Missed too many days to catch up

Finally back on Shawnee after Thanksgiving with the grands in New Hampshire and a trip to Cuba. At home the grandkids' bedroom holds a new (removable) swing hanging from the rafters.  Very popular and it's able to hold lots of kids at once. (Wish I had a pic.)

Before we went back to New Hampshire we sailed from St. Augustine to Florida over 3.5 days into Dinner Key, Coconut Grove mooring field.  It was a nice gentle trip with many windy, windy days before and after Drew's perfect weather window.  Nice and easy in the cockpit.

The old log book is filled so we purchased a new, different log book for 2015-16:

Some of the check offs at the top are neat.  It doesn't have sections for maintenance, fuel, or marinas, so I'm not sure I like it as well.  It's with us for this season, and I'll use the old one for the maintenance and fuel records.


Drew continues to add to his boat "to do" list.  Pretty long and he constantly talks about how he hasn't gotten enough done each day though we chip away at it; replacing, fixing and maintaining and talking about it.

We had some nice sunrises and sunsets:

 It was calm when we arrived so we rode the dinghy into the new office.



We arrived in Dinner Key to check into the brand new marina office; new showers, new laundry, new smaller lounge - no weather TV.

There is a newly constructed huge park, Regatta Park, on the back side and the waterfront piers to the left.  Free parking included.  The town of Coconut Grove we love with Coco Walk, a shopping area with a good cinema in the center, Bice (Bee-che) for our happy hours, and 2 roof top bars for nice views at the Sonesta and the historic preservation designated Mayfair.  Drew joined a 24 hour gym with a trainer for a few sessions - a first!

We arrived to 4 days stuck on the boat because of high winds in the mooring field, 20 to 25 K.  The launch won't run if it's over 15, the waves are just too high.  Our dinghy could do it, but chances of having a problem are great.  I spent hours reading a good book -- my book lay on the cockpit teak in the rainstorm -- it's our little sun/rain room, fully enclosed.

So many good quotes about the ocean from this book of short stories by great authors (Dickens, Stevenson, Verne, Defoe) set on the sea -- I'll share with you later.


Saw this great poster in the bathroom of a local hotel.  Then we prepared for our trip to CUBA with the Garden Club of America through the People to People tour of Fundacion Amistad. 

We packed lightly for Cuba having read that it's a third world country and casual was all we needed.  Mazu stayed in the pet "hotel" for the first time.  It has a TV and cot, no less.
 Luly Duke and Michael Conners (author of Caribbean and Cuban books, The Splendor of Cuba) were our incredible guides who led us through amazing places without many English speaking American tourists.  Gia, was the required government friendly guide who translated and gave the "hail all heroes" history of Cuba as we traveled through the countryside of Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Veradano, Mantanzas, and Havana.  We didn't see the far east or western provinces.

The stone work on the column top connection to arches and below the chair rail is exquisite.  The intricate iron work on stairs is everywhere in Havana and can't escape notice.  I took many, many photos. When I download them from Drew's phone I'll share some on this blog.  We wanted to go to Cuba before it changes.  Paying the big bucks for a small group guided tour was totally worth it; learned and saw so much more than if we'd been on our own.

Sunday Nov, 8 water pump fix, rain

I missed the VHF channel 72 Cruises Net because I didn't switch it off "tri-watch" (didn't know how) and the program was incessantly interrupted with boats calling Lion's Bridge for an opening.
  Cooked a good breakfast before starting on the water pump replacement of the rubber diaphragm that we just replaced last year.  The symptom was water leaking as the pump worked filling up the bin with water over time and then bailing out the bin.
   First: take apart the whole salon area to reach the water pump in a bin below the port seats.
  2nd:  Go upside down in the bin and unscrew the motor pump and unhook electrical wires.

You can see the motor is right up against the wall and very hard to remove the 4 screws.  

 Drew decided he'd drill new holes (went upsidedown a no-no)

and place it where it's easier to remove, and he also put the works vertically.

The damaged diaphragm:

The motor setup vertically

Water pumped screwed back in and ready to go.  It now does work without leaking.

