Saturday, February 25, 2012

NORTH BIMINI ISLAND

February 25, 2012  Dateline: Bimini Bay Marina Bimini Island, Bahamas
The weather was forecast to be iffy today so MY WAY and I stayed in port.  MY Way and I put our dinghies into the water so that Wayne, Francine, Rich and Carol could go to Alicetown and look around.  Wayne and Francine took Skipper with them.  The ride to Alicetown was a little bumpy but dry, the dinghy told me so, the ride back was better.
Bimini Bay is a resort with both homes and boat slips.  Yesterday I published  a picture of the marina, here is a picture of some of the homes.  There is no doubt that the failing US economy adversely affected the project here.  There is a casino that is half complete and construction has stopped because the builders can not get a permit.  Rich thought that perhaps the permit was not granted because the casino will be patronized by local people as not enough tourists are coming to the island.

When they got to Alicetown, they went to Guy Harvey’s Big Game Resort for lunch.  Guy Harvey spent more than $3.5 million rebuilding the resort after a hurricane destroyed it.  It has 75 boat slips with fixed docks and updated hotel rooms.  There is also a great restaurant and very large bar to cater to the sport fisherman.  There are two stuffed blue marlins that Guy Harvey caught off the coast of Portugal.  They each weighted over 1,000 pounds when they were caught.







The water here in Bimini is crystal clear.  This picture was taken from the shore and it is difficult to see where the water meets the shore.
Anchored off the island is the megayacht PACIFICA.  She is about 278 feet long and has two helipads.  One is on the stern with a helicopter on it while the second one is on the bow and folds up and down.  The boat is gray in color and with it size form a distance it looks like a military ship.


The wind picked up this afternoon and there were white caps on the harbor and I started to rock.  Rich checked my dinghy to make sure it was properly tied to me.  


I AM IN THE BAHAMAS


February 24, 2012  Dateline: North Bimini, Bahamas
I got up early this morning to head across the 60 miles to North Bimini along with MY WAY.  The short trip down the Intercoastal Waterway from Ft Lauderdale to the open ocean was like riding down megayacht yacht row.  The three major marinas, Bahia Mar, Pier 66 and the Hilton had megayachts filling every vacant space along their docks that line the Intercoastal.
Once I got out of Port Everglades, I got on my way.  The run for the 60 miles was choppy as the wind was blowing from the south and helping to push the Gulf Stream along.
When I started to go into the channel to the marina at Bimini my depth alarm began to sound and Rich backed me up to deeper water.  It was nip and tuck for a while as Rich contemplated going back to Ft Lauderdale.  Then I saw a 110 foot yacht KALEEN with a tender that was serving as her pilot boat to lead her in.  MY WAY, who was already in deeper water, came back and became my pilot boat.  She got me over the unmarked shallow spots and into the deep channel.  Life was good again.  The tender for Kaleen had scouted the safe route in and she followed.  The unmarked channel makes getting into the harbour unattractive for most boats and it must hurt business here.  Had Rich turned me around and gone back to the U.S. there would have been an adverse impact on the Bahamian economy, oh well perhaps the government here doesn’t care.
Because the water is so clear the channel which had been dug to the marina looked very much like a highway.  As the picture shows it is straight and has smooth sides which are less than 3 feet deep.  The marina is really nice.  It has concrete pilings and concrete floating docks.  A huge amount of money was spent developing it, but it is nearly empty.  The staff is courteous, there is a shopping mall, but the mall is largely empty, and it has a good restaurant.
Wayne and Rich met the captain of the 100 foot yacht and he gave them a ride to Alicetown, the main city on North Bimini Island, to register with customs and clear immigration.  There is a lot of paper work to be completed and the forms have been photo copied so many times that they are barely legible.  However, all became good when Rich paid the government $300 for a 90 day cruising permit.   
The weather doesn’t look too good so I will likely sit here for a few days before going to Chubb Cay.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

