SailMakai

We’ve spent the last week at Norman’s Cay.  This island became famous between 1978 and 1982 when Carlos Lehder controlled it for drug smuggling.  He built an airstrip to refuel planes moving cocaine from Colombia to the United States while the Bahamian government looked the other way.  In 1982 the U.S. shut down his operation and eventually imprisoned him. Today the deeper water on the south side of the island is full of U.S. and Canadian boats.

We enjoyed a tiny island with one palm tree.   I could walk around the whole island in about 5 minutes. The west side of the island had a little beach and sand bar and the east side is mostly volcanic rock.  Genny and Marie scoured the island looking for building materials and made their camp.

They whipped up a little salad in half a coconut shell.

Topaz enjoyed a little roll in the sand.  Nothing better than getting sand right down to the skin, in your ears and eyes and up your nose.

Genny had been watching charter boat guests wake boarding and started craving her favorite thrill ride.  Since we’re not exactly sure where we’ll be able to get more dinghy fuel she decided scurfing behind the Hobie would provide a bit of thrill and conserve fuel.

Eventually she did get her time on the wakeboard.

The bottom of the whole bay is mostly sand with some grass.  This isn’t necessarily an environment the tropical fish flourish in, so the snorkeling can be a bit boring. So, its a treat to see a reef. The highlight of the bay is a drug plane that didn’t make the runway. I haven’t found any details on this wreck, a Curtis C-46 Commando, but I’m guessing it’s been there for about 30 years.

Coral is growing in little patches here and there.

Fish have made the fuselage their home.

Under the wing was a hide-hole for these giant dinner plate sized angel fish.

The sergeant majors really got in my face.  It was hard to take their picture because they were getting so close.

It is nice to see something that represents a disastrous time in history become a beautiful reef home for underwater wild life.

The picture below is a giant ray buried in the sand.

The other activity we enjoyed each afternoon is walking on the sand bars at low tide.

Low tide came in the late afternoon while we were here.  By then everyone was ready to run in the sand.

Many acres of beach appeared as the water receded and still more area could be explored with water ankle to knee deep.

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The sand is soft, white and clean and the beaches are empty except for another boater out for a walk here or there.

We waded out toward the east until the water was chest deep and then walked up onto another sand bar.

The water is clearer than most swimming pools.

Back in among the low tide sand bars there are occasional pools and streams.

The girls spotted a hidden mickey made by some little clam or crab thing.

Walking back to the dinghy we had to watch where we stepped to miss the star fish.  Eric spotted a tiny octopus but the picture didn’t come out very well because of his advanced camouflage abilities.

We noted that, yes, Eric and I both work very hard to maintain the boat, but his work goes largely unnoticed. I waxed the hull to a mirror like shine, made all kinds of beautiful and comfortable canvas and cushion items, painted the cockpit table and toilet seats.  Things used and admired daily.

Eric on the other hand does things that keep the boat mechanically sound like replacing fuel tanks, adding watermaker membranes, changing fluids and on this day he greased the propellers. .

Marie was his helper she passed him grease, bolts, and tools. While he was down there using the hookah, (100 feet of hose attaching the scuba tank to the regulator), he took some pictures of this weird situation with the current. Normally, the anchor digs into the sand, we always use at least 100 feet of chain and then down wind of the anchor Makai floats and tugs on the ground tackle.   In this anchorage the tidal current is so strong that the struggle between the wind and the current had Makai floating above the anchor with the chain somewhere in the area laying on the ground.

Here Marie, Eric’s prop greasing assistant, is snorkeling along the side of Makai and the anchor chain is squiggled up under the boat.

Another project is Makai’s bottom.  When Eric launched the boat one year ago he put fresh red bottom paint on it.  Over the winter we would inspect it for barnacles and scum.  Then we had an unfortunate run in with a shoal in Saint Martin where the sand scraped off the anti-fouling paint on the bottom of our keels.  Over the summer when the water was either too cold, too murky, or too full of jelly fish, we just ignored the bottom promising to take care of it in warmer waters. The result was a thick layer of scum which I started on at Rose Island, and a thick layer of barnacles that Eric scraped off the prop in Key Biscayne and barnacles on the keels that he took care of here in Norman’s Cay.  Next September Makai will be hauled and painted to protect the bottom from growth for another two years.

