Well, we hope the title got your attention. We are in Nassau, at the Nassau Harbour Club marina, where we have been for 2 days. We left Chub Cay with a NW wind, and could have sailed all the way here, but we were fighting a 2 kt current, and it would have taken nearly 12 hours to get here, so we motor-sailed, and had a great trip. Even Calypso was a bit better, because we were pretty flat all day.
We waited outside the harbor for 2 large cruise ships and one water tanker to exit, and then we followed the line of boats making their way to the marinas and anchorages here. We decided to take a marina because there is a “norther” coming thru this evening, and we wanted to be secure when the winds get to 25-30 kts. The marina/hotel is undergoing renovation, but it is full of boats, most like us heading south. Nice people, and lots of services within walking distance. We will do some re-provisioning tonite and we hope to leave for the Exumas tomorrow AM, on a (hopefully not too bad) north wind. We have eaten twice at the Poop Deck restaurant down the street. The first nite was an enormous hog snapper that they covered in jerk seasoning and grilled. It fed both of us, for both dinner and lunch the next day. Today we went back, and jlm had the lobster, which was good, if a bit overcooked, but we were shocked when we got the bill for $49(!). We had not asked the price, but it was a bit high. Maybe we will ask in the future, when they just say “market price” on the menus.
rxc got the engine oil changed yesterday, and took a tour of the auto parts stores, looking for a new belt for the alternator. He had thought that we needed a shorted belt than the one that was on the engine, and which was identical to the spare we carry. This was because the new alternator pulley is a bit smaller than the original one, and when it was tightened properly, the alternator contacted the side of the steps just slightly, and made an irritating noise. It looked like a belt about 1-inch shorter would fit and solve the problem, so off he went to find one. Unfortunately, 45” is NOT a common belt size, so he had to walk quite a bit to find one. Then, when he took off the old belt, which is the original to the engine, with only 400 hours on it, he found that the new belt was much too short. In fact, the spare 46” belt was just the right size for the new alternator. It seems that the old belt had stretched quite a bit. So, this morning, we walked back to the auto parts store to get the correct one. Ahhh the joys of boat repairs with non-standard configurations…
We then went all the way into the touristy part of Nassau, just as 3 large cruise ships discharged their cargos for a day of shopping. We were just window shopping, but we did have a major need for some sippin’ whiskey, which we eventually found. Nassau has LOTS of liquor stores, but their selection seems to be very constrained. We must have checked 5 stores before found the brand we wanted. They didn’t have our preferred Scotch, either, which is troubling. At least we have a good supply of wine on board.
So, you are probably wondering when you are going to hear about guard cat. It happened last night, after we were both asleep. rxc woke up about 11:30-11:45 when he thought he heard something like claws on the deck above us. He listened a bit more, and heard them again, and wondered whether the dynamic duo had made a breakout. He got up and went out into the cabin, where he noticed that the screen in the main hatch was hanging down, like a cat had gone through it (they like to sit on it from outside the boat, and it has had to be re-mounted several times). This caused the full alarm to be raised, and he went out on deck (sans culottes, bien sur) to search for the little devils. Surprisingly, they were not there. In fact, after searching only 1 minute, rxc was called below by jlm,who had done a full tail count and discovered all 4 still inside the boat. jlm then chastised rxc for his over-imaginative dreaming, and he went back to sleep. However, since she was now fully awake, jlm stayed up and read for 3 hours while Dante the guard cat went back and forth from one window to another like a caged animal, and would not calm down.
This morning, as we inquired in the marina office about the laundry facilities, we ran into one of the people from a boat two slips away from us, who rerpoted that they and the boat next to us had been burglarized in the night. The robbers had gotten into the boats, and had been so good as to steal money out of purses inside the cabins of the owners, as they slept! We have heard about theft problems here in Nassau, and we keep the dinghy locked up and nothing of value in the cockpit available to steal, but it was quite a shock. rxc talked to the owner of the boat next door, who had the same story, and related that their cell phone had also been stolen. No credit cards or anything else – just cash and the cell phone. We think that the thefts occurred about the time rxc was awakened, and maybe he scared them off, and maybe Dante was restless because he sensed that there were people outside who were bad. In any case, he has become our guard cat.
The other kitties are doing well, and we are all set to go further south. The Exumas are supposed to be beautiful, and there is a national park down there that we will go thru, so maybe one of us can do some professional development, but only as a hobby. We don’t know when we will next have WiFi connectivity (we are paying $12/day here, but it is worth it for the Vonage connectivity), but maybe there will be something in the park. If not, we hope to be in Georgetown by March 15, after which we will turn around and head back north, stopping to see Bill and Dot.
More photos to be loaded tonight.
As I finish this, the wind is freshening and veering to the NW. Let the north winds blow!
P.S Listening to the debate on WAMU this morning about the future of nuclear power left at least one of glad that he no longer has to deal with it. And the incoherent reporting of the Florida blackout/Turkey Point trip yesterday reinforces that feeling.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Chub Cay
We are in Chub Cay today, at the semi-luxurious Chub Cay Marina, a brand-new development here. We are starting to discover a trend in marina development. They build a gorgeous new marina somewhere, accompanied by luxury condos/villas, without having any real buyers for the slips or the condos. They get all of the landscaping and stuff like the restaurant done, so that the place really looks nice, but they wait till they have some customers actually using the facility to finish stuff like the showers and laundry. The priority of what gets done is interesting – eye-candy first, and functionality after the paying customers start to pay. Oh, and they charge very high rates from the beginning for the eye-candy, even though the functionality is not yet complete. I guess it makes sense from the marketing point of view, but we think they would get more boats into these marinas if they lowered the rates at first and established functionality, so that more people could see that these are places to want to go into, instead of being empty with only a few trophy boats.
We spent 4 days in Bimini, having a good time seeing the island, and doing a LOT of paperwork/internet connections. Because of the WiFi access, we were able to research everything on-line, and then make phone calls over the internet to redeem frequent flyer miles, and purchase tickets for the trip to France. We decided to sail the boat to France, leaving sometime between May 7th and May 14th (latest advice from our hired Captain – he doesn’t want to compete for space in Bermuda with the ARC – this makes some sense). We will be moving cats to France on April 17th, by Air France, from Miami->Paris->Bordeaux. We have Karen, Pat, and her husband Jim coming along to give us one person+ per cat. We have figured out a way to convince AF that Dante and Calypso are less than 4kg, so that they can come into the cabin with us. This will be revealed after the trip, if it is successful.
