We are in the Bahamas!!

It is true. The sun is brighter. The breeze is breezier. The people are nicer. It is better in the Bahamas, just like they say.

We left Fort Lauderdale on a clear calm morning. The sun was just creeping out. The dog was pooped, the equipment stowed. We were ready!! We met Tony and Shirley from Headquarters at the second buoy outside of the Fort Everglades Inlet at about 8am and we were off.

Bunny Evans

Evan Evans and Kermit

They need scaffolding to work on the comm towers on these big yachts

Pilot boat on a big freighter coming in to Fort Everglades

Gorgeous weather as we leave Fort Lauderdale

Winds were out of the south, southwest all day with waves around a foot or two. Bunny and Evan said it was the flattest they ever saw the ocean in a crossing to the Bahamas. The wave intervals were less than 10 seconds.

This is Headquarters as we begin to cross to the Bahamas
The water is perfect

Evidently this is an important new term we need to understand. Not relevant on the Great Lakes. The wave interval is the time between swells. So imagine you are at the top of a wave. Count to ten slowly and imagine that during that ten seconds you go down one wave and up to the top of the next wave. Ten seconds is a long time so the distance between waves is very long. Now imagine you are on Lake Erie, where we boat. The wave interval is so quick that you can barely say, "Wwwwoo" before the next wave slaps your boat. And that is a good day. I guess that is why we never count wave intervals!

The journey was really nice. Just like a regular working day on the water. Kermit set the GPS target on West End Bahamas at 7:15am and at 3:15pm we reached the end of the absolutely straight line. That is about as eventful as the trip was!! In between Kermit and Even bickered continuously about the relative merits of following a GPS setting blindly, whether the current was taking us off course, how the GPS corrects for current, and other assorted flotsum and jetsum. It was quite entertaining.

Also entertaining was Tony's radio calls asking if we changed course and were heading variously to Puerto Rico, Africa, Cuba, and New York periodically. This because Kermit and Evan were changing the headings and sort of tacking our way to Bahamas. Tony opted for the direct route and had time for a swim in the Gulf Stream!

We thought it was a crab pot but it was balloons.
I always wondered what happened to those balloons we
launch. 

The West End, Grand Bahamas

Katherine tying lines to secure the boat at dock

View from our dock at West End

We did not swim in it but you could tell when we were in the Gulf Stream. The water turned a gorgeous royal blue like I never saw before.

It was fun to watch the depth gauge start flashing. After about 600 feet it stops reading accurately, sort of like it gives up. Another form of entertainment while we traveled.

Bunny helped shop on Saturday before we left. We are doing a delightful multi-use of foods. For example, we bought two roasted chickens. Saturday night we had roasted chicken and salad. Sunday during the crossing we had chicken salad for lunch. For dinner she made chicken soup which we had with fresh lobster we bought from the fellows who catch them and sell them on the docks. We are eating very well. It is hard to get tired of chicken when it is used in such different forms.

I am looking a little bug eyed - not sure why. Must have more wine. 

Bunny, Evan, Tony, and Shirley

Notice the part about eating lobster? Yes, they sell lobster on the docks!!! We walked on the beach earlier and saw a guy swimming pretty far out. Kermit said, "I bet that guy is catching lobster." Of course I said, "No that can't be", because I always say that. But he was right. That was the guy selling lobster!!

Rusty at the pool

Not sure what is the story with these buildings. We think they are part of the resort. 

Evan, Bunny, Kermit and Katherine

West End has Internet so I can send this note out to tell you all that we are safe. But we will be anchoring out and unlikely to have much connection for a while so this might be the last transmission for a few days. I am taking notes and pictures and will post as soon as I can.

Waiting for the weather to change in Ft. Lauderdale

We are hanging out here in Fort Lauderdale waiting for the weather to change so we can go to the Bahamas. We don't have much to say and almost no pictures. This is the first post we have written about just about nothing. We aren't actually doing nothing of course.

