WE'RE IN BOOT KEY HARBOR AND ONE WEEK AWAY FROM THE BAHAMAS (HOPEFULLY)

Saturday, January 28

Late again in posting to our blog, right?  But this time we have an excuse.  (Well, we always have an excuse, but this time it's a bona fide good one.)  We lost our email capability, both sending and receiving, on Jan. 23 and only got everything working again yesterday.  So please excuse our tardiness in keeping you up to speed with our progress.  We have added photos this time (yea, Al!) but we haven't quite yet figured out how to caption them (work for another day).

The end of another gorgeous day

That being said, we are getting closer and closer to The Bahamas!  Wahoo!!  We left Fort Myers Beach last Monday, Jan. 23, and had a gorgeous overnight sail to Boot Key Harbor in the Florida Keys.  The wind was 10-15 knots, the largest wave we saw was less than a foot high, and the trip could not have been more perfect (this being a far cry from the leg from Pensacola to Ft. Myers Beach).

And the water only gets better from here on out.  

 We arrived at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon on Tuesday afternoon and anchored just outside, along with several other boats.  Boot Key Harbor Marina is an amazing place.  It has 286 mooring balls and the protocol is to sign up for one after you arrive.  Four days later, we are still anchored but have moved Wind Dancer into the mooring area, which is calmer than where we were initially, and we think our name will reach the top of the list for a mooring either today or tomorrow.  Update:  we got our mooring!  Yea!!!  In any case,  including the anchored boats, there are well over 300 boats here, most of which are sailboats.  Never have we seen so many masts in one place!  Many of the people here live aboard year 'round while others, such as ourselves, are transient cruisers who are generally planning trips either to The Bahamas or points south.

Dinghying in to Boot Key Harbor Marina

 One neat feature here is that the marina has a sign-up board where cruisers post where they are going...and when.  We have met another couple who is also headed to the Exumas and we'll probably sail with them when we leave here.  Right now, that timeline appears to be at the end of this week, at the earliest.  For our non-sailing friends:  When crossing the Gulf Stream, you have to avoid going whenever there is (or has recently been) a north wind, since the Stream carries a substantial current running north.  A north wind going against that current sets up awful seas that would make the crossing to The Bahamas a truly dangerous undertaking.  Our first possible "weather window" in which to leave therefore appears to be Thursday.  We have enlisted the services of Chris Parker, a weather forecaster of almost godlike renown for sailors in the Caribbean.  He not only gives you a daily forecast for the area in which you are sailing but will also (for a very reasonable fee) give personalized travel itineraries.  You tell him where you want to sail to and he tells you what day is best to leave and what weather conditions to anticipate along the way (wind, wave height, etc.).  He gives you the exact waypoints along the route to your destination as well.   It's a great service to be able to take advantage of when sailing in unfamiliar territory and we are delighted to have found him.

The view from the galley port (window to you land lubbers)

Other than the above, no real news.  Oh, yes!  We found a used spinnaker in excellent condition that fits our boat (at a wonderful price!) so we're ready for light winds whenever they show themselves.  Hopefully we'll be able to get a photo of Wind Dancer flying her spinnaker one of these days and will post it on the blog.  (The folks that sold us the spinnaker had posted the listing on the board at Boot Key Harbor.  When they found out that we didn't have a car, they brought the spinnaker to the marina for us and afterward they even took us to Home Depot to pick up a couple of things.  How nice!  Thank you, Dan & Linda!  The boating community is truly unlike anything we have ever experienced.  Everyone is so incredibly helpful.  And since you already share a major interest with everyone you meet (boats!), conversations are easily begun, leading to easy friendships.

Speaking of friendships, we have been invited to join some other folks on their boat this afternoon, so we're getting ready to head out.

"Is that land I see?"  Glory be, it is!

Thanks once again for following us.  We'll post again as soon as something cool happens.  In the meantime,

Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea

Several photos follow (we'll get better at this, folks)

Chelsea recovering after a hard day of dolphin watching!  (It's exhausting work.)