Even though the drug runners are gone, planes occasionally fly by.  I don’t think I’ve actually seen any land here but plenty of sea planes go by.

We moved to the east side of the island to get away from the tidal currents.  We’re the only boat anchored here and have enjoyed sailing the Hobie and playing on the beach.  If it could all just be 10 degrees warmer.  The 75 degree water has us wearing wet suits and the 70 degree night air has me in a sweatshirt, but the beauty it unparalleled. We still have plenty of food even though we’re coming up on 3 weeks since our last Florida grocery store.

The fresh produce situation is looking pretty grim, but most of the crew isn’t interested these items anyway.  Before we get scurvy we’ll have to go through a whole locker of tomato sauce, the bilges are filled with fruit juice, and there are several lockers of canned fruits and vegetables.

In a few minutes we’re heading to the next island Shroud Cay where the Exuma Cays land and Sea Park begins.

The chain of cays extending from just below New Providence Island containing Nassau is down to Exuma Island is known as the Exuma Cays.  There are hundreds of islands here ranging is size from a small rock to a sand bar and finally an island with an air strip or town.  We haven’t encountered the town yet.  Allan’s Cay has it’s own subspecies of Bahamian Rock Iguana.  Andros Island and Exuma Island are the home of other similiar species. This species is vulnerable  but not yet endangered.

They have become habituated by visitors to the beaches who offer food.  When we came ashore in the dinghy they came out to greet us.  Topaz had to stay home, we really didn’t want to know how she would react to these lizards.

Allan’s Cay anchorage let in swells from the north, didn’t have many beaches and because we didn’t want to disturb the iguanas, we didn’t stay long.  The Mermaids had a good time, and we hosted our first sundowner since the Virgin Islands last April.

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It has now been a week and a half since our last trip to Walmart, so the bread cookbook came out.  Everytime I get the book out I start with the basic white bread recipe and everytime, it flops.  Then I always move on to the swiss egg recipe and it always turns out great.  When will I learn to just start there?

Our time in Bimini was a great way to transfer us back to cruising.  The water was gorgeous and the boaters all had the same conversations over weather, anchorages and boat equipment. Saturday and Sunday the little marina filled up, all the people got their Bahamas SIM cards for phones and iPads on Monday, then we all left on Tuesday to cross the Great Bahama Bank. The bank is extremely shallow but the charts have commonly used paths or channels marked for safe passage. Half of the fleet took a more northern route and the rest of us went south of Bimini passing the Sapona Wreck.

The Sapona is a concrete steamer ship that lived many lives since its launch in 1920.   It was used for oil storage, liquor storage during Prohibition, destroyed during a hurricane in 1926, and used for bombing practice during WWII. We planned to snorkel here but the water was a bit choppy so we just took pictures and kept going.

The rest of the day was spent crossing the Great Bahama Bank, over 60nm.  The seas were calm, the wind was steady out of the south, and shallow water was crystal clear and a beautiful aqua blue color.

We knew this bank was going to be shallow (2.8 feet below our keel), but as you can see on our depth/speed instrument below, it was very shallow.  Never before had we skimmed the surface of such shallow water at these speeds.

Our sails made a shadow of Makai on the water.

If there’s one thing you CAN’T count on in the Atlantic ocean is a consistent direction for the wind.  Last spring we entered the Gulf Stream just above Bimini and enjoyed a wind out of the South driving us as far north as Rhode Island.  In July a weather system blew through providing us with wind out of the north to blow us back to Delaware.  This fall’s storms provided us with plenty of north wind to move us to Florida and after waiting just a few days we had a favorable south wind to cross back over the gulf stream to the Bahamas. It seems that every other week the wind comes from the opposite direction.

