mail, it would take a year to get to the states. Plus a sixty dollar FedEx overnight fee so the Department of Agriculture in Nassau will get the request quickly. Then you wait for the approval to be faxed to the marina. Once you have the approval, you wait for the weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and you GO.

Now picture this, I have just spent several hours at the grocery store, provisioning the boat, groceries have been checked off my list,  bags loaded into the car truck and I was looking forward to putting all these items away…well…not really…but it has to be done.

My cell phone rings on the way back to the marina; I see an odd number on my phone screen so I answer. It is from the Bahamas, Department of Agriculture…can you hold please?  Next thing I know I am talking to a female veterinarian, being told that the Islands of the Bahamas no longer allow the Bengal cat breed into the country. Now I have three … count ‘em … three  permits.. that were issued to allow Spot to enter. Sh*t…dumb *ss government.

Now …I have to tell Michael all this and start the problem solving action. Michael already told you what several of our options were, the hard part was knowing we would not have Spot with us for this, what might be our final trip…the blessing was Dave and Joan, our extended family friendship and their love from Spot .Thank heaven for them saying ‘yes’ when we asked

SO…on the 13^th of Jan …after fixing the water pressure issue at 2:30 AM…we load ourselves into the car around 3:30 AM. This time we had ALL of the items Spot would need while with Dave and Joan. All her food, both soft and kibble…kitty litter and everything that does into and for the litter box, her flea, tick and heartworm Rx ... I think you get the idea. We then drive from FL to VA, 960 plus miles, trying to avoid a snow storm. We almost made it, avoiding the storm, we did get caught in some nasty weather, i.e. Non treated freeway, snow, sleet, and eighteen wheelers passing us on the left. Fourteen hours later we arrived, one stiff bourbon drink and a grilled cheese sandwich later and I was in bed. Spot in her new home for several months…all good.

Next day was a rest day and The Eyeglass Incident…my phone skills and appointment making abilities were test and proven in good working order. The attitude of Do Not Panic has always worked well for me.

4:30 AM on the 15^th of Jan came around rather quickly like it was 4:30 in the morning. Yes...a stop at Starbucks, needless to say we were their first customer of the day, they unlocked the door for us. Coffees in hand, we were back on I-95, heading south again. It was dark and cold but the roads were clear and the snow plowed to the side. Michael had one very upset, crying, pissed off female to travel with. I was ok by the time I got to the NC border.

I know Spot is having a great time with Dave and Joan. They already had a three level cat tree for her, it has been moved into their dining room, looking out their back yard, it has been replaced with a five level cat tree in their family room. Their welcome gift to Spot … Lucky cat.

That is the end of my story… over the years you learn to go with the flow and if you are organized it makes it that much easier.

Talk to you in our next blog.

Traveling Soul…OUT

Danger, Danger, Danger

Vicious Cat on the Loose (In the Bahamas

 we have nothing to do but figure out which

cats to ban!)

St. Augustine and South

In this blog entry I am going to discuss Thanksgiving, Saint Augustine and Dave and Joan’s departure from Traveling Soul. But before I do I am going to sp end just a minute on the most important football game played this year: ARMY BEAT THE HELL OUT OF NAVY AT LINCOLN FINANCIAL FIELD, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. I know, I know. Some of you are telling me to calm down, it isn’t, after all, a life-death event. You are right – it is more important than life and death. It’s Army-Navy football!!!  Ok, Ok, let me move on a little more chronologically.

Thanksgiving

Our master chef at her Thanksgiving Meal Mmmmmm!

We arrived at the St. Augustine mooring field on Wednesday, 21 November, the day before Thanksgiving. Ok, let me just say it. St. Augustine Florida is probably our favorite city on the Waterway. It has glitz, it has glamour, it has history, it has excellent places to eat. And it has a mooring field where we can stay for $25 per night. There was only one problem this year. It was friggin’ cold. Ok, it wasn’t as cold as a witch’s heart, it wasn’t as cold as “death’s chilled hand”, and it probably wasn’t as cold as it was where many of my faithful readers live, but it was colder than I wanted it to be.  I actually (and I blush to admit this), I actually traded my shorts for jeans for three whole days.

