Boat

Back At Anchor

/ kk42sealife / 2 Comments

After a week of treating ourselves to a slip, we left Marina Paraiso on Tuesday, and moved to the nearby anchorage. Aside from Key West, which was a huge splurge, our budget doesn’t allow for long stays at a slip. Once we’d cleared customs and did some chores, it was time to go. We’ll miss our neighbors..

Ok, maybe not all of our neighbors..

We did a quick spin down through the lagoon, just south of the marina. There are several more cold fronts due to come through in the next week (yay, more wind!), and Scott wanted to check out the lagoon for a possible anchorage with better protection. We spied this crazy island, which made up of floating plastic bottles…quite a spread!

This little “cable car?” moves along a rope, to transport people back and forth.

Overall, the lagoon felt quite removed, and the marinas were filled with big sport fish boats.

It wasn’t our first choice for a place to spend a week or more, so we headed back out toward the harbor, to scope out a spot there.

We passed back by our slip at Marina Paraiso on the way..

It took a bit of time to find a spot to drop anchor. Several of the boats have two anchors out, which makes them swing differently. Being single anchor people, we searched the anchorage to find others doing the same. There are a few shallow spots, and an area where we watched a boat snag their anchor line on something on the bottom. They were tangled for hours before getting free, so those areas were also out. We finally decided on a spot at the edge of the anchorage, along side the I-95 path for tour and fishing boats. Not our favorite location, but we decided getting waked from them was better than swinging into someone or floating into shallow water.

All in all, it’s really nice out here. The wakes don’t jostle us very much, and we have nice views of the shoreline and town on one side, and the skyline of Cancun beyond the harbor on the other.

We’ll spend a week or so here, while we ride out the cold fronts and explore the southern end of the island. We have some good looking neighbors…a tall ship from Germany came in yesterday.

The Aluminum Princess has finally been lowered into Mexican waters! She has a new look, in her ongoing metamorphosis. Scott decided to take the black  foam collar off. It was causing a rougher ride in a head sea, and he was losing overall speed. So she now has gone back to a regular rub rail, made of vinyl, to soften impact with us and other boats when docking. She still looks sharp!

So we’re afloat again. Here are some photos.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

 

Our Last Days In Key West

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Our last days in Key West were spent provisioning and watching weather, while we prepared to head toward Mexico. We rented a car and headed to Miami, for some serious provisioning.  After stopping at Total Wine liquor store, Target, Walmart, PetSmart, Whole Foods and Dicks Sporting Goods, the car was stuffed full. By the end of the day, we were lowering the rear side windows to load things in. I regretted not upgrading to a larger car, as we drove home without being able to see out of the side or rear windows!

The drive to Miami is 3.5 hours, and we spent the whole day shopping. By the time we arrived back in Key West and unloaded, it was almost midnight, and we were spent. The next day, I headed to the grocery store on Key West, and again, filled the car. The boat is now filled to the brim with food and provisions.

 

 

We’ve made great use of the storage under our couch. It was originally a sleeper sofa, and Scott removed the “innards,” giving us a ton of space for all kinds of things!

With an evening left before returning the car, we decided to drive out to the theater on the other end of the island and catch the new Star Wars movie…woohoo!! We thought it was great, and it was a treat to take in a movie before leaving the country.

A big, BIG, treat for me, was receiving a cake from home!! I worked for Sugarbakers Cakes, in Catonsville, MD. They make the best cakes that you’ve ever put in your mouth! Since we left, I’ve been eating cake wherever I can, with no luck. So I asked the girls to make some of my favorites and freeze them. My friend Ted then stepped in to ship them overnight to me. Unfortunately, the size of the boxes made them pretty costly, so I chose to only have one sent (peanut butter truffle..yum!) and he kept the other (red velvet fudge..addictive!!).

The cake arrive in perfect condition, still cold and firm! I cut it into slices, shared only a few with friends at the marina, and froze the rest. I’m hoping to make them last as long as I can, as I fear an overnight to Central America will break the bank!

