Yes, the north wind does come all the way south to sunny Florida. Boy does it ever. Our weather has been amazing, shorts, T shirts, sandals, all those wonderful warm weather garbs. But we find even when you’re wearing shorts, the wind can come a-howling as it did on the 22nd and 23rd.
Mind you, we knew it was coming. When you live on a boat, you’re always checking the weather. Every morning while drinking coffee, Tim and I have out our “devices” and are searching through the various sites looking at weather here and at other locations. So it came as no surprise to us to find the boat straining at her lines by mid day. The wind was coming out of the northeast as predicted. This meant Subject to Change was being pushed away from the dock. Even with our 3 step on the dock, getting on and off could be a challenge. Tim’s short legs had quite a stretch. We had to make careful hand offs when passing Maggie back and forth from the boat and the dock. Knowing the wind was forecasted to build during the night, we started adding extra lines on our starboard side to hold her to the dock. At some point during the night, the wind shifted and began blowing even harder oit of the northwest. Tim woke up around 2am and sensed a change. He went up to fine that instead of being pushed away from the dock, we were now being shoved into it. Together we added more fenders and tightened lines on the port side. Once daylight came other cruisers were out inspecting their lines and making needed adjustments. We joined our boat neighbors in walking the docks adjusting lines and fenders of boats whose owners were not onboard. We think it was all this pushing and pulling that strained Tim’s left shoulder. He was declared injured and all use of the left arm was deemed unallowed. While we were rocking and rolling here with winds in the 20’s and gusts in the 30’s our friends to the south ( Steve and Deidra on Osprey and Wayne and Elda on Aloha) in Key West were seeing winds in the 30’s with gusts to 45.
This week, I also got back to my teak maintenance. While under cover in Seabrook, I took all the exterior teak back to bare wood and then began the process of recoating them with Awlwood. After a lot of research, we chose Awlwood because it is supposed to last longer than varnish in the harsh Florida sun. It is more expensive and requires some extra steps, but we decided to give it a try. I was able to get about 10 coats on the aft of the boat, but only about 4 on the bow. I only got 2 on the upper helm area. So, I have some work to do to get her ready for summer.
Another “gotta do” is get Maggie’s paperwork in order for the Bahamas. I Fed Ex’d the request for an Import Permit and found a vet who can issue a Health Certificate. I had all the paperwork from her vet in Texas showing her vaccinations are up to date, but found she still had to have a Leptovirus vaccine. She will need a booster shot of the Lepto in 2-4 weeks and ten the Health certificate can be issued.
Since we rented a car to get Mags to a vet, we took the opportunity to visit Walmart and begin provisioning the boat for The Bahamas. Eeeek! $500.00 and 2 grocery carts later, we were back on the boat trying to figure out where we were going to stow all this food and still be able to find it later. And this was just the non-refrigerated stuff.
Rental car for us also means “Road Trip”! On Saturday we decided to head south. Our first stop was Everglades City, an historic old Florida town. Rumor has it the town was once a haven for drug smuggling.
We continued own to the Chokoloskee River and found this old Trading Post.
From this remote area we headed north to Marco Island. Just outside of Marco, we crossed a short bridge and came upon a line of cars parked along the side of the road. Here in the middle of nowhere had to be something. We pulled over and followed the parade of people walking into the small town of Goodland. The town was having their annual Mullet Festival. Music and all sorts of yummy smells filled the air. We were amazed at the number of people enjoying this beautiful day drinking beer and eating smoked mullet.
The town post office.
After lunch, we continued north to Marco island and then Naples and found even larger homes and yachts. Very fancy, but not my style. Give me old Florida any day over the newer cities. That is as long as I can have my mosquito spray and AC.
Meanwhile, our calendar is starting to fill in. We look forward to having friends and family visit us. Please let us know if you want to join us on our travels. We have some dates booked while in the Bahamas already. Another side trip that I am really looking forward to is a cruise down the St. John’s River. We’ll head down the river around Jacksonville and cruise at our own pace as far south as Sanford. I’m figuring it will take between 1-2 weeks. It will scenic and relaxing with lots of anchoring and small, old Florida towns.
So much news! Thank you. Timmy, I am so sorry you hurt hour shoulder. Sob, sob!
Things are going well here – I have moved back home from caring for Annie, though I will go back for ‘overnights’ as situations dictate. She is doing very well – it just takes so long to recover from knee surgery, I assume her age has something to do with that.
June, where did you grow up in Florida? Near any of the places you are visiting?
Love to all 3, Elayne
Loving your blog, including reading about your troubles as well as fun times. Reminds me of our cruises! We miss you guys.
Thanks, Doris. We are having a great time. As the rendezvous nears, are meeting a lot of Defeverites and learning about them and their travels. Peggy and Hans on Aqua Vitae are mooring ball neighbors on their Albin. More boats are due in today.