And I don't mean at the Polar Treat.
All systems are go for a Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas tomorrow. We plan on leaving early (3am) headed for Memory Rock landing at Mangrove Cay by 3pm. Depending on how we feel, we'll either anchor at Mangove or press on to Great Sail Cay (which would be an ambitious 75 nautical mile day). Great Sail will offer the best protection from the north blow scheduled to move in on Tuesday. Today, the West Palm Beach harbor filled up with boats loaded with provisions, all with the same (or similar) float plan. We took the dinghy around to several of them to discuss details and gather information. The excitement and nervous energy in the air reminded me of the start of a marathon. Conversations were easy; "Where are you from?", "Is this your first time?", "What's your hull speed?", "What do you draft?", "Let's try and stick together for as long as we can..." The seasoned veterans were so willing to take newbies like us under their wing, and offer advice and encouragement. They all had the same glint in their eye as they spoke; the same misty stare as they gazed over our heads towards the open ocean. They had seen the blue water and white sand beaches of the promise land. They had been to the "Isles of Perpetual June". They knew.
Gulp. Deep breath. Here goes!
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Sea-sun's Greetings!
Well, Santa found us alright.
The cookies were gobbled, the milk was gulped, and the reindeer made a
mess of the cockpit with their messy carrot chewing. There was a definite water theme this
Christmas. Santa always seems to know
what is needed.
Munyon Island fun |
We had a great day relaxing and not doing any work at
all. Scott didn't even fix anything
(although, I know he wanted to). We
ended up moving anchor to North Palm
Beach on Christmas Eve day to escape some bad weather that was coming out of
the North (probably from Maine, eh?). I
know I shouldn't be talking to most of you folks about bad weather... Sorry.
It was just a little windy. No
snow. No ice. Just a very stiff warm breeze. Our new location was within a short dinghy
ride/walk to a Publix supermarket , so we were able to stock up on all the
holiday trimmings. It was the first year
I ever "bought" pies (apple and mince). It was also the first year we had a
pre-cooked rotisserie chicken (steamed to re-heat it) for Christmas dinner. Our oven is not working right now (it's on
Scott's list, but we decided it's not a high priority item), so baking pies and
a turkey was out of the question. It
turned out to be a great meal. I think
I'm onto something! There was much discussion
about what we should do for a Christmas tree.
At home, it's a big event to slog out to the back-forty and cut the
nicest balsam fir we can find ("nice" always being relative to how
cold it is outside). It seemed strange
not to do the same here. We all agreed
we had some serious space limitations on the boat so whatever we dragged home
was going to have to be small. As we
walked to Publix, the girls and I had our feelers out for any appropriate
vegetation. They had their hearts set on
a tiny palm tree, but all the palms were huge.
There were no "baby" palms (they surmised that palm trees must
grow very fast). There were many nice
options in the plantings in front of the gated communities we wandered by, but
we found the iron bars and armed guards to be a little intimidating. We ended up purchasing (wince) a fake (gulp) little
12" tree (complete with tiny little colored ball ornaments) that was in
the 50% off bin at Publix. It was
perfect! And cheap. I had some tiny battery operated lights stashed
away that really livened it up.
The offering |
The stockings were hung by the white board with care... |
Christmas Eve dinner |
Nama's stockings |
Gifts from the Duffys |
Ivie's card |
Scott - Captain and breakfast chef |
We spent most of Christmas day exploring nearby Munyon
Island, a tiny little state park, half of which is the result of deposited
dredgings from the construction of the ICW during WWII. It's been planted with native vegetation and
is like a little mini everglades. There's
a board -walk that turns into a dirt trial that winds through the dense hammocks. Judging from the number of spiders who constructed
webs across the trail, most folks turn around when the board walk ends.
We persevered. Having Scott lead made the most sense seeing
ask he offered up the most surface area.
He accepted the challenge, armed only with a palm frond. We followed the leader, ducking, wincing, and
screaming at every near miss. The
spiders here are huge! It was very
exciting. The millipedes are also big,
and much less intimidating to hold.
