Last nights visitor

Thur Jan 24 11:30 AM Well yesterday was a bummer. We decided to wait till today to sail over to Nassau and check in for free...well they still get their 300 bucks, but not the $100 to tie up to the dock for 20 min. The forward head decided to stop up..I tried the usual..plunger etc, then decided that it might be something more serious. So I started to take things apart....sometimes I think the engineer that designed these things should have to take their designs apart and put them back together 100 times before they can sell even 1 of them...bet things would be better designed. Any way...upon taking the pump apart I find the hose(1 1/2 inch diameter about 5 ft long is completely closed up with what looks like and feels like concrete. Somehow I have to clean this hose out before the damn head will work again. So I start with the usual,, a coat hanger...maybe get 3-4 inches dug out..then used vise-grips to slightly squeeze the hose to break up the concrete...then rig up some small diameter hose to the fresh water pump. With this I can flush out some of the pieces as I break them up...damn where is the Home Depot when you need one. A pipe snake would be real handy right now. ...back to the small diameter hose with a brass fitting on the end. Ram this down 20-30 times then flush with the water...slow going about 1/2 inch each time...in need of something stiffer... I had just replaced one of my lifelines. Just what I needed, so we removed the lifeline and I used that to break up the stuff...now getting an inch + each time. By about 3:30...been at this for 3 1/2 hrs already..I break through. Pump water through and all is fine...just have to put everything back together and by 4 pm we disinfect the boat both take showers and declare it now 5 o'clock somewhere. Happy Hour although my back was not too happy were still downloading on Graboid...watched a few NCIS then our guest arrived..Joyce was having fun photographing him....guess he wanted to email someone as he was sitting on my computer.
We were up to a dead calm morning...full moon and CLEAR water...I will try and fix Joyce's pi later, but notice you can see the bottom as well as the reflection. W checked the weather and decided to wait for wind tomorrow to go to Nassau...I sent off for so long term weather files...wow..there was a window where the wind was from the north for several days..maybe we should make the run east and head for St Thomas....downloaded a few more files...damn...lets go for it. Understand St Thomas and the rest of the islands are 4-5 hundred miles east of us. The winds this time of year are from the east. Sailboats find it hard to go east this time of year, so when one can...make the best of it and go. Now Joyce was going to miss some dive spots, but we can still stop here on the way back...and yes I guess we will miss a few lobster dinners. We are blogging sending a few emails and will leave this afternoon...should take us about 6 days almost 900 miles...with a day or so of no wind...So the blog will be dormant till we get to the Virgins.

Chub Cay

Wednesday January 23rd, 2008

Yesterday we had a wonderful - albeit bumpy at first sail – from the non-inhabited island we ducked behind to let the wind blow. Motoring out of the narrow inlet was a bit interesting…especially when a huge breaker stopped the Lady H in her tracks (0 sog – speed over ground) and then turned her sideways for what seemed like too long…but in reality wasn’t…as Paul maneuvered her right back to where she should be…and once out of the inlet we were able to sail to where we now sit….Chub Cay. We were going to check in here but the Marina wants $100.00 extra so we are staying here on the boat…not going ashore…and getting some chores done. New ones…not on the “list”…but ones that come up every now and again with a fully modernized boat!!!

Frozen Cay

Monday Jan 21 11:15 am.. Now that was a rolly night. We stayed up and watched our newly downloaded movies and TV programs…Joyce was falling asleep so we finished it this AM. .Wind was up in the 25 knot range during the night. At one point the tide which runs at 1-2 knots brought us perpendicular to the waves and we rolled for 4-5 hrs. A bottle of rotten French rum (they make the worst tasting rum) made it to the galley floor…damn thing didn’t even break. We have added anis star spice to the stuff to see if we can make it into Sambucca or at least drinkable. Wind now at 30 plus…our new Rocna anchor is doing its thing trying to dig itself to China. We had a hard time getting it up back in Ft Lauderdale…guess that is a better alternative then dragging. It is a very impressive anchor. It set with a hard jerk yesterday when we dropped it. I have the snubber all the way out..40+ ft…it stretches like a rubber band in this wind…also have a back up in case this one snaps. Don’t want all that force ripping the windlass out of the deck. We are anchored in about 12 ft with about 100 ft of chain…..So it’s a real nasty day…we are going to watch movies and wait out the storm all by our selves behind this little island. What should we watch next?
Oh…Paul is so funny…we really do have some cute movies to watch though! I guess his “graboid” was a good thing! So, anyway, when Paul wanted to tie the spare anchor (the Buelle) down better while we were crossing the stream…he was insistent that he do it…in fact I had to raise my voice a little before he finally conceded. The seas were confused because of the winds shifting so we were having a bit of a bumpy ride waves hitting the side and coming over the bow. But here was my thinking…I have better balance than he does…if he starts the knot I can tie it off…if I fall overboard I can swim longer than he can and he can maneuver the boat to get me…AND most important…I was saving myself the stress of watching him up on the bow with waves hitting him AND if he were to fall overboard the stress of maneuvering the boat to get him!!! Also…just for a moment I got to feel like I was really out at sea…you know like the guys catching Alaska crab on the show “World’s Deadliest Catch” albeit on a much much much smaller scale!!!

