Thurs 8 January 2009
We are back on the boat after a wonderful visit with friends and family over the Christmas/New Year holidays. We had a great time with our boys who we miss so. It is now time to get on with the voyage. We will spend the next few days doing work around the boat and provisioning for our Bahamas trip. This is the second year we’ve stayed at this marina over the holidays so we know our way around a bit. The weather is warm during the days and cools to a comfortable sleeping temperature at night, can’t ask for more.

Saturday 10 January
We are now in Vero Beach at the city marina where we took a mooring. This is quaintly named Velcro beach by so of the cruisers because people seem to get stuck here for weeks or months. Last year we were here for nearly a month, but this was largely due to the back problems I was experiencing last year. No such problems this year though. We do have to wait for some mail to catch up with us so that should keep us here until Monday. I will occupy the time with boat projects, lord knows I have enough, and Terri will tromp around doing her usual exploring.

Monday 12 January
Another day in paradise, weather is warm and sunny as we watch the NE cold temperatures. More boat chores and provisioning to do. Terri finally get the mails we’ve been waiting for so that she can register a complaint with the TSA folks. It seems that one of the blokes at Dulles Airport helped themselves to a very expensive bottle of single malt scotch out of our luggage on the trip to California. It was to be a present to me from Terri. I just hope the Philistines did not swill it down on ice with ginger ale or soda.
The mail did not arrive until late so we’re here another day so Terri can go off to the library to print out the appropriate forms to send off to the TSA. I don’t expect we will be compensated for the loss, but we just feel that the TSA needs to get its house in order.

Tuesday 13 January
“Stuck inside a mobile with the Memphis Blues again” as sung by B Dylan. We‘re still here stuck in Velcro. We ran into folks yesterday that we met last year during our stay in Stuart and we invited them over for dinner tonight, so it was decided to stay one more night.

Wednesday 14 January
A late night with good food, company and lots of wine. This cruising life is tough, but as our good friend Bob Leigh says, “Somebody has to do it.” So once again Velcro Beach has struck again and we are stuck firmly. Tomorrow we shall be released.

Thursday 15 January
Well as predicted we made our escape from Velcro Beach and now sit at the newly opened (as of noon today) Southpoint Marina (now called Sunset Marina) in Stuart, Florida. This is where we stayed last year while I was waiting medical treatment for my herniated disc. It is a delightful spot about 8 miles up the St. Lucie River. In the past it was comprised of only a mooring field, but now it is in the process of a major face lifting with the addition of docks, fuel pumps, restaurant and marine store. A big operation by any standard, but for now a partial construction site. For us, the showers and laundry work and the moorings are cheap ($12 a day). We are here because we are waiting the delivery of a part for the steering system. On the way in here the gremlins struck again when I noticed that the light on the bilge pump kept going on. Going below and lifting a floor board I noticed a river of water coming from aft (the back of the boat for youse that don’t speak boat). Since it was coming from the back of the boat I was pretty sure it was not the contents of the holding tank so the next thing was to taste it to determine if it was salt water or fresh. You see, if it was salt water we would have a major problem like a hole in the boat, but alas it was fresh water meaning it must be from our water tanks. Sure enough when I checked the water pressure pump was running full tilt so I shut it down. When we got on the mooring I check it out and found that we had blown the hot water hose on the galley sink, hemorrhaging the entire contents of our starboard water tank (60 gallons) into the bilge and thence to the St. Lucie River via the bilge pump. I re-attached the hose, switched over to the port water tank, then about 30 minutes later it blew again. A re-examination of the reveals a sub-standard fitting that made the transition from hose to faucet, so tomorrow I look for a plumbing store. Tonight it is dinner at the Mexican restaurant.

Friday 16 January
Today turned out to be a frustrating day, one trip to the local hardware store and two to the honest to god plumbing store. It took two because they don’t speak boat plumbing . Finally we cobbled together four fittings to make the transition between 5/8 plastic tubing and a standard household sink. Did I mention that in order for my 6’ 1” 180 lb frame to access the sink fittings I had to extract the sink from the counter? Did I mention that the plumbing store was 2 miles by foot, so I got my exercise for the day but my whole day was blown on plumbing and walking. Let it be known that I hate to work on household plumbing, but I despise working on boat plumbing. As I have said before, the definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places.
Fortunately some cruisers that we met last year in Stuart heard our woeful tale of plumbing hell and took pity on us and issued an invitation to dinner

Saturday 17 January
Back to the original purpose for our visit to Stuart, the part for the steering system. I had called the place where I ordered the part on Friday and was told that the guy how handled it would call me back, which he did on either one of my excursions under the sink or the plumbing store so I missed his call. When I called this morning I got the message “ our normal operating hours are 8 to 5, Monday through Friday”, today being Saturday, crap. It looks like we’ll be here until Monday, provided they are open on MLK day. Well we can spend the day cleaning up the mess from the plumbing project.
This is the boring part of cruising, sitting around waiting on something (weather, parts, repairs etc.). To top it all off, we have no internet access since the Marina has not gotten it hooked up yet so no email or Blog updates.