Spider dodging |
Exploring the intertidal zone |
Strangler fig |
My turn? |
Giant millipedes are so cute! |
After our hike, Scott took the girls fishing, while I went for a
run. They had some luck and we were able
to supplement our steamed poultry with fresh Spanish mackerel (yum!) and
Corvelle Jack (yuck). We are looking
forward to catching some real game fish soon.
Today, after a final provisioning at Publix, we sailed back
to Peanut Island to prepare for a
possible weather window opening up late Sunday night into Monday. We'll keep you posted.
It has been so great hearing from you all through the blog
and email. I wish we could respond
individually but internet connections are spotty and fleeting. Perhaps the biggest limiting factor is keeping
the laptop and ipad charged! Right now I
have a great connection (thanks to a pirated code to the yacht club we are
anchored next to) but I only 10% battery left.
With that, I'll sign off.
Stay well, everyone.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Waiting
From Hobe
Sound, we proceeded down the ICW to Palm Beach, parting draw bridges in our
path. Kiawah is 58' tall and most of the
bridges are 65' or taller, but many are too low to fit under. After the 6th draw bridge, I was still amazed
that there was a draw tender up there, sitting in a little booth, willing to
open the bridge just for us; stopping all kinds of traffic (4 lanes in some
cases) while we sauntered under, the girls waving like mad on the bow.
Open sesame! |
Okay, maybe we weren't the only ones they stopped traffic for |
We arrived in
West Palm beach and anchored off Peanut Island.
Being anchored here is the boating equivalent of camping in an RV in a
Wal-Mart parking lot. Lots of condos, mansions, and development. The Downeast Maine coast,
this is not.
It's good holding though
while we wait to cross to the Bahamas. And
we're in good company, as there are many other boats here all waiting for the
same weather report (SE winds, 10-15mph, calm seas). We've
met two other families from Maine (Blue Hill) and spent some time hanging out
with them on the beach. Riley and Wren
were even invited to their first boat sleep-over with 10 year old Fiona
Guinness (yes, of beer fame!).
Despite all the
development, Peanut Island has turned out to be a fun little oasis to
explore. Luckily, the city of Palm Beach
had the foresight to set aside this tiny parcel of land for conservation and
recreation instead of turning it into a peanut oil shipping terminal. There's a snorkeling lagoon, sand beaches,
camping, and a great walking/running trail that encompasses the one mile
perimeter of the tiny island.
It seems that the same cold front that dumped a pile of snow
on you all in Maine, is coming to pay a visit here, bringing with it some
pretty unsettled weather. So,
unfortunately, our chance to cross the gulf stream will not come until after
Christmas. Today, the wind died down to
a reasonable 15 to 20mph, so we decided to venture out of the inlet into the open
ocean to go for a sail and maybe do some fishing. If you've been following our ”Spot" link
(click "where are we now" off the main page and follow the link)
you'll see how long we lasted out there...
6 to 8 foot waves persisted, even after we cleared the shallows near the
inlet where we expected them. NOT fun. Of
course, that's my perspective. The kids had a blast. They must get that from Scott. We turned around, very carefully, and headed
back to calmer waters and spent the afternoon sailing laps around the bay. According
to Scott (and Wren), Kiawah sails like a dream. And she's fast. 7.5 kt upwind, with a double reef in the main.
Well, I never thought I'd be spending Christmas in Palm Beach
Florida! But alas, here we are. Nonetheless, spirits are high We bopped around the boat this morning
listening to Christmas music on the radio as we did our boat chores. Personally, all I need is a dose of Johnny
Mathis and I'm in the spirit. I broke
out the girls' stockings tonight that I brought from home, and there has been
much discussion about whether Santa visits boats or not. To up their chances, the girls sketched a
fireplace on the white board tonight. So now, all we can do, is wait. Wait for Santa. And wait for our weather window to open.
The view |
Achoo! |
Mer-Wren and Fiona |
Suppin' with Montana |
Heading to the sandbar for low tide (Scott on the SUP with the girls) |
Our reflection in a yacht |
Pelican feeding frenzy |
Yellow fin snapper (not our catch - yet) |
Black fin tuna and Mahi-Mahi |
First time snorkeling |
All I could hear were muffled screams of delight through the snorkels |
Lake Worth inlet looms behind the protected snorkelers in the lagoon |
Wren, at the helm |
Ri, winching in the jib sheet |
Good instincts |
Monday, December 23, 2013
Perserverence
Bill, sending us off. Thanks Bill! |
When we left
the Cracker Boy dock, the Intracoastal Waterway quickly turned from feeling
like a large bay to feeling like a narrow river in the everglades.