Weather is a big deal. Kermit checks several website several times a day. We are planning to go to the Bahamas until the end of March. But the weather has not cooperated yet. We need low winds out of the south. Actually it is easier to say in reverse - no winds that have an "N" in it. Nothing out of the north at all because we will be traveling north east. So wind direction and wind speed are the most important factors.


One of the bad days while we are waiting

We plan to go to the West End to enter the Bahamas then go around the Abacos on the east end of the Bahamas. We will be traveling with Evan and Bunny Evans and Tony and Shirley from Headquarters. It will be great to have a traveling partner. Plus Bunny and Evan have made this trip before which will help.

We started waiting for a good weather window on February 12 when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale. We plan to meet the Vellucci's and Lipka's on 3/1 at Treasure Cay. It is funny to think that we started waiting on 2/12 and finally can take off on 2/24. Two weeks! The weather has been windy and even rained a couple of times.

 

 

So we have tough duty hanging out in Fort Lauderdale for a while. We walk around, go to the gym, and work on the boat.

It might look messy to you
but to me it is heaven

We spent our time cleaning and and doing maintenance to make sure the boat is set up right for guests. We cleaned the inside of the boat up and down. I found a new way to organize the front closet so we can hold more stuff and get to it easier. Actually the truth is we needed to clean and reorganize so we could clear off the bed in the front bunk - previously our storage unit.

Kermit changed the oil after 120 hours. He changed the plugs, cap and rotor. I know, he didn't have to change the oil so soon but he did anyway.

Here are the statistics so far:

• 14025 gallons of gas
• 3641 miles
• 400 hours traveled on engines

We were having trouble with the toilet again, this time the one in the back. So Kermit fooled around with it. He bought new hose like he did for the front toilet. But turns out the the had a small guy crawl down below and put in some new vents which solved the problem with the toilet. Then the aft head kicked a fit last night. A plunger did the trick this time but you can never tell. Toilets are so finicky.

We were having problems with the water tank not filling completely so Kermit fooled around with that too. That vent was messed up to so cleaning the vent fixed the problem. Finally we can carry 70 gallons. That will come in handy when we are in the Bahamas and water costs 30 cents a gallon! With full water tank and full fuel plus full larder, we will plug our way off to the Bahamas like a pig.

Ever seen red trim? This is a Lazzara.

This is the cheap side of town.

Kermit cleaned and waxed all the isinglass and stainless. We got the carpet scrubbed. Today we are waxing the boat to make it really shine now.



Rusty likes the grotto. It has fish
and a statue. Perfect.

We are doing all this work at Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale. This is a beautiful place. We are absolutely the smallest boat in the marina. We got a great price, probably because we are so cute. The pool is beautiful, although we haven't actually been in the water yet. The gym is wonderful. We visited it almost every day. They even have a grotto so the huge yachts feel special.

We visited Bahia Mar in 2011. This is the permanent headquarters for the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. That is the biggest show in the US. It is truly awesome. They move out most of the marina boats (not sure where to) and install more docks and tons more boats. It is hard to see the whole show in three days. Without the boat show the marina is pretty quiet. Most of the owners are not around, just the captains and crew and bunches of folks who clean and polish all day long.

We also did some fun things. Rusty got to know most of the marina staff. He knows every possible place he can beg for a dog bone. He went to the vet to get his nails done. I am not sure he will think it was fun. He was pathetic. He saw the vet too just to update his record for the trip to Bahamas. He weighs 84 pounds now!! That means in the last year he lost 20 pounds, or 20% of his body weight.He is now at fighting weight. If he can do it there is no reason why I can't!! Good doggy...

Poor Rusty. He was pathetic.

We visited the Miami Boat Show on Valentine's Day then had dinner at a nice Cuban restaurant with Bill and Eve Gribble. They graciously offered us tickets to the VIP day so the show was not too crowded. The PlasTeak booth was packed all day and with lots of good leads. We had a ton of fun that day and dinner was the topper. The restaurant was beautiful and we just laughed and laughed.

The Miami Boat Show takes place at four different spots. The convention center is where all the displays are plus they have smaller boats on display inside and out. The Marriott over by the ICW has new boats that can be taken out for a ride. We didn't see anything we like there.