At any rate, the first thing I did in St. Augustine was to get a haircut at Price’s Barbershop. Now Price’s ain’t just any barbershop, it’s special.  When I opened the door, the six chairs were full with barbers cutting and trimming hair, and there were about three of us waiting. I sat for about 20 minutes then spent about 15 minutes in the chair getting my hair cut and my neck shaved (ah, there is nothing like a nice, hot neck shave). Now, I swear, there was one guy who was in the chair when I arrived and was still getting his hair cut when I left!!! I don’t know why or what treatment he was getting. Maybe it was kind of like “Weekend at Bernie’s” and the guy was really dead. I dunno. Most barbershops nowadays would prefer to get you in and get you out as fast as they can, not here. Price’s in Saint Augustine. Remember the name.

After my haircut, just to enjoy the fact that I could walk again, I tooled around a little bit exploring the neighborhood and I made a major discovery. There was a $tarbuck$ between the marina and the barbershop!! As most of you know, Ann is – shall I say – a big fan of Starbucks. But Joan, the other female member of our crew, is an absolute maniac! For the rest of the time we were in town, the first stop we made each morning was the coffee shop.

A picture of St. Augustine's Bridge of Lions 

from our marina.

But I digress a little. The reason we had decided to come to St. Augustine on this special day is because they normally hold a “Cruiser’s Thanksgiving” at the City Marina. We went two years ago with our friends Russ and Lori aboard their catamaran Twin Sisters and had a really good time. The local cruiser’s net buys and cooks the turkey and the rest of us provide a side dish and/or a dessert. This year, however, the powers that be decided they would hold Thanksgiving at a different marina on the other side of town. For us to get there, we would have had to cook, dinghy to the dock, transport everything to a shuttle, take a shuttle to the other marina – and then reverse course when finished. That was just too much trouble and too many chances for something to go wrong. Besides, it was cold. We decided that we would have our own Thanksgiving on the boat. So, with some of our best friends ever, Dave, Joan, we all had turkey thighs, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing and gravy. MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm It was scrumptious.

Sightseeing

Since we don’t have a car, in St. Augustine we usually buy a two-day ticket on the Old Town Trolley. The Trolley is one of those hop-on/hop-off buses that takes us to 20+ stops and explains the history of each.  We like it because we can take the whole tour, choose where we want to go, then either come back later in the day or the following day. It worked especially well this time because it was wet and rainy the first day and nice and dry the second. Because Dave and Joan were with us, we re-visited a number of places so they could see the sights. The major places we stopped and spent some time were:

The courtyard at Castillo de San Marcos. 

Imagine 1500 people living here for nearly 60 days.

·       Castillo de San Marcos: A National Park, it is the oldest masonry fort built in the continental United States. Work began in 1672. Although there is a great deal about the fort that is interesting, one fact that intrigues me is that in 1702 Saint Augustine’s 1500 or so residents took refuge in the Castillo during a British siege. I don’t think the fort was much more than 100m on each of four sides, so it must have been pretty crowded. Oh … and the siege lasted for nearly 60 days. I guess you had to love your neighbor.

·       Saint Augustine Distillery. What can I say? A distillery tour is always good, but here the tour guide is exceptionally entertaining and you get free samples!

·       Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. A bit kitschy, but they have a few interesting exhibits. One uses a planetarium to explain seventeenth century navigation methods .

·       Historical Shopping District (several times). There is a Fresh Produce Store in the “Historical” District. Need I say more?

