Christmas Safari............... from P

Where do I start? Just to keep track, I need to just list a few events in order:

HA and I arrived Christmas Eve after an exciting stormy sail at Black Point Marina near Homestead FL to spend Christmas with David and Karen (K's south FL sister). David picked us up and got us "home" in time to change clothes and enjoy a warm family style Christmas eve dinner with his family. That was followed by a fun Christmas morning opening gifts and constantly eating. I told David about a transmission problem I had been lately monitoring aboard Senara, so he spent Christmas afternoon down in the engine hole helping me diagnose it. Friday I called a mechanic who actually drove up from Key Largo that afternoon. He determined the transmission was "effed up" so he removed it and took it back to the shop with him. While I was working on this issue, HA left with David to go airboat riding in the everglades! Check out the pictures below. Saturday morning, HA boarded a plane in Miami and flew home. Since I was jealous of her airboat outing, David was nice enough to take me out Saturday afternoon. David's son (my nephew-in-law) John and his girlfriend, Sara joined us on John's superfast racing airboat too. I learned that Senara's transmission would not be fixed in time for us to depart on Sunday as scheduled, so I called K and suggested that she could extend (again) her stay in VA to continue helping with her dad's health issues. She rescheduled the flight down for Wednesday (new year's eve). Sunday, David invited me to join him out to his hunting camp with his brother and friends for a couple of days. So I rode with him on the "buggy" out to camp, 13.5 miles off the road in the middle of the Big Cypress Preserve. The information at the game check station says the Big Cypress is 729,000 acres of nothing but nature. Amen. I actually tapped a 6 foot alligator on the nose with my hand and fed him a hunk of venison. I have been on one of my nature highs all day. Then this evening we learned that K's dad has taken a turn for the worse. So here I sit with a wide mixture of tired excitement and exhilaration, combined with frustration and concern. It has been an incredible, adventurous Christmas thanks to Karen and David. K and I were married down here, and I very much feel like a true part of their South Florida family. But it is also the first Christmas that K and I have not been together in 25 years, and I am afraid that this Christmas marks the beginning of a difficult stretch for her dad - and the whole family. The yin and the yang. A lot has happened in the last five days. It really has been a safari, literally and figuratively. I will remember everything about the everglades. I will remember being with family during the fun of Christmas, and during the difficulty of bad news. I will remember David being incredibly generous with his time. And I will remember missing K.

HA and David airboating in the glades! Yes she drove it too.

Ever since I saw the show "Gentle Ben" as a child in the 1960s, I have wanted to drive an airboat in the everglades. Now I can mark it off my list. Wow!

Now that's what I call a four-wheeler! David built this swamp buggy himself using a frame and motor from a Toyota 4WD pickup.

This is gator country. And yes, this is me hand feeding a big gator. You have to tap him on the nose with your hand, then he opens his jaws and you toss the venison in. My heart is still pounding.

I guess he is full. He is headed out across the front of the camp.

Boca Chita Boca Chita Boca Chita..from P & HA

The name of this place is just fun to chant. If you do it the right way, you want to start singing the 1974 remake hit "I can't stop this feeling (ooga shaka, ooga shaka)." Anyway, Boca Chita is an enchanting little island in the northern keys, straight across the Biscayne Bay from Homestead, FL. The cruising guide mentioned that this was a good spot to get out of an easterly wind, and we badly needed to do that - it had been blowing 20 to 25 out of the E-NE for three straight days. We had an exciting, wet sail from Key Biscayne, splashing along at 6 knots under a reefed Genoa only. We touched bottom in the shallow water just before getting to the island and I initially had a sinking feeling we were going to spend a sleepless night aground in a near gale just 100 yards from our safe haven. Fortunately we were able to back off the white mud and re-route. We almost cheered when we came around an old lighthouse and into a deep little protected harbor area with wooden bulkheads to tie to. HA immediately started exploring the island, I chatted with a few other boaters who found refuge there, and I started noticing a few incongruous details. The lighthouse was short. There were a couple of abandoned buildings built from the same coral rock as the lighthouse, and a foundation with no building. But there was also a public restroom, informational signs, a group of teens trying to tent-camp in the wind, and a walking trail; not to mention the well done bulkheads with perfectly spaced cleats surrounding the boat basin. Turns out, this island used to be privately owned by Mark Honeywell who developed it into his own little retreat in the 1950s. Before final completion, his wife "died tragically" on the island, so he abandoned it. The lighthouse was just decoration and the buildings were for various personal uses. Many hurricanes later, the Florida Park Service took over. We had a restful (and still) night's sleep in this surprise port of refuge.

The next morning, looking out of the Boca Chita basin toward Biscayne Bay.

HA and two palms that decided to grow vertical again after hurricane Andrew.

