05/25/2009, Cocoa Beach, FL
After taking Sunday as our day of rest (not really, I did laundry, Andrew changed the fuel and oil filters on the genset, we topped off the diesel tank and refilled the jerry jugs, and then we walked 1 1/4 miles to the grocery store) we were back underway today. Today certainly was a Memorial Day on the water. There was a lot more boat traffic than there was last Saturday. Gee, I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that Saturday was grey, gloomy and wet? In any case there were numerous fishing boats, jet skis, sailboats out there.
We momentarily thought we might be doing another of our famous rescues when we saw a person fall off a jetski and the driver didn't seem to be turning around. We shouted out to the swimmer and he indicated he was ok. When then looked behind us in time to see the driver fall off! (I'm wondering if maybe they are new to this sport). We slowed down and kept an eye out until we were sure the driver was back aboard then the swimmer was picked up.
During the afternoon we raised the jib to take advantage of the nifty 10-15 kt winds from the east (on our beam). We still kept the engine running, but we were able to motor sail and definitely picked up speed. It's a real treat (and pretty rare) when you can sail along the Intracoastal.
Tomorrow morning the plan is to head out the Cape Canaveral canal and lock and make an outside run to St. Mary's Inlet - the border of Florida and Georgia. I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to lock the cats downstairs BEFORE we enter the lock this time.
I don't think I wrote about this when we went through the lock last time... I know I wrote about our engine difficulties (the engine died just as we were entering the lock), but I think I missed an opportunity to share a cat story. When we were entering the lock from the ocean side our engine died just as we entered. Andrew simultaneously tried to fiddle with the engine while navigating us to the side of the lock. I had lines in hand in an effort to somehow secure us while silently freaking out. I added the helpful advice to him. "There's a boat in front of us - we don't want to crash into it." Yah think? Duh!
I had just about gotten a line secure when Andrew yelled out, "Look out for the cat!" Spinnaker was eye-ing the timbers on the side of the lock. I dropped the lines and grabbed the cat, throwing her down below. I went back forward to check the line just in time to see Jigger make the jump. YIKES! I was able to grab his back end and we spent the next moments wrestling to see who would win - Jigger with his claws in the wood siding, me with a death grip on his haunches. I finally won that battle and he was unceremoniously dumped below.
Months later when we were in the Bahamas we were chatting with another couple and they were mentioning the "funniest thing" they've ever seen - this boat in the Canaveral lock with a cat that tried to escape. Yup - that'd be us!!
You can see why this time I think I should lock them up BEFORE we enter the lock.
Once we get to St. Mary's we are hoping to get together with the skipper of the boat we rescued in the fog. Turns out he manages a wildlife refuge and has offered to give us a private tour. Looking at the website it should be fun.
After that the journey north will continue.
Ta for now!
C
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Comments [3]
05/21/2009, Lake Worth, FL
We are sitting on the boat in Palm Beach waiting out crummy weather. Originally we were going to start heading up the intracoastal waterway today, but the day dawned gloomy and gray with a forecast for thunderstorms with high winds. In the middle of the night one of these squalls came through with wind blowing 34 kts. The thought of maneuvering the boat while waiting for a bridge to open and having a squall hit us was not very appealing. (That and the fact that we both were a bit tired, too, between waking up with the squall at 4 in the morning and staying up too late last night watching the last couple episodes of 'Heroes' season 2....)
Tomorrow we'll fuel up and continue the trek north. We are hoping to do a combination of day hops on the Intracoastal and overnighters along the coast as we follow the birds north. It is pretty clear we're at the back of the 'Snowbirds' (the cruisers who travel back and forth along the intracoastal every fall and spring) pack - it is interesting to see how many fewer boats there are here in Lake Worth than there were when we were heading southbound.
However, as I sit here contemplating the gray skies and gray seas (gone, I guess, are the days of tourmaline blue waters and sunny skies) I figured I might as well make use of the internet access to update the blog with a past story I never got around to writing before...
Back when we were in Isla Mujeres we went on an adventure with our friends Lynn and Todd on 'Blue Marine.' We had a 'Grand Mayan Day'
One afternoon Lynn and Todd approached us with "an opportunity." They had gotten connected with a travel agent who books presentations for a "Partial Ownership" property outside of Cancun. All we had to do was listen to a 90 minute presentation and we'd get free ferry transportation to and from Isla Mujeres to Cancun,
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| From Grand Mayan Visit |
free transportation to the Grand Mayan Resort, a buffet breakfast, $50US, a free Mexican blanket, and transportation afterwards to Tulum, a Mayan archeological site.