So we were stocked with provisions and cake, and the weather looked good to head as far as the Dry Tortugas. The only thing left to do was to head out for a farewell evening in town. We headed to some of our favorite spots, as well as some new locations. At the Boathouse Bar & Grill, a new-found happy hour spot, we met some retired firefighters from Baltimore County, Md…our neck of the woods! They are now living in Key West, and enjoying warmer winters. We learned that we have several friends in common! I have many good friends who are firefighters and paramedics, and started coming to Key West with a group of them 20 years ago, for the Conch Republic Celebration Week. Small damned world.

Here are some photos of our last days in town. I have loved our time in Key West, as this island holds a special place in my heart. There are many, many good memories of time spent here with friends over the years. Every time I return, it warms me to wander the streets and visit familiar spots. As I find more great things to see and do, it makes me want to stay even longer the next time we visit! Thank you Key West, for another great time spent…long live the Conch Republic!

 

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Captain’s Corner: Equipment Review And Other Thoughts

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So far So good….

There is not much to report on equipment failure etc.  All the replaced systems are doing well. There are a few things which were not replaced that are having issues,  but all have been easily identified ahead of time and repaired or monitored, not causing any real problems.

Some people have asked about anchor selection and performance after Caroline’s post.  The anchor is an 88# Rocna attached to 400′ of 3/8″ chain without a swivel.  This might seem like overkill, but I wouldn’t change it at all.  I like the weight of the heavier chain, up to about 15 knots the anchor doesn’t do much.  After sustained 30 knots for days and gust to 46 knots:

The solar array has been fantastic, even on cloudy days.  660 watts takes up our entire pilothouse roof.  It averages around 170 Ahrs. Good days are over 200 Ahrs, and an average cloudy day is around 60 Ahrs.  It does not eliminate generator run time, but significantly reduces it and gives a lot of flexibility as to when I want to run the generator.  We do laundry etc. on the sunny days when we have excess energy.  The other benefit is if we run the generator in the morning, the batteries only take bulk charge to 80% (after that we shut down the genny to eliminate light loading), the solar then brings them up to full by days end.  This greatly improves battery longevity.

Our watermaker from CruiseRO has been great.  Model# SM30 regularly has been producing 36gph of product.  We run it at anchor and underway, using the inverter when needed.  Our only complaint is that the water is noticeably soft when showering, but that means it is working!  Our water consumption is higher then expected, I contribute it to using all residential fixtures instead of marine fixtures during the refit.

The Paravanes have performed as expected. The only downfall is deploying and retrieving.  Except for Charleston harbor, we always seem to have to bring them in before we reach sheltered water, due to depth.  However, at a total cost of under $10K, vs. $50K, compromises were to be expected.

The  Kadey Krogen hull has been good to us. The layout is great, I couldn’t imagine having the widebody.  The salon is plenty roomy, and walking around the boat on both sides for one reason or another is a daily activity.  The widebody would also not allow use of paravanes.  Head seas are not the best, following seas are wonderful.  It is also too easy to load up the cockpit and lazzerette, causing the stern to drop down because of its underwater shape aft, but that is what gives it the efficiency.

I am really happy with the engine room layout, after moving components around.  Do not skimp on lighting!  I have plenty of access and storage for everything that goes on down there.  Because it is so nice, I find myself not reluctant to go down there, which keeps everything in great shape.

The Raritan crown heads, even though a bit loud and primitive, are working very well.  They macerate right at the bowl, preventing clogs of any kind developing downstream.  They also save us freshwater.  As for the raw water flush smell complaint:  The secret is too flush vinegar through the inlet line right at thru hull on occasion.  I think people pour vinegar into head itself, thinking that the smell is at the discharge end of things.  Small amounts of living organisms get stuck and die on the intake side and under the rim. This is where the smell seems to originate, and is easily eliminated by the vinegar flush through the intake.

More to come, as we go along.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Day On Staniel Cay

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Earlier this week, we ventured over to Staniel Cay for the day. There are few options to dock your dingy on the island. You can pay to dock it at the yacht club, but the logistics of our dingy make that difficult. The public beach next to the yacht club is available for free, but you have to anchor off shore and wade in..hmmm. The general store that we visited earlier in the week has a dock behind it, but it’s reserved for their patrons.