There are a few more comments that I (HA) would like to make about Boca Chita. firstly and most importantly, mom and dad desperately need a new cuising guide. I guess that comment isn't really about Boca Chita on the surface, but it does relate, sort of. Normally my mom navigates and does a little research on the next destination while dad sails. To do this she uses different cruising guides for different parts of the coast. The southern coast criusing guide got soaked on thier second week of the trip. Now this is a 300 page spiral ringed book. It wasn't a little wet around the edges, but every page had absorbed as much water as possible. I wasn't there to see the water-logged version of the book, but I got the pleasure of ripping apart pages that were dried together only to find the page I needed quite unreadable. When the book was first destroyed due to broken water tank vent, dad was ready to go buy another book. A readable version. But no, mom said no, it was unneccessary, she would be the main one to use it anyway. MOM, YOU NEED A NEW BOOK. This little tidbit of life aboard should also explain why we were so surprised by what we found on both Key Biscayne and Boca Chita Key. My second comment is that coral rock is really cool. I want to build a house out of coral rock. My third comment is about the chanting. Right after we tied up, we started fixing lunch. I have a very clear image of my father standing at the sing washing his hands, when he started bouncing up and down chanting "Boca Chita Boca Chita". I then have a very clear memory of opening my mouth and proceeding to make fun of him. Now two days later, I find myself walking around my aunt's house chanting it to myself. I'm just saying, give it a chance, it's addicting.

My mask is leaking! We tried snorkeling for a while in the lee of the island.

Come explore the enchanted island with a history......

surprising Key Biscayne...... from HA

On Monday, we did Key Biscayne. We were sailing from Miami, not really sure where we were going, and dad saw a little inlet that that looked like it would protect us from the prevailing wind. When we motored into (what we later learned was called) No Name Harbor, we saw signs declaring it as part of Bill Baggs State park (Lord of the Rings anyone??) and there were too many boats moored there already for us to fit. After mooring right outside of the "harbor", we decided to dinghy in. Now one thing that mom and dad never talk about on this blog is how diffucult it is to do things on the boat. Becuase of the lack of abundant storage everything has a particular place, sometimes underneath of another items particular place. So an hour and a half after deciding to go to shore, we finally dinghied away from the boat. The first highlight of my day was that we found bathrooms!!! yay!!! Then we started wandering around the key and came to a sign pointing us in the direction of Lighthouse Beach. We had no idea how far it was but thought we would go down the path a bit and see if we found anything. We were getting ready to turn around when, AVAST!, a lighthouse was spotted in the distance. We had no idea that there was actually a lighthouse. We should really do a little more research before we show up on an island. There were park rangers manning it and a rebuilt light keepers house. There was a lot of important history there that I didn't know I needed to know. Since we didn't even know that there was anything on the key, we didn't have the camera, so here is a pirated picture.

a note from REAL life.........from K

As much fun as Miami sounds, I do have to share some exciting news from the home front. My Dad has received a clean bill of health for the cancer - no chemo necessary! We're thrilled. We still have about another week of the stomach tube feedings, but he is starting back on soft/solid foods and life is good!! I'm so glad to be able to spend this time with my parents over the holidays. We've had some wild nights (no street dancing, P -- but plenty of wild stories and imaginative journeys).

Dad's dial-up service can't access my emails so I've missed corresponding with everyone - but please know that I'm thinking of my wonderful friends and wishing y'all the most blessed of Christmases - I sure got my gift!

Miami! ................... from P

The first nice surprise was that Dave and Gail from our boat club at home happened to be coming into Miami at the same time as me. I knew they were coming down the ICW but they started almost a month after us. I told Dave which marina I was going into, so he arranged for the same one. The next nice surprise was that the waterfront area adjacent to the city marina is a lively place to say the least. An open-air mall with two levels of high-end shops, souvineer shops, Cuban restaurants, tour boat landings, helicopter rides, a sound stage, and a Cuban guy hand rolling cigars for sale right there. The best "surprise" was my daughter, H, joining me onboard for a few days through Christmas. After dinner at one of the authentic Cuban restaurants, the four of us were entertained by the salespeople who demonstrated their toys and barked at the loud throng of people strolling by. Then came the real entertainment. A high energy Cuban band started up at the soundstage, and scores of people just started dancing. They were into it. They were dancing with super-fast feet, lots of jiggling and gyrating. Judging from the older man dancing with the balloons on his head, and the other guy who started taking off his shirts (yes shirts), we figured the object of the dance was to draw as much attention to oneself as possible. It was hopeless to try to understand the singer, or anyone around us; if you don't speak Spanish well, then you just watch. All of this was after a full day of walking around Miami and spending a few hours at the art museum, which exhibited a strange mixture of avant-gard stuff. We saw a stack of old Fed Ex boxes, a pile of wrapped candy, a room full of TV sets - each showing dark footage of life in the old iron curtain Russia, and a video of women smoking cigarettes. I didn't get it. Walking the streets, I felt like I was visiting a different country - but it was great entertainment. One woman tried to sell me some alligator shoes. Actually, they were pretty cool. But I will stick with my boat shoes.

