Just happened to notice that the GPS indicated mile 9035 since it was installed in Texas. From Marathon at mile 8463, we had traveled 572 miles on our Bahamas trip.
We spent five nights at Stuart and Elizabeth Ann Bell's home on Singer Island. They were on their boat Shearwater II at Seabrook Shipyard enjoying Texas heat. You may recall we saw them last in Key West and Marathon.
It was quite a luxury having the use of their home, and dock, and swimming pool, and automobile too. We got caught up on 376 E-mail, restarted our telephone service, went to the hairdressers, and bought stuff at supermarkets just like real people do. Marion declared, "Just tell them we aren't leaving."
"We can return to shore someday," I reassured her, "but for now, someone has to Cruise the Florida waters."
July 26 -27 Ft Lauderdale
You may recall that we last saw Bob and Peggy Rakel M/Y Sabbatical in the Supermarket in Nassau. We were headed in different directions, but established a rendezvous plan for Fort Lauderdale. That afternoon, about two hours away, we called ahead. They were on the boat, we would meet for cocktails on Sabbatical then go out for dinner.
"Remedy, Remedy," came Bob over Channel 16, "This is Sabbatical, switch and answer 68."
"Going 68," I replied.
On 68, "Hey Ed, you guys just passed us. We shouted and waved ... you just went on by."
"Sorry I wasn't looking for you till after the bridge." I answered. "We will anchor and be right over to see you."
There were lots of stories to tell, They had done the Exumas, we had done the Abacos. It turns our we had both crossed the same day coming back to Florida. They left from Lucaya first thing in the morning and, moving just a little faster than us, were into port and tied up before the storm. (Recall we got hit off Lake Worth Inlet.)
Sometime in the conversation I remarked, "Fort LaDeDah is quite an impressive and pretentious city."
The name drew a laugh from Bob and he quite agreed with the title. "It goes well with Yachting Capitol of the World," he observed. Two bottles of Chardonnay an a small mountain of snacks later we were off to dinner at Coconuts.
PostScript: In a telephone conversation weeks later, Bob reported that he often refers to "Ft LaDeDah... Can't get it out of my mind."
We spent a restful night at anchor in Lake Lydia. Next morning, with time to kill, we cruised up New River into the heart of "Ft. LaDeDah." That experience confirmed the sobriquet. "Ostentatious" was added to the growing list of adjectives.
We put in at Mariott Marina promptly at noon. The marina is very well protected and a little tight on maneuvering space. It abuts to a very pretty inner courtyard; the facilities are first class. Our slip was right by the swimming pool and we immediately took advantage of it on the hot summer day.
On prior arrangement, we were visited that afternoon by Sam and Charlotte Packenham-Walsh. This serendipitous rendezvous came about by the felicitous conjunction of their travel plans, by cruise ship to the Caribbean, with our circumnavigation of Southern Florida. (Note: big words to get Sam's approval.)
Our foursome had a whirlwind tour of Ft. LaDeDah. The narrated river Taxi to downtown, two-fer-one margatitas at Dan Marino's bar, and free shuttle boat across the river to Shirtsleeves Restaurant. This "free" trip included a 20 minute detour with a briefing on the sights. It took us up the river through the older and scenic sections of the city. A generous tip for a great service was called for, but not solicited. Dinner at Shirtsleeves was relaxed. Lovely view of the city across the river. We all had different seafood dishes. Rating ****$$$. The evening wound down with a different narrator/driver and commentary on the sights.
July 28 - 30 Key Biscayne to Cape Sable
After leaving Ft Lauderdale we ran three days straight. The objective was to get on to the West Coast of Florida and get ready to go to France. The first night we anchored at Key Biscayne.
Next day we were on to Islamorada where we stayed at Coral Bay Marina. Lunch was the jerk chicken and pork barbecue at Lorelai Restaurant. Fantastic***$$. We provisioned and headed out the next morning for an anchorage at Cape Sable.
Cape Sable is the southern most tip of the Florida mainland. It's where the Everglades meets the Gulf. As promised in the waterway guide, we were the only boat there. We dinghied ashore, strolled the deserted beach and found more shells than we could carry. Many were perfect conch shells. We also found what we believed were the tracks of turtles crossing the sandy beach to lay their eggs in the dunes.
July 31 - August 4 Marco Island
It was 231 miles of cruising from Singer Island to Marco Island. The period was marked by heavy rains in southern and central Florida, somehow we missed these storms.
We pulled in to Marco Island with the intention of anchoring out for
two days. The evening of July 31 a tropical wave swept over us at Marco
Island. Winds were gale force that night. We let out extra scope on the
anchor rode and set the GPS anchor alarm to wake us if the boat moved more
than 100 feet. As usual I slept through it all, and Marion got up a few
times to check things out.
| August 1 NOAA predicted that the wave was expected to become Tropical
Storm Barry.