There are several places on the island that rent golf carts, the general store being one of them. The idea of a golf cart was fun, and we would also have the most hassle free dockage. We again tied up at the dock behind Isles General, were given a golf cart, and told that there was a battery charger under the back seat should we need it. Hmm…people use golf carts for long periods of time (like playing 18 holes of golf) without needing to charge a battery, but oh well. We were off and running..

We first did a spin through “town,” which consisted of the yacht club, two other restaurants, a church, a clinic and two more grocery stores; the “blue” store and the “pink” store are literally right next to each other.

Pink Store

Blue Store

When getting our golf cart, we’d asked about buying fresh bread. We were told to check at the yellow house, before the blue store. We found the yellow house, just before the blue store like they told us. I expected some kind of bakery, with a sign, but this was definitely someone baking out of their house.

I poked my head into the open side door (of someone’s house) and gave a hello. A woman appeared behind us with a big smile, and asked if we wanted bread. We had a choice of either white or coconut, we chose white. She pulled a saran wrapped loaf off of a shelf, where it sat between her paper goods and various other things. I blocked out the condition of said kitchen where I assumed this bread was baked, paid her 7.00 and we went on our way (the bread, by the way, is terrific!). I’m sure this isn’t the last time we’ll go into someone’s home for what we need.

We continued on, stopping at the “wholesale” liquor store and laundry, where we bought beer and then to the Atlantic side of the island. There are really big houses being built there, complete with ocean views on one side, protected piers on the other, clubhouse, etc. I’m sure this island will look very different in the coming years.

As we continued on, we quickly realized why we were given a charger. Our battery was obviously on the older side, and wasn’t going to last us the entire day. Our golf cart had really hard time on inclines. This was a frustrating, as the hills here are not big by any means. Big, four-wheel drive-type carts would pass right by us, making Scott crazy. We’d rented the cart at 9:30, and by 11:00 we were at a quarter charge, and on the Atlantic side of the island. We decided to head to the yacht club for lunch and a plug-in.

All routes back to the west side of island involved a hill. We chose the one with what seemed to be the smaller hill. Once up that hill, our only road took us up another, bigger hill. Yeesh. Scott got out and walked to the top of the hill to make sure that there was a public road on the other side, and not someone’s private, do-not-enter driveway (this had happened before).

By now, our battery light was blinking, meaning that we were on borrowed time. Trying to save every bit of usable juice we had, Scott got out and pushed, while I floored the gas pedal (ha…if we only had gas!). We just made it up the hill without rolling backward, and Scott got his cardio for the day!

We paused at the top. Scott caught his breath, and we took advantage of the views.

The term “road” was used loosely, for the route down on the other side of the hill. It was a steep decline, made up of ruts and large stones. In addition to being power-challenged, our gimpy little golf cart also lacked good breaks…on a flat surface. The whole way down this stupid “road,” I was terrified that we’d blow one of the tires (which were low on air, so maybe that was harder to do), break an axle or just plain flip over. I prayed that disaster would happened sooner than later. Flipping at a slower speed meant less chance of death.

By the time we reached the bottom, the poor cart was rattling to beat the band. The road bottomed out into a big puddle from the previous night’s downpour, and veered hard right, toward the road to town. Thankfully, no one was coming or going, and Scott mercifully missed the lake-like puddle as we careened to the main road. At this point, I considered an entire liquid lunch. I hoped that their beer was cold.

We literally coasted into the yacht club, and were shown were to plug in (no one around us was plugged in, because their carts worked!).

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t7Em9oUtPXc/Vk-IbDAyAWI/AAAAAAAAVTc/aaPkVLimXkc/s720-Ic42/P1020769.JPG

Our lunch in the bar at Staniel Cay Yacht Club was great (I decided to add solids to my liquid lunch). The James Bond movie, Thunderball, was filmed throughout the Bahamas, and underwater scenes were shot right near the yacht club in Thunderball grotto. There are photos on the wall of the cast, hanging out at the bar. The yacht club has been around since the late 50s, and seemed to be quite the hangout in the 60s. It’s polished up a bit since then, but still has a great atmosphere.

So we’ve eaten lunch, had some beer and cooled off. It was time to check the battery. On the way, we stopped to see the nurse sharks at the sea wall. The yacht club feeds them, and some were sizable.

