Dec 14, 2007 to Jan 28 , 2008
Florida Passage 1
Fernandina Beach to Ft Lauderdale
MM714 to 1064
A short hop from Cumberland Island, GA brings us to...
____________________
Fernandina Beach
Spent two nights at a mooring just in front of this historic town on Amelia Island, the northernmost island in Florida, and essentially the last of the "Golden Isles" named by the Spanish, the rest of which lie in Georgia. Very attractive-looking old-and small Florida town, with many excellent restaurants and interesting shops. Got some Christmas shopping done and had a fine meal at Lulu's Bra (not a misspelling),a Caribbean/Cuban outdoor-garden shack. Waited out bad weather the extra day and tolerated the local paper mills, with their constant hum, all-night train transports, and (compared to 2000) slight odor. And, of course, had another boat-systems malfunction: the bearings on a generator pulley started smoking and sparking... yet another ToDo item for the growing list in our St. Augustine port of call.
More shallow ICW transits, another grounded sail boat, eagle in a tree, sighting and talk with Newport's Wall-Street-like boat "Glory," and a remote overnight anchorage brings us to...
St. Augustine
The oldest city in the U.S.A is probably our favorite. It has impressive historic structures: Flagler College, once the largest hotel in the world, and still sporting priceless and heavily protected Tiffany glass windows; Lightner Building, now a mall and city offices, but once a hotel with the largest swimming pool in the world; numerous historic churches, which are popular wedding venues. Many of the old structures have been replaced by "replicas," and parts of town have a kitshy look... but it's the feel of the place, ya know... and it's a FL favorite at Christmas, with its 14th annual Nights of Lights event as we speak. And Yara, Josh, & Susan came down to share it all! Cynthia did a great job of elaborately decorating the boat with Christmas tree strings along the bow rails, pilot house trim, and mast stays.
Old friends Anabela & Marco came down from Jacksonville to share dinner and reconnect. It's always fun and entertaining seeing them. And in steamed Frog Kiss (see Sinterra 5 Blog), this time with Patrick's wife Chrisy aboard. Patrick is hilariously outrageous and Chrisy's job is to muffle this loose cannon from time to time. Great fun with them.
We ate and drank in sooo many places. Two stand out: Osteen's for the best fried shrimp in the world, really; Saltwater Cowboy for a Florida Cracker (in this context this sobriquet is a compliment, not a slight) watery setting and good chow. The outstanding disappointment? Columbia Restaurant. This had been one of our favorite Cuban restaurants (it's a chain and we've been to three in different cities, including the original in Tampa), but our Noche Buena (Christmas eve) dinner with the family was a disaster. Poorly executed dishes, poor presentation, overwhelmed wait and kitchen staff. Not all terrible, but at least we reduced the bill by one-third, after complaining to the manager. And the structure that it's housed in is lovely.
And therer are many places to see and things to do, especially within walking and biking distances, an important feature for cruisers: the historic district is immediately across from the marina, with narrow brick streets, walled-in or gated gardens integrated with many modest homes, some dating back to the Spanish and British periods; Mission Nombre de Dios, with beautiful, extensive grounds on the Matanzas River and reputedly where the first mass was conducted in the Americas; Fountain of Youth, again impressive grounds; Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, the original; Castillo de San Marcos, the historic fort guarding the town from the inlet.
Saw the excellent movie "No Country for Old Men" at the old-fashioned and very unusual Pot Belly’s Cinema. The hallways of this structure are lined with antique bric-a-brac, like old kitchen applicances, old coke and beer bottles, you name it. And they serve beer, wine, and food inside the theatre. It's not one of those artsy theatres with couches and tables. Oh, no. It's the standard, old and uncomfortable seats with a sort of bench-like table attached to the seats in front of you. We loved it.
Our two weeks morphed into four, as we recovered from the holidays, settled comfortably into town, and got some work done on the boat. Get this: we got the last two weeks at the marina for free by switching from a weekly rate to a monthly rate. Break even was two weeks! Top priority was fixing the generator's tensioner pulley bearings. Richard found an old Mom & Pop auto machine shop (not easy to find anymore) that had just the right bearings. And one of the Dell notebooks sported a raggedy screen edge; within two days a Dell technician came to the boat and replaced it (under our service contract). Richard also changed the oil on the boat's main engine, transmission, and generator (20 quarts total) and finished some other needed maintenance. He also needed a couple of weeks of calm to finish the annual revision and website writeup for his stock market model.