The Geico truck at the Miami Boat Show

 

Not many pictures at the boat show but this boat was truly odd
The sides of this boat pull out! Just like an RV.

A veritable wall of boats

The big boats are located on the street right in front of the Hotel Fontainblue on Miami Beach. A gazillion yachts. At one point we were walking on the dock between two walls of yachts and the dock ahead of us appeared to end. I made a comment that the dock must continue around that big building. But it wasn't a building. It was a boat. A five story boat. Who can afford such a thing? Crazy. We have very few pictures of the boat show because it is hard to take a picture that takes in all the immenseness of the boats.

Here are some professional photos off of Google Images. At one point we were looking for the next portion of dock to walk on and stumbled onto a carpeted section. A smarmy young woman asked if she could help and I said we were looking for the walkway. She responded that this was private, for potential purchasers only. I just walked away. Kermit of course had to poke her and said did they have anything in the 40 to 50 foot size. This provoked lots of laughter and sneers. "No sir, we only have boats in the 80 foot and up length. I am sure that would not interest you." And then Kermit walked away muttering what size boat does she have.

We are just about ready to leave. The boat is clean and shiny. Bunny and Evan are here. Rusty is walked and babied. I think we are ready.

When I write to you again we will be in the Bahamas!!


 

Key Largo, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale

Kermit and I read a lot while we are traveling. Most places we do not get cable so we don't watch much tv. Not much to watch anyway. So we read. I've read 47 books so far. Sounds like a lot but some were small. Plus I read while Kermit drives so I have more available time.

I am writing this blog after we both finished Vixon 03 by Clive Cussler, an author we both love. Lately we are rereading since I think we've read almost everything he wrote. Vixon 03 is the third book Clive Cussler ever wrote, set in 1988 published in 1978. You get to meet a lot of the characters that appear in all the later books. Al Giordiano, the side kick, hardly appears at all even though in the later books he is always there. Admiral Sandoval is a main character in this book although he takes a back seat in later books.

The point is that it is hard to imagine what the future will hold. Looking back makes one wonder wistfully about past choices and how we envision the future. In 1978, when I was in college, I could never imagine the technology we have today, writing this blog, running my own business, or taking this trip. I couldn’t imagine being with Kermit and having such great kids. Life if good when it is unexpected.

I also didn't realize he wrote about the future. I thought his books took place at the time he was writing. We get an interesting insight into his view of future technology, especially his idea in 1978 of what advanced technology might look like in 1988. At one point he and Al are in a rowboat using a underwater scan powered by a boat load of batteries. He got the scans right but couldn't imagine the tinyways they could be powered. Imagine what he would have thought about our current AIS or GPS systems in 1978? In another point he uses a bulky battery powered laser to melt some nylon lines. Sandoval uses a hologram to communicate with Dirk Pitt and everyone is stopping at telephone booths to make phone calls.

We are truly blessed to travel with technology today that no one imagined in 1978. In the 1970's I was a Sea Explorer learning how to tie knots, throw lines, and do semi-fore. Imagine what they do today? It  gives one pause.

Back to our story. This section of the trip is all about getting somewhere to prepare to go to another place. When we traveled with One September we got somewhere in order to explore and socialize. It is different now.  Now that we are traveling alone, our attention is focused on the next thing.

We left Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key around 8 in the morning as the tide was coming in and the sun was in our eyes.  Our target was Key Largo. The water was choppy with waves coming at us off the beam, so choppy I started to feel sea sick. I couldn’t work on the computer or read so I listened to the iPod and spelled Kermit as best I could but he took the brunt of the trip. I even tried Mike's ginger chews but that didn't help much. All that helped was good old fashioned staring at the horizon. It was a long day, especially for Kermit. 

We left Hawks Cay with a boat from Georgia that wintered in Key Largo. It was weird traveling with someone other than One September. He definitely did not want to hear about crab pots or to get any information that we would usually share with Mike and Judy while we traveled. After a while we just shut up. It was better that way. He disappeared once we entered Key Largo and we never saw him again. Just POOF he was gone. Great companionship.

