BLOW Island

The perks of a harbor are now over – fresh water showers, easy access to shore, limited waves and rocking – and we are back to the sea and to anchorages around the Exumas. We intended to leave Nassau at 9 am as we want to hit the Yellow Bank, a stretch of shallower water with hundreds of coral heads, with the sun behind us so that we can see the coral heads clearly. We headed out a bit early (at 8 am). What we didn’t realize is that the exit of Nassau Harbor looks like a dumb kid’s math homework – the Xs of coral heads and the +s of submerged objects everywhere. Although most of these objects would not reach our boat – they are deeper than 5 feet – we are still avoiding all of them. This little drill of leaving Nassau Harbor made me realized that my sunglasses, although awesome Raybans, are not polarized – thus making all of the water look like sheer glare. (If you are going to sail, you must own polarized sunglasses.) Due to our early start we hit the Yellow Bank too early, again with the sun to our faces. Although we are supposed to be using our VPR, Visual Piloting Rules, we cannot. We rely on the GPS. On the charts we go to Porgee Rocks, on the outside of Nassau, down to Allen’s Cay which put us over the most navigable section of the Yellow Bank.

We decided to stay in Allen’s Cay, in the northern section of the Exumas, because it was the easiest to get to from Nassau, as well as, I am convinced it is named after Jared Allen, it is an okay hurricane hole that is protected on most sides, and, most of all, it has prehistoric iguanas!!! When we pull in there is already a catamaran and a Bristol sailboat at anchor (the sailboat has roller reefing and an anchor windlass, ugh jealousy). We drop the hook (the anchor) just on the south west shore of Leaf Cay – right across from the beach of the prehistoric iguanas.

This would be a better anchorage if there were not speed boats racing in here from Nassau with tourists to show them the highlights of the Exumas. The 40’ Lagoon Catamaran turns out to be Mattina, the Canadian couple that we met at Frazer’s Hog and their friends are in the Bristol. SW Allen Cay is just gorgeous, with a lone palm tree on it. I attempt to climb to plantation ruins on Leaf Cay, but the iguanas prove to be an insurmountable barrier. There is a big buck marina and store on Highbourne Cay which we momentarily stop at with the dinghy, but overall other than the iguanas we are out of Allen’s and going 180 degrees south to enter Norman’s Cay. Here we are protected from all sides as we are expecting bad weather around Thursday and Friday.

(Norman's Cay History Lesson: this island served as the HQ for Carlos Lehder, the main drug dealer in the movie BLOW)

We tuck in at Norman’s and put down both of the CQR anchors – one of which is all chain. We dinghy to shore and spend the day at McDuff’s bar and resort (http://www.ncbcmacduffs.com/), which I am truly in love with. We meet Kingsly, a Bahamian entrepreneur and resort builder, and Corky, who is a pilot and novelist, and his wife Nancy.

Corky and Kingsly take us to the highlights of the island, which in the ‘70s was owned by a prominent drug dealer (George Jung used to visit often). The best one was the houseboat that was dropped on top of a mountain since the drug dealing owner of the island really liked his privacy.

Upon returning to the boat we are hit with another problem – yes, dinghy fiasco day 10 million. The engine of the dinghy is not working and we have to row back to the boat. Dad spends all night and the next morning trying to fix the engine – starter, spark plugs, gas connection, even the carbie – to no avail. We quickly (this is relative as we had wineglassed the two anchors in the night as there was quite a storm) pulled up the anchors and tucked in tight next to the pier so that we could row there and be on shore when we wanted. After a nice long swim we are planning to spend the evening at McDuff’s with about another 40 people having thanksgiving dinner. Roxie, the bartender, is not only a great bartender, but also a fabulous cook. (By the way, we only put down the starboard anchor, the one which is only chain, to avoid twisting.)

Final picture - this was the only good thing about stopping at Highbourne Cay.

If our food and service doesn’t meet your standards, please lower your standards.

Just in front of the water boats we leave Morgan’s Bluff and head basically straight east for Nassau. Again we are motoring because we have yet to get the wind to bear with us! We expect to get in at 6 pm, but we are pulling over our estimated 6 knots from the engine and thus we roll in about 2 pm. Hello, Nassau Harbor. (By the way, yes this harbor is easily marked. Every harbor thus far has been easily marked, but you have to be damn close to realize that it actually is accurately marked!)

