tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53391961100387931902024-03-14T00:02:49.138-07:00We Are HereWe Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-29411933348347846032017-05-17T23:15:00.001-07:002017-05-17T23:15:00.893-07:002 more work days until the concrete slab gets poured<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f9HkBOnicx4/WR074xGZfPI/AAAAAAAACWY/2b9cSbaasug9g2i0z_OLeGdJlyQxLT1zACHM/s1600/IMAG1467.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f9HkBOnicx4/WR074xGZfPI/AAAAAAAACWY/2b9cSbaasug9g2i0z_OLeGdJlyQxLT1zACHM/s640/IMAG1467.jpg"> </a> </div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-29685313842681621212017-05-15T16:23:00.001-07:002017-05-15T16:23:48.704-07:00Details of foundation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K6pcIkFQC1Q/WRo4g77FqWI/AAAAAAAACWA/SYQyewzQyf0K5DhlohWp_HcpXSTulLSAgCHM/s1600/IMAG1454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K6pcIkFQC1Q/WRo4g77FqWI/AAAAAAAACWA/SYQyewzQyf0K5DhlohWp_HcpXSTulLSAgCHM/s640/IMAG1454.jpg"> </a> </div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-79492366231957409852017-05-15T16:21:00.001-07:002017-05-15T16:21:32.122-07:00Putting in rebar to foundation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KCE0_Akd2To/WRo3-W0aKXI/AAAAAAAACV4/EUSA97JAUPkopb_ZRlSRcDgKPlvbfnEWgCHM/s1600/IMAG1450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KCE0_Akd2To/WRo3-W0aKXI/AAAAAAAACV4/EUSA97JAUPkopb_ZRlSRcDgKPlvbfnEWgCHM/s640/IMAG1450.jpg"> </a> </div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-14052762076771271842017-04-01T23:51:00.000-07:002017-04-01T23:51:20.770-07:00Breaking GroundPictures of our lot after the first and second day of site work to level out spots for the two foundations. The contractors broke ground March 30th.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;"> March 31st is below. Skye and I went over together to check it out</span></div>
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<br />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-90254653115887645142017-02-28T23:22:00.001-08:002017-02-28T23:22:11.203-08:00Pulling up the concrete from the old driveway.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1-jo-cpsv6E/WLZ2ogiNJUI/AAAAAAAACTs/3v7mEmyK-YQ/s1600/IMAG1063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1-jo-cpsv6E/WLZ2ogiNJUI/AAAAAAAACTs/3v7mEmyK-YQ/s640/IMAG1063.jpg"> </a> </div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-44657543385047656052017-02-28T23:19:00.001-08:002017-02-28T23:19:49.400-08:00AI Tree crew working hard clearing trees. <p dir="ltr">The bamboo, palm and paperback trees are gone, about 3 more big trees to come down. </p>
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We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-13434495277368403642017-02-20T22:15:00.001-08:002017-02-28T22:59:21.688-08:00Building our Home<p dir="ltr">After nearly a year of preparation, we are one week into building a new home for our family. Last Monday morning, Ozzy demolished the old Thompson home and hauled it away. It took 8 X 30 cubic yard dumpsters to carry off the whole thing. Left behind was the concrete slab and driveway, along with scattered detritus from 50 or so years of living. We salvaged a diesel generator, a solid rosewood dining set and a size adult large teenage mutant Ninja Turtles costume that was brand new. A subcontractor came back Saturday morning and crushed up and hauled away the concrete in 4 dump truck loads. One of the neighbors was steamed because the noisy crushing of concrete started too early. He called the police who came but were very friendly. </p>
<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rLI_PXO-l2g/WKvexkiimZI/AAAAAAAACSs/labjWKxydto/s640/blogger-image-1178195572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rLI_PXO-l2g/WKvexkiimZI/AAAAAAAACSs/labjWKxydto/s640/blogger-image-1178195572.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BAjTxWWuhzY/WKve1EGA2zI/AAAAAAAACS4/gFQoTDbNvbM/s640/blogger-image--244207672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BAjTxWWuhzY/WKve1EGA2zI/AAAAAAAACS4/gFQoTDbNvbM/s640/blogger-image--244207672.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OHp5kfipMdQ/WKve0KkgYXI/AAAAAAAACS0/nFDw7d9Sm3U/s640/blogger-image-1138353203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OHp5kfipMdQ/WKve0KkgYXI/AAAAAAAACS0/nFDw7d9Sm3U/s640/blogger-image-1138353203.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ftp00GMjOZ0/WKvey7rTCII/AAAAAAAACSw/dbrkFPiIB6A/s640/blogger-image-1178398833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ftp00GMjOZ0/WKvey7rTCII/AAAAAAAACSw/dbrkFPiIB6A/s640/blogger-image-1178398833.jpg"></a></div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-12616327608470998782014-06-02T19:34:00.001-07:002017-03-05T22:50:16.457-08:00A question I've been mulling over.<div>
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As I watch the late afternoon light slowly soften,students stroll through the heart of U-W campus. I am starting to collect my thoughts and lessons learned after nearly a year of travel.</div>
We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-83480793398982458292014-05-24T00:29:00.001-07:002014-05-24T00:31:31.031-07:00Northbound to Canada (for the weekend)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Biked to the ferry terminal today after class. I am riding the Victoria Clipper 2.5 hours north from Seattle to Victoria, BC for the Swiftsure Regatta. The ferry ride itself is super fun because it is so ridicuously fast, cruising along at 30 knots the whole way. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vkvjeLmjTh0/U4BKVZx0-kI/AAAAAAAACMg/aQrvfsK_JpU/s640/blogger-image--320894526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vkvjeLmjTh0/U4BKVZx0-kI/AAAAAAAACMg/aQrvfsK_JpU/s640/blogger-image--320894526.jpg"></a></div>I took a picture from the stern, where you can really get a feel for the boat's power. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uhsD8ep0G0M/U4BKRhdXA5I/AAAAAAAACMQ/Htpg6Iap0oQ/s640/blogger-image-1200861739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uhsD8ep0G0M/U4BKRhdXA5I/AAAAAAAACMQ/Htpg6Iap0oQ/s640/blogger-image-1200861739.jpg"></a></div>Martin and Linda on invited me to help the crew their f-31R trimaran named Moxie in a "casual fast" effort. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>The race is about 100 miles, basically from Victoria straight out to the exit of the strait of Juan De Fucca then back. There was a festive atmosphere with many of the race boats rafted up in the marina in the heart of downtown. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-dxHQlMzGDyA/U4BKTgMuqyI/AAAAAAAACMY/eJqLthiclho/s640/blogger-image-194164927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-dxHQlMzGDyA/U4BKTgMuqyI/AAAAAAAACMY/eJqLthiclho/s640/blogger-image-194164927.jpg"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-39757742544354535072014-05-22T16:04:00.001-07:002014-05-22T20:13:22.342-07:00University of Washington Physics Education Group Thursday Night
Teachers MeetingA group of 12 or so local teachers meet upstairs in one of the PEG classrooms every week to talk story and swap ideas. <div>Lots of good conversation: National Board Certification, curriculum challenges, working with administration...teacher stuff. </div><div>Everyone picks one week to bring food. It is my turn tonight. Made 2 big batches of chili. 1 veg and 1 beef. Plus brought all the trimmings including rice, cheese sour cream, cilantro, lime wedges, corn chips, green salad mix, and a couple boxes of petit ecolier cookies. Donna made cornbread and drinks so it is a team effort. </div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d0DGOSQ2P1g/U367eFw8OAI/AAAAAAAACL8/_2X0seIKn1U/s640/blogger-image--8761689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d0DGOSQ2P1g/U367eFw8OAI/AAAAAAAACL8/_2X0seIKn1U/s640/blogger-image--8761689.jpg"></a></div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-25988201277201699882014-01-14T17:50:00.000-08:002014-05-12T04:13:23.350-07:00Paradise Island <img alt="P1140340" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-lJUTC6BIBTs/U3AYDPxuEyI/AAAAAAAACJk/2nQiXrcHIFw/P1140340.jpg?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140340.jpg" width="231" /><br />
Asad and Gary sadly departed the Bahamas this afternoon. We had a great morning walking over the bridge to visit Paradise Island. Jamey stayed in Nassau to do chores which included going to the marine store, fixing something on the boat, and going to the grocery store to provision. We will not have much access to shopping over the next couple of months, so he did a relatively big shop. He remarked on how all of the stores have bars over their windows and big locks on their doors. <br />
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Paradise Island is a bit incongruous to walk around after being anchored by serene and quiet Rose Island last night. It holds the Atlantis resort and has many of the same shops that one might find in a typical American mall. It's sort of anti-everything we are coming to the Bahamas to experience (serenity, nature, adventure, simplicity), but it is fun nevertheless. Contrasts enhance the extremes, after all. <br />
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We left Asad and Gary on the docks of Nassau Yacht Haven (with just a couple of hours left before their flights to Florida and then to SF for Gary and Honolulu for Asad) so that we would have enough time to sail back to Rose Island where we are anchored again for the night, positioned for an early morning departure heading south. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge between Nassau and Paradise Island brings you from the land of have-nots to the land of haves. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">None in Hawaii, so Dunkin Donuts is still "exotic" and a novelty for the girls. It made sense to visit one in the Bahamas.</td></tr>
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<img alt="P1140358" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-96uWb2Qj2TE/U3AYRQh8AeI/AAAAAAAACKU/55dt1KTf_DQ/P1140358.jpg?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140358.jpg" width="240" /> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had a hard time explaining slot machines and gambling to the girls. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen of the sea with my beautiful princesses.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank you for visiting us, Uncles Asad and Gary!! We are looking forward to sailing together again one day soon. </td></tr>
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<img alt="P1140386" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/--MaEE9X9jCg/U3AYaCYNehI/AAAAAAAACK0/CyT_zYh15-E/P1140386.JPG?imgmax=800" height="157" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140386.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1140388" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-al86K6sYu4Y/U3AYb6FqARI/AAAAAAAACK8/cfH9gISOFF4/P1140388.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140388.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mailboats bring supplies and food to the cays scattered throughout the Bahamaas. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1140394" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BMR_jQHlNWs/U3AYhckt6YI/AAAAAAAACLE/5qUOEnBH_6A/P1140394.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140394.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1140401" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cPlO0UDdkbY/U3AYjPF1PqI/AAAAAAAACLM/4zYzWkxtw8s/P1140401.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140401.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our "family" from Bimini visited us. Jamey and the boys continued their weather talk. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1140413" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-JZd4Y3sT0Cw/U3AYqWQbWfI/AAAAAAAACLs/96eKrGGfpvs/P1140413.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1140413.JPG" width="320" />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-688553509003965802014-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:002014-05-12T04:26:05.764-07:00Eight on Board at Rose IslandJanuary 12:<br />
<br />
What is it like to be on a boat designed to fit two comfortably with eight people? It's AWESOME!<br />
<br />
We often get incredulous looks as people count how many of us are aboard C.Spirit. Six on board a 32 foot sailboat is definitely a lot. With our crew, however, somehow it doesn't feel that way. Sage and Skye are little people that like to hang out in itty bitty unlikely spaces such as a corner of the bimini or on a shelf in the back berth. Indigo and Phoenix are medium-sized people that also don't really take up too much space. <br />
<br />
Our belongings are minimum and even with a cello, an extensive library of school books and an arsenal of games and craft items, we feel that we have lots of space. Of course, the key thing is that we actually like being together. From living in a tiny house at home, we have become accustomed to the constancy of each other that proximity forces. <br />
<br />
It also helps that we spent a month and a half camping before we hopped on C.Spirit. All six of us shared a six-person, three-season tent that was light enough to carry wilderness camping (i.e., small and compact requiring a bit of tangram-like manipulation of sleeping bags and people nearly every night). C.Spirit was a mansion for us after camping.<br />
<br />
"Where does everyone sleep?" we are asked often. One in the V-berth, two or three in the back berth, two or three in the salon where the table drops and one on the other sofa in the salon. Variations include one to three people sleeping outside in the cockpit, something that we all love doing, and we often fight to be one of the outside sleepers. <br />
<br />
With Gary and Asad on board, we shifted ourselves around and somehow in the end, the back berth was empty all night as everyone wanted to sleep under the stars. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120238" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UTM4wByX-ag/U27H7i53PTI/AAAAAAAACFw/qp48I3p1980/P1120238.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120238.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early morning pre-sunrise arrival at Rose Island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120235" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dVJ4SI6jRyA/U27H-vgMdLI/AAAAAAAACGA/gZ_Qvgk8EbA/P1120235.jpg?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120235.jpg" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happiness is...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120228" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-7NkyW2CyFJU/U27IAtgpjXI/AAAAAAAACGI/vDMz68_kETA/P1120228.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120228.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approaching Nassau</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120233" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Lxgx7F_y6YU/U27IC-tJzKI/AAAAAAAACGQ/y3JBhM-YLv4/P1120233.JPG?imgmax=800" height="256" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120233.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rose Island lies three miles east of Paradise Island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120230" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sQl8OBfDDlU/U27IE-GyAgI/AAAAAAAACGY/uvKvcCBJLAY/P1120230.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120230.JPG" width="220" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's so close to the big, busy city of Nassau yet so peacefully far removed. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1120231" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-qGj9DEeKzRY/U27IGlScxoI/AAAAAAAACGg/BT30ATg5IvU/P1120231.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1120231.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I caught a fish!" screamed Sage. We did not believe her at first because we knew there was no bait on the line. Only Sage could catch a fish with just a line and hook. I used the innards of this fish and caught another and then used the flesh from both to make fish jambalaya. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
____________<br />
<br />
