MISSING THE "BLUES".....................

We are already missing "THE OFFICE". That wonderful place with blue, blue water where we could sit in the sand, or stand in the shallow water and hold our discussions and conferences, about anything and everything, while taking a quick dip every minute or so. The open-air "OFFICE" where we could dance above or below water, and nobody would see. The "OFFICE" where the best plans were laid for the evening, and where the best meals were formulated from meagre victuals on board. Meals to prevent scurvy, but served with wine and mango rum, to a setting sun. Yes, we surely miss "THE OFFICE". Not that anyone is complaining, mind you............... Just a night ago, we went to "BODEGA BLUE", a blue-cheese joint, where we heard an incredible performance by a one-man band, Ben Prestage, whom we are sure, was in that "Fiddler on the Roof" thing. Awesome guitarist playing the blues. The beard made him look way beyond his 29 years, but the performance was sensational. Same shirt, same guy, but four different guitars, including this homemade cigarbox job. Check out the "Queen's" video on the little camera.(when we get it figured out). So, from the blue "OFFICE", we ended up in Vero with blue cheese, and listening to the "blues". Not bad..............really.



Yacht SVEA in the blue. Us, beeming around in the blue.



Ben Prestage, guitarist/songwriter. Doing the "blues". One of Okeechobee's finest.

"SVEA" LOOKING FOR A LOVER

Beautiful historic "SVEA" is now ready for a new lover. Someone who adores a classic yacht, with raked wooden masts, endless brightwork, teak and varnish, and bevelled glass windows. This is a yacht that has seen the world, twice over, and has travelled the oceans for at least sixty thousand miles. This is a yacht that has seen innumerable sunsets, squalls and shimmering waters. Some things never change, and then again some things do.................... and often for the better. "SVEA" is now equiped with many modern advances, such as a GPS chartplotter(and a spare), wind-generator, dual stainless steel 45lb anchors, and an electric anchor windlass. Even the tiller has an auto-pilot to steer it, and down below the lights are no longer all oil-lamps, but are now 12v electric. The water tanks are now flexible bladder tanks, with pressure water to the taps and faucets and the parafin cooker is now a two burner LP gas stove with oven. In the aft-locker is an inflatable dinghy and outboard motor, and in this modern day and age, "SVEA" comes equiped with VHF radio, a 4-man inflatable liferaft and a registered 406 EPIRB that sends a distress signal within seconds of any emergency................... Anyone would think I'm trying to sell this little piece of history......................... well, yes, they're right..............
As the Chinese would say " VEDDI DIVICULT SAIL TWO SHIP SAME TIME "



So double-click on all the photos, and pass it on to friends and all those who might make a good "LOVER". Email us and we will email them the poster with the info on the right, or better still give them our blog to ponder whether the time has come (or not) to give up the day job...............................
JUST CALL ME on (904) 234 1144 I'm not on the phone all the time...............

RETURNING WITH SVEA

Sailing on SVEA was like a brand new experience and really went well beyond our expectations. We had brought extra belts for the water pump with us on the plane from Florida. These had given problems in the past, but all three belts were too small, and the only way out was a trip to Marsh Harbour. This meant getting up at 5 AM, then catch the ferry at 6:15 AM to the mainland, catch a taxi to Marsh Harbour at $75.00 each way, return to catch a ferry for another $15.00 and then fit the $12.00 belt. So, early to the ferry dock on Green Turtle Cay for the ferry that now wasn't going to leave till 8:00 AM. This led to some serious thinking outside the box or should I say the "wallet". O.K....................... cut away a piece of the flange on the engine mounting frame, and then the original belts should fit (more or less)................So at 7:30 AM while still waiting for the ferry, hit the little bolt and nail place on Green Turtle, for hacksaw blades, and would you believe it, they had the right size belt on a shelf........................... Who knew.
Now that is what is called "Karma". This "Karma" thing has been dropping in quite a lot lately, like .................never mind, I'll tell you later...............



Winds were very light and mostly from behind, thus motor-sailing was our only option if we were to return to Florida this year. Now, steering with this very long tiller on SVEA and the engine running is not the best sport known to man. Joel and Corina often mentioned getting "Tiller Arm", a disorder akin to tennis elbow. Thus, if you use your leg or your foot to steer, it obviously is called something else, and if you use the "auto-pilot" then it is called "Delightful". It did not take us very long to become delightedly delightful.



Somewhere in the middle of the blue sea we come very close to some fishermen diving for lobster. Contact is made. "Karma" again rears its beautiful head, and a $ 20.00 dollar note is exchanged for some lobsters. They even break off the heads and when they drop the load on deck, we are amazed to see 14 beautiful tails. Now without refrigeration, we may well go down in history as dying of lobster "over-eat". The morning after will tell. The "Queen" sautees them in butter, with spices and herbs, and a dash of macaroni and cheese for the Captain. Bahamian rum & Coke is served as 'Sundowners'. If we die, we will die gloriously well fed.................