The only negative? The historic Bridge of Lions right next to the marina is being replaced. We're talking serious noise at times, and barges, tugs, work boats zipping around behind our slip. The positive? When the bridge is completed in 2010 it will look exactly like the former and will include the original tile-roofed towers and marble lion statues. See http://www.thebridgeoflions.org/b_home.html.
We actually could have stayed longer, but it was time to move on...
____________________
Daytona Beach
This was a drop & flop anchorage just off the main channel and next to one of the town's bridges. Leaving the shallow anchorage in the morning darkness we grounded the boat and couldn't get off. Captain's mistake. Rather than wait hours for the tide we called TowBoatUS for a tow. He had to come a ways, but had us out of there and on our way within two hours of the grounding. The cost? $0. We have unlimited towing for $140/yr. The bill sent to Boat US? $950.
____________________
Titusville
Another drop & flop anchorage. On the way transited beautiful (old-FL like) Mosquito Lagoon. Many islands, spits with foliage, sand, isolated. Spend a couple of days anchored in Spring? Birds: ROSEATE SPOONBILLS just past Haulover Canal, a rare sighting of these pink birds according to the experts. Also, white and gray pelicans, with seagull sidekicks, black skimmers, osprey, wood storks. Many dolphins, some on bow and alongside. View of space center launch pads heading south in Lagoon. This anchorage is one of the places to see space launches.
____________________
Melbourne/Indialantic
Another anchorage, next to the causeway and by a park. Our mission here was to meet cousin Adam, wife Cheryl, and children Alec and Rose. Adam is Vivian's son (see Bambi 1) and Richard had not seen him since he was a young teen. He's now late 30s, with a Masters in Aerospace Engineering, and managing 65 engineers at Harris Corporation. Adam collected us on shore, drove us around this pleasant town on the Atlantic, and took us to their really nice home for dinner. Cheryl is a PhD marine biologist, with a teaching connection in one of our favorite places: Dominical, Costa Rica. It was good meeting them and the kids. We spent an additional two nights here, waiting out weather and doing some maintenance and computer work.
____________________
Ft Pierce
We needed some rest and so extended a one-day intended anchorage in Faber Cove into three. This cove is cozy, lined with modest (but expensive) homes. Sightings within the cove: turtle, dolphin, small kingfisher.
____________________
North Palm Beach
Anchored three nights in north Lake Worth, next to Frog Kiss! Once again, good times with Patrick & Chrisy.
This was actually a sad, sentimental stop for us. We bought the boat here in 2000, where our first Chihuahua Beni died. From the ship's log at that time:
"Beni died in a tragic, freak accident. What can we say. It
enveloped our uncontained excitement with profound sadness
and guilt. It felt like losing a child must feel. Not that it’s
comparable, we do have grown children, but it’s hard to imagine a more
intense, devastating experience. We buried him in a beautiful island
park and marked the deep, sandy grave with a vibrantly-live gardenia
shrub."
And so we visited his grave site, which we had programmed by GPS. Subsequent storms had cut a swath of beach at the site, as if a giant shovel had sliced into the earth. Incredibly, at the edge of the dropoff, we found the "igloo" we had buried him in. This is a synthetic cloth doggie house with shape and lined inside with comforatable cotton. He loved hanging and sleeping in there. Lying here at our feet it felt bulky and heavy. We were horrified. Could his skeletal remains be in there, nearly eight years later? Carefully we removed parts, only to find sand. We placed it further back, under the branches of a large shrub that looked like a gardenia. Was it really? Could it have "relocated" or seeded progeny?
For a read on this, our first trip on the ICW, see www.mojena.com/downloads/KrogenCruisers1.htm
____________________
Boca Raton
We could have bumped out to the ocean at Lake Worth inlet, but chose to take the slow route down the ICW into Ft Lauderdale and then Miami, primarily for intimate looks at homes along this part of the waterway. Our anchorage here had the "million dollar" view, as we were surrounded by expensive homes and condos. To transit some of the bridges without requesting openings we lowered the mast, bimini, and antennas. Twelve bridges later, but waiting for just four, we arrive at...
____________________
Ft Lauderdale
It was marina time again, for three nights, to avoid a mutiny by the Admiral and crew. Bahia Mar is a resort-hotel marina right next to Ocean Boulevard and across from the beach. See http://www.bahiamarhotel.com/.
This is the part of Lauderdale that was infamous for Spring Break blowouts. If you're AARP elegible, you probably remember the movie "Where the Boys Are" and the Elbow Room bar? Still there.