January 13:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130240" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-7QSOuZ3D3Ag/U27IIFbviZI/AAAAAAAACGo/uZCOCzbiJbg/P1130240.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130240.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indy made pancakes for breakfast. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1130245" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZK7pLtAoqIw/U27IOVCzJyI/AAAAAAAACG4/_Bru8HmYyBg/P1130245.JPG?imgmax=800" height="266" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130245.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130244" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UL6YJUlKVSs/U27ILjhvVPI/AAAAAAAACGw/mEZ4EkjTMpM/P1130244.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130244.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were a couple of other boats already anchored here. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130252" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-d37dQuG7O6k/U27IPh0CI8I/AAAAAAAACHA/ItabFSwdQU0/P1130252.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130252.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamey likes to steer with his foot. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130257" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-iW955bofokI/U27IRTaUUGI/AAAAAAAACHI/aesHw7pc7x0/P1130257.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130257.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am hoping that Gary got the sailing bug and will end up with his own sailboat one day, cruising the Pacific Ocean. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130270" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-25gGTYz_GI8/U27ITDwlLkI/AAAAAAAACHQ/4DHmkvdhyJQ/P1130270.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130270.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asad trimming the jib. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1130272" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zLDCk8epmWY/U27IU6tayZI/AAAAAAAACHY/FDpuE6j80mI/P1130272.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130272.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130284" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-LdJWufsNvtk/U27IYy2kdeI/AAAAAAAACHg/SE8cSOVhRto/P1130284.JPG?imgmax=800" height="219" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130284.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snorkeling time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130285" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Cn8av48iv8A/U27IcCyImII/AAAAAAAACHo/3i3H61ldR1w/P1130285.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130285.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls like to snorkel from the SUP. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130286" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5GB0FbMX4uw/U27IdoH5slI/AAAAAAAACHw/HcHsHNLi1dU/P1130286.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130286.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I always like underwater better. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130293" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-hf1llFhkZuY/U27IfCKBpxI/AAAAAAAACH4/iqN0LznTkl0/P1130293.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130293.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Asadafish. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1130295" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-AjT_CthlvEI/U27IkQ0ga_I/AAAAAAAACIQ/gl9payKTv9w/P1130295.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130295.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130300" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Kk2jS1YRU5Q/U27IoWGwAdI/AAAAAAAACIY/EfFj3RAZbRM/P1130300.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130300.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time to head towards the city. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1130302" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VutuTonY8oA/U27Ip1QwgxI/AAAAAAAACIg/HiHZNF6fYAU/P1130302.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130302.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<img alt="P1130301" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ffFqNAqOuwg/U27IrwlA-pI/AAAAAAAACIo/DymIRMlvmr8/P1130301.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130301.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<img alt="P1130307" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bUnL7Un3Jpk/U27It08RlgI/AAAAAAAACIw/hgxC_4dWLJU/P1130307.jpg?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130307.jpg" width="240" /> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130309" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-mWViYjG9BzE/U27IvYCu8LI/AAAAAAAACI4/eGK-gk0kv3Y/P1130309.jpg?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130309.jpg" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are docking tonight at Nassau Yacht Haven so that Asad and Gary can catch a flight home tomorrow. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130314" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DYQS97sPgLA/U27Iw69ivEI/AAAAAAAACJA/pAYOZKnOMe4/P1130314.JPG?imgmax=800" height="224" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130314.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gary and Asad treated us to a delicious dinner at Bahama Grill. I had the best conch burger ever. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1130319" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DLOHI1r49pA/U27IySKTEWI/AAAAAAAACJI/HEH6vKJog_M/P1130319.JPG?imgmax=800" height="154" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130319.JPG" width="320" /> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1130323" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MhwgefA9Cn8/U27I0D6ifWI/AAAAAAAACJQ/HRXe2Ek4JsU/P1130323.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1130323.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new US $100 bill. We first saw it when we were in Washington DC in August and visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing where paper money is made. The new bill was released on October 8, 2013. It has 3D images on a blue ribbon woven into the bill that change and move as you tilt the bill. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-75123934753150819452014-01-11T17:30:00.000-08:002014-05-11T04:30:16.999-07:00Bimini to Nassau JAMEY'S POST:<br />
<br />
All the dockside punditry and hours scanning endless wind vector charts finally converged on a departure date from Bimini. T<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">he whole trip is around 120 miles at a heading a little south of east, so it should take us roughly 24 hours or so.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SucpL2rDbIY/U26-aoCheSI/AAAAAAAACEo/pqUfry3FtO4/s1600/Bimini+to+Nassau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SucpL2rDbIY/U26-aoCheSI/AAAAAAAACEo/pqUfry3FtO4/s1600/Bimini+to+Nassau.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Many
captains sail halfway, then anchor late at night just north of Andros
island for a few hours of rest before sailing on the next day to Nassau.
The anchor spot is in about 12 feet of water over a sand bottom, but
has zero protection from wind and chop. It is not a nice place to
anchor unless the weather is very settled. Another option is to bail out
and visit the Berry Islands. They are roughly 2/3 of the way to
Nassau, are less crowded but offer few truly sheltered harbors and very
limited provisioning choices.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">After
days of strong east wind, today the wind is forecast to veer around to
the south through the day, slowly changing to southwest, west and then
northwest with the passage of the next cold front in about 36 hours.
This pattern repeats itself for most of the winter in the central
Bahamas. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hKXK2MqNB48/U26-a068LmI/AAAAAAAACE8/KGnWZuwK8rk/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hKXK2MqNB48/U26-a068LmI/AAAAAAAACE8/KGnWZuwK8rk/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Jan 11th 11 am wind forecast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDaISN12DpU/U26-a-IZDEI/AAAAAAAACE4/TN7IiKl3fuI/s1600/photo+%25282%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDaISN12DpU/U26-a-IZDEI/AAAAAAAACE4/TN7IiKl3fuI/s1600/photo+%25282%2529.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jan. 12th 7pm forecast.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Call me an old salt, but I was surprised at how the high
resolution weather forecasts available these days pointed to a specific
optimum hour for departure: 11:00 am on Jan 11th. So we sailboaters, all eager to sail after nine days on the docks,
left in a procession from the marina, mostly all eastbound for Nassau.
Around eight boats left Bimini including Romana, Slow Waltz, Cat Trick,
Windflower and C-Spirit. We played the dirty trick of taking Asad and Gary along for the ride back to
Nassau from which they had just flown yesterday <br />
<br />
It was bouncy right outside
of Bimini, as we had to go back out into the gulf stream, but within an
hour our course brought us onto the smooth water of Great Bahama Bank.
The bank is a large area of shallow, crystal clear water mostly between three (!)
and twenty feet deep. A few tiny islands are sprinkled around the edges of
the bank, and though the waters are choppy in high winds, they smooth
out to near flat as soon as the wind speed drops.<br />
<br />
We caught a Spanish
mackerel as we crossed out of the ocean and onto the banks just north of
Gun Cay. Late in the afternoon, I cleaned, breaded and pan fried it for a basic but nice dinner with
rice.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, our sail was very uneventful.
We had just enough wind (12 knots) to sail at 5 knots with an apparent
wind angle of 60 degrees. C-Spirit sails comfortably and relatively
fast like this, so we did not use the engine. We sailed with similar wind, and slightly rougher seas once we left the bank for the deep waters north of to New Providence Island. The late night portion of the sail was tough on everyone, but the boat felt strong and handled nicely along our chosen course.<br />
<br />
By morning we were approaching Nassau harbor and we were snugly anchored north of Rose Island in 10 feet of crystal blue water by mid-morning. We spent the rest of the day snorkeling, swimming and walking on the beach before moving around to the other side of the island as the cold front winds picked up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110139" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-0tWnw5FTrnc/U26m4PMtvKI/AAAAAAAACAw/BhvDDSMpaFM/P1110139.JPG?imgmax=800" height="289" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110139.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As Asad and Gary had just arrived yesterday evening, we made sure they got a walk around Bimini before we sailed off. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110141" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-v-aQdJjNQL8/U26m6Mu5zeI/AAAAAAAACA4/NI_oI3omte8/P1110141.JPG?imgmax=800" height="265" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110141.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big fish. "Is that me? Am I underwater?" asks Skye. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<img alt="P1110156" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BQnvvoEWp3M/U26m8FA4-CI/AAAAAAAACBA/Ms1_Yn4C4uo/P1110156.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110156.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110153" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-XNHVijFStIM/U26m_-WUDlI/AAAAAAAACBI/HMCIZbJJNwE/P1110153.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110153.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Practicing water-bending. I am hoping that they are bending the water to be calm for our all day, all night sail. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110158" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/--JrAq1VzxMc/U26nCOs5ULI/AAAAAAAACBQ/p7ddWQFgNVA/P1110158.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110158.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicken souse with Bahamian bread -- YUMMMM! Gary shared his with all of us! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110164" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-A-FWQdb_-6w/U26nD4Q8IAI/AAAAAAAACBY/CspMLA-QS08/P1110164.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110164.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are hoping that all of us will avoid being seasick. It's harder, of course, for landlubbers. Asad and Gary are armed with scopalamine patches. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110173" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-w5zFRc5rc2I/U26nFtNdoTI/AAAAAAAACBg/5qdsNFvcS-M/P1110173.JPG?imgmax=800" height="247" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110173.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discussing navigation. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110180" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-N9tunEXYG2I/U26nJgGKfwI/AAAAAAAACBw/X1ZxKFWbMyQ/P1110180.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110180.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A friend's lap and a vomit bowl -- what else does a girl need?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110176" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-G0d9n56cnAg/U26nH1XhrbI/AAAAAAAACBo/uVaJRbANQik/P1110176.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110176.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bowl doubles as a sunshade too! </td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110185" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-U0WE3OgB7L0/U26nMYIgFFI/AAAAAAAACB4/F81hhKkR4us/P1110185.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110185.JPG" width="202" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner!! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110188" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vWipMlseVDY/U26nN6xaQuI/AAAAAAAACCA/LDibnlhwXLY/P1110188.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110188.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Asad - there are few who would be as tolerant of or appreciative of today's journey. </td></tr>
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<br />
<img alt="P1110189" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6s2dmMFbqBs/U26nUsuafAI/AAAAAAAACCI/4Hcgpxu72VA/P1110189.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110189.JPG" width="241" /><br />
<br />
<img alt="P1110191" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-pccjqUr6mvI/U26nWsTSvFI/AAAAAAAACCQ/wx0poLxTwWI/P1110191.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110191.JPG" width="188" /><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110200" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xLY4qXDAd3s/U26nYkyMxeI/AAAAAAAACCY/ry5Z59EQ5j4/P1110200.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110200.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skye wears her harness well. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110204" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-adCjn_P-bGo/U26na5c5ltI/AAAAAAAACCg/pZy_BxrU_gE/P1110204.JPG?imgmax=800" height="247" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110204.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pouring coconut water fresh from the source. </td></tr>
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<img alt="P1110211" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VTxCFGeb7Ds/U26ngSt2TWI/AAAAAAAACC4/8vWndP-4OPY/P1110211.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110211.JPG" width="320" /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110212" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gwhRZYdcS5s/U26njDt7U5I/AAAAAAAACDA/c-WXy_-K2Oo/P1110212.JPG?imgmax=800" height="274" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110212.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet, soft coconut meat! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110221" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-IbzvAVj5gEE/U26nleRu8kI/AAAAAAAACDI/RPX6ppNqcdM/P1110221.JPG?imgmax=800" height="220" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110221.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamey and Nancy took 2.5 to 3 hour shifts through the day and night. Gary stepped in to help. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110226" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dNHJ-9Ux6Bw/U26nn5JAuqI/AAAAAAAACDQ/Oh1EPqEEy0M/P1110226.JPG?imgmax=800" height="214" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110226.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading east with the sun setting behind us. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<img alt="P1110184" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-uEDzDLKeORA/U26nuc38UxI/AAAAAAAACDo/2yXdFBOtPDY/P1110184.JPG?imgmax=800" height="170" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110184.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1110227" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-D7gU_GmO3Ks/U26nwOddZpI/AAAAAAAACDw/JVi_ZwXdX08/P1110227.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1110227.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a full moon that lit up the sky and water throughout the night. You can see the moon behind Jamey in this picture. He was a bit caught off guard by the flash.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-icMvW8u856w/U27F1jcjmjI/AAAAAAAACFc/WXLzkYN5s-s/s1600/photo+(9).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-icMvW8u856w/U27F1jcjmjI/AAAAAAAACFc/WXLzkYN5s-s/s1600/photo+(9).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happily anchored after a long sail.</td></tr>
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________________<br />
<br />