Bahamas

Sunday Jan 20 11:12 AM. Greetings from the Bahamas. We sailed out of Ft Lauderdale yesterday 10AM. Had a fast crossing of the Gulf Stream arriving off the Bahamas around sunset. Just before dark I noticed my spare anchor had shifted on the crossing…we did bury the bow into numerous waves. Sent Joyce forward to tie it down. She was soaked when she came back, sent her down for a hot shower and some dry clothes.




99% of the time I want to go faster , but in this case I had planned the passage at 6 knots, enough time to cross the Stream before the big cold front blew through and time for us to make the turn south along the Bahamas Bank (An extremely shallow area between the islands where the water depth averages 8-9 ft. Remember we draw 7 ft. a tall starfish could be a bump on the bottom. I did not want to cross that at night or in 25 kts) We were doing 8-9 kts in 25 knts..damn…we were going to arrive around 5 am if we didn’t slow down. Seems the Lady had other thoughts. Every time I reduced sail the damn boat would go faster. We took the longer route, same as the 25 + cruise ships (cattle boats) that passed us during the night. They leave Lauderdale and Miami around 7 pm and we start seeing them from 10 pm on…half coming in for a new herd of cattle and the other half with a new group of bovine ready for the fattening.(FOOD SERVICE 24 HRS A DAY) By the time the boats get to St Thomas the waterline goes up 6 inches when they all get off to spend their money on inflated duty free goods. If you don’t think the American public is obese then sit in St Thomas and watch them roll down the narrow streets…Any way…I had not slept well Fri night…damn kidney stone again…so Joyce tried to accommodate me by letting ,me get some rest early…too damn bumpy…I should have tried the saloon. (The motion in the fore and aft cabin is well more vigorous than in the center. I have been thrown on the floor more than once) so we took turns at the wheel watching the Cattle boat parade. They light up like a small city. I took the wheel about 4:30 as the last cruise ships passed. We could see the lightning in the clouds as the front approached. Joyce crashed and I reefed everything down for the blow. We made the turn about 5am..Still no front. After the turn the seas were calm in 15 kts. Joyce had a nice sail while I grabbed some sleep. I got up about 6:30…you could see the black wall behind us...the wind shifted 120 degrees in 10 min and the temp dropped 20 deg. Wind piped up to 20-25..back up to 8+ kts….started to rain hard…we decided to duck in behind on of small islands. We were cruising along the Berry Islands. ..Frozen Cay...Seems the Bahamas are broken into several groups..kind of like counties. The Berry’s are small and for the most part uninhabited except for the few under development with BIG US money.




Chub Cay where we will check in tomorrow is big bucks. You can see Arnold Palmer’s little 120 ft boat “The Bear” moored in its $450,000 slip….Well lunch time..then an afternoon of rest and movies we downloaded off of Graboid….

We escape tomorrow....

Friday Jan 18 8:49 PM....Well we are all provisioned up, fueled up, batteried up and ready to go. As the political season heats up...This Capt must escape the screech of Hillary, 8 yrs of Bill was enough...so we leave tomorrow AM for the Bahamas.By the way...if the Bitch wins...the Lady will not come back, There is a weather window of about 20 hrs before the big winter storm whacking you people up north hits us down here. We are expecting N -NE winds in the 30 kt range....not a pretty thing out in the Gulf Stream. We will do an overnight and duck in Sunday behind a key for the blow. Joyce has the water line down with the most completely provisioned boat in the Caribbean. extra, extra green olives, Fritoes, pickles, plenty of Lamb, chicken and good old American beef. Freezers are packed to the max...barely enough room for the all important ice for the Happy Hour, but we saved some.........It has been a busy 3-4 days..now looking for a nice sail and some slow "Island Time " .About the time we got the dink up on the deck and things stowed the local water cop came by to kick us out. There is a 1 day limit here in Ft lauderdale...I started to tell him that I was waiting for a safe weather window....and I as the Capt will decide when I leave....big war down here with the cruisers....but hell we are ready to go anyway...So we are out with the tide...might be a few days before we can get online...J&P

