Happy New Year from the Bahamas!

As we worked our way south, we saw all kinds of conspicuous consumption and "showboating" from these uber Xmas decorations To the more basic "Mine is bigger than yours" syndrome. To high rises threatening to overtake simple multi-million dollar winter "cottages". We did a major study of the variety of posted "Manatee Zones" in Florida. These purportedly are designed to protect the "endangered" manatee from boats by limiting speed and wakes in various areas. Our research leads us to the conclusion that manatees are extremely gregarious, but they are also extremely snobbish. There are MANY more manatee zones in the vicinity of megamansions and high class condos than around trailer parks or unpopulated areas. (There was a recent movement to take the manatee off the endangered list which failed. One wonders what the wealthy folks would have done to keep the No Wake zones in their neighborhoods!)
The ultimate was the "Weekends and Holidays Only" manatee zones. We figured that these are for the working class manatees who can only afford to visit the exclusive areas on the weekends or on holiday vacations.We went past the Lighhouse Point condo of our friends, Pete and Sue Boden, who have a spectacular view of the ICW and the mega-mansions on the other side.Our goal was one of our favorite anchorages off Oleta State Park and Florida International University in North Miami.It has all kinds of creeks to explore by dinghy. Most are parts of mangrove swamps. The red mangrove drops new roots/trunks from its branches and, thusly, "walks" across the shallows, creating traps for sediment, flotsam, and jetsom and creating new land. In order to keep the creeks and canals from being over-run, the mangroves must be continually cut back.There are a few liveaboards anchored here. Some are seasonal. Some are students at the University. And one has been here for at least 5 years. Apparently, he does freelance computer work to make ends meet. (He successfully reprogrammed brother Jock's laptop which had become extremely logey.)Yes, we caught up with Jock again and had him and his friend Val (who flew down for a week from Connecticut) aboard a few times for cocktails or coffee.One day they had a couple of big Dragon Boats, complete with a drum-beater in the bow, in the harbor. After having "staged" for a crossing to the Bahamas on our other two trips south and never finding the appropriate "weather window" for us wimps, we finally found what looked to be the perfect 3-day window. Jock left during the first day and had a somewhat lumpy trip across. We waited for the second day and, with the exception of our passage through the somewhat violently tidal outletting of Bakers Haulover Inlet (we'll pick a different inlet the next time), had a very quiet ride across, averaging about 12 knots all the way. (We normally cruise at 7 knots.)
We watched the sun rise over the Gulf Stream.The waves were all under 2 feet -- very much like a summer weekend ride across Long Island Sound.After about 6 hours, we sighted West End.
And took a slip for a few days. (The trade-off for travelling on the second day of the window was that we either had to leave again the next morning or stay for a few days as the next norther came through. Brother Jock got a couple of extra days to travel so he's ahead of us again.)We looked around at the scenery. Renting a slip at a relatively high price at least gave us access to virtually everything at the resort (for which SHORE customers were paying FAR more).
We walked the beach, We drank frozen rum drinks at the Tiki Bar, ate fresh conch burgers (FANTASTIC!), and went for a swim. There was a rare sighting of the famous and elusive "West End Endomorph".To celebrate our arrival, the Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina put on a spectacular fireworks display at midnight on the day of our arrival. (The fact that we crossed on New Years Eve was purely coincidental.) As predicted, the northerly came through with a vengeance, so we're "stuck" here for a few days spending the kids' inheritance while we wait for the waves to die down for our next venture toward Great Sale Cay, Double-Breasted Cay, and Green Turtle Cay. (That's "keeee" to the newbies.) While we're waiting, we'll try a few more rum drinks, probably take a bus into Freeport, nap, have a few more rum drinks, lie in the sun, swim in the warm ocean or warmer fresh-water pool, nap, and have a rum drink.

Even the charts are marked with "rages" which form when the northerlies meet up with strong currents.

A walk out the breakwater confirmed that we were right where we want to be for a few days! The seas in the Gulf Stream today (January 2) are reported at 12 - 14 feet!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sesame@snet.net

Merry Christmas!

Here's what we look like at our normal cruising speed of about 7 knots. (Photo courtesy of Sea Bird):

Although we love St. Augustine, the anchorage leaves a lot to be desired because of strong currents and opposing winds, so we headed on south again. Unfortunately, we missed a chance to meet the folks aboard our sister-ship, Sea Knight, which was just finishing the "Great Loop"; a circumnavigation of most of the East Coast from Florida, up the Hudson River and the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes, down through the middle of the country to the Gulf of Mexico, across the Gulf to the Florida Panhandle, down the east coast of Florida and back home. They kept up a great daily blog for the entire trip (http://www.sk2007.blogspot.com/). We waved at them and said hello on the VHF radio as we crossed paths south of St. Augustine.

As we headed south, we came across some more interesting boats, one of which I think I saw at Fort Meyers Beach last year. We have watched this dock house being built (or rebuilt?) for 4 years. It looks as if it might be finished -- at least until the next hurricane. One of our favorite anchorages is Rockhouse Creek, near the Ponce de Lion Inlet.

We took the dinghy out toward the lighthouse and the ocean inlet

and reminded ourselves why we like the IntraCoastal Waterway, rather than the ocean most of the time!
Our next stop was Cocoa, where we took a slip for a week, did a big laundry, took luxurious showers, and relaxed in our air-conditioned yacht. We got a dozen of the sweetest blue crabs on earth across the way and cooked them up on board.

We had diddled around along the "Space Coast" in hopes that we would see our first shuttle launch live, but whoever submitted the lowest bid for rocket fuel gauges apparently wasn't up to the job so they scrubbed the flight. [Question: Why do you need fuel gauges on a space shuttle? It isn't like you're going to detour to the nearest rocket fuel station if you're running out. It's pretty obvious that you oughta fill up the tank before you leave home!]