Wilson's cousin .......... from P

I had been alone on the boat for a good while. Until this past Friday. Now I have Harry on board to talk to. I rescued him from the water while motoring around the Pompano Beach area in the dinghy. Harry is a very good listener. He agreed that we should jump outside at Ft. Lauderdale and sail in the ocean, along the beach to Miami yesterday. No need to risk trying to get under a 56 foot bridge south of Ft. Lauderdale on the ICW with a 55 foot mast. I would rather not scrape off the anemometer and the VHF antenna up there. Besides, the ocean was calm yesterday, and the forecast calls for 4 to 6 foot seas here on Monday and Tuesday. So Harry agreed yesterday was the day to go. We are now anchored with what must be 100 other boats in Miami harbor just across the causeway from the cruise ships where last night we saw the best lighted boat parade I have ever seen! One of the boats had a latin disco theme complete with dance floor lights and dry ice effects. They were more like parade floats than lighted boats.

I am very excited to have my daughter #2 (H) join me today! She is on Christmas break and caught a ride with K's sister (Kathy) for the 14 hour drive down from K's parents' home. K remained behind to help her dad during his recovery for a while longer. This morning, Kathy has to get back in the car and bring H down from Orlando to catch up with Harry and me. I am very much looking forward to sailing south to Homestead with H! I am also looking forward to having a two-way conversation.

Harry at the helm.

Catching rays in Miami.

baby it's cold (not) outside...... from P

Did I hear that it is cold somewhere? Here in the Palm Beach area it was 78 today, with a hot sun that demanded a layer of sunblock. The combination of warm sun, clear cobalt water, pink resort hotels, palm trees, and an easterly tropical breeze can be very intoxicating. I now understand why the snowbird sailors do this every year. Hmmmmm.

Hard to believe it is almost Christmas. Feels like June! This is a "self portrait" - I was playing with the camera timer. K may not be able to re-join me until the weekend after Christmas.

sailing solo into the tropics........... from P

It has been five days. Using her sister's car, K dropped me off at the marina in Cocoa. She and her sister (one of the other Ks) drove back to Virginia to help nurse their father back from his recent cancer surgery. So five days ago I set out on my own to keep Senara moving south - so far so good! Every day I have found myself saying "I wish K was here to see this!" As she predicted, I have seen several manatees. I tried to coax one over to the boat using orange peels but he didn't seem interested. I am now seeing the gorgeous aqua-marine colored clear water. Yesterday I couldn't help myself - after dropping anchor I donned my snorkel and fins and jumped in. The water temp is in the mid 70s here and the air temp is around 80 in the afternoon - so it is comfortable to get in. It is cool to be able to snorkel over your anchor and see exactly how it is set on the bottom 10 or 12 feet down.

I am now in the Palm Beach area. Coming through Jupiter was entertaining - the homes and the boats sitting behind them make your jaw drop. I had gotten used to seeing nice waterfront homes, but these were special.

Flying solo presents a few challenges. When anchoring, I have to pick my spot carefully, usually around other anchored boats, idle near the drop spot, reverse the engine to give me a little backward momentum, drop into neutral, run up to the bow, unlock the anchor, free the chain, make the drop, run back to the helm and reverse slowly to set the anchor. Picking up the anchor is usually not a problem unless the wind and current are pushing the boat hard. When that happens the boat starts heading for other boats, or the shore, as soon as the anchor is free from the bottom. Of course, I am still standing on the bow pressing the windlass button, spraying the chain, and trying to get the anchor locked in while the boat is headed toward trouble. Other challenges usually involve trying to read the chart, or get lunch out of the fridge down below, but the auto pilot helps a lot here.

In Vero Beach I went into a mooring ball field, called the marina, and they assigned me mooring ball 11. No problem. Except when I got there, there were already two boats on the mooring ball. Looking around, I saw that every mooring ball had two or three boats rafted and tied to one ball. So I eased along side the boat I was apparently supposed to raft with and hollered for the skipper. It looked like he had gone ashore for awhile. Hmmmm. How was I going to pull up alongside this other boat in an adverse current, and throw a bow line and spring line over, then jump off my boat and tie me up to him? I tried to envision steps to make that work, but it was not going to happen. Especially when a soft touch at the helm would constantly be required to ease up to his boat. I looked behind me and saw a couple in a dinghy coming in my general direction. Thinking these may be the occupants of the boat I hollered to them. After some shouted conversation I ascertained that they were on their way to the restaurant, and they ascertained that I was in a bind. In a flash, the woman drove the dinghy up alongside Senara and the man (Toby, he shouted) climbed over the liflelines and aboard! He helped with the bowlines as I pulled Senara alongside the raft-up boat. As it turns out, the occupant of the raft-up boat (Doug) was there and he came out from below and gave me a hand. I should have hollered or knocked on his boat instead of assuming he was gone, but I still couldn't have handled the bow without the unselfish assistance of Toby - thanks wherever you are! I hope I can help some others as much as I have been helped on this trip. Most sailors are incredibly helpful (empathetic?).