Along the way we saw oil rigs:

 Finally saw someone tending crab pots: 

And we saw these little critters - Portuguese man-o-war. There were lots of them. These guys are really poisonous. We tried not to fall in the water. Evidently finding one of these guys on the beach can cause the entire beach to be closed because they are so poisonous. 

I notice from these pictures that the water doesn't look that bad. But it was. Trust me. But the water sure is blue!

A dive boat coming back in

We visited Key Largo before to scuba dive in Pennecamp, sort of a huge aquarium filled with fish, divers and statues covered with coral. We didn’t do that this time. But there were lots of tourist boats and dive boats running around as we got closer to Key Largo. We arrived at mid day when working boats were transitioning. It was very busy. We slowed down a little. 

A snorkeling boat going out

A watch tower

The entrance to Key Largo is the coolest part. You come in a narrow channel that twists and bends. It appears the channel is only wide enough for one boat. I think two boats can squeeze through but I am not sure I want to try it.

Narrow channel is hard to see from the open water.
We followed this boat all the way to our dock.

We followed this little guy all the way in too. 

This is a side channel off the main channel.

Check out the cool tile work along the dock here. 

This is our traveling companion, to the right. 

 There is a 90 degree angle at one point called Crash Corner. You have to call “Securite” to announce your entrance into these turns since the channel is so tight. We were not sure what to expect. They need one of those round mirrors you see in parking garages.

We are making the turn.

 Now we are in the next part of the channel. Looks the same, right? Very narrow.

 They grow mooring balls here.

Then they plant them in the ocean. 

 Ocean Divers is a big 5 star PADI dive shop with several dive boats. We ate at the restaurant with the blue railings in the background. Great fish tacos. And we got gas at their dock for an amazing $4.37 a gallon. Unfortunately we were already more than half full but we took advantage anyway.

 Every boat needs a dog.

 Sometimes the little ones get loose on the front deck like this dachshund.

We wandered slowly down the channel following this little boat, not sure where we should go. At the end of the channel is another 90 degree turn that ends in a dead end.

The channel dead ends at hotels. This is the view from our boat at dock. 

As we were figuring out how to make that turn we saw this tall lady waving at us. That was Candy, the Dockmaster for Key Largo Marina. I guess that was the place!

It had been a long day without lunch since the water was so rough so we went to a late lunch early dinner. The pool was amazing but we were so tired we just went for a short walk and then to bed.

Interesting observations about this part of Key Largo:

The African Queen is located here. This is the real boat built in 1912 that was featured in the movie, The African Queen. It has been rebuilt and now is used for tourists.

African Queen

Lots and lots of dive shops on this street.

With the theme of being on the move, early the next morning we were off to Miami Beach. This was a long trip too. The water was much better, thank goodness.

Miami comes into view in the distance

Miami gets closer

This is the channel into Miami Beach

This is South Beach

Lots of traffic - see the cruise ships?

I was looking for Kardashians the whole time!

Smith and Wollensky Restaurant. The dog park is in the
trees on the left

Miami Beach. The water was perfect, the sun was bright, and the boating was good. We both said at the same time, “I hope the run to the Bahamas is this good!”

Miami harbor is really busy. There were lots of cruise ships and pleasure crafts. We stayed at Miami Beach Marina for the ridiculous rate of $4 per foot, by far the most we spent at any marina yet. The municipal marina was $1.25 per foot but they never got back to us about a reservation. In fact, the next day as we pulled into Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach Municipal Marina called to say we could come in that night. Timing is everything, isn’t it?

Miami Beach goes down in the blog books as the most expensive marina, we were the smallest boat, it rocked like crazy, and the office was the most unfriendly of all. Quite a contrast to the lovely  marinas we have visited. Plus Candy at Key Largo set a really high bar for nice and helpful.

We never did make it to South Beach. Rusty couldn’t walk that far. Rusty found a dog park which was nice.