Yes, it was very important that we reach Nassau on Saturday night so that Sunday we would have a place to watch our football. What can I say – go Vikes! Anyway, we pull into Nassau Harbor and dock at Nassau Yacht Haven ($2 per foot plus pre charged water).

On Saturday night we attempt to play in downtown Nassau – meh. It is fine, a good supper and a few overpriced drinks. On Sunday, my god given football Sunday, I am overwhelmed to make it better. I wake up early to cross the huge bridges to Paradise Island (i.e. Overpriced Island). I go over to enjoy the most upper crust bullshit I have ever seen. Casinos, water parks, rich new Yorkers, not my element, etc is where I end up. Not going to lie, its kinda fun. It’s like the twilight zone. I get to play with star fish and sting rays – I also meet David’s bro (my stuffed sea turtle) – who I named Harold (see picture below). We are good friends.

I walk back over the massive bridge in time for a mad scramble to find the Vikings game! Where is it!!! It’s not on normal cable, which I had to go to an internet café to figure out. Now, we have to find a bar that has the NFL channel. Thank you Senor Frogs.

$25 buckets of beer, but who cares – they have the Vikings vs. Seahawks game! We get there thirty mins in and some Bengals fans sit with us (oh yes, Vikings and Bengals fans are cut from the same cloth). After the first quarter, we are killing it – by the way boys, why didn’t you do this verses Detroit? That is beside the point, the bartenders of Senor Frogs put the game up on all of the TVs and give us a discount on the beer buckets – thank you Sabbath. Honestly, there is not much to say about the game. It was easy, so easy that T.Rex was in in the third quarter. Since football Sunday is over, time to move on. Let’s go to the Exumas!

Final picture for your appreciation. How I make friends when the Vikings start to win:

It’s time to piss in tin cans.

Its three pm and it is time to leave. We have filled up our water tanks and extra water and fuel containers. We took off the sail covers and excess lines. I don’t particularly want to leave, but it is a good thing that I did. We take a compass heading out of Islamorada of 346. We do a little maneuvering but soon we are on the intercostal (which by the way is exactly the opposite of the normal red/green system). We head down the intercostal at 50 degrees and then turn to 92 degrees toward Snakes Creek.

As you can see on the map, Snake Creek is absolutely neat, with many expensive houses and boats lined up on little waterways. We hail Bascule Bridge to open up Highway 1 so we can pass by. We head to Hens and Chicks at 114 degrees and from there we head to Davis Reef at a course heading of 109. Phew.

We are free of the shallows (at the time I thought this was a good thing – needless to say Kangas had it right – now is the time of the stainless steal piss can). We now have over 78 nautical miles on a heading of 82 degrees towards South Riding Rocks. We draft 4.5 so we decided to skip Bimini and the shallow way into the Northwest Passage. Instead we stayed south and went to South Riding Rocks and then up to the Northwest Passage.

Now we are in deep water – in the gulf stream – with Easterlies pointed at our bow. Sailors, you know. This sucks. With waves knocking you over for an overnight crossing, I curl up into a ball in the floor of the cockpit. Dad has to take the overnight crossing (with no auto helm) with seven foot waves kicking the shit out of my stomach. (By the way, I did not vomit. It is really amazing because I thought I was going to die.) We obviously did this crossing via motor (Erv you would be proud). If you can’t sail, do not do this crossing – it is a bitch. But we do arrive at South Riding Rocks at 9 am. We had timed out this whole situation so that we would arrive at the Berries at a normal hour, but we realize we are ahead of schedule so we decide to anchor and sit at South Riding Rocks (oh did I mention we were running all night without running lights – yes just call us the Good Ship Lollypop that supplies your illegal coke). Anyway, we look for the short that is cutting out our running lights, which, of course, is on the bull pulpit where I sit and hold on to these super tiny screws and nuts. We fix the lights and get antsy so we head out on a heading of 75 degrees toward Russell Light. At dusk I hit the running lights (i.e. the red and green lights that let other boats know where we are and where we are going) and of course the breaker flips – another short. Damn. Do you know what is worse than sitting on the bull pulpit holding tiny nuts and screws… doing it at night, which is what I had to do now. We are now out of the Gulf Stream so we are not getting kicked around, thus we take two hour shifts over the Grand Bahamas Bank. During my 3-5 am shift the GPS dies, of course, fated. This boat hates me. Not to mention we are coming in way too hot to Chub Cay (Cay is pronounced Key), so now I am playing it blind. I slow down the engine and pull way south. I can’t fix the GPS at night, so I give it over to Dad. At 6 am I get woke up – time to go into Frazer’s Hog Cay (Key) old school style. Forget the GPS. It is time for Lat/Long and dead reckoning.

