NEXT TIME AROUND

It may take a little more money but this is how it should be done. Five star or maybe ten star luxury in the staterooms, all the amenities you can dream of, and on the aft deck, your easily launched sailing yacht for arriving in port as though you have just crossed the ocean. Then when no-one is looking you hoist it back on board and away you go again.................naw, I wouldn't have it for a month of Sundays. Where is the fun in all that..

The megayacht "LE GRAND BLUE" in Nassau

NOW THAT"S A PORTHOLE

With temperatures plummeting in Jacksonville FL, we are forced to look for an alternative. We find it at "I-WANT-A-CRUISE.COM". A five-day cruise to the Bahamas for $280.00 per person with all you can eat included. It should have been sold as " THE GLUT-BUCKET CRUISE". A breakfast to die for, lunch buffet till you can't take any more and then a beautiful five-course dinner and a very slow walk back to your cabin to find your bed made and turned down and a walrus in it. Next to the towel animals every night are mint chocolates as if there is space to put it. For those with space, there is a continuous buffet on the afterdeck 24 hours a day. Next morning its time to check the dock lines before going to town in Nassau. We see the sights and do some Christmas shopping for the grandkids, Rebekah, Zac and Ella and buy some more bottles of 'Ricardo's Mango Rum' for the bonded journey back to America.



We took the ferry to Paradise Island to visit the magnificent hotel "ATLANTIS" with its wrap-around aquarium filled with every type of fish, large and small and even Manta rays and of course the "QUEEN's" royal throne. The Casino has breath-taking glass sculptures by Chihuly and the marina has million dollar powerboats with jacuzzis on the aft deck. The gardens and flowers match the architecture. Inspiring to say the least.



We set sail as the sun was setting, we cruised all night through the Bahama islands past Eleuthera to arrive at dawn at the island of 'Little San Salvador' and the bay called "Half-Moon Cay". It doesn't get any better unless you are at the Whitsundays on the Great Barrier Reef. The crew offloaded more food by barge and put on a BBQ for two and a half thousand people on the beach. We took a very long walk to escape the multitude. In late February we should be anchored in this same bay and perhaps by then we will be hungry again. The Queen did suggest I leave her there and pick her up at that time, but even she would get sick of BBQ being served every couple of days.




The crew are forever working on maintenance including this guy further down, sanding the stairs and re-varnishing the brightwork. He should be finished with the stairs by the end of the month. Since 9/11 the bridge is off limits and even the crew and staff communicate with the officers by email. We made a special request to visit the bridge and when it was eventually granted we were escorted by three guards. The view and the technology is awesome. We learned a lot from them in terms of how they perceive people in small yachts. Our vessel next to this liner would look like a floating sea-gull and very difficult to observe on radar. The only thing we had in common was the size of the binoculars.



A smooth sail back to Jacksonville, clear customs, back in the car and home to ARITA which somehow just doesn't look or feel the same. It's just as well that I made the QUEEN sign a declaration stating..... " Being of sound mind and body I hereby declare that I will not demand turned down beds, endless food, constant runnnnnning hot and cold showers........music performed by orchestras.....



A wonderful birthday present for Laurie. The cake was inscribed with "27" since she certainly looks half her age. Feel free to double click on any of the photos. The next cruise leaves from Jacksonville tomorrow and if you're hungry......

VIEW THROUGH THE PORTHOLE

When the tide goes out we can't see a thing through the porthole except the side of the dock. So that answers than one. But all is not lost. Our Christmas cactus in a bowl on the saloon table is bursting into bloom in the middle of the winter. Life re-born. The Queen went for a long walk yesterday and discovered many things in bloom. FlORIDA is wonderful in the winter while NEW YORK, CHICAGO and beyond are in blizzards, snow and ice.



The day was warm enough for ice-cream desert. Take a spoon, put it in the cordless drill, take some ice-cream from the container, add some chocolate oreo cookies (biscuits) from the packet and stir them up to make some delicious " Mc-ARITAS ". Real cool, literally.



Marina life is something else. It's like living in the floating suburbs with the city in the distance. The yachts come and go, get hauled out, repainted, renovated and face-lifted, saggy bottoms are taken care of, colours are changed, gear is added or removed and each day is a whole new spectacle.



You can see the colourful sail covers of "SVEA" (red) and of "ARITA" (Persian green) in the photos. That's almost the same as looking for "Wally". From the bridge the view is way better than at dock level, and certainly a lot better than at water-level. Trust me on that one. I took one extra step on(off) the dock last week while cleaning the dinghy and found out the hard barnacle way. Floating around in very cold water beneath the dock was...... well ... not gooooood. A rare occasion when I did not have my cellphone (mobile) in my pocket. Not that I could have used it call anyone...... while thrashing around like a plucked duck. You can see the dinghy on the end of the dock on the right.

