Best laid plans...

After waking up at 5:30 to get an early start to West End, Bahamas, I crank up the generator in preparation to leave. The generator dies. That was how the day started.
I call Ole and ask if he knows anyone who can do a quick repair and he comes over at 7:00AM and does it himself. Good guy to know--Ole. I owe him alot.
While he's there he convinces me this was not a good day to run, that the Gulfstream will still be raging no matter what NOAA says. So we stick around and wait for the next window. Which we hope will be Monday.


But it's all good!
We are invited to a party that BahiaMar is putting on for the owners and crews of the boats in the marina.

And what a party it was. We sat with these folks; Mike, Trinka, and John. They are friends we have made while here at BahiaMar. Very interesting folks. We had a nice time and enjoyed their company.

There was a good Jazz band who entertained us and the food was incredible. Stone Crabs, Prawn, and Oysters were in a mound arranged around an ice sculpture. Rack of lamb, Salmon, Sushi, Beef Tenderloin, and too many other things for me to remember. And oh yeah--- a top shelf bar.

And as the sun goes down things get even more interesting.

In walks a transvestite on stilts who starts dancing to the bands music.

Then we start noticing these skinny young girls (who appear to be naked with their bodies painted) walking around. They're not doing anything, just eating cake.

And of course it wouldn't be a party without a Fire Dancer

A very entertaining night.
Kinda like a scene out of a Frederico Fellini movie.

So yeah, we had fun, and we're glad we took Ole's advice and stuck around.

Happy days!!

Last day in Ft. Lauderdale

Looks like the forecasts are correct and we will be outta here tomorrow.

This is Michael. He is a pretty interesting fellow... from St Lucia... sailed around the world a few times... anyway he is a nice gentleman. He is working on our teak and has been around for about a week. Michael had a stroke a while back and has trouble communicating but he has a good sense of humor about it. We laugh at each other alot.

Just some more pictures of Ft. Lauderdale. I like the Mental Ward. It's a bar on Federal Highway. (click on the picture to see their slogan)











Anyway, it's time to go. We will be back in touch when we find internet. Wish us luck, please. Happy days!!

Preparing to get underway

Today we are renting a car and going shopping for supplies for the Abacos. Things like beer are 45-50 bucks a case. So we may buy a couple while we are here in the states.

This fellow on the back of our boat is Palmer. He owns Signwaves. Palmer has put the name on the back of our boats many times. He's a good guy and always sticks around for Happy Hour.
Palmer grew up in Hawaii on a resort where his father was manager. He is definitely a surfer dude. He has sailed everywhere as a crew member on large sailing vessels. Now he flies over to the Abacos and surfs the Garbonzo Reef. Which by the way is close to Seaspray where we will be tied up for a while.

These next two shots are of Nicky D's. This is the boat my friend Ole runs.
Nicky D's is an 80 ft Mangusta. Very fast!! 35knots.
It is a very glitzy boat but the Italians know how to do glitzy well. She's beautiful.

Still looking like Thursday will be our day.
Happy Days!!

Day at the beach

We're still in FTL awaiting our weather window.
Even Radar is ready to go.
Don't get me wrong, we're not complaining.
















Yesterday we did not do much.
Still a little bummed about U of Memphis's loss in the elite eight NCAA tournament.
Oh well...
Went to lunch at Casablanca Cafe. It's always good




















After lunch we walked over to the beach to check out the crowd. And crowded it was. It is Spring Break and this is Fort Lauderdale.

Ole has loaned me a great lens for my camera. 80-400mm VR (vibration reduction) Killer!!
I'm sure I will get some good shots of the Abacos when we get there.



This sailboat was about a mile offshore. Note the raging GulfStream in the background.





Went to Karen's house for dinner. It was really, really good.


Salmon in Lemon Brodetto
Check it out.







Still looking like Thursday will be our day to cross.

More Abaco Pics

Sunrises and Sunsets

These are from our last trip. Almost a year ago exactly.


Great Sale Cay, Bakers Bay, and Marsh Harbour.



I remember our first night on anchor at Great Sale... The wind picked up during the night and by morning it was blowing 35 to 40 knots. And of course it was from a direction that offered no protection.
It was the beginning of a rough days run to Green Turtle.

Yep... Still in Lauderdale

But it looks like the Abacos are getting blown away also.

I don't have anything interesting to post today so I will just put up some pics of the Abacos. I found these today on the Abaco Community Message Board.

I think this is the beach at Treasure Cay.

Still raining in Lauderdale

But not bad. The wind is howling though.
Radar has gone to get a haircut and Mel is out with Karen... So Sadie and I are out looking for fun.