Now a big wind out of the North is predicted and we had to find a suitable anchorage.  Most of the boats we traveled with went to Marinas in Nassau, but we headed over to Rose Island and found an anchorage with good protection from the north wind.

Over the two days anchored here we only saw one person at the resort on the hill, a few boats anchored here on our last night, and a couple if lobster fishermen came by and sold us our dinner.

This sea monster wow’d us all into buying it.  Roy and I ate the legs like Alaskan King Crab legs, and over the next few days finished off the tail with cheese and crackers.

But, alas, the winter storms freezing the north eastern states and dumping truck loads of snow, managed to extend its fingers down to us in the Bahamas.  We still have our winter canvas up on Makai.  I never thought we would get this much use out of the canvas side curtains with windows, but we’re grateful for them now.  The outside temp gets down to around 70 degrees, which may seem mild to the people in New York, but we went to great lengths to be able to spend the winter wearing bathing suits. Luckily our enclosure blocks the wind and lets in the sun to warm up the cockpit.

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Quickly before we had to return to Makai, Roy took the camera and documented some of his underwater finds.  Lobster is his first quest. This guy is was too small, but it sparked his interest.

There were also a few little jelly fish looking things.

Here is an animal image in the water.  It reminds me a Topaz.

Don’t forget a selfie!

But now the rain has come and we have to go back to make sure Makai is safe.  It’s kind of funny that a bunch of swimmers would want to rush home to get out of the rain.

But I’m sure we left a few windows open and the wind and waves are bouncing Makai around.

A hot shower, nice dinner and beautiful moonrise is a great way to end the day.

Yes the kids were shocked that we could make it to the Bahamas in a day sail, but it was still a bumpy trip across from Florida.  Everyone was very hungry because crackers were the only food offered and requested all day.

The sandy beaches were a welcome sight. We’ve been dreaming about this moment for months.  Last May we stopped for a few hours just north of here so we could time our arrival into Fort Lauderdale.  Just as the sun was setting we anchored and could see 30 feet down to the sandy bottom.  It was incredible and had us thinking about returning for this season’s trip.

Because the dock master warned us about swimming off the boat, we hiked down a block and half a block to the west to the Beach.

Bimini is only about 50 miles east of Miami, FL and has three main islands, North, South and East Bimini.  We’re on North Bimini whose capital city is Alice Town.  This island is 7 miles long and 700 feet wide.  Walking down the road you quickly realize how close the beach is on either side.

In about 5 minutes we arrived at the beach on the west side of the island.  We had the whole place to ourselves.

Occasionally people would come and check out the waves, but for the most part we were the only ones splashing around on this beach.

Topaz, that crazy dog, took chasing her splashed to a whole new level.  I had to keep a tight hold on her rope because she was determined to track down and bite at every white cap from here to Miami.

Roy found perfect coconuts on the ground.  Last year this time he was climbing trees in Granada trying to hack coconuts down with his machete.  Picking them off the ground is a much easier method.

The first morning in the marina Roy and I got up early to check out the fishing.  If I weren’t just waking up, I could mistaken this sunrise for a sunset.

Roy found a favorite spot along the dock full of reef fish.  It was like fishing in an aquarium.

Throughout the day he must have caught dozens of Sargent Majors, squirrel fish, jacks, needle fish, angel fish, file fish.

Brown’s Marina is a pretty little marina with one dock and about 20 slips.  Except for two or three slips the rest are filled with people crossing from Florida.  We arrived in a nearly empty marina and the next day it was full.

At the top of the dock is a sandy area with lounges and beautiful patio furniture, BBQs, a BYOB tiki bar with a tv for football on the weekends and of course a bath house. Bougainvillea of many different colors cover the fence creating a wall of flowers separating the marina from the street.

Conchs are cemented into everything around here.  The posts of the marina gate display the pink of the inner shell.

Across the street is a wall with conchs cemented along the top.