We are aiming for the Berry Islands, where Chub Cay is the port of entry (where you pass customs), but they know that thus they charge a FORTUNE (like $200 plus the $300 customs charges – no thank you). Therefore we are going to Frazer’s Hog Cay (same island – other side). The custom’s official is not happy, because we are not in an official port – but he lets it slide and now we are set in the Bahamas for four months – heck yes! Of course, coming into Frazer’s Hog Cay and basically begging for a ride to the customs officer was not too easy, but they offered and gave us a ride down the one road on the island and gave us a huge tour (THANK GOD WE DID NOT GO TO CHUB CAY). We probably spent $40 on the guy (he was from Andros and his name was Lincoln) and the places he brought us, which was well worth it. Back at the Berry’s Island Club, after many roads of blue holes and mangroves, we drink the local beer – Kalik and order dinner. On the way to the dinghy, Lincoln kills our supper (which is conch – a cross between snail and crab). It is great. Come to Frazer’s Hog if for nothing else – Lincoln’s cooking.

This is Chub Cay - as Hunter S. Thompson would say: Hello Fat City!
This is my sweet ride in the back of a bumpy industrial golf cart down the one road of Frazer's Hog Cay.

The next day we head towards Andros (I am obsessed with this place because it has chickcharnies and blue holes). After a few hours of motor sailing we pull into Morgan’s Bluff, a commercial harbor, where we get diesel and stop at Willy’s Water Lounge (not worth it). We try to go down to Nicholl’s Town, but the Nor’easters are killing us so we have to anchor at Morgan’s Bluff where we clean the barnacles and ropes off of our prop (whoops). I make coconut green curry for supper – yes I am the best first mate ever.

Final picture - the sea shore outside of a restaurant (i.e. many conch dinners)

Book Reviews for my dear Anna.

(these are just my book reviews - nothing to do with sailing... sorry!)

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Junot Diaz.

This was a recommendation by my dear Anna and I was unsure at first. Why would I want to read about the sad life of a nerdy Dominican kid? I had enough of my own teenage angst, thank you. But once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. The story itself is tragic, but somehow the author portrays it as beautiful. That poor Oscar’s life was somehow kismet and he made the best of it. The way the author did this was to tie it into history. History is the one thing we can all depend on. As much as we may try and change things, we are meant to repeat our mistakes and our successes. Sure they may seem a little different, but they are all the same on the basic level. As it was for Oscar’s story – it was kismet – it was fated. Oscar’s story paralleled the rest of his family’s stories, which if you asked me really made the story. We not only get Oscar’s story, but his sister’s, his madre’s, his surrogate grandmother, and his real grandparents. All of whom were persecuted in their own ways and attempted to save their families and their happiness. On top of telling a tragic story in a hopeful light and tying Oscar’s story into his whole family’s history, the author also gives us an in depth account of Dominican culture, history, and maltreatment. With incredibly long footnotes, the author leaves no Dominican stone unturned. The final point of what I loved about this story is who the author actually is. From the beginning you have no idea, you just think he is writing a story, but by the end he reveals the truth - who he is and how he is also interconnected. Each character has such strong presence – “Whiteman, kiss my Hurricane ass.” The author himself is also very opinionated and honest and it comes across in his writing.

“Without even realizing it he’d fallen into one of those Let’s-Be-Friends Vortexes, the bane of nerdboys everywhere. These relationships were love’s version of a stay in the stocks, in you go, plenty of misery guaranteed and what you got out of it besides bitterness and heartbreak nobody knows.”