WHERE WE ARE: Heading across the Great Bahama Bank. The Great Bahama Bank is an island that built up over millions and millions of years, formed from the limestone deposits of coral reefs that came and went over this time. It is now a limestone bed that is approximately three miles thick and so heavy that it has been sinking under its own weight. Before the last ice age, much of the bank was exposed up to 400 feet high. With the melting of glaciers and the rising of ocean levels, most of of it is now submerged though not by much, leaving the waters a beautiful clear aquamarine color. Dotted across the banks are coral heads that sometimes look as if they are just the right height to slam into C.Spirit's keel. <br />
<br />
WHERE WE STARTED: Docked at Brown's Marina in Bimini.<br />
<br />
THERE TO HERE: Smooth sailing with warm, steady wind and gentle waters. Deeper draft sailboats went north around Bimini. We sailed within sight of one catamaran initially. We otherwise saw no boats till we reached Russell Beacon (a long defunct navigational marker) where we saw four or five anchor lights clustered closely together. We briefly considered joining them, but the sailing conditions were too perfect to resist, and the idea of motoring in tomorrow's light wind helped us push onward.<br />
<br />
On one of my (Nancy) watches around 2 am to 5 am or so, I had that feeling of great and overwhelming sleepiness. It reminded me of when I was a resident and worked 30 hours shifts every four days. Fatigue and sleep can/must be warded off when you consider that you have lives in your hands. Gary came up from down below, feeling a bit seasick, and sat across from Asad who had already been lying in the cockpit. None of us spoke, all of us alone with our thoughts and feelings, but also bonded together by the spectacular moonlit night, the steady movement of the boat and the vast expanse of empty night space and water surrounding us. I felt an extra sense of security to have my friends sitting there so calmly with me that night.<br />
<br />
It can be tricky navigating in the dark. I like to use a combination of the compass, GPS, stars or moonlit clouds. As we approached the Northwest Providence channel, I finally was able to make out the red and green of a ship whose lights I had been following for a few hours to port and stern of us. Is the boat coming towards us, going away from us or traveling parallel to us, I had wondered this whole time. As I saw the green and red, I realized it was coming right towards our path. I started pushing on Macho the autopilot's buttons so that I could go trim the sails. Luckily Jamey heard the beeping and felt the boat change course and came up to help. I think he was pretty surprised to see how close the ship was to us. Gary and Asad sat calmly through this all, and I wondered what such a night must have been like for them. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-90141245030688426272014-01-10T18:44:00.000-08:002014-05-11T04:28:46.806-07:00Baking Powder, Birthday Buddies and a new Bahamian holiday<i>The perplexing home question with every woman is "What shall I have for Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner or Supper?"</i><br />
<br />
<i>The mission of The New Dr. Price Cook Book is to always give the right answer to this question, but the book will not help if it is hidden away in a table drawer and seldom used. Keep it where it can be seen so you will remember to ask it questions before every meal. The result will be a surprise in delightful variety, and also in the reduced cost of supplying the table. When planning a meal, just run your finger down the index and get an answer to the question, "What shall I have?"</i><br />
<br />
The above passage is an excerpt from a cookbook I downloaded for free a couple of days ago via 3G on my Kindle: <i>The New Dr. Price Cookbook</i>. It was published by the New York Royal Baking Powder Company in the late 1920s. Though usually Jamey is the one that answers that perplexing question "What Shall I Have For --?", I am the one using the cookbook today. I need a good birthday cake recipe and haven't had adequate enough wifi access to browse the internet for one. <br />
<br />
The New Dr. Price Cookbook has a couple of obscure recipes like one for Albuminized Orange (under the 'Suggestions for Invalids' section -- Take 1 egg white, juice of 1 orange and sugar -- Beat well together, chill and serve cold). Mostly, however, the recipes are excellent and you'd never know that they were written nearly a century ago. <br />
<br />
I used the cookbook's Plain Cake recipe (alas, nothing too elaborate today due to time and ingredient limitations) and baked a cake each for Phoenix and Sage's birthday. <br />
<br />
The cookbook was apparently a promotional marketing tool for the New York Royal Baking Powder Company as several times in the book, there are passages such as this:<br />
<br />
<i>Dr. Price's Phosphate Baking Powder is made in the same factory in which Dr. Price's Baking Powder Containing Cream of Tartar has been made for nearly seventy years, and embodies all the skill, scientific knowledge and great care used therein.</i><br />
<br />
<i>It perfectly leavens the food and never leaves a bitter taste even if you should happen to use more than the recipe calls for. With it you can make a delicious angel cake with three eggs instead of eight, and can economize in other expensive ingredients.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Safety, surety, satisfaction, form a triple guarantee that comes with every can of Dr. Price's Phosphate Baking Powder. Use it often -- use it always and enjoy the results. </i><br />
<br />
<i>The low price at which Dr. Price's Phosphate Baking Powder is now sold brings an economy to the home which, when combined with quality, is too important to be overlooked.</i><br />
<br />
Note the comparison that is being made between the phosphate baking powder vs baking powder with cream of tartar. Baking powder was developed in the 1830s when sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) was used together with sour milk to bake bread. The lactic acid in the sour milk activated the sodium bicarbonate releasing gaseous carbon dioxide which would get trapped in the dough resulting in leavened dough. <br />
<br />
As the amount of acidity in the sour milk was variable leaving the amount of rising unpredictable, cream of tartar (a weak acid that is obtained from the crystals that form during the fermentation process in wine making) was sold partnered with the sodium bicarbonate. Because the availability and cost of cream of tartar depended on the grape harvest and was therefore unreliable, it was soon replaced with calcium acid phosphate (initially derived from beef bones and later obtained via mining). <br />
<br />
Interesting stuff. I'm going to appreciate cake even more than I do already!<br />
<br />
Today was also the first of a new Bahamian holiday, Majority Rule Day,
"a celebration of freedom and democracy and a second
emancipation for black Bahamians," describes The Freeport News. It goes
on to describe the Bahamians finally obtaining "universal adult
suffrage...regardless of property qualifications." It feels special to
be here for this significant day, and we hope that there are real and
meaningful changes that result. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100022" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/--z12ghGUAIk/U2wiE4jxB_I/AAAAAAAAB8U/egKd0UdXvvM/P1100022.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100022.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We
moved 20 feet across the water to Brown's Marina a few days ago with
all our buddy boats from Weech's. Brown's has a slightly better rate,
takes credit cards and has this awesome play area complete with sand,
volleyball net, lounging chairs and coconuts. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100082" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-VQTER-Wv95k/U2wijlRkdMI/AAAAAAAAB98/abAc1itxJ78/P1100082.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100082.JPG" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phoenix and Sage are birthday buddies. Sage came a month before her due date for this privilege. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100089" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-BS_LxQKLDCo/U2wigxRSQbI/AAAAAAAAB90/XyDkCuLxK-E/P1100089.JPG?imgmax=800" height="301" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100089.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to go partly up the mast to sand the connections on the steaming light. I love going up the mast and am hoping something at the very top of the mast will need attention soon!! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100086" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XIpbwGaIKhY/U2wimbX_YEI/AAAAAAAAB-E/NjH7vISQXr4/P1100086.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100086.JPG" width="228" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls of course also love going up. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100079" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-0wX382TFxIU/U2wieQCc-tI/AAAAAAAAB9s/fVUULwYuB1k/P1100079.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100079.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was a birthday full of buddies. Here is Jane on Romana. She can often be seen doing yoga on deck. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100010" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Wzyq2oauxbw/U2wh_-O2QAI/AAAAAAAAB8E/SRpXddeEiFU/P1100010.JPG?imgmax=800" height="284" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100010.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls' favorite new buddy, Joseph. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100020" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PjFtgEQouQI/U2wiCaZDCOI/AAAAAAAAB8M/dRkB86iIqng/P1100020.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100020.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph and the girls had a busy morning. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100025" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3n-AWQClFmA/U2wiJVfBQEI/AAAAAAAAB8k/jwmtB-9MWyc/P1100025.JPG?imgmax=800" height="214" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100025.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yhus3N7NEOQ/U2wo-BituOI/AAAAAAAAB_8/4TtEo7uO9P8/s1600/P1100023.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yhus3N7NEOQ/U2wo-BituOI/AAAAAAAAB_8/4TtEo7uO9P8/s1600/P1100023.JPG" height="235" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They spent the morning drinking coconut milk and collecting fresh coconut meat. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100045" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UGMOn9jOb3Y/U2wiNrqE8tI/AAAAAAAAB80/UJAEVVVFXWQ/P1100045.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100045.JPG" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Joseph Fan Club</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100048" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TZfRYv_Mc_0/U2wiQCg1tVI/AAAAAAAAB88/poiFnFiJAoI/P1100048.JPG?imgmax=800" height="265" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100048.JPG" width="320" /><img alt="P1100077" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sVb16macEFM/U2wicSFwU7I/AAAAAAAAB9k/KtzW7jhdBgo/P1100077.JPG?imgmax=800" height="222" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100077.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sadly, Windflower left today. Like the rest of us, they prefer anchoring out. We hope to meet up with them again soon. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100058" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gNa9Vl0xtVo/U2wiSw4m6NI/AAAAAAAAB9E/BRS2Ab0ylr8/P1100058.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100058.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skye was nearly Indigo's birthday buddy. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100057" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-yzMM7NWM4Zw/U2wiVC_07zI/AAAAAAAAB9M/FrnhI96Bu0U/P1100057.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100057.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pregnancy with her was high risk, and the maternal fetal medicine team had her scheduled for a C-section coincidentally on December 21, Indigo's birthday. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100056" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5LQ8PEJ_hvA/U2wiXYTxqII/AAAAAAAAB9U/udFJSnj2dD0/P1100056.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100056.JPG" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As befitting Skye's personality, she decided she would have nothing to do with the birthday buddy thing and came 2.5 months early, ensuring that she would not have to share a birthday with Indy. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100063" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4bze0k5rl90/U2wiaPOMSsI/AAAAAAAAB9c/Obrgb79XKY0/P1100063.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100063.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skye and Indy are still kinda birthday buddies anyways. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100095" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rE3UYLvFh9E/U2wioab6LaI/AAAAAAAAB-M/SQaXDIQ3Nvo/P1100095.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100095.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our beautiful FIVE year old!! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1100098" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-HTXeCDYYxpY/U2wirSo5aJI/AAAAAAAAB-U/RJwD7s3a_ho/P1100098.JPG?imgmax=800" height="298" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100098.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jsOfBZFY7U/U2wsZhIkN_I/AAAAAAAACAI/McAIfF4xmws/s1600/P1100101.JPG"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jsOfBZFY7U/U2wsZhIkN_I/AAAAAAAACAI/McAIfF4xmws/s1600/P1100101.JPG" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jsOfBZFY7U/U2wsZhIkN_I/AAAAAAAACAI/McAIfF4xmws/s1600/P1100101.JPG"></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100102" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-8YJ7RmKY9KY/U2wiwcDf1nI/AAAAAAAAB-k/D-8g3LU375I/P1100102.JPG?imgmax=800" height="245" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100102.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100103" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-WweXC6KAdUI/U2wi075OCgI/AAAAAAAAB-0/ghWz7t2F5gQ/P1100103.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100103.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for our buddies from Hawaii. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100106" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-HxJJCBM8U6E/U2wiyrGk4zI/AAAAAAAAB-s/lU-aaqHH-EY/P1100106.JPG?imgmax=800" height="237" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100106.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I
did the awful thing of telling Gary and Asad to go to Nassau where we
would meet them, not realizing that we would get stuck in Bimini for 9
days! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100107" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BXedi-o2JI0/U2wi3TiBEDI/AAAAAAAAB-8/gluu-higFGg/P1100107.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100107.JPG" width="279" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They were awesomely flexible and flew from Nassau to join us in Bimini so as not to miss Phoenix and Sage's birthday. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100123" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BCyomL1u1QU/U2wjClQMM0I/AAAAAAAAB_c/HuGceZl9W9A/P1100123.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100123.JPG" width="210" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our beautiful DECADE old daughter!! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100115" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-E4PpQ6XbGmc/U2wjAv4pOlI/AAAAAAAAB_U/zOo3HrZ1PWc/P1100115.JPG?imgmax=800" height="206" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100115.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I
had a mishap with Sage's cake in the oven which swivels in order to
keep itself level as the boat heels. Somehow, the weight of the batter
slogged towards one side causing the oven to tip and half the batter
ended up baking on the bottom of the oven before I realized. Luckily
Sage is happy with the cake despite it's flatness. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100111" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-8h-hKCP84kE/U2wi7UQBYCI/AAAAAAAAB_E/PhFgu22ulxA/P1100111.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100111.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It takes a village to light candles in the wind. We love our community!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1100114" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-lJ2BwiXzOoU/U2wi-JXvqwI/AAAAAAAAB_M/v1Iw5QEhKYQ/P1100114.JPG?imgmax=800" height="253" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1100114.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank
you to the Lius for the five pounds of gummy bears and thanks to the
Goodmans for the strawberry Pocky sticks sent all the way from Hawaii.