One of our jobs here is to set up Bahamian communications. The BTC building is at the other end of town, so we got a nice tour.  According to the BTC coverage map we should have cellular service with data in most areas throughout the islands.  For $14 we bought a SIM card to fit into an unlocked iPhone 3 Eric bought before we left.  Due to a snafu with the phone that was later cleared up, we also bought one for the iPad.  Next for $40 (double what we paid in the U.S., but not outrageous) we add 2 GB of data usage and $20 for phone minutes.  This can be topped up when needed.  This summer we used our Sprint Phones as a hotspot and learned that 2 GB is more than enough for Eric’s work, emailing and googling, but NO streaming and limited up/down loading.  While here I also tested our Voxofon voice over IP account and managed to call my mother’s phone from my computer for 1.3 cents per minute.  So now we’re connected.

The best thing about taking care of business is we get to tour the town.  There are no supermarkets or fast food restaurants.  Eric picked up a gallon of fresh milk for $8, we can only hope that it was kept cold all the way to the store’s refrigerator.

Most buildings here are made of cement.  This one is missing a few things to make it comfortable, other than that the fireplace still stands.

Walking along the road during morning rush hour was dangerous.  Even though most people drive golf carts, there were a few full sized vehicles.  Two vans or trucks passing take up the entire width of the road.  On our walk we came across this very interesting little car.  I even spotted a Golden Retriever sticker in the window.

We stopped at the Bimini Big Game club to take a few pictures. A few of the famous visitors to this resort include Ernest Hemingway and Martin Luther King.

The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718 when the British clamped down on piracy.  After the American Revolution many Loyalists along with their slaves settled here and over the years escaped slaves and black Seminoles Escaped to the islands from Florida.

We’re safely tucked In at Rose Key near Nassau and I have a quiet moment to finish up this post.

Back at the marina, the activity of the day is fishing fishing fishing.  I took care of some house work and Eric worked in the engine room, but the kids had fun.

Roy inspired several of the neighbors to fish off the dock. While Genny took pictures with the new camera testing out it’s many settings.

The ‘sports’ setting did a good job of Marie’s leap for joy as well as the earlier picture of Topaz biting at a wave.

Here is one of Roy’s elusive tarpon. Within 30 minutes of our arrival Roy was fishing and had hooked this guy.  This huge silver fish leaped out of the water, it’s scales illuminated in the sunlight made him look like fine jewelry hovering over the surface of the water. Roy was in heaven until the Tarpon’s sharp teeth bit through his line.  At least now Roy has a goal when his line is in the water.

Other fun fishing is never knowing what you are going to bring up.  It’s even more interesting when you can watch the fish take the bait.

On Roy’s lifetime fishing tally he has two Ramora, the last one he got at Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands.

In the afternoon several of the neighbors hovered at the end of the dock trying to catch the Bull Sharks we were cautioned to not swim with. They have underwater footage of these guys from a GoPro camera attached to a paddle.  Here’s a short video from our camera.

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Did I ever say I love my new camera?  Here’s a picture from the sand bar of Makai resting peacefully at the end of the dock.

Marie had been dying to swim since we arrived.  I promised her the sharks wouldn’t come over here. With her goggles on she can keep an eye out for them and went swimming.  I have to admit, I feel the same way.  Surfing or swimming in merky water is not for me, but scuba and snorkeling where I can see what might want to eat me is acceptable.

We met the kids on the boat next to us.  Their parents have cruised the world extensively but now have a business in Brazil that they have to tend to, so they keep their boat in different locations and join it for their 2 month summer vacation.  You know it’s summer in Brazil right now

Marie is my first underwater subject. The only complaint about the Olympus T2 is there is a common problem of condensation inside the camera.  I googled around and found plenty of complaints and no suggestions to resolve the problem.  Maybe I should just store it in a bag of rice or something.

The tide is coming back up and our island which was dry or only a few inches deep all the way to the trees is slowly disappearing.

I think Topaz agrees that sand bars are the best place to play.

