Treasure Cay – day in the life

NOTE: We have lots of pictures but not Internet strength to load them. We will get them loaded eventually! Stay tuned!!

Once you make the tour of the little shops (think rustic but everything you need), walk on the beach and have a drink at the tiki bar, it is pretty boring.

We get up, have breakfast (usually a big meal for us just cuz), take a nap, KB works (writing, clients), go to beach, walk or ride bikes for a while, read, docktails, dinner, bed – pretty boring.

We cook onboard all the time except for pizza night and one dinner at Green Turtle. I think we might have had a lunch at the tiki hut. We certainly had cocktails during happy hour once. At least I think I remember that!

Pretty tame stuff. But it is done in a gorgeous setting!

The biggest note is the problems with phone and internet. It has been very frustrating. Not like last time. Makes me not want to come back. 

We have taken several day trips and short trips I will share shortly. But enough for now!!

The trip to Treasure Cay

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Crossing from Florida is not the entire travel adventure.

We left West End for a long journey to Great Sale Cay, a long protected beach. We traveled east along the north short of Grand Bahama Island. You can see land most of the way but there is nothing much to see. Mostly scrub. No houses (or very,  very few). No towns.

We were the first 4 boats to arrive at Great Sale that day. This is a major stop for any boats going to and from the Abacos. If the wind is blowing from the south or east you anchor on the west side. We anchored on the west side. Before dark about 10 more vessels anchored with us.

The next day we headed for Green Turtle Cay. We left Great Sale traveling east then headed a little southeast through the channel between Great Abaco Island and the outer islands until we reached Green Turtle Cay, a well-known resort in the Abacos. We stopped there last time. Jim and Joy stayed here two months last time they visited. They never left it was so nice.

When you think “resort” you might be thinking about a big Hyatt in the tropics. This is not a Hyatt. The rooms are small and basic. The grounds are well tended but not like a Hyatt. The people are so friendly. You are there for the weather and the sun. It is like staying in a lodge. I imagine the Poconos used to be like this in the 1950s.

We had dinner at the restaurant at Green Turtle Resort. Libertad went to Bluff House across the way. Lots of boats anchor in the harbor here. We pulled in to a dock instead of anchoring just because we felt like it.

The next day we tackled Whale Cay. Libertad stayed in Green Turtle so it was Good Karma in the lead position, Hush a Bye in second and Jim’s Joy bringing up the end. We took the lead since we were the only ones who had been there before.

The funny thing is you can see Treasure Cay from Green Turtle. You just can’t get there from here because it is too shallow. There is a cut that avoids Whale Cay but it is shallow in all but the highest tide. Supposedly at high tide there is over 5 feet of water in that cut. The trouble is the cut is not visible clearly on the charts. Locals know where it is but as a tourist we don’t really want to take a chance on ruining the running gear over a track that is unclear. So we go the long way around.

Whale Cay is a long narrow strip of volcanic rock protecting the north end of the Abacos from the force of the Atlantic Ocean. You have to go on the outside into the ocean about 2 miles to get around Whale Cay to enter the Abaco Sea to get to Treasure Cay or any of the cool spots in the Abacos.

The whole trip from Green Turtle Cay around Whale Cay to Treasure Cay is less than 15 miles in distance. It takes about 2 to 3 hours the way we travel. But it could be treacherous in the wrong weather conditions. Anything with an N in it is awful because with Whale Cay’s northwest to southeast dimensions you take the wind and waves directly abeam with any wind and waves out of the north. This situation is to be avoided.

We rounded Whale Cay without incident. It was exciting but not dangerous. We rounded the corner into the calm blue waters of the Abaco Sea. And there it was. Treasure Cay. It was like coming home.

Treasure Cay is tucked into a wonderful hurricane hole, protected on three sides by land. It is a resort (think pretty pastel buildings with a rustic feel) with a marina capable of holding about 75 boats including big yachts upwards of 75 to 100 feet. There is a mooring field inside the entrance that can hold about 25 boats. On a normal day like today as I write this there are about 10 to 15 boats. One day when they predicted a big storm that didn’t happen the mooring field stuffed at least 30 to 40 boats in.

Jamal met us at the dock as we tied up. Jim’s Joy went first, then Hush a Bye then we came in last.

Tying up at a dock is a different experience here. The tides are about 1 to 2 feet, not huge but still you tie up loosely to accommodate the rise and fall. Tie up too tight and the boat doesn’t move properly. You could return and find your boat tilted because the water fell and the boat didn’t. Tie up too loosely and Katherine can’t get off the boat.

The trick to keeping it in the right spot, we discovered, was to use the two poles at the entrance to the dock. When we stern in with a port (left) side tie, we cross the two stern lines to keep the boat stable. We have a line from the port stern to the dock side near the swim platform. We have a line from the second port cleat directly to the dock. We use this line to pull the boat in so Katherine can get off.

The most important lines are in the front. On the port (left) side we loop a line around the pole and tie it to the bow cleat. We make this line sort of loose to accommodate the tide. Then we loop a line around the pole and tie it to the front mid-cleat. We make this one tight so the boat doesn’t slide back. 

We do the same on the starboard (right) side. With these two tight lines around the pole to the front mid-cleats, the boat stays pretty stable during tides and doesn’t knock against the dock or the poles.

The electric is metered so we turn off lights and unplug chargers when not in use. Nothing like high fees to make one a conservationist. Water is $12 per day for any day you use water. So we only use water periodically. When we plug in the hose we are likely to fill the holding tanks (100 gallons of water!), take showers and wash the boat. 

As I write this we have been here almost a month and we’ve used water on 4 or 5 occasions. We are clean, don't get me wrong! We just use our water judiciously!!

Heading to the Bahamas

NOTE: We have tons of photos but not the Internet strength to load them. We will load pictures when we can. 

Heading to the Bahamas

We left at o dark 30 in the morning. Literally. It was 6:30am and pitch dark. Our little flotilla of 4 boats turned on the lights and headed south through the ICW around bends, commercial vessels and boats anchored out. It was quite the obstacle course.