Ralph and Karen will come back to Stuart on April 29th, and Ralph will have at least a week to get the boat ready for the crossing, which is good timing. The boat should then get to France in about 6-8 weeks, in late June.
We left Bimini yesterday AM at 6:30, on a rising tide. We headed south, and cut thru the pass at Turtle rocks, down behind Cat Cay, and then east across the Great Bahamas Bank. The wind was marvelous, and we could have sailed the whole way on a beam reach, but the wind dropped considerably about 2:00 PM, and we didn’t want to come into Chub Cay in the dark, so we did some motor-sailing and got in here about 6:15, at dusk, at low tide. We tried to fish, but did not catch anything that we could see. One leader rig was clipped off, like someone used a tin-snips on it, which tells me that something BIG took a taste. Unfortunately, we did not see it happen.
The trip across the banks was about 85 miles, most of the way in water never deeper than about 15 feet. We saw two other boat heading in the opposite direction, and we sailed away from another one that was headed our way – they didn’t seem to be sailing too well, which was surprising. One boat was Canadian, and we were surprised that did not seem to have the normal complement of cruiser equipment hanging around, like solar panels, windmill, or diesel jerry jugs. It looked just like a Chesapeake Bay cruiser out for a weekend sail. This in the middle of nowhere, with no land at all in sight. Normally, the Canadians who make it this far have ALL of the stuff that we think is necessary to cruise here. It was a long day, and we slept quite well last nite. The luxury marina here has WiFi, which is how we are updating the blog, and simultaneously listening to WAMU in Washington. It is amazing how many WiFi hotspots there are, in out-of-the-way places like this.
We have uploaded a bunch of additional photos to Flickr, but they are not organized, and only a few have captions, because I can’t get the Flickr Organizr to load properly. It seems to be a bit buggy, but considering the cost, it is to be expected. Maybe I will try it again later this AM.
After I dive on the boat here in the marina, and check out the bottom, we will leave for Whale Cay, to the east a short distance. We plan to get to Eluthera some time on Monday or Tuesday, to see Bill and Dot, who are supposed to have arrived yesterday. We have their Bahamas number, and since we now have a Bahamas number, as well, it should be a local call. It was very nice to see that the Blackberry will actually work as we planned. When we get back to the US, I just have to change out the SIM chip and we will have the WV number back. When we get to France, I will buy a SIM chip there, to have a cell phone in France.
I have sent out the telephone number by email, but if someone has not received it, send me an email and I will send it to you. I don’t want to post those numbers on a public site, but will provide them to family and friends.
Kitties are doing well, except for Calypso, who has a seasickness that does not respond to drugs, and which also seems to be psychosomatic(sp?). There was a Beneteau 321 next to us when we work up this morning, and we let the cats up on deck. The owner left early (7:30) to get to Nassau today, and when he started the engine on HIS boat, Calypso started to drool on OUR boat. We think maybe the buzzer on the engine set he off, or maybe the buzzer and engine noise. She calmed down after about 3 minutes, when she realized that we were not moving, but left a drool deposit on deck.
Well, off to dive down and check out the boat bottom – we hit something in 2500 ft of water that caused the prop to vibrate a bit, and we want to clear it off, if possible before we go any further. Then off to Whale Cay.
We spent 4 days in Bimini, having a good time seeing the island, and doing a LOT of paperwork/internet connections. Because of the WiFi access, we were able to research everything on-line, and then make phone calls over the internet to redeem frequent flyer miles, and purchase tickets for the trip to France. We decided to sail the boat to France, leaving sometime between May 7th and May 14th (latest advice from our hired Captain – he doesn’t want to compete for space in Bermuda with the ARC – this makes some sense). We will be moving cats to France on April 17th, by Air France, from Miami->Paris->Bordeaux. We have Karen, Pat, and her husband Jim coming along to give us one person+ per cat. We have figured out a way to convince AF that Dante and Calypso are less than 4kg, so that they can come into the cabin with us. This will be revealed after the trip, if it is successful.
Ralph and Karen will come back to Stuart on April 29th, and Ralph will have at least a week to get the boat ready for the crossing, which is good timing. The boat should then get to France in about 6-8 weeks, in late June.
We left Bimini yesterday AM at 6:30, on a rising tide. We headed south, and cut thru the pass at Turtle rocks, down behind Cat Cay, and then east across the Great Bahamas Bank. The wind was marvelous, and we could have sailed the whole way on a beam reach, but the wind dropped considerably about 2:00 PM, and we didn’t want to come into Chub Cay in the dark, so we did some motor-sailing and got in here about 6:15, at dusk, at low tide. We tried to fish, but did not catch anything that we could see. One leader rig was clipped off, like someone used a tin-snips on it, which tells me that something BIG took a taste. Unfortunately, we did not see it happen.
The trip across the banks was about 85 miles, most of the way in water never deeper than about 15 feet. We saw two other boat heading in the opposite direction, and we sailed away from another one that was headed our way – they didn’t seem to be sailing too well, which was surprising. One boat was Canadian, and we were surprised that did not seem to have the normal complement of cruiser equipment hanging around, like solar panels, windmill, or diesel jerry jugs. It looked just like a Chesapeake Bay cruiser out for a weekend sail. This in the middle of nowhere, with no land at all in sight. Normally, the Canadians who make it this far have ALL of the stuff that we think is necessary to cruise here. It was a long day, and we slept quite well last nite. The luxury marina here has WiFi, which is how we are updating the blog, and simultaneously listening to WAMU in Washington. It is amazing how many WiFi hotspots there are, in out-of-the-way places like this.
We have uploaded a bunch of additional photos to Flickr, but they are not organized, and only a few have captions, because I can’t get the Flickr Organizr to load properly. It seems to be a bit buggy, but considering the cost, it is to be expected. Maybe I will try it again later this AM.
After I dive on the boat here in the marina, and check out the bottom, we will leave for Whale Cay, to the east a short distance. We plan to get to Eluthera some time on Monday or Tuesday, to see Bill and Dot, who are supposed to have arrived yesterday. We have their Bahamas number, and since we now have a Bahamas number, as well, it should be a local call. It was very nice to see that the Blackberry will actually work as we planned. When we get back to the US, I just have to change out the SIM chip and we will have the WV number back. When we get to France, I will buy a SIM chip there, to have a cell phone in France.
I have sent out the telephone number by email, but if someone has not received it, send me an email and I will send it to you. I don’t want to post those numbers on a public site, but will provide them to family and friends.