·       Starbucks (several times)

·       Meals

o   We wanted to go to the Prince of Wales Restaurant which has the BEST fish and chops I have ever had. In fact, I had told Dave and Joan about it for several days before we actually made the trip. We get there and … it was closed. Well, to hell with them being closed on the one day of the year I wanted them to be open. We know another excellent lunch place that we also like – the Floridian. But it was … closed. I gotta tell you, I was beginning to wonder. But then we found an Irish Pub that served Guinness and Fish and Chips. Although it wasn’t quite as good as the Prince of Wales, it was good enough. How dare both of them be closed on the ONE day of the year I wanted them to be open. Harrumph!

o   Aviles Restaurant. We usually go to Harry’s, but they were so crowded, we went to Aviles which is almost next door. It was maybe a B/B-. But they really had cool menus – they lit up.

o   Tini Martini Bar. Ok, I know it is not quite a meal, but I really like the place. We each had a drink and great conversation. We WILL be back.

The one place we missed again this time was the local chocolate factory, but we learned that the weekend after Thanksgiving is not necessarily the best time to go to places that even during the times we normally visit have long waiting lines and even reservations! I guess we’ll save that for next time.

From the beginning, Dave and Joan had planned to accompany us through Thanksgiving all the way down to Saint Augustine.  Of course we all thought it was going to be warm at least part of the way down, especially when we reached Florida, but it didn’t work out that way. In Saint Augustine we had one less-cold day (not to be confused with a warm one), but it was when we reached Marineland that the temperature really plunged. At night it was in the upper 30’s. And that is cold, or at least colder that I expected and wanted. Anyway, practically dressed in their winter clothes, Dave and Joan rented a car at St. Augustine and met us at Marineland, our next stop. There they could spend a few final days on the boat and get their stuff ready to head back to Virginia. Marineland used to be a nice, inexpensive little stop on the ICW after St. Augustine with a few local sights to make it interesting. Now that they have added about twenty slips and hired a mini-dictator as dockmaster, it may be a while before we return.

Anyway, using Dave and Joan’s car we hit a sight or two that we had not been made before, especially the Saint Augustine lighthouse and a couple of sights that were repeats for us, but new to Dave and Joan, like the dolphin exhibit at Marineland and Fort Matanzas, just  little north of the marina. They departed on 29 November. I think and hope they had a good time, even with the below normal temperatures.

A picture of Ann and I atop the St. Augustine lighthouse.

Ann and I continued wandering down the ICW on our way to Palm Beach. We stopped one night at Cocoa to check on the progress they had made since the hurricane that shut down their dinghy docks. Lo and behold, we anchored right behind Kathy and George aboard their boat, Katrajena. They live in Solomons, just a few buildings down from us. We visited for a just a few minutes and they told us that there were some dinghy docks, but they were reserved for the “Rally from the Sun.” We know quite a bit about the Rally and its intrepid leader Wally Moran. Let’s just say that we wouldn’t stay at any dinghy dock that would reserve space for Wally and/or the Rally. I hope they make a lot of money off them, because they may never make money off me again.

Since we didn’t stay at Cocoa, we went a little further south to an anchorage around Melbourne called Eau Gallie (pronounced Oh Golly – by accident or on purpose? I really don’t know). We walked around the community a little and went to the local dockside restaurant, Squidlips. C’mon now, we had to go to a restaurant with a name like Squidlips. And you know what? The food was pretty good. In fact, although we did not have it, they were serving a Sunday brunch to the locals and it looked pretty darn delicious! Other than Squidlips, a nice anchorage and a decent dinghy dock though, Oh Golly doesn’t have much to recommend it.

After Eau Gallie it was on to Ft. Pierce. The first day we arrived it was actually w … w … warm! It cooled down the second day with a cold front, but it looks like we have finally found downright great weather!!!!!! At Ft. Pierce we checked out the downtown, watched the Army-Navy game with our friends Debbie and Glenn from Calliope (See below. She is a Naval Academy Grad. Never let it be said that I am not tolerant.) On, did I mention that Army won that game, 17-10? Aft er the game, we also watched the Ft. Pierce “parade of Boats.” Actually the boats were so spread out that it was more a dribbling than a parade, but some people really put out decorating their boats.  Kudos to them.