Note: I set a new record yesterday - 6 bridges had to open for me. I am in a stretch of the ICW where there is a bridge every 3 miles or so.

Merry Christmas from Christmas!

Before leaving our good friends and family in Orlando, we stopped by the town of Christmas, Florida just so we could mail a few Christmas cards with a Christmas postmark. I just like typing the word "Christmas." So, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

playing bridge................from P

It usually goes something like this.... "Ft. Pierce North Bridge, Ft. Pierce North Bridge, sailing vessel Senara, over." "This is Ft. Pierce North Bridge, go ahead." "Ft Pierce North, I am a southbound sailing vessel coming into your view - requesting a bridge opening, over." "No problem captain, bring her up close and I will commence an opening." And voila, the bridge horn sounds, the barriers start dropping, the lights start flashing and the cars start stopping. If it is a bascule bridge, the roadway seems to split in half as each side angles up, pointing skyward. My job is to open the throttle and get through quick, with the mast splitting the middle - where I can see sky instead of bridge. I have learned that the correct etiquette is to get back on the radio as soon as we are clear of the bridge and say something like "Ft. Pierce North, Senara is clear, have a Merry Christmas!" Sure enough the bridge tender will chirp back with "Merry Christmas to you - y'all have a safe trip, over." I look back and see cars stacked up across the bridge and wonder how many people are sitting there cursing their luck for hitting the bridge just when it is opening. Then I remember how many time I sat in my car and thought the same thing. A different perspective changes everything.

I have come to enjoy the bridge openings. A surprising number of these bridges will simply open upon request. Today there were two other sailboats within sight behind me. I requested a bridge opening, and I said "I can wait for the following boats if needed, over." But the tender said he would open the bridge for me, and the next one, and the next one. So I went through and watched behind me as he closed the bridge, then opened and closed it twice more within an hour. I think he was just having fun. Sometimes we do have to wait a while, as some bridges will only open on the hour. That's when a gang of boats get bunched up, all of us waiting together like horses ready to break out of the gate. It really gets interesting when the current is ripping through the channel under the bridge as it often does. Sailboats are notorious for poor handling in reverse. If there is a 2 or 3 knot following current and six sailboats are trying to keep from crashing their masts into the bridge by reversing their engines, it can look like a weird ballet of slow motion bumper cars trying to avoid each other while staying in the channel. I know for a fact the bridge tenders are entertained by this. I actually heard one of them hooting at us over the radio.

Some days we will have no bridge openings, but most days at least one. I think our record is four bridge openings in one day. I figure we must have been through no less than 30 bridge openings so far since we started the southbound leg of this trip. Each bridge tender has a distinct personality and they are all characters. I guess you get that way after years of talking to faceless skippers on the radio and pushing the "open" and "close" button all day. I always try to envision the person behind the voice on the radio (channel 9 in Florida). We have had the good ol' boys - I picture them up in the bridge tower wearing a cowboy hat and drinking Pabst - they will say "Sure 'nuff, come on up here and we'll see if we can't get you through" or something like that. We have had the girl that sounds like she might be 15 years old - "Ummmm, OK, um, OK, I will open in 10 minutes, no, maybe 15 minutes, OK?" We had one snarky bridge tender that sounded like she was shouting at the radio from 10 feet away, then got upset at every boat that asked her to please repeat her instructions. But my favorite was a very nice, and sometimes emotional, older gentleman. We anchored near the bridge, and we left the VHF radio on, so we could hear him coaching every boat through the procedure. He would say things like "bring her on captain, bring her on" or "come to starboard some more, bring her on." To one of the boats he said, "I am almost 70 years old and I am retiring at the end of the year, and I just want to say that you sailboaters are about the nicest bunch of people I have ever had the pleasure to come in contact with" as he started to choke up. Several of us got on the radio and thanked him for opening the bridge when we needed it and wished him merry Christmas and good luck in the future. If only the people sitting up there in their cars could hear.




Worst nightmare. A friend of a friend had their boat dismasted in North Carolina because the bridge tender closed the bridge on them while they were coming through. I can't imagine. Thanks John for the picture and the reminder to be alert around the bridges.

life aboard................from P

Living aboard a sailboat has been described as long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. My personal experience would require a transposition of that description. I would posit the following: A string of differing experiences ranging from crawling down into the engine area to look for a worrisome "smell" to sublime hours of just watching the water, the dolphin, the flora, the sun, the houses, combined with necessities of survival including what are we going to eat today and where are we going to sleep tonight, plus the high exhiliration and hard physical work involved in being moved quickly across the water by the wind and current, topped off with the excitement of what might happen in the next hour or next day. Whew!