Kitties are doing well, except for Calypso, who has a seasickness that does not respond to drugs, and which also seems to be psychosomatic(sp?). There was a Beneteau 321 next to us when we work up this morning, and we let the cats up on deck. The owner left early (7:30) to get to Nassau today, and when he started the engine on HIS boat, Calypso started to drool on OUR boat. We think maybe the buzzer on the engine set he off, or maybe the buzzer and engine noise. She calmed down after about 3 minutes, when she realized that we were not moving, but left a drool deposit on deck.
Well, off to dive down and check out the boat bottom – we hit something in 2500 ft of water that caused the prop to vibrate a bit, and we want to clear it off, if possible before we go any further. Then off to Whale Cay.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Bimini
We are sitting at a dock in Weech’s Marina, about 100 feet from “The End of the World Bar”, in Alice Town, Bimini, Bahamas. We arrived yesterday at about 10:30 after a mostly uneventful crossing of the Gulf Stream. We started at the planned hour of 2:30 AM, at low tide (comme d’habitude) with light S winds, and we motor-sailed thru the nite at 7 kts of boat speed. The Gulf Stream appeared as expected, with a 5 kt current at one point, but the seas stayed flat for the entire passage. It was fascinating to be steering 120° magnetic to make a course of 090°. Several cruise ships passed up and down the straights, as well as several freighters, but we managed to avoid one-another quite well.
At about 8:30 AM, we spotted several water spouts in the line of clouds that approached from astern, but they dissipated before reaching us. The front eventually caught up about 9:00 AM, and we had good solid rain for about an hour, till just before we entered the Bimini entrance. Everyone got wet, including especially Dante, who insisted on staying up on deck, inside the cockpit during the rain storm. He demonstrated the Maine Coon ability to shed water from his long, shaggy fur quite well.
We tied up here are Weech’s because there were already a few sailboats here, and because none of the other marinas responded to VHF hails, on any channel. The entire town looked pretty deserted, in fact, and it turns out that it deserted at this time of year. Their “season” runs from March thru Labor Day, when hordes of Floridians come over here to escape the heat. At this time of year, they evidently stay home, huddled in front of their fireplaces.
We have had two meals here so far, and they were quite tasty – both at small roadside restaurants featuring fish and regional cuisine, aka Jamaican. Lots of food served in Styrofoam containers, eaten outside on rough wooden picnic tables. Also not cheap, but we will not begrudge the locals their business. We found these places by walking the entire length of the island up to the grand new development at the north end, which has a giant two-story gate(!) and a marina that looks like a major port. The existing towns are quaint but a bit “battered”, and it is clear that the developers do not want their clientele to have to pass thru. They have a separate channel dredge straight to the marina, and high-speed ferries from the airport on South Bimini Island that bypass Alice Town. Which is too bad because this place has so much history that could be built on, if only someone wanted to do so. Some of the locals mentioned to us that the development has all of its own infrastructure, and the residents will not have to come south to do any shopping whatsoever, so they are worried that the boaters will also bypass them.
We are planning to stay here till Friday, when the weather is forecast to be nice for a passage across the Great Bahamas Bank. We will stop next in the Berry Islands, and then over to Eluthera, where Bill and Dot have a house, and are going to be next week. After that, we will head down the Exumas.
At about 8:30 AM, we spotted several water spouts in the line of clouds that approached from astern, but they dissipated before reaching us. The front eventually caught up about 9:00 AM, and we had good solid rain for about an hour, till just before we entered the Bimini entrance. Everyone got wet, including especially Dante, who insisted on staying up on deck, inside the cockpit during the rain storm. He demonstrated the Maine Coon ability to shed water from his long, shaggy fur quite well.
We tied up here are Weech’s because there were already a few sailboats here, and because none of the other marinas responded to VHF hails, on any channel. The entire town looked pretty deserted, in fact, and it turns out that it deserted at this time of year. Their “season” runs from March thru Labor Day, when hordes of Floridians come over here to escape the heat. At this time of year, they evidently stay home, huddled in front of their fireplaces.
We have had two meals here so far, and they were quite tasty – both at small roadside restaurants featuring fish and regional cuisine, aka Jamaican. Lots of food served in Styrofoam containers, eaten outside on rough wooden picnic tables. Also not cheap, but we will not begrudge the locals their business. We found these places by walking the entire length of the island up to the grand new development at the north end, which has a giant two-story gate(!) and a marina that looks like a major port. The existing towns are quaint but a bit “battered”, and it is clear that the developers do not want their clientele to have to pass thru. They have a separate channel dredge straight to the marina, and high-speed ferries from the airport on South Bimini Island that bypass Alice Town. Which is too bad because this place has so much history that could be built on, if only someone wanted to do so. Some of the locals mentioned to us that the development has all of its own infrastructure, and the residents will not have to come south to do any shopping whatsoever, so they are worried that the boaters will also bypass them.
We are planning to stay here till Friday, when the weather is forecast to be nice for a passage across the Great Bahamas Bank. We will stop next in the Berry Islands, and then over to Eluthera, where Bill and Dot have a house, and are going to be next week. After that, we will head down the Exumas.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Staged and Ready
We are sitting at anchor in “Hurricane Harbor”, a small inlet on the south side of Biscayne Bay south of Miami. We are waiting for the weather to moderate so that the kitties will not be unduly discomfited by our planned passage to the Bahamas.
From Lantana, the trip south enters what is known as “The Canyon”, a region of the ICW that is almost completely developed with houses and apartments and condos and golf courses. The walls of the ICW are lined with walls that can make the wave action reverberate and generate some serious chop. Luckily, we made the trip from Lantana to Ft. Lauderdale on a Friday, before the weekend traffic got going in full. It was mostly smooth sailing till about 10 mile north of Ft. L. when the early weekenders started to show up. We saw an enormous number of amazing houses, interspersed with 1950’s bungalows and even some real “fixer-upper” shacks.
We timed the bridges well, and only had to wait longer than 5 minutes once. When we got to Ft. L, we ducked into Lake Sylvia, and anchors with about 6 other boats in 8 ft of water. The charts say this lake has a really shallow entrance, and shallow spots inside, but we found 7 feet everywhere, and only had one surprise, when it seemed like we hit some sort of submerged obstacle as we were leaving on Saturday morning. No damage seemed to have occurred, and we proceeded into Port Lauderdale, where there were 8 cruise ships docked where rxc used to come in his Navy ship. At that time, there were only a few cruise ships around, and one that arrived while the SoCar was in Ft. L. was an event for the locals. South Florida has clearly come a long way since 1975…
We went outside at Ft. L. because we can’t fit below the Julia Tuttle Bridge in Miami, and the weather could not have been better. NW at 10-15, with seas less than 2 feet. We set the sails and cruised at 7-8knots down the coast, in 400 feet of water, about 3 miles offshore. The two humans thought the motion was great, but the kitties did not agree. In spite of having a quarter of Bonine tablet in her, Calypso drooled from breakwater to breakwater, Dante stayed up on deck in the “dead-cat” position, and the old ladies variously suffered as best as they could. We entered Miami about 2:00 pm, motored past the Miami boat show into the region of islands behind Miami Beach, and anchored within a stone’s throw of Miami Beach near the Collins Canal.
