It’s Wednesday morning and we are still here in Ft Lauderdale. It’s been a challenging week with terrific wind and a few nasty fronts, complete with some impressive gusts over 40kts and tons of rain.  We even had the fun of re-anchoring in the wee hours, which is always good for a laugh or two.  Brenda particularly enjoys those special moments together.

Actually, yesterday might have been the first day since our arrival that I didn’t have to bail out the dink at least once.   Happily, we are getting some respite from the wind as it’s supposed to be pretty light until perhaps Friday when it’s expected to get “sporty” again and blow at near gale strength.   I guess that this is par for the course in early winter in Florida when the “fun” returns every few days.

It’s pretty cool too.  No, I won’t say cold as it will just make my brother irate as he lives in northeast PA where cold means something.  So far, the “sunny” in “sunny Florida” has alluded us as we have been here for more than two weeks and I can only count a couple of days when the sun as shown it’s face for more than a few hours at a time.  So much for “solar power” ruling the day.  However, it’s nice to see that the sun is, sort of, out in force as I write this.

I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, both yesterday and on Monday with the hope of “getting out of Dodge” and crossing to the Berry Islands today but the wind is a bit strong from the east than we’d like and with so many miles to go against adverse winds and seas, we opted to wait until the next “window”. Unfortunately, this means that we will be stuck here through the weekend.   However, he feels pretty confident that we will be able to head out perhaps as early as Sunday evening to make the 125 mile run to Great Harbor Key where we will be treating ourselves to a stay for two weeks or so in the marina, something that we have not done in the past.  We are really looking forward to it as we have heard that it’s a fun spot.

The “window” that we were going to use this week was a narrow one, lasting less than 24 hours.  We could have made it over to Bimini but once there, we would have been stuck through the weekend anyway and would have had to check into a marina at about $100 per day.  The rates for a marina are much higher if you only stay a few days than if you plan a longer stay.  Once you have stayed ten days or so, the rate for a whole month isn’t much different.

So, the plan now is to hope for the best and plan on leaving Sunday or Monday.  That’s fine I guess, as we have been struggling to get everything done prior to leaving the States.  I just found out that there are two more forms that I have to deal with in order to complete our plans to visit Cuba.  It seems that we need to submit a form to the U.S. Coast Guard to let them know of our plans and itinerary.  They also need the particulars of the approvals from State and Commerce.   Oddly, these forms have to be faxed verses e-mailed and must be printed out and signed.  I can’t say that the “nautical fax” machine is active on Pandora. However, we do have a printer.  There is also some sort waiver form from OFAC, the Office of Foreign Asset Control, that I have to submit to avoid a 180 day waiting period before we can re-import Pandora.   Not sure about that one.  I’ll need to do some work on that today.

We also will be getting some Canadian currency as it has a better exchange rate in Cuba as the Cuban government imposes a 20% tax on Greenbacks.   There’s Fidel sticking it to the Yanks.  I guess fair is fair.   However, he did start it with the whole “revolution thing”, right?

Anyway, Ft Lauderdale is nice but I am so looking forward to the Bahamas with warm clear water.  Besides, our daily runs to the store for “one more thing”, have to end at some point or I’ll have to haul Pandora again and raise the waterline.  Just how many y0gurts do we really need?  Bottles of wine?  Well, that’s another question entirely.  Besides, a boat does need ballast, right?

Through all of this I have ordered plenty of last minute items including a hand held depth finder, that arrived yesterday.  It will come in handy as we pick our way through unfamiliar waters in Cuba.  There are times when we want to enter a spot and aren’t sure if it’s deep enough so having a portable depth finder that I can take ahead in the dink will be very useful.  It’s pretty neat and even has a thermometer in it.   “No Bob, we can’t go in there, the water is not warm enough.  Check over there.  It looks warmer over there, yes to the right.”

We have also purchased courtesy flags for the countries that we plan to visit and just for fun, I laid them out in the cockpit the other evening.  Of course, the middle one is our own Essex Yacht Club burgee.   In clockwise order, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas and The Caiman Islands, all spots that we may/will stop along the way.  Last night over an “adult beverage”, I remarked to Brenda that, when we were sailing Long Island Sound way back when in our 20’ Cape Cod Catboat, that I never imagined that we’d ever visit these places by boat.   Her reaction wasn’t completely clear.   Was it a smile or grimace.  Hmm…  You know, she was the one who came up with Pandora’s name.   Anyway, cool photo.