The final point I have to make is the interspersed tidbits of pure nerdyness. Oh yes, there is plenty of talk of Star Wars, LOTR, Dune, and many other more obscure Sci-fi books and movies. The book is definitely a “close encounter of the Caribbean kind.” Overall, buy it – read it – love it – pass it on.

Better than Sex. Hunter S. Thompson.

Oh my dear Hunter. I have to be biased, obviously, the very first page of the book contains one simple phrase “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” For those of you who know me well, that is what my tattoo says, so clearly I love the guy. His gonzo drug addled stream of conscience writing is purely my style. It leads to true revelations about oneself, others, and in Hunter’s case politics. It leaves no room for anything except for Hunter’s exact feelings at that exact time. It is very subjective, yes, and journalists are supposed to be objective, but Hunter’s subjectiveness is riddled with true and honest assessments of the political situation of 1992. The only problem I have with the book is how much of it to believe? It seems that some points are just pure paranoia on the author’s part. Sure he owns up to it but it tends to bother his credibility. My favorite part by far is the bar fight he gets into with James Carville in a hotel bar in Little Rock Arkansas. Visualizing this scene makes my giggle every time. One of my favorite part of reading books is picking out my favorite quotes:

• “We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately.” – Ben Franklin (this might possibly be my next tattoo)
• “Of course it’s not, but let’s make the bastard deny it” – LBJ (this comes from a little story that Hunter tells of how LBJ beat his competitor a rich pig farmer, this is probably the most entertaining historical anecdote – I am not going to retell it here because it is just too good, I’d prefer you Google it)
• “Elections are about fucking your enemies. Winning is about fucking your friends.” – James Carville (oh how I love that dangerous Ragin’ Cajun)

Overall, if you are Hunter fan you will love it. If you are a politics fan you will love it. Otherwise, you will probably hate it – unless, of course, you like sheer and utter unparalleled genius.

Shock and AWWE

(sorry guys - from now on my post will have to be post dated - we have been on the water for a few days and I just write on the boat and publish whenever I get internet.)

I got pretty lucky in the Florida Keys. Even though we spent the majority of the time trying to put this boat back together again I still had time to go see some sites. I saw the Oceanside beaches of Islamorada at night. The sand almost glowed in the moonlight and the sky shimmered with waves of purple clouds. Mom and I went to feed the Tarpons at Robbie’s Marina. I had always wanted to see a Tarpon, but I never got to the Tarpon Rodeo when I was in New Orleans. These are some very ugly fish.

I was able to go to Shell World (which is near where my aunt Candy used to live) where I was given ((by a nice boy for your information Sam)) the newest addition to the boat, a large stuffed sea turtle – I named him David. I danced at the Whistle Stop and most importantly was able to watch Vikings football at the O.V.

In regards to getting the boat ready, these last few days before we left were just like the first – a bugger. The largest ordeal was the dinghy. Our boat, Departure, came with a nice 71 pound perfectly sized dinghy. Unfortunately it seemed to be leaking at every seam. Dinghies are important for many reasons - #1 they are your legs, your dinghy gets you from your anchorage to shore and back; #2 they are your life raft, if you are sinking you will want a way off of your boat that does not involve you becoming shark bait; and finally #3 if your dinghy dies you will have to dock at every place which can get very very expensive. Also, in the Caribbean there is no place to just go buy a dinghy. You have to go back to the states to get one. Talk about ordeal. So making sure we had a working dinghy was essential. We first attempted to glue up all of the leaks. We did this over two days, but once it starts breaking at the seams you know that the dinghy is just getting too old and falling apart. After looking into buying used ones and where to get them, I think we all just got a little exhausted and one morning Dad went to West Marine and came back with a new, monstrous dinghy. At a bit over 12 feet we have to deflate the front section to lash it to the bow. In addition to the dinghy fiasco was the concept of buying food for five months. Imagine that. Buying five months worth of food and booze! I have never bought so much canned meat in my life. Over two hours and a huge wad of cash later we had our four grocery carts full and now just had to transfer it to every nook and cranny of the boat. All that is left now is the little things involved with leaving the dock.