Decorating a cake has never been so entertaining. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fx7vBVXpVc0/U2wyI9eUnTI/AAAAAAAACAk/14xPVchJtvI/s1600/P1100129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fx7vBVXpVc0/U2wyI9eUnTI/AAAAAAAACAk/14xPVchJtvI/s1600/P1100129.JPG" height="165" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The birthday party went on till way after sunset. Most boats are planning on heading out tomorrow morning. It was a wonderful celebration of so many things: new friends, old friends, birthdays, Bimini, and the right to vote! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-57881234099833950622014-01-09T06:32:00.000-08:002014-05-08T06:53:25.983-07:00How We Fixed Our Fuel ProblemEvery cruising boat has an incessantly constant list of chores that need attention. Often it is hard to tell if things are breaking faster than they are getting fixed or vice versa. With four kids on the boat, the problem is compounded. They swing like monkeys from the handrails and provide continuous high impact wear and tear that test the limits of all components on the boat. <br />
<br />
Still, our trip down the ICW was fairly free of major issues except for the one time our engine quit way back in Connecticut. A mechanic and I worked on the engine back then and found that there was some sort of contaminant in the fuel tank. We cleaned what we could at the time but never found the source of the problem. That was a long time ago, and things have been fine since then.<br />
<br />
<div>
So went my story to a new dock mate at Weech's Bimini Dock. The fellow sailing captain, Hyde, who is South African but more recently has lived in Australia and Florida, took a long look at me, then shared his story: A hard to locate fuel problem, a single engine propeller plane, a little bit of floating gunk, some bad timing. His engine stalled out seconds after take off, nearly costing him his life. "You just have to fix that one mate, or it will bite your a** at the worst moment." In typical Hyde fashion, he said all that and and then sauntered off, leaving me to think it over for a few sobering minutes.<br />
<br />
Over the next few days, stormy weather held us in Bimini and we got to know Hyde and his lovely family better. Finally one rainy morning, he popped his head into C-Spirit's companionway and said, "Come on Jamey, let's have a go at cleaning out that fuel tank. It shouldn't take more than a day or two, and the weather isn't getting any better."</div>
<div>
<div>
<br />
It was something I had put off for months. I had chosen to not run the engine when the boat was sloshing around in big waves to avoid stirring up whatever contaminant might be lurking at the bottom of the fuel tank. My reasoning was something like this: if the boat is moving roughly enough to stir up the fuel tank, there must be wind making the waves, so therefore we can turn off the engine and sail. <br />
<br />
I looked skeptically around to Nancy and the girls. I knew this would be a major mess and could take way longer than a couple of days. Would it be pushing my luck too much to ask them to basically vacate their home for a few rainy days while it turned into a construction site? But I knew that this was fair warning: fix this problem now or don't complain when your engine quits right when you need it the most. Hyde and I dove in. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080371" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dfmAKHtgsIc/U2uDVemnFPI/AAAAAAAAB68/Yc-rVKdHhDM/P1080371.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080371.JPG" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyde and I discussing our strategy. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<img alt="P1080370" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EkZvhM0EhZo/U2uDXeXk4oI/AAAAAAAAB7E/hPD2EClyLGM/P1080370.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080370.JPG" width="210" /></div>
<div>
<br />
Literally dove in, since cleaning the fuel tank meant first getting to the fuel tank, which is wedged deep into a narrow, impossible to reach, unfinished, fiberglass-lined cubby hole in the very back end of the boat. After taking out all the cushions and all the hatch covers and removing the wooden shelf that blocks access, I could poke my head deep into this locker and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">see</span> the fuel tank. Then, by pushing with my feet against the far wall, I could force my head and shoulders deep enough into this locker to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">touch the tank with one hand</span>, though doing so meant rubbing my arm against raw fiberglass and snuggling my neck against a row of sharp protruding screws. </div>
<div>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080397" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-GXg5EkptT8U/U2uDZXkAW-I/AAAAAAAAB7M/GABNDgUPjF0/P1080397.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080397.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is after we started cleaning up a bit. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
OK GREAT! WE ARE IN! That was Hyde's attitude, and it was infectious. So we alternated back and forth in that space for a full day. We worked to get the fuel tank unwedged from its spot and somehow out where we could clean it out. Finally, after five or so backbreaking hours, we had moved the tank about twelve inches, far enough to know that it would never fit out the hatch opening, so on to plan B!<br />
<br />
Did we have a plan B? HMMMMMM...<br />
<br />
Ok, we drain all the fuel out of the tank where it is now, then see if anything gross comes out with the fuel. Hope for the best after that. The challenge is how do we drain out the fuel from a tank that is essentially at the lowest level of the boat already? After a few false starts, we determine that we need an electric fuel pump. Hyde, ever optimistic, resourceful and outgoing, has met someone earlier in the day who has a spare pump we can borrow. </div>
<div>
<br />
Finally, late that afternoon, we have the pump wired up, the tank plumbed up, and we drain every drop of fluid we can from the fuel tank, first through the engine fuel line, then later by sticking a hose down into the fuel tank through a fuel gauge access port. The last half gallon of liquid from the bottom of the tank is a cloudy grey liquid filled with debris. Imagine the stuff you clean out of clogged bathroom sink drains. Yecch! There are globs of old marine adhesive, black gunk and generally gross stuff -- and lots of it.<br />
</div>
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1090404" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KL1qb_6xvNU/U2uDjVcHwiI/AAAAAAAAB70/swc2HFVuusE/P1090404.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1090404.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have never been so happy to see gunk before. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Hyde sees this stuff, sniffs it, slowly swirls it around in its container, then turns to look at me and asks, "Do you have any enemies? Anyone out to get you for something? Because this is just an impossible amount of contamination." My answer is basically, "So you think that grey water could have been the problem in Connecticut when we were bashing C-Spirit up a choppy Long Island Sound?"<br />
<br />
"Yes Jamey, most definitely."<br />
<br />
For me that was a relief. Even though the back of the boat was torn apart, reeked of diesel and both of us were beaten and bleeding, I knew that when we were done, I could rely on the engine to work when I needed it to do so.<br />
<br />
It took us both all the next day to put everything back together. Wedging the fuel tank back into place was a breeze once we had doused all the contact points with baby oil, borrowed two scissor-type car jacks, scrounged a few scrap pieces of lumber, cut them to size and assembled all this to bear firmly but not too firmly on the plastic sides of this hidden gem of a fuel container. I wish there was a photo of this process, but all you would have been able to see was my hind side sticking out of a hatch; not a pretty sight.<br />
<br />
The captain with the spare fuel pump agreed to let me buy it, and Hyde wired it up and installed it inline making the formerly onerous chore of priming the fuel lines a breeze. Finally, around 5 O'clock that second afternoon, I walked down the road and bought some fresh diesel fuel from the gas station, walked back and fueled up the boat. C. Spirit started up like a dream and has been running smoothly through choppy waters and rough waves and whenever called on to do so.<br />
<br />
It is much more comfortable to run the boat with the trust that you have done everything you can to address known issues. It is a great lesson to realize that even big problems, ones that seem TOO BIG TO DEAL WITH, can be worked on and can often be solved. They might take some time. You might get some bumps and bruises. But you also might meet new people. You might gain a deeper understanding of your connection to your community. You might even see your own situation in a whole new way.<br />
<br />
So that is the (shortened version of the) story of how we fixed our fuel problems (for now).</div>
</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1090403" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LkkL4VOCl_A/U2uDdXOPLPI/AAAAAAAAB7c/a0iBlh2vaFI/P1090403.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1090403.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even with the back berth torn apart and stuffed into the V-berth, the girls were able to continue their routine. We did accept Hyde's invitation to spend the night on their catamaran, and the girls had a blast with their first sleepover in the Bahamas. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1090399" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-zC1sYB01AYg/U2uDfYQ5twI/AAAAAAAAB7k/yGBxV6RPU5Y/P1090399.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1090399.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phoenix loves playing the ukulele. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1090398" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Z91PdpM5sKI/U2uDhejMjwI/AAAAAAAAB7s/t4q3EI_k4Ac/P1090398.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1090398.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jane helped occupy Skye and Sage. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-40133543298529043902014-01-08T19:37:00.000-08:002014-05-08T01:23:06.805-07:00Playing in BiminiThere has been some interesting research looking into play and how children nowadays are not playing as much as they did in the past. Helicopter parenting and increased emphases on schooling and structured activities are a couple of reasons why kids are playing less. <br>
<br>
Psychologists and psychiatrists are finding convincing evidence that declining playtime may be connected to increased mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression in young persons. <br>
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It seems that play contributes a fair amount towards the nurturing of a child's abilities to self-direct, control impulses, problem solve and socially interact. Children who engage in free, creative play grow up to be happier, more productive and kinder adults, say the scientists.<br>
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Our time in Bimini definitely has been occupied by a lot of chores including a huge "spring-cleaning" of the boat, a major engine repair job and multiple other maintenance tasks. The girls have also had to dive into their schoolbooks and practice cello. Jamey and I firmly support and agree with the research above, however, so we made sure we played a lot this week!<br>
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_____________<br>
JANUARY 5:<br>
<br>
<img alt="P1050295" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-EmqaRBeaZIc/U2rgp1nBubI/AAAAAAAAB10/2ogh6s2Iabg/P1050295.JPG?imgmax=800" height="176" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050295.JPG" width="320"><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1050300" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mMNJZRIhGD0/U2rguJHmZ8I/AAAAAAAAB2E/GJpMEIBwlYY/P1050300.JPG?imgmax=800" height="225" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050300.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reading, painting, hanging around and loving just being together!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1050305" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-eJScRUbj478/U2rgvzrdDGI/AAAAAAAAB2M/p1mXDmUKuqg/P1050305.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050305.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beaches are the best place for free play. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1050308" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/--0syroQuKNk/U2rgy58804I/AAAAAAAAB2U/7dcT5oCn2j0/P1050308.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050308.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1050316" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Qk-J9-UQLOU/U2rg2GgpKpI/AAAAAAAAB2c/5c9ihagLU3A/P1050316.JPG?imgmax=800" height="195" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050316.JPG" width="320"><br>
<br>
<img alt="P1050319" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7rnr9777yzs/U2rg4qUzktI/AAAAAAAAB2k/MCq3C5GXDrE/P1050319.JPG?imgmax=800" height="213" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050319.JPG" width="320"><br>
<br>
<img alt="P1050309" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vTx7dSu1vfg/U2rg96BvqWI/AAAAAAAAB20/aW5cB9xmeE8/P1050309.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1050309.JPG" width="240"><br>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwg4HbYk7W1tvKAQPnU739WVTNIyK_g8hWthUybFKdq9ITIYBQFloFhKr3weEHZnf62v0qr0FKJPu1qPbD8yQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>
</div>
This video shows Jamey spotting Phoenix on some backflips. I like how Indy is serenely snorkeling in the background. <br>
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JANUARY 6:<br>
<img alt="P1060332" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LRkRnXDNIH0/U2rhEIuRiNI/AAAAAAAAB3E/NhJMCGVVea0/P1060332.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1060332.JPG" width="320">
<img alt="P1060335" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nR1ie89UXbY/U2rhGabi6rI/AAAAAAAAB3M/7VRQanmxa7Q/P1060335.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1060335.JPG" width="240">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1060337" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Nh7cMrNfl-o/U2rhJHQQqBI/AAAAAAAAB3U/pSTB--JwMVI/P1060337.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1060337.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph successfully stayed relatively warm and dry while getting a starfish for the girls. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1060341" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4bq9niwcMZg/U2rhKWG1wkI/AAAAAAAAB3c/9mB7GjKbYS8/P1060341.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1060341.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our friends from Romana, Slow Waltz and Windflower joined us exploring and snorkeling around Bimini. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1060344" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fl35R54F_bM/U2rhMxUlMvI/AAAAAAAAB3k/5TmxGBcoC3M/P1060344.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1060344.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage loved the "Looky Bucket" that had a clear bottom. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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JANUARY 7:<br>
<br>
<img alt="P1070346" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QA92XL_Wz04/U2rhRYAFtHI/AAAAAAAAB30/KkaUkxjCvPY/P1070346.JPG?imgmax=800" height="197" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070346.JPG" width="320">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1070358" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1KPGpUrV6r8/U2rhTjk-uBI/AAAAAAAAB38/df638DHb_F0/P1070358.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070358.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cold front hit this morning. I actually felt the first whiff of cold air on my cheeks as it arrived and marveled at the distinct transition between warm and cold. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1070349" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/--v6cExuzFp4/U2rhWe9F5hI/AAAAAAAAB4E/eGCCAfRduXY/P1070349.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070349.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was amazing to see how different the Gulf Stream looks with a strong north wind versus the flat calm that we had a couple of days ago. In the distance, the horizon shows jagged "marching elephants" that are the giant, steep waves created by the wind vs. current effect. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1070353" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-uZ2LGBRDFDo/U2rhaXIl51I/AAAAAAAAB4U/kL3Z6btT0XU/P1070353.JPG?imgmax=800" height="197" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070353.JPG" width="320">
<img alt="P1070355" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-pqVODPjAqLc/U2rhczx3aSI/AAAAAAAAB4c/soCgQdPsbZw/P1070355.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070355.JPG" width="320">
<img alt="P1070362" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hrPy5eOPavw/U2rhfwtZziI/AAAAAAAAB4k/W6eAwB72Nm4/P1070362.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1070362.JPG" width="320"><br>
<br>
________________<br>
JANUARY 8:<br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080389" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4U9NNAdHJ30/U2riJ8ziAhI/AAAAAAAAB6s/rRnHRLzX1xE/P1080389.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080389.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wonderful
thing about being stuck on Bimini is making new friends. June and I had