Ann’s Notes:   I have a lot to cover so I will get going.

There is something Michael has not talked about and I have not said anything – mostly because I did not know if I could keep up my own challenge.  Since last year on the boat I have tried to exercise daily – it all started at the small gym at our condo. I am now hooked on walking or riding my biking at least five times a week. While traveling down the ICW we pass under lots of bridges and many marinas are close to or next to bridges. That being said, I set a goal to walk across as many bridges as I could.   So far I have walked bridges in NC, SC, GA and FL, some more than once, it has been a lot of fun.

Spot. Enjoying the sun (finally) at Ft. Pierce

Our Thanksgiving in St. Augustine was a busy one. The weather to start really did suck, it was cold, raining and hard…plus it was windy, a full moon and high tide, making the streets flood. It was very wet. Dinner was fun to make on the boat, I had my time management and power management skills tested and did get the complete meal on the table on time and hot. I agree with Michael that St Augustine is our favorite city. We were happy to share it with Dave and Joan.

Right now we are in the Fort Pierce City Marina, enjoying our time visiting our good friends Lori and Russ. Also seeing a cruising friend we made last year at Treasure Cay, she happens to be a Naval academy grad, class of 1981. They are anchored in the Fort Pierce inlet, I invited they to join us when we went to the Farmers Market next to the marina. They downloaded their dinghy and tied up to our stern. We had a great time looking at all the fresh vegetables, purchased a few items and chatting away. Later that day they joined us in the Captains Lounge to watch the Army –Navy Game. The lounge has a flat screen TV with Dish channels. Michael and I arrived early to make sure we had control of the remote and find the right channel … that took a little while. Debbie and Glenn watched most of the game with us but had to return to their boat before the game was over. It was plain to see that Army was going to win…17 to 10. It was an exciting game to watch with friends.

I am getting excited about going home for Christmas and seeing Friends and Family.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

Thank you for following us..

Traveling Soul…OUT

South to Saint Augustine

It was only about a five mile detour off the ICW and all reports indicated that the channel was well marked and deep enough. What those reports did not Say was that with every mile we traveled we moved a decade or so into the past and a hundred miles or more into the wilderness. Finally, we were closing in on our destination. By the time we got there, it was easy to imagine we were with three of our buddies on a boating adventure in the hinterlands of Georgia. And even easier for us to imagine we could hear music – banjo music. You know what kind I mean.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen as we headed to our fuel stop we felt we were in the backwoods of Georgia on the set of the movie Deliverance. Twang, twang, twang, twang.

We should have known something was amiss when we saw the name of the place – the Two-Way Fish Camp.  I don’t know about you, but I have never seen fish going two ways at once, nor have I seen a One-Way Fish Camp. Why you would name something “two-way” fish camp I could not understand. But we were there neither for the “cool” name of the place, nor for the banjo music. We were there because  of the price of the fuel. We needed about 300 gallons. In the past we had gone to the nearby Brunswick Landing Marina because they had excellent fuel prices. This year, though, they were charging $3.309/gallon. Two-Way Fish Camp, was charging only $2.69. That is about 60 cents difference; times 300 gallons is 180 bucks. 

This is a cast iron Cajun Classic purchased at that gourmet shop 

at Two-Way Fish Camp

From the moment we got there we could see it was going to be an experience. We had to find the fuel dock, then kind of slide the boat in sideways. It was then that the real fun began.  We started pumping fuel, then the automatic shut-off would engage and we would have to start again. Again. And Again. It was then that the dock hand wandered over and told us that we would have to use the slowest setting on the nozzle. Dave stood at the pump, which was about 200’ away, and would call out every 25 gallons. Eventually Ann joined him because she didn’t have anything else to do. She measured the flow and we found we were pumping 25 gallons every 9 ½ minutes. Remember we needed 300 gallons. It took 114 minutes, or nearly 2 hours, to pump the (&^$# fuel. During that time, Ann and Joan had an opportunity to visit the gift shop twice (actually, the gift shop was surprisingly well-stocked and … well, I’ll let Ann tell you about her major find).

