SURVIVAL AND SURVIVING ............................

DARWIN WOULD DIE IF HE KNEW............. Clearly when the sea-turtles move inland like these, some 32 miles(50km) from the shore, serious mutations take place. Not only that, but the hind flippers seem to have become legs with boots that would make any football player ask for more money. Don't free Willie, we need some "FREE FLIPPIE".........



We drove to Jacksonville to spend time with friends and family and to share the magic moments of Pat Hinton's birthday, the "big one plus ten". Now Pat is big time executive who in his other pursuits maintains seversl hives of bees although in truth, it is his wife Judy, who is the "honey". After dinner they showed us a spider web in the dark, the kind that make you want to grab a broom and WACK it, not that we did. Judy took these incredible pictures of a golden silk spider, and if you have never double-clicked, then do it now, on these awesome spider pics.



The male and female spiders are visible on the right. When an insect flies into the web, the female promptly grabs it, wraps it up in spider's silk and dangles it down on a single strand, for future relaxed consumption. The male came in to get a quick munch and got chased away just as promptly. Clearly the female's large abdomen not only has eggs but "some serious muscle" as well. The exactitude of the web design and its mathematical precision speaks for itself.

Judy Hinton's brother Rick came to visit us on board "ARITA" at Vero Beach, Florida, with his friend Ken. Both had taken a nostalgic drive along Florida's coast to Ft. Pierce where they had spent their childhood. They were bosom buddies then, and remain so now. Ken is going through some serious chemo treatment and what was so very inspirational for us, was the love being shared one for the other. A love and care you can see and feel and goes way beyond words............ Here's to honouring you both..........



We fear the worst when we saw these dolphins leaping out of the bushes in the dunes. They were still close enough to leap back in the water.



Reality speaks to all of us to let us know that health and life is precious ( so eat your veggies).

We visited Laurie's mother who is well cared for in a Nursing Home
for Alzheimer patients. As much for the spider as it is for all of us, it is surviving and survival......................



And alongside "SVEA", our other yacht at Vero Beach, which needs a brand new owner, is a powerboat with another senior citizen on board, doing his thing in fixing his boat, his joy, and the thing that keeps him going.............

REMEMBER, THERE IS NO LUGGAGE ON THE LAST TRIP

NOT SAILING.......JUST WALKING FASTER......

The weather continues to be near perfect. The breeze a steady 10 to 20 knots on the Ocean when we take our morning walks, with not a hurricane anywhere on the horizon, and we patiently wait out the season in Florida. Bit by bit we are getting minor repairs done. In fact I called out to Laurie this morning to give me a hand with something and back came the reply....... "I'M BUSY,....... I'M ON THE PHONE......", O.K. I got that.........

Big walks are a big thing in the mornings, to exercise those wayward muscles and in the process we manage to capture the unusual, like people in PJs and large blue crabs near mud holes that never hang around for long enough to have their picture taken.

The uniqueness of Florida is brought home continuously by beautiful majestic oak trees covered in Spanish moss as in this arch-way to the right, and the lushness of the plant life is nothing short of magnificent. A tropical paradise. This more than anything is " THE SOUTH ", and with it goes the southern hospitality. We have made wonderful friends in the short time, since our return to Vero Beach.

Found these huge stalks on some cacti with bunches of yellow fowers and on the stalks below there were flower-like new plants ready to drop to the ground and start all over again. The things you see when you walk...................



Had this great urge to go and do some more diamond mining........... The urge may pass, hasn't yet. The Queen caught me on the beach grabbing a handful of wet sand that showed streaks of black minerals. Just have to do some testing on a theory of mine................all about gravity separation and looking for things I never lost. Diamonds are forever, so they say.................
You see, walking makes you think and thinking leads to a whole bunch of stuff......



Have you ever seen a cactus bloom like this one on the right that has produced a whole arrangement of 'newbies' ready to go................ Well, we hadn't.
And on the left and below is the Schefflera tree with its magnificent red flower prongs pointing skyward, like radial arms reaching for the sun. Up close they are like raspberries on a stick. Then further below are the downward hanging curtains of grey-green Spanish moss, with lace-like fibres, moisture fed by Florida's humidity. Almost supernatural, almost surreal....... Do a double-click if you really want to see another world...........



And on this oak tree are the dried-up remains of fern moss which, with the slightest moisture comes alive to flourish again.


Enough about FLORA,(FLORIDA), nice and beautiful as it is,........... now for some local FAUNA found inhabiting a pool. Resplendant with captivating drinks and surrounded by floating trays of cheese and strawberries, these are rare specimens of former " YACHTIES", whose habitat is blue water and a little wind and normally found wearing very casual clothing and on occassions, as little as possible.....................

YES, WE WOULD RATHER BE SAILING....................