As  I reminisce, I should mention that we had a lovely visit with our long-time, notice that I didn’t say “old”, friends Linda and Richard.  Linda worked with me for perhaps a decade back in one of my “previous lives” and we try to visit her when we are passing through West Palm Beach, where they live.  Linda is the keeper of the last remaining stand of “Bob the banana”, offspring of a plant that Brenda and I grew from a shoot that we purchased back in the 70s while we were dating in high school.  We kept it alive for many years, in our home and later in a greenhouse that we kept for over 20 years.  When we moved away from NJ, four years ago, we tossed the last of our “Bob”.  However, he lives on with Linda and Richard as they planted a shoot that I gave to Linda when they moved to Florida almost ten years ago.  Here’s a shot of me, Linda and “Bob”.  He’s doing well, I would say and pays his way by producing hundreds of bananas a year.  Don’t we all look so cute together?  “Bob loves it there!”  Me too.So, for the next few days Brenda and I will finish up last minute details and I’ll try to figure out exactly what else Uncle Sam wants to be sure all is in order for our visit to Cuba and perhaps more importantly, our return to the U.S.  I guess I had better sign off or we won’t be ready by the weekend “window”, if it arrives after all.

Signing off from Sunny Florida for now and enjoying a day that actually is as advertised.

 

It’s Saturday morning here in Ft Lauderdale and it is shaping up to be a really nice day.  That’s particularly good news as the weather has there hasn’t been much sun here since we arrived in FL in late December.  It’s been very cloudy and rainy with temperatures lower than you’d expect for “sunny Florida”.   And no, I don’t expect any sympathy from my “buds” up north who are experiencing a “real” winter.   However, you can take some solace in knowing that while you were snoozing all warm and snug in your bed the other night, I was out in the cockpit for hours on anchor watch lest we drag in the squalls and strong winds that roared through the anchorage at “0-dark-30”.

Anyway, today is a beautiful day and makes up for all the rain that kept us cooped up on Pandora yesterday.  This is the view that greeted me today as the sun rose over Ft Lauderdale.  Beautiful.  What a difference a day makes.Rain or not, yesterday was a big day as it was Brenda’s “real” birthday and the culmination of the “celebratory period” that began back in November when I threw a party dubbed as “Brenda’s not even close to 60 years old, birthday party”.   We had to begin celebrating early as I wanted to be sure that she’d enjoy her special day with old friends, well not really that old, while we were still in CT, knowing that we’d be aboard Pandora on her “real” birthday.   It is worth mentioning that she shares that day each year with Martin Luther King, as well as the national holiday that is held in their honor.

As we watched the weather forecast for the week we also saw that her “real birthday, day”, yesterday, was likely to be rainy, and it sure was, so we celebrated ashore for “happy hour” a few days ago.    This photo is supposed to document that we are more “hip” than old with the stage lighting pulsing in the background.  Not sure that the photo offers definitive proof of “hipness”.  I guess you will have to be the judge.  Never the less, it was a lot of fun and there were plenty in the bar that were even less hip than we.  Well, I cling to that belief.  I won’t mention that it wasn’t even dark out when we arrived.  Pretty pathetic.    Question: What did we do before we had “selfies”.  Hmm…So, yesterday was the “it” and Brenda enjoyed a quiet day aboard while the wind whipped us and everyone else around the anchorage.  However, due to my excellent advance planning, I was ready.  Well, almost ready, as I didn’t have any ribbon to tie up her present.  Not to be deterred, I found some “designer cording” and a “natural fiber decoration” plucked fresh from a local shrub.    How many cruising boats have a supply of wrapping paper and tape on hand?  Like most everything aboard a cruising boat, one needs to improvise.Another big event yesterday was receiving the “final final” approval from the Commerce Department that included the definitive “you go Bob” notice that givs us approval to visit Cuba aboard Pandora.   It was a long time coming as I began exploring the process of visiting Cuba back in early summer with a call to my congressman’s office to learn what the process for visiting Cuba looked like.   Well, here we are in mid-January and it finally came.   I won’t bore you with all the details but it was a long and involved process.   I have to say that, as I downloaded the approval document today, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t accompanied by a “trill of brass horns” as I opened it on my screen.  However, everything is now in place.  Amazing, actually.

I say that everything is “in-place” but we still have plenty of provisioning to finish up with and one of Brenda’s prescriptions was wrong from Express-Scripps and getting that corrected will take a few more days, at least.  Getting three months’ extra supply of medications is no simple feat and getting it right, and sent to the correct address, well that’s nearly impossible.  Did you know that when you use a UPS store as a drop point, it costs $5 per day per package once it has arrived.  Yikes.  When I visited them yesterday I was presented with a bill for $185 as some packages had been there for a while.   Fortunately, they took pity on me and I ended up paying somewhat less.  I won’t make that mistake again.