This took most of the rainy day to complete.  I also read Incredible Tales of the Sea, a short story collection including Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island  when Long John Silver finds the treasure with Jim on the island, Daniel Defoe's description from Robinson Crusoe's  dangerous sail around his island on his home made boat with a sail., Victor Hugo's "An Imprisoned Thunderstorm" describing a terrible lose cannon on a ship after its rolled around and finally captured.  Jules Verne's "An Unknown Species of Whale" about Captain Faragut on board the "Abraham Lincoln" frigate out to capture a narwhal.  The book also has Homer and Charles Dickens.

The next day, MONDAY NOVEMBER 9, was bright sunny and warm.  We took some walks around the historic downtown where there may be as many as 50 historic homes and places to tour.  There are horse and buggy tours, trolley tours and guided bike tours.

  From the mooring field we see Flagler College spires poking the blue sky and crenellated tops of the original architecture for the hotels.

Topping lift fix and BEACH DAY : )

Saturday November 7

Just a quick update on Mazu - her cyst was benign. It was a pilomatricoma.  When Drew looked it up it was basically a follicle out of control that grows.  It was the size of silver dollar and needed to come out.
  She hardly had any reaction to the 7" scar and anesthesia she experienced during day surgery.  She has to wear a collar so she won't bother the stitches for 2 weeks and a little shirt for one day.

Finally a real beach day, of course after the requred daily boat fixing - today it's the topping lift that snapped during our trip.  The line and halyard that holds up the boom .  I get to go up the mast  : ) !

   I'm sitting in the bosen's chair with 2 hauling ropes around 2 winches  - one for safety and one to haul me up.  I love holding my legs around the mast or swinging free.  I figure it's worth $150, the going rate to go up and do work.  All I have to do is grab the line, untangle it from around the radar, spreaders and shrouds, and attach it to the other end of the line with a shackle.  My birdseye view of the cockpit and the boom sitting on the bimini waiting to be lifted.

looking down at Drew.  Didn't get to go to the top.

Off to the beach:

2nd day this year for Drew.

After beach oysters 12 for $!5 at Salt Life across the street from the beach and roof top view.

Back to St. Augustine

Flew back without Mazu since she had her operation to remove a growing cyst.  She's staying with her lifelong friends the Patches who have boarded her since she was a pup.  It's odd being here without her. Really miss my companion.
  Time to fix the topping lift and the bladder on the water pump today.  Quite a few emails and Sunrise work.

We took a walk along the esplanade by the river and saw this wonderful sculpture to "Freedom"   civil liberties, democracy, freedom, and compassion are written on each side. 

I also took a tour of the Flagler College Tiffany glass Dining Hall which has some of the largest pieces of Tiffany glass.  This is an amazing piece of architecture built by robber baron Flagler - started Standard Oil with John D. Rockefeller and built railroads to Florida.  On down the chain of relatives this hotel was turned into a successful college.

large dome ceiling with several balconies

The pool I showed earlier is actually a sundial where the turtles are in the place of the numbers.  I'd say the tour is worth the trip.  In a town where I've been told the museums aren't really worth it.  The other famous one at the other end of the culture scale is The Ripley's Believe or Not Museum - it's like its headquarters here.  Huge museum.

We're off to provision up and get West Marine supplies. 
  We found out it's cheaper to rent a car from the Jacksonville Airport than to take the airport shuttle.  So we have a car for a fw days.  We have to go to our favorite BBQ place down Route 1 too.
  We always park our car with John at The Record building, the old newspaper building now made into apartments that isn't far from the marina.  Other must go-to places are Cousteau's waffle sundaes and Hyppolyta's Popsicles on Hyppolyta St. with flavors like Pistachio Rosewater or Thyme Berry. 
  More later when we take off for Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove around Tuesday.  They finally moved into their new fancy marina office.

River Dunes mm 174, to St. Augustine Municipal Moorings, mile marker 776.8

First thing, I always do the morning "walk" with Mazu.  Today, Mazu's last fun run before 3 days at sea.  She seems to know it.  The big empty lot behind the resort is perfect for sniffing and exploring.  There's also a high platform to look out over the marsh.

