Thawing out
Last week there was sheet ice on the ICW at Jacksonville, and a few boats travelling in the sunshine state had to use their boats as ice-breakers. One memorable day snow was reported falling in Fort Lauderdale….well, maybe a drop or two! Happily, things have changed since then.
‘Southern Vectis’ is now in Fort Lauderdale, at Las Olas Marina. We stayed here for some time last year and enjoyed the location so much. It’s a two minute walk from the beach and all the good things beach living brings….shops, restaurants ….and Bill said to include bikinis (not mine!!!)
The last time we wrote our blog we were staying at a hotel in Fort Pierce, as it was too cold to stay overnight on the boat. The temperatures plunged to 38F on deck and a tooth chattering, bone chilling 34F down below, and we couldn’t figure out if we had a heating system or not!
As luck would have it, once we sorted out the heating system (we do have one!) the temperatures warmed up a bit! We moved on board last Monday with heat blasting out of every one of ‘Southern Vectis’ orifices!
While we were at Fort Pierce we met up with some friendly boaters and some old friends from last year – Irv and Jane on the Island Packet, ‘Karaya’ and Wendy and Tony from Toronto on ‘Delta G’. We had some enjoyable evenings at the dockside bar, and also at the little Italian restaurant that Carole and Bob had introduced us to last year – ‘Brooklyn Pizza’.
We had rented a car so were able to move around and do lots of provisioning for the boat. We also spent a lovely evening with ‘joint’ grandparents, Fruji and John, and talked a lot about ‘the boys’ – our three joint grandsons, Leo, Orson and Simon. As we had to spend some time in the charming little town of Stuart getting our dinghy mended we took the opportunity to check out the brand new marina and anchorage just past the Roosevelt bridge, ‘Sunset Bay’. It is lovely, and we will plan a stopover there on our return.
So, on Thursday the weather was warming up, our dinghy was repaired and we set off down the ICW to Lake Worth (West Palm Beach). It was a peaceful trip and we anchored at the north end of Lake Worth beside the Old Port Cove Marina as the sun was setting. The next day we pressed on to Fort Lauderdale as the weather was supposed to turn nasty (but warm!!!) on Saturday. There are 18 opening bridges on the ICW to negotiate between Lake Worth and Fort Lauderdale, and each bridge has its’ own opening schedule. This means that you must race the boat between bridges to keep up with the equivalent of a ‘green wave’ or you lose a lot of time. We had 50 miles to cover, and darkness comes at around 6:15 p.m. so we gunned the motor and went for it! We arrived at the marina just after the sun had sunk below the highrises, and were helped into a dock by a friendly neighbouring boater. We talked to a lot of boaters yesterday. Most are waiting for ‘weather windows’ to go over to the Bahamas or south to Miami. We haven’t decide what we’ll do yet. It’s a wild and windy (but still very warm!!) day today and we’ll walk the beach and maybe take the bus to do some more provisioning.
Tomorrow we are having our solar panels fitted to the boat – a days’ work.
Then, on Tuesday we are looking forward to meeting up with our RCYC travelling buddies from last year, Carole and Bob, Eileen and John and Peter and Donna. They are driving over from their condos in Naples for a reunion. Carole and Bob will stay over on the boat for a night, as a ‘remembrance of things past’ and maybe a foretaste of things to come!! We are also looking forward to seeing Fraser and Edi, who took such good care of ‘Southern Vectis’ during our first summer as proud boat owners.
More anon.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Fffffreeezing in FFFFlorida
January 7, 2010.
This is the beginning of our new winter season's blog for 2010.
We arrived in Florida late on Sunday night after an 18 hour cross-country trek from Vancouver Island through the wilds of Seattle and Chicago. We survived intrusive 'body checks',and frozen water pipes on the Chicago flight (which meant no coffee or tea). Our luggage even arrived at the same time as we did. We did well.
We had a very good Christmas and New Year visiting Charlotte, Pierre, Lily and Isabelle in Victoria, B.C. We walked on the beach, and were entertained by the two little girls....and the latest editions to Charlotte and Pierre's family - two kittens called Fonzie and Figaro! Great fun.
After our long flight we needed a day to recover, so chose to have 'Southern Vectis' launched on Tuesday. She has spent the summer at Harbour Town Marina in Fort Pierce, and she looks sleek and gleaming due to the ministrations of the great team at the Marina.
The launch went well, and the weather, though only a cool 56F, was bearable. This has changed over the past two days, with temperatures not rising above 46F (7C, and big windchill, and night frosts. But this has given us a chance to get things sorted out on the boat, even though we did cleaning and sorting wearing our thick socks and coats.(We also bought some gloves yesterday!!) In fact, I have to admit we've been wearing the same clothes for the past few days, as we have brought so few warm clothes with us! When I look at our flimsy shorts and T-shirts I shudder and wonder if we'll ever be able to wear them!
We have cheated in one respect though - we've been staying in a hotel. It's such a relief to return to our warm room at the end of a busy day and snuggle into a cozy bed!
This will all change today though - Thursday - as now that our new mattress for the aft berth had been delivered, we have decided to test it tonight! We are not sure when we'll move off - it's all weather dependent, and no one is moving around on the water at the moment!
This is the beginning of our new winter season's blog for 2010.
We arrived in Florida late on Sunday night after an 18 hour cross-country trek from Vancouver Island through the wilds of Seattle and Chicago. We survived intrusive 'body checks',and frozen water pipes on the Chicago flight (which meant no coffee or tea). Our luggage even arrived at the same time as we did. We did well.