Eventually we did get all the fuel in the tanks and were able to pay and depart.

Again, however, I got ahead of myself. Before the Two-Way Fish Camp adventure, we anchored for one night at New Teakettle Creek. The Creek is just about an hour or so from the Little Mud River and has nothing to do with teakettles. If the timing works, I like anchoring there, so we can control exactly when we reach the Little Mud – as far as I am concerned the scariest part of the ICW. I think we were at Higher, High water when we traveled the creek this year and saw nothing less than about 8’. It was after the Little Mud River that we took the Two-Way Fish Camp exit.

After fueling we finished the day’s trip by docking at Jekyll Island. Jekyll is one of our favorite spots on the Waterway. There is only one problem with Jekyll in November. It can be chilly cold. The day we arrived it was actually pretty nice, so we figured we had shown up at just the right time. The second day it was a bit colder, the third day it was downright cold and the day we left it was almost freezing (literally) However, we did bring sweatshirts, jackets, earmuffs (Ann), and other cold weather paraphernalia so we were prepared.

One of the "Cottages" at Jekyll.

Jekyll Island was, in the early part of the last century, a playground for the rich and famous. Some of the richest people in the country wintered at Jekyll from January through March. In fact, it has been said (by our tour guide for one) that during dinner at the Jekyll Island Club nearly 1/6 of the world’s wealth was represented in the dining room at Jekyll. Members of the Club and their families enjoyed activities such as biking, hunting, horseback riding, and tennis, and frequented the north beaches. Some of the wealthiest members built their own "cottages," mansion-sized residences that are mostly still standing in the 21st century. Even the wealthy suffered during the Great Depression, however, and the club had financial difficulties. When the United States entered WWII Washington ordered the island evacuated for security purposes, ending the era of the Jekyll Island Club. After the war in 1947, the State of Georgia bought the island.  

In the time we were there, we bicycled a LOT, toured the historic district, and visited two of the “cottages.” (Interestingly, because members were expected to dine together in the main Dining Room, there were neither kitchens nor dining rooms in the cottages). We also visited the sea turtle hospital, did some shopping (both at the grocery store and the little “mall” they have on the island, found a Starbucks, walked on the beach, and ate at one of the fancier places on the island.

The Dinghy Saga

From Jekyll the plan was to go to Cumberland Island. Although there are some homes on the island, most of the Island is a natural habitat for all kinds of animals and several kinds of plants. With that, a little history, several great beaches, a very nice anchorage, and a whole lot of peace and quiet, Cumberland is another one of our favorite spots on the Waterway.

As I said, that was the plan. We had known the outboard wasn’t operating perfectly, but before we left, I took the dinghy into the water, started it up several times, and putted around a little. Although it ran kind of roughly, everything worked. In Cumberland, the outboard didn’t even start up. I worked on it for about an hour trying to figure out what was wrong. I knew it was the fuel system, and was afraid it was the carburetor – the one thing I won’t dare to try and fix. As we later learned 90% of all outboard failures are carburetor problems. So, it looked like we would not be able to see anything at Cumberland. We had kind of planned on visiting the Kingsley Plantation next, but you also need a dinghy for that, so we missed Kingsley too. Although we could manage St. Augustine without a dinghy, it would be much better with one. So, we had to get the dinghy fixed. And thus our saga beganb.