a refreshing girly chat walking along the beach. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080374" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eI43McWFTz4/U2rhkSNsnAI/AAAAAAAAB40/Tn25tqEr2TU/P1080374.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080374.JPG" width="239"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080375" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-XSSYCjUD0z4/U2rhmV2AlmI/AAAAAAAAB48/MhAtdY3YpAY/P1080375.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080375.JPG" width="240"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jump...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080377" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ByhYldT8p9Q/U2rhpdr3fnI/AAAAAAAAB5E/0AFMJJjAzEY/P1080377.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080377.JPG" width="239"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flip...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080376" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dEmEyFLEm1o/U2rhr4P6N7I/AAAAAAAAB5M/wcqwxWQKgO0/P1080376.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080376.JPG" width="286"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Land. Phoenix did around a 100 of these. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1080390" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wJeIOYfuBQ4/U2rht_DTwxI/AAAAAAAAB5U/mKFotC064J8/P1080390.JPG?imgmax=800" height="301" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080390.JPG" width="320">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080392" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-gy_eg5eKjRw/U2rhwJnUulI/AAAAAAAAB5c/3NFhWOGtDNo/P1080392.JPG?imgmax=800" height="182" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080392.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At our beach at home, we like to save beached man o' wars by picking them up by the non-stinging bubble and throwing them back into the ocean. No one wanted to pick this one up. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080373" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-SmI1GqM8CfA/U2rhh3N_pgI/AAAAAAAAB4s/tKhSJkG0tQs/P1080373.JPG?imgmax=800" height="310" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080373.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Age-mixed play is play that occurs with children/teens of different ages. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080396" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Vy00TdczkGQ/U2rhyP_55jI/AAAAAAAAB5k/4bB8rnNrbf8/P1080396.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080396.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nowadays children are often engaged in many structured and planned activities leaving little opportunity for age-mixed play. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080380" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-lzFA_WVhRb0/U2rh2LlhEBI/AAAAAAAAB5s/D8mLKLWlmhg/P1080380.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080380.JPG" width="251"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cruising lends itself to age-mixed play as young ones of all ages are super happy to find and spend time with any non-adult.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080382" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kXWWyzNBnnU/U2rh51C_CWI/AAAAAAAAB50/dF2zexColx4/P1080382.JPG?imgmax=800" height="214" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080382.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Age-mixed play benefits younger and older kids by giving them opportunities to learn and develop in ways not available with same age play. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<img alt="P1080388" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-pIz5sNJ0_2I/U2rh8YCCyVI/AAAAAAAAB58/0ZXuy6hztMQ/P1080388.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080388.JPG" width="320">
<img alt="P1080385" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-m6ieg7G7bVQ/U2rh-xywrgI/AAAAAAAAB6E/gpvSwVYqvNc/P1080385.JPG?imgmax=800" height="239" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080385.JPG" width="320">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080368" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-juqsxXjvFfU/U2riBOyuBGI/AAAAAAAAB6M/Av3pCH31If0/P1080368.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080368.JPG" width="289"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jane and Sage have developed a special friendship. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080369" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2E1VBHQe-WU/U2riDbOO8pI/AAAAAAAAB6U/70qARoVbVpI/P1080369.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080369.JPG" width="169"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We loved hanging out on Romana especially while Jamey and Hyde were working on the engine. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080366" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9J47fCQOWkE/U2riF5YBggI/AAAAAAAAB6c/2yHUxI1RfZA/P1080366.JPG?imgmax=800" height="313" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080366.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indigo made another <a href="http://whereweareishere.blogspot.com/2013/11/our-pets-mooshy-and-henry.html" target="_blank">Amish Friendship Bread Starter.</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1080365" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-iOSQGqlGCio/U2riH6-XTjI/AAAAAAAAB6k/6u3Hy9VvQGI/P1080365.JPG?imgmax=800" height="227" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1080365.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She named this one "Squishy". </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-83635054447205488582014-01-04T17:34:00.000-08:002014-05-07T02:22:15.677-07:00Stuck on BiminiWhen we took our weather window from Florida to Bimini on January 2, we knew there was the possibility that we might not be able to leave Bimini for some time. Being relatively optimistic (or at least of the mindset, "If we want it to happen enough, we can make it happen!"), we figured that we would take our weather window, make it to the Bahamas and then make it to Nassau sometime during this week in order to meet our friends who are flying into Nassau on January 8. <br>
<br>
The deal is that it's not possible to get to much land beyond Bimini without doing at least a full day and night of sailing (or a day of sailing, a night at anchor and another day of sailing) across part of what is called the Great Bahama Bank. It's a long distance traveling through potentially boat-crunching shallow waters. One needs good conditions that last long enough to cross with some extra time in case of mishap. We need another solid, favorable weather window. <br>
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Unfortunately, weather windows slam shut, and optimism and proactivity are of no use when there is a polar vortex wanting to head south for the winter too. Polar what?!! Yeah, that's what everyone is exclaiming this week. We are super sad and stressed at stranding our friends on Nassau, but feeling even worse for those that are in the north being affected by the severe temperatures and extreme disruptions that this monster cold front has created. <br>
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Jamey and I keep looking at the weather forecast hoping for a change. After he and I mull things over, he and the other male sailors at the marina then hash and rehash the weather a zillion more times. It's a male thing. <br>
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And in the end, we realize we are not going anywhere for awhile. <br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 0878" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-qPnYYlxcmww/U2l7KA63CrI/AAAAAAAABz0/SA95hkQa9o8/IMG_0878.PNG?imgmax=800" height="258" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_0878.PNG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some boats left today. It won't be fun sailing upwind on Sunday. Sailing conservatively means we won't even consider crossing towards Nassau this weekend because there isn't enough time to get into safe harbor if something breaks on the boat before Tuesday's <br>big winds hit. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 0877" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-LoSrBIVpuZY/U2l7MDjvAPI/AAAAAAAABz8/1z7oRPRPYp4/IMG_0877.PNG?imgmax=800" height="640" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_0877.PNG" width="376"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In addition to the high winds, it's the seas 8 to 11 feet with occasional seas to 13 or 14 feet that are ominous. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040273" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4TgcZ3zSHvA/U2l7N-XnuJI/AAAAAAAAB0E/qZVUC-vDNyc/P1040273.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040273.JPG" width="170"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls entertain themselves (and others) by dressing up and dancing on deck. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040278" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-OBa1v3D8OdY/U2l7P0uyNyI/AAAAAAAAB0M/V6y-zlSRHPU/P1040278.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040278.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We explore Bimini. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040281" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7yOj_kZRw1U/U2l7RuSIKAI/AAAAAAAAB0U/EQl7_Dx1GUY/P1040281.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040281.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And have a taste of heaven in the form of guava rolls and sugar cookies. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040287" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-1uolucds7TY/U2l7T2TxdVI/AAAAAAAAB0c/nkwX_GEJ91w/P1040287.JPG?imgmax=800" height="214" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040287.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We start to make friends with the others at the dock. Sage's bow and arrow provided hours of entertainment. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040288" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-p-OSRFGOlA0/U2l7WsBto-I/AAAAAAAAB0k/wUfUJI51ZAo/P1040288.JPG?imgmax=800" height="320" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040288.JPG" width="206"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most fashionable archer ever! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1040291" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1vSiaeEj8-M/U2l7Yhf06vI/AAAAAAAAB0s/c5jk-HWQGZo/P1040291.JPG?imgmax=800" height="269" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1040291.JPG" width="320"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We loved this family on Bea Zoo and watched beautiful Anly perform some amazing "gloving" with her hands. </td></tr>
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We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-24598558958315092562014-01-03T03:18:00.000-08:002014-05-06T15:25:03.940-07:00Big Biminian Bull Sharks As we emerged from the boat today, fellow cruisers' first greetings consistently went something this, "Hi, how are you, don't let the kids swim, there are bull sharks in the water." <br />
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Super. Normally we are not too worried about sharks, but the sharks in Bimini harbor are not normal. They've been fed fish scraps for years, so they are huge, they are hungry, and they know that everything that lands on the surface is a tasty snack for them.<br />
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Being at a marina means the boat is tied to a dock which means there are now a few extra points of accidental entry into the ocean aside from simply falling off the boat. As one gets on or off the boat on to the dock, there is usually a space between the boat and dock that varies from a few inches to a couple of feet. This gap keeps the boat from pushing or banging into the dock with wind, current or tidal changes and at Weech's was created by lines heading out in four directions from the boat. Access to C.Spirit while she is docked is further complicated by the extra netting we put up on the sides of the boat necessitating a little extra climbing to get on and off her.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030269" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GcOmcFGhZOk/U2YEjCzXrgI/AAAAAAAAByY/rge6KgVGihE/P1030269.JPG?imgmax=800" height="214" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030269.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weech's Bimini Dock</td></tr>
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Staying at a marina also means lots of walking along the dock to and from the common areas, showers and restrooms. Lots of opportunity for the girls to fall off into the waiting mouths of bull sharks. <br />
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Bull sharks are known for their aggressive behavior. A NOAA Fisheries Fact Sheet states, "Bull sharks are one of the top three sharks implicated in unprovoked fatal attacks throughout the world." They are apex predators. That is, they are at the top of their food chain. They have few or no predators able to prey on them. They are the alpha predator, the top dog, the big kahuna. <br />
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The NOAA information page further describes the bull shark's advantageous adaptations:<br />
"Teeth that are replaced throughout their life. Sensitive smell receptors. Eyes that adapt quickly to low levels. Lateral line receptors that sense movement in the water. Electroreceptors that detect electrical fields due to the presence of prey." <br />
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Even though as humans we are the apex of all apex predators, we accepted that we likely had no chance if anyone fell into the water. We were proven wrong, of course, as we later watched a free diving fisherman emerge from the water after a successful conch collecting session unscathed by bull sharks. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030246" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3Dg2HV6VW7A/U2X_9E0ax2I/AAAAAAAABv8/2yFJ8xjA0Po/P1030246.JPG?imgmax=800" height="221" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030246.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bull sharks get their name from their stout snouts and their bullish behavior. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030247" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wbweAlE8P20/U2X_-8S07wI/AAAAAAAABwE/b2nUDuwXYkI/P1030247.JPG?imgmax=800" height="300" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030247.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They have a tendency to head-butt their prey before attacking. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030241" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qi5daufC6WU/U2YAA6l0ANI/AAAAAAAABwM/8hbI1qKhOGU/P1030241.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030241.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We watched these pro fishermen clean the day's catch, tie the remains on a line, and dangle them in the water to tease and feed the bull sharks. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030258" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UvugqxR3yw4/U2YAC319L-I/AAAAAAAABwU/R7GkNxMl9iI/P1030258.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030258.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As the sharks ate the fish, the fishermen would tug and pull on the line. What would happen if they pulled the shark into their boat, I wondered. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030229" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-AKAXNBblK4g/U2YAESH-xVI/AAAAAAAABwc/QKLWuQ_MeqI/P1030229.JPG?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030229.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mostly I made sure the girls did not fall into the pool of 5-6 sharks and 1 sting ray below. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="P1030210" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-QL3YmviDzAI/U2YAFsbfDkI/AAAAAAAABwk/4cMOkBhGd3g/P1030210.JPG?imgmax=800" height="182" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1030210.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice Town in Bimini -- cool to think of Ernest Hemingway hanging out here</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KaiTow-SLjM/U2YCYDZ8SJI/AAAAAAAAByQ/cH5CrgatmRM/s1600/P1030217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KaiTow-SLjM/U2YCYDZ8SJI/AAAAAAAAByQ/cH5CrgatmRM/s1600/P1030217.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking at the Gulf Stream</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-83LlbMVdrgk/U2YCPHJayTI/AAAAAAAAByI/Plr0K7THj2Y/s1600/P1030219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-83LlbMVdrgk/U2YCPHJayTI/AAAAAAAAByI/Plr0K7THj2Y/s1600/P1030219.JPG" height="232" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are lots of half-finished homes </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mnXBbXWt7BQ/U2YOZp0s_wI/AAAAAAAABy4/ULtLdFc2_B4/s1600/P1030226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mnXBbXWt7BQ/U2YOZp0s_wI/AAAAAAAABy4/ULtLdFc2_B4/s1600/P1030226.JPG" height="320" width="185" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing "Queen" -- Sage and her minions</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mx0nlANx__I/U2YCDN94VeI/AAAAAAAABx8/quB57oS5PhU/s1600/P1030206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mx0nlANx__I/U2YCDN94VeI/AAAAAAAABx8/quB57oS5PhU/s1600/P1030206.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first Bahamian friend</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ed2vjuFODys/U2YYW5ZrdTI/AAAAAAAABzI/gv-GSxvsEzY/s1600/P1030223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ed2vjuFODys/U2YYW5ZrdTI/AAAAAAAABzI/gv-GSxvsEzY/s1600/P1030223.JPG" height="201" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are here!</td></tr>
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<br />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-29607154610915162932014-01-02T04:04:00.001-08:002014-05-07T08:02:25.112-07:00The Big Bad Crossing - UPDATED!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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We have just started heading across the Gulf Stream today towards Bimini in the Bahamas. Once in the Bahamas we will probably only be able to post occasionally depending on where we are and on our wifi access. </div>
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Meanwhile, we look forward to the extra time that being disconnected offers us and hope to focus that valuable time on the girls and each other. </div>
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We will be back to the states in late March and will then be heading to Seattle and the University of Washington's Physics Department for further adventures!</div>
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Check back in the spring for more regular posts. </div>
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Happy New Year to all and thanks for following our journey!! </div>