Sophie checking out the neighbors (she thinks every boat has a cat on it...and she loves cats!)

Two little sailors begging for a dinghy ride

Home sweet home

Another view of our living/dining room

Our favorite place to kick back and have a glass of wine at the end of the day.  Wish you were here!

HOW TIME FLIES....

Tuesday, January 17

Holy cow, I hadn't realized how long it has been since we last posted to our blog!  Thanks go to all of you who wrote to us (primarily to ascertain whether or not we were still alive).  Yes, all is currently well...but we had a rough go of it for awhile.  During the really rough trip over to Fort Myers Beach from Pensacola coming across the Gulf, we took on a lot of water over the bow and, unbeknownst to us, we had a leak on the forward port deck at the chainplate, which allowed water to enter the boat...right into the bottom of the mattress.  The black mold continued to expand until one day we realized how sick I (Sue) had become.  Al had started showing symptoms first, with what he thought was a cold & sore throat.  Sue, being leery of catching Al's cold, opted to sleep on the settee in the saloon area and was semi-ok there.  However, once she decided that Al was probably no longer contagious, she hopped back into bed with him, only to find that she could barely swallow the next morning.  Still thinking that it was a cold (or possibly breathing the air from the "red tide" that had recently inundated the Fort Myers area), she persevered, only to begin having huge coughing attacks and a bacterial infection that developed in her lymph glands in her throat.  When we FINALLY got smart and lifted up the mattress, it was amazing to see the mold that had been growing underneath us while we slept.  We got the mattress off the boat and we got Sue off the boat (along with a dose of antibiotics), driving her to the Florida Keys to a little motel where she stayed for three days, taking cortisone and breathing much better air.  Today she is on the mend (the mattress is toast), Al has cleaned the interior of the boat of mold, and he is now in the process of re-caulking the teak decking to seal off any leaks (a really difficult and messy business that takes a lot of practice to do well...but he is fast becoming a pro at it and the newly caulked area looks wonderful!)

In any case, the above is only one of many reasons we have continued staying in the Fort Myers area.  We have enjoyed being able to spend some time with Al's older brother, Jim, and his love, Phyllis.  Also,  Al's younger brother, Glenn, and his wife, LeeAnn, arrived yesterday from Erie to spend several months down here in their new home, getting away from dreary Erie's wintry days, so it will be great fun getting to spend some time with them as well.  Jack & Tatiana on Pashka (who we "buddy boated" with from Pensacola) have today left us and are heading to the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson (a day's sail west from Key West, FL).  Our understanding is that it is gorgeous there and the snorkeling is phenomenal.  We hope to get there one day.  In the meantime, Al's feverishly working on caulking and sanding the deck (which he secretly loves doing).  We want to get it done before we do any additional sailing where we might once again encounter less than optimal weather.  The current plan (and we have found that any of our plans are only good for one day at a time) is to leave Fort Myers either at the end of this week or the beginning of next and to sail down to Marathon in the Florida Keys, staying briefly at Boot Key Harbor, which has a huge mooring field and is loaded with other cruising sailors such as ourselves.  We then plan on sailing to The Bahamas where Sue's son, Mark, his wife, Citlali, and their one-year-old little one, Roman, will be joining us in late February.  Due to Roman's recent spurt of activity (we understand he is crawling like a demon and is close to walking), Mark & Citlali have opted to find a place on land to stay (once we can tell them where to start looking!) and day sail with us rather than stay aboard full time.  We therefore want to get to The Bahamas as soon as possible so that we can get the lay of the land, at least to the point of figuring out where we might best be able to hook up with them on a daily basis.  Right now, having never been to The Bahamas, it doesn't appear to be an easy task.  We don't even know what island to send them to!  Ah, well.  These things have a way of working themselves out and we think we'll all have a ball.