Libertad headed out first, then Joe Apasilla, then Jim’s Joy with Good Karma in the rear. All we could see for a while was the light of the boat in front of us. Jim’s Joy’s American flag kept a steady wave that turned his steady stern light into a flasher. On off. On off.

Close to Peanut Island we picked up another boat, Loopers Hush a Bye from Ontario. Hugh and Sherrie. The other Hugh Grant.

We rounded the bend around Peanut Island in Lake Worth headed towards the inlet just as dawn cracked. We stopped in our tracks. This was not the calm crossing we expected!! It looked like Lake Erie on a choppy day. Swells of 3+ feet coming right at us on the nose. Oh boy. We headed out tentatively, sticking our noses out into the ocean, watching the skyline shrink in the background while we bounced and bobbled. Even I was getting seasick. I am getting a little nauseous just writing about it.

The radios started chirping. “I don’t like this.” “The cats just lost it down below. We have quite a mess.” “Are those elephants on the horizon?” This last comment from Kermit.

Elephants on the horizon is sea lingo for the image of big waves in the far distant horizon. As the waves fling themselves in the air it looks like little images of elephant trunks in the air. Close your eyes and imagine this. It is hard to see in the distance but Kermit has eyes of an eagle. As I squinted sure enough in the bright orange light of dawn it looked like little flames or sticks flinging into the air. Those are elephants. This is the image of big waves from the gulf stream hitting the calmer waters that flow next to it.

Again radio chirping. “Let’s see what happens” “Let’s wait a few more minutes.” Kermit admitted that if those were elephants on the horizon that represented the Gulf Stream then this big chop was not going to calm down any time soon.

We decided to turn back. Libertad decided to stay the course. His boat is bigger. He has stabilizers (not sure exactly what are stabilizers but I know that people nod their head knowingly, acknowledging that a boat with stabilizers can withstand greater punishment, bounce and chop than mere mortal boats). The rest of us turned around careful to avoid a breach (when the waves hit the boat on the side which can make the boat unstable, potentially causing a collapse – not good). We put on the gas and arrived safely back in Lake Worth by Peanut Island where it was calm and safe.

Joe and his wife decided it was not worth it. They gave up the idea of the Bahamas and decided to go to Fort Myers. Somehow I think he had the right idea.

Hush a Bye went back to his anchorage south of Peanut Island. Jim’s Joy and Good Karma pulled into docks right by Peanut Island at Rivera Beach. We thought we might pull out the dinghys and explore around Peanut Island. They have an underground bunker built for President Kennedy in case of nuclear disaster. Might be fun.

We pulled in just fine although there was quite a current. After we got all tied up we discovered there was no Internet. Not acceptable. So we untied and made our way back to our old slips at North Port Marina. Probably they wouldn’t even know we were gone!

The next morning we left at o dark 30 again. Same maneuvers only this time without Joe Apasilla and his wife. We picked up Hush a Bye again at the mouth of the inlet. The water was pretty calm, 1 to 2 foot waves coming out of the south east right on our front right hand side. This was acceptable. No elephants on the horizon. We were good to go.

On a long journey like this the hardest part is the boredom. It is always longer than you think. You lose site of land after about 1.5 hours and don’t see land for 6 hours more. After an hour or so the depth gauge stops registering because you are in water deeper than 1000 feet. It feels like you are in a bath toy bobbing along the top of the water.

Finally land ho!! It feels like Columbus must have felt. One wrong move and the boat is heading to Africa so it is no mean feat to actually hit the piece of land you intended to find.

West End Bahamas

We pulled in to Bahama Bay Marina in West End on Grand Bahama Island. If you take a bus south you will reach Freeport or Lucana where many visitors think of when they think of the Bahamas. 

West End is the north tip of Grand Bahama Island. It is a beautiful resort (I use that word loosely). There are hotel rooms built 4 units to a building, all painted bright Bahama pastel colors facing the most beautiful turquoise water you’ve ever seen.

After paying our customs fees we went for a walk on the beach. I found a hammock. It was heaven. 

BTW they never asked for Jack Cat’s papers!! I put him through that excitement at the vet for nothing!!

We bought lobsters from the lobster man and had a feast on the beach. It was a good day!

Travel from Fort Pierce to North Palm Beach

NOTE:  We have a bunch of photos but can't load them right now. I will load them when the Internet is better!!

The trip to North Palm Beach was uneventful. Beautiful weather and flat water as we wound our way through the Indian River ICW south.

We waved at the Dolphin Restaurant we visited with Bunny and Evan. We noted the cut off for the entrance to the canal to Fort Myers. We noted a bunch of bridges including a few 20-24 foot bridges we slipped under nicely. We noted some inlets including some that looked pretty sanded in.

In Jupiter we kept our eyes peeled for Tiger Wood’s house. I think I took a picture of every house I saw but nothing matched the photos available on Google Maps. I think I found it though – a big white houses behind huge hedges with security cameras on tall poles. Nothing else came close.

We finally arrived at North Port Marina in late afternoon. This is a very expensive, very fancy marina. Big boats everywhere. It is shocking to us that our 44 foot is often the small boat in the marina. Not so in Lake Erie but here, wow, where does all this money come from?

At the end of our dock at the t-head was a spectacular 80 Hatteras enclosed bridge sport fish. Wow, it was 3 stories high worth multiple millions. It blocked out the sun. In fact, it was so big and just the color of Kermit’s t-shirt that he pretty much blended in to the background!

This place is also God’s waiting room with retirees everywhere. Average age probably 75. This place is surrounded by high rise condos. Each one has a swimming pool in the middle filled with wrinkly old people and the occasional grandchild. At the end of the peninsula are some 2 story condos that face the water directly. These must be the mega bucks.

I took a walk around the entire complex. It took almost an hour!

I saw a water skier in Lake Worth! We haven’t see a water skier in ages. We also saw mega yachts galore.

