Deb has Ray eating out of her hand.....

So today in an effort to blow off the stress of getting across the Gulf Stream we went to the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center on Hutchinson Island. It was a short drive from the marina in Stuart. Once on the island it offered us a chance to look out at the Atlantic / Gulf Stream to get a read on how things looked. It's not that we don't trust the forecasters. We just don't trust them. Upon reviewing the water we knew we were making a good decision to sit out the following day in anticipation of the day after which would have been Thursday 11/17.
 Anyway the center http://www.floridaocean.org/p/58/visit has a small air conditioned area with a few tanks of interest as well as a large outdoor pool containing several varieties of fish and a couple of different turtles. All in all it was an interesting stop that broke up the monotony of waiting out the weather that has refused to cooperate. The anticipation of happy hour only goes so far in that regard.
 Along with the pool there is an interesting walk around the facility that takes you through mangrove swamps and out to the lagoon side of the park. As we walked along the path we were constantly reminded of the fact that their are critters out here. Fish, tracks, and rustling sounds caught our attention all along the boardwalks and paths that took us through the swamps with the sulfuric smelling multi-colored waters fed by the decaying foliage. It wasn't offensive like the sulfur springs in Yellowstone Park. Just a hint of sulfur and fortunately there were no Golden Orb spiders hanging out above the path we were walking today. I hate walking into their webs.

 After finishing the trail and upon exiting the building towards the parking lot, we were again reminded of the fact that others inhabit the area. Florida with its warmer climate offers us a different set of living beings from those we are used to in the North East. As I walked down the steps leaving the park I was greeted by a snake that reared up as though it wanted to make a snack out of my foot. Deb elected to divert to an alternative set of stairs but I decided that moving forward was not much of a risk and as I did so, our new friend slithered off into the brush at the left of the stairs. Cheap entertainment and fun.
 And we can use that since we are going to be here an additional week. We originally thought that the Gulf Stream was going to be passable on 11/17 and yes that is the case but the Bahama Bank is going to be a mess Thursday evening into Friday and the following days. Even though the water on the bank is shallow, it still gets ugly and can turn a long day into a very wearing experience. Given the outlook we bailed out on a marginal crossing that would have left us stuck at West End for a week.
 Sometimes it's better to sit it out and we take some solace in the fact that there are others here of the same opine. Maybe next week.

Waiting on a "Window"

 Or how do we spend our time while the Atlantic churns.

