Thursday, December 10, 2009
Countdown Underway.....
Guess I'm still in space center mode with the "countdown" stuff.....anyway......
Persephone and THE CREW are still in Vero Beach, FL working on our checklist. We have been very
busy with provisioning and waiting for spare parts to arrive. For example, we have loaded 25 pounds of boneless chicken, 15 lbs of hamburg, 20+ boxes of pasta, and tons of can goods. We are lucky the boat still floats ! Trudie has spent hours with the Food Saver (vacuum sealer) making dinner sized portions for freezing. In addition, sugar, flour, rice etc are all sealed in the Food Saver to prevent moisture, and bugs (yes we are in the sub-tropics). The last of our spare parts should arrive tomorrow (half a dozen fuel and oil filters, a spare starter motor, spare solonoid for starter etc). Engine parts are difficult to obtain in the out islands of the Bahamas and we don't want to depend on a mail boat which may or may not arrive at a remote island once a week....never mind the lack of ability to order parts from the US and duties to inport them. So, we are trying to be pro-active and self-sufficient.
We have joined a weather routing service to obtain specifie weather forecasts for the trip across to the Bahamas and for wx info while we are there. Weather forecasts are spotty at best, and there is no weather radio in the Bahamas. So, we must rely on old fashion short wave radio broadcasts (now called marine SSB) and the weather service which we can speak with each morning; again by short wave. Sort of like being thrown back into the 1930s.
If all proceeds as planned, we should be able to leave Vero on Saturday and make a 2 day "inside" run down to Lake Worth were will stage out of for the Bahamas. We will wait in Lake Worth for a weather window, which may be as soon as Monday-Tuesday next week. We will leave Lake Worth in the early evening so that we will arrive in the morning at Lucaya, on Grand Bahama Island.
We will keep you all updated on the weather window..... THE CREW
Persephone and THE CREW are still in Vero Beach, FL working on our checklist. We have been very
busy with provisioning and waiting for spare parts to arrive. For example, we have loaded 25 pounds of boneless chicken, 15 lbs of hamburg, 20+ boxes of pasta, and tons of can goods. We are lucky the boat still floats ! Trudie has spent hours with the Food Saver (vacuum sealer) making dinner sized portions for freezing. In addition, sugar, flour, rice etc are all sealed in the Food Saver to prevent moisture, and bugs (yes we are in the sub-tropics). The last of our spare parts should arrive tomorrow (half a dozen fuel and oil filters, a spare starter motor, spare solonoid for starter etc). Engine parts are difficult to obtain in the out islands of the Bahamas and we don't want to depend on a mail boat which may or may not arrive at a remote island once a week....never mind the lack of ability to order parts from the US and duties to inport them. So, we are trying to be pro-active and self-sufficient.
We have joined a weather routing service to obtain specifie weather forecasts for the trip across to the Bahamas and for wx info while we are there. Weather forecasts are spotty at best, and there is no weather radio in the Bahamas. So, we must rely on old fashion short wave radio broadcasts (now called marine SSB) and the weather service which we can speak with each morning; again by short wave. Sort of like being thrown back into the 1930s.
If all proceeds as planned, we should be able to leave Vero on Saturday and make a 2 day "inside" run down to Lake Worth were will stage out of for the Bahamas. We will wait in Lake Worth for a weather window, which may be as soon as Monday-Tuesday next week. We will leave Lake Worth in the early evening so that we will arrive in the morning at Lucaya, on Grand Bahama Island.
We will keep you all updated on the weather window..... THE CREW
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Lots to talk about....
As you all know, we have had the third crew member Mike aboard all week. It’s been a blast and we miss him now that he has gone back north. We have alternated playing tourist, mechanics and boat movers all week.
Boat movers: In this past week we have moved the boat approximately 250 miles down the Florida coast (Mile Marker 715 to 951). The last two days of the trip was nearly dead straight down the canal system. It was so straight, I had to tap the compass a couple of times to see it was still working. It also rained very hard….the kind of rain if you look up, you could drown!! The bimini kept us dry and the 18 packs of Corona eased the effects of the rain. (Yes, Corona is sold in 18 packs down south).