LIVING ON THE WATERLINE

It is a very strange feeling to be sleeping at a level six inches (150mm) under the waterlevel about plank thickness away. It is even stranger to realise the toilet ( the head) is now below water. Whoever leaves the pump switch open is in serious trouble. YES,... WE HAVE FULLY MOVED ON BOARD. YES,... WE ARE STILL FLOATING, ALTHOUGH SOMEWHAT LOWER IN THE WATER. YES,.... WE CAN DO THIS. The good thing is that everything is very close. The bad thing is that everything is very close. Bending down is a toss-up between butting your head or hitting your butt. Until we are fully used to it all we are definitely living in the ultimate "Bruise Factory".



The Queen's adaptation to the new galley is wonderful. I heard her dancing and singing while trying to make her pressure cooker work. I think she was singing. Hot coffee from a cooktop percolator in the morning is also new and tastes real good, and with LP gas it really is hot. It is terrific to have instant hot water on board from our LP gas heater. Luxury cruising at its best. On the downside is the constant dripping condensation from the ceiling when the outside temperature is 4-5 degress below freezing in the morning. On the upside is the fact that we have a little heater going during the night and we are, as they say, " COZY AND TOASTY".



We have changed the departure plan a bit. The new owners of SVEA will arrive in January and so we will delay our departure so that we can leave together. It makes the most sense, keeps us tied to the dock (and to a heater) and will allow us to do some orientation with them before the joint adventures begin. "IN SEARCH OF PALMS" CONTINUES. Soon I hope, before it becomes " IN SEARCH OF ALMS".

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Here are three blossoms to remember the joys of summer. The Queen and her daughter on the water's edge at Long Cay in the Exumas, part of the southern Bahamas, during our summer cruise in 2004. Both photos are enough to keep anyone warm this winter.

FAREWELL TO FRIENDS

The POT OF GOLD is definitely buried in JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. A wonderful chance to work, to meet the Queen, to discover tremendous friends including John Moore who took the rainbow shot and a grand opportunity to fix and repair many things on ARITA. These same friends, some eighty or more came together last night to celebrate our eminent departure.

The farewell party was wonderful. The QUEEN's longtime friendship with her three bosom buddies dates back to junior high (primary) school. That's over FORTY YEARS. (Did I just give away Her highness's age). What's not remarkable is that we change our clothes regularly, our shoes and watches less regularly, our vehicles on occasions, our houses even less, but when you hang out with the same friends for FORTY YEARS now that's REMARKABLE.
LISA, KAREN, ROBIN and LAUREN, steel magnolias, all of them.



The caps and a good bottle of Bahamian Mango Rum are all that remained standing of the Pirate and his Queen. Not sure if the bottle is exactly standing ........... Perhaps the Pirate's cap says it best...... "Time flies when you're having Rum".

Thank you to all those who came and have supported us all these years, especially Laura, Brent and Robin. You certainly know how to throw a great party. It is truly a treasure to know all of you and those who couldn't make it. Most things are just stuff, but friendships are irreplaceable. Please join us on this journey and stay connected.

LOADING HER UP

The cold is here and it is here to stay, at least for the next couple of months. Shortly, we will be joining that long line of "snowbird" yachts heading down the Intracoastal waterway (ICW) on their way to the Caribbean for the winter sailing season. Thoughts and images of our past cruises in the Bahamas and beyond keep recurring. We have memories of sights like the magnificent tropical flowers, golden beaches, waving sea-oats and incredibly blue water.



YES.... WE ARE LOADING AND GETTING READY TO GO. We should be in Micco near Sebastion for Thanksgiving to spend time with the "Duchess" Dana Hope, the Queen's sister and her husband "Count" Chris Hope.

SPLASH.......

FINALLY ARITA IS BACK IN HER ELEMENT. Amazing how easily you pick up a yacht turn it and move it over the water and just drop it in. It used to be a case of divers putting solid wood blocks on a railwaycar all under water, and the yacht slowly coming out of the water on a sloping railway. Shivering, shaking and rocking as it came up. In those days one's heart would make the same vibrations until the yacht came to a stop at the end of the track. Double click on the pics to get better detail.



Time to start loading stuff on board by first taking stuff off. One of the benefits of all this is that many of the boat items are equally useful on SVEA so that it too will be more fully equiped for extended cruising as a result of all the acquired gear for ARITA. Over the years we have ended up with spares of everything. We even have spares for spares. Time to get real or get a U-HAUL barge.




There was frost on the windscreen this morning..... it is definitely time to get moving and head south, I mean south beyond FLORIDA. Somewhere where the hibiscus blooms all year long and where in "winter" you need the shade of a palm tree. Somewhere south where you can walk in bare feet with sand on your toes and the smell of salt in the air.