We made it into Bimini, the closest Bahamian island to Florida. The kids were totally shocked when they asked how many nights would we be out and the answer was zero. Forty-five miles and into the Marina before dark. We zipped along at 7-8 knots with waves crashing over the bow and plenty of green crew, but no one remembers all that when they are celebrating. We arrived around 4pm, all salty and sweaty. The cockpit enclosure not only protects us from the weather but also boils us when its hot out.

Topaz jumped in and then we were all about to jump into the crystal clear water when the dock master fished us out because of sharks. GOOD GRIEF Charlie Brown, what’s up with that. I guess the fishing boats cleaning their catch attract resident sharks. While all that was happening, Roy had a “fish on” here at the dock. This huge silver thing jumped out of the water, I’m pretty sure it was a tarpon. Unfortunately, he was using a light rod and needed a wire leader line for teeth, but the thrill had him psyched the rest of the day.

Eric ran off to check us in with customs and immigration, then the crew was free to jump ship. Topaz the kids and I walked down a block and over a block to the beach on the west side of the island. The 80 degree crystal clear waves on the white sand beach made all the headaches, barfing, freezing cold night watches and chasing mold around the boat worth while. We only had a half hour or so before it was too dark to be out, but the beach was a great finish to the day.
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After everyone cleaned up and we got the boat rinsed off, we sat around an empty palapa tiki bar and ate hot ham sandwiches from one of our Winn Dixie spiral hams and watched “Castle” our new favorite detective drama show. The marina has great WiFi so tomorrow I’ll post some photos.

We’ll have to wait around until Monday so we can get our Bahamian communications card straightened out for continued hotspot wifi over the next few months.

Sent from my iPhone

Ok, this whole cruising thing is really one huge emotional roller coaster.  The desire I had to get OFF the boat, drive around in the van and buy things at Target in July has been equally matched by the desire to get ON the boat and away from the stores, away from cars, and return to the solitude of the family on Makai goofing off and living for the moment right now.  Finally, after some great times driving around the East Coast, visiting friends, family and historical landmarks, and also our holiday time in Florida, we’re back to cruising!

Monday morning the kids and I headed for Makai and the Aanonson’s headed for the Orlando Airport.  It was a sad time leaving our pals, but the beginning of a new cruising season.  Their grandparents, Mark and Sandy were wonderful hosts to take care of all of us for the week, loaning us their car for excursions here and there, trips up to the boat and back and even after everyone had left we had the car one more day to get Topaz’s Veterinarian certificates in order and Eric had to fix our propane system that failed right before we left.

Finally on January 7th, Marie’s 9th Birthday, we headed out to sea.  Poor thing had a special birthday dinner of crackers and water, her gifts included Dramamine and a bucket if needed and off we went for a wild ride.  The wind was strong but from the right direction and we made the trip to Biscayne Bay in 24 hours.

Once again our cockpit enclosure proved to be an asset.  I’ve never admired a new addition to the boat quite the way the side curtains with windows has struck me.   The sea spray, splashes, rain and wind bounce off the enclosure and we stay dry.  The last few days were frigid with some kind of a Polar Arctic Vortex stretching down to Florida, but being able to stay dry and out of the wind made a huge difference.

In the middle of the night the sea got bumpy, but the sea temp went up and we were bucking a current which is the tell tale sign that we were skimming along the edge of the Gulf Stream. The number one rule for the Gulf Stream is not to enter this strong current of warm water flowing north if there is a wind blowing to the south.  So, we headed toward the beach a bit and the sea calmed down, a favorable current gave us an extra knot or so and the trip continued scooting along at 7+ knots with the jib sail only. It was amazing that we were about 3 nm off the coast and had 3G cell service most of the trip.  With his connectivity we were able to monitor the location of the Gulf Stream using the NOAA weather website. This site tells us the approximate location of the Western Wall of the Gulf Stream so we can know how close to stay to the beach.  Last night it said the Gulf Stream is 3nm from shore so moved in to 1.5 nm and everything was great.  I’ll be really sad when I don’t have 3G anymore.

Outside of Miami was a tanker anchorage.  There must have been half a dozen or so of these guys coming, going or anchored.