Finally, what you have all been waiting for and was in fact the most important part of my last week – Vikings vs. Detroit! We attempted to watch the game at two different bars before I remembered someone mentioning the O.V. at the Lor-e-lie one night. The O.V., short for the Ocean View, is a god send. It is one of the most perfect bars ever, even if it is owned by an ex-Steelers player. It’s a bar/hotel where the beer is cheap and they serve the perfect football food – including sliders, mini corn dogs, fish dip, etc. The inside bar has seven TVs each of which is showing a different NFL football game. To my left Bengals vs. Steelers, the Vikes in front of me, and to my left the Saints vs. the Rams – talk about perfection. Outside there is another bar with a lot more tables which also has seven TVs and all of the games on. Behind this bar is a pool. It was so cute to watch little boys jump out of the pool, put on their Chris Paul and Reggie Bush jerseys, and come order a kiddy cocktail from the bar! So, in theory, you can drink beer and swim in the pool all while watching a November Vikings game. The game itself is kinda icky. Too many turnovers and if you ask me a lethargic defense caused this game to be far too close. The third quarter was better thanks to Mr. Gamebreaker himself Percy Harvin and the Dukes of Hazzard slash WWF fighter Jared Allen. This brings me to this whole forced branding of the defensive line. I am not too sure how I feel about it. Sure I love Allen, Williams (x2), and to a lesser extent Edwards, but we didn’t force the naming of the Purple People Eaters, should we be doing it here? With that in mind here are a few of my favorite possible names: Purple Reign, Maul of America, Purple Haze, 3 men & a mullet, Land of 10,000 Sacks, and Shock & AWWE. Mom and I plus three other Viking fans in the main bar made such a ruckus that people who were coming in thought they were only playing the Vikings game. Minnesota you should be proud.

Parting picture - a sunset off the porch of the Lor-e-lie. On the right you can see a floating sailboat and a tragically sunk one.

As long as the grunts, grits and conchs hold out, we won't worry.

I can't particularly say "finished," but I can say "phew." I believe we just made it over the last speed bump in getting this boat sail worthy. We finished off with some painting and then some repair work on the dinghy. Tomorrow I will have to do some scrubbing to the hull below water to clean off all the excess algae and we also have to buy groceries and get fuel. Now we just have to learn how to sail the bloody thing.

I have been relying on reading the user's manual (yes, the boat comes with a user manual). It's hand typed from 1979! But the whole booklet has other articles and pictures about our boat (see image above). The boat is all packed up with all of our things and I am starting to get used to taking caccoon showers (the bathroom fits one person and you just pull a curtain all the way around you in this room and shower - thus you feel like your in a caccoon). I have made biffers (best friends) with the bartenders and last night we all went out to the Whistle Stop in Islamorada (http://keysdining.com/whistlestop/index.htm) which is open and serves food until 3am. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. If you ever get down here - this bar is a MUST! I am also fond of the Midway Diner, which is exactly 80 miles south of Miami and 80 miles north of Key West, and serves just a lovely cup of coffee.

Speaking of Key West - I liked it. Alot. Friends - anyone want to do a trip to Key West at some point in the future? It has the southern most point in the USA. It has Ernest Hemingway. It has Key Lime Pie. It has Duval Street (a Florida version of Bourbon Street) with plenty of bars. Oh and did I mention the Naval and Air Force bases nearby - and they have parades! Also, they have just beautiful old world architecture (unlike the rest of Florida which looks like the 1970s with a paint job. We spent the afternoon and I could have easily stayed much longer.

Now - on to the boat. I had the hardest time really understanding the layout of the boat, but once I saw it it just clicked. So I thought I would try to make it easier for everyone else and give you a breakdown of the boat. Once in the cockpit and you go below to your left is a door that leads to my bed and room (it also is where we have the pantry). To your right is another bed and the chart table. After my room on the left side is the bathroom and a couch where dad sleeps. On the right after the chart table is the kitchen and the couch where mom sleeps.

Layout:

The entrance to the salon and my room:

The chart table and the extra bed (if anyone comes down you can sleep here and sail with us!):

This morning we had a northerly (cold front generated from the north) and I woke up freezing. It will be interesting trying to stay warm on the boat while we are doing crossings at night! We will be spending the rest of the day literally watching the paint dry... therefore I will be laying in the sun on my boat and yelling at the birds to stop using it as their restroom. And now to end this post - I give you a puppy!