Sadie seems to enjoy Italian styling. She really likes the Ferrari and the Benetti yacht.

Megayachts are everywhere... some have as many as 15 crew members. What a gig that would be for a kid.
Crew providers have a very lucrative business here. They take young people and teach them the proper yachting skills and send them off to crew on these huge yachts all around the world.
It seems like they have a good time. The owners are not usually onboard and after their chores are done they tend to have a lot of fun.
Next stop for these yachts will be the Med.
Tough Duty!
Happy Days!!

Rain-Rain-Rain

Been raining for a couple of days now. Not much to do but run errands.

Went to the Dept. of Homeland Security and pre-checked for the Bahamas.

This is a better system than the old one. We had to make an appointment with a DHS guy, he checked our documentation and gave us a permanent number. Now when we come back into the USA on our boat from wherever we just call. Like the old pre 911 days.

We have committed to another week in Ft. Lauderdale. I have contracted a fellow to refinish our teak caprail. Can't get this done in Tennessee.

We are leaving Big and Rich Marina.... I mean Bahia Mar marina and moving to the Ft Lauderdale Yacht club. Thanks to our good friend Ole.

I was on the phone yesterday when a large Mangusta (Italian Motoryacht) backs into the slip next to ours. I look up and it's Ole running the boat. Haven't seen him for a while. It was nice catchin up.

The pictures are from our last trip to the Abacos.

The weather is not going to lay down for a few days so FTL is not so bad. In the meantime we will just have to look at pictures of the islands.

Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale

Oh how our view has changed. No more sunsets behind 7 mile bridge. Mangroves, eagles, and ospreys... gone.
All replaced with multizillion dollar yachts.
I am surprised they let us in this place. (thanks tracy)


Our good friend Karen came by yesterday afternoon for drinks and the view. We then walked to Coconuts for dinner.
Nice night.
Happy Days!

Making way to Ft Lauderdale

Pulling out of Largo Sound and leaving Rodriquez Key behind; we head into Hawks Channel. It's much calmer today. The winds were blowing 20's but in our favor and Istaboa sliced thru nicely.
As we round Fowey Rocks light we get our first glimpse of civilization. Key Biscayne.

Then a few hours later we arrive at the Port Everglades.

Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday!!
You've got click on the pics to fully understand the madness.

Now we're tied up at Bahia Mar.

Here we just fade into obscurity amongst all these Megayachts. Even some Gigayachts.


But that's good... we like being invisible and they have floating docks. Sadie loves floating docks. No ramp here, she can just hop off the boat like at home.


.

Nothing relevant

I just like the pictures. We loved the claws.

I think this was our last sunset at Marathon.

Though it looks beautiful... the wind had died that afternoon and the gnats were out and eating us alive.

It's Saturday morning and I am waiting for the sun to rise enough for us to get underway to Ft Lauderdale.

I hope it's a better day. It is windy but the wind is WNW so I am thinking we will be protected by land on the way up. NOAA is predicting 2 to 3's So Radar and Sadie have their toes crossed in hopes of a motionless day.

This is last nights sunset at Rodriquez Key. We finished off the Stone Crabs with a little wine then chased that with some leftover Dion's fried chicken.

I have been meaning to post this pic.

How about this little girl. Her name is Boo and she belongs to some friends we made at Burnt Store. Joe, Danella, and Joe Jr.

She's the 3rd mate aboard the vessel

"Higher Powered"

According to NOAA

"Mostly south winds near 15 knots...becoming southwest late. Seas beyond the reef 3 to 5 feet. Seas inside the reef around 2 feet. Nearshore waters a moderate chop. Winds and seas higher near scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms."

Seas inside the reef around 2 feet

Bullshit!!

This is not Istaboa but that is how it felt all day.

And in Hawks Channel.

Honestly...I'm sure it wasn't that bad

Now we are anchored out at Rodriquez Key and hoping for a better tomorrow.

Poor Radar and Sadie had a bad day.

Sadie does seem much happier now.

(everyone has been wanting a picture of Sadie so here it is.)

We had a nice stay at Marathon. The people are for the most part pretty good folks.

We ran in to Budda Bill from Faro Blanco and even Dan and Carol from the infamous Mort and Estelle happy hours.

As we walked out of West Marine and I was calling a cab, a fellow offered us a ride. When we got in his car we asked where he was from. Memphis!!

We had a lot of friends in common and he kept his boat at Grand Harbor at Pickwick. He was even a customer of Boatronix.

Small world.

Here's hoping for tomorrow to be a smoother day.

Happy Days!!