Boat Mechanics: Mike and I got lots of “stuff” done on Persephone…oil and filter change, bilge cleaning, fixed an oil leak on the genset. ..etc, etc. The biggest project was the replacement of all of the ship batteries. There are five large batteries (70+ lbs each) which provide power for the lights, electronics and all of our electrical needs. The batteries were 5 years old, and I knew they were on their way out…..but being cheap, I wanted to get the last electron out of them !! And I did. Last week, we had a complete electrical failure, including alarms and equipment shutdowns. Yep, the batteries died….I didn’t even bother to try CPR….DONE DEAL. We were at Cape Marina in Cape Canaveral which is a large “do it yourself” type marina. We ordered new batteries and they had them at the boat in hours. Mike and I spent the afternoon installing all 5 and it has made a huge difference. Lights, the computer, stereo and refrig can all be going without fear of running the batteries into the ground. NICE.
Tourists: On Wednesday, we rented a car (well, it was a Chrysler 300 land yacht…sort of a “gangsta-mobile”) and rolled to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. KSC is a study in really really big and really really small. The rocket and capsule which took John Glenn into orbit is amazingly small. ( I think you can buy fireworks rockets at the local pyro store which are bigger than the redstone rocket ! And the Mercury Capsule….well see for yourself. It is amazing that a guy in a spacesuit could fit in this thing !!
The Apollo moon capsule is not much bigger….it is about the size of a Volkswagon bug with 3 stretchers for seats….you need a shoehorn to pry the guys in. But the guys themselves were small. The space suit of G. Cernan (last man to walk on the moon) was on display, so I had Trudie stand next to it….. T is 5’ 5” tall…..
The Saturn V rocket is absolutely HUGE. It dwarfs the other rockets, including the rockets attached to the space shuttle. To give some perspective…..here are Trudie and Mike standing under the solid rocket boosters and external tank of the shuttle….get what I mean by BIG !
!
We were a bit disappointed by the lack of hands on exhibits and real science. I wanted to be convinced that we really landed on the moon. Looking at the equipment, it is amazing it got off the ground, never mind landing on the moon !! Persephone has more sophisticated electronics !! This is the Apollo 14 capsule that carried the "astronuts" to the moon:
We are currently at Vero Beach for the week. We are getting ready for the next phase…provisioning for 3+ months and preparing for the crossing to the Bahamas. Bahamas or bust by Christmas !!
Boat movers: In this past week we have moved the boat approximately 250 miles down the Florida coast (Mile Marker 715 to 951). The last two days of the trip was nearly dead straight down the canal system. It was so straight, I had to tap the compass a couple of times to see it was still working. It also rained very hard….the kind of rain if you look up, you could drown!! The bimini kept us dry and the 18 packs of Corona eased the effects of the rain. (Yes, Corona is sold in 18 packs down south).
Boat Mechanics: Mike and I got lots of “stuff” done on Persephone…oil and filter change, bilge cleaning, fixed an oil leak on the genset. ..etc, etc. The biggest project was the replacement of all of the ship batteries. There are five large batteries (70+ lbs each) which provide power for the lights, electronics and all of our electrical needs. The batteries were 5 years old, and I knew they were on their way out…..but being cheap, I wanted to get the last electron out of them !! And I did. Last week, we had a complete electrical failure, including alarms and equipment shutdowns. Yep, the batteries died….I didn’t even bother to try CPR….DONE DEAL. We were at Cape Marina in Cape Canaveral which is a large “do it yourself” type marina. We ordered new batteries and they had them at the boat in hours. Mike and I spent the afternoon installing all 5 and it has made a huge difference. Lights, the computer, stereo and refrig can all be going without fear of running the batteries into the ground. NICE.
