05/05/2009, Marathon, Florida
Today should be my final entry. We have settled into our floating home and have begun looking for other things to do. We caught another 4 fish yesterday but returned them all back to the sea Last night we watched a great movie called Alone In The Wilderness. It was about a man who spends 35 years building and living in a remote cabin. We are rummaging around the boat looking for new books. We are starting to think about our other life and plan on our land fall. The wind has slowed down to 7 knots apparent and so has my enthusiasm for cruising along without my family. We had our best lunch yesterday consisting of potatoes,cheese and onions along with fried Mahi in Bisquick. There were no weevils in the batter but they did find there way in our first attempt at a spaghetti dinner later. We finished up our perfect lunch with fresh chocolate chip cookies from the oven and I drank some of my wild berry sun tea. I have been keeping track of where we are on a piece of paper. If something where to malfunction with the GPS system, we would be able to figure out where we last were by our journal entries. We are now at 80 13 948 west and 24 18 130 north. We are traveling at 260 degrees at 3.2 knots. We can look at a chart on board and see where we are and where we need to go. Most of the time we navigate by staring at our Raymarine C70 and watching an image of a boat head toward the next way point. It is like a video game but doesn't seem to end.
We see the lights of Marathon Key Florida. It was a slow ride through the Gulf Stream at 3 knots. We caught 4 more Dolphin and Bill kept one I caught. 36 inch fighter who I landed while listening to Dire Straits. We loved watching a Frigate Bird catch a flying fish. I think I saw a dolphin follow us for about 2 minutes. I really wanted to take a picture with a dolphin with a double rainbow in it. After a weevil free dinner Dave and I are waiting for our Blackberry connection to get 3 bars and connect with our outside world. Our trip took us 1000 miles and we ran our motor for under 2 hours. Mr Wind did a great job The trip was great and I am already anticipating my next adventure.
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05/05/2009, Marathon, Florida
Next stop Marathon Key Florida? Half Moon has guided toward the west and home The trade winds have kept us at 7 knots and have kept us with a following sea (CSN) We are surfing our way back to the USA. I heard my Ipod for the first time yesterday and today while doing push ups,sit ups and boat yoga. Music puts me in a cheerful mood and pops musical references in my (Maxwell silver hammer came down upon my) head. Lots more stuff broke last night during our uncontrollable jib. The block on the boom jammed and cracked. The traveler block popped off and we kept sailing. Our repairs were made in the sunlight with Bill appearing to chisel his privates. We actually got the stuck line out of the pulley. See picture for more details. Last night we also came to a point where we had a ship in front of us and behind us. I felt like we may become the next Dorado (Mahi) sandwich. My flashlight was circling the sail and Bill in a Zombie state at 130am just laughed and ignored my actions. We haven't seen any planes or many boats until now. We are cruising in the old Bahama Shipping lane and big cargo ships are going by every 30 minutes. I will be a worry wart all night. Luckily we have the right of way as a sailboat I think might is right when it comes to right of way Cuba is 20 miles to our west but we have only seen her outline. We thought about visiting but it has been illegal since about 1960. Silly law makers. Dave and Bill are entertaining each other with Jewish Men jokes They seem to know every joke of each other but still crack each other up. Dr Woo's Zachary disease got me to stop breathing.
Never saw much of Cuba. Just some lights on our port. One light in particular seem to follow us for six hours. It was the Night Cyclopis protecting the country. It seemed like Cuba was cloaked from our view. We did hear some Spanish spoken on the marine radio. We had a small party after dinner. Backgammon , popcorn and rum and Coke were in order. We broke out the good stuff as Billy laid sleeping in the master salon The salon needs the maid service badly. We had one near miss in the night with four huge spotlights coming at us like a moving city from Star Wars. Like all good movies, this had a happy ending and the boat did turned in the final minutes and went on toward Miami. We are not the only ones up in the middle of the night
Our home is like a case study for OSHA. Nothing is safe around here We have a blade spinning rapidly on the rear of the deck. It makes loud hissing sounds to draw you near and generates our power. The boat is always rocking and swaying and makes it very hard to pee of the side in the middle of the night. I am always thinking about how there is no chance of rescue if you go over. We have to fishing poles with big hooks swinging from them. We have gasoline and diesel fuel in containers attached to the side railings. We have a whole junk yard of stuff in the for deck 2 big anchors,a little sailboat with a huge hole in it. A junkie old inflatable dingy that is always leaking and taking on water and some assorted poles and ropes. If the boat were to sink we have a Zodiac life raft that you are suppose to throw overboard and get in. The cover reads "one two three and you are safe at sea". This is a lie. Your odds of survival when you leave the ship are small We do carry a EPIRB that will signal the rescue teams to look for you if there is a life endangering problem. We aren't planning on using this device in our lifetimes
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04/19/2009, Chicago, IL
I am returning to the boat in the morning on a 6:00 am flight. I have a great crew of 3 coming with me. Old and dear friends, Eric Hart, David Crawford, and Mike Abt are coming along for what promises to be a great ride. Most important is the camaraderie and I expect the best. I think the world of all these guys and am uncertain what I have done to have such great company for my delivery. I expect about 2 weeks Most Likely we will put in at Luperon and somewhere on the southern Bahamas. It is about 1000 miles and probably all downwind and down-current. Stay tuned!
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