We discovered that we have been very lucky up in the Chesapeake with the relative lack of hot-dogging motor boats. Down here they are EVERYWHERE, going flat out right past anchored boats, not caring at all about their wakes. Luckily, they seem to almost completely disappear after dark, so we slept well. We took the dinghy up the canal Sunday morning and had breakfast and did some last-minute shopping at the Epicure Market. It took some bravery to leave the dinghy locked to a rusty ring-boat on the canal, but the cruising gods were kind to us, and it was still there when we returned. We left Miami Beach and motored down into Biscayne Bay in a gathering storm, which dumped a lot of rain on us throughout the day and into the nite. We filled up with water and fuel at the Crandon park Marina, and dropped off our last trash before staging here, with the alarm set for 2:00 AM.
The alarm went off at 2, and we listened to the NWS prediction, which is notorious for its inaccuracies – south winds 15-20 with offshore seas of 4-6 feet. Considering the kitties, we decided to go back to bed, and wait for better weather. This turned out to be a good decision.
Today was a slow day, with a general boat cleanup, fixup of various small items, and finally a successful connection to the internet. This last item is really amazing, because our laptops cannot sense any WiFi signal hear, but the external antenna is picking up a signal from somewhere and connecting us for free. Highly recommended for cruisers. We just looked at the weather forecast for tonite, and it looks like 5 knot winds, and seas as calm as they get, so we will set the alarm again for 2, and motor over, if necessary. At 7 knots, we should get to Bimini in the early morning and we can recover at a marina there before pushing on.
We STILL do not have a quote on shipping the boat, so our plans for May are still up in the air, but it does look like we will be back in the Stuart area in mid-April, to either stage for a transatlantic sail, or to stage to bring the boat down to Ft. L to ship it over. We think the kitties will have to go by air, on Air France some time in late April, and if we sail the boat back, rxc will return to Stuart to meet with the crew. This will also give us some time to find a place to park the boat in France, whenever it arrives.
Off to the Bahamas tonite…
From Lantana, the trip south enters what is known as “The Canyon”, a region of the ICW that is almost completely developed with houses and apartments and condos and golf courses. The walls of the ICW are lined with walls that can make the wave action reverberate and generate some serious chop. Luckily, we made the trip from Lantana to Ft. Lauderdale on a Friday, before the weekend traffic got going in full. It was mostly smooth sailing till about 10 mile north of Ft. L. when the early weekenders started to show up. We saw an enormous number of amazing houses, interspersed with 1950’s bungalows and even some real “fixer-upper” shacks.
We timed the bridges well, and only had to wait longer than 5 minutes once. When we got to Ft. L, we ducked into Lake Sylvia, and anchors with about 6 other boats in 8 ft of water. The charts say this lake has a really shallow entrance, and shallow spots inside, but we found 7 feet everywhere, and only had one surprise, when it seemed like we hit some sort of submerged obstacle as we were leaving on Saturday morning. No damage seemed to have occurred, and we proceeded into Port Lauderdale, where there were 8 cruise ships docked where rxc used to come in his Navy ship. At that time, there were only a few cruise ships around, and one that arrived while the SoCar was in Ft. L. was an event for the locals. South Florida has clearly come a long way since 1975…
We went outside at Ft. L. because we can’t fit below the Julia Tuttle Bridge in Miami, and the weather could not have been better. NW at 10-15, with seas less than 2 feet. We set the sails and cruised at 7-8knots down the coast, in 400 feet of water, about 3 miles offshore. The two humans thought the motion was great, but the kitties did not agree. In spite of having a quarter of Bonine tablet in her, Calypso drooled from breakwater to breakwater, Dante stayed up on deck in the “dead-cat” position, and the old ladies variously suffered as best as they could. We entered Miami about 2:00 pm, motored past the Miami boat show into the region of islands behind Miami Beach, and anchored within a stone’s throw of Miami Beach near the Collins Canal.
We discovered that we have been very lucky up in the Chesapeake with the relative lack of hot-dogging motor boats. Down here they are EVERYWHERE, going flat out right past anchored boats, not caring at all about their wakes. Luckily, they seem to almost completely disappear after dark, so we slept well. We took the dinghy up the canal Sunday morning and had breakfast and did some last-minute shopping at the Epicure Market. It took some bravery to leave the dinghy locked to a rusty ring-boat on the canal, but the cruising gods were kind to us, and it was still there when we returned. We left Miami Beach and motored down into Biscayne Bay in a gathering storm, which dumped a lot of rain on us throughout the day and into the nite. We filled up with water and fuel at the Crandon park Marina, and dropped off our last trash before staging here, with the alarm set for 2:00 AM.
The alarm went off at 2, and we listened to the NWS prediction, which is notorious for its inaccuracies – south winds 15-20 with offshore seas of 4-6 feet. Considering the kitties, we decided to go back to bed, and wait for better weather. This turned out to be a good decision.
Today was a slow day, with a general boat cleanup, fixup of various small items, and finally a successful connection to the internet. This last item is really amazing, because our laptops cannot sense any WiFi signal hear, but the external antenna is picking up a signal from somewhere and connecting us for free. Highly recommended for cruisers. We just looked at the weather forecast for tonite, and it looks like 5 knot winds, and seas as calm as they get, so we will set the alarm again for 2, and motor over, if necessary. At 7 knots, we should get to Bimini in the early morning and we can recover at a marina there before pushing on.
We STILL do not have a quote on shipping the boat, so our plans for May are still up in the air, but it does look like we will be back in the Stuart area in mid-April, to either stage for a transatlantic sail, or to stage to bring the boat down to Ft. L to ship it over. We think the kitties will have to go by air, on Air France some time in late April, and if we sail the boat back, rxc will return to Stuart to meet with the crew. This will also give us some time to find a place to park the boat in France, whenever it arrives.