"If you've had a time share presentation in the past, this is not like that, No Sir. This is not a Time Share. This is totally different."
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| From Grand Mayan Visit |
I haven't quite figured out the true difference between this place and a time share, and I wasn't about to ask and prolong the conversation. In a nutshell you "own" a couple weeks of an apartment at this resort (or other affiliated resorts).
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| From Grand Mayan Visit |
I must say the place was beautiful if you are into sitting around a pool for a week. There were different pools with different ambiences all over the place. I personally loved the elegant areas to recline and pass the day.
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| From Grand Mayan Visit |
In the process of trying to get out of there we first sat through the woman who gave us the tour of the facility. Then her supervisor. Then his. Then the "exit interview." Then the supervisor of the exit interviewer. Then... Along the way we were pretty much told - "You obviously need this vacation." And "Don't you love your wife enough to do this for her?" And a bunch of other things which bordered on offensive but really just laughable. Of course when we booked this we were told not to say that we were on a sailboat.. Their target audience is people in hotels on vacation, not boating riff raff. I really wanted to say, "No. I don't really need THIS vacation - I've been on vacation for the past two years."
But then we wouldn't have gotten our loot!
We got our money, our blanket,
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| From Grand Mayan Visit |
Tulum
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| From Tulum |
Tulum the site of a pr-Columbian Maya walled city about 80 km south of Cancun. It is one of the best preserved coastal Maya sites. It stands atop a 40 ft cliff and must have been an impressive site when the Europeans first saw it - a large city in the "uncivilized New World"
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| From Tulum |
The earliest date lifted from the site is A.D. 564 (the inscription on a stele) although historians think it was at its height around 1200 - 1521 A.D.. Tulum was a major link in the Maya's extensive trade network with both maritime and land routes converging here.
After a quick stop at Dairy Queen (Oh my goodness - a Dairy Queen?)
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| From Tulum |
We hired a guide for our visit which was helpful. Entering in one of only three entrances
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| From Tulum |
(to this day the Maya people are relatively short - Andrew definitely had to watch his head) we were met with the ruins of an incredible site. While this was an entire city with people of all walks of life, the buildings that remain are only those in the city's main center - the homes of the lower echelons would have been made of wood and palm and as a result only their foundation stones remain.
Although there were not really hieroglyphics in evidence at Tulum, we could see some of the architectural principles they used, such as the face carved into the corner.
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| From Tulum |
One building even showed traces of the original pigments the Maya used to paint the buildings.
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| From Tulum |
One interesting tidbit was that they can tell which homes were for the prominent and important people by the size of the door. The bigger the door, the more important the person was - I guess to fit the size of their egos! Meanwhile the portals in the temples were low and small, requiring the priests to bow down to enter - showing appropriate respect and deference to the gods.
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| From Tulum |
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| From Tulum |
It was a fascinating visit and I'm glad we stuck with the tedious hard-sell of the "partial ownership' schtick in order to see it.
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05/14/2009, North Palm Beach, FL
Or perhaps I should say, "We've come full Figure of Eight"
We left Key West on Tuesday and made a day hop to Marathon where we anchored off of Boot Key for the evening. We got up at first light and by 7:00 we were underway to Lake Worth. We took the "Hawk Channel" all the way to Miami which offered some protection from the seas. Once off of Miami we were back in Atlantic waters. All in all it was not that bad. A little bumpy, but hey, at one point we were under sail and making a record 10.2 kts.
Wahoo!!!
We've now set the anchor in North Palm Beach/Lake Worth where we'll hang out for a few days, or rather Andrew will hang out for a few days while I head to Boston for an interview (another lower case wahoo!).
Our arrival here marks the culmination of our circuit of the Western Caribbean. Lake Worth was our jumping off site for the passage to the Bahamas. We started the international portion of our travel from here and we've now closed the loop. If you're not familiar with our position tracking, on the right side click on "Where Are We Now."
Now for a very late breakfast and some rest.
C
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05/09/2009, Key West, FL
So, in my last blog there were a couple of instances where I wrote, "more on that later." I didn't forget to include the 'more,' I just didn't want to make another long winded blog entry even longer...
The first (more on that later) was about hanging out in Key West. I mentioned that the first week was sort of involuntary, but that the second week was by choice...