We found Tiger Wood’s yacht, Privacy. The yacht name makes it even more likely that the mansion with the big privacy hedge and security cameras is probably Tiger’s house.

We also watched a docking demonstration from a huge yacht docking next to the clubhouse using only his bow and stern thrusters to move a huge yacht into a t-dock.

We stayed at Port North Marina for two days until the weather was perfect for the crossing. 

Last minute decision to leave Florida

NOTE: We have a bunch of pictures but they won't load at this time. I will load them when the internet is better. 

When traveling to the Bahamas or making any crossing of a large body of water, timing is everything. You wait and wait until you find the absolutely perfect weather day. Otherwise your crossing is rough and no one is happy.

Kermit manages this process while I pretty much fret since I don’t like sudden changes. Kermit checks about five different weather sources: Weather Underground, SailFlow, Windy-T, NOAA, passage maker, and several boating prognosticators that specialize in the large body of water we are planning to cross.

We started looking for a weather window around February 20. We have to be back in Florida by the first or second week in April to start heading north so we wanted the most time possible in the Bahamas. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. You never want to make that crossing when the wind has any “North” in it all on the day you travel or the day before or the day after you travel. It is just not worth it.

We planned to make the crossing from Lake Worth FL near North Palm Beach. Last time we left from Fort Lauderdale. The goal is to cross from a bit south of our target and let the Gulf Stream help us most north east. This gives us an extra 3+ knots of movement from the water, adding to the 9mph or so we usually travel. So we needed to travel about 30 miles from Fort Pierce to Lake Worth in one day then leave the next so we needed several days in a row of good weather. That doesn’t come cheap.

This requires planning. Our little gang included Jim and Joy Pankey on Jim’s Joy, the Apasallas and Bob and Dorie Arrington on Liberdad, a 55 Ocean Alexander, all of us based in Fort Pierce for the winter. They travel with two adorable female Portugese water dogs. We met for a picnic dinner in January to plan the attack.

Then we waited. And we waited. No sense leaving our comfortable base in Fort Pierce too early just to sit around in much more expensive dockage in Lake Worth. It is only a one day trip down to Lake Worth anyway.

Finally the window looked to be open in the last week of February. On Kermit’s birthday February 28 we left Fort Pierce.

But making the decision to leave is different than actually finishing the preparation. We made the decision to leave on February 27 by noon which meant Joy Pankey and I had to scamper to get the final shopping done. Again, you can’t do this too far in advance or you eat your provisions. So you wait until the last minute and run like heck.

Kermit tested the generator early on February 27, another necessary part of final prep. We had been at Fort Pierce since 12/1 and had not used the generator in two months. We didn’t want to discover something was wrong with the generator while we were anchored out in the middle of nowhere.

Kermit started it up and POOF. It died. Oh boy. This is bad. An impeller on the generator fried. The guy who changed the impellers on the generator and diesels during normal maintenance in January evidently did not check his work. He did not open the through hull necessary to cool the impeller. 

This is a BIG deal. He would have discovered this problem if he started the generator before packing up his supplies and leaving at the end of the day. But no, he was in a big hurry and now, the day before we were leaving the generator is out of commission.

Kermit put in an emergency call to the guy, got him out of bed or something. The guy responded a few hours later. He could not find the part!! AWKKKK!! Kermit sent me to West Marine but of course they didn’t have the part.

Kermit found the old impeller. I guess he makes a habit of keeping some old parts that appear to be in working order. The mechanic made a special trip and installed the old impeller to. I guess he makes a habit of keeping some old parts that appear to be in working order. The mechanic made a special trip and installed the old impeller to start the generator. That was a relief!

In the meantime I was running around like a crazy lady. In four hours I went to the liquor store (3 big bottles of crown!), Target for a storage idea to maximize space in the fridge, Total Wine (2 cases of wine!), Publix (groceries!), BJs (meat and other stuff!). I came back in the dark. We filled 2 dock carts with our supplies. Not as bad as Pankeys who needed 7 dock carts! But they plan to be in the Bahamas for 3 months compared to our 1 month.

We spent the night putting stuff away in our updated storage system. The boat looked trim and neat! We were finally ready.

PS: Jim and Joy spent the better part of the night stowing their 7 dock carts of provisions. However they appear to be the smarter of us all because I started running out of provisions 3 weeks into the Bahamas adventure and Joy hasn’t made a dent!

Birthdays and travel

Both Kermit and I have birthdays in February, mine at the beginning of the month and Kermit at the end.

NOTE: We have a ton of pictures but they won't load right now. I will load them when I can. In the meantime, no sense holding up the posts.

For my birthday we went to a movie in Stuart then to dinner in Conky Joes along the ICW in Jensen Beach. It was a wonderful day!

Conky Joe’s is one of those old time fish shacks all over the Florida coast. At least the east coast. Marissa and I found one in Melbourne when she visited. This one is built right over the water with a bar in front and the restaurant with isinglass windows in the back on the water. There are docks that extend out into the ICW in case we want to stop in, although I think Good Karma will dwarf those docks.

We spent Kermit’s birthday in West Palm Beach at North Port Marina, our last stop prior to crossing to the Bahamas. We had a celebratory dinner with our travel companions that we talk about in the blog about crossing to the Bahamas. It was a nice quiet day of boating to celebrate!

The Dolphin in Jensen Beach

One day in February we called Bunny and Evan to go for a boat ride to test the auto pilot. Unfortunately that trip revealed that the problem still existed. Ivan the Auto Pilot was still fussy, wandering all over.

So we steered ourselves and traveled south down the ICW which is the Indian River down here to Jensen Beach, just past Conky Joe’s to Dolphin, Frances Langford’s resort and restaurant. You can see the blue and white stripes of this restaurant from a long ways away.

Frances Langford was a singer and actress from the 40s. If you didn’t know who she was before you visited the restaurant, you sure did afterwards. This is a log cabin type place, pretty rustic with a huge fireplace. You smelled the smoke when you walked in, like walking into a smokehouse. But that is part of the charm. The food was good.

