Isn't it always the same old thing? Your blog site goes down for maintenance on the most exciting day of the journey. Saturday AM we left Lake Worth inlet and headed out into the open ocean for the first time on our trip. Finally! We covered 83 miles, the weather was sunny and warm, breezes let us fly the jib most of the day. We stayed around 7-10 miles off the shore as we made our way towards Miami inlet. This is the port of Miami channel that the big boys use. Cargo ships, freighters, cruise ships. ( but only on the weekends when they take passengers to the Bahamas.... Oh wait, it's Saturday, never mind.) It was full dark as we picked up the channel markers and headed in. All of a sudden, it seemed as if every boat within a 100 mile radius wanted to come through that channel with us. Large mega yachts with their large mega wakes, the kind that sway us in a hard starboard lean, then a hard port lean, repeat three more times, and there goes everything in the galley. Pick up stuff off floor. Repeat. As if this wasn't exciting enough, here comes "The Navigator Of The Seas" cruise ship out the channel, which suddenly seems a lot narrower. Oh, now everything is lit up, and I can see how big those wakes are; thanks "Navigator Of The Seas"! We are anchored behind Fisher Island today, where we will rest and try for the Nth time to fix the blasted green nav light. (Oh yeah, that just added to the fun we had coming in last night) Then we will motor over to Coconut Grove (4-5 mile) for fuel and water, and anchor near Stiltsville and sleep this afternoon. We will make the jump for Bimini tonight around 11PM. Arrival there will be around noon Monday. Cell phones will be off until we return to the states, so please don't clog them w/ messages, they won't be received. Leave comments on the blog or email at capmjw@gmail.com. I will let you know as much as I can whenever I get a wifi signal.
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Comments [3]
11/19/2009
We are stuffed and hung out to dry in Ft Pierce this afternoon. Today was laundry day, so we are festooned with clothes, I'm sure the locals are wondering if there was some event they missed reading about. Or they are busy calling officials demanding our boat be removed from their view. Terry from Discovery Diving ( Beaufort NC) gave us a tip that is worth sharing for all those who are still behind us, Fuel at Ft. Pierce City marina, and eat at the tiki bar on site. The cheeseburger and sweet potato fries are to die for. (They offer $5. transient showers ... we took the whole package) Tonight we will remain anchored across the river from the marina, eating our to-go key lime pie and languishing in our cleanliness. The whole boat smells of Gain fabric softener. Today I saw a cow-nosed stingray leap from the water. I didn't know they "jumped" like fish do. It was pretty cool. I also saw a large sea turtle poke his head up right next to the boat as I was steering towards a bridge. Almost wrecked it scared me so much. Looked like a human head at first, until I figured out what I was looking at. Tomorrow we will try for Lake Worth.
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We have seen so many dolphins on this trip that after the third day, we just stopped mentioning sightings. Can't see those dolphins? Ya must be blind.. they're everywhere. Yesterday, it was the same w/ manatees. The water was thick w/ manatee, rolling, lazing, frolicking manatee everywhere. We stopped mentioning, except for collision avoidance. You can't go 500 yards without seeing a sign to slow down for the manatee. Don't know what the national figures look like, but in this stretch of FL the manatee are thriving. So I don't quite get this manatee warning sign we kept seeing. SLOW SPEED 30 MPH day 25MPH night. That's a lot of mangled manatee in my opinion. I was having trouble dodging the guys at 5.5MPH. Must be the manatee's famous lightning quick speed and agile reflexes. And of course their reputed night vision is able to jet propel them out of the way in the dark. Of course, it could just be they need a stronger lobbyist.
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11/16/2009, Ormand Beach, Fl
This afternoon: our most amazing sight on the trip to date. We watched as the shuttle Atlantis lifted into space, right ahead of us as we headed south. The red blaze of the rockets were extremely visible as well as the rockets themselves for a few minutes. We were able to see it well, right up until the stage separation took the flames away for a few seconds, and it was lost to our eyes. Here in Fl. we take our space launches very seriously, and with a shot of something to celebrate. Heck, we have been ushering the launches since the space race decade. Unfortunately, my sole bottle of Horses Ass wine is at the bottom of the food locker. Are they launching in January? We could even have it chilled then.
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We are 12 miles north of St. Augustine, and I have to tell ya, I'm all waved out. I've been waving for going on 4 states now, and frankly, it just isn't satisfying any more. The boater's wave is a long tradition, one which I normally wouldn't muck around with, but the last two days have been a weekend, and now I feel sorta wave-wrung out. We went through Jacksonville and all the weekend power boaters were out in force. Aunt Mildred, Uncle Jeb and 14 of the finest youngins you ever seen on a boat. Wave. Five old codgers out fishing in a jon-boat. Wave. Teenagers on jet-skis. Wave. Cruisers. Big wave. Some wave back, most weekenders do, fishermen, not so much. I feel disloyal if I don't wave, I'm in my home state now, these are my peeps in a sense. But I've decided. If the boat isn't known, (friend boat) or a cruiser, or looks like a big power boater on their way to the Bahamas ready to share their ice and water maker booty, I'll just wave if I get a notion.
| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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