Tourists: On Wednesday, we rented a car (well, it was a Chrysler 300 land yacht…sort of a “gangsta-mobile”) and rolled to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. KSC is a study in really really big and really really small. The rocket and capsule which took John Glenn into orbit is amazingly small. ( I think you can buy fireworks rockets at the local pyro store which are bigger than the redstone rocket ! And the Mercury Capsule….well see for yourself. It is amazing that a guy in a spacesuit could fit in this thing !!
The Apollo moon capsule is not much bigger….it is about the size of a Volkswagon bug with 3 stretchers for seats….you need a shoehorn to pry the guys in. But the guys themselves were small. The space suit of G. Cernan (last man to walk on the moon) was on display, so I had Trudie stand next to it….. T is 5’ 5” tall…..
The Saturn V rocket is absolutely HUGE. It dwarfs the other rockets, including the rockets attached to the space shuttle. To give some perspective…..here are Trudie and Mike standing under the solid rocket boosters and external tank of the shuttle….get what I mean by BIG !
We were a bit disappointed by the lack of hands on exhibits and real science. I wanted to be convinced that we really landed on the moon. Looking at the equipment, it is amazing it got off the ground, never mind landing on the moon !! Persephone has more sophisticated electronics !! This is the Apollo 14 capsule that carried the "astronuts" to the moon:
We are currently at Vero Beach for the week. We are getting ready for the next phase…provisioning for 3+ months and preparing for the crossing to the Bahamas. Bahamas or bust by Christmas !!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Heading South
We arrived at St. Augustine at about 10am on Saturday morning. St. Augustine is an absolutely beatiful city. It is dominated by a Spanish motif with ornate buildings trimmed in wrought iron. The downtown is filled with little shops of every description, many of which cater to the Cuban population. Much of the city center is pedistrian walkways so cars are not an issue. We really enjoyed our day puttering around the city.
We wanted to stay another day, but the desire/need to keep moving south won out. We again went "outside" into the Atlantic (not wanting to deal with the ICW) and motored along the coast at about 3 miles out. We traveled about 50+ miles and it was time to seek an anchorage for the night; so we turned into Ponce de Leon Inlet right at sunset:
As it was getting dark quickly, we had to get the anchor down as soon as possible, The shallow creeks are no place to be moving around after dark. (Although we have come in at sunset so many times on this trip we are thinking of renaming the boat "Late Arrival") The "official" anchorage was about 2 miles south of the inlet down a creek through some pretty "skinny" water. This was not a viable option as it was almost dark, so we looked at the charts and instead of heading south inside the inlet, we went north and found a spot just behind the lighthouse on the inside of the inlet. Ice cold beers and burgers on the grill was the evening fare as we looked at the scenery from the cockpit:
Not a bad view on a warm evening ?!
We were off and running first thing this morning. I am typing this post from the nav-station as we are motor-sailing down the coast bound for Cape Canaveral. We intend to spend a couple of days at the Cape and visit the Kennedy Space Center and do some maintance on the boat while we have Mike aboard. I have been working on his "to do" list since I learned he was coming. All for now, THE CREW plus ONE
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving 2009
We picked up Capt. Mike at the airport who arrived right on time. We returned to the marina where Thanksgiving festivities were just underway. Pete and Jane met a couple from Ireland who had just arrived at the marina and invited them to dinner. They were from Ireland and had done a transatlantic a couple a years ago and have been cruising America since on their boat "Safari". Here we all are just sitting down to dinner:
Trudie and Jane did a GREAT job preparing turkey (I had earlier said it was going to be chicken...but was wrong) and all the fixing right down to a Trudie original homemake apple pie...Delicious !!!! And, here are the boys cleaning up after dinner: 
We had planned on leaving at first light for a motor down the ICW to St. Augustine, but the entire crew of Persephone overslept. We awoke at 8 am and didn't get underway until just before 9 am. We didn't make it to St. Augustine so we pulled off the ICW into a little creek to spend the night. Again, we are anchored in an isolated area far from civilization. Trudie is making dinner as I type, and Mike is drinking a beer. Yes, all is in balance aboard Persephone.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
THANKSGIVING SURPRISE !