This morning I listened to Chris Parker, the weather router, and there may be a window to cross over to the Bahamas on Wednesday and if that doesn’t happen, we might be another week till the forecasted strong cold fronts have passed and another window presents itself.   The prevailing winds are from the east, as are the Bahamas, so getting there can be tough.  For every day that’s good for “easting”, there are many more that are unfavorable.  I won’t go into details on that except to say that making the run across the Gulf Stream can be tough and “tough” doesn’t play well with Brenda, self-described “creampuff” that she is.   Actually, she’s a lot tougher than she lets on but I had better not push it as there’s a lot of water to be crossed until we get to Cuba.

For now, I’ll focus on getting ready to go so if we get the go-ahead from Chris in a few days, we’ll be ready.

It’s hard to believe that we finally have our approvals in order to visit Cuba, a country that has been off-limits to U.S. citizens for as long as I have been alive.   It’s safe to say that when we first thought about making this trip, I never thought it would actually happen and now it is.  I guess that there’s nothing as consistent as change and changing it is.

So, that’s my report.

It’s Monday morning and we are in West Palm Beach where we will spend a few days seeing the sights and decompressing from what seemed like an endless number of “to do’s” aboard Pandora.  With most of the packages we have ordered waiting for us here with my friend Linda, who we hope to see later today, or in Ft Lauderdale at our favorite UPS store, we finally feel like things are settling down a bit.   There’s plenty more to do to prepare for our run to the Bahamas and on to Cuba but the “heavy lifting” is about done so we can relax a bit.

The last few days since leaving Ft Pierce have been fairly routine as we motored down the ICW on our way south to Ft Lauderdale where we will stage Pandora and prepare for our crossing to the Bahamas.   We did have a “fun” moment though in the middle of the night on Friday when we dragged our anchor during a thunderstorm.  When we anchored earlier that evening I did feel that the bottom seemed very soft and that the anchor didn’t set quite as well as I had hoped. Perhaps I should have anchored once more, but we backed down and I assumed that it was “good enough”.  Not…

Anyway, we both enjoyed a late night “BVD Shuffle” as we dragged around the harbor and re-anchored two times till I sort of “got it right”.    Even then I didn’t feel that the holding was all that good.  However, with shallow water all around us there wasn’t much risk in damage to anything beyond my ego and our “marital bliss”.  No, Brenda didn’t enjoy it at all.

Happily, the holding here in Palm Beach is great so we are all snug.  And, that’s a good thing as the current whips through on the ebb and flood with the tides so the anchor has to reset ever 7 or so hours with the current switches.

West Palm is a beautiful city with a dramatic skyline and wonderful restaurants.  It’s also a short walk to the grocery.  And, perhaps best of all, they seem to like cruisers as there are two huge and very nice public docks to land a dink on.  Given how unfriendly the cities in South Florida are, it’s refreshing to be well treated here.   And, as an added benefit, there aren’t any derelict boats so clearly the city is enforcing the laws to keep the waters uncluttered and leave room, and the welcome mat out, for visiting boaters.

When we arrived yesterday there was a car show in full swing with literally hundreds of fabulous cars, mostly on the exotic side.     Of course, who doesn’t like a “fleet” of Vets?  I know that my son Rob would love this show. And, of course, what about your “inner Bond”?  You can look, but don’t touch. Most of the cars were exotic sports cars but this “Big Healy” was one of my favorite.  The owner spent six years restoring it himself.  He rescued it when he found that it was being towed to the dump as a total wreck.  Pretty impressive car and in perfect shape.  I’d love to have one of these, and it’s the PERFECT color.  Wow!If I could have whatever I wanted, this Jaguar would be perfect.   Elegant and in mint condition.
Of course, there were plenty of “super cars” for those who want to make a statement, perhaps, “mine is bigger than yours, much bigger”.   Brenda would say that cars like this make up for something else?  Hmm…  Glad that I don’t want one. Well, I don’t want one really badly.  Yeah, that’s it. One way or the other, there was certainly something for everyone at this show.  Well, at least everyone with at least $100k to spend on a toy.  But hey, we are in Florida and that’s where the money goes to be spent in the winter.

There are plenty of massive homes and boats along the way and it’s clear that to live here you have to have plenty of “green” and be very willing to spend it.

Oh yeah, a cold front came through last night and it was in the 40s when we got up. It’l go up to the low 70s later today so don’t feel so bad for us.  Not that you do…

Stay tuned, more to come and I promise that it will include boats next post.   Honest!

