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.

 

 

It’s Saturday evening and we are finally, sort of, settled aboard Pandora.  The holidays were great fun although I’ll admit that it’s a bit tough for me and Brenda to keep up with Rob, Chris and the rest of the 30 something crowd.   Can you say “want a beer dad?”.   I really need to dry out but being with other cruisers isn’t the greatest way to do that, we have found.   Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Besides, it’s almost “opening time”.  Oops, that will have to wait just a bit longer.

Anyway, on Monday we flew down to Florida from Baltimore and enjoyed a day of waiting, waiting and waiting a bit longer for flight to leave, no make that for the pilot to arrive.  What was that all about?  Did he forget to set his alarm? Somehow we dragged ourselves out of bed at 03:15 to rush off to our flight only to find that we were delayed for nearly 4 1/2 hours.   Ugg…

It was so late by the time we arrived in Ft Pierce where Pandora was stored there wasn’t time to launch her and move aboard till Tuesday, so we booked a hotel and crashed for the evening.  After a long day of sitting, and sitting some more, we weren’t quite up to going out to dinner so we assembled a lovely “in room” dinner.  Not exactly a balanced diet.  However, if you are hungry, and tired enough, everything tastes great.   The highlight of dinner was that we used th knife that our son Rob made for me (lower left) and the wine opener that he added lovely walnut inserts (on top of the wind bottle) to.   Pretty neat. The delay in launching worked out better as the extra time allowed me to spend time on Tuesday morning to clean her up (Pandora, not Brenda) and wipe down the hull to get 6 weeks of grime off of her.    The yard, Riverside Marina in Ft Pierce is a bit rough around the edges but they do a nice job and have an excellent travel lift with clean, non scratching slings (important when you have a dark green hull).  Here’s Pandora heading to the water for our first extended season aboard.   That’s the lift operator walking behind with his remote control as he steers her forward. I moved Pandora to Vero, AKA “Velcro Beach” (so named because cruisers can’t leave once they arrive) while Brenda did some grocery shopping.  It’s a nice place to spend time and there is a wonderful shuttle bus program that’s free.  Can’t beat that and with moorings costing about $19/day, it’s quite reasonable.

You may recall from some particularly whiny past posts, that I was having trouble with the engine, which was not working well, and was only able to get up to 1,700 RPM, well below engine specs, so I had AJ at the yard look into it and see what he could find.  I was certain that the problem was an overpitched prop, because that’s what the last owner told me.   And, a number of “boat dollars” later, we had the answer.

“So Bob, what did AJ find?”   Well, let me tell you.   Surprise, the prop is fine!  The problem, and there was more than one, is that the engine was WAY out of tune and AJ was surprised that I was even able to get the engine started, much less run.   The timing was retarded by 4 degrees, and I am told that’s a lot. The valve setting were all wrong which he felt contributed to the low compression readings and best of all, the injectors were really a mess with one in particular looking like it had been serviced with a hand held electric drill.   Setting aside the issue of messed up injectors, he speculates that the specs for the timing and valves were pulled for the wrong series of the engine.   It seems that just about everything a mechanic could do to improperly tune an engine had been done.

So, when I headed out of the marina and ran the boat up to speed, the engine spooled up to nearly 3,100 RPM.  No more lugging along at 1,700 rpm any more for Pandora.  And, Brenda’s happy as we now have extra power to get off of those pesky sandbanks that seem to jump up to grab us from time to time and to battle adverse currents.  Yahoo…

As far as engine life is concerned, all of this suggests that there’s plenty of life left in the old girl and that’s really, really good news.   So much for the yearly tuneups from the “old mechanic”.  I guess that makes AJ my new most favorite mechanic.  What a relief.

I also had the yard install intake scoops to help the fridge and watermaker get adequate water pressure when going at speed and that seems to have worked well also.  Check and check.  Two more to-dos off of the list.

Unfortunately, the programming for the fridge control computer is a bit out of wack and while I tried to adjust the “computer”, well, let’s say that I got it mostly right.  I ask you, who decided to put computers in refrigerators anyway?   Well, at least I can call the service guy at the manufacturer on Monday and get some help in setting things the last bit right.  So much for a “do it myselfer, doing it myself”. To say that there are many steps for setting up the computer with set-points, differentials and other settings and that doesn’t begin to tell the story.  Anyway, when it works, it works. Not so much right now.  But, it does keep the ice frozen really, really well.