 

Saturday, October 24-27
Chores before we can go offshore for 3 days.  The decision was made based on all of the weather reports from multiple sources.  "nice," "no problem" were the words used for a passage on the Atlantic at this time.  We aren't interested in an uncomfortable ride or getting banged up reaching for hand-holds and missing when the boat lurches.

   Zipper lubed all the zippers on the enclosure - makes a big difference when you're outside.  No need to fight with the zipper.  Filled up on fuel and water.

The black thing next to Drew is the engine we took off the dinghy and lifted up to the rail of the cockpit.  You see Drew putting back the "crane" lines that lifted up the outboard.  Hauling up the dinghy is the beginning to Drew's non-stop day.  This arrangement allows for less strain on the dinghy if there is a bumpy ride on the Atlantic.  Triple pulleys for the dingy make it easier to haul it up on the davits.
Other chores: make tuna salad, have finger food list by the stove for easy access if the seas get too lumpy and make it hard to cook.  Secure everything so it doesn't fall.

The forecast: sunny, calm, winds going to a maximum of 20 K from the north, waves 2 to 4'.  All looks and sounds good.  You can see how calm the water is in the above picture in this hurricane hole River Dunes marina - very safe.
  We left at 10 am.  I cooked breakfast on the way to Morehead City, NC from River Dunes (near Oriental, NC), a 5 hour trip.  From there we head out to the Atlantic where we are incommunicado for 3 full days.
  This is the typical size of the barges, and we need to move out of the way!  Needless to say they have right-of-way. 

You can see more of chop on the water this gorgeous day.  Wind is picking up.
The forecast said winds 15 to 20 with seas at 2' to 4.'

 Sailing wing and wing when the wind is directly behind the boat.

 Harness on at all times as the wind begins to pick up.  The harnesses allow us to hook onto the jack lines that are attached from the bow to the stern for off shore sailing.  When we hook in we are attached to the boat essentially. The jackets inflate when/if we fall overboard.  There is also a manual button if they don't inflate.  We also attached a whistle.  It can be impossible to see the person in the water if they are down in the trough of the waves.  There's a button on the Nav station at the helm for MOB, man overboard, to mark the spot.  Safety, safety.  When I run a MOB situation through my mind I release the life Sling, throw tons of floating stuff in the water hoping the MOB can swim to something: life saver, cockpit cushions, other life preservers.  Fortunately the water is warm here and hypothermia is not as apt to happen.

Saturday was nice and pretty calm.  We stuck a couple of Weight Watcher "TV" dinners, Salisbury steaks, in the microwave and ate with the usual sunset entertainment.

Here are the instruments at night.  We try to have as little light on as possible so our night vision isn't compromised.
The top shows our track based on a 360 degree compass, 2nd window shows the depth at 103,' the speed isn't working on this instrument - we see speed on radar and Navionics, after speed is the water temperature at 75 F, and the last gauge is where the wind is coming from - here it's 110 degrees from the northeast or starboard side. 

The image below isn't clear, but this is the Navionics tracking and shows the speed on the Ipad.  The orange rectangle is the VHF radio that is always on and rotating channels 9, 16 and 13.  This is the ship to ship or ship to shore communication line within 10 miles or more.  Everyone can hear anything said on VHF.  Occasionally there is an argument when a power boat passes a sailboat.  The giant wake can cause a lot of rocking for a sailboat so if they are polite the power boat will tell you on VHF that they are coming by slowly, "a slow pass."  Today, one guy gets on the radio and yells at a power boat captain, "The river is 5 miles wide here, you a###, and you pass 100' by my boat.  I'm a sailboat.  Sailboats have the right of way.  What are you doing?"  And the power boat guy just answers in a calm voice, "Keep it in New Jersey."  It was pretty funny.   Rarely do you hear that kind of interchange because there are strict rules about being polite on VHF.

These three dials show the RPMs, here about 2300, the oil gauge, and the temperature of the engine.