Back to the cart. The battery was still blinking bars for “empty.” It was time for a trade in. We managed to get back to the general store, having to push up a small hill along the way. They close from 12-2 for lunch, but we lucked out and found the man who had helped us in the morning behind the counter. We explained our dilemma, and he brought us a replacement cart to use for the rest of the afternoon.

It soon became clear that we had gotten his best cart the first time. This poor thing had an even harder time going up hill. It also made a random, scary, shuddering noise. Determined to see the ocean, we continued on. When we found the ocean path, Scott backed the poor cart up the path as far as it would go…until it stalled. I was now sure that we’d either have to walk back to the other side of the island, or spend the night right where we were. Luckily, we’d had a huge lunch and I had brought plenty of bug spray with me, so we were good either way.

We followed the rest of the path to the ocean over look. The views were beautiful, and we were glad to not be traveling out in it. There were white caps out as far as you could see.

When we returned to the cart, it had half a charge, and she thankfully started up for us. We headed back to the yacht club for another drink, and another shot at a better charge. Here’s our second, even sadder ride.

After some mango daiquiris, we gave in and decided to head for the general store. I wanted to make a stop at the blue store along the way, and it was getting close to sunset.

We coaxed the cart up the ant hill of an incline to get to the blue store. This one was half the size of the general store, not offering hardware or auto parts. I grabbed some fresh stuff for salad, more milk, some Ramen noodles and Scott added some cookies to the pile. Here’s the scale the the woman used to weigh my tomatoes. Scott loved it.

We drifted down the ant hill and back onto the main road. There was one more hill that we had to get up, to get to the general store. So once again, I floored it while Scott pushed the even bigger cart up the hill. The cart shuddered it’s way into the general store lot, and we left her to die. All in all, it was a fun way to see the island, and was worth the hassle and the heavy breathing.

On our way home, we stopped at the yacht club’s fuel dock, for gas. They are the only location on the island that offers fuel, and regularly run out! We’d heard on the vhf radio (aka island phone) that they currently had fuel so we stopped. It was comical how high the fuel dock was.

We paid for our 5.35 a gallon to fill the tanks for the Aluminum Princess and then headed back to the boat. Quite a day!

Here are the rest of our Staniel Cay photos.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Anchor In The Exumas

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We are enjoying life, anchored in this gorgeous blue water.

Scott has been snorkeling and exploring since we dropped anchor here. Some of that being under our boat! First, check out the clarity under there!

We’ve seen stingrays and hermit crabs hanging out under us, and what we thought were small sharks are actually two remoras, or suckerfish..ick! They’re two feet long..double ick!! I think I’d rather have small sharks under there. Whenever I get into the water, I’m panicked that they’re going to suck onto me. That’s a spa treatment that I’ll pass on, thank you.  As I mentioned in my previous post, A Rainy, Squall-ly Day, we’re boat bound today, so here is what we did (we’re beginners, so bear with us, we’ll get better)!

On one of his excursions, Scott went ashore and climbed to the highest point on one of the nearby cays for some photos. The path up was overgrown, and Scott had to tramp through to get his “money shots.”

On the way down, he realized that he had grabbed onto, and brushed by poisonwood on his route. He was so zeroed in on getting to the top, and to his photo site, that he hadn’t paid close attention going up.

Poisonwood is a tree similar to poison sumac, and it’s very commonly found in the Bahamas. Not good. Scott hustled back down to the Aluminum Princess, stripped down and jumped in the saltwater to rinse off. He then rinsed out his clothes and put his swim suit on to high-tail it back to the boat, where he again stripped down and showered in fresh water with soap. So far, no itchy rash, so it appears that we’re in the clear and the risk was worth the pictures!

Right near us is Pirate Island. Years ago, a cruising couple who were here on their boat (named Pirate) “developed” the beach here for cruisers to come ashore and enjoy. There are benches and tables, a bean bag toss game, lounge chairs, fire pit and a charcoal grill stocked with charcoal.

Throughout the years, those who visit maintain it, keeping the beach swept and the charcoal supply full. When you’re onboard for extended periods of time, it’s nice to have a place to go to, and be able to stretch you legs and have a cookout. In the winter months, when there are many more people here, the cruisers meet here for pot lucks and happy hours.