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ADDENDUM: Hello All! We are backposting (is that a word?) this and other posts way after it all happened and from a different land (Today is 5/1/14, and we are in Tunis!), but with intent to fill out the blog with the year's events so that it can be a great journal for the girls to revisit. </div>
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We were not able to blog in the Bahamas due to lack of electricity. While on the ICW, we charged up the computer and other electronics using the engine's power during the frequent motoring that we did. In the Bahamas, we blissfully did not motor very often and were instead either sailing or simply not moving, thus no juice for our devices. (Of note, other cruising boats generally do not have this problem as most boats are kitted up with solar panels or wind or diesel powered generators.) </div>
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Admittedly, we also really enjoy being disconnected and highly recommend it to all. </div>
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BACK TO OUR ADVENTURES ON JANUARY 2.....</div>
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Crossing the Gulf Stream is a big deal. So big that I always refer to it as The Big Bad Crossing. </div>
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Why is it Big and Bad? The Gulf Stream moves fast and powerfully for reasons that are interesting but complicated and involve terms such as "Sverdrup transport," "conservation of potential vorticity," and "western intensification." </div>
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Because this great body of water moves so swiftly, averaging 2.5 knots flowing north, conditions can be truly challenging and totally dangerous depending on the wind direction and strength. </div>
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I will pretend that I understand the physics behind this power. Basically, take all that potential vorticity, intensify it with ridiculous amounts of Sverdrups and other such phenomena and imagine a gargantuan amount of ocean pushing north with a nonchalant vengeance that only nature can summon. </div>
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Ideally, one does not cross the Gulf Stream when the wind is blowing with any force from the north because the resultant wind vs. current effect creates giant, vertical, choppy waves that are downright life-threatening.</div>
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Optimally, one crosses a day or two after there has been such a north wind so that the steep-faced chaos can calm down. When crossing from Florida to the Bahamas, it is also best to wait for a southerly or southwesterly wind, so that the wind is helping you from the side or from behind you. </div>
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Waiting for conditions to align is called waiting for a weather window. Our window was narrow and not exactly perfect today (uncertainty whether the prevailing southeasterly winds really would clock southerly for us), but knowing there wouldn't be another weather window till next week and with friends hoping to meet us in the Bahamas next week, we took it and sailed. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9kw4jnl0jS4/U2QuHBu1meI/AAAAAAAABtk/-D_CPzlgYmg/s1600/P1020198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9kw4jnl0jS4/U2QuHBu1meI/AAAAAAAABtk/-D_CPzlgYmg/s1600/P1020198.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The aqua green color of the shallow bay water before we hit the Gulf Stream was beautiful but also had steep and choppy waves that almost made us turn back towards Florida. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luckily as we entered the intense indigo-colored water of the Gulf Stream, the great depth of the ocean offered much more mellow conditions. The change in water color and sailing conditions was vividly stark and dramatic. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wind was strong, and we sailed the way we love to sail -- fast and with maximum efficiency. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our plan was to take turns at the helm; however, Jamey's stress about the crossing rendered him incapable of letting go of the wheel the entire journey. This worked out as I had missed one eye when I tried to put in my contact lenses early in the morning (not advised to try this in the dark while sailing underway), did not realize that one contact was missing (till I saw it in the sink at the end of the day), and ended up with fuzzy vision and a huge migraine rendering me totally useless all day. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVeohgpzG74/U2Qwa1xYwjI/AAAAAAAABuI/JVYWtfGoi6s/s1600/P1020188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVeohgpzG74/U2Qwa1xYwjI/AAAAAAAABuI/JVYWtfGoi6s/s1600/P1020188.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage is already feeling woozy. I have the crazed look of Big Bad Crossing giddiness. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supine position helps the seasickness. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73TKF4tsRtU/U2QySg_NilI/AAAAAAAABu0/57f1h0w1-FQ/s1600/P1020195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73TKF4tsRtU/U2QySg_NilI/AAAAAAAABu0/57f1h0w1-FQ/s1600/P1020195.JPG" height="222" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I awoke from a deep sleep to find that Skye had gotten herself down below and asleep. She did tumble off the sofa along with all of the cushions, but ended up having a long, comfortable, deep rest. </td></tr>
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This is a short video that epitomizes our day -- Jamey solidly at the wheel, beautiful sailing wind and water, and the rest of us trying to find our happy place while cuddling with our vomit bowls. </div>
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JAMEY'S ACCOUNT: </div>
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The commonly accepted navigation method involves a little physics, so I was in my element.</div>
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To
compensate for the current, you estimate your speed through the water
(about 5 knots for us) and then figure out how many hours you will be
affected by the gulf stream (about 10 hours since the stream is roughly
50 miles wide). Since the current averages about 2.5 miles per hour
heading north, C Spirit will get carried 25 miles to the north by the
current as we go across to the Bahamas. The fastest crossing path will
factor this in ahead of time, so we started out aiming for a point 25
miles south of where we really wanted to end up. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mA7PYNbJ5ag/U2RvZDdDo3I/AAAAAAAABvg/XUdv-SWpBBM/s1600/photo.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mA7PYNbJ5ag/U2RvZDdDo3I/AAAAAAAABvg/XUdv-SWpBBM/s1600/photo.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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At
first light, the southeast wind would not let us sail exactly toward
that point, but the wind was forecast to shift favorably through the
day, so we just aimed our boat as close as possible to our desired
heading while still sailing at around 5 knots. Through the day, this
strategy worked. The wind slowly shifted to the south and we steered a
course that maintained an apparent wind of about 60 degrees all day,
adjusting slightly according to the GPS once we got within 20 miles of
Bimini. There is a feeling of accomplishment that comes from studying
everything so much, recognizing that the trip is possible but not trivial,
and then having it work out so nicely. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGasZ31zM30/U2QwxZ5WttI/AAAAAAAABuc/YxFZp9VfOnE/s1600/P1020189.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGasZ31zM30/U2QwxZ5WttI/AAAAAAAABuc/YxFZp9VfOnE/s1600/P1020189.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">It happened naturally to me, but
still sounded unexpected to my own ears as I softly declared, "Land Ho!"
about 15 miles out from the low-lying Bimini Cay. Phoenix, laying in the
cockpit, suddenly got a surprised look about her. She crawled up to her
feet and peered under the sail toward the horizon ahead. It was a perfect moment. </span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">We had been surrounded by crisply clear blue skies all day. As we entered Bimini harbor, the wind shifted to the west, clouds rolled
in, and a squally rain shower welcomed us to the Bahamas.</span></h4>
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WHERE WE STARTED: Coconut Grove, FL, USA</div>
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WHERE WE ARE: Weech's Bimini Dock, Bimini, The Bahamas</div>
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THERE TO HERE: Distance as the crow flies is 55 nautical miles. We crossed in 11 hours, leaving Florida at 5 am and arriving in Bimini at 4 pm. Winds were in the teens. We saw lots of flying fish. </div>
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Everyone wore life jackets and harnesses clipped into the lifelines while up above. No one left the cockpit while we were underway. </div>
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We took ondansetron in the morning which helped most of us feel not too bad compared to some of our earlier trips. Nevertheless, we still all felt fairly wary and ate only a few pretzels and drank only a sip or two of water. I worried more about kidney failure rather than any of us falling off the boat. At the end of the day, I curiously wished I had a urine dipstick to check the specific gravity of our cola-colored urine. </div>
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Comments on seasickness:</div>
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Phoenix: "Be quiet. I have a headache."</div>
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Indigo: "My stomach hurts."</div>
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Sage: "Barfing. I want to barf."</div>
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Skye: "Mommy put my head in the pot." (We found out that Skye's entire head fit comfortably in one of our pots. This made it possible to hold her head in the pot such that she did not have to sit up while she vomited.) </div>
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Nancy: "I feel awful, an overall oddness, not exactly a stomachache, not exactly a headache." </div>
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We saw only one other boat throughout our crossing, a sailboat in the distance, as we approached Bimini. Not seeing other boat traffic was nice as it meant not worrying about being run over by huge freighters (which apparently really does happen not as infrequently as one would hope), but it was also a bit disconcerting to feel as if we were the only ones out on the Gulf Stream. </div>
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Comments on the crossing: </div>
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Sage: "It's sunny, windy, and bumpy."</div>
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Indigo: "I had a headache the whole day, and I barfed the whole way."</div>
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Phoenix: "The water is dark and light at the same time."</div>
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Jamey: "It's very Gulf-Streamy." </div>
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Upon arrival in Bimini, Jamey tied up at Weech's, flew our yellow quarantine flag (a.k.a., a yellow t-shirt), and went to check in as required at Customs and Immigration. We were directed to not leave the boat till he had done so; not a problem as we were all still knocked out from the day's sail. Entry fees were $300 for the boat including three persons + $20 for each additional person. </div>
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We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-27197101605073561302013-12-30T19:18:00.000-08:002013-12-31T20:13:03.454-08:00Miami: What Will It Be Like in 117 Years? It is interesting to think about Miami and what it looked like before it became the huge city that it is. <br />
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Ponce de León was the first European to visit the area in 1513, and Pedro Menéndez de Avilés is believed to be the first European to actually land here in 1566. After that, a combination of explorers, settlers, treasure hunters, slaves, soldiers and native Indians moved in and out of the area over the years. <br />
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Miami's growth as a settlement was relatively sluggish over those few hundred years compared to some of the other places we've visited. It was not until 1896 that Miami was incorporated as a city, and at that time it only had three or four hundred people in its population.<br />
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One hundred and seventeen years to change from relatively uninhabited wilderness to modern day Miami. <br />
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Phoenix and I talked about the changes that might occur in this area over the next one hundred and seventeen years. <br />
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"There will be a lot more people. I read somewhere that 20 million babies are born per day," said Phoenix. I quickly looked it up and found that it is actually around 360,000 babies born per day in the world. Not as scary as 20 million, but still a very significant number. <br />
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"There may not be space in the world for you to go cruising around on a personal sailboat when you are my age," I told Phoenix pessimistically. "And the water quality will probably be so poor that you can't go swimming in the ocean." <br />
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I'm usually an optimist, but not in regards to how we are treating our limited natural resources. "The only good outcome," I foretell jokingly, "is that our house in Hawaii [around 1/3 mile inland] might be waterfront in 100 years." <br />
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My other predictions for the future and for the pristine wilderness areas that I have loved visiting over the years are more dismal. "Will it be like Wall-E?" asked Phoenix. I wish I could guarantee that it won't. <br />
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For now, we will enjoy beautiful Biscayne Bay and hope for the impossibility that our use and Miami's continued growth will not damage this amazing ecosystem. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We seem to be the only transient cruisers in this mooring field. It is interesting being surrounded by empty boats.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luna </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC300175" border="0" height="225" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9pyGgC7YWVY/UsOIB1XEVcI/AAAAAAAABrM/DxLMbH4Wqkk/PC300175.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC300175.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage has mastered the inflatable SUP on flat water. Thanks to Gigi and Greg for setting us up with this awesome board! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC300178" border="0" height="262" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-iT6fdxX-zAs/UsOIDuYXlRI/AAAAAAAABrU/06NsEiygTsQ/PC300178.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC300178.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls kept disappearing under boats. You can see them in this picture about to paddle under the catamaran. Apparently they got the idea to do this after seeing some kayakers go under. </td></tr>
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We are thinking of crossing the Gulf Stream to Bimini in the Bahamas on Thursday, two days from now. After taking the day to relax and play on the water, we walked 1.5 miles to Mary's Laundromat and Café (awesome empanadas and fresh fruit smoothies while you wait) and to Publix to finish some chores. Laden with groceries, we hopped on the bus (25 cents each for Jamey and I!) for the ride home. We are aware that it is going to be expensive to provision in the Bahamas, so we tried to stock up on high yield groceries that won't spoil: rice, beans, canned mustard greens, peanut butter, raisins, etc. <br />
<br />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-56904412103904710552013-12-29T20:05:00.000-08:002013-12-31T20:10:48.312-08:00The Orange Bowl and The King Mango StrutWe arrived back at the boat yesterday early in the morning. The boat is moored at Coconut Grove Sailing Club (CGSC), a great club that reminds us of Community Boating in Boston where Jamey and I met. <br />
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One of the wonderful things about CGSC is that it has 24 hour launch service on demand. This was awesome for us as we arrived here from New Orleans around 3 am yesterday morning. It was particulary impressive that we were able to load all of our luggage and all the food, gifts and provisions we accumulated onto the launch. In the past, we have had to balance everything precariously around the dinghy and take several trips back and forth from the dock to the boat.<br />
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Our drive from New Orleans took around fourteen hours of travel time plus an additional hour spent at Walmart in Tallahassee where we started stocking up as we had considered taking today's weather window to cross to the Bahamas. <br />
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We did not cross today because we were totally fatigued, spent most of yesterday sleeping and organizing the boat and still have a few errands and chores we need to do before leaving the U.S. Jamey also had to return the car to Miami Airport. <br />
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Plus it's totally relaxing and entertaining to be here. <br />
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The CGSC is hosting the Orange Bowl Regatta this weekend, and we are surrounded by lots of seriously competitive sailors. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was surreal for me to wake up and see this sail pass a couple of feet away from us. </td></tr>
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We walked down the street to CocoWalk and watched the hilarity that is The King Mango Strut, a satirical parade followed by a street party that is an annual event in Coconut Grove. <br />