The main reason for this stop was to meet Cynthia's sister Sandy and her "ex" Bill. They drove us to dinner on the River Walk, a tasteful redevelopment of about a mile of river lined with beautiful landscaping, restaurants, cafes, bars, shops, hotels, and condos. The next night it was prime rib time at Bill's, and a night of entertaining stories (he never comes up short here) and Internet Texas hold'em poker (he and Sandy do well in contests).
_____________________
Next Blog...
Miami and surroundings.
_____________________________
Digression: Living Dynamics
Some of you have asked or maybe you've been wondering: "How do they all get along for such long periods in such a small space?" Yes, we do give up space and privacy compared to a house, although this tub is very roomy for a 42-footer, with many different spaces that afford more privacy than you might think. "Fences make good neighbors" translates here to "Separate quarters save good marriages." The Admiral and Captain have separate sleeping cabins, separate heads/showers, and separate closet/drawer spaces. We even have separate TV/DVDs to accomodate some differences in viewing tastes. The idea, of course, is to reduce tensions from any incompatibilities regarding sleeping habits (Richard goes to bed early, snores, and rises early; Cynthia the opposite), napping habits (Richard naps, Cynthia doesn't) and to maximize privacy when needed.
Natch, the Admiral gets the most expansive and private quarters: the master cabin with private head/shower, vanity, full-length mirror, an amazing amount of drawer space, and a deep hanging locker (closet) that's practically a walk-in (if it wasn't so stuffed). The Captain is allowed in this cabin for maintenace, repairs, upgrades, and "special dispensations." The Captain gets the much smaller guest/office cabin for clothes and sleeping when guests are on board. And this is opposite his head/shower, which also doubles as the public bathroom. Normally, he uses the pilot house double berth, which is more comfortable for sleeping and in the presense of his beloved instruments ("toys"). The toys do become active on nights with high winds and thunderstorms, as the Captain keeps watch on boat radar, Internet radar, anchor alarms, wind meter, and approaching boats that drag anchors (we've been T-boned and side-swiped more than once). The Admiral enters the Captain's cabin anytime she wants.
The Crew? Mostly, Edi sleeps with Cynthia and Nevi sleeps with Richard. Edi often hangs out in the pilot house during the day and evening, when Richard works the computer sitting on the berth. We suspect Edi loves the PH for the great view, watch duty and, maybe, he likes the toys too. Both are excellent watch dogs: no one approaches the boat without our knowing about it.
So, any negative dynamics? Sure, like most relationships: disagreements, arguments (primarily Dick's doing), misunderstandings. But then, we've had 21 years together with nearly eight of these full-time on the boat to work these out as best we can. And the nearly constant need to work together in solving boating problems, planning and implementing cruising routes and destinations, and improving operations and space utilization wins the days (mostly).
BTW, the Captain rules regarding operational and navigational issues underway, even though the Admiral outranks him. This is naval tradition, an important safety factor under duress or danger. It's not a democracy under these circumstances: the Admiral has her say, but the Captain makes final and often quick decisions here. Cynthia occasionally addresses Richard as Captain Bastaard. The Admiral, however, does exercise considerable input and influence and very effectively supplements the Captain in many ways: she's terrific at efficiently organizing the boat and living quarters, amazingly finds things fast in system shop manuals when repairs are needed, has much better spatial visualization than the Captain, is quite capable and competent at "getting her hands dirty" when the Captain needs more hands and brain-storming in his mechanical duties, and does the bulk of Internet research for our shore-leave R&R.
Life on the Bambi is similar, with some major differences, especially regarding space and privacy. This was an 80% reduction in space! A reduction from what many of you would consider a small space to begin with. Just deciding what clothes to take for six weeks traumatized Cynthia, but not Richard, who is variety-challenged in his dress. It took about a week in RI to fine tune the vehicle from camping to travel mode... and to work out a new protocol regarding daily life.
* A slide-out curtain separates the bedroom/bathroom space from the kitchen/dining space (used daily).
* We share bathroom, closet space, and TV/DVD (headphone helps with the latter when needed).
* We do have separate beds: Cynthia and Edi the "real" bed, Richard and Nevi the drop-down dining-table bed.
* Earplugs help when one or the other is sleeping.
* Usually only one of us at a time on "deck" while moving around the small floor.
* No Admiral, Captain, or crew: just Cynthia, Richard, Edi, and Nevi.
So, we do have our bumps, but these are just "speed bumps" along a mostly merry, adventurous, and entertaining journey.
_______
NOTE:
See links, top right for...
* Our routes and stops, on Google Earth
* More photos, on Snapfish