Mike and Kathy
12/16/2008, Vero Beach, Florida

December 15th Vero Beach, FL

We did some quick morning boat chores, then headed to shore for showers. We are quite certain we are leaving tomorrow, so we paid the bill and turned in the bathroom key. Then we waited for Jay and Diana to pick us up for the trip to Fort Lauderdale for our appointment with the Customs and Border Protection office. We had a nice trip down and found a little Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then it was on to our appointment.

We would just like to say that the CBP officers are not always pleasant and friendly. Some take their power much too seriously and you had better be FOLLOWING ALL THE RULES. So, we were a little afraid of who we might be meeting with today. As it turned out, Officer Gamma was friendly, helpful, polite and courteous. Wow, what a pleasant surprise.

Then it was on the water maker store to pick up Jay's membrane for a water maker. As it turned out, there was some work to be done on it that took some time. Consequently, the girls hiked down the road to a strip mall for a little shopping. They had three good boat-ish stores and a few purchases were made.

At about 5:00, it was decided to leave the membrane to be finished tomorrow and shipped to Jay and Diana's condo. We got back to the boat around 7 and cooked some fish for dinner. We watched a movie and headed to bed. The plan is to leave at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.




December 14th.. Vero Beach, FL

Kathy had more laundry to do this morning but we didn't get a real quick start. The oven was foremost on my mind and after testing found it to be .... Dead.

I went on-line to see if parts were still available and found that at least some of the parts were still on the market. In the process, I discovered a repair shop in Seattle that had a 5 page essay on trouble shooting oven problems for our oven... with perfect photos.

So while Kathy was over finishing laundry, I ran through the tests as outlined and it came down to either a faulty thermostat or crud in some very small orifices. I disassembled everything as per directions, blew out the gas jets in question and put things together.

And... it worked. In fact it worked better that it ever has.

After finishing the laundry we had some lunch and picked up a little before Nancy drove across town to pick us up for our afternoon entertainment. On the way back to their Condo we stopped at Walmart for a few last minute items and then at Home Depot to find a cable to lock up our dinghy.

We had a great time at Nancy and Jim's... who is still very sore but looking much better, drank some wine and had enough to eat to call it dinner. It was a little hard saying good bye... since they really would rather be heading south with us, but they will follow along shortly.

Back at the boat we put things away, made some phone calls, and watched a movie before bed.

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Mike and Kathy
12/16/2008, Vero Beach, Florida

December 13th Vero Beach,FL

Kathy finished her sewing project while Mike got some water for the boat. Then we gathered up some laundry and headed for shore. More water was gathered and the laundry was finished.

We were invited to several boats to watch a boat parade, but it was windy and icky so we stayed on the boat and listened to the MSU basketball game.

Not our most exciting day.

December 12th... Vero Beach, FL

Barry came over in the morning to see if we wanted to ride into town with them and since we did have a couple things to pick up... as usual, I went along. Kathy had the sewing machine out and stayed on the boat to work on some projects.

We drove to Walmart and I picked up a Christmas gift and some rubber bands for a new type of line release for fishing.

One the way back we stopped at the farmers market down town. There were only about 12 venders but the produce and fruit looked great. I bought a pound of small red pototes.

Back at the boat we had some lunch and Kathy continued to sew while I read. She made a bag for the mast ladder and started on some terry cloth covers for the Sport-a-Seats/ We had invited Barry and Susan over for roast beef this evening so I spent some time in the afternoon getting that ready... and then cooked.

We had a nice meal with them and then watched a movie after they left.




December 11th... Vero Beach,FL


There is a cold front forecast to bring us some rain this afternoon so we decided to get as many of our chores accomplished during the morning as we could. We headed to shore for showers and then walked down to the Pak-Mail store to see about shipping a package to London which they were happy to do for a mere $37. From there we walked across the street to do some banking and then returned to the Marina.

We still needed some small Christmas gifts to get mailed our before our departure so we hopped on the bus and rode into town. In 30 minutes the bus returned and we rode back to the marina.

It rained during the afternoon, hard at times. I put on my swim suit, got a brush and scrubbed the decks which were looking a little grey.

Most of our boat chores are finished. The water-tank is topped off, as is our fuel tank. Our Jerry cans are all full. Our supplies and provisions are all stowed. We are more than ready to be out of here.

Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating.

We have made plans to ride down to Ft. Lauderdale with Jay and Di on Monday to interview with Customs and apply for the local boaters option. We tried last week but were stood up by the Customs official in Melbourne. The LBO allows us to check in by phone when we return to the States as opposed to showing up in person.

On Tuesday we are leaving. We are hoping to cross during the second half of next week. If not we'll be hanging out in Miami.

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M
12/15/2008

February 15, 2009 Hog Cay. Long Island to George Town, Great Exuma

We hoisted our anchors at about 7:30 this morning and fished our way back to George Town arriving around noon without any dinner. The Sound was almost calm so we motor-sailed to keep enough speed for fishing. (It takes at least 5.5 knots for our lures to have any action on the surface) Barry and Steve both had a couple of hits but we were skunked. After getting organized, I went ashore to pick up 30 gallons of water and returned to make the transfer to the main tank. At about 2:30 we crossed the harbor to the Chat and Chill and spent a few hours sitting around watching people and chatting with folks.

We returned a little early and spent some time reading while our supper marinated. Tom and Susan stopped by for an hour or so and left about dusk. We grilled a flank steak, made some Cole slaw, and split a conch salad that Kathy had purchased on the beach during the afternoon. It was simple meal but really hit the spot. Although our freezer is full, our supply of beef is almost gone and the Bahamas in not the place to purchase beef.

February 14, 2009 Hog Cay

After listening to the weather and a cup of coffee I took the dinghy around the anchorage visiting our friends. "Brilliant" and "Fine Lion" were heading to the settlement of Glenton which is located on the south west corner of the Bay just to our south so we decided to tag along. Glenton Bay is a bone fisherman's paradise and we saw a few boats as we passed. The flats continue for miles. We followed a few stakes to work our way through the beginning of the shallows, but were soon on our own judging depth by the shade of blue. It was a ride of about 5 miles rarely with more than 1.5 feet of water. We found a cement pier and tied up. They told us to just leave our trash by a black box at the end of the pier and they would take care of it.

We hiked down the road to a corner about a half mile away. The same guys drove up to tell us where all the businesses were located. There really wasn't a town but there were two restaurants, a grocery and a liquor store along the road within about a mile. We walked to the grocery and picked up a few items before retracing our steps back to the water. .

Back at the boat we had some lunch and then got our snorkel gear around for an afternoon of swimming. I shot a couple of trigger fish and missed a few more but it was another pleasant afternoon. We did find a great coral reef where I'd like to take Jake and Abby if it works out.

We returned to the boat about 5 and read for awhile before baking some chicken for dinner.

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