Once again, thanks to all of you who have inquired as to whether or not we were still alive and kicking; we really appreciate your following our progress (such as it's been lately).  We'll try to be better at keeping you up to date in future postings.  Until then,

Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea

THE SHAKEDOWN CRUISE FROM HELL

December 17, 2011

Where to begin...

Since we last posted our progress, much has happened.  We spent a really nice, relatively uneventful week in Pensacola with Jack & Tatiana and friends, during which time we were referred to a guy who does great work on inflatables.  He fixed the leak on our wonderful (but old and leaky) dinghy that Al had been battling for over two years and, for the first time, we had a great, seaworthy, airtight dinghy.  Wahoo!  How nice!  And just in time for our trip down the Florida coast.  We left Pensacola on Friday, December 9, "buddy boating" with Jack & Tatiana on Pashka for what was to be a two-day, two-night trip across the tip of the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola to Clearwater.  We checked with three weather services, all of which gave us a favorable weather window of a northwest wind (perfect, since we would be sailing southeast to Clearwater and would have the wind behind us, helping our progress) along with calm seas alternating between 1-2 feet and 3-4 feet and winds of 10-15 mph.  Again, perfect, right?  DON'T EVER, EVER BELIEVE THE WEATHER FORECAST!  Holy cow!  We left Pensacola with a north wind, expecting it to turn northwest.  Instead, it turned northeast (where it stayed), the wind speed increased to 20-25 mph and the waves increased to 6-8 ft.  After a long night at sea, things got worse.  The wind increased to 30 mph and the waves increased to 10-12 ft with the wind edging even more easterly, coming at us from the ENE.  The end result was that we were driven further and further south, away from the Florida coastline and into the Gulf.  On Day Two we lost our dinghy (which we had been towing, thinking that we would have a fairly calm sail).  We retrieved it (what a tough time that was) and reattached it, only to lose it again the following day.  Once again we retrieved it but had a much tougher time tying it to Wind Dancer since some of the holding points on the dinghy that we could attach lines to had ripped off.  Later that day, we lost her for the third (and last) time.  Unable to secure her to Wind Dancer, we had to continue sailing without her.  However, we're sure she'll make some Cubans happy when she washes up on the western tip of Cuba (which is where we were headed when we lost her).  In any case, losing her was a significant loss for us.

Continuing on.  The end result is that we had to sail virtually due south for two straight days and nights until the wind and waves eased up enough for us to set an easterly course.  By then we were due west of Fort Myers, where Al's brother lives, so off went Pashka and Wind Dancer toward Fort Myers.  We arrived there on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after another two days and nights, bringing our total time at sea to four days & nights.  God, did it feel good to arrive in port!  Everything on board was soggy and we were absolutely exhausted.  But we made it!  And what troopers Sophie & Chelsea turned out to be.  They stayed with us in the cockpit for virtually all of the trip, soaking wet and shivering, but determined to tough it out with us. What a joy these little creatures are.

As to why you haven't heard from us before now, while at sea we lost our standard lines of communication, including cell phones and email.  In fact, we were just able to get our email back online yesterday.  So thanks for bearing with us.  We're so sorry that so many of you were worried about us.  We're fine (just pooped but almost recovered) and are presently at a great marina by the name of Salty Sam's in Fort Myers where we think we'll hang out for at least a couple of weeks, including Christmas, before heading for the Dry Tortugas and Key West.  We found a used Achilles (top of the line) dinghy for a really good price (Merry Christmas, Sue & Al!) and, although she's small, we're delighted with her.  She's light enough that we can fold her up and bring her on board, lashing her down on deck when sailing in seas that we feel are too heavy for towing to be appropriate.  (We are not about to lose another dinghy to wind and waves!)  By being able to carry her topside, we can avoid the expense of having to add dinghy davits to Wind Dancer.  We think we're pretty well set for going forward at this point but are enjoying being able to spend some downtime with Jim & Phyllis here in Fort Myers Beach, as well as with Jack & Tatiana, and being able to take the time to clean up the boat (and us!  holy cow, the laundry!).

