Home again

Yep, we're here and it is an adjustment.  Long pants and sweaters.  Ycccchhhh!  Anyway, Harmony is on the hard in St. A .  It took almost a week to get her ready for a possible hurricane and the humidity and the possible varmits (mice cockroaches and spiders) famous in Florida.  Then windward at 70 mph.  Florrie drove around the parking lot at 6 mph just to get an idea of our cruising speed first.  Stopped off to see Brian and Capt Kal in NC, niece Linda Lew, Raj and Niala. Gareth. Liss and Jeff on the way. So we are home and slowly adjusting to things like unlimited hot water, cars, tv and a king sized bed which feels much to big.

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On the hard

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Heading Home - Almost

Hi,

It's Tuesday and we're at the St. Augustine Marine Center about ½ mile down the river from Riverside, where we've been for the past week.  We get hauled onto the hard tomorrow morning, for 6 months.  Everyone on this dock is SO transient…  waiting a day or two to have their boat hauled or something fixed before they go home or keep sailing.  Riverside Marina was a "neighborhood" of familiar faces, even though people moved on from there, too.  We have at least 2 more days before we can head for home but this has been a Most Productive stay in Florida.  (We left Green Turtle Cay on April 16 and got to Cape Canaveral on the 18th.)  Now, five years of collected "stuff" has been looked at, sorted, thrown out and/or is on it's way home.  Finally I feel like this is a more doable kind of lifestyle.  Even though the 2 weeks on either end for getting the boat "commissioned" or "de commissioned" is tiring and a bit hectic, at least we can leave clothes on board and enough food to get us through a day or two before we actually get to a grocery store.

St Augustine has been the BEST place to do all this.  The old town and harbor are full of fascinating things to do and see.  They make a fabulous break from the hum-drum of sorting, packing, cleaning, etc etc.  Also, on this dock we are practically in the marsh.  There are so many birds I forget what they are all named.  And every now and then some dolphins "sneeze" by.   LOL!  We've seen more manatee this trip than in all the other trips combined.  By the way - did you know that manatee can't burp?  That's one of the reasons not to give them fresh water.  Not only does it lure them to the boaters (which is dangerous) but they swallow air with the fresh water and it can build up in their system and kill them!  That is second-hand info but came for one of the EPA-type people.  Just thought I'd pass it on.

We haven't kept up with the Blog this year but it has been a wonderful winter.  This is our fifth season of being snow birds and it is beginning to feel very good!  I guess we've found our "Harmony" after all.  Hope to see you all again, soon.

Florrie

as artist 

Florence Bramley Hill

FineArtAmerica.com

FW: L-Dock Friends

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Hi
The "Mature" women at the table are, left to right, Liz ("Chief's Lady"), Karen ("Mskoki"), Mary Lynn (and Scott, "Zingaro") and me ("Harmony").  The younger women are daughters of some of the boaters with their husbands.  Sitting up on the other table is Tom from "Chief's Lady".  All are really fun people to be with - particularly by the beach on a sunny after noon drinking frozen mango daiquiris.  Patty ("Honeywind") took the picture.
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FW: logopictures

We are at Great Guana...home of Nippers and Grabbers (wonderful beach bars) and Florrie is painting the dinghy with logos.  See her work on the link below.

  

as artist 

Florence Bramley Hill

FineArtAmerica.com

Electrolux Stove

When you need a part for your stove you get:
"Thank you for contacting Electrolux Major Appliances. The appliance is too old for us to assist you."

Cruising: fixing your boat in exotic places

It has been a day and a half! Last night, while I was cooking my dinner and charging up the fridge on the generator, I noticed what appeared to be smoke in the galley and aft cabin. Must be the generator! It was the only thing on. So I turned it off and went into the port engine room where it is housed. Smoke and steam everywhere. Filled up the radiator and tried it again...yeah, that worked...smoke everywhere. OH SH*T. Too hot to work on now so I went to bed. Next morning back in the engine room and noticed that there was no water coming out of the exhaust. Must be the salt water system so I started tracing it. Strainer...OK next link OK...Next link ... a piece of plastic in the line, must be the impeller. Took off the impeller housing (fun job) and there it was...looked OK but one flange missing. About 1/2 hour to get the impeller out. Found 5 spare impellers on the boat. Wonderful! Even looked like the same size. Wait a minute, these good impellers all have a key fitting while the generator fitting is different. Won't work!!! (add a few choice words here) Talked to Simon on Senerity...he had some spares but they also needed a key...Off to Robert's marina and next to George in the house next door. Lo and behold, after some searching, he found one that just might work. Back to the boat to try it out. It fit!!! after a wee struggle. Fired up the gen and looked over the side for water being pumped out. Nothing, I mean Nada. Went outside to feel for pressure, NADA! Back to the engine room to hear the bilge pump going madly and lots of water in the bilge. Maybe, just maybe, it was pumping but not going outside. Holy Smoke...that was it. Generator on...water pumped into bilge. So the impeller is working anyway. Traced the exhaust backwards only to find a hose had come off under the generator and behind it. Could it have been in a harder place to get to? Anyway, I tell myself that this in not rocket science and put on my knee pads and cushion the top of the generator so I can lean on it without cutting myself and about 45 minutes later, the hose is reconnected. Fire it up...why not...and away it goes. Water shooting out the exhaust outside the boat. YAHOOOOOOO. Total work hours...4. Cost...$37.00 for a new impeller (Bahama prices but what are you going to do?) So how is your day going?