 We've actually been ready to cross the Gulf Stream for a few days now but with seas approaching 12 feet recently we have elected to sit things out. Especially since our pain threshold is right at two feet. Call us wuzzy, but I double dog dare you to ride it out with us on Freedom in 4 to 6 confused seas. We've done it. We've learned.  Patience. This latest disturbance was dealt us by tropical storm Sean which made a mess of things for a while, and it seems there are additional disturbances in the form of cold fronts making their way this far South. So the Gulf Stream remains a place for those with strong stomachs or boats able to plow through it. It's not only the Gulf Stream that's rough.
 A mail transport named Legacy ran aground at Lynyard cay in the Abacos this week. Considering we  have received weather reports from them regarding passage of Whale Cay we wonder how they found themselves in such a horrific experience. Fortunately there was no loss of life and Legacy has been hauled off the reef at North Bar, and towed back to Marsh Harbour. We have transited this area and know it to be fickle, best left for calm seas. In spite of being inside the reef this is where we first experienced weightlessness on the bridge of Freedom.
 But it's all good since where we are we have a monthly rate, the condo has been sold, and we have the car with us as opposed to renting cars which we done have in the past. The serious issue here is not going out for dinner because the food at the marina restaurant smells great and based on our experience it also tastes terrific. Calamari at the bar is outstanding.
 Fortunately we are not alone here since there are several folks in a similar situation. We all have frequent conversations regarding the crossing which helps us temper the urge to get the crossing over with. We know this is supposed to be fun. A bit of an adventure yes, but fun. No one wants to take on more risk than they or their equipment can tolerate. While the "battle wagons" go out and crash through this weather, for the most part we are fair weather boaters that would find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation if we moved into this weather on the big water. We could easily take the boat South to Lake Worth and or Peanut island so as to be close to the inlet for an early morning departure, but why give up a monthly rate on the gamble of a very narrow window only to be stuck on the Bahama Bank waiting for better weather? Along those lines today's talk is centering around a crossing on Thursday the 17th but I look at this "weather window" as being quite narrow. Given that we know we will be caught in the stream with rough water, or, caught at a marina charging high fees for docking and utilities the rationale in favor of the crossing is weak at best. But it is a hurdle to surpass and always presents itself as a goal worth accomplishing regardless of the consequences. We look at it this way. Unless you can run at 25 knots you will be stuck at West End, Lucaya, or elsewhere waiting on weather to get around to the Abacos. Most weather windows at this time of year are not wide.
 So we plod along with additional preparations that don't need to be performed but we need to get out of the way. The dink has been hauled, cleaned and waxed. New registration numbers have been applied to the tubes and now all vehicles are registered in Florida. Provisioning has been accomplished but will have to be replenished.
 Anyway it's easy to while away a weekend when the local airport hosts an airshow. We were in the area at this time last year, and witnessed a F/A-18 Hornet buzzing around at very low altitudes. Cool. This year we had the privilege of seeing a restored P-51 in military color fly over head. I have to admit the jets are impressive when they fly over. The F-16 at full afterburner was clearly heard at the marina even though we had to be at least a couple of miles away. But that P-51 with it's old Merlin(?) sounded sweet as it entered steeply banked turns overhead. And then there was the surprise entry a MIG-17.
 All of these demonstrations were a pleasure to watch and commanded respect for the people that were willing to put on the show. Let's face it. Air shows have taken a hit this year with a number of accidental deaths caused by crashes. Nothing happened this weekend and we are all grateful for the show and its safe operation.

 So we wait. Could be a while. So what. Better to be safe.

Making ready for the Bahamas

 Here we are in Stuart Florida backed into slip C38. We had no idea how long we were going to be here and that made it rough on the dock master and his team with regard to scheduling of transient occupancy. Let's face it they want to accommodate everyone they can, but we were clueless. We knew we had work to get done on Freedom, as well as quite a bit of provisioning, but we had no idea how long this would take. What we did know was that the Gulf Stream was a mess and it was not going to lay down anytime soon. So we settled on "about a week".
 With that the first several days here blew by in a whirlwind of maintenance and shopping. The freezer was loaded as well as the refrigerator and pantry. And then it dawned on us that we needed a new laptop, the radar had to go back to Furuno, and several other areas needed substantial amounts of attention.
 After some agitated dialogue with Furuno the radar went back to the West coast for a second pass by the Furuno service team and came back in time given the evict order we originally had from the dock master. As it turned out it required a reworked CPU board because the connector that facilitated communication with the navigation chip card reader had failed during the rework we originally requested, in a couple of ways. We'll leave that item open for discussion in another forum. After getting it back a second time we were very pleased to see that the National service manager had dug in to find out what was going on and get it resolved. So while they may have lost a buck on it, the unit appears to be working now and perhaps everyone is happy.
 But before the radar/plotter was returned to us, I was working on the dink in the water in between Freedom's transom and the dock. I hear all this screaming and yelling up front, Deb comes running aft waving her arms and yelling at me like I should be doing something and it happened. The owner of the restaurant here had his boat resting against our bow pulpit crunching away at the paint and fiberglass. Swell I thought. Well, not really. That certainly isn't what came out of my mouth. The dock hand greeting the man covered her face and pulled her hat down over her face it was that bad. Settling down I went forward and directed him off our bow because he was obviously clueless given the tidal current and wind. Having helped him get off the bow of Freedom I then directed him into his new slip and it went smoothly enough. So we worked out a deal, and to their credit the staff here at the marina ran point for us and made it happen. Freedom had her face fixed and the bow pulpit scars are gone.
 These two prior items took their toll but then the battery issue cropped up again. With a new battery installed for the starboard engine it spins up very well thank you, and the list of concerns is  reduced.   
 That is until we were asked to move to another slip. This is all part of not knowing how long you are going to be staying at a popular marina. If this was a no-name marina we probably would have been good to go for a month but the notion of foul weather slowing everyone up combined with the fact that this is a desirable place to be, made for competition of boat slips. And we moved so we could stay here winding up in C44. Mind you, we moved but the projected new slip owners have yet to arrive. Fast forward we are now in D15 and the new owners for both of the slips we left have yet to arrive. At least we did it in good form without hitting other boats. This in spite of having a mega yacht about 60 or so feet off the bow when we pulled out of C44. A little planning help us get this done easily. All one has to do is review the wind and tide before moving. Just sayin'.
 It's all good because at this point we have a great view in a quiet area of the marina. Works for us. And more work is getting done. Not all of it by me. In fact, the collapsible stair system we have has casters on it that squeak. They squeaked so much a neighboring boat owner snuck up on them and oiled them. Twice. But he was ok with that because he saw how I was coming out of Freedom's bilge on a regular basis and did not have the heart to push the issue.
 After a number of days that combined to reduce my bulk by about 5 pounds we had the good fortune to be invited aboard some friends boat to commiserate and imbibe while watching the Giants win with scant seconds left on the clock.
 Then it was Sunday and the Farmer's Market was active in Old Stuart. It's a small quaint section of Stuart Florida that is on the shore of the St. Lucie River on the East side of the U.S. route 1 bridge to Jensen Beach. It wasn't as large as what we had in Kingston N.Y. but we found some great vegetables and fruit at reasonable prices. White eggplant, peppers, oranges, and various other selections filled up our bags before we left to return to Freedom where Deb went to work on a grilled eggplant, tomato and mozzarella cheese stack for lunch.
 Life is good. Freedom is approaching stability and so are we.

