Savannah and beyond

I have never taken so much time to sail from the Bahamas back to Norfolk. It is a strange feeling but not unpleasant.
In Savannah, we were welcome by the local Brotherhood of the Coast and treated like kings. Arriving a Thunderbolt marina, I did not even have time to go and get my rental car that they were already on the boat to welcome us when I came back. This was the start of a wonderful four days with the brothers and their wives entertaining us in turns. Albert and Alise the first evening, then dinner at Patrick and Wren the next day, then everybody showing up at Tubby's on Friday, and finally a wonderful brunch at Mike and Karen, celebrating Alise's birthday. Certainly the best time I have ever had in Savannah for a long long time.
From Savannah, we left kind of late on Sunday afternoon and dropped anchor immediately south of Port Royal sound in Skull Creek. Very quiet and charming anchorage, on the side of the waterway.
After a quiet night, we left for Beaufort, SC, which was only 15 miles away, and where we arrived at 10:15 in the morning, with plenty of time to enjoy this historic little town, full of southern culture and architecture. We even took a horse drawn carriage tour with a fun filled commentary by a young guide.
We left Beaufort, SC at the 9:00 o'clock opening of the Ladies Island bridge and took the St Helena sound to go outside and sail straight to Southport, NC.
During the night, the gremlins struck again and we lost compass light, engine compartment ventilation, tachometer, oil pressure and temperature indications, and everything controlled by the engine room control panel. I knew at that point that there was no way to stop the engine as we might risk not to be able to restart it. We made it safely to Southport marina, called for a marine electrician, moved the boat by hand away from the fuel dock, and then a little bit later found out that everything had gone back to normal, with no way of identifying the problem, apart from assuming a bad or loose connection somewhere in the vicinity of the starter motor.
I just hope that the problem will not happen again, at least until I arrive in Norfolk.
From Southport we sailed up to Wrightsville Beach and managed to sail over a crab pot that got wrapped around the prop or the shaft. Be reversing the engine a few times, I managed to get rid of most of the lines and material, enough to get to Wrightsville Beach but with still some vibrations indicating probably still some line around the shaft. A diver came to the boat while we were away with Tom and Barbara and left a piece of line on the boat, probably to indicate to me that he had cleared the prop. I still have not seen the diver and I hope I will as I want to know whether the cutlass bearing is intact.
We are now in for some more dining and drinking with Tom and Barbara who are again showing and incredible sense of hospitality.

Snail pace

We got to Saint Augustine, after a windless passage from Cape Canaveral, and made the 11:00 a.m. opening of the Bridge of Lions.
As always, I enjoyed very much those two days in Saint Augustine. It is a very pleasant city, claiming to be the oldest city in the US, dating back to the middle of the 16Th century.
The day we arrived, we met with Rick and Pam, who are looking to buy a boat and go cruising, and with whom I had been in contact for some time. We had dinner across the street from the marina in a nice restaurant with good food and live entertainment, fortunately not too loud.
On Tuesday, we started the day with a long walk to find a pharmacy where David could find an alternative solution in the absence of his glasses that went swimming in Port Canaveral.
Back on the boat shortly before noon, we just had time to get into fresh T-Shirts before meeting Tom and Sarah who had driven all the way from Jacksonville to be with us. Again, pleasant lunch, in a restaurant across the street from the marina, but not the same one. As those who have followed the blog already know, Tom and Sarah have been really good to me, providing me with weather advice, but also technical advice any time I had a problem with the boat. Again, thank you so much Tom and Sarah.
In the evening, we went into historic Savannah for dinner and chose a place a little bit out of the traditional tourist path, quiet and not a rip off, for a beer and a light meal. Got back to the boat at a decent time, although there was going to be no rush the next day as we only needed to make the 8:30 opening of the bridge of Lions.
This was again a windless passage, but this time with a very high humidity, probably 100 %, and the windscreen of the dodger was continually covered with water.
I had chosen to take the Wilmington river entrance and therefore timed our speed to arrive at sunrise at the first marker. Problem free entrance to the Thunderbolt marina where we arrived at 9:30 in the morning.

Swimming

freeport_canaveral, a photo by brisegalets on Flickr.