Statistically, I’ll bet that as many boats break on Mondays as on Thursdays. It ought to be somewhere around 1/7 of all breaks, right? Not in our universe. Our boats usually break late on Thursday. We then get to a marina the following day and generally make a BUNCH of phone calls (most of which will not be neither answered nor returned – it is, after all late on Friday afternoon; in this case the Friday afternoon before Thanksgiving week.) Then we worry over the weekend whether we will be able to fond someone and start calling again on Monday morning hoping against hope that someone will be available to fix your boat in the next day or two.  On Friday afternoon, Ann made about four phone calls, but no one was around. On Monday  morning, she made another seven to various repair facilities and mechanics. A couple of people answered, but, as one lady responded, “It was pretty slow until a week ago. Now we are full and can’t get to you for another week.” Gee, thanks. Of those who did answered or call back, we got basically the same response. We were in the process of coming up with Plan Q when we got a return call from Jim.

Now Jim was a bit of a bombast. He told us when he arrived, “THAT FUEL TANK IS A PIECE OF JUNK. ALL THOSE WEST MARINE AND WALMART FUEL TANKS ARE JUNK. ABSOLUTE JUNK.” When I asked him where we could get a new one that would be better, he ‘lowed as how no one but West Marine made them anymore, so he would just have to tell us how to treat our “PIECE OF JUNK.” Whereupon he gave us his take on fuel tank management.

·       Keep the fuel tank covered
·       Always loosen the cap when you are using it
·       Put on a fuel-water separator
·       Crank up the outboard frequently

Now, I know some of you have been using outboards and dinghies for a long time and wonder why Jim has these rules. To be honest, I don’t know. However, we asked him to make a fuel-water separator, we made our own cover and we loosen the cap when we are using the dinghy.

At any rate, about 3 hours after his initial visit Jim was back with all the pieces of the outboard that he had taken with him, put it all together and … it worked like a charm. I tried it out again later that afternoon and one more time the following day. It all seemed to work. But wait, there’s more. For that, however, you are just going to have to wait while I write something that reminds me why we actually like cruising.

This Osprey spent over an hour enjoying his Fish-giving meal.

While waiting for the dinghy to be repaired, we stayed at Camachee Cove Marina. Now, several of our friends have told us how nice the marina is and, to be honest, it is. It is in a housing development but has at least three boater’s facilities spread over the property. Each of the facilities has a head, shower, laundry, television and a book exchange – and everything was always clean. However, for us there were two “firsts.” Although the marina had a courtesy car, you had to show proof of insurance before you could borrow it. Now since we have been cruising (about seven years), we have been in a hundred marinas, maybe more. Some require you to sign papers saying you have insurance, some take your word for it, but we have never been to a marina that requires proof of auto insurance before they would lend you a courtesy car. We chose not to avail ourselves of that particular “courtesy.”  Oh, but wait. There’s more.

This is the first time we have ever been in a slip within a marina and been asked to move after we had maneuvered into the slip, connected our water hoses and our electrical cables. Now you had to have been there. Our assigned slip was alongside a long straight dock. When we were initially maneuvering into our slip, the wind was blowing us off the dock. I have mentioned many times before that when the wind catches our boat from the side, we are as likely to go where the wind wants us to go as where the captain wants us to go. Well, the wind was only blowing about 10-15 kts, so it wasn’t terrible, but the dockhand helping us was a small, slim college kid who really didn’t know how to put a 55,000 pound boat into a slip – even with a captain as brilliant and as adept as me at the helm. It took about 30 minutes, but we eventually got there. We connected all the hoses, lines and cables and Ann started taking a shower. Then the kid comes up and says he put us in the wrong slip and we needed to move back one. I pointed out that, no, we didn’t need to move back one, He needed to move us back – and I would help. In the event, of course, although he (and a buddy) did most of the heavy lifting, we moved under the direction of Ann and me (with some help from Dave and Joan). Now Camachee Cove may be a fine marina, but it ain’t getting five stars from me.