The best part of Miami Beach was seeing Eve and Bill Gribble. They were in town for the Miami Boat Show later in the week so they stopped by. We had a great time at dinner then we went back to the boat for a few drinks. It occurred to us how odd it is that it is warm in the winter. It was cold when Bill and Eve left Cleveland that morning and it was warm in the afternoon. So they were thrilled with the idea of riding with us from Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale!! And we were thrilled to have them!!

Fisher Island - really rich people live there. Only accessible by ferry.

Ferry moving rich people back and forth

Lots of boats - no one knows where they are going

This is a huge commercial port

This is a big boat

The crew of that big boat

It was great to travel with Bill and Eve to Fort Lauderdale. We saw huge boat after huge boat heading to the boat show. Most of them didn't know any more about navigating in the area than we did so the boats were moving in kind of crazy ways, in and out of the channel, in the shallow, too slow or too fast in long lines. 

The architecture was beautiful along the way. We got some great shots of the buildings, huge homes (mostly owned by Shaq in our ongoing travel dialogue), and big boats everywhere.

The rest of this post is pictures - pictures tell the story.

We could see they were starting a big race of some kind as we left Miami.

No one knew where they were going. We headed up a channel past the cruise ships on our port side. Suddenly the coast guard called and ordered us off this channel, saying the channel was closed to recreational vehicles. You can see the little coast guard fellow in the distance in this picture. So we turned around and went down another channel on the south side of the cruise ships. 

So we continued down the other channel, turning north on the other side of the cruise ships. Beautiful buildings.

 Cruise ships from the other side:

In honor of Mike and Judy's son who is a pilot in Virginia, here is a pilot boat in Miami:

The first bridge out of Miami

This guy was really nice - he talked to us!!

Those crazy Miami nuts!

We even have butt crack on this one!!

The second bridge - check out the traffic

Lots of traffic going through

Shallow water = kayakers

Eve and Bill with Kermit enjoying the sunshine

This guy was fishing from 65 feet in the air!!

Shallow water = people playing in the water

Another bridge = more boat traffic

Here are a bunch of places Shaq could live. Check out the sculpture in the yards!

If you live in Miami you play in the water. It was the weekend so might as well!!

These guys must be from Canada - locals said water was too cold at 75 degrees

flying kites

Look closely to see one of the kites is a scuba diver!! See the bird next to it? 

Big boat

Big boats are usually run by crew who wander around
finding things to do like stacking sun mats for the guests

pretty boat!

the blimp visiting for the boat show

looks like the garage was surprised!! 

 The highrise roofs are really beautiful:

 More boat traffic - the view was amazing all the way to Fort Lauderdale:

More houses where Shaq might live: 

This is one of my favorites

A manatee!!

This is the one I want - a little one under the bridge next
to the big ones!

These ladies were looking at manatees - honest

This is the shadow boat for the yacht Allure. A shadow boat stores the supplies for a yacht and brings them out when the yacht calls for them. So this boat probably has spare parts, jet skis, inflatables, water trampelines, extra food and supplies. Everything a rich person needs. Imagine!!

Now we are getting to Hollywood, still colorful and where I would want to stay but not as fancy as Miami or Fort Lauderdale:

They do laundry here

Wild and crazy guys!!

We had lunch at Billy's - very fancy

She is ironing - odd

Huge tow boat - we are closer to Ft Lauderdale now

 We are entering Ft. Lauderdale now. Lots of traffic

 Coolest thing ever - they transport big boats in cargo ships. This is about an 80 foot ship being put into the water!!

This is a state park back there - we visited it in 2011
when we came to the Ft. Lauderdale boat show

As we got closer to Ft. Lauderdale we saw more cruise ships. Lots more cruise ships. Along with cruise ships comes security. We saw coast guard and police. 

 This is what our gps looks like with all the red dots representing boats. So much for Eve and Bill to watch!

Eve and Bill Gribble

Lots of big boats and big houses: 

 Then we arrived at Bahia Mar, our home while we prepare to go to the Bahamas.

Next we prepare to go to Bahamas!!