This is the floating dial compass.  The line at the top indicates our heading at about 225 degrees.  You can see 0 is north.

 The radar screen is really important when we are moving at night.  Our boat is in the center and the concentric rings show how far away a dot (boat) is from our boat.  Big huge ocean but there are an amazing number of times the course has to be altered to accommodate the other boat's right of way.  We can set the radar range to show what's out there as far away as 48 miles.  We usually run with it on 12 miles.  Remember we are traveling at 6 k which is about the speed of a jogger. The data boxes on the bottom automatically tell, how long to the next way point, speed, track heading, lat and longitude, error if we don't follow the track.

SUNDAY at the helm.
  

 Early morning at the helm: ship's log on the seat and plenty of water bottles. Ipad Navionics is on the right.  Nice to have a full enclosure  -a little sunroom.  56 degrees in the morning but it warmed up to 77 F.

 Still the wind is at our back, and we are sailing wing and wing with the early sun through the 3 sails.
Winds pick up.  Here is Drew to explain.

Monday:  We were pretty disappointed in NOAAs prediction and everyone else who said the rain and winds weren't coming until Wednesday.  Au contraire, we got caught in a couple of squalls.
In the middle of the day the topping lift snapped off the boom and was just hanging down over the water.  The shackle probably broke. We used the boat hook to pull the line in and attach it to a spare halyard.  This means that later I will need to go up the mast (love to do this) to reattach a new shackle to the correct line that's loose at the top of the mast.  The topping lift is the line from the top of the mast to the end of the boom.  It holds up the end of the boom when the sail is not out. 

Mazu and I stayed in the well padded aft cabin bed, the place on the boat with the least motion.  Poor Mazu, she fortunately peed on the bow twice during the trip but still so anxious.  I gave her half a Benadryl in spite of these words on the package, "Marked drowsiness may occur. DO NOT USE to make a child sleepy."  It's the first thing I've used that's put a dent in her anxiety and let her relax a little.  The vet had used it on her when they took a blood sample so I knew it wouldn't be harmful.  Mazu has always had a small bump cyst on her leg, but recently it's grown bigger so when we return to Exeter the vet will remove it surgically and get a biopsy.

As we neared the St. Augustine inlet Tuesday morning at 7:45 we called Tow Boat US to get "local knowledge" about the passage through.  Inlets are subject to shoaling and change often.  They didn't answer so we called the Municipal Marina here and asked them. She passed it onto the Coast Guard because they just happened to be around the Marina.  Instead of talking us through they came out and gave us an escort through the pass in their little red ribbed inflatable.  We rounded the corner and waited with 6 other boats, just 10 minutes for the Lion's Bridge to open.

Yay , we made it to the mooring 8:45 am.  The launch came out at 10.  With excited Mazu we registered the boat, got keys/card for the facilities, and had a cup of coffee/latte at the wonderful hotel opposite beautiful Flagler College.  I had heard they have tours of this amazing building that used to be the Flagler Hotel when Mr. Flagler was making tons of money bringing the railroad to Florida and developing the state.  I'll tour tomorrow and send pix.
Here is the courtyard.

All in all it was hard trip with inaccurate weather information.  The wind went to 40 mph Monday night with large waves and lots of rocking and rolling.  I had on my transderm patch so no sickness from any of us.  We'll be here for a few days before we rent a car to drive north for meetings in New Hampshire.
  We're on the boat this afternoon while the raindrops tap dance on the canvas and clear the boat of all the salt water.  Drew and Mazu were awake most of the time during 3 days travel.  Drew because he was concerned about the weather and Mazu because she was anxious about the boat travel, almost constantly panting until the Benadryl kicked in.  Now they both collapsed to catch up on sleep.

We traveled 474 miles off shore with 12 hours of sailing without the motor.  Via the ICW with the same destination it's 602 miles. Via the Atlantic Ocean we saved time, gas, and headaches through the ICW trouble spots.  We missed the beauty of seeing the south close up.  Another time. 
Our destination is Coconut Grove, FL, Dinner Key Marina mooring field; the ICW mile marker is 1,094.