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The King Mango Strut parade was started in 1982 by a marching band that was denied entry into the official parade for the Orange Bowl (the football Orange Bowl, not the regatta mentioned above). The band was not allowed in that parade because they used unconventional instruments including conch shells, kazoos, and garbage cans. <br />
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Since then, the parade has poked fun at the year's newsworthy people and events. The girls' tolerance for political satire was short-lived, but we totally enjoyed the live music and celebration in the street afterwards. <br />
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<img alt="PC290110" border="0" height="192" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gdlZEvTwFMk/UsOO2FGKpyI/AAAAAAAABrs/KBEQ4oA1g0E/PC290110.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC290110.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Broccoli Horror Show: Night of the Living Dead Vegetables, an anti-GMO group</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skye liked this funky vehicle -- lots of toys tied all over it. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamey joined the Coconut Grove Juggling Exchange</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC290144" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CeZeivlDFkA/UsOO-zawgmI/AAAAAAAABsU/38cXFbOqhaw/PC290144.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC290144.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He was good enough that he was asked by two of the jugglers to do a three-way act. </td></tr>
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<img alt="PC290109" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KkwC6yc6gTI/UsOPAasrnII/AAAAAAAABsc/glm1K7ISRFc/PC290109.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC290109.JPG" width="300" />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-28404242014821291582013-12-25T12:56:00.000-08:002013-12-31T16:30:55.054-08:00Merry Christmas!We spent the past few weeks in New Orleans. We had not planned to do this till a change of dates in Sage's kindergarten interview in Hawaii shifted our plans around, and we realized that we could celebrate Christmas with extended family. It's near impossible for me to take off enough time from work to fly to the mainland for the holidays, so this is our first big family Christmas since 2004, the year before we moved to Hawaii. <br>
<br>
I thought that I would have tons of time to blog while in New Orleans and had been planning to post a lot with great intent to fill in the gaps from the start of our trip in July. I even hoped to try to capture some of my mom's fascinating stories from her family's past (ghost stories, romance, history -- she has every genre covered, and she is an amazing storyteller!). <br>
<br>
Unfortunately, there was no time to write. <br>
<br>
The biggest downside of living in Hawaii is being far from family. We really crave and miss being with family, so we wrung every bit of family time that we could out of this visit to New Orleans. <br>
<br>
The girls and their cousins made a film. We still have to edit the footage and will post a link to the video when it's done.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Movie" border="0" height="288" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/--YT_Ln5IVnE/UsMu5NcvbYI/AAAAAAAABn0/5NwMsid0B08/movie.jpg?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="movie.jpg" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The movie is about a magical forest. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Movie2" border="0" height="219" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-mazD6BVZ3Rg/UsMu61oNs1I/AAAAAAAABn8/dGkTFnDW9jo/movie2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="movie2.jpg" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was cast as the Bad Witch that pretends to be a Good Witch in this scene. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We had the pleasure of seeing my talented mom (violinist), sister (violinist, pianist, harpist) and niece (cellist, harpist, pianist, and choir member) perform in several Christmas concerts around town.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC100627" border="0" height="272" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5uXLrBV8IWw/UsMu7_6GDaI/AAAAAAAABoE/5LJJdU34pRc/PC100627.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC100627.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary is fourth from the left in the back row. She has a perfect voice. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC080612" border="0" height="298" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5ujhYE6jZmA/UsMu9XOfxNI/AAAAAAAABoM/vnwWtA49834/PC080612.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC080612.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary practices a lot more than Phoenix and Indigo. To their dismay, I was inspired to increase their practice time. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 7563" border="0" height="266" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-W8Zfpk5A3cM/UsMvNmRgeiI/AAAAAAAABpk/kGCLEyxC5nQ/IMG_7563.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_7563.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aunty Aimee -- she is usually the concert mistress for the UNO Civic Symphony Orchestra</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 7576" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-iiw_SeJSwqg/UsMvO-HLXII/AAAAAAAABps/V4OgLJXuC70/IMG_7576.jpg?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_7576.jpg" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ama</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We ate lots and lots of good food. As amazing as the Cajun and Creole cuisine in New Orleans is, the food from my mom's kitchen surpasses all else -- think Cajun and Creole augmented by Deep South meets Taiwanese infusion and add a little bit of Mama Liu artistry = Best Food Ever! The girls were very happy to be surrounded by bountiful home-cooked food especially after the rationing and limited variety they have had on the boat. <br>
<br>
We took pleasure in all the things that we cannot do while living on a boat -- daily showers, watching TV, riding bicycles, going to the movies, being able to drive places instead of just walking everywhere, and mostly being with family. <br>
<br>
BIG THANKS to<br>
1. All the Lius and Wilkinsons. We are so grateful to my family for their hospitality, generosity and for all that they did to make the girls' first big family Christmas so memorable and wonderful. <br>
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<img alt="PC080596" border="0" height="341" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-uNDEYzQRpuA/UsMvAu3X1wI/AAAAAAAABoc/0xN6h-ivkLg/PC080596.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC080596.JPG" width="400"><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC210119" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-meJGNb9jxgE/UsMvDW2HioI/AAAAAAAABos/LmSCRxMreeA/PC210119.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC210119.JPG" width="307"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Agong</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
<img alt="PC100635" border="0" height="196" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-i2r4kr0v9cc/UsMvUFmpthI/AAAAAAAABqE/ugdgagB7GN4/PC100635.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC100635.JPG" width="400"><br>
<br>
2. Tate and the Goodman family for the huge box of Hawaiian goodies that greeted us in New Orleans. We have really missed Hawaiian treats during our travels (nori and Hurricane popcorn win out over other snacks any day and nothing beats lilikoi jelly!) I did not get a chance to take a photo of the box before Jamey put away everything, but picture a box exploding in volcano-fashion with tons of goodies and Aloha!<br>
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3. Brenna and family for the Hawaiian leis that greeted us back on the boat! The leis traveled the same route we did across the U.S., and down the East Coast over the past few months and were welcomed with open arms and mouths!<br>
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<img alt="IMG 7713" border="0" height="251" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nMij1AJz2fY/UsMvV2jjEdI/AAAAAAAABqM/vto1U3d5i3E/IMG_7713.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_7713.JPG" width="400"><br>
<br>
4. HUGE thanks and hugs go to the all of the Clarke and Duffield elves for the special delivery that greeted us on the boat on our return! We were extremely impressed with how clean the boat was --- THANK YOU, GRAMMY AND GRAMPY!! <br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 7706" border="0" height="251" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-b45cEVBlVKk/UsMvYY17wxI/AAAAAAAABqU/XAi2Uddz7Ig/IMG_7706.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_7706.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wow! In case you are wondering, yes, we are riding a few inches lower in the water. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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5. Merry Christmas and warm wishes to all of our friends and family. We love all the holiday wishes, cards and emails we've received and love hearing from everyone even more than we normally do!<br>
_____________<br>
<br>
Jamey and I decided to make some of our Christmas gifts this year. Did you know that there is now designer duct tape? The Platypus brand is thick and gorgeous to work with. The Duck brand is fun and has a plethora of patterns including Saints (Who Dat!), Red Sox, Star Wars, Angry Birds, Hello Kitty and many more beautiful and funky ones. It was a good family project that bonded us together (sorry for the bad pun), and the girls loved the satisfaction of creating beautiful things by themselves.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j494GLQIs9k/UsM1sQm-SmI/AAAAAAAABqk/U3TG0tJqt50/s1600/PC250075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="340" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j494GLQIs9k/UsM1sQm-SmI/AAAAAAAABqk/U3TG0tJqt50/s400/PC250075.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle John, Agong, and Aunty Grace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC190021" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KXmkxX-Y07g/UsMvG8GG6yI/AAAAAAAABo8/f-tiJ5HOEY4/PC190021.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC190021.JPG" width="292"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls loved making duct tape flowers. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC190030" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-G8GMpjsI76s/UsMvIXke6wI/AAAAAAAABpE/lFZTy7OeGX4/PC190030.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC190030.JPG" width="300"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamey liked working with precision, using a ruler and X-acto knife.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC190009" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YejTKE_J-g8/UsMvJvlR5mI/AAAAAAAABpM/dzYbLvFyQLA/PC190009.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC190009.JPG" width="310"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go Saints! We also made some Red Sox things. Go Sox! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC190003" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-H94gkXHek90/UsMvMCxAl7I/AAAAAAAABpc/vRj-_FKSudE/PC190003.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC190003.JPG" width="308"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I did not work with a ruler, X-acto knife or any precision at all. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-36442900567979021892013-12-07T23:38:00.000-08:002013-12-26T09:36:52.906-08:00Boca Raton: The Yamato Colony and a Temporary Leave from the BoatBoca Raton is a wealthy town. This was obvious to Phoenix and me as we walked along one of the town's main streets this morning. Fancy shops, gold-colored fountains, perfectly manicured everything. A bit of palm tree charm offsetting an overly clean street. <br>
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<img alt="PC070564" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZhIiirb6UC4/Uq1cNGMlgZI/AAAAAAAABlk/WmAVk2v00qk/PC070564.JPG?imgmax=800" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC070564.JPG" width="277"><br>
<br>
The town is relatively young, first settled in 1895. It had a slow start, and in 1900 there were still only "six white families."<br>
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An interesting and unexpected part of Boca Raton's early history is the Yamato Colony. This was a small Japanese community that was started in 1904 by a Japanese man named Jo Sakai who had recently graduated from New York University. It is speculated that either Sakai saw an advertisement enticing settlers to the area ("No better location for pineapple culture in the state….In sight of the Ocean, 40 minutes by rail from the big hotels with their electric lights…") or that he was invited to start up the colony by the Model Land Company who very much wanted to increase its revenue from land sales and encourage use of its associate Florida East Coast Railway. <br>
<br>
Whatever the reason, Jo Sakai started the colony and worked to bring Japanese immigrants to Boca Raton to buy land, clear it, and plant pineapple. The Boca Raton Historical Society has an impressive amount of letters, telegrams, personal accounts and articles describing the colony's development and progress and the efforts made by Sakai. We learn that Sakai had the colonists pretend to be students wanting to study in the U.S. when applying for entry, that there were difficulties during the Russo-Japanese War and that settlers endured much anti-Japanese sentiment during both World Wars.<br>
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The colony ultimately failed, unable to compete with the Cuban pineapple industry which at the time had a hefty hold on the northern U.S. pineapple market. Nonetheless, the colony was able to leave somewhat of a legacy as one of its settlers, George Morikami, amassed a great amount of land, became a millionaire, lived a hermit-like life on a trailer on his land and towards the end of his life, donated his land to Palm Beach County. This land is now Morikami Park and hosts the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.<br>
<br>
Jo Sakai's efforts remind me of the powerful influence that one man can have in starting an enclave of immigrants in an incongruous location. <br>
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In Hawaii, I work with many Marshallese, a group of migrants from the Marshall Islands allowed to live and work in the U.S without visa restrictions under what is called the Compact of Free Association. I could waffle on about the difficult plight that many Marshallese find themselves in here in the U.S, but will try to not digress. The connection I make with the Yamato Colony is that the second largest Marshallese population in the U.S. (Hawaii has the largest) is in Springdale, Arkansas because of one man. <br>
<br>
John Moody was a Marshallese graduate of a college in Oklahoma and started the migration of Marshallese to Arkansas in the 1980s after finding a job in Springdale, marrying local, and sending word back home about the job opportunities in Arkansas. Since then, employment offered by Northern Arkansas's multiple poultry plants and the low cost of living there have continued to draw Marshallese migrants who are now estimated to number over 6,000. <br>
<br>
I wish I could entice all my family and friends to join me in Hawaii. <br>
___________<br>
<br>
WHERE WE ARE: New Orleans and Bakers Inlet, North Miami, ICW mile 1079.7.<br>
<br>
WHERE WE STARTED: Anchored in Pineapple Lagoon, Mile 1042<br>
___________<br>
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THERE TO HERE: <div>40 miles, 8 hours <br>
<br>
BY NANCY:<br>
<br>
Jamey and Sage are due in Hawaii for Sage's kindergarten interview next week. We have been slowly piecing together logistics for their trip: <br>
<br>
1. Where should Jamey and Sage fly out of? A normally straightforward question is more difficult to answer when you are traveling by boat. With the uncertainties thrust on us by weather delays and potential engine issues, we cannot know for sure where we will be more than two or three days ahead. We decided on Fort Lauderdale when we booked their tickets last month and figured that a rental car could make up whatever distance is needed. <br>
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2. What should the rest of the family do? Drive to New Orleans and visit my family -- yay! If we leave a few days before Jamey and Sage, we will be able to visit with cousins who are there for the weekend, visiting from Tennessee. <br>
<br>
3. What should we do with the boat? We asked Jamey's parents if they might want to use their boat while we are away. They replied enthusiastically, "Why wouldn't we?" While we are away, Janet and Gary will sail around on C.Spirit for part of the time and will leave her moored the rest of the time down in the Miami area. They will arrive tomorrow night and spend a day and a half with Jamey and Sage.<br>
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4. Rental car. Have one delivered? Take a taxi or bus to pick it up? We find the best option: Budget has an office in Boca Raton located one mile from a public dock. It is an easy tie up to the dock, a short walk to pick up the car, and it is totally stress-free loading up the car and sending Jamey and Sage back off down the ICW. <br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC070566" border="0" height="252" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-gZvRp0ryzqI/Uq1cWUxKOYI/AAAAAAAABls/LEr_Hj6J-tE/PC070566.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC070566.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Palmetto Park Bridge and the dock at Silver Palm Park, Mile 1047. Very strong current; luckily there was a flood tide and ample depth. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br>