A WASHER/DRYER

February 23, 2012  Dateline: Ft Lauderdale FL, USA
I continue to sit in Ft Lauderdale, FL waiting for good weather and the replacement of my Splendide combination washer dryer.  A week ago Carol noticed a leak in the unit, so Rich made some phone calls and was able to find a repairman who could come and take a look at.  Rich spoke to the people at Splendide and they said it was likely the pump, so he had one overnighted while I was in Key West (of course it was not the pump).  Last Monday the repairman came and the leak was coming from a molded hose that is no longer available, so I needed a whole new unit.  Rich and Carol were told that it would take 4-5 days to get it delivered.   While wandering through West Marine on Tuesday Rich and Carol saw one on display.  A phone call to the repairman and he said he could install it today.  The washer/dryer was bought over the phone, the repairman picked it up and in four hours the old one was removed and the new one installed.  Carol is very happy as she can now do laundry on me in the Bahamas.
Ft. Lauderdale is an interesting place.  In some respects it is a lot like Key West.  There are a lot of bars that play loud music and have crowds of partiers very close to the music.  There is 1A1, the highway that runs along the beach, and it has most of the bars, hotels, tee shirt shops and restaurants along it.  The sidewalk is just jammed full of people. 
Unlike Key West there is no sunset celebration at a dock.  The sun just goes down and the partying begins.  The town is getting ready for the famous spring college break.  The tee shirts are already on the store racks reading “Spring Break 2012”.
Some of the houses here in Ft Lauderdale are huge but next door might be an original 1950’s ranch that must have been one of the early homes that were built here.  The one pictured on the right has at least a six car garage one of which overlooks a canal and has huge palladium windows.  Behind these windows are parked a red as well as a green Ferrari.

The number of large boats here is also difficult to conceive of.  There are lines of boats over 125 feet long.  One wonders how they get into the canals and then are able to turn around so they can get out.  Perhaps some people park them outside their house solely because they can.  These are sitting across from me at the marina.

I had written that on the 15th of February I thought I might have reached my southernmost point on this trip and was going north, but that I might go further south when I get to the Bahamas.  I was wrong, Rich told me there is a change of plans and I would not be going any further south than I had already been.
Tomorrow is the big day MY WAY and I are leaving for Bimini.
 

Friday, February 17, 2012

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 A SAD DAY

February 17, 2012  Dateline:  Ft Lauderdale, FL USA
This morning I left Key Largo around 7:15.  Rich wanted to make sure that I could get through the shallow part of the channel as the tide was falling.  I made it out of the channel without any issues and started to head north toward Ft. Lauderdale.  As I past the northern tip of Key Largo, a boat named ZIGGY came out and I followed her all the way to Miami where she turned off.  The seas were flat and I zipped along at 21 mph.  I got to Ft. Lauderdale before noon and stopped at the Peterson Fuel barge to take on some diesel.  Peterson has a barge on the Intercoastal Waterway by the Swimming Hall of Fame which sells diesel solely to boats; it is like a floating gas station with a 10,000 gallon tank.  It was a short distance from Peterson’s to the Las Olas Marina where I finished my 72 mile day.
As I got to the channel that leads into Port Everglades I saw this cargo ship heading for the channel as well, she had a Coast Guard escort with a large machine gun on the escort’s bow.  Rich told me to slow down so that she could enter the channel first and not make the Coasties nervous.
Port Everglades is a major cruise ship report.  There were at least 6 of them in port as I passed through the channel.  Here is a picture of some of them.


Rich and Carol told me that they had been to Ft Lauderdale many times before but never came in from the ocean or traveled up the Intracoastal Waterway with me.  They took pictures of these mega yachts that were docked along the waterway.  These were just a few of the many that they saw.









On the main road through downtown Ft Lauderdale a dead palm tree was carved to look like an Indian chief wearing full head dress.



Why was February 15th a sad day?  At latitude 24° 27”, I turned north.  When I go to the Bahamas I may go further south but this particular turn was the start of the trip north and home, the end of my great adventure is getting closer.  Up to February 14th I have traveled largely west and south, except for the first two days when I went up the New Jersey coast and the Hudson River.
I will stay in Ft Lauderdale for a few days waiting for the weather to clear.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

JUST LIKE BOGIE AND BACALL

February 15, 2012  Dateline: Key Largo, FL USA
Today my job was to take Rich and Carol from Key West to Key Largo, like the song says that they were sailing away to Key Largo just like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.  There were two routes that I had to choose from.  The “inside” route was up through Hawk Channel between the Keys and the reef that is off shore.  The alternate route is on the ocean side of the reef in 100 to 200 feet of water.  I heard Rich discuss with Carol the many crab traps that would be in hawk Channel, I hate them.  Rich said that going outside the reef would likely mean fewer traps than traveling up Hawk Channel.  On the other hand, the reef reduces the impact of the waves so they would be smaller inside the reef. They agreed to go outside the reef to miss most of the crab traps. The 100 mile trip was easy with few crab traps and those that were there were easy to see as they had several floats on them because the added floatation was required to hold up the long length of line to the trap that was in deep water.
The approach to the marina is one of the most interesting ones that I have traveled.  Half way up the channel is a 90 degree turn.  The channel is narrow and Rich had to call on my radio to announce my approach to the turn, just in case another boat is traveling in the other direction.  Two boats cannot pass each other in the turn.
Key Largo is the home of the “African Queen”.  The boat co-starred in the movie by the same name starring Bogie and Hepburn.  Over the years, she has fallen in and out of disrepair.  She is currently undergoing major renovations. She is an interesting utility boat, but not as pretty as me.  On the other hand, she is 90 years older than me.  Bogie and Bacall starred in a move call Key Largo there was also a song where the singer wants to sail away to Key Largo just like Bogie and Bacall.



