It has been almost a year since we arrived in the US
(in the Dry Tortugas off Key West ),
leaving behind the Western Caribbean sailing adventure
for the more mundane “Florida
experience”. To say that “not much” has happened in FL would be an
understatement. We moved the boat from Ft Myers FL to GA in September, and we enjoyed
some nice sailing and tropical anchorages in the Florida Keys
along the way, but much of the trip was a motor trip along the Atlantic
Coast
GA was a good choice for “storage” while we were at home,
but it turned out that we were way too far north when the cold weather set
in. We flew back to the boat in December
and immediately regretted our timing as we encountered an unusually cold cold
spell for southern Georgia .
Life aboard a catamaran is designed for the tropics, not the winter. We have no heat and little hope of warming
both hulls or the center cockpit. When we got back to the marina we did attend
a very nice Bon Voyage party hosted by several Australians aboard Nootka Dancer
who were celebrating getting off the docks after three years of repair work (Nootka
Dancer headed for the Bahamas and sank shortly after the “Voyage” started), and
we celebrated Christmas at Brunswick Landing Marina hosted by a great marina
staff (thank you) before heading south to St Augustine, FL for some long
delayed maintenance on our own boat.
We had not painted the bottom of the boat in almost 5 years
and we were long overdue for a haul-out that would include bottom paint,
polishing the hulls, servicing the engines and any of the hundreds of little
projects that got put off while we were afloat. Unfortunately the balmy Florida
temps that we had anticipated were non-existent and we spent much of January
shivering at the beach. Okay, can’t fool us. We headed home for the rest of the
winter, leaving the boat in St Augustine ,
figuring that late March would be a lot warmer.
NOT! On March 23 we flew in to much the same weather that we
had left… cold! The boat was ready (great boatyard, St Augustine Boat Yard) so
we splashed quickly and headed south just as fast as we could.
Still we experienced cold day time temps and colder nights. Finally, south of Cape Canaveral
the weather warmed and we happily continued south towards Miami
where we will set out to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas
for a two month cruise in the islands. Along
the way we did happen to spot several Manatee.
In one spot at least a dozen of these huge, slow moving water elephants were
lolling in the sun near the surface.
Manatee are protected here in FL and they seem to be flourishing.
Depending on how slow we move our Bahamas
trip will take us to the Abacos and the Berry
Islands Bahamas .
Only a fraction of these low lying islands are inhabited and the draw is white
sand beaches, quiet anchorages, and quaint little towns with some very friendly
people. The beer is expensive (otherwise everyone would want to live here) and
the prospect of buying shower water at $.50 per gallon has us worried, but we
will try to substitute a generous daily rum ration for both water and beer. We
should survive.
It is Easter weekend and we are waiting patiently for
favorable winds to cross the Gulf Stream . The stream is like a very big ocean river
that is 60 miles wide and moves south to north at about 2.5 knots. North winds
are a no-no for the quick overnight passage so we wait. The next blog should cover either (1) the very
benign Gulf Stream crossing or (2) the harrowing Gulf
Stream crossing. Whichever,
it will be an adventure. Happy Easter.
Tom and Andrea
