Dec.23

Too Windy For Sailing

Chicken Harbour

Here we are in Georgetown, Exumas,otherwise known as Chicken Harbour as many well meaning cruisers get this far and then decide that it'll do fine and don't do the final leg (s) down to the Caribbean.
This is our local internet office,where we just met an English couple that are here (in a house ) for the winter and I'm going to give him some sax lessons.Still can't get thesepics where I want them.

Well we had a fairly bumpy trip across the Gulf Stream but an easy day and arrived at North Bimini in the late arvo,cleared in and settled in to our dock ready for the next 5 days of nearly gale force winds.Not to worry ,we hooked up with our friend Porgy from the local band and had a couple nights playing with them again.Good times and walks and bikes around.

If you folks knew the pain I go through doing this you'd send me a petition to cease before I have a stroke or something.I shall now attempt to put pics somewhere near where I want them and a bit of text wherever it decides to go.After all I'm not in charge here.

Definately not in charge.Anyway,after 5 days or so,although the winds were still blowing from where we wanted to go ,they had dropped a little ,so we tacked our way across the Banks to wards Nassau for 2 days ,sailing about 190 miles in order to get about 90 miles east.

Well,as soon as we got to Nassau another cold front came through and we hunkered in there for another few days,but that was cool cos we like Nassau,though we will never take our lives into our hands again and bike around .................suicidal man!

Love the name of the cruise boat.










 

Yes,she's a fine ol' town is Nassau and on the other side of the harbour is Paradise Island,which is  the home of the big,flash hotels,starring Atlantis which is built as a city risen from the sea.Lots of water falls and pools throughout and a section that looks like a cross between Sanctuary Cove and the Gaudi gardens in Barcelona.

Next window we got was a day trip over to Allens Cay ,home of hundreds of iguanas and a nice peaceful anchorage to wait out the LACK of wind ,for a day,and then jump on another northerly blast to Black Point and then back out in the Atlantic and a good days sail to here.Where we've just sat out another 4 days of howling wind. 

I'll attempt to put a pic of Georgetown on the bottom to finish off.Next one should be from Puerto Rico...........................................................

Or from here .Chicken Harbour.

Before I Go

Just a quick one.Those of us in the cruising/boating game are aware of a strange part of our fraternity who like..wooden boats.They accept us to a degree but sneer at our fibreglass hulls,calling them chlorox bottles and other such things.Despite the fact that they have to deal with dry rot ,toredo worms etc. they stick with it masochistically (did I just make up a word?).  We have to admit that their vessels are usually majestic looking artifacts, usually with an interesting history.We admire their dedication and craftmanship,which of course they have to have to keep the bloody things floating!.

One such person is my " little" brother John,who I included a photo of a couple of blogs ago.Unfortunately the photo was a ' before' so I will now post,hopefully, the after and another during and unfotunately I don't have a photo of the lovely Whampoa in the whole but she is beautiful.Which is more than I can say about her captain.
PS.The time it took me to work out how to get that after pic out of the zip file(whatever that is )and on to this page.....I could have cut down a few trees and built a wooden boat.

PPPS And then out of the ether comes a pic of Whampoa.

Any Time Now

Miami Beach,the Art Deco area of South Beach.This diner was actually built inNew Jersey and moved here in the 90's but it really suits the district.We love it and the city ordinance makes sure that plenty of the old facades from the early tourist days survive.

It's so 'Espanol' too which has got us bustin' to get down to Puerto Rico in our Cabo Rico and start getting back into learning spanish again.We've been stuck here (thankfully) for longer than expected,waiting for weather as usual,and have had time to visit our favourite places.

There's a street called Espanola Way which is where a lot of the old Miami Vice was filmed.It's just got a great vibe and we had to stop in for one or two mojitos to wash down the best salads you can imagine.There was even a photo shoot going on next to us.Not sure if it was a professional job or a proud dad snapping his .....daughter.

Anyway,after lunch Gail decided she might be able to pick up a bit of cash and she wasn't on the corner five minutes when........Bingo!

Only jokin'.I was taking a pic of Gail on the corner (a couple of years ago,note the different clothes )when the guy in the Ferrari saw me and stopped.I told him to move up 'cos the car would add to the cool .So he did .......honest. Well that's Espanola Way.

As usual,there's no point in pics of the Miami skyline etc.cos they're all in the tourist brochures and e-nets,which of course are worth a look.I'd like to post a photograph of the anchorage with the views across to the channel where the massive cruise boats drift pass on their way to exotic ports nearly every night as the sun goes down over the city but it just wouldn't be the same as being here,,,,,,,,,which we are........ and you ain't.Never mind,we won't be in a couple of days cos we're off to the Bahamas which also means that internet is going to be sparse so I guess the blogs will be too but we'll do what we can to keep you all informed....all two of you although I noticed we've had 3,000 hits or so.Unbelievable!So adios for now,hasta luego.

OK I'm Back

Well our little passenger was an experiment to see if I can work this new THING!Looks like I can .It's good to be a geek.Can't control where the pics and text actually go but.....hey.