Off to the Bahamas tonite…
Friday, February 15, 2008
Searching for Warmth
We left Stuart yesterday at 9:30 AM with a great sendoff from our friends in the marina, and the entire doggy contingent on the pier. Mary and Eric and Carla and Bob and Brenda helped with the lines, while Annie and Shane and Sophie waved goodbye to their friend Dante. It was a bit brisk, though, with temperatures in the low 50s, so we started out with flannel shirts, eventually adding an additional layer that stayed on till we anchored here in Lantana. It is a very nice anchorage SW of the Lantana bridge, just off the waterway, with WiFi provided by a nearby restaurant, so we have full functionality.
The trip was pretty uneventful, other than a few minor groundings. We started out of St. Llucie on dead low tide (comme d'habitude), and brushed bottom outside Mannatee Pocket, but then passed down the inside of Jupiter Island, and into Lake Worth, which is an amazing place. It was surprising to see all that water with relatively few boat using it, for windsailing, fishing, etc. Maybe because it was the middle of the week. The port of Riviera at the mouth of Palm Beach inlet was quite a contrast to the mega-yachts and mega-houses in Palm Beach. Once again, we just missed a CG inspection, but we think we would pass with flying colors.
We went thru 8 bridges (I think), and we didn't have to wait for any of them till the last one (Lantana). The timing was just right, and we made it to the anchorage about 5:15 pm. Settled in, nice dinner, and a video, and then to bed.
The kitties did a bit better. We gave Calypso a bit of Bonine, and she was not happy, but she only drooled once, for a short bit. Dante spent most of the trip on deck in the cockpit, and even the old ladies came out a few times to cehck out the rich people.
Off to Ft. Lauderdale now. It is warmer, so we may not need the flannels...
The trip was pretty uneventful, other than a few minor groundings. We started out of St. Llucie on dead low tide (comme d'habitude), and brushed bottom outside Mannatee Pocket, but then passed down the inside of Jupiter Island, and into Lake Worth, which is an amazing place. It was surprising to see all that water with relatively few boat using it, for windsailing, fishing, etc. Maybe because it was the middle of the week. The port of Riviera at the mouth of Palm Beach inlet was quite a contrast to the mega-yachts and mega-houses in Palm Beach. Once again, we just missed a CG inspection, but we think we would pass with flying colors.
We went thru 8 bridges (I think), and we didn't have to wait for any of them till the last one (Lantana). The timing was just right, and we made it to the anchorage about 5:15 pm. Settled in, nice dinner, and a video, and then to bed.
The kitties did a bit better. We gave Calypso a bit of Bonine, and she was not happy, but she only drooled once, for a short bit. Dante spent most of the trip on deck in the cockpit, and even the old ladies came out a few times to cehck out the rich people.
Off to Ft. Lauderdale now. It is warmer, so we may not need the flannels...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Waiting for Weather
We were ready yesterday morning to leave, but the weather gods seem to really want us to stay here in Stuart. Monday was a day of running around, to buy a flag and flag-hanging stuff, a handheld GPS, new dive equipment that should have been purchased a month ago(!), new sunglasses to replace a pair that have disappeared into the bowels of the boat, to wash the car that Karen and Pete were generous to let us have during this stop, to buy cat litter and food and toys, and all that last-minute stuff you need to stock a boat to go to the islands.
Last week was also productive. The alternator arrived as expected, and rxc spent a day and a half installing it. The Jeanneau wiring from the alternator to the main switch was woefully undersized, even for the alternator that came with the boat, so that had to be replaced, which made this project a bit longer than anticipated. This is surprising, because Jeanneau installed some serious cable from the batteries to the switch, but they skimped on the alternator wiring – go figure. You can’t run 120 amps thru 4ga wire, and I think even 80 amps is too much for 4ga. Luckily, there is a marine electric shop here in Stuart who had a really great deal for me on 1ga, black wire. About 10 ft for $10(!). Those of you who do boat electrical work know that this is a real deal. I had to wrap some of it in red electrical tape, but that was easy and a cheap solution. My handy-dandy whacker-crimper did its thing, and now I have a fully compliant wiring system. It was tight to install the alternator, and I think I may need to buy a shorter belt in the future, but this will be fine to get us over to the islands.
The boat stamp was completed by the nice people at Stuart Rubber Stamp, and they also made up a very nice plaque with the call sign to install next to the radio.
The trip to Palm Beach was informative. We have now been cleared by the doctors to continue on our way, and just have another checkup in about 10 months, in France. We celebrated by buying a bottle of 2002 Silver Oak cabernet which we will give to the Bassos when we arrive. This was in a Total Wine in PB, which had more high-end wine than I have seen in a long time. People in PB evidently have a higher standard for wine than the rest of us. At the other end of the wine scale, we found an incredibly good merlot in Walmart for $2.97(!), and went back for a case - Oak Leaf Vineyard from Ripon, Ca. Karen tried it at dinner on Monday nite, and said she was going to stop at Walmart on the way back to her house to pick some up. We also tried their cab, but it was a bit thin. We probably should have bought 2 cases…
We also stopped at an Italian food store – Carmine’s – and bought take-out stone crabs to picnic on. We have become stone-crab aficionados here. We served them together with a risotto Milanese to Pete and Karen on Monday, and had a great time.
We did some major food shopping at several different Wal-marts, at Publix, and at our favorite fruit/veg place (Rorabach on Indian Street), and re-arranged the storage in the boat. Now that the electrical work is complete, we moved excess wire to deep storage in some bilge locations that are under screwed-down floorboards. We also put some books there that we won’t need for a while. This freed up space for wine and food and storage of other “stuff”. Storage on a boat is a continual dance, as you figure out new/better places to store stuff, and move it all around. A lot of our issues here arise from the excess amount of stuff we brought down from the house, and from jlm’s mother’s apartment, but we were pressed, and erred on the side of having too much, rather than having to buy it again. However, if you don’t know where the stuff is stored, you can end up buying it again, in any case. We lost a bag of lentils for about 2 weeks, and were going nuts trying to find it. I think I have enough tools at this point to take apart anything on the boat, but I can’t do any fiberglass work because I don’t have any resin. Hopefully, I won’t need it.