Across Lake Okeechobee a couple of times.

 When I last spoke we were in Moore Haven wondering if the batteries had enough juice to crank the engines over. Our concerns were warranted but we managed to get them running and move Freedom to a dock for the overnight. After quite a bit of thrashing we had Freedom ready to run over to Stuart Fl. where we intended to make ready for the crossing to the Bahamas. We were exhasusted after a long drive, the launching and stowing. But it all went well enough and in the morning with the fog lifting we were happy to realize that two days of charging left the engine starting bank in good shape. The engines spun up and fired quickly.
 Around 7:30 A.M. we ventured out from the marina into the canal with the bridge enclosure all dewed up and difficult to see through. It didn't matter that I had shammied them a couple of times. The moisture settled on them immediately making it a difficult transition into the canal with reduced visability. However no one else was out on the water except, the alligators.
 They were frequent acquaintences along the trip to Clewiston Fl.. We'd see some "debris" floating in the water out in front of us and as we approached it would suddenly dissappear below the surface leaving rings in the water. Alligators are certainly a bit more intimidating than dolphins jumping along the side of Freedom yet they are fun to observe from a safe distance. Without question they are easily scared away by objects larger than themselves.
 The channel leading out to the lake from Clewiston is lined with markers and many of them were occupied by Cormorants and Ospreys. The Ospreys were more amusing due to their animated head bobbing to get a good viewing angle of us as we passed them by. Light winds prevailed and the Okeechobee crossing was smooth. Along with this there was no traffic except for a 52 Egg Harbor that blew by us relatively close enough to rock us a bit but no harm was done. If anything the passing broke up the monotony of an otherwise slow crossing of the lake being followed by gulls.
 We passed through the Moore Haven, Mayaka and St. Lucie locks easily with the light winds and small elevation changes. Arriving at Sunset Bay Marina we backed into a slip, tied up and were greeted by friends we had met in the Bahamas back in 2008.
 After a Looooonnnngggg day on the water, we cleaned up and met Mads and Lani for dinner at the restaurant here and thoroughly enjoyed it. Soon enough we were out cold for what seemed like minutes. The alarm rang at 6 A.M. and we hustled to get off the boat by 6:45 AM since M & L offered us a ride on Dauntless back to Moore Haven so we could get out car back! As they say timing is everything and with our arrivals coinciding at Sunset Bay Marina, a great facility by the way, it spared us the drubbing of renting a car, driving out to Moore Haven and returning in separate cars. A full day of driving was turned into a smooth ride back over the lake with friendly conversation in an air conditioned bridge.
 The fun ended when we they took Dauntless into the marina and there were no easy access spots enabling Debbie to hop off without concern. So Mads ably maneuvered the bow (also the highest egress) of Dauntless to the lift pit where three of us grabbed Debbie by the limbs waist and back while she slid off the bow with a life preserver on. Not exactly graceful but we "got 'er done". After I hopped off we were informed that this was a first for the marina. No one else had ever pulled a stunt like this before. In spite of the notoriety, I'm thinking Deb doesn't have very fond memories of the event....
 Regardless, we were grateful to get a ride, and assisting with the locking was a breeze. Thank you team Dauntless!
 And now the cleaning and preparations begin in earnest.      