It’s Saturday morning and Pandora is secure at the Ft Pierce City Marina in, you guessed it, Ft Pierce FL.  We decided to splurge and tie up in a marina for a night because there is a farmer’s market and craft show each Saturday adjacent to the marina.  The city has invested heavily in the waterfront and it’s very nice.

Another, no make that the main, reason that we decided to visit though was because Brenda had learned about another weaver that lives aboard a boat here in Ft Pierce.  And, let me tell you, Brenda has happened upon VERY FEW weavers aboard boats over the years and this one wasn’t to be missed.   The couple, Laura and Bill, live aboard a powerboat for a few months in the winter and in Beaufort SC in the summer.   And, as an added benefit, they aren’t ever OLD.  Well, they aren’t as old as me and Brenda.   However, they live on a powerboat but hey, she’s a weaver, so we won’t hold it against them.

Laura and Bill visited us aboard Pandora last evening.   Here’s Brenda and her  new kindred sole, Laura.  These girls have a remarkable number of things in common, including a fetish for purses.  Hmm…Speaking of fetishes, not that one you sicko, Brenda is also very fond of jewelry and she found, in Ft Pierce, perhaps the Holy Grail of jewelry stores, one named after her.  How perfect. Even more perfect, it was closed.  Yipee!Speaking of spending boat dollars.   Somehow Pandora’s bow pulpit was bent to the side by about 4-6″ and I don’t know how it happened.  One way or the other I had to have it fixed so Brenda and I headed back to Riverside Marina and the gang pulled and pushed to get the pulpit back in shape.  They used very heavy straps, a fork lift and plenty of elbow grease to make it right.  Here’s George hard at work setting the straps in place. George was one of the guys that put on Pandora’s davits earlier this year.  Nice guy.  He knows how to apply a proper amount of “English” to the job and pull everything into alignment.  They used quite a mix of straps, wood blocks and chains to secure everything and keep it moving in the right direction.   They did a remarkable job and the bill was only a fraction of a “boat dollar”.    Well done.  I was in and out within a few hours. I hope that it’s our last visit to a yard for an “adjustment” on this trip.  Today we plan on visiting the market and will leave after lunch to either head down the ICW toward Ft Lauderdale or anchor near the Ft Pierce inlet and wait to sail on the outside down to Lake Worth.  I’ll have to check the weather files later to see which makes sense.  I don’t want Brenda’s first run of the season to be a “non-starter”.

One more thing before I break.  You may recall a post that I did a while back about my “encounter” with the USS New Mexico off of New London CT.   Well, I have continued to be in touch with Damon, in New Mexico, that manages the boat’s site and he sent me a very nice note the other day.  I just have to share it here.    Damon was referring to the day this summer when I helped my friend Ken and his family spread the ashes of their parents on the waters of Long Island Sound.

Damon wrote:  You blog is wonderful and full of joy and friends.  Congrats to your son and new daughter-in-law.  One amazing story you might find interesting is that the USS NEW MEXICO did the exact same favor for us as you did for your friend Ken.  One of our long-time Committee members, Leo Davis, a Navy torpedoman that completed seven combat patrols during World War II, died in August 2013 at age 91.  With eager permission from the Navy, I accompanied his two sons, who carried his cremains, to Groton in September 2013, where Leo was piped aboard the submarine with full honors, and his ashes remained onboard until March of 2014.  It was at that time, during a scheduled Arctic deployment, known as ICEX-14, that the Commanding Officer and several crewmen piped Leo ashore for the final time, launching a container with his cremains out Torpedo Tube #1 at the North Pole.  Leo in on eternal patrol at the Top of the World.  His last wish was to be buried at sea, and we were able to fulfill that wish in a manner that may be a once in a lifetime event.

I was very touched to read Damon’s comment.  I also take comfort in knowing that I have friends that have friends that own cruise missiles if Fidel gives me any crap when we are visiting Cuba.  HaHa!  Boy, I sure hope he doesn’t read my blog. Not likely.

Well, it is sure great to be underway again and there will surely be plenty more to come so stay tuned.    I am excited!

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Don’t forget to check out “Where is the world is Pandora” tab on the home page to see where we are each day of our journey.   We hope you follow along.   And, sign up too so you’ll get a note when I post.

That’s all for now.

 

It’s Thursday morning and today looks like the day, after a week here, that we will be peeling ourselves  away from “Velcro Beach”, that’s Vero Beach to landlubbers and even “CLODS”, Cruisers Living on Dirt, to head further south.  Along the way  we will have to make a quick stop to have few more things done to Pandora however, just about everything is shipshape now, which is good.   I am particularly excited about exercising my now-up-to-good-RPM engine which is working so much better now that it’s been properly tuned.