Manatee

So there are no pictures....but I saw a manatee today....my first ever....Paul saw one last year at Dinner Key. We are "parked" in Lake Sylvia and took the dingy over to a restaurant/dingy dock past the 17th street bridge to complete provisioning at Winn Dixie. Just as we got close I saw in the water this HUGE speckled black mass in the water....I "alerted" Paul in my typical fashion....yes, there was a little while that he didn't know what I was talking about...then he slowed down. The manatee dove down and re-surfaced...with his huge body just below the surface and his two little nostrils above the surface...he/she was pretty cute. I'm really glad I got to see one!!!! So now that I have seen an endangered manatee we can leave for the Bahamas....okay we were going to leave tomorrow anyway!!!

Laundry

Just thought I would share with all what laundry day looks like on the boat. I have never been one to hang laundry to dry for all to see....and it still bothers me to do it....but reality, you know.....and clean clothes....AND Paul says we do it because WE CAN...most all the other cruisers have to go into town and take their laundry to a laundromat....so yes, it is convenient....it just....well it is still hanging laundry for all to see......and yes, WE CAN....

Two "cars"....and "graboid".....

So maybe....just maybe....by starting this...I can get Paul to post a little (usually with him a lot) of his wonderful information on what has been going on...here he is with his "new" Yahama (electric start)....then our bikes - what a difference getting around without pain (for him) makes!!!! AND, our two car (dingy) "right place - right time" finds.....and, yes, he has been so busy downloading tv shows with Graboid....he has hardly let me on the internet....let alone the computer!!!!

And now the rest of the story.....

Yes it has been a while...but I have an excuse....I had a 3 pager going with all the pics and blow by blow with the dinks and motors....damn Blogger decides to delete the whole thing...I have been on strike!!! Well after loosing the dink...we went on a buying spree...bargains that could not be passed by. First we found a Yamaha 15 hp 4 stroke.. a 2004 model with 3 hrs on it....seems the guy has all the toys...just never used the outboard....thing is worth 2 grand...guy was selling for $1800..then dropped to $1200. Well we rented a car...drove to Ft Lauderdale...arriving back in Marathon about 10:30pm...then we had to get this 120 lb monster on the Stern of the Wally waggon...my old dink minus the inflatable floor....we tied the engine to the car and lowered it down the 4 ft to the dink..Joyce guided it on to the transom..and with a push of a button we were on our way back to the boat....soooo quiet..you can carry on a conversation while under way. Without the floor the Wally Wagon starts to bend in the middle when you twist up the throttle....not good if you want to go fast...guess we could have lived with that till we got down to Margarita....the dink I want...and AB is about 1/2 price...so we wet back on CraigsList looking for a dink..seems this guy in Marathon had just listed his on CraigsList....so we dinked ashore..jumped on the bikes for a 4 mile ride to the guys house... He was from Montana..selling their home in Marathon and had no use for a dink in Montana. It was a RIB..(fiberglass floor) by Zodiac...8 ft...a little short but almost new. The outboard was a Mercury 8 hp with maybe 10-15 hrs...almost new....asking price 600 bucks...I could turn around and sell the dink or the motor for $8-900 apiece. So now we have 2 motors and 2 dinks. Well we needed to get up t Miami to get the new batteries...decided to do an overnight to Ft Lauderdale since the Marina in Miami was full due to the Miami boat show. Had a wonderful sail up..got out into the Gulf Stream for the 2-3 knt push and arrived into Lauderdale by 8 in the AM. Downtown marina could take us aday early so we were good. Phil by Britt friend arranged to loan us his pickup on Monday so we could swap the Batteries. Now you must remember Joyce will not let me lift anything heavier than a 12 pack...batteries weigh about 65 lbs apiece. I unhooked them by 9:30 a and Joyce had them up on the dock by 10 am. Phil showed up about noon...we loaded up and headed for Sam's...oh yea..had called around the night before...the 4th Sam's had 12 of these batteries..the others had only 2 or 3. Joyce unloaded them onto a flatbed and we headed in. The Tire and Battery guys come out and start t test them with some voltage thing...they pronounce the first 3 as good. I protested that one cannot tell the condition of a battery by voltage alone....I asked if they had a load tester or hydrometer...nope just the voltage thingy that was saying all my batteries were good. I volunteered to go buy a hygrometer....we walked oer to Walmart...bought 1 for .88 cents..walked back and tested the batteries they said were good...guy disappeared for 20 min...asks us for the receipt....fills out a form and sends us up to the front desk. We wait in line...and charges me 17 dollars for 12 new batteries....wow sun was shining on me for once...guy even loaded them into the truck for Joyce...well we gave Sam back most of his loss on the Batteries by buying half the store....this would be our last big fix on US stuff for some time. We went back to the boat...I started to use the food sucker to suckie bag the meat...in the middle of this Phil and Joanna show up to get the truck...DAMN...well we went down the dock for dinner ...a good time had by all.