Where was I?...Right.After our little mate left we carried on to Fort Pierce where we arrived at dawn,and popped up to Vero Beach,,arriving at 9.30 and Colin from Mack sails was ther by 12.30 to measure up for our new main and Mackpac.This was Monday and on Friday,after I had 3 or 4 great jams with Eric,they rang to say they were all done.Amazing.So on Monday we had a swift sail(!!!!!) down to Stuart and picked up a mooring Sunset Bay marina.On Tuesday we had a visit from our old mate Fred and then the Mack team swooped aboard(at the courtesy dock)and had it all fitted in about an hour and a half.Now the pics aren't doing what they did last time@#$%$#@Hmmm.Wasn't actually in that order but I'm not a real geek.Anyway there we were ,all sailed up and the next morning we MOTORED straight to beautiful Miami,passing mansions,covered in birds, and beautiful motor yachts covered with crews cleaning them etc.I am a geek.I am a geek.I am a geek.Igam ayeek yeema geek i yam iyam.I give up.So following a string of motor yachts through Fort Lauderdale we made the last leg to the aforementioned Miami.We dropped the hook just on sunset and drank some large scotches.The next night was the Sleepless Night festival at South Beach,an idea pinched from Paris apparently,which was fantastic.Great bands and street performers and thousands of people just having a ball all night ,finished off with free breakfast on the beach.We didn't make that.Got back to Jabiru about 2.30 which luckily was really only 1.30 as the clocks went back during the night.End of daylight saving.
Well it's still doing strange things,but I'm back for the time being.The weather is beautiful but too windy for sailing(!!!!)so we'll stay here a few days and it looks like we'll head to the Bahamas as soon as the waves in the Gulf Stream start dropping from the 15ft or so.Plan??At present head down to Eastern Caribbean and then....................west to Central America or.............way East to the Med.
That's it.
PS.For any of you dodos that don't understand these things,just thought I'd mention that if you click on the pics you can see them full size.Anything else ya need to learn.....don't ask me.

Scratch My Back and Maybe....

Steady as she goes.Right,this is all totally new.Not bad so far.You can actually see the photo (it was a trial)that you uploaded.No choice of where to put it ,as in left right or centre ,but maybe that will reveal itself later.I will steadfastly continue.So this little guy arrived on board our first night out of Charleston.Must have seen Bobs Anchorages book and figured that we'd be heading for land eventually.We were about 40 miles offshore at the time.Anyway he (she maybe)stayed the night and the next morning had a quick look to see if land was in sight.Nah.So he settles in.(don't know where the next pic will end up)There it is.(I don't feel in control here.)Well,time for a snack.Not bad,but these corn chips are making me thirsty.Gimme some beer.That's better.Day 3.Hey Dad,are we there yet?Oh yay ,Ithink I can see Cape Canaveral,just over there.Is it...ooh I think so!Just check on the laptop,Iaint goin' til I see trees.OK.That'll do.Thanks for the ride.I'll just have a couple of (peeled)grapes for brekky and I'm out of here.See ya.

As I was saying.....

Bloody computers.That last one published itself without me even looking at it! I was about to say.....Forget it.Won't upload photos,drives me crazy.
I AIN'T WASTING MY TIME AND SANITY ON THIS ANY MORE.THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND I'll SEE THOSE OF YOU WHO GIVE A SHIT ON EMAIL OR SKYPE.GOOD AFTERNOON

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Hoping for a nice straight sail from Beaufort to Fort Pierce,we left Oriental on the 14th and got down Adams Creek and out the inlet just after midday.About 1pm we gave each other the @#%$! this look and went back in and anchored for the night.It was rough out there and we took off down the dreaded ICW early the next morning.Listening to a couple of boats out there giving it a try,we were glad we stayed in.Two days later we saw one of them at Carolina Beach ,still recovering!Big waves ,left over from passing hurricanes and too much southerly etc.No...we have learned over the past 4 years....Look after your boat ,and yourselves and everything is more fun.
But..sloooow.Really the ICW isn't that bad ,but because it's a channel most of the time one has to steer all day and anchor every night.It takes twice as long ,at least to get wherever you're heading.We did see a couple of bits that we hadn't seen before though and bumped into the big D a couple of times,one of which was meeting one of their kids and his wife.I swear they kick Domino into fast cruising mode sometimes to get somewhere days ahead of us so it doesn't look like they're following us around!
Anyway after 5 days we got to Georgetown,South Carolina.Last year we were passing there after 24 hours or so.There's the difference.Anyway,pulling in to the Boatshed Marina, who should be calling us on the radio but Su Aune from Palmetto Moon.We seem to catch Jim and Su Aune every year in Oriental but this was the first time our paths had crossed on the road ,as it were.Had a few laughs and cocktails(not necessarily in that order)and left them to seek out liver (must be done)the next day while we took off for Charleston.A lovely town but we had the right window to jump out and we did.Even sailed for a day before motoring for a day and finishing off with a good swift sail from Cape Canaveral to Fort Pearce.