Cruising life

Hidden Crab in Bita Bay

Even though we are on a mooring in Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay, we are up before the sun. Florrie curls up on the aft bunk and writes. I am listening to Chris Parker, weather guru, on the single sideband radio (AKA SSB or short wave radio) and having my first cup of coffee. If there is Internet, we both are on our computers (sometimes sending notes to each other). Slowly we get ready for the day. Yesterday we did some boat jobs and then went for a bike ride with some friends. Bida Bay for a picnic lunch then on another 1/2 mile and back. Some time during the day we tend to have a nap. We watched some of the Giant game last night but couldn't stay awake for the end. Too bad...giants in overtime. Florrie will be flying back to NJ on wed for some family business and then return in a week. Right now we are lucky. Good Internet, warm during the day and cool at night, fridge working, dinghy hanging on and life is good. Knock on wood!

The picture was actually from last year in Marsh Harbour.

Green Turtle Cay

When last we left our adventurers they were just getting out of sight of land in a balmy breeze. But things change. The wind and waves were both forecast to be light and from the West. An easy trip. Once again, Man plans and god laughs. The wind picked up to about 15+ from the Southeast, close hauled and almost on the nose. The seas picked up from the Northeast...right angles to the wind...and got somewhere about 3 to 4 feet. Of course, at night everything seems double so it felt like 30 knots with 8 foot waves. Our intrepid Captain thought it was a fine sail but the Admiral was not happy. Oh, she did wonderfully well with 2 hour watches and was never seasick at all. We got to the banks about 9 PM and thought about anchoring but it was too rough so we continued on. By 6:30 we neared the top of Great Sale Cay and stopped, watched the lightning in the sky in front of us and waited for Chris Parker, weather guru, on the single sideband radio. He forecast that the wind would be light and from the north. Well light it was from the southwest until we got to Green Turtle at 3 PM. Dinghied ashore and went to customs to check in. Back to the boat, towing a Canadian Dinghy that had broken a sheer pin on the coral because the town dock didn't have a deck following hurricane Irene, back to his anchored boat.

The Island obviously suffered a lot of damage from the hurricane but is getting back to normal. Still see a loss of trees and shingles on the roofs of houses. We are on a mooring at Donnie's Boat Rental in Black Sound and snug as a bug and well protected from the fronts.

Florrie took lots of pictures and they can be found on Facebook. look for Florence Hill.

On our way

We left vero at 7 this morning with the current against us as we left Ft. Pierce and headed for the Bahamas. Very light wind from the west and a 1/2 foot slow rollers behind us. About a half knot current against as we are 5 miles off shore and we are motoring.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Cold front in florida.

It is 8:30 AM and 34 degrees.  Nuff said.

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Perfect Paul sings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yGJbkQulQw

Xmas 2011

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Free Navigation Program with AIS

Most people are familiar with Seaclear as a free navigation program with AIS to see ships. I just discovered, at least new to me, another and, I think, better one. For the link, just click on the title or goto http://opencpn.org/ocpn/
You can get free charts from NOAA, but you will need an AIS receiver and antenna to make that work. Otherwise it looks like a really good general navigation program. Certainly the GPS is quite accurate. And it is FREE! Don't want to bother downloading NOAA charts? There usually is a disc you can get cheaply on EBAY (about $10 +/-) with all the charts.

Sunset

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From the back of the boat at St. A. The color should be more red than the camera made it.

Happy Holidays

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PredictWind app downgrade

I had a really nice app call PredictWind, even though the "tracking" part didn't work. It would predict winds up to 5 days in advance and was almost as accurate as NOAA. Now it has been "updated" so that it only works for one day, which is useless, so I am recommending that you DO NOT use this app. In fact, feel free to complain to them at support@predictwind.com.

Birthdays this week

Poor unfortunates whose birthdays are within a week of Xmas. Melissa...today. Sarah...yesterday. Dave on Xmas Eve!! Julie on News Year Eve. What were those parents thinking in March? HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Christmas in St. Augustine

Didn't get to fix the pump until the next day and we still have refrigeration! I went home for Thanksgiving and came back Dec. 3. Florrie has joined me and we will be spending Christmas in St. Augustine then (knock on wood) off to Vero for a short visit and picking up some stuff to bring to Bahamas for a friend. Hopefully leave for the Bahamas in early Jan. I just read in a cruising magazine that several of the places in the Abacos were damaged by hurricane Irene but should be back to normal by now.

The picture was taken off our sternat the marina on the San Sebastion River.

pumps

Well it has been three hours fixing and refixing and refixing the water pump for the fridge compressor, only to test it and find leaks.  Bah! Humbug! 
 After the first failure I noticed an O-ring on the bottom of the bilge.  Tried to put it on several times...all the time on my belly reaching down into the bilge...but it wouldn't go.  Then I noticed that the fitting already had an O-ring in it so I exchanged the one for the other and it seems to be working.  How the ring got into the bottom of the bilge, I have no idea.  The strainer had to be replaced with a new one then done again, after a long search, with plumber's tape.  Of course, every other connection had to be redone with the tape too.  Each individual part seems to be working but it needs to be reassembled and tested again.  So I took a break and my wrists now hurt just typing.  Maybe after a nap. 

A new book

Click on the title above to be linked to a site where I just wrote a book based on an Eileen Quinn song (with her permission): "My Grandma and Grandpa went to sea". It is not for sale but was fun putting it all together. Click on the book to see the next page.

a sinking

Click on the title to be linked to a story about our neighbor who was rescued by the coast guard and local police after apparently hitting the jetty at St. Mary's inlet. They are OK but the boat was lost. The boat is not a shrimper but a trawler. Don't know the details yet.
Be safe out there!

Sister ship to Sweet Caroline

Grand banks 36.jpg

charterworld.com