This life really is about living in the moment. You really don't have much choice. It is both humbling and gratifying to plan your life around the forces of nature. And then change the plans. Sometimes we are sailing in a perfect breeze on a sunny day, and hours later we are getting beat up by high seas and driving rain. Decisions are made a moment at a time. If we have been living "on the hook" for 4 or 5 days we are ecstatic to get into a nice marina in an inviting town. After we have been in a marina for a couple of days, it feels to me like a huge relief to pull the lines aboard and get underway again. Like being freed from a cage. Maybe in 4 or 5 more days we will be ready to tie up to a marina somewhere again. Some towns are a "must see" such as Charleston and St. Augustine, and we have been pleasantly surprised by the lesser known places such as Belhaven, NC and right here in Eau Gallie, FL. When we do "go in" we very much enjoy walking the towns, having breakfast or lunch at a local joint, haunting one or two of the pubs, being tourists, sightseeing, and of course walking the marina to look at boats and talk to sailors.

When we are underway the conditions dictate the activities. If it is rough weather we are both focused on the visicitudes of the passage. Where is the next mark? The next bridge? The next inlet or safe anchorage? How do the engine gages look? Are we both dry? Does everything feel OK? Sound OK? If it is smooth and nice we can go on for 8 or 10 hours taking turns at the helm. I like to stay on the helm for 5 or 6 hours at a time. I am not sure what I do exactly, but I seem to stay totally entertained watching the water, checking the chart, watching the GPS, walking forward to look at the rigging and sails, listening to the VHF radio, and other really important stuff. K will take the helm for 2 or 3 hours or otherwise read, check the chart and guide book regularly to keep us straight, do crosswords, or just chat with me in the cockpit.

When we are at anchor in the evenings, dinner is a major event - always hot - usually grilled out or sometimes stir fried. Then we usually pull out the charts and cruising guide to plan the next day, listen to the weather reports, read, chat, or sometimes we can pick up a good digital signal and watch TV on the laptop. If it is nice outside we can often be found up on the bow looking around at the stars and lights. If we get weathered-in for a day or so, out come the cards or scrabble or triominos. After a full day of sailing sleep comes very easily unless we are at anchor and the wind picks up in the middle of the night (as it often does). This usually means a bouncy boat, slapping waves, banging halyards, and a misbehaved dinghy. Not much sleep when that happens. I have to crawl out of bed a few times to secure some noise maker, and check for anchor drag. Believe it or not, I enjoy all of this. It sounds strange, but I never feel that I am wasting time. It's not easy, in fact it is physically and mentally demanding. It's not all fun, sometimes things get very tense. But it is working for us. In fact, K and I have recently been wondering aloud.... how will we be able to adjust to the "normal" life again?

Games in the bunk on a cold day. You go first.

Being tourists ashore.

It can be tricky grilling over the gunwale. But I think I have only lost one chicken breast so far.

The Woodfin Suites...........from K

Every family needs a Kathy - you know the wonderful person who communicates with everyone and remembers to call on your birthday. To top it off, Kathy lives centrally, so her house is a favorite and frequent stopover as our extended family travels about. I try to squeeze in a yearly visit around scoring AP exams each June. She & her husband, Woody, always make me feel at home by having big toys floating in the pool and a new pet - usually a guinea pig or another horse - to meet. So once again, P & I are treating ourselves to another rendez-vous at the hacienda, complete with a belated Thanksgiving turkey and tree-trimming festivities. We're blessed to have family who are also great friends!

It is so interesting how familiar some of the ornaments are!!

Manatee Zone......................from K

I'm beginning to think that the "Manatee Zone - NO WAKE" signs are just a ruse to make boats go slow. We've been seeing these signs for four days, and no sightings of a manatee yet! The dolphin are still plentiful, although we've noticed their tail fins are much smaller than the ones farther north - a different family? We've adjusted to the slower pace - more leisurely breakfasts, longer books, and afternoon naps!
We've been staying on the hook since St. Augustine, which I surprisingly love. There's no stress of making arrangements with marinas and tying dock lines and remembering bathroom codes. P just tosses the anchor and we pray it holds. The evenings are warm so we watch the sunset (around 6 pm!) from our cockpit while playing cards or dominos. We're not seeing familiar boats, which means that they are either way ahead of us, or we have somehow sailed ahead. If that's the case, we'll give them a week to catch up while we hang in Cocoa Beach. We're going to spend some time with my sister, Kathy here. Actually, P may continue this leg of the trip solo as my sister & I drive back to Va. for a quick visit. My Dad's surgery went well, but we're eager to spend some time with him and Mom when he gets home from the hospital. Any available (temporary!) first mates for P?

That's what I call "hard aground."