Not a lot to say about the crossing from Ezio's place, east of Port Lucay to Cape Canaveral. It took 26 hours with only 8 hours of sailing. It sucks but that is often the case in these parts.
We arrived in Cape Canaveral around 10:30 on Friday and were greeted by Gary who took us first to lunch at the Grills by the water and then to the Customs Office for clearance.
We then went to Publix to refill with beer, wine and other less important commodities.
In the evening, we had almost a replica of the dinner I had there on the way out in 2009 with Roland, Justin, Daphne, Gary and his sweet heart Dolores, and of course David and myself. Only Dave could not make it.
Saturday, we spend the morning, or rather what was left of it, to go to West Marine as I am missing a few things on the boat (you are always missing something on a boat.).
We could not find an "abandon ship bag" on the Merritt Island shop and had to go to Melbourne, which very conveniently was located near the other Grill where we were to meet Gary. After a nice lunch there, I wanted to find a sports bar where I could watch the third round of the Masters Golf tournament. I tried to stick to fruit juice or lemonade, but we not all had the same idea.
So, after we came back to the boat, there was a need for more drinks and this did not go to well with the sense of balance of one of the crewmembers of Papy Jovial. In short, it ended up with a fall into the drink and frantic efforts to fish him out, efforts wich were eventually successful, at the cost of a cell phone, a pair of prescription glasses and a wet wallet. Other than that, no catastrophic injuries, just a few scratches.
Sunday morning, Dolores came to visit Papy Jovial and I am told that she enjoyed the tour. After that, quick lunch all together and we left Port Canaveral around 4 in the afternoon for the historic city of Saint Augustine.

A very intense week

60th anniversary Hermandad 098, a photo by brisegalets on Flickr.

On March the 28, I had left Papy Jovial to fly to Miami and spend one day with David and Miriam. This gave me an opportunity to update myself on electronics and go to Chile, still able to communicate from there.
On the 30th early Morning, I flew from Miami to Santiago via Panama where I arrived shortly after 8 p.m.
That's when it started. As soon as I arrived in the hotel, I got ready to go to a party organized by the Brothers of the Coast of the Santiago group (we call that a table) to celebrate their 60th anniversary. There was plenty of food, plenty of drinks and plenty of friendship and it went on late into the night.
Next day, there was nothing going on until the afternoon, so I went for a walk and lunch in town, but not too far from the hotel as I did not want to get lost. The official start of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the brotherhood took place at the Hyatt hotel where we all registered and then had a wonderful dinner, all of us dressed in the formal "uniform" of the brotherhood, consisting of blazer and tricorne. Again, the event went on well into the night before we were taken back to the hotel.
After a very short night, it was time to board a bus to go and visit a winery more than 3 hours south of Santiago. There was a choice between the english speaking bus and the spanish speaking bus, and I chose the latter, first because it was the one going to my hotel, also because I want to try and improve my ability to communicate in Spanish.
Wonderful day. The winery was very interesting, being a small winery compared with the "Concha y Toro" giant. Obviously, the visit had to include a "tasting" session, but I did my best to minimize the "tasting" to be able to get back to the hotel still standing !
We got back very late and after a very quick dinner of one serving of french onion soup, time to crash.
Next day was the big day. First, we were taken by bus to Valparaiso. First, we went to visit the house of the chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Then we went on to visit the Naval Museum after a brief ceremony in the yard of the museum in presence of authorities from the Chilean Navy. In the museum, a room had been dedicated to the Hermandad de la Costa and it was inaugurated by the Admiral who had been attending the visit. That visit helped me understand a little better why the history of the seafarers of the 17th and 18th century, particularly in the Caribbean, are viewed quite differently depending on what culture you come from. I am not sure that I would myself have put on the same level sir Francis Drake and sir Henry Morgan next to Captain Kidd and Mary Read or Ann Bonney. All depends whether you are used to being a target as opposed to being the agressor, legally or not.
From the museum we were taken to a very nice restaurant with a view over the harbour of Valparaiso for more food and more drinks, and more fun, and more camaraderie.
After that extended visit to Valparaiso and the return trip to Santiago, we neede a little time to get ready for the main event, wich was a gala dinner. The dress code for that event was Combat. For those who don't know, it means dressing the way movie makers, marketers and others unscrupulous historians want us to see the corsaires, privateers and pirates of the 18th century are portrayed. Actually, those people would dress any way they like using whatever clothes was available to them from the loot.
The net result is that those events in the "Hermandad de la Costa" which call for that dress code are always very colourful and are a lot of fun.
Again, that event went well into the night, the dinner being followed by music and dancing. The good news was that the next day, final day of the event, was not to start before 9:30 in the morning when the buses were supposed to pick us up at the hotel. The programme for the day was first a visit of downtown Santiago and then a dancing luncheon at a typical restaurant with a show of Chilean dances. The dancing then involved everybody and went on until 5 p.m.
That did not leave much time for me to pack and nap before leaving for the airport at 10:30 p.m. for a flight that did not take off before 3 in the morning. But I was told that you had to be at the airport at least 3 hours before the flight. Except that many people were confused being the standard time and the daylight saving time. I finally landed in Freeport around 5 p.m. and Ezio was there to pick me up.
I think I will need a couple of days to recover before resuming normal activities.

