For a view of our trip from Vero to Norfolk, click on the first link below. George joined me in St. Augustine and we have just arrived in Norfolk...beyond mile zero. Tomorrow is Little Creek and Florrie will drive down with Gordon to crew and be taking George back. I may have to cook for myself...yeeeccchhhh!
It won second place in the Middletown Community Photography Exhibit in
the Still Life category. I'm not sure why in that category except
that People and Animals included dogs and cats. Live conch is not
familiar in New Jersey. Perhaps, for the moment is was "Life" and
was "Still". No matter... it is delightful that one of her favorite
moments in last winter's trip is also enjoyed by others, with special
recognition.
Meanwhile, back at the boat, I went from anchoring just north of Daytona Beach to St. Augustine yesteday. All the fuss about the shoaling at Mantasas (or something like that) inlet was bull. If you just stay in the middle of the channel you have 9 feet all the way. Me, I listened and hugged the red side and almost went aground. Well it was dead low tide.
I am now at a funky little marina around the back of St. A. Oysters are $0.49@ and booze is always at the happy hour price for boaters. But I gotta go get my laundry out of the drier now.
That’s a great photo. I am forward to Library so I can print it out…………….Hope to see you soon. Theresa
It is almost 6 AM and I have already eaten breakfast. Yesterday I left Vero at 7 AM with a south wind and motor. I travelled most of the day at over 6 knots with 3/4 jib and arrived in Titusville at 5:30...a distance of 70 statute miles. A quick dinner and in bed by 8. Luckily, the autohelm worked all day so I could go and grab a soda.
Now I will do it all again. Sandwich is made. Snacks are out, Fridge is running. Predawn is here.
Cleave,
It is such a pleasure to deal with a professional who knows what they are doing. Bill Rhodes, in Vero Beach was excellent. Thank you for recommending him. He came out within 3 hours of my call to him and diagnosed the problem ight away. Luckilly it turned out to be a simple one and the unit is now working.
I am also putting this letter on the blog.
Lew
S/V Harmony
http://CatamaranHarmony.blogspot.com
Bill Rhodes, Vero area 772 812 1722
Cleave Horton
Sea Frost
372 US Route 4
Barrington, NH 03825
Phone 603 868 5720 Fax 603 868 1040 Office 800 435 6708
Cleave@seafrost.com
www.seafrost.com
The new modern couple communicates when apart. We have become soo dependant on WIFI that it determines where we go. Sometimes we go to avoid emails.
Lew
S/V Harmony
http://CatamaranHarmony.blogspot.com
> From: fbh_4682@verizon.net
> Subject: For the Blog????
> Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:29:45 -0400
> To: lew_hill@hotmail.com
>
> Hi Lew,
>
> What a DAY! I got five of my Bahamas photos into the Middletown Arts
> Center yesterday. Today I took Lisa's photos over there so she could
> finish color correcting the scans of my new paintings. I need to have
> new prints and note cards to show and offer for sale. It has been a
> huge project to get all 40 entries ready - and they ALL relate to the
> Bahamas. Whew! I'll send photos for the blog to you as soon as I
> can... maybe Thursday. In the meantime, "Peaceful Evening" is one of
> my favorite photos in the show. That is "Puff" on the Little Bahamas
> Banks. I hope you can use the photos I'm sending.
>
> Today I went to the carpet store and returned the too-dark sample.
> The carpet I really like is coming in on Friday so they will give me a
> swatch to test out here. If I like it they can start installing it on
> Monday! It is the best of a number I looked at so, if the color
> works, we will have a new carpet before you get home. Another Whew -
> and Wow!
>
> It is hard to concentrate on the last bits of preparation for my
> Artist's Reception on the 2nd because I am so excited about getting
> the new carpet. It has been a bit stressful living with torn up
> carpet in the living room. But I put a vase of liclas in the middle
> of the floor so that, at least, is pretty.
>
> I'm glad to hear the boat refrigeration is making more sense to you.
> It will be so good to be able to count on it next year.
>
> Sleep well!
> Nighty nite,
> Mee
>
>
Click on the title for a link to see the trip. Now sitting in Vero waiting for the rain to stop. The very slow speeds were when I anchored or was stopped to put oil in the engine while at sea. The last few hours before getting to Ft. Pierce were honking with an average almost 10. She sails a lot faster than she motors.
Click on the title and be taken to the spot site showing how I left Green Turtle Cay this morning about 7AM. Travelling with "Puff", we left. At 8AM I listened to Chris Parker (weather guru) on the Single Sideband Radio (SSB). He was talking about a front coming down the US coast and getting to Fort Pierce, our destination, on Sunday morning with squalls. Since we were not going to do an overnight, we would have been in the Gulf Stream when it came through. It was either that or stay at Great Sale Cay, an uninhabited island with a good harbor a full day's sail from Green Turtle, until Monday or Tuesday. As long as we were going to be holed up, we decided to come back to GTC. After all, we are still paid up at the mooring until 5/1. So here I am.
Once again: Man plans and god laughs.
HiYa Lew,
My goodness, you haven't been bored! I hope you can get everything
working right, soon.
What a yucky job - good luck with it. (No you hadn't told me.)