Around here the water is wide but not very deep. The buildings in the background are part of Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

We love and appreciate the extra hour of sunlight

we have gained. We noticed a few extra minutes

per week as we moved south.

shorts! ........................from P

Finally! We crossed some magical line on the way to Titusville. What is that? Perspiration? Am I hot? I think I am hot! The sun is boring down like summertime! I hit the auto-pilot and ran down below to dig out my shorts and t-shirt. It took a while to find them. I got back behind the wheel and changed clothes right there. I have never been so glad to put on sunblock. I am hot again today - no complaints!

charmed by St. Auggie........from P

Pop quiz: What is the oldest city in the U.S.? The city with the oldest Catholic Parish in the U.S.? The city with the only military fort never conquered even after 5 full assaults and numerous sieges? The city with the most pubs per square mile? I already gave away the answer - St. Augustine of course. This is our new favorite city. It is impossible to walk more than a block without stopping and reading a historical marker. The place was first settled by the Spanish conquistadores in 1565 - that's 42 years prior to the Godspeed, Susan Constant and Discovery setting sail. The big brick pavers you stroll on were actually used for ship ballast on the trips over from Spain. The town is now one big living museum packed with people strolling the decorated streets and frequenting the quirky shops. The combination of narrow alley-streets, gas torch lights, odd buildings (we had a beer in a pub built up in the boughs of a live oak tree), and remnants of ancient fortifications all give the feeling of a haunted party town. We looked in the brochure for guided tours and quickly decided on the guided Pub Crawl. Great decision! Our guide described the city as having many layers - literally and figuratively. Each construction project turns up an old grave or some 17th century artifact. Each conversation turns up another connection to the past. We attended mass at the oldest parish in the country (Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine) and, like our ancestors, took a moment to give thanks that we stopped here!

Let's check out this street

Old marketplace

The Castillo de San Marcos

This respectable looking place was the old speakeasy for the local officials during prohibition

Guarding the shop. He must have gone on the pub crawl.

FLORIDA................from K

We finally made it - I never thought it would take almost a month, but it's worth it. The sun just feels warmer here, although the wind is still kicking up to more than 25 kts today in the ICW. We couldn't even cook our hotdogs on the grill for lunch like we usually do.

We ate our Thanksgiving Winn Dixie pre-cooked chicken and stove top dressing while we were hard aground in the Cumberland Sound near Kings Bay (the magenta line on the GPS lied!). No problem, we just waited for the tide to come in and continued our sail down from St. Mary's River into Jacksonville, which is a lot like going into Norfolk because of the military ships. We anchored in the deepest basin yet - 27 feet! We weren't convinced our anchor would hold, but we did just fine.

We have done a lot of motoring this past month which can be monotonous. People ask us if we ever run out of things to talk about. Actually, I usually find myself "saving up" conversations for the evening when all is quiet and still. We've learned not to interrupt each other when the other is studying a chart or engaged in a book. Because of our close proximity, it would be easy to constantly be in each other's way, but that really is not a problem. I guess this is a bit of a carry-over from our lives back in the "real" world, where we rarely ever called each other at work and definitely did not yell for each other across the house. We've even gotten better at finding lost items on our own - if only we take that skill home with us!!

bubba gump................from P

I now fully understand why the deep south is fertile ground for fiction writers and movie producers. This place is full of "colorful" people. First, you have the shrimpers. Apparently they don't much care for sailboaters from up north. They will crowd you out of the channel and nearly dismast your vessel with their widely spread outriggers pulling long nets. Admittedly they look charming, especially in the sunset with dolphin and pelican following along. Next, you have the butch marina nazi in Brunswick, GA. She was clearly not interested in a delightful customer experience. The coup-de-grace was when she told K that we could not get our septic tank pumped out because it was nearly low tide, and that would require too much effort to pull her "pump out cart" (never seen such a thing) up the dock ramp and to the city sewage lines. I thought she was kidding. That is so wrong on so many levels. Then she flatly said "I encourage people to just dump overboard." I guess that's how its done down here. I asked her again this morning because the tide was up - she literally said "no pumpout for you!" Imagine a cross between Kathy Bates in the movie "Misery" and the soup nazi in "Seinfeld." I was looking around for the candid cameras, but no - this was real. Then, we called for a cab to transport us and our groceries from the Winn-Dixie to the marina. A cab/mini-van pulled up, and out jumps what appeared to be a U.S. Marine in full combat fatigues. He had the marine hair, the marine boots, and full cammo with "U.S. Marines" on the chest pocket. When he stood smartly at attention with his arms akimbo behind his back as we boarded the cab, I asked him if he was driving this cab while also on active duty. He said "I'm not really in the military - I was just raised this way." Huh? It was too late, we were already in the moving cab. No escape. He went on to tell us stories of how a local recruiting office mistook him to be an officer, with salutes and all. And how he often "scares" people with how he looks. Glad it was a short cab ride. Then he charged us double what I estimated for the fare (no cab fare monitors down here). I was in no position to argue. Needless to say, we were glad to be back on Senara and motoring toward Florida today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of these guys around. I need to get to a restaurant and eat some of these local shrimp.