We planned to leave yesterday, but the weather was truly miserable, raining and blowing all day and all night. There were tornado warning boxes all around us at midnight, and we even started up the boat radar to see if we could spot threatening weather. Luckily, we didn’t get any damaging winds and the lightning stayed away. If we had left as planned, and anchored where we intended, we would have seen 60 mph gusts, which would have been too exciting…
So today we decided to stay and catch up on paperwork. We have our taxes essentially complete, and one mother’s taxes, as well. We are now waiting for the last of the paper from the other mother. We also sent off all of the medical claim paperwork. The amount of work needed to keep up with life’s mundane chores is troubling – why have we let it get so complicated? We try to have everything paid automatically, with as little paper as possible, but the paper storage on the boat is becoming an issue. At home, it would all be scanned and shredded, but we don’t have a scanner here, and we have to keep the paper till we get to France, so it has to be stored. Sigh…
Speaking of going to France, the plan there is still unresolved. We now have two estimates for experienced captains to take the boat over, with rxc and one other volunteer crew member. However, we are still waiting for shipping cost estimates from the company in Ft. Lauderdale and Jeanneau, and we will don’t know how we are going to move the cats, because the container ship company out of Guadeloupe has not responded to our enquiry about taking jlm and 4 cats. One possibility involves leaving the boat here in Stuart in April for 7-10 days while both of us travel with 2 friends to France with the 4 cats. This can work because it looks like mid-late April is not a high-travel season to France from Miami. Then, after they are installed in France, rxc can come back alone and either take the boat down to Ft. Lauderdale to ship, or meet the captain and crew and head east. Alternatively, if Jeanneau is able to ship the boat out of Baltimore, we will have to bring it back north and then do the same trip to France out of the DC area. If only the shippers would give us a price, we could make a decision… We hoped to have this resolved before we left Stuart. We are thinking more and more that we will have to sail the boat to France.
Kitties are doing well. Dante had an “event” with the two large labs last week. jlm was off at the marina in the morning, while rxc was checking email. While this was taking place, Dante decided to take a stroll down the pier. He made it all the way to the catamaran next door, where he jumped up to check out the poodle that lives there. jlm started back down the pier, and he knew that he was going to be busted, so he jumped down and started back to our boat. However, he did not realize that it was also time for the dogs to take a walk, and he ended up face-to-face with Annie and Shane on the pier. He turned sideways and puffed himself up to look as big as possible, and they just stopped in their tracks.
THEY SHALL NOT PASS!
And they did not, until rxc came down and scooped him up. This action was met with a big hiss, probably aimed at rxc – not the dogs.
I have been writing this all day, during which the weather has changed from sunny and warm, to pouring down rain, back to sunny, but cool, and now, at 9:00 PM, it is cool and clear and blowing a gale from the NW. We plan to get underway tomorrow around 8, which will require an early rise, to fill water tanks, take on board the bikes, raise the dinghy, undo the cable TV and shore power, and then figure out where to stow the myriad lines and other stuff.
Time to go to bed…
Last week was also productive. The alternator arrived as expected, and rxc spent a day and a half installing it. The Jeanneau wiring from the alternator to the main switch was woefully undersized, even for the alternator that came with the boat, so that had to be replaced, which made this project a bit longer than anticipated. This is surprising, because Jeanneau installed some serious cable from the batteries to the switch, but they skimped on the alternator wiring – go figure. You can’t run 120 amps thru 4ga wire, and I think even 80 amps is too much for 4ga. Luckily, there is a marine electric shop here in Stuart who had a really great deal for me on 1ga, black wire. About 10 ft for $10(!). Those of you who do boat electrical work know that this is a real deal. I had to wrap some of it in red electrical tape, but that was easy and a cheap solution. My handy-dandy whacker-crimper did its thing, and now I have a fully compliant wiring system. It was tight to install the alternator, and I think I may need to buy a shorter belt in the future, but this will be fine to get us over to the islands.
The boat stamp was completed by the nice people at Stuart Rubber Stamp, and they also made up a very nice plaque with the call sign to install next to the radio.
The trip to Palm Beach was informative. We have now been cleared by the doctors to continue on our way, and just have another checkup in about 10 months, in France. We celebrated by buying a bottle of 2002 Silver Oak cabernet which we will give to the Bassos when we arrive. This was in a Total Wine in PB, which had more high-end wine than I have seen in a long time. People in PB evidently have a higher standard for wine than the rest of us. At the other end of the wine scale, we found an incredibly good merlot in Walmart for $2.97(!), and went back for a case - Oak Leaf Vineyard from Ripon, Ca. Karen tried it at dinner on Monday nite, and said she was going to stop at Walmart on the way back to her house to pick some up. We also tried their cab, but it was a bit thin. We probably should have bought 2 cases…
We also stopped at an Italian food store – Carmine’s – and bought take-out stone crabs to picnic on. We have become stone-crab aficionados here. We served them together with a risotto Milanese to Pete and Karen on Monday, and had a great time.
We did some major food shopping at several different Wal-marts, at Publix, and at our favorite fruit/veg place (Rorabach on Indian Street), and re-arranged the storage in the boat. Now that the electrical work is complete, we moved excess wire to deep storage in some bilge locations that are under screwed-down floorboards. We also put some books there that we won’t need for a while. This freed up space for wine and food and storage of other “stuff”. Storage on a boat is a continual dance, as you figure out new/better places to store stuff, and move it all around. A lot of our issues here arise from the excess amount of stuff we brought down from the house, and from jlm’s mother’s apartment, but we were pressed, and erred on the side of having too much, rather than having to buy it again. However, if you don’t know where the stuff is stored, you can end up buying it again, in any case. We lost a bag of lentils for about 2 weeks, and were going nuts trying to find it. I think I have enough tools at this point to take apart anything on the boat, but I can’t do any fiberglass work because I don’t have any resin. Hopefully, I won’t need it.
We planned to leave yesterday, but the weather was truly miserable, raining and blowing all day and all night. There were tornado warning boxes all around us at midnight, and we even started up the boat radar to see if we could spot threatening weather. Luckily, we didn’t get any damaging winds and the lightning stayed away. If we had left as planned, and anchored where we intended, we would have seen 60 mph gusts, which would have been too exciting…
So today we decided to stay and catch up on paperwork. We have our taxes essentially complete, and one mother’s taxes, as well. We are now waiting for the last of the paper from the other mother. We also sent off all of the medical claim paperwork. The amount of work needed to keep up with life’s mundane chores is troubling – why have we let it get so complicated? We try to have everything paid automatically, with as little paper as possible, but the paper storage on the boat is becoming an issue. At home, it would all be scanned and shredded, but we don’t have a scanner here, and we have to keep the paper till we get to France, so it has to be stored. Sigh…
Speaking of going to France, the plan there is still unresolved. We now have two estimates for experienced captains to take the boat over, with rxc and one other volunteer crew member. However, we are still waiting for shipping cost estimates from the company in Ft. Lauderdale and Jeanneau, and we will don’t know how we are going to move the cats, because the container ship company out of Guadeloupe has not responded to our enquiry about taking jlm and 4 cats. One possibility involves leaving the boat here in Stuart in April for 7-10 days while both of us travel with 2 friends to France with the 4 cats. This can work because it looks like mid-late April is not a high-travel season to France from Miami. Then, after they are installed in France, rxc can come back alone and either take the boat down to Ft. Lauderdale to ship, or meet the captain and crew and head east. Alternatively, if Jeanneau is able to ship the boat out of Baltimore, we will have to bring it back north and then do the same trip to France out of the DC area. If only the shippers would give us a price, we could make a decision… We hoped to have this resolved before we left Stuart. We are thinking more and more that we will have to sail the boat to France.