We are “around the corner” from Staniel Cay, and Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Their adorable cottages have been on my vacation radar for years, so I had Scott do a drive-by for me. They’re soo cute!

As usual, Howard is enjoying his happy hour stints on the pulpit.

He’s getting more and more comfortable out there, yeesh.

When we arrived, there were four other boats. There are now sixteen other boats. We attribute this to the winter season approaching, when people bring their boats here and stay for months. There is also  a strong cold front coming through, with big winds. This anchorage is pretty protected from most of it, so we’re guessing some are here to wait it out.

There are boats here with cruisers from the UK, Germany and France. The French like to bath “au natural” on their swim platform, so that’s entertaining. The “Germs,” as Scott has taken to calling them (they have a generator on their bow, and the noise annoys Scott, go figure), are getting great use of Pirate Beach. Excuse the blurry photo, but Scott could not get over how big their fire was. He was convinced that they were burning one of the tables, or had thrown their dingy onto the fire.

That’s it in a nutshell so far. Signing off with the sunset and the rest of our photos.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Grocery Run

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Yesterday we ventured out to one of the three general stores on Staniel Cay. We’ve read that it’s one of the best stocked around and they also have a dock that we can tie up to, which is always a plus. I’ve stocked the boat with a lot of canned goods, rice, pasta, sauces and such, but wanted to get some fresh foods.

We arrived at low tide, so it was a bit of a challenge to tie up the boat and climb up onto the pier, but we managed fine.

Not a bad view from the pier either.

Disposing of trash can be somewhat challenging while cruising. Small islands usually don’t have dumps and trash service. However, Staniel Cay does have a dump, and the general store will take your trash, so we brought it along (Scott is still loving his big straw hat).

It was HOT, HOT, HOT inside! Within minutes, I was soaked in sweat. Aside from being a sweat box, they managed to fit a lot into the relatively small space. We found groceries to the right. Below is the produce section; this is all there is. We grabbed bananas, green and red peppers, avocados, romaine lettuce and “pink” tomatoes. Canned goods, crackers, sodas and such are at the back wall.

The baskets stuffed with food on the floor belong to crew members who were buying things for a charter yacht. We felt bad for the locals, as these guys put a dent in the fresh stuff. Stores on the island get their stock from the mail boats that come once a week, so these greedy shoppers irritated Scott to no end. He gave them the stink eye the whole time we were there.

Along the wall is the refrigerated and frozen food section. One refrigerator was empty, but the other had milk, eggs, butter, sliced and block cheese, some juices and sodas, yogurt, and limes. One freezer held chicken, beef, hot dogs, steaks and lunch meat. The other had frozen vegetables (peas, mixed veg., corn on the cob and broccoli) and ice cream (one flavor of Breyers, and some Klondikes). How someone, in a car or boat, was going to get ice cream back home without it  turning to liquid is beyond me. You’d have to bring your spoon to the store. Even then, you’d have to race to eat it in that sweat box.

Through the openings is the side which has hard goods.

Paper products and “household” items were in the far corner. Jewelry and nautical charts were on either side (of course). I grabbed a box of quart-sized, Ziploc freezer bags….for 7.75!!

The last corner held tubs of interesting miscellaneous items.

In the center of the store were boat and motor parts and chemicals, cleaning and laundry items, hardware items, charcoal and snorkel masks. There were also racks with cards and videos. I meant to get photos of this stuff, too, but by then I had sweat in my eyes.

We were held up checking out, because the charter crew had so much stuff. The woman behind the counter looks up the prices in a binder, and adds it up on a calculator. Once it was finally all boxed and totaled, their card didn’t go through. Mercifully, another crew member appeared and payed with cash. By this time, sweat was running down my entire body. I was afraid that it was going to start to pool on the floor at my feet.

While we were waiting, a local man cut in front of us, wanting to pay for a can of WD-40 spray. They couldn’t ring him up, because the register was tied up with the greedy crew. The can was $12.00, and he had a 20.00 bill. The woman told him to come back for the change on Monday (they are closed on Sundays)…HA! How would that go over in the US?