After lunch we walked through the restaurant to read the posters and notes posted all over the entry way. Actually we are familiar with Frances Langford from other ways. Before she died in the early 2000s, we would see her yacht, Chanticleer, anchored in Put-in-Bay as she traveled north to the North Channel at the top of Lake Huron.

Frances Langford was married to the fellow who founded a famous boat engine. She had the place in Jensen Beach and he had a place in the North Channel at Baie Fin. We visited Bay Fin in 2014 and anchored outside of her home in the bay. That was a rustic log type place too.

The Dolphin had the main lodge and a bunch of “cabins” placed around the property. Plenty of celebrities visited The Dolphin. They say that Jackie Gleeson requested Cabin #1 for his frequent visits because it was closest to the bar!

Paul and Maeo Bates visit

In late January Paul and Maeo Bates visited from their snowbird hangout in Sebring FL. We visited the Stuart Boat Show with the Bates and the Pankeys. We met up with Dick and Dee from Sareanna and Darrel and Lisa from Why Knot. This is a really big boat show. 

We found a beautiful boat that Kermit pursued a little. It was about 60 feet and 18 feet wide, custom designed for a shipping family in Florida. The boat was flagged for Bahamas and the US. It was definitely a live about with a big salon and a custom kitchen. It had two berths, a V berth forward and a huge aft cabin aft with two heads, one with a toilet and sink and another across the cabin with a full shower and sink. The aft cabin had a closet that extended at least 8 feet across the center of the room. There was a beautiful window and an access door across the back so you could slip out onto the back deck. 

But that wasn't the only back deck. There was a sitting deck on the salon level big enough to comfortably accomodate a party of about 20 with seating for at least 10 and a real Jenn-Air grill built in. It had all sorts of cool features like blue lava countertops in the heads and kitchen. This stuff is found in France at about $300 per square foot!! Each sink is different because the lava is different shades of Caribean blue. Cabinets were built in with enough storage in the kitchen area to fit my entire Ohio kitchen. No more convection microwave for me!! 

I bet we were on that boat for at least 30 minutes. Kermit talked to the salesman at least 3 or 4 times in the following weeks. Now THAT is a live aboard. Best part, comparable boats were only priced a little more than Good Karma because it was from the early 1990s. Very tempting. In the end we decided to come back to the real world and stay with the boat that Kermit has worked so hard to customize to our needs. But every time that auto pilot gives out we say, "Wow, we could be on that boat with the blue lava countertops!"

Paul and Maeo came back to visit one day later in the January and we took them out to the jetty. Kermit wanted to show Paul that Fort Pierce is a wonderful alternative for wintering. 

It was another windy day but we saw lots of birds, a couple prepping their catch to the delight of the pelicans. 

We watched the tide come in and out. It was nice being with old friends. 

·       Bob and Judy Babik – North Port FL 

In late January / early February we decided to visit friends on the West Coast of Florida. Everything was going fine with plans in place when we had a sudden change in plans due to weather. Boy, that weather really impacts a lot of things. Anyway, we had to change our plans and missed a few folks, particularly the folks from Trinity UCC. We will try to circle back in April if they are still in Florida but like most snowbirds they are probably gone already. 

We headed out directly west from Fort Pierce on US 70, pretty much a two lane road passing an orange truck. I didn't really understand what is between the west coast and the east coasts of Florida. Well, it is scrub, oranges, and a lot of cowboys. We saw signs for bears. No bears but we saw their crossing signs. They had to be there somewhere!

We stopped for lunch in Arcadia at A's Giant Sandwich Shop because it seemed local and got good reviews on Yelp. This was a diner, probably smaller than a diner but the sandwiches were wonderful. The place was filled with locals (ok maybe 6 or 7 people) who drove huge pickup trucks with real bales of hay in the back and said stuff like, "Hey Joe" and "yup" and "yes ma'am". Evidently this is a town with a lot of money, lots of crackers, and lots of agriculture. It was a taste of a completely different world!

First stop was to visit Bob and Judy Babik, old boating friends from Canton. We haven't talked to them in years. But the minute we walked in the door it was like being home again. We talked and talked and talked. They made a wonderful steak dinner and we talked some more. Then we went to bed and talked some more over breakfast. It was wonderful catching up. We will never let that much time lapse again!! Thank you for your hospitality!!

·        Next stop was brunch with gold loopers in Fort Myers, right across the street from Laura and Ross's house. We saw Patsy Conrad and Joyce and Bob from Carried away and met three other couples. We were the junior loopers in the group so we just listened a lot to these experienced boaters. I think we might try the loop again. Evidently there is more to see than we saw. 

Next stop, Fort Myers Beach to have drinks with Skip and Eileen from Mentor Harbor Yacht Club. We see these folks a lot in Put-in-Bay where we often run into them at Miller's and at the Pat Dailey Show. We had dinner at a really cool beach front place around the corner from their condo that they didn't even know was there! It was another one of those beach shacks right on the water with ambiance and style and great drinks. 

Then it was back to Fort Pierce for the evening. 

·         Eileen and Skip – Ft. Myers Beach

Jack goes to the Vet

Everyone entering a foreign country needs a passport. Even the animals. Rusty had a passport when he went to the Bahamas. Jack needs one too.

So in early January I set out to find a vet. This is harder than it sounds. Do you just open the telephone book and pick out a name? Or do you just go to the vet on the corner? I think not.

I did some research. Finally not knowing who to trust, I drove down to the local emergency vet and asked their recommendation. They suggested the vet on the corner. Who knew?

I pulled out the paper work and got an appointment. On the appointed day I shoved Jack in his box and off we went.

Everything was fine when we arrived. Jack and I were calm. He looked around. Said hello quietly. We were ushered into the examining room, no problem. The vet came in and said hello. Jack weighs a little under 10 pounds.

Everything seemed fine. Until, that is, the vet reached in to touch Jack. At first Jack was uncomfortable. Then he spit a little. Then he hit. Then he turned into Jack the Hellcat we all know and love!!