Hey all.....
As we mentioned in our last post, we got a call a couple of days ago. The call was from our regular crew member Mike who said he had to take some vacation time from work by the end of the year or he would lose it. SO....Mike asked where we would be for Thanksgiving and he was flying in !! What a great Thanksgiving surpirse!! We decided the closest airport to our position was Jacksonville, and Mike immediately booked his flight. Mike will arrive here at 4 PM today, so we rented a car to pick him up at the airport. Mike will be spending the next 10 days aboard while we wind our way down the coast of Florida. We want to keep moving so we can get far enough south to cross over to the Bahamas for Christmas.
We have been working on the "to do" list for Mike since he called. A light is burned out halfway up the mast, a piece of tape needs to be redone up the mast as well. (I don't do heights !!!!) We have been experiencing some battery charging issues for the past week. (We may need to replace our entire battery bank consisting of five large batteries....read BIG bucks.) MacGiver Mike will sort it all out....we hope!!
After picking up Mike, we will be going to "Kinvara" for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. A turkey won't fit into a galley sized oven so chicken is the bird of the day. Trudie has been busy making the side dishes to bring along. It's going to be a great dinner, and our first holiday since cutting the dock lines and going cruising. Sure doesn't look like Thanksgiving outside with bright skies, palm trees and warm weather. We will just have to make do :)
Gotta go and clean up "Mike's Room" and get some directions to the airport..... Happy Thanksgiving to all !! THE CREW
As we mentioned in our last post, we got a call a couple of days ago. The call was from our regular crew member Mike who said he had to take some vacation time from work by the end of the year or he would lose it. SO....Mike asked where we would be for Thanksgiving and he was flying in !! What a great Thanksgiving surpirse!! We decided the closest airport to our position was Jacksonville, and Mike immediately booked his flight. Mike will arrive here at 4 PM today, so we rented a car to pick him up at the airport. Mike will be spending the next 10 days aboard while we wind our way down the coast of Florida. We want to keep moving so we can get far enough south to cross over to the Bahamas for Christmas.
We have been working on the "to do" list for Mike since he called. A light is burned out halfway up the mast, a piece of tape needs to be redone up the mast as well. (I don't do heights !!!!) We have been experiencing some battery charging issues for the past week. (We may need to replace our entire battery bank consisting of five large batteries....read BIG bucks.) MacGiver Mike will sort it all out....we hope!!
After picking up Mike, we will be going to "Kinvara" for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. A turkey won't fit into a galley sized oven so chicken is the bird of the day. Trudie has been busy making the side dishes to bring along. It's going to be a great dinner, and our first holiday since cutting the dock lines and going cruising. Sure doesn't look like Thanksgiving outside with bright skies, palm trees and warm weather. We will just have to make do :)
Gotta go and clean up "Mike's Room" and get some directions to the airport..... Happy Thanksgiving to all !! THE CREW
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Lions, Tigers and Bears...Oh My !!!
Well, we'll get to lions, tigers and bears in a second....
We left Hilton Head after a couple of days of R + R. As we said, the place we stayed was beautiful:
You can see Persephone in the foreground. The "Kinvaras" climbed to the top of the lighthouse to take pictures. T and I stayed firmly on the ground. One hundred-fifteen stairs on a hot day didn't interest us !!
We left from Hilton Head and left the ICW for a sail in the ocean to St. Catherine's Inlet. It was a blustery sail, with a moderate breeze but big rollers. We anchored in Walburg Creek adjacent to St. Catherines. St. C's is owned by the NY Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo people) and used to raise and breed exotic animals. The island is off limits to the public so we couldn't go exploring.
Walburg Creek is in the middle of nowhere...no people, services or supplies...NOTHING except nature. A real contrast to our Hilton Head experience.