Another round trip

Moving up at Grand Lucaya Waterway a photo by brisegalets on Flickr.

Another week in paradise (almost, the temperature still below 72 in the morning) is ending.
Yesterday, we were treated to a great moon show. The moon was at the closest it can be to earth on a full moon and there was not a cloud in the sky. Great show. It certainly helps getting a better understanding of the origin of the expression "mooning somebody".
During that last week, I did another quick round trip to Florida. This time I flew to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, early (we got out of the cut at 6:30 a.m.) sailed across to Grand Bahamas with my friend Henri on Moving Up. At first sight, the weather window did not look all that great for that kind of powerboat, but in fact, it turned out to be almost perfect and we got to Port Lucaya in good time since we arrived at the customs dock at 12:25.
This time, clearing customs and immigration did not take long and we were back at the Grand Lucaya Waterway early in the afternoon. Pleasant dinner with Ezio and Stephanie, travel arrangements for Henri returning on Thursday to Fort Lauderdale and the day was over.
On Thursday, I drove Henri to the airport, and then went back to Papy Jovial, killing time with regular maintenance work.
Not much will happen until I fly to Miami and then Chile on the 28, so there won't be much to tell on the blog.
See you in a week

preparing to swim

Ezio's swimming pool 004 a photo by brisegalets on Flickr.

Finally, I spent not two but three weeks in Fort Lauderdale, the third week being devoted to shopping, knowing that I was going to spend the whole month of March at Ezio's place.
Ezio arrived on Tuesday, his friend Bob on Wednesday. By the time we had installed the sails back in place, put out the shopping inside the boat in such a way that we could still live in there and be comfortable sailing back to Lucaya, the week-end was there.
We left on Sunday morning around 8 o'clock, passed the 17th street bridge at 8:30 and were out of the cut by 8:45. We were fortunate enough to have good wind, 15 to 20 knots roughly from a southerly direction and sailed at more than 7 knots for the first 8 hours of the trip. Then the wind abandoned us and I had, once again, to hoist the Yanmar sail and arrived at Ezio's place, on the Grand Lucaya Waterway at 22:55.
After a bite and a short sleep, we returned to Port Lucaya marina to clear customs and immigration, which kept us there until 2:30 in the afternoon after which we could return to the Lucaya Waterway.
The following days, Ezio worked hard in putting he finishing touches to the swimming pool and there is hope that by the end of this week we might be able to use it.
Meanwhile, I am returning tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) to Fort Lauderdale and leave on Wednesday aboard Moving'us with my friend Henri and sail (powerboat) back to Lucaya. The weather window does not look all that great for a powerboat, but it should be quiet enough to be able to do it in good time.

Another week in Sunshine State

Fort Lauderdale a photo by brisegalets on Flickr.

Another week during which I did not have to switch on the heater, the temperature remaining all week above 72. After the festivities of the President's day week-end, it was mostly work on Papy Jovial, to take care of some of the wear and tear resulting from the last 34,000 miles. She now has a brand new goose neck on the main, a new traveler for the spinnaker boom, and although it does not show, new pins on the elements of the roller furler. I should get the sails back this week. Oil change and other minor maintenance have been performed and she is almost ready to go out again.
On the positive, there was the visit of Tom and Sarah, the original parents of Papy Jovial when she was Precept. Tom and Sarah have been with me by email the whole trip, helping me not only with the weather, but anytime I would mention on this blog a technical difficulty on the boat, they would immediately send me an email suggesting ways to deal with the problem. I will never be able to thank them enough.
O)n the negative, there were two more yachts taken by the Somali pirates, one american with all four people on board killed in circumstances net yet very clear, and one danish yacht, with seven people including children, taken to the Somali coast for what promises to be another long wait in captivity waiting for someone to pay a ransom.
I am upset because I believe that those people who very clearly had no business being in that dangerous area, indirectly, were pushed to choose that route by people who keep claiming that the route around South Africa is dangerous and treacherous. This could not be further from the truth. Having done it myself, I had spoken to numerous skippers from South Africa who sail around their country all year round. Yes, you have to watch the weather very carefully, yes you have to make sure that you are not out there where worse conditons can be met. But with good weather information and careful planning, there is no more problem than sailing around britanny in the west part of France, or other areas known for difficult weather conditons at times.
By repeating endlessly that the route around South Africa is not doable by the average ocean cruiser, the end result is more people choose to go the Red Sea route with the consequences of risking a pirate attack. And the percentage of getting caught is very high, I am told around 1 %. If you were told that 1 % of the flights were going to fall out of the sky, would you fly ?
Enough said, but anybody who would like to know more about my experience going around South Africa, you can contact me on "brisegalets@yahoo.com"