As you know, a big storm hit here on March 30, causing serious leaks
in our living room and flooding the unit downstairs. The insurance
adjuster came on Saturday. Sunday I finished cutting up the carpet
and padding for an 8' x 12' area in front of the sliding doors. What
a job! ( I had started the job the night before, after I bought a
carpet knife at Lowes and looked at carpet samples.) I threw 9
kitchen bags full of carpet residue over the balcony rail then hauled
them to the dumpster.
The garbage disposal is stuck... whatever was in there over the winter
has solidified around the moving blades. I can't take the time to
call the fix-it man yet - gotta work on the art show. Also - my
printer won't work - I think I have to take it somewhere and get it
cleaned. I took the inks out of it when we left but whatever was left
in the machine's innards might have solidified. It is good that my
car battery was recharged the day after I got home... at least I can
move around easily now.
Owning a home is fixing things in a predictable place.
I am getting scans and prints of the new work that will go into my
show on May 1st. I'm including photos this year as well as the six
new acrylics and a couple of drawings. I figure there might be 30
pieces in the show.
Correction: The Artist's Reception is Sunday, May 2 from 2 - 4 PM
(For more information look back in the blogs of last month.)
Gotta Scoot! There's lots to do today. I miss the beautiful water
but am glad to be here for now, in spite of all the problems.
Luv,
I don't remember if I told you but after you left, the fridge kept tripping the off circuit on the compressor. I guess it misses you too. I put some more 134A into it but it didn't help. I finally figured out that it might be poor heat exchanging so I looked at the strainer. It was full of that seaweed that sticks to metal under the boat. I put in a new strainer and now it works...well at least for about 10 minutes then shuts itself off again. I have put clorox thru the system to kill whatever might be left. Right now we get 1o+/- minutes then have to wait for about an hour before we can get another 10 minutes. The temperature goes down a couple of degrees In between, if I try to turn it on, it turns itself off within 15 seconds. The weird thing is that it is and has been pumping out water just fine the whole time which may be why it took me so long to think of the strainer. Looks like it is time to take the whole thing apart and make sure there is no seaweed in it. YUCH. It is a good thing I can get good ice here. Well it could be worse...it could be the head. Been there, done that. Thank goodness it is a fresh water system.
Anyway, I have also checked the strainers for the salt water intake for the engines (they are fine) and plan to check it for the generator (which is working fine) today.
Cruising IS fixing your boat in exotic places.
View Larger Map
Here we are. Zoom in and you will see anchored boats. Zoom out or move the map with your cursor to see the beach just north of us. The last few days have been very windy. We have been safely sitting with 2 anchors out while we visit some friends here, go to the beach, have a Bahama Momma at the beach bar along with the college kids on spring break. It is a tough life.
How to contact a yacht IF there were an emergency:
Cruisers@OII.net provides a free emergency service and contacts the Cruisers Net in Marsh Harbour. The cruisers net does a morning net and most boats listen to it.
Chris Parker does the weather every day except Sunday. If we don’t hear him, others near us will. He also provides emergency messages. Chris @MWXC.com 863-248-2702 WWW.MWXC.com
US Coast Guard, Miami: 305-415-6800.….305-535-4300.….1-800-874-7561
State Department Overseas Citizens Service: 202-647-5225. They will forward messages to the Consular Officers in any country.
The SSB if you know a short wave ham. The Cruisheimers Net 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM on 6227.
TUESDAY...SE-S@10-15K before sunup, becoming S-SW@15-20K till about midmorning, then become S-SW@25-30K G35K for the afternoon, evening and overnight / Atlantic seas building to 9-14ft by evening / high temp mid 70’s / mix of sun and clouds with squally rain arriving with the COLD FRONT in the evening. GALE CONDITIONS EXPECTED N OF 25N TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY! Please note this warning-if you are on a boat get to a marina or double check your tackle and secure all outdoor items.
WEDNESDAY...GALE TO NEAR GALE FORCE WINDS CONTINUE OVER ABACO THROUGH THE MORNING, NW@33-35K+ subsiding to NW@15-20K by evening / Atlantic 8-14ft / high temp in the low 60’s / mostly cloudy, breezy and cooler
I was recently reminded that I haven't been a good host. No entries in over ten days. Sorry.
We are back in Green Turtle just after a front came bashing thru last night. Pre-frontal squall with winds about 60 just as we were watching a DVD of “When Harry met Sally“ while drinking cheap champagne. We were rocking and rolling on the mooring but glad not to be doing the "deck dance" (that is where you get up in the middle of the night, usually in high winds and rain, and pull up the anchor in order to reset it because it is dragging and you are either near the rocks or another boat).
Today the sun is out but it is still blowing hard (25). My WeatherBug keeps showing some sort of winter alert for Keyport but as I sit here in shorts and no shirt, I just don't have the heart to see what is going on after 20 inches in 2 days. Before you get jealous, the temperature here is in the 60s and maybe low 70s on a good day. If you are in the sun and out of the wind, it feels warm. Needless to say, I haven’t done very much swimming….just some. It was in the 30s in southern Florida last night. What a year with the jet stream all the way down to Orlando. When will it go north?
We have decided to remain at Green Turtle for the next two months with side trips to other islands. Home base. Forgive me if there isn’t much on the blog.
Florrie is working hard for a NJ show in May. We will put some of her new works on soon.