We arrived in Key West just in the nick of time. As I believe I wrote in the blog about our passage from Isla Mujeres to Key West, we were anxious to get in before Wednesday since the winds were forecast to pick up out of the NE. They sure did! For the next 10 days the wind was honking out of the NE and E. We were getting sustained winds in the mid twenties and some gusts close to 30 kts. It was a real test of the set of our anchor, and our anchor hung in like a champ. It was particularly interesting with the currents here in Key West. We soon discovered that the current is stronger than the wind in pointing our boat in one direction or another. The current runs pretty much north/south where we are; unfortunately the wind was from the east. This meant that we were sideways to the wind for most of that week. It wasn't bad, it just meant we couldn't really use the wind generator (it would have been annoying loud anyway) and that we were virtually heeling with the wind. It was odd to be at anchor and have the boat heeling. We are anchored on the west side of an island so it really wasn't bad. We've been in a lot more uncomfortable anchorages!
The wind finally began to let up; it was still from the east, but much lighter. We thought that would be our window of opportunity to head north to Miami. Andrew needed to be in Miami on the 7th to catch a plane.
Around this time we decided to treat ourselves to an excursion. Now this may sound a bit like taking coals to Newcastle, but we decided to go for a day sail on of the schooners here in Key West, I know, I know... we just spent the past two years traveling on a sailboat so what do we do? We pay to go out on a sailboat. Go figure!
It was so nice to sit back, relax, and let everyone else do the work. The captain and crew asked if we wanted to help raise the sails? Heck no!
Did we want to steer? Nope!
We'll just kick back and enjoy the ride, thank you!
It was very nice and I could enjoy heeling without worrying about all my worldly possessions crashing around.
Any way, while we were out on the trip we were talking to the captain about the trip between here and Miami. With the wind blowing so hard out of the east the seas had built up. We were planning to take the Hawk Channel (a channel that runs inside a line of reefs virtually from Miami to Key West) since that would offer a bit of protection from the high, rough seas, but having never taken it before we weren't sure how easy it is to navigate considering depths, fish traps, etc. The captain asked why we were leaving then given that the wind was still from the east albeit lighter - why not wait for better wind? We explained that Andrew had to catch a plane from Miami and that I was going to wait it out there. He looked confused and asked, "Why would you hang out in gross Miami when you can stay in beautiful Key West?"
That got us thinking... He was right! Instead we booked a spot on the Key West shuttle (a mini-bus) that runs to Miami airport. That became our second (voluntary) week here in Key West.
You may be wondering why the plane flight? Why the 150 mile drive to Miami for "interview clothes" (another of my "more on that later"s)?
What??
Although many people already know this, in case there are blog readers out there who aren't aware, it appears we are going to be pulling out the dock lines and putting away the cruising guides. When we left on this trip we figured we'd be out anywhere from 2-5 years. Surprise, surprise - the economy helped determine that one. This past winter we reviewed things and decided that yes, we could keep going for a bit longer, but we'd be pretty much wiped out. Or, we could bite the bullet, go back to work with some $$ to get started with (for paying dock fees, buying a car, buying shoes other than flip flops, etc.) and save up for other travels at some future date (and before retirement age).
We could have perhaps extended the trip by six months or so, but there was still hurricane season to deal with. From June to November we don't want to be where hurricanes might pop up. We could spend another season in the southern Caribbean, but then what? We'd be miles from work and out of money. The only other alternative was to return to the States (and to get north of Florida for insurance purposes).
After we both got over our funk and depression, we started the job hunt process. Not the easiest thing from a boat in the middle of the Caribbean. When we got to Roatan Honduras we began the search in earnest.
Naturally the first question was, "What do we want to do?" Followed by "Where do we want to do it?"
When we left we thought after cruising we wouldn't necessarily return to our previous careers, but instead find low stress work to simply pay the bills. However since our trip has ended up at the short end of our anticipated length, the idea of 'just getting by' for the next 20 years until retirement didn't sound so appealing after all. If we really want to do any extended travel before we hit 65 then we have to earn decent money now.
The answer to the second question (where) is completely dependent upon where the jobs are. We both had hoped that when 'the party was over' we'd settle somewhere where we wouldn't have to shovel snow off the decks in winter. For Andrew's work, however, the Boston area has the most possibilities so that has been the focus of our search.