The bird watching was spectacular. A Peterson's Field Guide was all we had to
go by but we did our best to put a name on some of the beauties we were seeing. Great blue herons and osprey are common
here, as they are back home, but in much greater abundance. I never tire of seeing them. And turkey vultures abound here! We also saw many new faces; little blue heron, snowy egret, white ibis, great white heron, and yes, our beloved pelicans! Mangrove
forests crowded the banks on either side, providing amazing and essential
habitat. And yeah, there was as a
mansion or two.
Riley, scouting birds |
Moon-rise over mansion |
We had a steady
following wind and were able to kill the engine, unfurl the jib, and sail for
much of the afternoon. I saw Scott
finally relax for the first time since our arrival.
Down wind on the jib |
Scott, on auto pilot |
Well... sort of. He was as relaxed as he possibly could be considering
our depth sounder was on the fritz He'd
been tinkering with it a bit and had it working intermittently. But
intermittently just doesn't cut it around here.
The ICW (in this part of FL anyway) is very narrow and quite
shallow. If you veer too far off the
channel, it shoals up to 2- 3 feet pretty quickly. Kiawah drafts 5 feet with her centerboard
up. A working depth sounder is really an
essential piece of equipment in these waters (and will be even more so when we
get to the Bahamas). We dropped the
hook in Hobe Sound with plans to stay there a few nights so Scott could worked
the bugs out of the navigation system, and the girls and I could go to shore
and blow off some stink! We'd been in
Florida almost 3 weeks and the girls had yet to dig their toes into the white
sand of a real beach! And I hadn't run
in two weeks. The next day, we all took the
dinghy ashore to explore. Small stretches
of sandy beach dotted the dense mangrove shoreline. We followed a trail inland and by sheer
serendipity we found ourselves at the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge
Nature Center. What luck!
The interpreter welcomed us and introduced us
to the resident animals (see Ri and Wren's blog for more on that).
baby croc and alligator |
Afterward, we went for a hike on the trail
system through a really unique sand pine scrub ecosystem to look for some of
the same animals in the wild. Finding a gopher
tortoise in its burrow was certainly the highlight of the afternoon. (the mushrooms were pretty cool too).
Gopher tortoise, caught by the flash |
Russula? |
color coordinated |
Hiking in the pine scrub sand |
That, and finding a coconut. The girls were thrilled with this exotic find
and became obsessed with opening this unwelcoming fruit. If you've ever tried to open a coconut, husk
intact (without access to a machete), you know what I mean.
coconut #1 |
Team effort |
Scott and I were justifiably alarmed when we saw them heading
to Kiawah's fore deck, one carrying the coconut, the other carrying a hammer and
chisel. After much effort (and no
apparent damage to Kiawah), coconut #1 turned out to be dry and empty
inside. They were disappointed but remained
optimistic. The empty shell was determined to be "a perfect fairy
house".
Coconut #2 was procured
the next day on another beach excursion but turned out to contain only rancid
milk. They were getting closer! The
hunters were even more determined.
coconut #2 |
In
no time, they were in possession of SIX coconuts. They chose the best candidate from the lot
(after bowling on the beach with it all afternoon) and cracked it open... a splash of milk... a flash of white... Success!
They guarded the sweet flesh as if it were Halloween candy and gorged
until it was gone. Victory was theirs.
If I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I want to be with them.
The chosen one |
Strike! |
:) |
Meanwhile,
back at the ranch.... After a day of tangled wires and careful note taking, Scott experienced
his own success. He was able to re-route
the depth sounder (bypassing the defunct digital display which would only show
part of a number - is that 13 or 3 feet?
Hmmm...) to the chart plotter at
the helm. Voila! It was a great moment
when it worked. I'll take him on my
desert island too.
Red to yellow. Green to white. Purple to orange. Gray to blue. |
The navigation station at the helm. Fully functional. |
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