That morning the genset decided to stop. We decided to move in to the Marco River Marina to make repairs and wait out the storm. The disturbance continued to drift off the coast from Marco Island. At 3 PM on August 2 it was named Barry. For a while it appeared to head for Texas then it turned North and went in near Pensacola. |
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I struggled with the genset for a day. The cooling system was eliminated as a problem. The engine would start, but not keep running. I found the oil low and added two quarts. I even bled the fuel lines and changed the Racor filter. Now it would not start at all. Totally frustrated I called my mechanic friend Deem Akmal in Texas. He expanded my list of things to check in the fuel system. No luck!
I was afraid to try anything more for fear of doing damage. It was the week end and there would be no service for two more days. I decided we would just travel 5 hour days and plug in at marina's every evening. The Genset would have to wait until we got to Indian Rocks Beach.
August 5 Ft Myers Beach
By August 5 Barry was hundreds of miles away headed for the panhandle of Florida. The winds were down and the seas were rolling swells coming from the south. We stuck our nose out and found 3-4 foot swells. Not ideal conditions but good enough for a four hour trip to Ft Myers Beach. That afternoon we got an Email from Ron and Beverly Arbizzani, M/Y Farfetched, they would be leaving Punta Gorda in two days for a trip by car to the NorthEast. "Y'all stay put," I called on the phone, "we will be there tomorrow for cocktails."
August 6-7 Punta Gorda
We made it in plenty time for cocktails and spent the time trading stories about our adventures in the Bahamas. These are always sort of "Can you top this?" stories about either the blunders we have made, the equipment failures we have conquered, or the worst weather we encountered.
Ron's horror stories involved failed Genset and Air Conditioning systems. These are Serious issues in Bahamian hot weather; you are away from US repair facilities.
All I had to counter these claims to Heroism were our two challenging crossings: 8 foot swells going to Abacos and the Gale Force winds returning to Lake Worth Inlet.
Next day we saw Ron and Beverly off and spent the rest of the day in port. We biked through the nearby subdivisions looking at canal homes and into town for provisions. It was great not having to cruise for a day. They have since returned from their Northeast trip and spent a day battling tropical storm Gabrielle in their slip at Punta Gorda.
August 8 Venice
Our previous plans had been to visit Bob and Evone Langenbach, S/V
Cheers, at anchor near Sarasota.
With our Genset problem that was not feasible. You may remember Bob
and Evone from our Marathon and Key West reports. They sailed back to Sarasota
when we headed for Dry Tortugas.
They drove down from Sarasota and we did cocktails on Remedy. We also introduced them to the only place we knew in Venice, La Luna Italian Restaurant.
The Feast for four was memorable:
Bottle of white wine and a side of Garlic bread,
Giant tossed salad with Feta Cheese served family
style.
One Large White Pizza with spinach and garlic topping.
Giant bowl of Seafood Linguini.
Rating ***$$ Belissimo. Plus there were leftovers to take home for BOTH families.
They promised us a proper tour of Sarasota in October after we return from France.
August 9 - Sept 3 Indian Rocks Beach
Robert Hammers, M/Y Hammerstime, was there to greet us, take our lines and help us dock. He and Grace had seen us off back in April. We were back at Indian Rocks Beach, a great homecoming.
There were a lot of things to do before we would leave on our Trip with TMCA to France. Marion went to Texas for some quality time with her grandchildren. There was a pile of maintenance items on the boat to keep me busy. The Bahamas reports were completed. The boat got a thorough cleaning.
Marion's nephew, Walter Kurish, is a professional race car mechanic and also an accomplished diesel mechanic. He came by after work and checked out the Genset. He checked the fuel system quickly and when we tried to start it, the best it would do was a few pops. "Ed, I'm going to have to come back," he said, "I have to get home and take Wally to the ball game. The engine is starving for fuel... don't worry we can find it tomorrow."
That night my brain kept churning as I slept. "Starving for fuel... impossible, I fixed that.... even changed the Racor... got flow at the injectors." Then I awoke at 3AM. The problem was solved. I didn't fix the fuel system. It was OK when I started working on it. I broke the fuel system! When I refilled the Racor filter, I had to turn the fuel supply off as the fuel came to the top. After capping the filter, you turn the fuel back on. The closest valve to the filter goes to the fuel tank sight glass. Now I vaguely remember that the valve I checked was already in the on position. I had attempted to turn the fuel on with the wrong valve. I went back to sleep until 6 AM.
"Marion," I called out at 6:30, "There's a cup of coffee waiting for you."
"That's nice, Honey," she managed to say, "I was asleep... what's up?"
"Oh nothing much, I'm going down to the engine room... will you please start the genset when I call out?"
"Sure, have you been working on it?" she asked.
"Yes, all night long," I said as I went below. Sure enough the valve was in the wrong position. I turned it on.
"Give it a try," I called out.
A quiet click as the solenoid activated. I felt the fuel pump, it was running. She was heating the glow plugs for 20 seconds. Then KRUNK, the starter engaged, ROW ROW, two revs of the engine, POOP PUP, ignition, and then Hummmmmmm, it was running fine.
To celebrate the occasion I turned off the shore power and loaded the
genset with a full house load. I ran for forty five minutes checking temperatures,
water flow, and oil pressures periodically. All was normal, we were both
relieved.
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