We truly do wish all of you were here with us.  If we don't talk with you before then, have a wonderful Christmas.  We'll try not to let so much time go by before our next post.  Thanks for hanging in with us!

Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
The Crew of Wind Dancer

WE'RE IN PENSACOLA!

Friday, December 2

Well, we made it to Mobile Bay Tuesday p.m. and anchored just north of Dauphin Island (a chilly sail day...turning on the generator & the heaters that night felt really good).  The next morning, after a somewhat rolly night and five minutes after pulling up anchor and setting out for Pensacola, we had a major engine overheating problem and Al spent the next four hours replacing the impeller (that had basically disintegrated).  While he was doing this, the wind was blowing us south (toward the ICW) at a rate of approximately one knot/hour which turned out to be exactly what we needed to arrive at the ICW with perfect timing to continue on our way.  After starting the engine (which no longer smoked and sent alarm bells clanging....Thank you, Al!) and letting it warm up, off we went.  We stayed overnight at a great marina called Marina on the Wharf (we know a lot of this means nothing to you, kind reader, but it's a great log for us for the return trip to plan on where to overnight or, in some cases, not to).  The next morning, Thursday, we slept in, had a leisurely morning, and then set off for the short hop to Pensacola, arriving just before sundown and in time for docktails on Pashka with Jack & Tatiana and their friends Doug & Shirley, also owners of an Island Packet.  Nice folks!  The six of us had dinner ashore and turned in early for a great night's sleep.  Tatiana (a serious walker who at one time competed in the Olympics as a biathlete) has promised to take Sue on a "walk" around Pensacola (get ready, legs!).  An absolutely gorgeous day is forecast:  bountiful sunshine with a high in the upper 60s.  Nice!

We'll be in Pensacola for a few days (maybe as long as a week) tending to some minor engine work and having a tear in our jib mended.  Then Pashka will join Wind Dancer for the trip south, "buddy boating" (which will be nice for the longer offshore legs that we plan on doing).  We'll skirt along the Gulf Coast of Florida with several offshore hops, necessitated by the fact that many of Florida's bridges have fixed heights that are too low for our boat to pass under (stopping off at Fort Myers Beach to visit Jim [Al's brother] and Phyllis] and then head for the Dry Tortugas & Fort Jefferson (and great snorkeling in turquoise waters) before continuing on to Key West.

All for now.  We'll keep you posted.  Thanks once again for following us! (Al is promising to post pics today on our blog.  We'll see.)







All for now.  We'll keep you posted.

A WET, WILD & CHILLY RIDE

Monday, November 27

Well, once again, plans changed.  After remembering that there was a Whole Foods Market in New Orleans, we rethought the French Quarter idea and opted for a taxi ride to Whole Foods instead, thinking that having great food onboard for the next week was probably a better option than enjoying one great meal onshore.  Once back on board, we turned in fairly early and headed out Sunday morning for Gulfport, MS.  The weather forecast (why do we ever believe these guys?) called for moderate winds and cloudy skies in the afternoon but nothing more earth shattering.  Instead, we had 25-30 mph winds on the beam as we crossed a large lake with some fairly decent chop, giving us a great 8-9 knot sail.  Great, that is, until we had to turn 90 degrees to port to enter a really long (miles long) channel into Gulfport.  At that point, we had 30-mph winds "on the nose" and had to slog our way into port with waves crashing over the bow, soaking us in the cockpit.  Sue, at the helm, developed a "windshield wiper" routine, clearing her glasses after each soaking by wiping her (very wet) gloves on her jeans to dry them enough to then wipe the water off her glasses in order to see (until the next wave).  And it was drizzling, to boot.  (Not, of course, forecast.)  We were a cold, wet, sorry looking crew (Sophie & Chelsea included) as we pulled into the Gulfport Yacht Club (found by accident, gratefully, as we were on our way to another marina farther up the channel).  The folks at the yacht club were great and, boy, did it feel good to plug into power at the dock, turn on the heaters and begin to thaw/dry out.  Upon waking up this morning, we have decided to stay in port today and let our clothes (still damp) completely dry out before continuing on with our next leg, to Mobile, AL, on Tuesday.  (Besides that, we're still a little pooped and a day to rest up sounds really good.  If nothing else, we have cemented our feeling that we're not cut from the cloth of whatever it takes to be circumnavigators.  Too hard on the old body.)  Wednesday should find us in Pensacola where we will link up for a few days with our good friends Jack & Tatiana on s/v Pashka.  (Jack & Tatiana live on board their lovely Island Packet and are on their way to the Dominican Republic, having stopped off to visit friends in Pensacola; we have known each other since the days when we were all at Clear Lake at Waterford Harbor and it will be great fun to see them again.)