It's The Journey, Not The Destination. Bullshit.

As the winds would have it we finally made it to our boat. After multiple injustices done to our backs and psyches by a broken Lincoln (a driver's seat that has a protuberance causing severe back pain, windows that won't roll down, and no available air conditioning), I managed to also lose my entire wallet (two hundred in cash, three credit cards, and the majority of my IDs) down in Lafourche Parish at a high school football game, and many other issues (including the fact the T-Mobile has dropped our phones and they don't work at all in FL) we finally made it down to Islamorada, FL and into our harbor at Lor-e-lie Yacht Club. From Hager City, WI; to Mankato, MN; to New Orleans, LA; and finally we were at the Keys.

Of course all we have had these past two and a half days is excessive winds. We haven't been able to practice reefing the sails or dropping anchor or anything. But the upside is we have had plenty of time to do repairs - lots of repairs. We replaced all the bulbs on the running lights, we pulled out the ceiling above my quarter birth (bed/bedroom) to rebolt an outside stantion, we took out the toilet to rebolt it down (this almost led to a flooding of the boat with salt water as we forgot to throw the "throughfair" otherwise known as "lever to keep water out", we redrilled many screws that were loose, as well as bolted in our safe, and oh god I am sure there is more. The boat is in great condition - but it is a boat - therefore there is always something to fix.

As for the Keys themselves - its a strange place. First it is extremely hard to run errands when you can only go north or south. There is no east or west since we are just on one skinny long island. You can see water from both sides of the highway all the way down from Key Largo to Key West. The people are a mix of everything - from what I have seen Islamorada is made for tourism (obvious) but it is mostly made for big deal fishermen. Our marina's bar is always filled with middle aged big deal fishermen from all over - New York, Idaho, Chicago, New Hampshire - to name a few.

The bars and restaurants are all over priced, but drinks are good and food is great. Of course there is always a way around these sorts of things - bartenders. They are your best friends - learn to love them no matter what. They will turn your $20 bar tab into a $2.50 bar tab. At the Lor-e-lie these bartenders include - Darren, Barb, Jay, and John. Barb actually signed for my Fed Ex packaged wallet when the Lor-e-lie office wouldn't. I would still have no wallet, money, IDs or anything if it were not for Barb (and the Delaunes and Uncle Billy and Miss Laurie - who were shaking the trees looking for my wallet). I will never have enough good things to say about bartenders and Louisianians.

The Lor-e-lie itself is beautiful and, man, there are some monsterous boats here, including two catamarans (one 40 ft and the other 60 ft) which both must have cost over $200,000 as well as a 60 ft powerboat. Overall I believe there is only 10 to 12 boats in our marina - its quaint but obviously full of money - take a look for yourself:

http://www.loreleifloridakeys.com/

As for the boat itself - I will tell you about that tomorrow as my camera does not want to upload pictures and I am about to head to Key West - lovely. But to answer any questions you may be having - we are alive and well in a tropical paradise with booze and food and plenty of boat to fix.

The calm before the storm.

I first titled this post "water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink." But as we leave tomorrow a whole sense of anxiety has fallen over the house. I finally realized that I am not the only one who has no idea what this is going to be like. Both Mom and Dad have sailed before and sailed significantly longer and more obscure routes besides. This is a whole new beast, however. Mom and Dad are older now and we are on a new boat with brand new technology that none of us are particularly good at yet. On the upside we are doing this in steps. We leave tomorrow to drive to New Orleans for a day or two stop and then we head down to Islamorada. We will probably spend two weeks in Florida getting to know the boat and putting our stuff away. Unfortunately the first crossing from Florida to Chub Cay seems to be a bit of a task.

In this blog I will be keeping everyone updated on where we are, where we are going, and how we are doing it. Also you will get a special treat on Sundays as I will be attempting to watch all the rest of the Minnesota Vikings season from the Caribbean. I think the next game, Vikes vs. Detroit, will be the hardest game to get the bar owner to actually show, but I can be very persuasive.

You will also get to hear me rant about salt water showers, no electricity, no phones, limited internet access and the Moyers' close quarters. I will also be gloating about the warm weather, beaches, bars and new people. But right now its still the calm before the storm.