We had a very good Christmas and New Year visiting Charlotte, Pierre, Lily and Isabelle in Victoria, B.C. We walked on the beach, and were entertained by the two little girls....and the latest editions to Charlotte and Pierre's family - two kittens called Fonzie and Figaro! Great fun.
After our long flight we needed a day to recover, so chose to have 'Southern Vectis' launched on Tuesday. She has spent the summer at Harbour Town Marina in Fort Pierce, and she looks sleek and gleaming due to the ministrations of the great team at the Marina.
The launch went well, and the weather, though only a cool 56F, was bearable. This has changed over the past two days, with temperatures not rising above 46F (7C, and big windchill, and night frosts. But this has given us a chance to get things sorted out on the boat, even though we did cleaning and sorting wearing our thick socks and coats.(We also bought some gloves yesterday!!) In fact, I have to admit we've been wearing the same clothes for the past few days, as we have brought so few warm clothes with us! When I look at our flimsy shorts and T-shirts I shudder and wonder if we'll ever be able to wear them!
We have cheated in one respect though - we've been staying in a hotel. It's such a relief to return to our warm room at the end of a busy day and snuggle into a cozy bed!
This will all change today though - Thursday - as now that our new mattress for the aft berth had been delivered, we have decided to test it tonight! We are not sure when we'll move off - it's all weather dependent, and no one is moving around on the water at the moment!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Back home with 'northern' Vectis
This postscript to our 'Sailing Away' blog is written to celebrate the return of Carole, Bob and 'Sea Change' from their epic voyage to the Bahamas. Unlike us, they did not cheat by buying a boat 'down south' and leaving it there to fly back! They started in late August 2008 and arrived back in Toronto today - 14 June 2009! A fantastic adventure. Their blog can be found at seachangeheadssouth.blogspot.com/
This was the weekend of the RCYC's annual cruise-race across from Toronto to Youngstown, N.Y. Carole & Bob had been putting in long days on their trip north to get to Youngstown to see the group and sail back to the RCYC with them all.
We just had to 'nip' over from Niagara-on-the-Lake on northern 'Vectis' though! A five minute trip! We did this on Friday afternoon and met them for a lovely dinner at Youngstown Yacht Club. We watched the sun set in splendour over Niagara-on-the-Lake, and hoped to catch a glimpse of that elusive 'green flash' which we had never seen in the Bahamas. Still no luck! It was great to laugh over all the adventures we'd had together. I wore my "Eleuthera, not for everyone" T-shirt and we had an instant 'in-joke'!
On Saturday Bill and I walked up to Fort Niagara and toured the Fort. It has been beautifully preserved, and its' strategic and majestic setting at the mouth of the mighty Niagara has given it a history full of epic battles and conflict. All is peaceful now except for the huge 'Homeland Security' marine base just around the corner!!
The other boats arrived from Toronto later in the afternoon, and that evening we barbecued on the dock and had the hilarious (as always) award ceremony given by Terry O'Connell. The sun shone warmly on our festivities...which makes a change as this spring has been so cool!
This morning (Sunday 14 June) most of us met for breakfast at the little cafe (greasy spoon) at the top of the hill. It has a perfect view over the mouth of the river. Then it was time to say goodbye to everyone as they sailed (probably motored!) back to the RCYC where a flotilla was to come out to meet 'Sea Change' and escort her in for celebratory cakes and wine! Carole and Bob will sleep in their own bed tonight and not have to get up at crack of dawn to listen to the weather forecast, and set off for yet another 50 mile leg of their journey!
We will look forward to joining 'Sea Change' somewhere en route when we sail to the Thousand Islands later this summer.
This was the weekend of the RCYC's annual cruise-race across from Toronto to Youngstown, N.Y. Carole & Bob had been putting in long days on their trip north to get to Youngstown to see the group and sail back to the RCYC with them all.
We just had to 'nip' over from Niagara-on-the-Lake on northern 'Vectis' though! A five minute trip! We did this on Friday afternoon and met them for a lovely dinner at Youngstown Yacht Club. We watched the sun set in splendour over Niagara-on-the-Lake, and hoped to catch a glimpse of that elusive 'green flash' which we had never seen in the Bahamas. Still no luck! It was great to laugh over all the adventures we'd had together. I wore my "Eleuthera, not for everyone" T-shirt and we had an instant 'in-joke'!
On Saturday Bill and I walked up to Fort Niagara and toured the Fort. It has been beautifully preserved, and its' strategic and majestic setting at the mouth of the mighty Niagara has given it a history full of epic battles and conflict. All is peaceful now except for the huge 'Homeland Security' marine base just around the corner!!
The other boats arrived from Toronto later in the afternoon, and that evening we barbecued on the dock and had the hilarious (as always) award ceremony given by Terry O'Connell. The sun shone warmly on our festivities...which makes a change as this spring has been so cool!
This morning (Sunday 14 June) most of us met for breakfast at the little cafe (greasy spoon) at the top of the hill. It has a perfect view over the mouth of the river. Then it was time to say goodbye to everyone as they sailed (probably motored!) back to the RCYC where a flotilla was to come out to meet 'Sea Change' and escort her in for celebratory cakes and wine! Carole and Bob will sleep in their own bed tonight and not have to get up at crack of dawn to listen to the weather forecast, and set off for yet another 50 mile leg of their journey!
We will look forward to joining 'Sea Change' somewhere en route when we sail to the Thousand Islands later this summer.
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