06/05/2009, Charleston, SC
After a week in the Fernandina area, we have moved on to Charleston, SC. While were hanging out in the Georgia/Florida area we went to St. Mary's, Georgia for a day, my favorite: Cumberland Island for a day and a half, and visited with an old friend from the Boston area who now works in Florida.
But the highlight of our visit was the time we spent with Ronnie and Jim & their families.
As I mentioned in my last blog we headed to Fernandina to connect-up with the two gentlemen we met in the fog as we left Cumberland Island a year and half ago. I have promised to protect their anonymity (and dignity?) by not rehashing an old story, but the warmth and hospitality they extended to us is worth noting and must be acknowledged.
Before, I wrote that the "Skipper" of the boat works at a wildlife refuge near Fernandina. After our visit I realize that it is much more than that...
This is from their website:
"White Oak Conservation Center is one of the world's premiere wildlife breeding, research, and training facilities. The Center, located along the St. Mary's River in North Florida, spans 600 acres and is surrounded by 6,800 acres of pine and hardwood forest and wetlands.
Established in 1982 by philanthropist Howard Gilman, White Oak Conservation Center provides conservation options for the future by maintaining genetically diverse populations of threatened species in spacious, natural facilities.
The Center is staffed with a diverse team of wildlife managers, veterinarians, and scientists, utilizing the complex of research, husbandry, education and conference facilities. White Oak Conservation Center leads professional efforts to improve veterinary care, develop holistic animal management techniques, and better understand the biology of critically endangered species."
In looking up the organization online I found several websites where you can find more information: www.wocenter.org www.howardgilmanfoundation.org and www.giconline.org.
Howard Gilman was 3rd generation chairman of the Gilman Paper Company (the largest privately held paper and building products company in the US). In the 1980's he created a foundation to preserve and protect areas he felt were vulnerable. This included the conservation of endangered species, the support and nourishment of the arts (in particular dance and ballet), and he funded medical research in the fields of HIV/AIDS and cardiology. He was the last direct descendent of the Gilman family; his work is now being carried on by the Howard Gilman Foundation.
White Oak is the conservation center he created on his private estate in Florida. The center specializes in captive breeding of endangered and threatened species. The "flagship species" maintained at the center include rhinos, cheetahs and okapi. White Oak also includes a dance studio and offers residencies for the development of new works by emerging choreographers and dance companies. Finally, their conference facilities were developed to provide an environment which could be a catalyst for the development and implementation of new ideas. White Oak has hosted conferences on energy, health, religion, wildlife conservation, world leaders have stayed there, etc.
The day after we arrived in Fernandina Ronnie picked up us and Jim and we drove out to the plantation. Our tour started at the conference facilities. In a word... Wow!
The first thing that struck Andrew and I were the antiques. In addition to everything else, Howard Gilman had a wonderful eye for art and has an incredibly eclectic collection. From the Tiffany glass ceiling in the bar,
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| From White Oak Plantation |
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| From White Oak Plantation |
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| From White Oak Plantation |
From the conference center we visited a few of the guest residencies, each decorated in a different style and replete with more antiques. Not being golfers we didn't visit the nine-hole golf course, but from everything else we saw we have no doubt that it is glorious.
Then came the best part - the animals. It is not often I get to say that I have fed a giraffe and petted a rhino! If I were to try to relate details of the number of different species and quantities I know I'd get it wrong. Instead I'll let the pictures tell the story...
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| From White Oak Plantation |
The fresh bamboo was far more appealing to the giraffes than the hay in their feeder.
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| From White Oak Plantation |
They have many different breeds of rhinos on the property. As I was taking this picture, one of the animal handlers saw me and called me over to the corral. He introduced me to "Luke" one of the older rhinos on the property and in his words, "a real ham for cameras." He told me I could pet Luke - it felt pretty much like you'd expect the tough hide of a rhino would feel like - but how cool is that?!
There are more cheetahs than any other animal at the center.
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| From White Oak Plantation |
From what I understand the cheetah is one of the most endangered large cats, primarily because they hunt during the day. In Africa the goat herders have trouble with their livestock getting killed by animals. While many different cats do the hunting, all the other cats hunt at night so they are never seen. Since the cheetahs are visible, it is easy to blame them for killed goats, so the farmers kill the cheetahs. One of the most successful programs to help save the wild cheetah is the Kangal/Anatolian Shepherd Livestock Guarding Dog program, an initiative of the Gilman Foundation. These special dogs are given free to Namibian farmers. The dogs protect livestock from cheetah attacks, barking loudly whenever they see a cheetah or predator, scaring the big cats away. Farmers no longer need to kill cheetahs to protect their livestock and their livelihood. Most farmers report a 100% reduction in livestock kills by cheetahs and other predators.
At the center there is one particular cheetah which was abandoned as a cub. It was raised along with one of these dogs and now the two are inseparable. The handlers will take them for walks together and they are now like "brother and sister."
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| From White Oak Plantation |
Unfortunately the handlers were not there when we stopped by so we couldn't get up close and personal with them, but still it was wonderful to see the two happily living together. These two help raise money for the program by being goodwill ambassadors!
We also saw a couple of cassowaries. The cassowary is found in Northern Australia and New Guinea.. They can weigh up to 120 lbs. and grow to be 5 ft tall at top of head. Their diet consists mainly of fruit of forest trees, some small vertebrates and land snails. There are three species of cassowary these are southern cassowary (a.k.a. double-wattled cassowary) of New Guinea and northern Australia.
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| From White Oak Plantation |
It is the largest of the three. Like the ostrich, rheas and emus, the cassowary are flightless with mere vestiges of wings. Their first line of defense is speed (they can run up to 30 mph) What they can not outrun, they can often outfight. Their kick is capable of delivering a crushing blow; more human fatalities have been attributed to cassowaries than any other bird. As with many of their large animals, I was glad to have a fence between us!
Finally we were lucky to catch a glimpse of two okapi which are native to the Congo. These horse-like animals are very shy and it is unusual to see them, not to mention to have them stand around long enough for me to snap a few pictures. The distinctive brown and white markings on the okapi's rump and legs help camouflage them in the forest. The stripes look like streaks of sunlight filtering through the trees.
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| From White Oak Plantation |
Our visit with our new friends didn't end there. Jim invited us to his home for some "good southern cooking." His wife, Jane, outdid herself.
The meal started with boiled peanuts. We were told boiled peanuts have a very different taste and that most newcomers to them either hate them or love them. I, for one, fell into the love category. They do taste different (and have a VERY different texture) than roasted peanuts, but I really enjoyed them. I'm not sure Andrew was as convinced. He didn't hate them, but I'm not sure he'd go out of his way to find or make them himself.
The meal continued with southern fried steak and gravy, fresh mashed potatoes, creamed corn (homemade - not the stuff out of a can), squash casserole (I really want the recipe for that one), spinach and strawberry salad, and for dessert chocolate lava cake. We were joined for dinner by Ronnie and his wife and another couple who are good friends of theirs.
I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a long time. It was a wonderful evening.
I should also mention that we were offered the use of a car at anytime in case we needed to do any provisioning, and repeatedly asked if there was anything else they could do for us.
All in all, between the meal, the tour, and the offers of help we couldn't have asked for a warmer welcome. This is what Southern Hospitality is all about and these folks are pros. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of them and a promise that if we have the good fortune to travel back that way, Fernandina will always be a mandatory stop for us.
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Comments [4]
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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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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