At one point the vet caught Jack by the back of his neck and lifted him off the table. I asked why? He said, “Because I need to look at his belly and I don’t want to touch him.” Oh Lord!

The bad part came when we all realized that since Jack hasn’t had shots since he was a puppy (he is 17 now) he needs a full set of shots. Three shots in all. To a hellcat.

I put him back in his box while they went to get the shots ready. When I dumped him on the table they (the vet and 2 techs) captured him with towels and held him down on the table. He was yelling at the top of his lungs. They were hold on to him for their lives. Three shots seemed to take forever because Jack was wiggling around so much and screaming like they were killing him!!

They needed a stool sample. They quickly suggested that anything from his litter box would be just fine. No one wanted to invade Jack in that way!!

But Jack survived! He quieted down immediately when I dumped him in his box!! He is a good kitty. 

Favorite breakfasts at Captains Galley, Fort Pierce FL

Favorite breakfasts at Captains Galley

I love breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day!! Since we are on a budget we cannot go out to eat very frequently. But breakfast is another story.

Captain’s Galley is different. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. We haven’t been there for lunch because breakfast is too wonderful. They have a special: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of meat (bacon, ham, or sausage), home fries or grits, and 2 pancakes.

I realize when I write this that the description seems pedestrian. I could be describing Denny’s or IHOP. But I am not. This is special.

The eggs are perfectly cooked. I get them scrambled well and they come out crispy, piping hot. I swear you get at least 3 eggs. Kermit gets his over medium and he can attest that 2 eggs is actually 3 eggs.

L to R seated: Jim Pankey, Joy Pankey, Bill Gribble
Eve Gribble, Back row: Kermit and katherine

The meat and potatoes are ok. The pancakes are TO DIE FOR! The owners (originally from Ohio of course!) order their flour specially ground for them from Ohio. It is delicious. Sort of like the pancakes at the original Perkins in Sandusky. Not the regular chain owned places but the original place that uses a different, yellower flour that has a touch of corn meal in it. YUM!!

The best part? All this for $5.97 per person including coffee. It can’t be beat. We can get out of there with enough food to keep us happy until dinner for $20. Such a deal. 

We have eaten out a few times with Bunny and Evan and at their house a few times, with Michael and Judy, Bill and Eve and with the whole gang while at Fort Pierce. We prefer cooking on board and hosting friends. So much more fun that way!

We had a great time at Fort Pierce's first attempt at a Taste of Fort Pierce. On the roof of the 3 story parking garage about 10 different restaurants offered a tasting of liquor or food. We particularly enjoyed the local brewery's offering of a spicy beer. I'd get a bunch more of that but they only brew in small batches.

It was so windy we about blew off the roof... and our plates with it! I think they reported gusts of at least 30 to 40 mph, a tiny little tropical storm, with bright sunny skies. Plus it was cold, in the 40s. We all wished we had gloves. But the warm food was welcome.

Walking around Fort Pierce – Cracker horses in Ft. Pierce

When in Fort Pierce we walk almost every morning. Or at least as often as we can get out. Not Kermit. He is usually sleeping. But two or three women we met. Judy Hechtkopf from One September for sure. Occasionally Joy Pankey from Jim’s Joy although she doesn’t come out too often. Dorie Arrington from LIberdad a few time. And a new friend, Judith Montgomery from Tres Bien out of Peterborough, Ontario.

We talk and walk for between 30 and 60 minutes at about 8am. Sometimes we walk over the bridge to Hutchinson Island. Sometimes we walk south along the water to this really cool park commemorating the first fort in Fort Pierce. Other times we walk around the arcade or zig zag through the streets in the old town. Sometimes I walk alone just to clear my head but I walk longer and farther when I am with someone else.

Judy and I are best matched because she walks really fast and despite her short height we have the same pace. Walking with Judith is really funny because she has short legs so I have to slow down a little but she has a lot of stamina so I walk slower and longer with her. It is a good way to get exercise!

This is the cracker horse

Judith also gets a lot of company. Her better half, Gordon, spent the winter in Ontario so Judith had a lot of friends stopping by for weeks on end. Usually her friends preferred to sleep in so we went early before they got up.

You never know what you are going to see that early in the morning while walking around. We see lots of boats and pretty sunrises over the bridge. We met some interesting dogs and a few cars for sale when we got south along the coast. We watch the trains when we cross the big bridge over the tracks just south of the old town. On Saturday we always end up at the huge Farmer’s Market that takes up over 2 square blocks by the marina.

One morning when we crossed the big bridge to the south of town we saw horse trailers pulling up into the empty lot along US 1. As we walked closer the folks started unloading some of the most beautiful horses. Evidently we stumbled on a horse parade about to happen later that morning at the Farmer’s Market.

These are cracker horses. Not all of them but a few of them. These folks come all the way from Bradenton, stopping every night to rest the horses after riding through towns across the state. Later when we were talking about it, folks we know where stalled while the horses slowed traffic as they traveled.

But we just enjoyed the show! You never know what you will find. 

Dinghy in Fort Pierce FL

Dinghy rides – with Michael and Judy, then to Bunny and Evan’s house

We were tired of sitting around. On a sunny day in January we unloaded the dinghy for the first time in over a month to look around with Michael and Judy from One September. It took a while to get the dinghy down and out. Our stern in tie in a dock just big enough for us made it tough.

Yup, we slipped our dinghy between
Good Karma and those posts on the right

We launched the boat well enough then squeaked our way between the dock posts and our neighbors to freedom in the fairway. Thank goodness the neighbors were gone while we bounced between boats in that narrow space!

We were looking for a cut into the mangrove forest that led to a local bar. It was a beautiful day so we headed down the channel towards the inlet. The current is pretty fast as the tide goes out. It can get up to 3 to 5 mph current. We flew down the channel, past the bars and marinas waving at boats and enjoying the sunshine.

We found a shallow cut. Several small boats were sunning themselves in the shallows. Another boat ahead of us turned around – water too shallow – but we persevered. Unfortunately it was a dead-end. 