A few weeks ago I published this picture of what I thought might be a captured drug submarine, well it is not.  It turns out that the boat is a scale model of a new Navy destroyer that is being built.  The model is being tested so that all of the characteristics of the real ship can be analyzed and the Navy will know how the ship reacts in various seas.





I will stay in Key Largo tomorrow and will leave for Ft Lauderdale early on Friday morning.

While Rich was washing me after my run today, this pelican landed on my railing.  Hey Rich, what is going on here get this pelican off me.  A sprinkling with the hose brought a glare from the pelican.  A straight hit with the pressure did the trick and away he flew, without leaving anything behind.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

IMAGES OF KEY WEST

February 11, 2012  Dateline:  Key West, FL USA
The streets of Key West are full of interesting sights.  Since I have not traveled in a few weeks there is not much to write about but here are some pictures Rich took of Key West.
Since I have been here there has not been a pretty sunset only thick cloud cover.  The other night Rich was able to capture this sunset, the nicest one so far.



The US Coast Guard has a square rigger ship, the Eagle, is used to train future officers at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.  It was built in 1936 at the Biohm + Voss shipyard in Germany and was commissioned the Hoss Wessel.  At the end of WW II the ship by the US was taken as war repatriations and renamed the Eagle.  In April 2012 it will sail to New Orleans where it will participate in the War of 1812 Bicentennial celebration and then go to New York for the July 4th celebration.

This Willys Jeepster was seen on the streets of Key West.  Jeepsters were built by the Willys-Overland Motors from 1948-1950 so this car is over 60 years old.



In the last blog posting there was a picture of an old truck covered with stickers and Rich wondered what it was and what was behind it.  It turns out that the truck forms one wall of the B. O. Fish Wagon, a small restaurant.  Here is another picture taken form a different angle showing the truck and two sides of the restaurant.



Thursday, February 9, 2012

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

February 9, 2012  Dateline:  Key West, FL USA
It has been several days since I did my last post.  Rich and Carol have been busy trying to figure out how they were going to get me to Ft. Lauderdale to cross for the Bahamas.  They ran into two issues.  First they found that it is impossible to get a slip in Marathon for a short period, in fact impossible would have implied that there is a possibility, wrong.  It seems that slips are rented there for periods of a month or longer and many times, a year in advance.  Second, they never thought about the effect that the Miami Boat Show would have on the availability of slips further north.  They finally got me into a slip in Key Largo; from there I will go all the way to Ft. Lauderdale.  I am looking forward to getting moving again. I’ve been sitting too long!
Every day there is a different cruise ship in port.  Most are very large and really increase the population of Key West when they discharge their passengers.  Usually, they leave before sunset so that the people on shore can enjoy the Key West sunset, which has not been so great since I got here.  These two boats caught Carol’s fancy so she asked that I post pictures of them.  The first had lips painted on its bow, while the second one is the Costa Atlantica (sister ship to the Costa Concordia).
The size of the Costa Atlantica can be appreciated from this picture as she turned herself around some 180 degrees so she could sail down the channel to the ocean.





Key West is full of interesting street scenes.  The street scenes are what make Key West----Key West.  Here is a truck that is parked on someone’s property nice, huh.