The weather is constantly in a state of change and we alter course to by-pass the squalls. A very large floating-hotel-type-powerboat had passed us earlier. Laurie's comment about " when we get older, could we have one of those ", was ignored. Those people probably played tennis on their bridge deck.(double click and check that out) Compare that with SVEA's instrument panel. Then again, a 1000 miles offshore and they would be out of fuel and we could sail right by.................................



The Queen with "tiller foot" on the left, and "Otto" the auto-pilot on the right. Look Mum, no hands....................



The day before we left Green Turtle Cay we met Mr Floyd Lowe, most definitely one of the 'founders'. Fighting strong and 90 years old. He owns the ice plant, the fisheries business, the ferry service and a bunch of other enterprises. We had already met one of his many sons and the sons of his sons, one of whom said "He is the source of everything". Floyd told us in the early days, he bought the lobsters for a penny a tail. Today he buys lobster at $ 10.00 a pound. Now, if you go to the "Founders" garden on Green Turtle, you will find this bronze bust of the man himself. The only person we know who didn't have to pass away first, before they cast the bronze plaque. Then again he donated the garden.................. a very remarkable man, whose chair in the corner of the pub is not to be messed with at breakfast time...............



The purchase offer for SVEA made by these potential buyers was not acceptable.......



We sailed continuously from Green Turtle Cay across the Bahama Bank and the Gulf Stream to enter at Ft. Pierce Inlet, Florida, and then up the Intra-coastal waterway to Vero Beach Marina to pick up a mooring, and crash on ARITA. To say we were tired would be an understatement. Laurie caught me getting dressed in the morning............ not a pretty sight........................(though worthy of a double click). She is still laughing....

QUASI-LOCAL

Back to the land of the everlasting fragrant flowering frangipani.
Don't forget to double-click on the photos to enlarge them.



Flying high above the Florida coastline we look down on Cape Canaveral and see the runway where the space shuttle lands. The sky is clear, the weather promises to be good for a crossing of the Gulf Stream and as we approach Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, the reef strewn waters appear below. just when we had got used to the beautiful air-conditioning of the flight we are back out in the 90 degree heat and the 100 percent humidity.



Our second flight to Treasure Cay arrives five minutes after the last ferry leaves, and rather than having to spend the night on the 'boon-docks' we call them up on a taxi's VHF radio and charter the ferry to come back and get us. We won't mention the cost of this exercise....................... , but we do arrive at Green Turtle Cay to be able to sleep on board SVEA for the night. Everything is the way we left it. All the tourists are now gone. There are only the locals left. We are not tourists. We are a special group. We are 'QUASI-LOCALS'. The locals have gotten to know us, so the greetings are warmer and the smiles more genuine. They want to know if we have bought a house on the island. Kind of feels like it. We bring SVEA to the fuel dock and find a woman preparing 'cracked conch'. Not sure where the 'cracked' part comes from, but I suspect the way she beats the living daylights out of the conch, that her wrist, the table, the pounder or the table legs will eventually crack, hence the name 'cracked conch'. Tastes great when lightly fried. The pelican hopes to score when things go flying with all that pounding..............



Now that the tourist season is over, we see lots of other things, like this speed trap. A cop car making sure the golf carts don't do more that 5 miles per hour. Speaking of which, we find the sublime and the ridiculous on the road at Green Turtle. One of the young guys working in the boat yard has bought himself this GT Mustang, a real muscle car, which he should be able to wind up in the only hundred yard straight section on the island. Our guess is that he should be able to do at least 15 mph, and the whole island will hear it. On the other hand, we found this hermit crab trying to cross the road........ very, very, very slowly. Turns out he only had one leg. Perhaps he lost the other one trying to cross it. The queen put him back near the water's edge, which hopefully is where he(she) wanted to go. It was hard to tell. Having one leg and a heavy shell makes you go in circles.




The two different faces of the Bahamas. The one on the left is Johnny Kool, formerly Haitian, now Bahamian, sort of.............................. and on the right is Miss Babbs, the owner of 'Pineapples', the pool-side restaurant and bar, shown in the photo alongside. She also owns the fuel dock, cottages and various other assets. Formerly American and now Bahamian, sort of............................ The fact that they both have that cute little gap in their teeth does not mean that they are related to each other in any way.......................

NOW WHERE WERE WE..................................

Oh yes, ............... We had left ARITA in Vero Beach on a mooring while we travelled to Jacksonville to repair and replace our electronics, to also pick up Tony's bright blood red pick-up and to see friends and family. A wonderful time was spent with Anne (Lauren's daughter who is engaged to Tony) with a wedding planned for next March. They were busy making Bahamian colored numbers so as not to forget the wedding date, 03.27.10. We also got to see Lauren's pals from pre-school or maybe it was Junior High (Primary school). Bosom buddies forever, all smiles in front of Robin's fireplace. Hard to smile after feasting on a huge delicious meal. Our absence these last four months has suddenly brought home how rich and abundant is the food source. We drooled over the standing rib roast dinner and the desserts that followed. Then back to Vero to get ready for our return to the Bahamas, this time by air.