Eventually the troops all woke up and started looking for breakfast.  Unfortunately, no one made them dinner the night before and no one was going to make breakfast.  But of course even though everyone was hungry, no one was interested in eating.  This is a great diet plan if anyone is interested.

Mid morning we turned the corner into Biscayne Bay.  I quickly put potatoes on to boil and my geezer glasses on to help Eric read the charts.  From the surface it looks like a wide open body of water, but the chart says other wise.  The marked channel has 7-10 feet of water under Makai’s keel and anything outside of the channel is 1 or 2 feet deep.  This is the way of the Keys and the Bahama Keys as well, good practice for the rest of the year.  This whole area, including the Bahamas, consists of underwater terrain that is the shallowest we’ve ever navigated surrounded by the deepest of the deep.  Just a half mile off of a several square mile bank of 20 feet of water and island keys is a 20,000 mile deep sea floor.  It’s just crazy.

Down the channel into the bay are houses built on stilts. These structures are part of Stiltsville  a community started in the 1930s.  Most structures were clubs serving boaters during prohibition and active until the 1970s when the lease was decided to terminate in 1999.  After hurricanes and neglect the structures remaining are the last of their kind.
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Now we’re here at anchor, we’ve picked up everything that fell on the floor, mopped up the seawater that dripped through this hatch or that hatch, washed dishes and fed all the hungry sailors.  Marie sequestered her self into her cabin and went to work on whatever she does in there.  It’s a crazy mess of clothes, stuffed animals, blankets, little petshops animals and trinkets. After awhile she came out with a gift bag and several birthday cards she made for her self.  Sniff Sniff, I’m a horrible mother.  She unwrapped each regifted package and surprised herself with items she found in her cabin.  I made cookies with leftover Christmas cookie dough, we all sang to her and everyone was happy.

Today we tried to get back to cruising life.  We all went for a swim, Eric got out the dive gear and checked on the hull and props.  The last time anyone saw the bottom of the boat was in July before we left it off in the marina in Maryland.  The water was full of jelly fish and he had full wet suit protection on with all of us watching for sea nettles drifting by.  After that the water was either to murky or too cold (46 degrees) to get in.  During those months, giant barnacles grew here and there and the poor propeller was full of them.  Makai had to work extra hard to move through the water with these crusty appendages growing on her skin.

The sky is cloundy and rainy, but it’s warm.  The girls had a great time being crazy Makai girls.  Miami is off in the background and we’re anchored in front of Biscayne Key, the first of the Florida Keys.

Topaz was once again a wild and crazy cruising pup.  She had fun barking, swimming, jumping, running back and forth and chasing stuff in the water.

Genny and Marie spent the day testing out my new camera’s settings. It takes great pictures.  Here the Sports setting shows clarity on a fast moving target.

Finally evening is here and I get to test out the camera’s night settings.

The weather looks good for sailing to Bimini on Saturday.  This Bahama island is only 45 miles from the coast of Florida but hopefully the weather will be better on the other side of the Gulf Stream.  I’m looking forward to clear water, white sand beaches and warm water.

Wow, it is 2014 and we celebrated the New Year with the Aanonson family.  Krista, Scott, Tyler and Cody our neighbors in Cypress, CA came to visit their grandparents in Palm Bay, FL and we managed to get Makai close enough to be able to spend the week at Mark and Sandy’s river house.

The anchorage at Port Canaveral is down a man made channel lined with cruise ships, under a draw bridge and through a lock.

We had a few errands to run like replacing a batten that shredded on our way down from North Carolina.

Krista spotted Marie’s braids and looked up some fancy braids on YouTube and Marie was a willing model.

Mark and Sandy opened their house up to their own Aanonson family of four, my family of five and Topaz and on New Year’s day my mom came down with JJ.

Krista spent the afternoon today putting together this great slideshow video.

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The backyard is a dock on the water with two boats.  The kids had a great time with critters, fishing, and boating.