Some of you know that Ann has turned into an “exercise walker.” She takes 2-4 mile walks whenever she can. At Camachee Cove that was helpful (since we didn’t borrow the courtesy car), as the Publix Grocery Store was about a mile-and-a-half or so away. She made at least two round trips to Publix and one, one-way trip (she ubered back with a cart full of groceries) to get the rest of the provisions we needed for Thanksgiving. While at the marina, we also ubered to the historical district for lunch at our favorite British Pub in the US – The Prince of Wales. There, they serve the best Fish and Chips I have ever had. Both Ann and I had been touting the place to Dave and Joan and we had made this trip specifically so we could have those luscious fish and chips. We arrived and … you guessed it ... the place was closed. That was okay, there is another restaurant nearby that we like, the Floridian. It was closed, too. Damn! What’s going on here? Eventually, we found a different British Pub and their fare was almost as good. Almost.

Usually I would stop here and wait to continue the blog when we arrived at the Saint Augustine mooring field. However, in the interests of continuing the saga of the dinghy, I must include one more section. Okay, we had placed a cover over the dinghy, had Jim put in a fuel-water separator and opened the gas cap. We had run the dinghy a few times between the boat and the dinghy dock and everything had worked out well. Then, after making a run to Starbucks (not ‘til next time will I discuss the Starbucks adventure), we got in the dinghy, started it and it promptly died. Another couple of tries and we saw that it was leaking gas – pretty badly. We identified the general area where the leak was, but of course we had no tools. I asked Ann to go to the dockmaster’s office and ask for a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.

Now, all the time Ann was gone I was cursing Jim, the man who the day before was our dinghy’s savior. Today, he was Satan incarnate, a saboteur who couldn’t even connect two hoses to one another. Damn Jim, your connection was JUNK, just JUNK (sorry, but I had to say it). At least that was what I was thinking. Meanwhile, Ann found a very nice French Canadian sailboater named Jacques.  Jacques not only lent us all the tools we needed, but he helped fix the leak. I’m afraid I have to take back everything … well … almost everything … well … some of what I have said about the pending Canadian invasion of the Bahamas.

Next time we will write more about Thanksgiving and Saint Augustine.

Mike, laying down, Dave, in the dinghy, Joan, supervising

 and Jacques helping get the dinghy back in

running condition.

Ann’s Notes:  I was told by the main author of the blog that I had two main things to talk about…the refueling event and my phone skills.

There must be something about off-the-ICW marinas and the state of Georgia. In our first year of cruising we stumbled into Kilkenny Marina, you can go back to the first year of the blog and read all about that experience. Cue the banjo music and the one item they had in abundance in the marina store was a barrel full of fly swatters. Anyway, we got to experience another off-the-ICW-marinas, the name is Two Way Fish Camp, I know the name should have been our first clue. The fuel was cheaper than the usual stop in Brunswick, however we almost spent a good part of the morning just fueling. The marina office was a little general store, it had your regular, old alligator head bookends (no library is complete without those). There was local honey, pickled eggs and all sorts of vegetables that were pickled, okra, corn, beets … you get the picture. Believe me, I had PLENTY of time to shop, those pumps were so SLOW. I did find a treasure, among all those pickled items, though. It is the cutest “Cajun Classic,” it says so right on the lid. That little pot in a gourmet kitchen store would be around $75 to $100, I got it for $29.99. I love cooking in cast iron, I can use my induction cooktop , as a matter of fact, I used the little red pot that night and made a bona fide French casoulet .

As most of you know, I am the telephone person, both on land and water. I handle everything from doctors appointments to marina repairs. When our dinghy engine would not start, yes, we did our best to repair it ourselves .If  you have never seen the tiny engine parts inside a four stroke outboard motor and how easily those parts can be dropped , you will understand why we called for a mechanic. Of course most of our boat break downs happen on a Thursday or Friday, now add the Thanksgiving holiday to the mix and I really did spend several hours on the phone over a two day period. I have the ability to be just as pleasant for the first and the tenth call. My mom always said you would catch more flies with honey, than vinegar. To make a long story short, we moved to a closer marina to St. Augustine , thinking there would be a better chance and more repair people. We did find one, it took about ten phone calls. We now have a dinghy motor that runs, a new water fuel separator, we have the fuel tank covered with a canvas bag.

All is well on Traveling Soul…OUT