Pelicans hang around the dock where the fishermen clean their catch and throw the scraps overboard.  The pelicans enjoy the free meal.  Perhaps this pelican got tired of waiting and so hopped on the bow of this little boat and said I will lead the way, let’s get going.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

NASKW

February 4, 2012  Dateline: Key West, FL USA
NASKW stands for Naval Air Station Key West.  There are actually 5 different locations in and around Key West.  The station has served many rolls over its existence.  In the late 1800’s it served as a place where Navy Ships took on coal. In fact, the USS Maine received its last load of coal in Key West.  It also was a submarine base and it played a role in the Cuban missile crisis. President Harry Truman’s Key West White House is within NASKW.  Today the base continues to serve many missions.  One of those missions is the training base for naval pilots for aircraft carrier landing.
Rich and Carol met their friends John and Mary from MARY FRANCIS IV.  John had been a Brigadier General in the Michigan National Guard and therefore has access to military bases.  They all went to the Boca Chia landing area for the training pilots.  The jets land on a runway that’s painted to look like a carrier deck, and as soon as the wheels hit the “deck” the engine is run up to full power.  This is done in case the hook does not grab a restraining wire and the jet has to take off again. What a loud noise the engine at full power makes!  Once the land training is complete, the Navy brings an air craft carrier into the Gulf of Mexico so the trainees can land on a real carrier.
On the southern coast of Key West there is another part of the base where some WW I gun emplacements are located.  The area of the gun emplacements is highly polluted and is fenced off.  This sign indicated that the grass inside the fence is maintained to the proper length by a flock of goats.  Here is the sign describing how to treat the landscaping team.


Here is a picture of the landscaping crew.





The area is also home to a large number of iguanas.  Based on this picture it looks like there may be some baby iguanas soon.  Remember you can enlarge a picture by clicking on it.



John and Mary showed Rich and Carol where they could gather sponges that washed onto the shore.  These three lovely flower vase sponges were picked up and put in a plastic bag.  They smelled something fierce.  Attempts to clean them failed and they found their way into another plastic bag and then into a dumpster.

On the base, a pair of bald eagles had made a nest on top of a pole.  Carol took this picture of the pair feeding their young chick.  They are big and beautiful birds.



The other day I made note of a submarine that might have been a drug submarine.  At NASKW they actually have one of the early drug subs that was captured by the Coast Guard with 4.1 tons of cocaine on board.  It was made of fiberglass with Plexiglas windows.



One of the best places to each lunch in Key West is a cart called Garbo’s.  The seating is on coolers holding cold drinks and the menu is limited but the burritos, burgers and hot dogs more than made up for the lack of atmosphere.


Cindy, Sandra, Matt and Pat gave Rich and Carol a gift certificate to the Flaming Buoys Filet Company.  The restaurant was small with about 6 tables inside and a few on the outside porch. The food was fabulous.  Rich and John had an entree of lobster macaroni and cheese that was to die for. Carol had lobster thermador that also was very good

The cemetery at Key West contains interesting grave markers.  Here are several that were noted.  People in Key West still have a sense of humor even after death.


Within the next two weeks there is a boat show in Miami and that is affecting my ability to move north (marinas are all full), so I am staying in Key West for another week.  Rich and Carol decided that of all the places we could stay Key West is one of the best, so here I stay.  

Thursday, February 2, 2012

GREAT FRIENDS

February 2, 2012  Dateline;  Key West, FL USA
Last night Rich, Carol, Michael and Petra had dinner at the Westin Hotel.  The initial plan was to watch the sun set at Mallory Square then go to dinner.  The sunset was blocked by clouds for the second night in a row.  So Rich said that they went off to dinner on the pier and were the last table to leave.  I guess the company was great.  Rich told me that he and Carol had agreed to go to Germany in 2013 to visit with Michael and Petra.  They are going to leave me behind; I guess I can’t fit on to an airplane.
This morning a diver came to look at one of my propellers.  I had picked up a vibration in my starboard propeller on the way down from Marco Island.  My starboard propeller had grabbed a lobster trap line and it wrapped around my shaft and propeller.  The diver cut the line and I am now ready to heads off to Marathon next week.





There is a small island located off of Key West with several homes.  The only way to get there is by water.  So this landing craft goes back and forth to the island carrying garbage trucks, trucks to empty septic holding tanks and any other vehicles that are needed on the island.



When going into the port of a foreign country it is customary to fly the flag of the country on the bow of one’s boat.  Here I am in the Conch Republic. In 1982 the US Border Patrol was going to set up a roadblock to inspect everyone coming or going from the island of Key West.  The citizens said that would hurt the tourism business as well as make the life of the citizens very complex. So, the town of Key West successfully seceded from the US in 1982, and quickly created a nation called the Conch Republic. Following their secession the Conchs (citizens of the Conch Republic) beat Federal Agents with stale Cuban bread.  They rejoined the union after 2 days and requested Federal Aid, which they are still waiting for.  In any event, here is the courtesy flag I am flying for the Conch Republic. The nation’s motto is “We Seceded Where Others Failed”.   April 23 of each year is celebrated as the Conch Republic’s Independence Day.
One of the Conch Republic’s industries before tourism was the harvesting of live sponges.  As an icon of the industry there is a sponge man, no not “Sponge Bob Square Pants”, in front of one of the stores in the main shopping area.  This statute is made from various size sponges.  