Kitties are doing well. Dante had an “event” with the two large labs last week. jlm was off at the marina in the morning, while rxc was checking email. While this was taking place, Dante decided to take a stroll down the pier. He made it all the way to the catamaran next door, where he jumped up to check out the poodle that lives there. jlm started back down the pier, and he knew that he was going to be busted, so he jumped down and started back to our boat. However, he did not realize that it was also time for the dogs to take a walk, and he ended up face-to-face with Annie and Shane on the pier. He turned sideways and puffed himself up to look as big as possible, and they just stopped in their tracks.
THEY SHALL NOT PASS!
And they did not, until rxc came down and scooped him up. This action was met with a big hiss, probably aimed at rxc – not the dogs.
I have been writing this all day, during which the weather has changed from sunny and warm, to pouring down rain, back to sunny, but cool, and now, at 9:00 PM, it is cool and clear and blowing a gale from the NW. We plan to get underway tomorrow around 8, which will require an early rise, to fill water tanks, take on board the bikes, raise the dinghy, undo the cable TV and shore power, and then figure out where to stow the myriad lines and other stuff.
Time to go to bed…
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Parties and progress and paperwork
It appears that we will be receiving the alternator tommorrow. Jackrabbit convinced the Balmar people to send the alternator directly to us, instead of thru them, and they are sending the regulatory separately. This guarantees a busy weekend, and I just realized that replacing the alternator would also provide a good opportunity to check the engine SW pump impeller, so I will get to test Bill Beck's advice about using the special needle-nosed pliers.
I think I will also be doing some exploratory surgery on the main roller-furler. Our neighbors furler seems to slide on the boom much better than ours, and I wonder if we may be missing some internal rollers. The only way to check is to take it apart...
We ordered an "official boat stamp" yesterday, to stamp official documents like crew lists, etc, when we clear into countries. We have heard that officials seem to like these, and they are not expensive. It should be ready this afternoon.
The local chapter of boat people in the marina held a pot-luck party last nite, and we went along, providing box wine and wrap-sandwiches. A good time was had by all, but we did not exceed the levels of celebration achieved during the Superbowl, so we all slept well, and woke up feeling good. Overall, a successful party.
Taxes and paperwork are taking up some considerable time right now. I don't know how people who are not literate in government and its ways can do any of this, and I suspect it is all a conspiracy by the lawyers and accountants to generate work for them. Hopefully, our accountant and lawyer friends will not take offense at this remark. We are also still dealing with paperwork related to jlm's mother. Bills for medical care in the spring of 2006 are still being cleared, and now Medicare won't let us into her account (because she has died). I wonder how they think that the executor of the estate can resolve outstanding debts without access to their documentation.
We will make a run down to Palm Beach tommorrow for some medical tests, a Costco run, and more kitty litter. They are using about 1 box every 3 weeks, which means that we have to have 4 boxes on board to get to Guadeloupe in May. The food situation is a bit better, but we still need more wet food. And now that we have restarted Zabelle on her antibiotics, she is more lively and eating a lot more. The devil-duo has restarted running thru the boat in the AM. They desparately want to go ashore somewhere.
Back to taxes...
I think I will also be doing some exploratory surgery on the main roller-furler. Our neighbors furler seems to slide on the boom much better than ours, and I wonder if we may be missing some internal rollers. The only way to check is to take it apart...
We ordered an "official boat stamp" yesterday, to stamp official documents like crew lists, etc, when we clear into countries. We have heard that officials seem to like these, and they are not expensive. It should be ready this afternoon.
The local chapter of boat people in the marina held a pot-luck party last nite, and we went along, providing box wine and wrap-sandwiches. A good time was had by all, but we did not exceed the levels of celebration achieved during the Superbowl, so we all slept well, and woke up feeling good. Overall, a successful party.
Taxes and paperwork are taking up some considerable time right now. I don't know how people who are not literate in government and its ways can do any of this, and I suspect it is all a conspiracy by the lawyers and accountants to generate work for them. Hopefully, our accountant and lawyer friends will not take offense at this remark. We are also still dealing with paperwork related to jlm's mother. Bills for medical care in the spring of 2006 are still being cleared, and now Medicare won't let us into her account (because she has died). I wonder how they think that the executor of the estate can resolve outstanding debts without access to their documentation.
We will make a run down to Palm Beach tommorrow for some medical tests, a Costco run, and more kitty litter. They are using about 1 box every 3 weeks, which means that we have to have 4 boxes on board to get to Guadeloupe in May. The food situation is a bit better, but we still need more wet food. And now that we have restarted Zabelle on her antibiotics, she is more lively and eating a lot more. The devil-duo has restarted running thru the boat in the AM. They desparately want to go ashore somewhere.
Back to taxes...
Monday, February 4, 2008
Bouncing Kitty and The Red Otter
We watched the Giants beat the Pats last nite at a Superbowl party here in the Marina. It was a fantastic event, and they had about 75 people upstairs and downstairs having a ball. Great food, great conversation, and an overall great time. Karen was there to help us party, and it was a lot of fun.
This past week was marked by several kitty events, and the start of some serious efforts to figure out how we are actually going to get to France. We had made some inquiries about shipping the boat, but the outfit in Ft. Lauderdale that does this was only able to give us quotes from Ft. Lauderdale to Genoa, or St.. Thomas to Southampton. We called them on Thursday and they say that they can likely take us from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton in late April, which is a bit early for us, but doable. We also exchanged emails with one clearinghouse for delivery captains, and a local fellow who does deliveries. He came out to the boat on Sunday AM, and we talked quite a bit about having him and his wife help us, and he is quite enthusiastic. We are waiting for a proposal from him and the clearinghouse, and will make a final decision this week. The really hard part of this may turn out to be the cats, because Air France has a 6kg weight limit on animals in the cabin, and we also have 4 cats to move. We are looking into the possibility of having jlm take a containership with the cats, if we can convince them to let her take them along.