To that end, Andrew is on his way back to Key West from Boston even as I write this. Hence the 150 mile road trip to Miami to go clothes shopping. Some time when you are on vacation in a beach/water focused island paradise just try looking for conservative, decent men's suits. California companies might be amused by an interviewee showing up in a Hawaiian print shirt, but I'm not so sure about New England!
Once he's back we will look for a good day to start the trek northward. Next anticipated stop is Palm Beach. That will be a landmark since we started the international portion of our trip from there. If you are following our ship track, that will complete our figure 8 path around the Western Caribbean.
And me? Any prospects? I have been sending off applications to any town with positions posted (I think I'm up to 24 different districts by now). I find it curious that some of these towns had application deadlines in March, yet none of them start really looking at candidates until May/June or over the summer.
Having said that, I have heard back from the district where I used to teach and a week from now Andrew will be hanging out with the boat and the cats while I fly north.
The biggest difference? When Andrew goes for an interview the prospective company foots the travel expense bill. When Carolyn goes to interview in a school....
HOWEVER! - the journey ain't over yet - we still have places to see and fun to be had.
Oops! Andrew just hailed me from the dinghy dock in town. Gotta Go!
C
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Once again I have gotten caught up in the local scene and neglected to update the blog. For those of you who are regular readers - I apologize!
We are still hanging out in Key West. The first week was sort of involuntary, but now it is by choice. (More on that later.)
As I mentioned in the previous blog we arrived in Key West at 4 am. After a brief 'unwinding' we fell into bed and slept until mid-morning.
Our first day in Key West had just a couple items on the agenda: clear in customs & immigration and get a new SIM card for our cell phone so we'd have a US phone number again.
Prior to leaving Mexico we had taken preliminary steps to expedite the clearing-in process. For people traveling on boats it is possible to get a decal from USCBP (US Customs and Border Patrol) which is sort of a pre-registration. With the decal number you may call customs upon arrival and, more often than not, the phone call is sufficient to clear in. Sometimes they require you to make a personal appearance in the office, but not always. Alternatively, it was our understanding that if you want to, you could go ahead to the office and clear in there.
We had heard from another boat which had preceded us from Mexico that the USCBP office was very close to the docks. Since we didn't have a cell phone yet, we opted to make a personal appearance. With our decal number in hand we wandered off to officially enter the US. We got to the courthouse to find out that we couldn't enter the building with a cell phone, even a dead one. I waited outside with the phone while Andrew went in to take care of business. Shortly thereafter he was back outside. Turns out it is not an either/or.... The office required that we phone first, get a clearance file number, and then return to the office.
So, we were off to find a pay phone. Have you looked around the streets lately? In this day and age of cell phones and Twitter, finding a pay phone isn't what it used to be? Try plunking yourself on a random block in an unfamiliar city and find a pay phone!
Fortunately we didn't have to wander far (I ended up asking at a tourist info spot); Andrew called, provided all of our personal details (name, DOB, passport #, etc.), and got our clearance number. Back to the office - I waited outside while Andrew went back in to complete the process. While I waited outside I ran into the folks on a couple of the other boats which were part of the flotilla that left Isla Mujeres. We swapped 'passage' stories (ours was definitely the longest and most eventful). When Andrew was finished providing all the same information he had just provided over the phone, I had to go inside long enough for the immigration officer to look at me and my picture and return my passport.
While it struck me as silly that we had to make the phone call first, compared to the clearing process in some of the countries we traveled to - it wasn't that bad.
That done we went off in search of the ATT phone store. We ended up at a shopping plaza which had a couple of useful stores. After getting the phone all lined up, we popped into a Boaters World. Oh My - A marine supply store!!! Only Boaters World is going out of business and the store is getting pretty picked clean.
They did, however, have the one thing I have been coveting since the Bahamas... Our sailing compadre in the Bahamas, Joe on 'Onward,' had a really nifty gizmo - SodaClub. It is a machine that, using large CO2 cartridges, can carbonate water. He had different syrups for different flavors - cola, root beer, tonic, even 'energy drink.' With this he never had to buy bottles of soda - he could just make his own.
Throughout our journeys in the Caribbean, while I searched (at times fruitlessly) for club soda, or tonic, or Fresca, or... I envied Joe and his machine.
Until now! While the shelves were emptying, the section with the soda machines was well stocked. We bought the machine, an extra CO2 cartridge and a sample pack of syrups.
As stupid as this sounds... I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Not only can we replenish our club soda any time we want, but no more plastic bottles to throw away. Convenient, cheaper, and better for the environment. That's a real win, win, win!
