A Crowning Moment

      Enough is enough.  It's time to get out of dodge, or in this case, West Palm Beach, Florida.  By this time on Sunday, Sharon and I had enough of marina life.  But there was one problem.  The weather in central Florida is still being influenced by Hurricane Sandy, and the cold front that kept Sandy out of Florida.  Since late Saturday, the winds have been pounding Big Run on the port beam with 20-25 MPH winds sustained.  We had to secure Big Run in the slip with two more lines, for a total of 12 lines.  With the winds on the port beam, it was going to be difficult to back Big Run out of the slip.  If we were to attempt to release from the dock in a haphazard fashion, the winds would have slammed Big Run into the pilings on the starboard side.  Sunday was spent preparing to leave the marina on Monday morning when we anticipated light winds early in the morning just before sunrise.  Another challenge caused by Sandy was the extreme high tides.  Sunday morning the water was over the docks.  Monday morning's high tide was predicted for 9 a.m.  Early Sunday afternoon, during low tide, we managed to get off the boat.  Sharon went to the office to pay the bill while I disconnected the utilities - electric, water and cable.  We also had to reconfigure all the dock lines.  The bow lines, which had been set up for the strong northerly winds on Friday, were changed over to single lines.  The port bow had been secured with triple lines, and the starboard bow was double for the storm.  Once converted, all the lines were set up for quick release from on the boat for Monday morning as we would not be able to get off of the boat due to high tide.  By 3 p.m. all of the preparations were made for Monday morning.

     We were that anxious to get out of the marina, we didn't need an alarm clock Monday morning and were up by 6:30 a.m.  We discussed our plan and set the wheels in motion at 7:00, just barely enough light to see the channel out of the marina back onto the ICW.  Our plan was to remove all dock lines on the starboard side of the boat.  Then, slowly work the boat back an extra 10 feet by pulling on the port stern line and then letting out some slack on the port bow line.  Once we had the boat moved back as far as possible, we had to release the one all important line, the port midship line which keep us tight to the port side pilings.  Once the midship line was release, we had to work quickly.  On cue, I released the bow line, and simultaneously Sharon released the port midship line while maintaining tension on the port stern line.  I quickly went to the pilothouse to put the transmission in reverse.  As designed, the lines released, and Big Run very gracefully backed out of the slip without leaning on or rubbing a piling while the winds were blowing at 20 MPH on the port beam.  As I continued to back Big Run away from the marina, Sharon was responsible to retrieve the dock lines that had released from their dock cleats and pilings and fell into the water.  Although the lines were still attached to the boat, Sharon had to accomplish her mission quickly to keep the lines from fouling the prop.  By 7:10 a.m. we had Big Run turned around and heading out the channel towards the ICW.  Thanks to some creative docking line design we looked like we knew what we were doing.  Too bad nobody was watching.  Definitely a crowning moment. 