Sunday 18 January
Slow day, walk about town, lunch, weather a balmy 75 degrees sunny, breath deep and recite your mantra.

Monday 19 January
NO PART, we wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday 20 January
Well somebody dropped the ball. When the place I ordered the part from called the factory guess what, the shipping got lost in the shuffle so they will FEDEX it out today and we should get it tomorrow. So, we’ll drop off the mooring and head around to the outer side of Stuart, where the part will be delivered and pick it up.

Wednesday 21 January
As promised the part was in and now the slop is out of the wheel.

The weather is cooperating so we will run down the coast instead of going down the ICW. The stretch from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale has 21 draw bridges that are on such a weird schedule that you end up waiting at many of them so it is a lot less frustrating to do this section out in the ocean. Since the wind is behind us and light we motor sailed this leg, leaving Lake Worth at 8AM and arriving at Lauderdale (Port Everglades inlet) around 2:30 PM Then on to Hollywood Florida where my brother lives. We will do some major provisioning here for the trip to the Bahamas.

Monday Tuesday 26-27 January
We’re finally in Miami where we will stay until we’re joined by our buddy boat, Carol & Bob on “Time enough II”, to wait for a weather window for the Gulf Stream crossing. We took the bus into the city on Monday to get the lay of the land and figure out how to get to South Beach in Miami Beach. Down town Miami is a waste land. No restaurants, bars or nightspots just fast food joints and stores selling cheap crap and everybody is speaking Spanish. It is like being in another country. Tomorrow it’s off to South beach to eat, drink and be merry.
Well you can certainly see that we are in a recession because South Beach is nearly deserted. Vacancy signs all over the place and the eateries along the beach are so hungry for business they are having half price sales. The last time Terri and I were hear you could barely walk the side walks it was so crowded. Today we nearly had the sidewalks to ourselves. Still we had fun and some good food. It’s nice having South Beach all to ourselves.

Wednesday 28 January
We have left the mooring at Crandon Park Marina and crossed Biscayne Bay in search of a shower. Crandon only has outside cold showers and neither of us are at that stage of our lives where that is a viable option. We got to Dinner Key where the anchorage is rather exposed to nearly all directions except west and far off the shore, but we stay because there is promise of a shower and laundry not to mention other amenities of civilization, viz groceries, bookstores and hopefully the internet. People along the way, especially in Florida, are getting wiser about unsecure wireless systems. We are seeing plenty of secure systems but few open unsecure systems. It is these systems that we hope to piggy back on and it’s been slim pickins. As such we have not been able to update the blog or see our email since we got back from our holiday jaunt to Maryland and California. Tomorrow it’s off to the library where there is free wireless we’re told..

Thursday 29 January
Bummer, free wireless yes but for some reason I can’t sent emails though I can see those sent to me. I think the library has some weird fire wall. Other priorities dictate we will have to wait on internet, like food and drink. Woke up this morning to an incredible dense fog. We could not see any other boats around us, the picture shows the view after we could finally see a bit.

Friday 30 January
We fled Dinner Key because when we got back from our shore leave we found the boat about a 100 yards farther east than we left it and tied to another boat. It seems like while we were away a mini storm came through and our anchor dragged. Yikes. Some good Samaritan caught her and arrested her further movement east, next stop the Atlantic Ocean or at the least the other side of Biscayne Bay up on the reefs. I try to reset and fail twice, both times coming up with a ball of grass choking the anchor. This is the first time our Bruce anchor has failed us. It is clear that with a soft bottom covered with grass a Bruce is not the ticket, so since our spare anchor is a danforth, also a poor anchor under these conditions, and another more powerful front is expected to pass tonight we have fled to a harbor across Biscayne called aptly Hurricane Harbor. It has good grass free bottom and is well protected from the winds we expect. It is all in the name of a good nights sleep, sir.

Saturday 31 January
The weather has settled and we are back to Dinner key to finish business here. Finally found a reliable internet connection so it is time to upload. We are still hanging around the Miami area waiting for our buddy boat and a weather window. Perhaps next week for both, stay tuned.