Vero Beach City Marina has a large mooring field but it’s not nearly large enough to accommodate all of the boats that “stick” here for months at a time so rafting up to three boats per mooring is the norm.  That’s good as there is just about always “room for one more”.    A nice view from Pandora.
The walk to the ocean is very pretty with quiet streets lined with huge live oaks.  For you Northerners, “live” is a type of oak tree, not a state of being.   Very beautiful draped with Spanish Moss.These magnificent trees are host to a species of epiphytic fern, the “resurrection fern”, so named because the dry up and wither when there is no rain and come back to full health in a matter of hours with the next rain.   They spread with abandon on every branch of these trees.  Interestingly, they don’t seem to grow on any other species.  How do they know?  Smart ferns.
With the 2015 holiday season just a memory, there’s  still plenty of “holiday evidence” around town which, to us Northerners, looks very much out of place. What’s with the bows on palms?  Can’t the folks in south come up with “fitting” decorations that make sense in 80 degrees and humid?
With global warming and all, perhaps that’s something we will all have to think about.  Santa and his eight tiny reindeer on roller skates?   Something to look forward to.   I hope not.

All and all, I love the holidays but after that I long for spring to arrive.  In the old days (when I was getting paid) I would always remind myself that “it will get better in May” when the snow was swirling around.  Now, I can  just look out of the cockpit and enjoy a “summer” sunrise in “winter” like the one that greeted me yesterday.  No snow here.   Happy me…Well, that’s about it for now.  In a few days we will begin our run south to Ft Lauderdale and plan to cross to the Bahamas.   For now, all I can think about is brunch at the Vero Beach Yacht Club.  I am told that it’s the best value in town and it is based on last year’s visit.

Editor:  If the truth was told, I didn’t finish the post till Sunday morning as it was indeed “opening time” and I decided to set this post aside till morning.   Oh well, such is self control.   With apologies to a famous vintner, “we will publish no post till it’s time”.

 

As 2015 draws to a close I find myself reflecting on all that has happened and it was a great year by any measure.  It was just about this time last year that we learned that the boat that would become our “new” Pandora was for sale and that we’d be parting ways with our “old” Pandora, the boat that we really thought was going to be our “last”.  Well, we expected that it would be the last one that we used for more than a “cocktail cruise” on the river.  We honestly thought that the next boat we owned was going to be an electric launch or some other stately craft for evening jaunts with G&T in hand.

Well, we now own perhaps the “perfect” cruising boat although it wasn’t quite as perfect as the surveyor described in his report as she has been much more of a “money pit” than we expected.  However, the outflow seems to be moderating so let’s hope that the next few months aboard won’t uncover more surprises.  Of course, the first year of owning a boat are always full of surprises and I do realize that she’s a lot more complicated and will surely remain demanding.  Of course, don’t forget that she is a boat, after all.

It’s interesting how life changes and while we were very disappointed that I wasn’t able to get Pandora to the Caribbean (see past posts from November for more about that), my “let’s make lemonade out of lemons” approach to life has served us well as we plan our trip to Cuba.  The more that I learn about what’s on the horizon after Cuba opens up for easy travel by Americans, the more convinced I am that now is the time.  Some predict that in the first year that the sanctions are formally lifted as many as 60,000 yachts will visit Cuba.  That’s an alarming number when you consider that there are very few marinas and only a handful on the north shore of the island, the largest in the Caribbean, is less than 100 miles from the US.

As an interesting aside, I also read that other islands in the Caribbean as well the Bahamas are bracing for reduced visits by boats as the “hordes” head to the “forbidden island” to see for themselves what they have been missing.   One thing for sure is that the “buzz” in the cruising community is more like a “roar” about what’s in store.

And, in spite of getting all of our needed approvals to allow us to visit Cuba aboard Pandora, some details remain to be sorted out from a logistics standpoint so I guess there’s still more to do till we get everything in order.

So, enough about what’s on the horizon, how about what’s bobbing around in our wake?

Certainly the biggest news of the year was the marriage of our oldest, Rob, to his new bride Kandice in August.  The wedding was in Baltimore, near where they live.  What a singular experience.   Brenda did a wonderful post on this and I am confident that I can not improve on her near breathless reporting.

Our younger son Christopher was the best man and I wish that I could remember his words of his inspired toast to the bride and groom.   Both of our boys embody the notion that each generation is better than the last.   On the “nautical front” I spent much of my time over the summer working to get Pandora ready to head south but Brenda and I  were able to make time to take her on a “shakedown” cruise to Nantucket with fair winds on our way there and returning.   How often can you say that?  The weather was wonderful and with a “proper dink” we were able to anchor across the harbor from town and avoid the ridiculous mooring fees that are creeping up near the three figure mark.  Mooring or not, we still enjoyed the same beautiful sunsets as the “paying customers”.    Being there on “new” Pandora was a far cry from our first visit there so many years ago.  I am hopeful that will prove to be a metaphor for our cruising life aboard her in the coming years.