Mike and Judy getting a talking to from the Coast Guard!

Or rather a circle route. That took us back to the beginning of the channel. We didn’t find the bar but we did find one of our favorite restaurants right on the water. We docked the boat in a hellacious current and enjoyed dinner and cocktails with Michael and Judy.

The little bar we wanted to find

Afterwards we tried again to find that little bar. We went further down the ICW past the bridge to Hutchinson Island North, turned right (east) and down a ways that there it was! A little local bar next to a boat ramp. We haven’t stopped there yet but we know where it is.

That little  bar we wanted to find

On the way back to our marina zipping along at full speed doing a little racing to prove our little 20 hp 2 stroke engine is tops, we noticed a police boat. Sure enough it was Coast Guard. They stopped Michael and Judy while we sped ahead! Our dinghy is faster. The Coast Guard sent a message that WE needed to slow down too. No tickets, just a warning this time!!

We’ve taken the dinghy out a few other times. We toured the channel to Hutchinson Island North one time and a couple of times we went back to wave at Bunny and Evan in the Colonnades. It is nice to get off the boat and go do something different.

Bunny and Evan's place, 3rd floor center
We used to have the place on the 3rd floor far left

These are the docks in front of Bunny and Evan's place;
We had the condo 3rd floor on the right, sold in 2008,
part of our Good Karma

Visiting Treasure Museum with Marissa in January 2016

Marissa came to visit in January at the end of her winter break from her MBA program at Washington University in St. Louis. She flew in to Orlando. They have the best food court and waiting areas at that airport. They better. It is really busy with lots of little kids coming and going to and from Disney. 

After collecting her we headed east towards the coast. Instead of heading directly home we decided to get a bite at a restaurant on the water. We didn’t have a place in mind, just something on the water. We used Yelp and kept a look out for a likely spot, passing numerous Yelp suggestions until landing at a shack along the ICW off of Cocoa Beach. Boy, was it nice. We even saw dolphins right off the patio.

We took the long way home down US 1 through all the little towns between Melbourne and Fort Pierce, watching the sunset, spotting some bagel shops (who knew?), stopping at Target cuz why not, and stopping at the grocery store for supplies. On the way home we drove past the US Navy Seal Museum, still haven’t been there, and a small sign that said, “Treasure Museum”. Now THAT is a place we had to come back to.

The next day we headed out early in the morning (usually not before 11am, I have to be honest) to pick up bagels in Melbourne and find that treasure museum just south of Vero Beach.

Fort Pierce is just about in the middle of Stuart and Vero Beach, two quite wealthy communities focused on boating and rich old people. Fort Pierce has a much better marina but is kind of an odd town, a little scuzzy around the edges after you leave the historical district in the old town where the city marina is located.

All three of these towns are located on the west side of the Indian River (the ICW) and both have related communities on the eastern side of the Indian River along the ocean. The treasure museum is located on those outer banks between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean, south of Vero Beach and just north of the bridge back to the mainland north of Fort Pierce.

The ocean elicits many reactions. We love the beautiful water, the color, the sound, the smell. We love boating on it and swimming in it. But the ocean also hides many secrets.

In the 1500s Portugal and Spain were already heavily raiding Central America and Mexico for treasure. One king really wanted to be married to his betrothed, a princess from an Italian state. She made many demands for a huge dowry and the king was really eager so he gave orders to his plunderers to bring back this huge dowry FAST. They collected all sorts of goodies: gold, silver and precious jewels from as far away as the Orient. Many ships brought the treasure to Panama area where it was trucked and boated to a consolidation site near Cuba. It was loaded onto about a bunch of big ships (at least 11) carrying almost 1000 people too for fast transport back to Spain.

The king’s eagerness for a bride made the Captains overeager to please. They set sail late in the year despite weather warnings. As they rounded the Straits of Florida into the Gulf Stream a hurricane blew up. The ships were blown west into the shoals off Fort Pierce. Almost all ships were destroyed hundreds of people lost their lives.

The few survivors gathered on the beach between what is now Fort Pierce / Hutchinson Island on the outer banks and Vero Beach. They gathered as much of the treasure as they could salvage. They built a little shelter against the sun but the bad weather and mosquitos eventually got most of them. 

Eventually the powers that be figured out that the fleet was lost and set out to find them. Another set of ships set off to Central America and the Orient to replace the precious dowry so the king could eventually get married. The salvaged treasure and the few remaining people were picked up by a ship from Cuba and taken home.

What a fantastic story! We wouldn’t know about that story at all if it wasn’t for a guy in the 1950s with a metal detector found some Spanish coins in the sand between Vero Beach and Fort Pierce. He found more coins, then a bowl then some more stuff. Caught by the treasure hunting bug, he made a viewer out of a glass bottom bucket and found more stuff while leaning out of a boat close to shore.

I bet you can guess the rest! He and a few friends joined up with a real treasure hunter, Mel Fisher (remember him from your visits to Key West). The new corporation started hunting and found the wreck of the fleet in the 1960s. They are still bringing up treasure.

This little museum stands on the hill overlooking the beach where the fleet went down in that hurricane in 1507. It is filled with cool relics like coins, plates, and parts of ships. A forty minute movie shares the history. Gosh I love those movies!

The best part if wandering down to the beach where you can look out over that wild ocean to imagine the terror of those passengers as the big wind and waves hit that terrible night so many centuries ago. Miles and miles of bleak ocean and bare beach. Must have been terrifying. But the museum was great!!

Kermit loses a tooth

Kermit has been having a tough time with teeth over the last five years. He has crowns and implants. Now he has a hole.

It was a simple piece of broccoli at a Chinese restaurant. Nothing hard or strenuous like a bagel. Just a piece of broccoli. But Kermit’s tooth cracked badly. The molar, second from the back on the top. He was not comfortable but it didn’t hurt. He thought maybe they could glue it together with super glue or something.