Dammit just barely missed us again!

This is the cemetary featured in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"

Morning rewards......................from K

My wise father-in-law says, "you're always rewarded when you wake up early" and sometimes that promise is the only thing that gets me out of bed. Of course, he's right. We were up before the sun this morning, but it was sending up warm red rays which bounced off the puffy clouds. We were the only boat anchored in our marshy creek and with the mist on the still water, I felt like a part of nature. Our "friends" came back to usher us out to the ocean. Last night, they made it difficult to anchor because they kept playing around the bow of our boat. One dophin has a notch missing from his dorsal fin, so he obviously has not learned his lesson to keep a healthy distance from boats. Every time they surface next to us, we laugh. It's like getting that rare smile from a serious baby - a shared secret.
We have a long day today. We're going out St. Helena's inlet (bring us fair winds Mom!!) and coming back in by Hilton Head Island. After helping P get the anchor up and dodging a few crabpots, I scurried below - back into my blanket-leaden bunk. I've never gone back to bed before, but I'm hoping that this is one of our last frigid mornings, so I'm taking advantage of the situation. I'll assuage my guilt by catching up on emails...

Our new escorts.....................from K

We're anchored by the Toogoodoo Creek and planning to go up the Ashepoo River tomorrow - Faulkner couldn't come up with better southern names than these. Well, we finally left the chahhming city of Chahhleston. We toured the College of Charleston (very inviting!) and visited the Fort Sumter Memorial Museum. I had never realized the irony of the Civil War beginning with a Confederate shot at Fort Sumter.
We've had wonderful escorts down the ICW today - dozens of dolphins! One in particular has taken special delight in surfacing and blowing right on our stern, scaring us every time. He is BIG and light grey, and has quite a personality. Even unflappable P jumped a few times. I'd like to throw out a line and keep him as a pet. Tonight we plan to sleep in the saloon with our propane Mr. Heater - our best friend on the hook.

shrimp & grits................from P

We learned not to say Charleston - that's in West Virginia. It's Chahhlston here. We also learned that when you order food, be prepared to get to know your waiter. Conversations are required. This really is an old, charming city with a modern hustle & bustle. We took a horse-drawn carriage tour and heard stories of old family politics, old money shenanigans, and myriad famous characters entwined into the fabric of this city like the strands in the sweet-grass baskets being handwoven along the sidewalks by the direct descendents of west African slaves. Did you know that JFK had an affair with a beautiful Nazi spy just after the big war? Right here in an old hotel on the waterfront. The city was uber wealthy until the civil war, but was so destitute thereafter the citizens had no choice but to continue maintaining their old buildings and houses rather than starting from scratch (as did Atlanta). So the old buildings and homes are still here, each adding their special personality to the town that is a living museum of 18th century affluence. My problem is that I want to read every sign, go into every "house museum," and eat in every restaurant. Yesterday I had a bowl of hot shrimp & grits for lunch. It also had scallops, sausage pieces, and melted cheese. Man! So it is a good thing that we are stuck here because of this unbelievable weather. Oh well, got to go into town again today and maybe check out the civil war museum. And of course, K wants to walk around the campus at the College of Chahhlston. I am already thinking about lunch.

I love Charleston!...........from K

We had a tough time getting a marina slip in Charleston, but it was worth it. The City Marina has a shuttle to the downtown area and delivers a newspaper to our cockpit every morning!! Now we're talking!! We spent yesterday on the Megadock gawking at the megaboats and then went downtown and had some delicious seafood at Charleston Crab House. We can't wait to explore the city today - quick, any suggestions??
Oh, Vicky & Caroline: would you believe the Isle of Palms Marina had a sauna? It wasn't the same without you. Warm memories to you of Finland...

missing sunny & warm New England...from P

Tonight's forecast: Lows in the mid 20s (twenties!), Northwest winds 15 to 20 knots. The further south we travel, the colder it gets. I have never been so cold. For the past two days we have traveled on the "outside" - we jumped out into the ocean at Cape Fear, then into Little River inlet, then into Winyah Inlet last night. The run from Cape Fear to Little River inlet was an uncomfortable beat into a cold 20 knot wind with a very disagreeable 4 to 5 foot ocean chop. Each time Senara would ride up into a swell, she would pound down into another one - throwing cold salt spray over the bow, up around the dodger and onto us. We have spent two cold nights at anchor. Today we ducked back into the ICW and made over 40 miles. The wind angle allowed me to fly the genoa (deeply reefed) while motoring down the ditch. The power of half a sail increased our speed an additional 2 knots, allowing us to get to this marina (Isle of Palms Marina) early in the afternoon before the truly arctic temps set in. Even so, today was a frigid experience. This was the first time I have heard K simply declare (after hearing the above forecast) "we are going to have to find a marina for the night"! Good call. We are warm and toasty on board, as our reverse A/C heat pump works from a shore power connection. If we had spent tonight on the hook, they would have found us frozen solid and drifting at sea tomorrow morning.