Yesterday, dancing between the raindrops, I decided to do laundry and headed with a massive load into the marina.  Yes, it’s been raining nearly every day since we got here a week ago and I have to say that it’s getting a bit old.  At least we can take comfort in the fact that its not snow.  When I check the weather each day there is always at least a 20% chance of rain in the forecast  and that often seems to morph into a 100% as the heavens open up in the afternoon.

I can just see the weather guy sitting in his office pouring over weather data and proclaiming “20%” only to glance out the window to see that it’s now raining cats and dogs and then scrambling for his computer to change the forecast.  Yup, 100%.  What a great job when you almost never have to be right and don’t get fired.

Of course, that means my 600 watts of solar panels don’t do a whole lot  on rainy days and I am sure glad to have my little portable Honda generator to top things up and heat hot water for showers.   Key point:  Brenda doesn’t like cold showers but then you probably already knew that.

Anyway, as I stood around watching the washing machine rattle and spin, I overheard a “doing her own laundry lady” talking about the “wonderful cruising on Cuba’s south coast”.   In spite of my pathological shyness, I jumped right in to ask questions.  It turns out that Jules is here in the US from New Zealand with her husband Gary and live aboard their 38′ Ingrid Ketch.  They cruised extensively throughout Cuba’s south coast this past summer.  Perfect, just what I was looking for!

Of course, I immediately asked her if she and Gary could come to Pandora for a drink so that we could talk about their visits to Cuba.  We have so many questions.  I also had it in the back of my mind (actually right in front) that perhaps they could speak about their experiences at the SSCA Gam that I am planning for June in Essex if perhaps they found themselves in the area.    Good news… They might very well be there as their travel plans probably include New England this summer. Fingers crossed.

So, Jules and Gary came to Pandora last night and patiently spent 2  1/2 hours telling us all sorts of great info about their visit.  I’d love to give you a detailed blow by blow of what they had to say but I don’t think that you could wade through that much “Cuba stuff” so let’s just agree that it was fascinating.

Ok, ok…. Just a few things that they mentioned…

I had recently learned that, as Americans, we would only be granted a 30 day Visa when we checked into Cuba and would have to leave the country for at least 24 hours prior to clearing back in.   The option that they suggested was to go to either Jamaica or the Caiman Islands, each an overnight sail from Cuba.   We would check in there, stay for a few days, and then return to Cuba, get a new visa and continue our trip.   Makes sense.

They went on and on about how wonderful and welcoming the Cuban people are and how great it is to visit the more rural towns and cities along the way.  They did not spend much time in Havana because the other areas were just to wonderful and worth exploring to cut things short.  They did suggest that we leave Pandora for several days and travel inland to stay in some of the many small inns that dot the countryside.

Another question I had been fretting over is about staying in marinas  as when traveling through Cuba by boat, you are required to go from marina to marina. At each port, departures and arrivals must be cleared with the Guarda Frontera, the Cuban Coast Guard.  It is illegal to just stop along the way and go ashore.

Brenda and I much prefer to be anchored out away from bugs, both flying and crawling and the idea of tying up at marinas that are often described as rough and in great need of repair is a total non-starter for us.  I had read that, with the permission of the Guarda Frontera, you could anchor in many harbors for a small fee, usually about $.25/ft per night but only if the marina was full.  Not so, it seems, as Gary and Jules cruised the coast for many months and almost never tied up in a marina.  Brenda and I were relieved to hear that.

They patiently went through our three chart books and marked them up with points of interest and even included the names of people who could help us along the way.

We wish that Gary and Jules could have stayed longer and we are hopeful that they will come see us this spring when we return to CT as Gary has some work planned in New England this summer so being at our Gam might work out for them.  That would be terrific and as an added bonus, their NZ accents will add an exotic touch to the event.

They maintain a blog and posted when they visited Cuba last summer.   Check it out,it’s worth reading.   Our visit was just terrific and helped fill in a lot of blanks about Cuba for us.  And, if that’s not enough, perhaps I have found another important piece of the puzzle as I look for speakers for our  SSCA Summer Solstice Gam in Essex next June.  Heck, that would make them a “toofer” and that’s even better.
We were so focused on Cuba that we didn’t have much time to get to know more about the two of them but we did learn that Gary is a professional sailor with some America’s Cup campaigns under his belt.  Perhaps he will enjoy meeting Tom Whidden,  a member of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, at the Essex Yacht Club.  Tom is our Commodore and will be speaking at our gam about the current Cup races.

It is an amazingly small world, isn’t it?    Yes, and I LOVE doing laundry.