Chris and Dana (Lauren's sister), that's Count Christopher and Duchess Dana, that handsome couple, with whom we should have met up in Antigua in June, were home again in Micco, Florida, to share their adventures and pics from that Caribbean island. Nelson's famous English Harbour is shown in the photo below taken from Shirley Heights, where the remnants of the eighteenth century barracks still stand, and where the 'red-coats' garrison would sit and ponder and long for home and England. Several hundred years later and the English fly in on Virgin Air to sit and ponder the beauty of Anitgua instead. Meantime back on board ARITA, the Queen gets her sarongs ready for our return to the Abacos. Nice leg. Having been out of touch for some time even my grandchildren in Australia were getting frustrated when we didn't answer the phone. Such a long way still before we get to Australia. We may have to fly there before they all get to be so much older.



Hey......... Poppie Rob, or Laurie, please pick up the phone................ we need to talk to you since Mum has given us these cell phones (mobiles). That's Zac and Ella in the new era of technology.



Being small does not mean that you are insignificant. This little lizard let it be known that he was not to be messed with. So small, yet so perfect and he would leap out of your hand and do a high flying act to land and be nearly invisible on the ground.
We packed our bags and drove to Orlando to catch the flight to Nassau and then on to Treasure Cay and the ferry ride to Green Turtle Cay to pick up the yacht SVEA.
Not that this was hard labor. No............... the hard labor was being done by Corina, back in Australia with the baby boy due when we would be in mid-air. Like we said, small does not mean insignificant.

NEWSFLASH........................

YES..............We are back in VERO BEACH, FLORIDA with beautiful "SVEA". (Double click if you want to see the reflection in the water), which now needs a new owner to keep this piece of world history alive. Of equal significance is that someone in the Bahamas, took notice of my comment on the blog, the one about "It took only 48 hours to produce the commemorative Micheal Jacksons's T-shirts, and 48 years to fill the potholes". If you go to www.abaconian.com, you will find two significant items printed in this Bahamian newspaper. One is the color photo of "ARITA" with all the flags up and the other is that finally serious money has been allocated to fill the potholes. (not sure if they are just going to fill the potholes with money or use some other material). We love the comments people have sent us, though we would appreciate their email address so that we can reply. Blog updates are just around the corner.................................

Corina and Joel have a baby son. Mother and child doing fine. No other details available at this time....

TERRORIZED BY TRAFFIC

Finally it was time to set sail for FLORIDA, when nothing could be done to fix any of our electronics that had been "fried" by the lightning strike. Arriving and departing are always emotional times and leaving Green Turtle Cay, where we had spent a lot of our time, and said our 'good-byes' to everyone including the 'Rasta' dockmaster. Even the three houses on the beachfront seemed brighter in the fading light. At least we will be back within a couple of weeks, to pick up SVEA and sail her back to Florida as well. So early in the morning of 17th July, we motored through to Spanish Cay to anchor for the night and watched the sinking sun. The evening dip in the water was out. The sea was filled with thousands of Jelly-fish. By late the next day, we again anchored, this time at Mangrove Cay, far out on the Bahama bank, slept for four hours, and took off again to cross the edge of the bank and into the Gulf Stream, at first light. The Queen of Florida had filled the whole cabin with memorable Island fragrance and the cup 'overfloweth' with frangipanis........................



Gone was the turquoise and the aqua water colours. Gone too, were the pastels of water-colour green, now to be replaced with the deep indigo blue of 1200 ft of Gulf Stream. When the wind died, we motored on a mirror sea, with only flying fish breaking the surface. Our destination port was Ft. Pierce and we pushed to be in by nightfall, and in late afternoon, it became a race to beat the inevitable thunderstorm that had built up after a cloudless day. It was hand steering all the way without the auto-pilot, or in the case of 'Queen' Laurie, it was foot-steering. Apples, water and shade..................... and she steered a good course too.



We had heard that in order to clear in at Customs, you need to go to the airport. Kind of hard to do to take the yacht to the airport, so we caught a taxi. Before sunrise we were on our way up the Intracoastal once more to Vero Beach. Pelicans in the morning sunrise, and high rise condos on the Oceanfront. We went about ten miles past Vero to look for "Jones's Fruit Dock", a place to leave ARITA for the hurricane season. Met the 90 yr-old Mr Jones after docking, but he was not allowed to have live-aboards, nor had he the electrical power available for the A/C, which is a must-have, so we departed for the Municipal Vero Beach Marina. Picked up a mooring at Vero, and into town to rent an AVIS. Then the terror began. Not my terror, oh no, it was the Queen who became terrorized. Way too much traffic, going way too fast on the highway, and it seemed, she said, I was driving way too fast..............At least I was driving on the same side as them...................... Here's Mr Jones's Fruit dock below. It really is wonderful being back in Florida where the supermarket is overflowing with healthy goodness, where everything is fat, fast and furious, and where you can definitely get a good laugh most of the time...........



We made it safely to Jacksonville, where the electronics and alternators are being repaired and Queen Laurie and little Laurie are happily re-united and engrossed in talking wedding plans for March 2010.



And it surely will be quite some time before we get back to anything like this picture, considering SVEA that has to brought back to FLORIDA, the electronics and wiring on ARITA that has to be replaced, a new propellor shaft put in and hurricane season and.......................................................whatever......
Yes, you can double click on it........................