We were up to ride to West Marine the next morning..probably a 5-6 mile round trip...I had 1 crash...thanks to the soft grass , only my pride was hurt...when we got back ...well we both hurt...me from the crash and Joyce from yesterdays weight lifting Championship...yes she came in 1 st place...simple dinner and we crashed. We were a little sluggish this AM. We had to go pick up a lifeline at the riggers , check out and move the boat. Joanna came by about 1 pm to pick up their movies (about 500) they had pirated from Netflicks). We were able to copy about 20. We were going to try and sail down to Miami...but decided to anchor in Lake Sylvia ..the only place in Ft Lauderdale to anchor...and then for only 2 days....So here we sit...sucking on a Gin and Tonic...the end of just another day on the Lady H

New Year Update

Monday Jan 7.... 8:40 am Well it has been a busy 1st week of the New Year....yes we did have a fun time New Years eve. After Joyce recovered from her Dark and Stormy overdose on New Years day morning I checked the weather and decided that I did not want to be in that crowded anchorage in a 30+ knt blow. Far too many ditch diggers anchored too close on a short scope (not enough anchor line down)Around noon we set course for Marathon. Little or no wind so we burned expensive diesel and motored up ariving about 6:30 pm. On the way up we swapped the new Rocna anchor for my tried and true Buelle. I wanted to see how it worked in a blow. After dropping the hook and 80-90 ft of chain we launched the dink...alot easier now when it was calm than when the wind picks up. Had dinner and crashed early, still recovering from the previous night. The storm hit about midnight. Was up to check the anchor and snubber for chafe. Wind by this time hit 41 knts...a little bumpy to say the least. New Rocna was up for the challenge, set a back up snuber in case the 1st failed. With this kind of wind the chain was like a steel bar, even with 80 feet out in 9 feet of water the chain was straight. To reduce the shock loads we put out about 30 feet of 5/8 in nylon line. It streches about 5-8 feet. That kind of load not reduced by the nylon can rip the windlass right out of the deck. Awoke to a sunny but cold windy morning. No going ashore today...wind still 25-35 knts...we were fine, UNTIL I looked aft to see how the dink was riding...what dink......GONE....some of you might think it blew off during the night...but I use a S/S caribiener to clip the dink to the boat. Yes I did lose the dink a few yrs back ....small line on a big cleat...can slip..Coast Guard returned a week later. Not far from where we are anchored is the east end of Boot Key. There are stories of the rough crowd that lives on this almost deserted Key. Well we called the cops..they wanted me to meet with them...sure...now how do I get in...Insurance company also wanted us to contact the Coast Guard. So here is the situation...we are anchored about 1/3 mile from the entrance to the harbor, wind is blowing 25-35 for the next 2 days.......garbage building up, out of bread and fresh veggies...no salad makings for Joyce...and NO dink. Those that have been on the Lady know I hated that dink...(and just a few posts back you might remember he was describing his "enjoyment" of that dingy) so we checked Ebay...nothing in my budget. Joyce suggested Craigs List...never been there, so we did look and then called a few of the posts...some a boat and motor package some just the motor or dink. It has been my plan to get a new AB dink in Margarita ...they make them in VZ. Paul was up early working on BOTH computers downloading more TV shows and movies (his new Graboid thing - I think he explained a few posts back also)...so in the interest of keeping everyone sort of up to date on what has been going on I'm going to post this - albeit without pictures....and I'll see if I can get him to tell the rest of the story after we go in to Marathon for a bike ride!!!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve day we said goodbye to Matt and Jessica after a nice visit. Then we went for another bike ride. We now have two of these little unique bikes on board! It means that Paul does not have to walk quite so much and far yet we can get to where we want to go because when he rides...he doesn't hurt! It is amazing how much ground you can cover in one of these bikes...and they are so smooth to ride! We rode most of the island of Key West one day!
We went downtown Key West for New Year's Eve...Paul even got me to go up the stairs to the clothing optional bar...of course...my option was....ha ha ha! Then on the way back to the boat we met up with some other cruisers...Jim is sitting next to Paul...then me and next to me is Matthew ..Roberta's son who is also a marine. Roberta is taking the picture. The other couple sailed here from Norway! I won't post the picture of Paul and I closer to midnight....he had a plastic white hat on and I had a tierra....we did make it safely back on the boat by midnight!!!