Freedom Floats Again, and it's for the Ta Ta's...

 The last week has been a whirl wind of selling the condo, moving into storage, driving South, acquiring driver's licenses and registrations, and launching Freedom. It should have taken a month. But we managed to get all of this done in 6 days.
 But she is afloat, rather grudgingly but she is floating. The crew here at River Forest Labelle did a great job with class equipment getting her in the water. And that is where the fun stopped.
 The main engine batteries were not properly charged because well, the boat was not plugged in enough. Even though we paid for it, the boat was down on charge. Fortunately the port engine spun up as usual but the starboard engine needed help from the house bank. I'm really glad I decided to put in a switch to combine the house bank with the starting banks when I installed the inverter. It was the first time I had to use it and it payed many dividends. Tomorrow we will see if the charger will manage to pump life back into the starting bank. Once tied up at the dock we learned that the satellite tv tracking system went down and needs to be replaced, not fixed. But the real pain showed up when the Radar Chart Plotter we had upgraded by Furuno died. All of this adds up to quite a bit of concern given the itinerary we normally ply. So when we move to Stuart tomorrow, hopefully we don't learn more about what failed over the Summer.
 That's the bad and it probably isn't done showing itself yet.
 The good? She started up, moved out of the slings, spun around smartly and pulled into her new slip running smoothly. She even revved up a bit without complaint. Next time I will remember to turn on the fuel valves. Yes, I did that. I forgot to open the supplies to both engines. But she ran long enough anyway. I'm not sure what that says about the valves but I am sure glad they ran given all of the expensive hardware in the marina right now. Freedom is nothing but a glass bauble in comparison.
 Anyway, before we arrived here at Freedom we stopped in at Green Cove Springs to register the car, acquire our driver's licenses, and register the boats in Florida. It was probably the best experience I have ever had with any department of motor vehicles. Florida really has it's act together. You bring your papers of identity etc. and they enter it into the system. If you qualify the job is done. It took the nice lady named Geri two hours to get all of our processing done. And she worked diligently all that time, non stop.
 And, she did it with a smile, spoke perfect English, and in spite of all the non stop work, she remained professional and courteous. Now for the fun part. You may be wondering about the title of this particular entry in the blog.
 All the while I was standing in front of a glass divider that had one of those holes you pass information through. On the outside of the divider there were cancer walk-a-thon cards stuck up with tape filled out by donors.
 One of them stood out. I kind of laughed to myself without being too obvious but Geri noticed  being the sharp lady she is. She could not read the writing because the card was taped to the outside of her window facing out. So she's typing away and I draw Deb's attention to that particular card. She leans in, reads it and starts laughing.
 Now Geri is really getting nervous and wondering just what is so special about this card that was stuck to her window. She can't read it and obviously never looked at it prior to the contributor sticking it up.
 Being a good sport I waited about 15 minutes and eventually bust out laughing. Deb and I kind of outwardly didn't hide the notion that this was on her window and would be embarassing, but we didn't tell her promptly and let it fester for a while. But then it happened. Yes, I bust out laughing because the cancer walk-a-thon card had an in memory heading filled in with "It's for the ta ta's" along with an anonymous contributor. At the point I fell apart laughing Geri in calm Florida Cracker demanded to  know what that card said. So I peeled if off her window and turned it so she could read it. It was a moment of controlled astonishment for her but being a good sport she shared it with all of her coworkers.
 It was a good moment.
 Having been there, through all of this, she asked if we would be organ donors and we said yes, we will. In spite of all the time spent standing outside her window, it went very well, and we all had a great time.
 And tomorrow we move to Stuart traveling across the State of Florida.