Oriental NC

Would have been good to attend the Annapolis Boat Show and to trek up the Potomac to Washington DC but it just didn't work out that way.We have to get south and on the way we have to call in to Oriental,where our new lifestyle started,and see all our good friends and do 'stuff'.

So this is Oriental.Afternoon gathering to get a spot of sun and talk over the days work....or just tell lies etc.Some people ain't around anymore ,new people arrive and the non-transients,locals that is always make us feel like we're "from around heah".

Lucky for us John had Whampoa on the hard,fixing up a bit of rot,so we've been keeping his slip warm for him.The post Irene mosquito plague has kept socialising to daylight hours but we did have a great night at the Silos (that's a bar in some converted grain silos just down the road)open mike night.Perry and I did our thing,which was a bit of jazz this time,and then we ended up with having a great jam with with a couple of 'outoftowners' John on (great}guitar and vocals and Rich on harp and Chris,who runs da joint on guitar also.

That's pretty much what goes on 'round heah'plus getting all those dockside things done....carpentry,oil changes ,stuffing the the stuffing box and,of course,lotsa varnishing to keep Jabiru looking her beautiful self.
Ever since we first came here I've been amused by a Barber shop on the way to New Bern,that always has lawn mowers outside.Tough ,these North Carolinians.Anyway ,decided to get a photo this time and when we stopped we were lucky to catch the proprietor of the establishment.Ron.A nicer example of good ol'southern you couldn't meet.

He had to show us his barber shop,even though it's people like me who killed the barber trade.For a few years anyway........So he sat me down amidst all sorts of old barbershop stuff,including a large head of a black bear 'stuck 'up on the wall."Ma son shot him .Jus' over the road thar".

He had to give me a hair cut before we left so he carefully selected 'a hair' and ......cut it.
We'll be heading off tomorrow to hopefully catch some fair winds and following seas to Florida.Don't think we're going to get them even though we've been waiting another week for them!Still got to get a sail made before we depart these shores.Speaking of sails we couldn't wind up our 'summer blogs' without introducing you to our angel of mercy from Holiday Hill marina.

She lives on a large motor yacht with her two boys.Her husband is deployed in the mid.east.She drove us around and lent us a car all during our sail 'dramas' and generally mothered us.If you can be 'mothered ' by a 30 something girl!Thankyou Marlene.You're a gem.
Should be able to get another blog done before we leave....probably Miami to

Blank

Can't believe I'm doing another blog.
Not sure if I'm just bored witless(that was the original expression before the 60's)or I'm chuffed about finally mastering the computer...until some geek comes up with a new "user friendly"change of format,or have I at last realised that old musicians never die...they just bore everyone else to death with the same old songs.Can't be that.I've learned at least 3 and a half new ones this year.

Mind you only one of them was written this millenium.

And I wrote that.
I'm reminded of a real oldie 'Camp Granada'..Finishes with:-

Wait a minute,it's stopped raining
Kids are swimming blah blah blah blah
Playing baseball,gee that's bedda
Mudda Fadda kindly disregard this letter
Trouble is.....it ain't stopped raining

Ho hum

Hum ho

Can't leave....Still waiting for the cheque.....Can't cash it anywhere south of here..

No photos...unless you like looking at water and trees...through the rain.


Maybe the odd duck.

Guests

Here's a nice little thing that happened en route to Mexico from Cuba.
We were about half wayish between the west end of Cuba,Cabo San Antonio, and Isla Mujeres on the Yucatan Peninsula.The sun had set and the dusk was getting duskier when 3 little birds spotted us and decided to stop for the night.Birds quite often stop for a rest on boats.Anyway these little guys flew round the boat a couple of times and one set him (or her)self up on a hatch cover and another settled on the bimini.Number 3 decided to sit on my pillow .We had made our beds up in the cockpit as it was a lovely balmy evening.

I had to get a photo,even though I'd freak him out.Flash went off and he didn't blink.A couple of hours later I said to Gail"I've got to lie down.He'll just have to move"So I laid myself down.Our little guest just nestled into my hair and carried on resting.

Eventually i had to stand up and sure enough he just sat on my head as I checked position etc....Had to get a photo of that too.

Now he'd had enough.A birds gotta sleep.So he flapped off my head onto Gails pillow.Likes his comfort.He was disturbing Gails sleep,wriggling around in her hair,so she turned around and left him the pillow.As the sky got light we woke up and saw that the other two had already checked out and as we pulled the heavier cockpit cushion back there was the poor little guy,apparently lifeless,jammed behind it.As I went to pick his little body up he wke up and fluttered up (a few inches )to the cockpit coaming.There he spent a few minutes stretching his wings and shaking his head and as the sun popped over the horizon and his friends swung by ....off he went.
FOOTNOTE. When we were relating the story to Steve and Eva of Music,thats them on the left

they said they'd had the same experience themselves except they'd had five guests.Unfortunately two of them were dead in the morning.....................they have got a cat though.