We left Walburg at first light and went back to the ocean. "Kinvara" opted for inside down the ICW route. Our destination was St. Simon's Island about 30 miles from St. Catherines. We were making great time and weather was favorable, so we made the decision to press on to St. Mary's inlet. (An additional 25 miles) The St. Mary's River is the divider between Georgia and Florida. We arrived at the inlet just at sunset. The inlet is 5 miles long but very well lit. Once inside the inlet it was pitch dark and there were three intersecting channels with red and green bouys flashing everywhere. (We later counted 78 bouys at the channel junction !!) We picked our way up the channel and turned into an unmarked channel leading to Cumberland Island. We got the anchor down and had an emergency beer. Trudie exclamined that her "legs were like jelly". Our electronic navigation equipment really paid off that night.
Cumberland Isand is a US National Park donated by the Carnegie Estate. The ruins of their summer home called Dungeness (interesting name) is what remains. Mrs. Carnegie in her will ordered the release of all her horses upon her death. The horses roam wild....we saw 5 horses yesterday romaining the ruins. In addition, we saw a flock of wild turkeys, and several armardillos, The beach is inspiring....huge rolling dunes, and a flat beach which streaches for literally 10 miles in each direction. The only access to Cumberland is by boat. So, there are only a handfull of people at any time on the isand. We have spent two days here enjoying the scenery. But it's time to move south into FLORIDA. When I am done with this post, we will haul our anchor and take a quick hop over to St. Fernandina, FL.
We got a phone call a couple of days ago......we received a REALLY BIG surprise which we will share....but, that has to wait till tomorrow. (NO, Trudie's NOT pregnant) Stay tuned. THE CREW
We left Hilton Head after a couple of days of R + R. As we said, the place we stayed was beautiful:
You can see Persephone in the foreground. The "Kinvaras" climbed to the top of the lighthouse to take pictures. T and I stayed firmly on the ground. One hundred-fifteen stairs on a hot day didn't interest us !!
We left from Hilton Head and left the ICW for a sail in the ocean to St. Catherine's Inlet. It was a blustery sail, with a moderate breeze but big rollers. We anchored in Walburg Creek adjacent to St. Catherines. St. C's is owned by the NY Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo people) and used to raise and breed exotic animals. The island is off limits to the public so we couldn't go exploring.
Walburg Creek is in the middle of nowhere...no people, services or supplies...NOTHING except nature. A real contrast to our Hilton Head experience.
We left Walburg at first light and went back to the ocean. "Kinvara" opted for inside down the ICW route. Our destination was St. Simon's Island about 30 miles from St. Catherines. We were making great time and weather was favorable, so we made the decision to press on to St. Mary's inlet. (An additional 25 miles) The St. Mary's River is the divider between Georgia and Florida. We arrived at the inlet just at sunset. The inlet is 5 miles long but very well lit. Once inside the inlet it was pitch dark and there were three intersecting channels with red and green bouys flashing everywhere. (We later counted 78 bouys at the channel junction !!) We picked our way up the channel and turned into an unmarked channel leading to Cumberland Island. We got the anchor down and had an emergency beer. Trudie exclamined that her "legs were like jelly". Our electronic navigation equipment really paid off that night.
Cumberland Isand is a US National Park donated by the Carnegie Estate. The ruins of their summer home called Dungeness (interesting name) is what remains. Mrs. Carnegie in her will ordered the release of all her horses upon her death. The horses roam wild....we saw 5 horses yesterday romaining the ruins. In addition, we saw a flock of wild turkeys, and several armardillos, The beach is inspiring....huge rolling dunes, and a flat beach which streaches for literally 10 miles in each direction. The only access to Cumberland is by boat. So, there are only a handfull of people at any time on the isand. We have spent two days here enjoying the scenery. But it's time to move south into FLORIDA. When I am done with this post, we will haul our anchor and take a quick hop over to St. Fernandina, FL.
We got a phone call a couple of days ago......we received a REALLY BIG surprise which we will share....but, that has to wait till tomorrow. (NO, Trudie's NOT pregnant) Stay tuned. THE CREW
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