From Boaters World I headed off to the grocery store while Andrew headed to Office Depot for a new keyboard (our Spanish keyboard was getting annoying - especially since the letter m didn't work. You never know how often you use a letter until you don't have it anymore). We didn't need much in the store which was just as well.
I really didn't expect to experience any kind of culture shock upon returning to the US. After all, I was only gone two years, and even at that, I was back visiting my Mom last October.
Going into the grocery store, however, Oh My Goodness!!! I stood in the produce section absolutely overwhelmed. We had been in large grocery stores along the way, particularly in Colon and Cartagena, but this was unbelievable. Perhaps it was the sheer enormity of the store, or the quantity of goods, or perhaps it was that for the first time in a long time I knew what everything was. My head was swimming. I ended up leaving the store with only a loaf of bread and a package of bagels - I couldn't deal!
Since then we've been back, equipped with canvas totes, and I have come to terms with the store... and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to find all the things I have missed while traveling abroad. (Oh, and for those of you who are keeping track - we still haven't had to buy toilet paper. I guess I did that one ok!!)
Apart from that we have been enjoying the sights and sounds of Key West, and there certainly are a lot of sights and sounds. Clearly Key West is the 'end of the road' for a lot of people. After all, there is no more road from here - Route 1 begins (or ends depending upon your perspective) here. We laugh at all the "Southernmost' establishments we've seen (hotels, scooter rentals, eateries, dry cleaners, hockey rinks you name it). However we did end up in the Southernmost Red Sox Nation bar last nights and couldn't resist buying the t-shirt.
We arrived in Key West just in time for the culmination of the 'Conch Republic Days.' Apparently in 1982 the border patrol decided the best way to stem the tide of illegal immigrants and drugs coming into the states was to put a road block on Route 1 - the only road from the Mainland to the Keys. They wanted everyone crossing to prove they were US citizens. Needless to say this caused chaos and havoc throughout the keys with huge traffic delays, interrupted shipments of food and supplies, etc. (Who carries a passport to travel to the keys? and a driver's license doesn't prove citizenship). The mayor of Key West got fed up, seceded and declared war on the United States, created the foundling Conch Republic, promptly surrendered and asked for International Assistance to "rebuild." Every year they celebrate the occasion with a reenactment of the great navy battle that never happened.
We had a front row seat even if it was a little ways away. The Conch Republic Navy (any ships which signed up to participate) patrolled the waters of off Mallory Square and the big bad US Navy Warship (a US Coast Guard cutter playing the part) attacked the Conch Republic Fleet. The Conch Republic Fleet opened fire (blanks and water cannons) on the "US Navy" warship. The "Navy" ship signaled its surrender (an orange smoke flare) and then slunk off, leaving the Conch Republic Navy the victors in this epic battle. All the while the Conch Republic Air Force did fly-bys, bombing with bread and toilet paper (a number of local plane owners including a nifty bi-plane and a group from which even flew in formation over the engagement.)
Earlier in the day they had Bed Races down Duval Street - Yes, beds on wheels.
It was all quite silly and good fun.
Apart from all that we've spent our time doing more provisioning (once I got over my shock in the grocery store), getting the fire extinguishers inspected, "interview clothes" shopping (more on that later) which required a rental car and a 150 mile drive to Miami, touring museums, doing laundry (we're back into the world of laundromats...I had kind of gotten used to dropping off my laundry somewhere and having someone else do all the work!), checking out the sunset scene at Mallory Square, and doing quality control assessment at the various eateries in town (of which there are a lot).
Each evening vendors, performers, and sunset watchers all gather at Mallory Square. It is a good vantage point for watching the sunset and looking for the green flash. At the recommendation of Todd on 'Blue Marine' one of the sunset entertainers we checked out was "The Cat Man." He has trained regular old domestic house cats to do tricks ala the lions at the circus. The cats jump from pedestal to pedestal, walk a tightrope (one cat lies down on the "rope" and two others jump over him and land on it), jump through rings, and one cat even jumps through a flame ring. Of course they are doing it for sushi (sounds so much better than just saying raw fish). With that incentive I wonder if I could get Jigger to do tricks? Although looking at the ring the cats jump through... he'd never fit!!!
Once Andrew gets back (more on that later) we will begin the push north.
But for now here we are, wasting away in Margaritaville
It's a tough life - but someone's got to lead it!
C
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