By now you must be thinking........ what's this thing they've got about mailboxes and sea-turtles. Were they deprived of 'ninja turtles' as kids.........No, not really. When we do our beach walks along an incredibly still Ocean edge, you can't help but wonder how the turtles go all the way around the Atlantic basin, as far Europe, only to return to the same beaches in Florida, to lay their eggs. We met another "Sea-turtle Conservationist" on his ATV who enlightened us no end. Too many facts to remember but some things stood out. The female sea-turtles are able to lay a number of clutches of eggs in the same season, by retaining sperm from different males.............who knew?..... Drop a load, swim some more and let the next batch develop, then drop some more. Quite a factory............. Some sea-turtle species do this from 5 to 7 times, a season. The survival rate of the eggs is small, even within the sand. That dedicated conservationist on the right is Mr. Rick Herren, whose research group "www.inwater.org", provided some of the sea-turtle photographs below. After each hatching, he excavates the nest to count the eggs and determine the survival rate. In this nest of some 120 eggs, 70 made it, though not neccesarily to the sea. By law, all beach-front homes are prevented from having bright white lights showing at night. Nevertheless some young-uns still go in that direction......(perhaps, someone was playing really great music)................ The nest has to receive oxygen through the sand. If the waves stay over the sand for an extended period, the eggs all die from oxygen deprivation. Even if you make it to the water as a female, you have to make it for about thirty years before you are mature enough to do the egg-laying thing.......... That's a long time to remember how to get back to that beach....... Sea turtles, depending on species, live to be 80 years or more and by then you've eaten a lot of jelly-fish, crustaceans or sea-weed, their main diet, depending on species. Thanks to people like Rick, we get to understand their fragile existence................and the need to be careful. This month (September 2009) marks the passing of a new law in the Bahamas which makes it illegal to catch or kill a sea-turtle. by the way, Laurie is holding a golf-ball she found, not a sea-turtle egg.................



O.K................ These people are the researchers, doing investigative stuff and tagging, including catching one in a net to bring him/her on board, only temporarily. Their findings help communities develop sensible strategies for protecting shorelines and habitats. For those of us fortunate enough to see the little ones emerging from the sand, after midnight and struggle to the Ocean, it is a life-long memory. ........... "So, tell me again Junior, you say you're off to find your Dad?"..................,



We have enough drag when just a few barnacles grow on "ARITA's" hull. You have to feel sorry for this global traveller seeing what he/she is carrying.



We passed these two palm trees on our walks. Who knew, that when those prong-like things explode, they would reveal such intricate lattice work, leading to the mass of date-like seed pods. Our motto of "IN SEARCH OF PALMS" continues.



Saw this little sea-side shack as we walked along the beach (do a double-click)....................Wonder who does the window cleaning?



Found this volcanic rock that really looked like a piece of worm-eaten driftwood, whose gaseous inclusions have been removed by years in the ocean. Being volcanic, we can only guess where it came from. Definitely not Florida or the Bahamas. Nice rock, nice hand....... great leg.............




I have a daughter, Celia, living in Darwin at "THE TOP END" of Australia, whose fascination and hobby has always been BEADS. Couldn't help but take this picture as we walked through the department store "Michaels". That's like being in a gigantic candy store..........We were there to get some necklace material for converting the lava stone to something to hang on your neck and stay "Ocean-connected". Of course, someone is bound to ask "What the heck is that?"......... What a wonderful way to start a conversation........................ about endangered sea-turtles and the dedicated researchers, like Rick Herren and his buddies..........................and the wonders of sea-turtle migration........................

LIFE ON LAND.........................

Our morning power-walks continue and so many things are found on the way that spark our interest. (Have we lost it, or have we been gone too long?)..........There was so little water in this fountain at the mall (left), that the manatee got out, only to be frozen in time and petrified, literally. Saw this 'Banyan' tree in the photo on the right, on one of our walks, with an array of roots coming down searching for soil and moisture. Quite a curtain....................even though someone had recently cleaned this vacant lot. We found this climbing cactus (below) in full flower early in the morning. If you double-click on it you will find a flower within a flower. Just beautiful. By the afternoon, it had withered and was gone. Must be our good 'karma', to catch it just at the right time. Getting free tickets sent in the mail for 'Superbowl' is good karma. Getting an open parking spot at Walmart, right in front of the big door is just good luck, not good karma. Remember that....



We saw some more sea-turtles, of the "Glasfiberitis-suburbia" variety, one of whom had made it ashore, and was suitably camouflaged near a marina. With all the other yachtie-types around, he might well have gone unseen, were it not for getting caught by a steering wheel, poking him in the groin.



Double click on these little photos if you want to find the mail-slot. Our quest for the unusual mailbox continues, .......as we cover more territory in our walks. On some, you'll have a struggle to find it. Mail people must have very long arms.... and don't put the mail in the sailfish's mouth by mistake.......could be painful. LIFE ON LAND is turning out to be GREAT. A good long walk, a shower, a swim in the pool, and on to do our chores for the day..................

" IT'S A FACT, PEOPLE ONLY BECOME FASCINATED WITH MAILBOXES WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE ONE"



............. and then to go out and have dinner with wonderful hosts like Dianne and Dick Browne, and friends Eileen and Steve and delicious food that will require more walks............