We ate out more this week than any other week since Charleston, and discovered some nice dining spots. The first one was Osceola Cafe in downtown Stuart. We went there for breakfast when we found the Pelican Cafe was not open on Wed AM for breakfast (only Th-Su). The Osceola was full of people, and both the egg sandwich and the bagel with hummous were tasty and delicious. They also provided LARGE mugs of tea. We eventually made it to the Pelican Cafe on Sunday, but were dissapointed, because there was only one server and she was overloaded. The grilled raisin-bread was nice, but the eggs were cold (not enough help). The location was superb, though, at the foot of the Roosevelt Bridge.
Wahoo's here in the marina continues to amaze us. Their seared tuna is a favorite and we combined it with steamed clams for a nice pre-Superbowl lunch.
Saturday we went up to Ft. Pierce with Karen and Pete to The Ramp, which is a small hole-in-the-wall raw bar. rxc had the "snapper reuben" and jlm the grilled flounder sandwich, which were quite good. We have noted that there are lots of faux-"reuben" sandwichs down here, with all kinds of fish, turkey, and chicken substituting for pastrami. Pete thinks that the transplanted NYers insist on having their favorite NY sandwiches, but since their doctors won't let them eat meat, the restaurants have come up with "healthier" versions that keep most of the flavor. You can also get real reubens, if you wish, but they are not widely available.
The kitties had an exciting week. Calpyso finally got up the courage to leave the boat and go ashore, on Wed evening. Unforunately, rxc had finished installing the netting on that side of the boat that day, and she did not notice it when she went to jump back on-board. She bounced off the netting and tried to grab the toe-rail, but was not successful. We had to use the net to help her up the piling that she grabbed onto. She is now convinced that she should NOT leave the boat, under any conditions - there lies trouble....
Dante has been fixated on the new large boat tied up behind us, and has been extremely willful about jumping up and down onto it. Sat AM, while rxc was filling water tanks, he took off down thepier at a good clip, and when warned not to do anything bad, he decided to do exactly that, and tried to leap up on their highly-varnished handrail. Normally he would have made it ok, but that morning there was a heavy dew, and everything was quite wet, so the varnished handrail was quite slippery. He tumbled about10 feet down the side of the big boat into the water. He immediately turned and swam to our stern, about 50 feet away, where he tried to haul himself out. Unfortunately, the dinghy was in the way, and rxc had to give a hand. jlm was on the pier when he swam underneath, and she says that he looks just like a red otter swimming thru the water. It was a fantastic sight. Unlike Calypso, however, this does not cause him any hesitation about jumping ashore. He wasn't even dry before he decided to try to go ashore again. Boys...
The damn high-output alternator is still not here, and we will have to call Jackrabbit this AM. They promised to ship it in January, but we still don't have any shipping details. This is not good, because we hope to leave in 9 days.
More later after we attend to various chores...
This past week was marked by several kitty events, and the start of some serious efforts to figure out how we are actually going to get to France. We had made some inquiries about shipping the boat, but the outfit in Ft. Lauderdale that does this was only able to give us quotes from Ft. Lauderdale to Genoa, or St.. Thomas to Southampton. We called them on Thursday and they say that they can likely take us from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton in late April, which is a bit early for us, but doable. We also exchanged emails with one clearinghouse for delivery captains, and a local fellow who does deliveries. He came out to the boat on Sunday AM, and we talked quite a bit about having him and his wife help us, and he is quite enthusiastic. We are waiting for a proposal from him and the clearinghouse, and will make a final decision this week. The really hard part of this may turn out to be the cats, because Air France has a 6kg weight limit on animals in the cabin, and we also have 4 cats to move. We are looking into the possibility of having jlm take a containership with the cats, if we can convince them to let her take them along.
We ate out more this week than any other week since Charleston, and discovered some nice dining spots. The first one was Osceola Cafe in downtown Stuart. We went there for breakfast when we found the Pelican Cafe was not open on Wed AM for breakfast (only Th-Su). The Osceola was full of people, and both the egg sandwich and the bagel with hummous were tasty and delicious. They also provided LARGE mugs of tea. We eventually made it to the Pelican Cafe on Sunday, but were dissapointed, because there was only one server and she was overloaded. The grilled raisin-bread was nice, but the eggs were cold (not enough help). The location was superb, though, at the foot of the Roosevelt Bridge.
Wahoo's here in the marina continues to amaze us. Their seared tuna is a favorite and we combined it with steamed clams for a nice pre-Superbowl lunch.
Saturday we went up to Ft. Pierce with Karen and Pete to The Ramp, which is a small hole-in-the-wall raw bar. rxc had the "snapper reuben" and jlm the grilled flounder sandwich, which were quite good. We have noted that there are lots of faux-"reuben" sandwichs down here, with all kinds of fish, turkey, and chicken substituting for pastrami. Pete thinks that the transplanted NYers insist on having their favorite NY sandwiches, but since their doctors won't let them eat meat, the restaurants have come up with "healthier" versions that keep most of the flavor. You can also get real reubens, if you wish, but they are not widely available.
The kitties had an exciting week. Calpyso finally got up the courage to leave the boat and go ashore, on Wed evening. Unforunately, rxc had finished installing the netting on that side of the boat that day, and she did not notice it when she went to jump back on-board. She bounced off the netting and tried to grab the toe-rail, but was not successful. We had to use the net to help her up the piling that she grabbed onto. She is now convinced that she should NOT leave the boat, under any conditions - there lies trouble....
Dante has been fixated on the new large boat tied up behind us, and has been extremely willful about jumping up and down onto it. Sat AM, while rxc was filling water tanks, he took off down thepier at a good clip, and when warned not to do anything bad, he decided to do exactly that, and tried to leap up on their highly-varnished handrail. Normally he would have made it ok, but that morning there was a heavy dew, and everything was quite wet, so the varnished handrail was quite slippery. He tumbled about10 feet down the side of the big boat into the water. He immediately turned and swam to our stern, about 50 feet away, where he tried to haul himself out. Unfortunately, the dinghy was in the way, and rxc had to give a hand. jlm was on the pier when he swam underneath, and she says that he looks just like a red otter swimming thru the water. It was a fantastic sight. Unlike Calypso, however, this does not cause him any hesitation about jumping ashore. He wasn't even dry before he decided to try to go ashore again. Boys...
The damn high-output alternator is still not here, and we will have to call Jackrabbit this AM. They promised to ship it in January, but we still don't have any shipping details. This is not good, because we hope to leave in 9 days.
More later after we attend to various chores...
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