Finally, it was our turn to check out. As she weighed my peppers, the woman thankfully let me know that, by the way, your red pepper is $6.00! ONE red pepper! It promptly went back to the bin. Our little basket of things came to $87.00. We loaded our cold items (which were now half warm) into the cooler bag we’d brought, and headed back to the boat. I managed to not succumb to heat stroke, and we are now experienced island shoppers!

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Exploring Great Harbour Cay

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We have been exploring the area around our anchorage. Scott has done some snorkeling at the two boat wrecks that are near us, as well as the wreckage of a DC-8

We also took a ride around the nearby small islands and went into and around the harbour here.

Scott had read that there is a path through that mangroves, which takes you through the island and over to the Atlantic side. We decided to check it out, and loaded the Aluminum Princess up with chairs, towels and such for a beach day.

We made our way down to the entrance of said path and followed as the water got more and more shallow, and the “path” got more and more narrow!

The mangroves were really thick on either side of us. The boat, and sometimes us, took beating at times. I kept trying to stand up and take pictures and video of the path ahead, but it wasn’t easy.

I’m fairly sure that the path was meant for kayaks and such. However, we managed to squeeze our way through, and were rewarded with pretty blue, sandy-bottom water (the water at our anchorage is clear, but the bottom is covered with grass, so it’s a darker, green color).

The plan was to stop at a restaurant on the beach first, but being a Monday they were closed. Not such a bad thing, as the winds off of the ocean were blowing right at the location, and would’ve made it difficult for us to get off in the bumpy water.

Most dingys can just beach onshore and then get off at the bow, but with the enclosed pilot house, we can only get on an off of the Aluminum Princess at the stern end. We’d have had to anchor and make our way to shore in chest deep water (at least for me). Not appealing.

Ok, so now our lunch was going to be boxed Chex Mix that I’d brought for a snack….no problem! We were just happy to be able to spend some time on a spit of sand and wade in some clear water. We chose a spot around the corner, out of the way of the ocean swells.

Scott was not going to waste time with sunscreen, and made is way right into the water.

While I napped, he walked around toward the ocean side of our spit of land, which got more and more rocky.

A quick video:

There were many, many snails in and among the rocks, and a lot of conch shells that had been empty and discarded.

After a few hours, we squeezed our way back through the crazy mangrove trail. It was a great day, except for the fact that I was an all-you-can-eat buffet for the bugs while on the beach. Bug spray, bug spray, bug spray…I learned that lesson the hard, itchy way.

Here are today’s photos.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Hel-LO Bahamas!!

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After two frustrating, patient-testing weeks, we are in the Bahamas! We left our anchorage in Key Biscayne at 4:30 am yesterday. Waiting and delaying paid off. The winds and waters for our trip over were good, and we were lucky to dodge the many squalls that were in sight all around us as we crossed. A pretty sunrise greeted us in the gulf stream.

The day was mostly cloudy, but as we approached Bimini, the sun came out to welcome us!

We traveled through waters that were 2,600 feet deep! That’s approximately half a mile, and some of the deepest water we’ll travel in over the next few years.  And, I watched NBC tv , clear as a bell,all the way to the channel!

It wasn’t dead calm, and with the possibility of having to pass through a squall line, we put the paravanes out as a proactive measure. Here’s what I’ve learned about the paravanes: they are great at keeping our roll down when we’re in bigger seas that I’m not comfortable with. However, to put them out or bring them in, you have to bring the boat to idle speed. So now your “in neutral” in the same waters that made you want to use the paravanes! It’s a race for Scott to get them in as fast as he can, while we roll and flop.

We always try to put them out before conditions get too bad, and ideally we pull them in when we’re already in a harbor, or when the waters have already calmed. That’s not always possible though. We need a certain amount of water depth to put them in or out, and sometimes there is too much boat traffic in a harbor or an entrance channel is too narrow. Overall though, the positives far outweigh the negatives. I’m so glad that we have them!

So back to yesterday. We put the paravanes out ahead of wind and squalls. The squalls missed us, but because they were in the area the winds and water picked up (winds also tend to pick up in the afternoon). We were rolling pretty good, and glad that we had the paravanes out, but the options for pulling them in were low. The harbor in Bimini had the room, but not the depth. So I had to do my best to keep the boat into the waves (to avoid flop and roll) while Scott brought the birds in. As the wind and waves pushed us sideways, I had to put the boat in gear and “goose” the gas.