One good note re yesterday's sail:  Chelsea finally found her dolphins.  After spending every day for the last two weeks hanging over the side looking for dolphins (which Chelsea considers to be her job, taking it very seriously), finally...DOLPHINS!!!  We had two very happy dogs for awhile...wet and cold but joyfully barking away at dolphins, who seem to enjoy the attention.

In any case, that's the latest, folks.  'Til next time....

The Crew of Wind Dancer

THE DOCK FROM HELL

Saturday, November 26

We almost made it to New Orleans yesterday...but not quite.  Instead, we decided to dock just prior to the Harvey Lock in New Orleans at the Boomtown Casino for an onshore meal.  The waterway guide states that Boomtown "allows visitors to tie up along the bulkhead" and that "the casino welcomes visiting boaters."  It also states that you should "have some robust fenders in place to guard against contacting the steel walls of the bulkhead."  Boy, howdy, are they right!  (What they neglected to mention was the multitude of rebar pipes sticking out of the steel & concrete bulkhead at all angles.  What a nightmare!)  Fortunately, a tugboat operator tied up nearby saw our plight (as in how to get the boat close enough to the bulkhead so Al could jump off while at the same time not having Wind Dancer impaled on rebar) and we were able to throw some lines to him to get tied up.  Whew!  In any case, we made it, had a nice dinner, and this morning we took off, transiting the multitude of locks & bridges that it takes to get through New Orleans and across the mighty Mississippi.  We are currently at a nice little marina (Seabrook Harbor) just south of Lake Pontchartrain waiting for a front with a large area of thunderstorms to come through this evening and throughout the night.  With the French Quarter only a ten minute taxi ride away, we're going to treat ourselves to some Louisiana cookin', a Bloody Mary or two and some great jazz before calling it a night.  Wish you were here!

Tonight's low is supposed to be 60 degrees...which is also tomorrow's forecast high.  Yuck.  Then we're expecting the lows to be in the 30s for the next four days with highs in the 50s.     Chilly sailing but, with the wind behind us, it shouldn't be too bad.  We'll keep you posted.  'Til next time....

 

ONCE AGAIN, THE BEST LAID PLANS....

Thursday, November 24

Instead of putting in our usual 65 miles, we instead took a short hop to Houma, LA, today and are staying overnight at the city docks, primarily to refill our water tanks.  What a delightful place!  The dock is adjacent to a small park with colorful flowerbeds and grass for "the blondes" (as my son calls Sophie & Chelsea) to run.  The waterway guidebook describes this dockage as "truly Southern hospitality at its best."  With that kind of a write-up, how could we not stay here?

Tomorrow will find us heading toward New Orleans with current plans to anchor somewhere just west of the city and probably stay put until Sunday waiting for the forecast front/thunderstorms to pass.  If anything exciting happens, we'll keep you posted.  Until then, hoping you had a really nice Thanksgiving....

The Crew of Wind Dancer