Rich saw this truck on the street, nice painting job.





Key West, as I previously mentioned, is a port for many cruise ships. This one came into port this morning.  The Majesty of the Sea, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, is approximately 880 feet long with a beam of 106 feet, weighs 74,077 tons and carries about 3,000 passengers.


The Coast Guard towed this small submarine-like vessel out to sea, a little while later another Coast Guard ship brought it back. Since the drug lords have started using submarines to bring drugs into this country, Rich wondered if this is one of the captured subs and if it is being used to train Coasties to find these small vessels in the big ocean.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

RICH AND CAROL MEET FRIENDS

January 31, 2012  Dateline: Key West, FL USA
Today I sat in my slip while Rich and Carol went off to meet their friends Michael and Petra from Germany.  Michael and Petra flew into Miami, rented a big Harley Davidson motorcycle and rode to Key West.  That is all I know so I will turn this posting over to Rich. 



Hi! Rich here.  It has been some time since Carol and I saw Michael and Petra so it was good to see them again.  The four of us walked all over the southern end of Key West. 
At the old US Customs house there are several statutes that are very life like and creative.  Here is a picture of two dancers that is about twenty feet tall.  (They would make good basketball players if they could only move.)  There was another statute of an artist painting some people who were dancing in a circle, further away was the statute of the people dancing in the circle that the artist was painting.  It was all kind of neat.









From the Old Customs House we went into the Mel Fisher Museum which somewhat tells the story and then displays many of the items found on the sunken Spanish Treasure ship, the Atocha.  Mel Fisher found the Atocha where she sank in 1622 after having left Havana, Cuba.  She and another ship, the Margareta, ran into a hurricane that caused their sinking.  There were tens of millions of dollars of gold, silver, gems and jewelry on board the Atocha.  The State of Florida and the Federal government thought that the treasure belonged to them.  Mel took a law suit all the way to the Supreme Court who then decided that the treasure belonged to Fisher as it was found outside of Florida and Federal waters.
Treasure ships would come to Havana from all over Central and South America with their cargos.  The cargos would be consolidated there and, as part of a convoy, be shipped on to Spain.  The Atocha and Margareta left Havana in early September in the heart of hurricane season and were sunk a few days later.  Finding the ship was made difficult as all of the soft material, such as its wooden hull, would have rotted or been eaten away so all that was left was the hard metals, ceramics and gems.  In the museum store, Carol saw an emerald that she wanted me to buy her. It is in excess of 24 carats and the asking price was $650,000.  Given that the likelihood of getting the emerald was remote, she then asked for a gold bar that was 2 pounds 5 ounces for $213,000-----she didn’t get that one either. 
The gold jewelry that was found on the Atocha is spectacular and the fine detailed workmanship was amazing.  One of the exhibits explained that the tax on bringing jewelry back to Spain was lower than that of gold or gold bars, so much gold was brought back as jewelry then could be converted back to gold bars. 
Then off we went to the southernmost point in the continental US.  There was a line of people taking pictures. Each person handed their camera to the one behind them to take a picture. It would be difficult to be the last person in line that day.  Here is a picture of Carol and me as well as one of me, Petra, Carol and Michael.

Next we went to Ernst Hemmingway’s house for a tour.  Ernst Hemmingway had four wives.  It seemed that the best time for him to write a book was when he was chasing after another woman.  The house is also the home of six toed cats and the cats have the run of it (currently there are 44 cats).  There are signs all around saying “Do Not Sit on the Furniture”, the cats surprisingly obey the rules, and they simply lay on the furniture.

The day pretty much ended for us at Mallory Square for the nightly sunset event there.  Mallory Square is full of bucksters who perform unicycle riding, juggling, singing (most should not give up their day jobs), fire eating and acrobats.  The sun set was not very dramatic as there was a layer of clouds just above the horizon.  We will try again tomorrow night.
 In the area where the cruise boats dock there are a number of tee shirt shops.  Everything is $10 when a cruise ship is in.  Immediately after the ship leaves the price goes down to $5----as Michael said it is simply the application of the law of supply and demand.  There is another law being employed and that is collusion as they all have the same deal at the same time.