 
   

Buh Bye New York State

 This topic is about one of those large changes in life. It's time to move on. Up to this point both Deb and I have spent all of our lives in New York State. It's a wonderful state full of great attractions and wonderful people to make them all that much better. We have so many great memories of times spent here. Good friends, terrific times, great laughs and bittersweet experiences. Life. Good life. So much to let go of. None of it easy to leave behind.
 But there comes a point in time when we know it's time to cut and run. The state has too many obligations to fill and too little base to fulfill the financial needs required to sustain the infrastructure. It's a damn shame. NYS is now number two with regard to tax burden and given the political climate it will surpass New Jersey quickly. Laws are being enacted to bypass tax levy increases enacted at the state level. Politicians are getting aid to build hotels on their property instead of pursuing money for infrastructure that will make the state a place people want to live in. Low income housing projects demand more attention than keeping us safe.
 All around NYS has what it takes to draw people in for a life experience. Summer beaches, Fall colors, City life, Winter Skiing, Museums, and on. But it's falling apart. Bridges such as the one between Kingston N.Y. and Port Ewen are rusting to pieces. The walkways should be condemned. They are not safe. Pumps are stationed in mid town Kingston in the middle of Broadway to pump waste or sewage because the system can no longer handle the flow. Roads are full of pot holes tearing up our cars and gangs fueled by low income housing and drugs are taking over the streets with their colors.
 Why should we stay?
 In spite of losing a significant investment in our abode we are calling it quits. We just don't see the support required from elected officials to maintain this state at a level commensurate with the level of taxation.
 It's really disappointing. We have a great view off the deck overlooking the Rondout Yacht Basin which has been our favorite escape from drudgery. I have to admit there were many hours of hacking code for main frames spent here, and looking out at a sunset after a full day of debugging or coding was very gratifying and soothing. Even though we worked many additional hours having the view tempered the sentiment that we had to maintain status with this extra effort.
 Family and regular dinners out at Ship to Shore and other establishments, let alone the home cooked meals have been a large part of life here.

 But it has come to this.

 Good bye New York State. You are asking too much and returning too little to those that are footing the bill.

Where did the good Summer weather go?

 I thought Summer meant calm weather in the North East United States! Wow, how wrong can you get? We had Hurricane Irene and flooding that wiped out the New York State canal system, and then the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee about a week later. No one had a chance to recover from all of the water that Irene left behind before the down pours from Lee arrived.
 The Rondout Creek crested at a new record but thankfully all of the marinas survived in good form. Catskill was not as fortunate and suffered extensive if not total damage to all of the creek side facilities. I suspect that the Erie canal is done for the year, and probably will not open until Spring. There is so much damage resultant from the flooding that some marina operators that survived have closed up shop for the season early, asking their guests to haul out. If the flooding did not adversely affect travel plans with closures I am convinced the debris left behind did. It choked marinas and bent running gear all along the Hudson.
 There are rumors about the Internet that boaters trying to make their way South are going to gather in Toronto where they will meet a ship to bring them South. They originally intended to get this done in Oswego, but the Jones Act has prevented this from happening in the United States. Hopefully this works out and these folks only suffer an inconvenience as opposed to a total change in their Winter plans.
 Anyway, Freedom seems to be riding out the Summer, on the hard, in relatively good form. With any luck she will be ready for us to re float her early in October when we head South. Once afloat and provisioned we will head over to the Bahamas again hoping to rekindle friendships and enjoy the hospitality of the locals.
 Our prayers and well wishes are with all of those that were unfortunately dealt a cruel slap in the face by Mother Nature and we hope the emotional and financial injuries heal quickly.