Tired Of Waiting

      "If you're waiting on me you're wasting time".  This is something I have told Sharon on a few occasions.  I'm always ready.  For the last 5 days I have been waiting on a woman, not Sharon but Sandy.  For the last 5 days we have been wasting time in a marina in West Palm Beach, Florida.  It all started last Saturday or Sunday when a yet to be named unorganized cluster of storm cells reared their ugly heads into a tropical depression well south of Jamaica.  At this point in time we were moving south on the ICW through Florida.  On Monday, as the predictions started leaning on a northerly track, we called the marina that we had previously booked for Wednesday night for other reasons, plan A.  The marina said they had a slip for us if we decided to come in on Tuesday.  Our original plan, Plan A, was to stay at the marina Wednesday night, go to the U.S. Customs & Immigrations Office on Thursday morning for our Local Boaters Option (LBO) interview and leave late Thursday morning for points south, Miami.  The LBO is a program designed to reduce the amount of hoops we, as boaters, experience when we return to the U.S. from foreign waters.  More on that next Spring when we return from the Bahamas; back to Plan B.  Late Tuesday afternoon we arrived at the marina, after the office staff had left but a few dock workers stayed on to catch our lines.  On Wednesday, Sharon went to the office to do an official check in when she was informed that if the winds from the storm exceeded 45 MPH sustained, the marina GM would shut down the marina and all boats would have to leave.  Now think about that decision, the storm is approaching, the winds would be at 45 MPH sustained, probably gusting to 60 and I would have to leave the marina when the GM orders us out.  In your dreams!  Fortunately for the GM, the winds never reached 45 sustained or I would have had to break the GM's little stone cold heart and stay nicely tied up to a rock solid concrete dock.  Friday was a day mainly spent in the pilothouse watching the events of the storm unfold around us.  One boat broke free from its mooring and drifted towards the marina but was snagged by a anchor line that the owner of a large catamaran had deployed to keep his boat from pounding the dock because of the northerly winds.  That was the highlight of the day as the owner of the drifting boat and the marina's dockmaster went diving to free the boat from the anchor line.  The boat was freed from the anchor line and was never seen again.   Rain squall after rain squall came through the area, the winds reached 40 MPH sustained with gust to 55 MPH. The eye of the storm passed 190 miles to the east of us on Friday.  Today, Saturday, Hurricane Sandy is on her way north, but I find myself still having to wait as her winds continue to buffer us from the west.  This is our third hurricane while on the boat.  There was Hurricane Earl in 2010, Hurricane Irene in 2011 and now, Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  For Hurricane Irene we were on the hook and the other two hurricanes were rode out in marinas.

     The eye of Hurricane Sandy passed just to the south and east of our cruising grounds in the Bahamas, the Exumas.  We did hear from Frank and Peg, who have a home at our favorite Bahamian anchorage,  They are doing well and everybody is okay.  They did experience 105 MPH winds and their home was not damaged.  Now, if we can get rid of Sandy I'm ready to get back on track.  I'm tired of waiting.

Weather Window

     The last sixteen days were spent in Brunswick, GA with Ken & Cindy (S/V Meant To Be).  We were anchored just a short dinghy ride from their waterfront home which includes a deep water dock for their catamaran and a dinghy dock for us.  When we weren’t busy with happy hours, dinner parties, dining out or going to the county fair, we were busy working!  I was waiting for teak deck seam caulk and because the manufacturer botched the next day air shipping, I had plenty of time to help Ken with his projects.  It felt good to be doing house projects but not as good as not having a house and not having to do house projects all year long.  No more owning a house, our next home will be a condo where the landlord takes care of the all problems.  Ken and I did finish a screening project he had started earlier for the screened-in covered porch.  We even had time to work on some of Ken’s boat projects.  One of the boat projects was to add 165 feet of chain rode to the catamaran’s existing chain rode.  Now, the catamaran has an all chain rode of over 300 feet.  I wish Big Run had the same, you never know when you’ll need it.  Sharon volunteered to work at the local humane society where Cindy also volunteered.  Sharon had the opportunity to walk as many dogs as she wanted, but was given strict orders that she could not keep any of them.  Sharon also helped Cindy with a dock decorating project.  Cindy wanted to use the fishing buoys to decorate the dock with what she had found while beachcombing in the Bahamas.  We knew of the project and decided to contribute all the fishing buoys we had stashed in Big Run’s lazarette.

     It was great time, thanks Ken & Cindy,  but it was time to move on.  We did make plans to reunite with Ken & Cindy in the Bahamas, probably at our favorite anchorage, Plain Bay.  Until then, our next destination is Miami and South Beach.  We’ll hang out there waiting to cross over to the Bahamas, but we’ll have to wait for a good weather window.

"Farewell till we meet again dinner" at Driftwood Bistro on Jekyll Island, Ga.  Left to Right - Sharon, Ken & Cindy (S/V Meant To Be) & Bob.   "Flip that Fish"!

Brunswick, GA

     In celebration of our reunion with Ken & Cindy (S/V Meant To Be), Mother Nature provided us with a spectacular "event" over Brunswick, GA.