To prepare for the day, we put on long johns, a long sleeve T shirt, a hoodie, a fleece jacket, our foul weather bibs, a winter coat, then top it off with our foul weather jacket. Boots, extra socks, ski gloves and stocking hats have also become standard sailing wear. We live off our hot tea and hot mac & cheese while under sail. And the sun goes down - fast - at 5:00 sharp. In the Nantucket sound we wore shorts & T shirts. We wore sun screen and sweated. We want to go back to New England. It is waaaay too cold down south!

K preparing to take her turn at the helm. We both look like we are getting ready to take instrument readings at the Antarctic international scientific station.

Hey - this line is frozen to my hand!

Just a swinging............from K

It's only 24 nautical miles between Wrightsville Beach and Southport, but in a 30 kt wind smacking you in the face and currents circling at the whim of passing ocean inlets, it was a tough run. But we were determined to head south. Thanks to Skipper Bob, we found a free slip next to a closed restaurant as we entered the basin. With a vicious current working against us, we finally docked with the help of Felix - fellow sailor on the other side of the dock. He and his wife have been living on their boat for 4! years - up in Maine. They're on their way to the Keys to find jobs teaching high school...hmmmmm.

Southport, which is near Wilmington, is a delightful town. They have benches and swings all along the waterfront for strollers to stop and relax. The Irish Mermaid is one of the best Celtic shops I've ever been in. P & I had a delicious dinner at the Thai Peppers Restaurant - inexpensive and tasty! Our free slip is a bit percarious. We have to climb a wooden ladder to get from the dock to shore and the wake from every boat that passes gives us a raucous ride. You get what you pay for!

K keeping Senara secure.


















A charming home purported to have been used in filming The Secret Life of Bees - it's for sale.....hmm

baby drive south............from P

We were determined to make progress yesterday, even in the fog. We took turns on "lookout" duty - sitting on the bow with a walkie-talkie, peering into the fog looking for channel markers. This would have been really stupid, except for that dependable magenta line showing us the way on the GPS screen. We were blessed with perfect weather on our northern trip, but as all dynamic systems eventually return to the mean, we are now paying the price. I can only remember one day since Nov 3rd when we could sail in the sunshine, and no days without a jacket or full raingear. So for now we are stubbornly pushing our way south, even if it is only 20 miles in a day, down the ditch, in nasty weather.

These conditions do bring their own forms of entertainment. Our more frequent marina stops have allowed us to meet some great and interesting people. We now recognize about a dozen boats that we regularly see, and have met five or six of the fellow travelers. We have benefited greatly from their advice - especially Chuck and Ali aboard their well equipped Island Packet 38. We enjoyed a great dinner and boat-talk with them in Beaufort, and got to watch the election returns aboard their gorgeous boat back in Great Bridge (where we were all socked in by the northeaster). Yesterday I was entertained by another fellow souther from Massachusetts, even if it was in a different way. We saw him pull out of a marina ahead of us in a Catalina 42 in the fog - I thought "great, I can just follow his mast to the next mark" - but that was just about the time I saw his boat tilt violently forward, saw him try to spin it around, heard the engine gunning, saw it spewing black smoke, and to top it off I saw a crabpot float following his stern around! Aground! Well, it happens to the best of us. He pushed off the mud and continued ahead. Not sure what happened to the crabpot. A little later I noticed he was zigging and zagging almost to the muddy shoals across the channel, then he took a green channel marker to starboard (wrong side). I said to K - "watch this guy and don't get too close, by the way I have named him 'Wrong-Way'." As we approached one of the many turn bridges, several boats were in a bunch waiting for the opening. As it turned open, Wrong Way started hard toward the shore side of the opening. All I could see over there were rocks leading down to the water and a guy standing on the rocks with a fishing pole. I started moving toward the channel through the correct side of the bridge opening - figuring that he must know it is OK to pass simultaneously on the other side of the turn bridge - suddenly I heard the bridge operator screaming over the radio "Sailboat going on the wrong side of the bridge - you are going to find serious trouble over there !!! Stop!! Stop!!" I slammed Senara into reverse, the boat behind me slammed into reverse, and finally - Wrong Way was able to back out of his pending disaster and swing to port, squeezing between my bow and the bridge, just in time to make it into the channel. Five miles later at the next turn bridge, I eased up near Wrong Way's stern. Good naturedly he hollered "I will try to pick the right side of the bridge this time! Last time I went the Wrong Way!" As I said, even these conditions can bring entertainment.

We are planning a real sail from Cape Fear to Little River Inlet tomorrow. It is supposed to be sunny and breazy. I can't wait. But for today, as my favorite musician John Hiatt sings...... baby drive south!

The fog thinned enough to see this tropical mansion. We know there is sunshine somewhere south!

You know your entertainment options are limited when you start playing with the lables from your mechanical equipment.