Dick Shephard and Evan Evans recommended some dentists in the area. We visited one. After a 40 minute exploration the dentist suggested it would take $5200 to fix that tooth as well as another tooth he thought was a problem. Kermit figured he saw us coming. We needed a second opinion.

A little computer research revealed a guy in Vero Beach and Fort Pierce with a bunch of great reviews and a great pedigree including some teaching experience. Kermit called even though it was Sunday. Fifteen minutes later the office called back! Kermit had an appointment for the next day.

It was raining Jacks and Rustys (cats and dogs!) that morning. I went with in case Kermit needed someone to drive him home. They were in the office for a long time before the verdict came back. The tooth could not be saved. No amount off super glue would fix this tooth. Kermit had two choices: implant or bridge. Both choices required that the tooth be pulled. A crown wouldn’t work.

So Kermit had a tooth pulled right there. It took forever – at least an hour. The dentist said it was the worst extraction in a long time. Naturally Kermit didn’t ask to be put asleep. I am not sure what he was thinking. He sat in that chair for over an hour while the guy pulled and poked and chipped away until it came out. Poor baby. He was shaken.

I poured the little guy into the car and got 4 prescriptions filled. Kermit laid around for days, uncomfortable and in pain while the tooth healed. A week later we returned for a checkup. 

Everything is healing fine.

Kermit needs to get a bridge when we return to Ohio. Maybe with Sara in Columbus? Who know!!

It is difficult to have any kind of emergency when you are away from home. Now that we live on the boat our “home” is not near our usual support team. We figure it out as we go along.

Same thing with Kermit’s regular prescription. He only takes one pill but he can only get one month supply at a time. His Canton based doctor gave him three months last time so Kermit is cobbling together prescription renewals with visits back to Ohio.

This week (March 25, 2016) we visited Marsh Harbor the second largest city in the Bahamas. We visited here before in 2013 when the Vellucci’s and Lipka’s joined us for a week. This time when we visited we anchored in the harbor and walked into town. Kermit found a pharmacist so we went back to the boat and got his bottle. This pharmacist agreed to fill the prescription for 60 days based on the bottle. Isn’t that nice?

We rely on the kindness of strangers including medical professionals as we float around!

Catching up with Kermit and Katherine on Good Karma March 2016

I realize it has been ages since I've written. I would love to give a lot of excuses but I don't have any good ones. We have been having a wonderful time though, be assured of that.

I have a lot of catching up to do so I will do it in the next few blog posts. This is just a notice that more is coming right now!!!

Kermit boat repairs:

Kermit is very busy repairing the boat, puttering about every day making sure Good Karma stays in good shape. Here are some of the things he has done in the last few months.

Lights: Replaced 37 halogen lights with LED

Sound: Installed a Fusion radio and speakers on bridge. We have great sound now!

Shower sump repair. Kermit usually uses Edge gel when he shaves. He switched to Barbasol just to try it. Suddenly the shower sump was acting up. He switched back to Edge and it got a little better. Eventually even switching away from Barbasol didn’t help that sump. It kept running and running making a funny whining noise. Something had to be done.

So he pulled out the cushions and moved the mattress to get to that section under the bed where the pumps are located. He has to lay on his stomach with his head and shoulders in this big hole with arms outstretched. Anything dropped while working on this project gets lost in the bilge. Risky business. Also there are head hazards all around. Every time Kermit works in this particular hold he bonks his head. He did again when fixing the sump.

Anyway, he pulled out the old sump pump and found a huge glob of something disgusting. I am not even going to try to guess what all was in there but he cleaned it out, washed it up and put it back in place. The sump pump works like a charm, whooshing away the water from the shower and rear head sink like magic.

Overboard pump out. Kermit took the boat over to Cracker Boy Marina on the other side of the bridge. They discovered they didn’t have to put in a through hull because for some reason we had a through hull that no one was using. Don’t ask. So the plumber came and installed the plumbing that allows us to pollute the beautiful Abaco Sea while we are in the Bahamas. When will they install pump out systems in the Bahamas?

Engaged a diver in North Palm Beach.  When we traveled south from Fort Pierce to North Palm Beach before crossing to the Bahamas, we realized we lost almost 300 rpm from our cruise speed. We figured it was from barnacles so Kermit engaged a diver to go look. The bottom still looks great! But barnacles were growing on the props and shafts. Down here in salt water you have to paint the running gear with an ablative bottom paid. We don’t have to do that in the Great Lakes. Next time we pull the boat we will make sure to paint the running gear. In the meantime we have to get a diver every few months to scrap the crud off the running gear.

Actually that was a pretty funny story. We got a name from the marina for a diver. On our way back from the office we saw a couple of divers walking back to their trucks. You can tell they are divers because they are wearing wet suits (your first clue) and they look like divers (kind of rough). Kermit stopped one and asked for a card. Then he called both services. We got a good price from the guy recommended by the marina. The other service said she would have someone come by and look. About 30 minutes later she called and gave us a price for just the props and shafts. Evidently the diver had been under our boat checking on conditions and we didn’t even have a clue. We went with that service!

Cleaning: Kermit washes the boat every few days because it gets covered with salt just from sitting in the wind. The bikes are getting all eaten up from salt even though they are in protected bags. That salt is nasty!

Update on auto pilot. It still wanders at slow speeds like 6-7 mph with wind and waves behind you. We l had problems with the autopilot in the Bahamas even after Garmin sent people out for hours upon hours in Fort Pierce. It was very frustrating.

We were racking our brain to figure out what might be different to push Ivan the auto pilot off kilter. 

We recalled that Eve Gribble once mentioned that their auto pilot got messed up when she put metal hangers in her closet. When she removed the metal hangers the auto pilot worked again.

We went over all parts of the aft cabin and head to find out what might be interfering with the auto pilot. Remember last time Garmin was on board they discovered that the flux gate compass head critical to giving the auto pilot it’s direction was located in the top of the aft cabin head next to a light fixture. We think the magnets in the light fixture were messing with the auto pilot’s head. So it can be something very small that causes a big problem. We put on our detective hats.