Earlier in the season, Pandora provided the “ride” for my good friend Ken and his family to scatter his parent’s ashes in the waters of Block Island Sound.  That experience, followed by a lovely reception at the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club made for a wonderful and fitting tribute to much loved parents.  I also had yet another visit to Nantucket with my good friend Craig, as part of a week cruise “south of the Cape”.  It’s certainly a lot easier to make distance with a 47′ boat than back in the days of, shall we say, less capable craft.  We had a really nice week on the water and he only called his office a few times.  Brenda and I spent a lot of time making our way up and down the ICW last winter as we moved Pandora south along the Florida coast and Keys and then back up to North Carolina where she was sold. Mercifully, we were only two boat owners for a few months.   What a pain it was to unpack 7 years of stuff.And load it onto another boat.  Brenda’s take on all of this?  We are way too old for this.  Sometimes it feels that way to me. In our too-ing and fro-ing, it was a source of constant wonder to see the sights along the ICW.   The serenity of the Dismal Swamp Canal cannot be beat. The morning haze proved to be a source of inspiration for Brenda who did a tapestry along the way.  It was  moments like this that she used to recall the scene. We also made friends along the way.  Some more unique than others.
Perhaps none more memorable than our Canadian friend “Cricket”.  She’s almost cute enough for us to abandon our “no pet policy” aboard Pandora.  Well, not quite that cute, but pretty darn close.   For sure, if we relent and do get one of own, the name “Cricket” will be a strong contender. We had some wonderful serene moments on the CT River near home. I want to be sure to note my most loyal crew member who endured many changes of plan and ended up helping me take Pandora to Florida after abandoning our run to the BVI.   Nice legs Jim.  Nicer tuna.
Of course,  I won’t forget my chance encounter with the USS New Mexico off of New London and the one post that won me an official cap and challenge coin.   Perhaps I’ll get lucky and even get my first “ride” on a nuclear sub.  Stranger things have happened.  One way or the other the “new” Pandora will take us places that we never imagined and do so in great style.    One thing for sure is that she will be true to her namesake as having her has surely “opened Pandora’s box” from Brenda’s perspective and endless possibilities from mine.

Here’s to a wonderful 2015 and an exciting (but not TOO exciting for Brenda) 2016.

I can’t wait!

On Monday I received confirmation that my SNAP-R application to “export” Pandora to Cuba had been approved.  Oddly, when I opened it I sort of expected to hear trumpets blare or swelling strings.  Alas, no such luck.    What greeted me was this.

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING 

USE OF THIS SYSTEM IS RESTRICTED AND MONITORED !!!

The document was encrypted behind a login that took me nearly half  an hour to figure out.  So much for my careful record keeping on login procedures.    Well, I finally was able to open it.  My login and password were the same.  Go figure.

So, I opened the document and learned that I had gotten approval.   I was excited.  Very good news but approval came with a “however”…  Sort of like when I was a new driver and my parents said, yes, you can take the car but you can’t have any friends in the car with you.  Ugh…

Anyway, I opened the document and I have to say that my heart rate was a bit elevated.  I was excited to learn..  Are we going to Cuba?

Yes, we got approval!  I was excited.   Well, only for a moment until I read the first of eight “conditions” that my approval included.

#1 The vessel must sail directly to Cuba.

Oops!  I didn’t mention that we would need to explore Cuba from east to west given the strong Christmas Winds and easterly trades that keep wind blowing “briskly” from the east down the coast of Cuba and everywhere else in the Caribbean for that matter which means that we will have to head to Cuba from the Bahamas and round the eastern tip of Cuba.  I assumed that EVERYONE knows that “gentlemen never beat to weather”.   I guess not…

After all of the discussion about Cuba I thought that I had considered every option and just expected to receive a simple yes/no in answer to my application.

So, what’s a cruiser to do?  I tried my contact in the Commerce Department and learned that he is on vacation this week .   Not to be deterred,  I called the help line on my approval document and asked if I could get that restriction removed. The answer…NOPE as there had been no reference to my desire to cruise from east to west in my application.  So that wasn’t possible under the terms of my approval and I’d have to start the process all over again and resubmit a new application.  NOOOOOOOOO!, not again.

It just didn’t occur to me that they’d include that restriction before I made the application.  Besides, the Q&A document on their website states that the requirement of “must depart and return to a US port” restriction is no longer in force.    Who knew?

Feel sorry for me?  I do.  No rest for the cruiser…  I guess I am beginning to agree with my cousin Sue who told me “Bob, your retirement is exhausting me”.    Well, I will get over it.

Perhaps I’ll have to drink regular coffee, well only one cup or Brenda will push me overboard.   No, better stick with the decaf.

I am sure I’ll feel fine by next Monday when my buddy Mark in the Commerce Department returns from vacation.  I hope he’s feeling rested by then too.

Of course, no post is complete without a sunset.   Now, it’s looking like I might see one like this from Cuba.   Now, how to find a way to do so from the south shore. Like Brenda says, with a smirk.   “You and the dog.  Ever hopeful”