Once that was done, we entered the channel while the current came out and the winds blew in. When the two oppose each other, it creates a washing machine effect. So we had to work a bit to get to the finish line, but it was worth it!

Scott put a line in the water as we traveled, hoping to catch us some dinner. He had me on watch, so he could keep an eye on the line, and be able to hear it if something caught. I went to see how things were going, and here’s what I found…

Seriously?!? This is fishing? Now I realize that Howard is an avid fisherman..

No luck yesterday, which is good for me, since I’m the one who has to clean and fillet it (still have to learn that)!

After tying up in our slip at Brown’s Marina, we unloaded our bikes and peddled to immigration, followed by customs. They both went off without a hitch, and we now have a 60 day permit for the Bahamas. After that, we headed to Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) to get a sim card for my phone, so we could use it for internet data. Turns out, can’t use my phone, so we  bought a cheap one and put data on it. We can use this one now, as we travel to other countries.

Lastly, we went to the liquor store. There is a brand of rum here that you cannot get in the states, and Scott loves it. He bought two cases. Leaving only one bottle in stock between two stores; it took two trips on the bike. He purchased containers to bring with us, to act as rum tanks. They hold eleven bottles worth, needing far less storage! Now he’s set for his stay here. After that, back to mango rum withdrawal.

At our second stop for rum, I noticed a bottle opener tied to the checkout counter. The man in front of us bought two single bottles of beer, paid for them, opened them at the counter and headed out the door. As Scott was checking out, I decided that I too would like to take a single beer with me. I walked toward the refrigerated cases, but the woman behind the counter called out to me to get one out of the freezer. Freezer?! It was the size of a mini van, and full of beer. God bless her! My teeth hurt it was so cold! I was so happy, that I went back this morning, to get another before we left…and to get some pictures!

We gave Howard a chance to stretch his legs. He was anxious to get off the boat, once he realized that there was a pier next to us. I think he was eyeballing the boat next to us, and planning a boarding. He is now restricted to supervised outings with a leash, after his escape onto the 3 million dollar boat

By this time, we were starved. Big John’s was right next to our marina, so we walked over. Our dinner was terrific! Scott had grilled lobster sandwich, and I had fried snapper. Delicious!

We woke up to a beautiful Bimini sunrise.Today we’ll continue east, toward the Berry Islands.

Internet is great here, as we’re right ear a Batelco tower. I’ll post as I can, when I can get a good signal. A few photos

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Our Wait Is Over..Bahamas Here We Come!

/ kk42sealife / 2 Comments

As you may have guessed, we did not leave for the Bahamas this morning as planned. The winds in the ocean have finally changed direction, but haven’t died down to a comfortable or tolerable level (for me and Howard, that is).

Yesterday, we went to shore for a final (yes, final!) provisioning run. The shoreline on Key Biscayne is made up of private homes, condominium properties, and the local yacht club, so getting to shore with a dingy is limited. For 8.00, you can tie up to the wall at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (a mouthful) and enter into Key Biscayne from there.

So, we loaded up the Aluminum Princess with ourselves, our two bikes, two bike baskets, three huge bags of trash, two backpacks and a soft sided cooler for cold items (also a partridge in a pear tree and the kitchen sink), I am soo upset with myself, for not taking a picture of this spectacle. Seriously, we looked like a band of gypsies coming ashore. I’m sure that the patrons of the waterfront restaurant were concerned when we tied up and started off-loading all off of that stuff. And, I’m sure that eyebrows were raised when they saw us go from trash can to trash can along the wall, stuffing our bags in and jamming the lid closed (they were smaller cans, our bags filled them right up…oops).

Once aboard our bikes, baskets in place and backpacks at the ready, we pedaled our way through the park and into Key Biscayne. HA! It was quickly clear that we were definitely not locals! I didn’t see another fold-up bike all day, and there seemed to be one Chevrolet for every 10 Lexus or Mercedes. The medians are immaculately manicured, and lined with palm trees that are lit from below in the evenings. We shared the sidewalks with runners and nannys with strollers.