So we rented a car for a couple of days (free upgrade from a sub-compact to a full-sized convertible) to go to Kissimmee to wrap and mail Christmas presents (mostly bought through the internet) that we had been sending to daughter Lyz's house for the last few months. Of course, we had to spend a little time with grandson Mikey (15 months). He helped Grammie make Christmas cookies.

And he puzzled long and hard over where each and every decoration should go on the tree.

We even went to church to see and hear Lyz singing in her choir's Christmas Show.

The tree finally got decorated, the packages mailed and our stomachs filled with Chef Chris's latest creations) so we headed back to Cocoa. We saw a little rocket go off with a spy satellite or something else highly classified, so all was not lost.

We managed to eat 50 clams from our favorite fish market (cheap!) over a few days.

And we headed off to Vero Beach, where all kinds of boats gather and raft together on city moorings. Our "mother ship" is a Nordhaven 46, which makes us look like a dinghy. However, when they head to the Bahamas, it's an all day trip at their maximum speed of about 8 knots while we should be able to go 10 - 12 if the conditions are ok. We are decorated with red bows, a little Xmas tree on the radar, and a wreaths on the pulpit and the after awning.

We took a grainy picture of the 30 or so lighted kayaks who paddled through the mooring field singing carols one night.
We have stocked our larders and are waiting for some mail to arrive. In a day or two, we'll start the two-day trip down to a favorite anchorage in North Miami where we will probably re-unite with brother Jock and start waiting for a weather window for a crossing to West End in the Bahamas. If a window doesn't arrive, we're still in a delightful spot with beaches and easy access to supplies. We are only a couple of hours away from comfortable anchorages directly off multi-zillion dollar mansions built on dredged land about 3 feet above sea level. South Beach and its various attractions are minutes away.

IF we get to the Bahamas, we will be incommunicado except by email -- not a bad thing?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sesame@snet.net

Happy Thanksgiving!

We anchored on the Callabash River which is the border between North and South Carolina.

Then cruised down the Waccamaw River, one of the prettiest stretches of the ICW. Like everywhere, however, they haven't heard of the housing glut and there are miles and miles of brand new docks waiting to be sold with the vacant lots they're attached to.

We had to stop at Georgetown to pick up fresh shrimp at the shrimp dock. We saw a VERY strange boat there: two boxes with a "flybridge" on top and a sailboat rig on top of that!

We found very peaceful anchorages in the creeks through the marshes. One of them is called Awendaw Creek.

Apparently, "Riparian Rights" around here allow owners to build docks from their houses to navigable water. Some of these docks are well over a mile long, across marshes, mud, and low water.

If you forget to look up, you miss a lot of eagles who are carefully scoping out the waterway.

There are more beautiful creeks with anchorages. This one is called Cattle Pen.

We travelled with Brother Jock aboard his new boat, a Cape Dory 300MS named "Home at Last".

This time we went ashore at Fort Frederica and toured the grounds of the military town created in the 1740s, basically to challenge the Spaniards who had settled St. Augustine and threatened to move north.
We met all kinds of vessels along the way. From huge pushboats which seem to take up the entire waterway,
To classic yachts superbly restored,

To total idiots who are working out their ambivalence about gender with huge overpowered "Sports Fishermen". They push a massive wall of water and threaten to swamp anything smaller when they pass. One of the worst was "Blue Latitude" from our home port, Old Saybrook, CT. The nice guys, who are definitely in the majority, thank goodness, do a "slow pass". The slower vessel slows up even more to allow the faster one to slow down enough to minimize his wake and still get past fairly quickly, then the slow boat moves astern of the fast one and they can both resume speed, having lost little time and saved a lot of pain and strain. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do "Slow DOWN" and Slow UP" mean the same thing?] Both vessels thank each other other for the "easy pass" by VHF radio and go on with their lives. I wish we could teach some of the half-wits in the Connecticut River to do this!
To many interesting boats we couldn't identify.
We had heard that St. Marys, Georgia did a marvelous Thanksgiving and took a hard right just before we hit Florida. St. Marys is a former mill town which now has a large waterfront park, some very nice restaurants, beautifully restored (or maintained) old houses (one of which welcomed the Captain's collateral ancestor, Aaron Burr, after his famous legal, but politically incorrect, duel), and at least one bar with a trash-talking tattooed barmaid. Unfortunately, groceries and other necessaries are not within walking distance, but free transportation was arranged for those who needed it.

We were there for 4 days as more than 100 boats gathered for the festivities. We took Jock out for a birthday dinner at a marvelous little restaurant.

More than 200 boaters lined up outdoors for Thanksgiving dinner at the local hotel. Townspeople supplied all the turkeys, ham, and grilled oysters while each of the boats brought a side dish or dessert. We expected total chaos and overcrowding.
But they had set up 4 buffet lines and there were enough food and seats for everyone, so it went very smoothly and the food was delicious!

It was a busy week but a lot of fun. We were happy to get back to the boat and relax as the skies cleared and we experienced another superb sunset.
We are writing this from St. Augustine, which will be the start of our next chapter if and when we get to it. We have tentative plans to be somewhere along the "Space Coast" on December 6 to see the next shuttle take off. Lyz and family are fairly close so they may drive over to say hi. After that, who knows? We will eventually get to the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area (where two of our favorite anchorages are) to see if a weather window opens up to allow safe passage to the Bahamas before Christmas. If it doesn't, we'll either wait longer or head further south again.

In the meantime, we're in no hurry to go anywhere since we're already "here"!

For comments, complaints, or remarks: sesame@snet.net