One day while sitting on the back of the boat with a cocktail Kermit reviewed in his mind the steps he took while repairing the sump pump. He realized that the hydraulic drive cylinder was also located in that same general area as the sump pump. Could there be a relationship between the two? He went to look.

Kermit pulled out the cushions again and got on his stomach with his head and arms back in that small compartment to take a look. He saw something funny. The whole cylinder was missing. Two caps, one right, one left. The one on the right side was missing completely. There was a spring hanging out of the hole where the cap should be. The little spring was hanging by its last fingernail. 

He put the spring back in the hole then looked for the cap. With his flashlight he spied the little cap, the size of a dime on the bilge floor. He went in almost waist deep to pick the cap up. He tightened the cap with the spring inside.

This last time we took the boat out miracle of miracles the auto pilot works perfectly! Evidently replacing the spring and that cap made all the difference!

If Kermit hadn’t been sitting there ruminating on the problem over a cocktail and if he hadn’t gone to look at that particular minute then it is very possible that the spring would have finally worked its way out and along with the cap would have been lost forever in the bilge. He wouldn’t have known that anything was out of place and he might never have found the auto pilot problem.

The moral of the story is: never skip a chance to have a cocktail!

Fixing storage in Good Karma's front 2 cabins

When you live in a small space anything out of place is either lost or makes a mess. We had a mess in our third cabin and in the v-berth. You don’t have to know much about boats to see what I mean. This is not acceptable.

I had been using a bunch of tubs in the 3^rd cabin but it was hard to see or remember what was in each tub. Sometimes I would crawl back there and say, “Gee, I didn’t know we had that.” Or “I thought for sure we brought along…”

Mess in the 3rd cabin - WOW

Mess in the front closet -
Don't open that door!

 In the big closet in the v-berth we had the clothes we didn’t wear often as well as some bags and storage stuff. It was like that funny old closet in the olden days where the door opened and everything fell out. We didn’t open the door often so the stuff we used more frequently ended up on the v-berth bed. More mess.

There had to be a better way. I researched a bit at The Container Store online. I could have the stuff delivered in a few days. Or I could just drive down to the store in Boca Raton. One day we had nothing to do so we loaded up the truck and off we went.

Boca Raton is almost 1.5 hours south of Fort Pierce. I know it looks closer on the map but for some reason it takes a while. Boca Raton is like a different world compared to Fort Pierce. Very swanky, lots of fancy cars. We found The Container Store pretty easily in a fancy mall just west of the expressway.

We pulled stuff out of the front close
It looks like a lot of stuff, doesn't it?

I highly recommend a visit to one of these places. It is like heaven for the organizationally challenged! We walked in with a list. But a nice lady met us at the door and asked if she could help. Sure, why not. We explained our problem and told her what we had on the list. But she had a better idea. “No, that won’t work for you. You need this stuff.” Down a few isles and around a corner. This is a big store. Suddenly angels were singing and spotlights shone on the perfect solution to our storage problems!

Pulled stuff out of the 3rd bedroom

We bought two sets of these wire baskets, three drawers each, strong stuff with small holes. You can see in but the stuff won’t fall out. Each drawer is big enough to hold the containers we use to replace paper and keep our food stuff fresh. Perfect!!

While we were on a roll, we asked for ideas about our front closet, the one where stuff falls out when we open the door. The nice lady took us to the other side of the store where she showed us sturdy baskets that stack. Each basket can hold 110 pounds. These baskets can be stacked 4 or 5 deep. So we bought 4.

I couldn’t wait to get home with our goodies!!

We pulled everything out of the 3^rd cabin first. We emptied all the tubs too, grouping items by frequency of use and topic so like was with like. We had plenty of room for several tubs and both shelving systems. The question was how to organize our tools to optimize space and reduce sliding while underway.

Jack is not happy to lose his hidey hole

We ended up folding the two mattresses in half and shoving them into the far corner with the center pieces shoved on top. Now they are out of the way. We didn’t want to get rid of the mattresses because someday we might want to use this as a cabin again. But for now we have given up the idea that someone will be sleeping in this small, coffin like room.

This left us with a wide expanse n the inside wall and a shorter expanse on the outside wall with a little built-in shelf. First went the stuff we don’t use frequently: the pressure cookers, the slow cookers and a few small vases. Then a tub with purses and briefcases. Then a tub with the few work related books I kept and a big basket with table linens. With the new setup we can actually reach those tubs from the center compared to before when we had to shimmy in on our bellies to get at those tubs.

 

Next Kermit set up the two shelving systems. We experimented with a few ways to angle them for maximum access. We cut up a yoga mat to place on top of the fiberglass and under the shelving systems to prevent sliding and reduce the chance of scratching the fiberglass. We figured, correctly, that when the units were filled the weight of the unit would hold the unit in place.

Then we decided which stuff went into which unit. We had so much space that we were able to empty out the pantry too, placing many of the bigger items into the shelving units. The unit on the outside wall is harder to get at so we put pasta and rice in one drawer, baking stuff in another drawer and seasonings, vinegar and oils in the top drawer in a basket. Both units are open at the top so we can access the top drawer contents from the top.

The second unit opens into the standing walkway of cabin 3. This unit contains nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, cereal, granola and snacks along with a full drawer of paper napkins and plastic ware we might need more frequently but not as frequently as the stuff in the pantry itself.

Wine storage in the hold
We have 3 cases - the bare necessities

Jack the cat is the only one not happy with this arrangement. He lost his hidey hole under the beds!! Marissa doesn’t mind the loss of the cabin she often used. It was too dark in there anyway.

Next to the closet in the front cabin. We pulled everything out of there. I found my winter sweaters missing for some time. I need that to travel back to Ohio in the winter! We eliminated some clothing and towels to give us more room in the two big drawers under the bed. Then we resealed the vacuum bags that lost their seal then started allocating the remaining stuff into those baskets. When we put everything back it was amazing how much space we gained!!

All in all we are much happier with the state of storage on Good Karma!