Our first stop was Ace Hardware. Scott came out wondering how the little bag in his hand had come up to 50.00. On our way to Island Sporting Goods (turns out that duct tape and zip ties can’t fix everything..the flippers are toast), we past 7-11. There must have been at least 20 people inside in line for food; cheap eats, I guess. Scott got himself a new pair of flippers, and a big straw hat. I had to beg him to cut the tag off of it. It was bad enough that we were the island gypsies without him looking like Minnie Pearl. He finally humored me and cut the stupid thing off.

We then went to Winn Dixie with our “Oops, I forgot….” grocery list. It’s always hard to gauge how much is gonna fit in our backpacks and baskets, and how much cold space you have. I always expect that we’ll have to leave some of our food behind on the sidewalk, but it hasn’t happened yet. I was getting pretty hungry, but the line for prepared food was insanely long. Obviously, the local workers know where to save a buck. My idea of having lunch in town quickly abated. My stomach would have to growl it’s way back to the boat, and a lunch meat sandwich!

When we came out to the bikes, I ditched as much of the packaging as I could, lightening the load a bit. As usual, we made it all fit and left with both baskets full, as well as the milk crate strapped to the back of Scott’s bike. Each of us was wearing a backpack full of food and Scott had an umbrella that he’d bought sticking up off the back of his bike. Our gypsy look was complete.

We’ll finally make our crossing to Bimini tomorrow, leaving at 4am! Scott spent the day looking at weather and pacing in and around the boat. He’s so excited to finally go, after two weeks of waiting, I don’t know how he’ll get any sleep tonight.

The trip should take 7-10 hours, landing us there mid-day. This is our target time, so that the coral in the shallow waters is most visible for navigation. We plan to clear customs, load up on Scott’s favorite rum and purchase a sim card for internet data usage while we’re here, when we can find a good signal. After a night at the pier we’ll continue on, visiting the Berry Islands and Eleuthera over the next few weeks.

I plan to upload posts whenever we have good internet, so stay tuned for updates. As of our next post, Sea Life will be international (and so will Howard)!

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Traveling To Key Biscayne

/ kk42sealife / 2 Comments

On Tuesday, our friend Mike Efford taxied us around for some final provisioning. Everything in the Bahamas is very expensive (except for Spam and mac-n-cheese, they are subsidized by the government), so we’re trying to take as much as possible with us. Last year, we purchased a sleeper sofa, and Scott took the bed out of it. The space left allows for tons of storage. We can even stuff things up into the back of the couch. Worth the extraction!

The boat is now packed and ready for the Bahamas!

Mike then drove us to dinner. His cousins joined us, and we had a great Italian meal while listening to some karaoke. Mike is a regular with the mic. He has developed quite a repertoire, and is really good! We closed both the karaoke and the restaurant, and were dropped off at the boat to rest up for our morning departure.

Yesterday morning, we untied the lines from our slip at Las Olas, and continued south, along the last stretch of the Intracoastal that we will see for the next few years. Our twelve days in Fort Lauderdale were so busy, we only had our feet in the sand for all of twelve minutes! More time for that later I guess.

Traveling this route on a Wednesday was very enjoyable. Much better than the last time we were along this stretch. It was a Saturday, and the boat traffic made it miserable. We went under eighteen bridges, but thankfully only had to have six of them opened for us.

Coming through Miami, we found that the last bridge that we needed to have opened for us is being torn down. A new, higher bridge has been built, and the old one is permanently open while they dismantle it. What a treat for our last bridge opening…no timing or calling the bridge tender! From now on, we won’t have to deal with bridges for quite a long time…yahoo! After an easy, stress free trip, we made it to our anchorage in five hours…a blink of an eye for us!

We are now anchored in Biscane Bay. Key Biscayne is off of our starboard (right) side

The Miami skyline is off of our port (left) side

We have mangroves off of the bow

And Biscayne Bay opens up behind our stern

We’ll be here until mid week next week, while we wait for winds in the ocean and gulf stream to subside a bit. Being at anchor is a nice change from 12 days at the marina. We’ll use the time to do some various painting and varnishing jobs. The internet is really good here, so we’ll do as much as we can while we have access to it.

The weather is warm, with sun and clouds. It is currently 87 degrees, and we are enjoying a “Florida” fall! A few photos during our trip south yesterday.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”