<br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC070577" border="0" height="261" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ymK86oS8qT4/Uq1cYsRD42I/AAAAAAAABl8/LsK0D1iRcYg/PC070577.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC070577.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was sad for me to say goodbye. Sage is super excited to be an only child for a week. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC070581" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-0kQX9vdu5lE/Uq1cZnsjJFI/AAAAAAAABmE/7sLpPIiXaPM/PC070581.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC070581.JPG" width="400"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are used to being UNDER the bridge. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The rest of the day for Phoenix, Indigo, Skye and me is fourteen hours of driving. We pass speedily by many small towns and through a couple of larger cities. I feel a bit of culture shock traveling the 800 miles from Boca Raton to New Orleans so quickly when it has taken us three entire months to travel around 1,500 miles from Massachusetts to Florida on C.Spirit. Driving is so different from traveling on the boat where our sluggish pace forces a connection from us to each town or locale. And if not a connection, at least an opinion or observation. <br>
<br>
BY JAMEY:<br>
<br>
Jamey promises to post his version of the day soon. (OK here it is).</div><div><br></div><div>BYE BYE GIRLS</div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most of the girls left the boat this morning. They are headed to New Orleans by rental car to visit family for the holidays, while Sage and I continue on south for Miami. We had planned to anchor in Lake Boca Raton and then take the dinghy across the ICW channel to the boat ramp about 1/2 mile away. We left early at first light so the girls' 14 hour car ride would not go too late into the night and arrived at the drawbridge right next to the boat ramp around 8 am. There was a strong current flowing through the bridge, oddly carrying dozens of coconuts and other debris, which I assume was cast adrift by lazy landscapers tending the ridiculously lush properties lining both sides ofthe canal. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As we passed through the open bridge, our targeted public boat ramp appeared immediately on the right. We passed quickly but noticed that there was plenty of room at the adjacent public dock. Approaching this dock would mean heading downcurrent straight back at the now closed drawbridge, then making an abrupt u-turn at the very last minute and coasting into the dock. We radioed the bridge tender to let him know our plan and to check if he knew how deep the water was alongside the dock. All cleared, we tied up uneventfully, happy to avoid the time consuming chore of anchoring the boat then launching the dinghy and rowing back and forth to the ramp with luggage and a full crew. After about 45 minutes, Nancy arrived back at the dock in the rental car, and we packed up and said our farewells. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Back on the boat, it was so much more quiet and empty. On my first trip below decks, I was surprised to notice a whole different acoustic quality. With less stuff and fewer people, there was a noticable echo in the boat. Funny how all those things that drive me crazy, like the constant chaotic noise of girls (playing fighting negotiating crying whining singing screaming), the incessant clutter of shuffled things (clothes books toys towels sleeping bags crayons maps) and the hourly spillage (milk cheerios pasta juice crumbs salsa sunscreen) become so normal that life seems empty without them. This must be a sneak preview of what empty-nesters feel when their kids leave for college, gulp!</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sage and I spent the rest of the day motoring down the ICW. We made 40 miles, seeming to find our rhythm in timing the frequent draw bridges, anchoring twice when we did have to wait and using that downtime to eat lunch and hang out together.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The end of the day was tricky. We got fuel at Baker's Haulover in North Miami and wanted to drop the hook in a well reviewed cove about 1/2 mile off the ICW right before the fuel dock. You can see the perfect crescent beach and the small cut you have to go through just to the left of our pinned anchorage below. Being a Saturday afternoon there were dozens of powerboats anchored just off of the sandbar that Baker must have had to "haul over" long ago. I read the directions for entering the harbor and headed in. There was a Towboat US and a Seatow boat standing by for boats running aground on this extremely shallow section of the waterway. Immediately after leaving the dredged channel, the depth was too shallow, I slowed, reversed and got back in the channel to regroup even as the towboat captain was barking at me on the radio... hmm where did I go wrong? It was getting late, I was tired, and had no good copy of the chart, so I decided to continue on south and find another spot. Doing so meant traversing the notoriously shallow haulover, but lots of other boats were doing it, so I didn't give it a second thought. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Se1eVtw2UD4/Urxk_pOEDAI/AAAAAAAABnc/jVQTSA59irk/s640/blogger-image--1947959275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Se1eVtw2UD4/Urxk_pOEDAI/AAAAAAAABnc/jVQTSA59irk/s640/blogger-image--1947959275.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After crossing through the haulover by simply following the bouys and taking what seemed like a reasonable line through the channel, I started considering options for anchoring. I couldn't be sure to find something suitable in short order, and the weather forecast was gentle, so after about 10 minutes, we turned around for the first time on the trip and headed back north. We got to re-try the shallowest stretch of the ICW in Florida!</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I must have picked a slightly different line this time, because as we passed the sandbar filled with frolicking weekenders, we bumped once, twice, three times before the depth finder even showed shallow, and then we were back in deep water. On this shot through, Bakers Haulover was more like Bakers "Bumpover" for us.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We dropped the anchor about 4:30 in the midst of all the motorboats playing at the sandbar and took a short swim. Slowly, as afternoon faded into evening, boats began pulling up anchor and leaving. The last boat left after dark at around 8:00 pm and we had this slightly open spot to ourselves for the night. Sage and I had scrambled eggs for dinner and played dominoes for a while. We made a few versions of the domino castle below which we could not have done with everyone on board, then went to bed around 9.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-WXYFMFsLkUc/UrxlBRR3L8I/AAAAAAAABnk/543NxKtsOS8/s640/blogger-image--2136973888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-WXYFMFsLkUc/UrxlBRR3L8I/AAAAAAAABnk/543NxKtsOS8/s640/blogger-image--2136973888.jpg"></a></div></span></div></div></div>We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339196110038793190.post-30086296302577050042013-12-06T19:03:00.000-08:002013-12-06T19:18:14.140-08:00Drawbridge DayJAMEY'S POST:<br />
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From time to time we pass under a bridge. Usually these bridges are crossing from the mainland out to the barrier islands that protect the coast. Farther north on the Intracoastal Waterway, many older drawbridges and swing bridges have been replaced by high clearance bridges that sailboats like C. Spirit can pass under without (much) hesitation. The newly built bridges have a standard minimum height of 65 feet. The top of our boat's mast is 46 feet above the water, so we clear under these bridges with ease.<br />
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In South Carolina, the few remaining swing and draw bridges need frequent repair, and signs are posted next to each bridge stating that the bridges will not open if a hurricane is coming or if the wind speed is higher that twenty-five miles per hour. Inconvenient at best, dangerous for a boater seeking shelter from a coming storm. <br />
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Some days we have passed two or three bridges, often timing our arrival with the GPS to match their opening schedule. Some bridges open on the hour and half hour, some only on the hour, some bridges open on request (meaning just call), and some do not open during rush hours. It is a pain to try and keep track of these restrictions, and disappointing to arrive and find that you missed the recent opening and have a fifty-five minute wait until the next.<br />
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Today, nearing the end of our trip down the east coast, we came to a section of south Florida where the priorities are shifted. Access to the coast for everyone is paramount it seems, so older draw bridges have been replaced by newer versions of the same. It seems the policy along parts of this stretch of the coast is that no car should have more than about a two mile drive to a bridge connecting to the coast. Happily, many of the restored or rebuilt bridges have unique architectural touches that echo the original designs, and all of these new bridges work reliably, even in high winds.<br />
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We planned to move fifty miles farther south today, starting at around 7:30 am, which usually gets us anchored around 2:30 pm. But today was different, today was A DAY OF MANY DRAWBRIDGES!! Today we passed through sixteen drawbridges!!!! <br />
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It started easily enough with two bridges that opened on request, but then we ran into a stretch that opened on the hour and half hour and were about four miles apart, just far enough that we could not make the distance between the bridges in the twenty-five minutes between clearing the first and the cut off time for the next. <br />
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So we waited, and then sprinted, only to have to wait, then we became clever and used the GPS to set a leisurely pace to arrive just in time for the next opening, only to find that the times had changed due to construction. Near the end of the day, we were fourth in line for a bridge, and the bridge tender closed the bridge right as we came up, then said over the radio, "Sorry, I did not see you back there, I will clear the traffic and get the bridge open right back up, and he did, but we were not able to make it up to the next bridge in time, and had another twenty-five minute wait for an opening that we missed by just two or three minutes.<br />
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In the end, we only were able to make forty miles before we stopped for the night. Though the boat cruises at a little over seven miles per hour, we averaged only around four miles per hour today. <br />
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We finally anchored about twenty minutes before sunset in Pineapple Lagoon, a tiny, man-made lake just off the waterway. We are surrounded on all sides by docks, houses and condominiums. It is very sheltered, but a strange, uniquely Florida experience to be anchored in the midst of this suburb, able to hear movies playing in living rooms and dogs barking at front doors a short way across the water.<br />
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At the end of the day, the captain was worn out, not sure if the lesson was to relax and go with the flow, or to be smarter and learn to play the tides and times to optimize travel time.<br />
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Tomorrow and the next day, traveling from Boca Raton to Miami will be more of the same. We will try for shorter distance goals, maybe half as much, and see if that makes things any better.<br />
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<img alt="PC060516" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4Qjea9Z1BFQ/UqKLaN_ONQI/AAAAAAAABik/okKgyQMupSE/PC060516.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060516.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060518" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0L-GOpVeefU/UqKLdW_BltI/AAAAAAAABi0/EXKfR9x9t1E/PC060518.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060518.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
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<img alt="PC060519" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4dvHN5YFO5I/UqKLfENyOoI/AAAAAAAABi8/2MutL_uXnjA/PC060519.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060519.JPG" width="300" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060548" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-m1YQIJeJEOE/UqKLgTZFQII/AAAAAAAABjE/2J1tvU2reXY/PC060548.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060548.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060549" border="0" height="256" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-M60NRYufwv8/UqKLh2ed7oI/AAAAAAAABjM/sG652L6QyrI/PC060549.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060549.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060550" border="0" height="194" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Zqur293hGMw/UqKLkSW-oZI/AAAAAAAABjU/pLVQE0VxDDo/PC060550.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060550.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060551" border="0" height="275" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Fu2tN0UwUdo/UqKLljqlChI/AAAAAAAABjc/Kb9g1bJ79Jo/PC060551.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060551.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060552" border="0" height="284" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-hR9CSGKksgg/UqKLo6BbreI/AAAAAAAABjk/GNVDx8Grx28/PC060552.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060552.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<img alt="PC060553" border="0" height="273" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-FyQnSKgFUA4/UqKLr6KV9AI/AAAAAAAABjs/y-FfjZ3mB0s/PC060553.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060553.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060560" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-_Z6ppMCVVOs/UqKLs_LxuRI/AAAAAAAABj0/9sglvJteIWc/PC060560.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060560.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While waiting for one bridge, we were next to a public dock and a playground. Unfortunately, we only had 15 minutes before the bridge was due to open. Sage gazed longingly at the playground -- such torture!! </td></tr>
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WHERE WE ARE: Anchored in Pineapple Lagoon, Mile 1042, Boca Raton. Reportedly there is poor holding here, and before going to bed, I checked the rode to see how the anchor was doing. It seemed as if we might be dragging a little, so I pulled out the Big Dog -- a brand new Danforth anchor that I bought at the start of this trip and have not yet used. As I went to pull up the other anchor, I realized that it was set really well after all. Big Dog has to wait for another night. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG 7604" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-v9GpEGuer2g/UqKLu3E1o6I/AAAAAAAABj8/bTcdJJJpRxs/IMG_7604.PNG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_7604.PNG" width="324" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pineapple Lagoon</td></tr>
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WHERE WE STARTED: Anchored in Hobe Sound, Mile 1001<br />
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THERE TO HERE: 41 miles, 16 drawbridges! Jamey at the helm. Indigo took most of today's photos. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060509" border="0" height="241" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-YB0Oj4fUihA/UqKLwB_vngI/AAAAAAAABkE/u-jYcc6f0U8/PC060509.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060509.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of enormous, fancy houses line the ICW here. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060511" border="0" height="260" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-BpCsWYHzDO0/UqKLxJQtuVI/AAAAAAAABkM/NGN6UAu_oFI/PC060511.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060511.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are also a lot of big, fancy boats. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060510" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-jqhurVKh3iw/UqKLyO8_fvI/AAAAAAAABkU/fbdEc9-bVTM/PC060510.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060510.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And lots of enormous, fancy houses that have big, fancy boats. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060513" border="0" height="229" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-OSqIMLVdZ3Q/UqKLzMh5SbI/AAAAAAAABkc/ErHDETP1mj4/PC060513.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060513.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's super built-up. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060522" border="0" height="254" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-74PYfxwMfV8/UqKL0A986eI/AAAAAAAABkk/9nF5yEIWsAg/PC060522.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060522.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060529" border="0" height="231" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-En0hNX2DBVM/UqKL1HjQtLI/AAAAAAAABks/RIb_hQ-OylE/PC060529.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060529.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060532" border="0" height="341" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-nrXct9vuVNc/UqKL2VqH6-I/AAAAAAAABk0/H8t4qVkQvsk/PC060532.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060532.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water play. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060515" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-GTetX47APOw/UqKL3YcBpRI/AAAAAAAABk8/kS_Qy3HiM7Y/PC060515.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060515.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water TV. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PC060537" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-pjbgcsnZ_Cg/UqKL4bkwEII/AAAAAAAABlE/EozKUinmqr8/PC060537.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060537.JPG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It would be just fine with me if I never see a bridge ever again. </td></tr>
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<img alt="PC060563" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-oZ3B54wWzGI/UqKL6Om65SI/AAAAAAAABlU/1I3UU55AsI8/PC060563.JPG?imgmax=800" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="PC060563.JPG" width="400" />We Are Herehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10421140415377980410noreply@blogger.com0