Out on the Indian River there are a series of islands local boaters pull up to for picnics.
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Saturday was frigid cold so we went off to the Andretti Thrill Park which is an arcade on steroids.  Krista and entered armed with our cameras.  The Olympus T2 Tough underwater camera is the one Krista brought to the Virgin Islands which prompted us to buy one before we head to the Bahamas.

This park not only has an arcade but three great Go Cart tracks, a rock climbing wall, an inside laser tag room, and areal rope bridges. It was great fun for the adults as well.

The kids sat around playing with each other.  Krista got Genny a Rainbow Loom, the hottest toy of the year.

Roy and Tyler hogged the computers and playing Minecraft.

Sunday morning we all ate eggs and toast and watched church.

It was sure a great week, we’ll miss everyone but hope to be in the Bahamas in the next week.

We’ve been here in New Smyrna Beach for nearly a month. We’ve had a great time visiting with Nannie in this year’s winter residence, did a few boat projects, had a great time with Ed and Marybeth, and a memorable Christmas.

This section of Florida is famous for being able to drive on the beach. My idea of going to the beach usually includes circling the neighborhood looking for a parking spot and then lugging all kinds of gear for blocks to the shore.  Here you can play right next to the car.

Nannie’s little house is on an acre of land full of orange trees.

My favorite is the tangerine tree in the back corner of the yard. The tangerines peel easily, are always sweet, and low enough to pick without a ladder or kid to climb the tree.

We also found an ancient juicer in the cupboard and had fresh squeezed juice.

New Smyrna Beach has a long list of monthly events.  We took the dinghy down the canal to the Holiday parade.

The floats just kept coming over the bridge.  The fire and police were adequately represented along with several marching bands from nearby schools, many local businesses, scouts and social groups.

Eric likes jeeps, so this one is for him.

Boats on trailers made a great float.

Not only is the boating industry represented but agriculture as well.

We attended a Christmas production where children in costume reminded us of the Christmas story and  Marybeth’s choir sang many beautiful songs of praise.

We set off to New Smyrna Beach without a solid plan for where to keep Makai.  Along the way we had contact with Ed, another Leopard Cat owner asking for advice.  To our surprise and delight, he offered us space on his dock.  Esprit de Mer was in the shipyard for a few weeks and after returning we managed to raft up the two boats.  Wow, together we are 45 feet wide and the canals are wide enough that our raft doesn’t create an obstruction.

Looking up and down the canals, besides one small sailboat at the entrance, Ed has the only dock with masts.  Everyone else has power boats.

I can’t express how wonderful it has been having Makai on Ed and Marybeth’s dock.  We’ve met many of their friends and neighbors, attended a few Christmas events with them, did quite a bit of fishing off the dock and shared quality time that makes me feel like I’ve known them forever.

Besides all the fun and games, there’s always some work to be done.  Luckily Eric did his own technical post because other than watching him dig in and out of lockers with a bag of tools I never quite know what mysterious new addition or repair he’s making. I on the other hand tackled more obvious projects.   How about the 13 year old toilet seats with thin finishes from all those years of scrubbing.

Yucky, they did not look like something I wanted to be in the same room with.  A week of sanding and painting really spiffed them up.  No more nicks, scratches or bare places that looked like mold or worse.  Now they shine and sparkle bright white.

The same can of paint took care of the cockpit table as well.  At some point in Makai’s past the table had been cleaned with something that damaged the finish, the table was really and eyesore in the middle of the cockpit.

I also dragged all my sewing gear to Mom’s garage and finished up the cockpit cushions.

When Eric screwed the table leaf back on he thought of our friend Herb and made sure to line the screw slots up.

Ed and Marybeth have two cute little dogs.  Daisy was captured by the sisters and dressed in doll clothes.  Poor little thing.

We enjoyed all kinds of great food this month.  I felt that most of the fall we were either traveling or working too hard on projects and I neglected my kitchen duties.  I made up for it with several home cooked meals in December.  It’s nice when Mom is here to help chop veggies, stir pots and clean up afterwards. We also had some good take out food like Chinese, subs, Mexican, drive thru, but no one wanted to eat at Scruffy Joe’s.  Hmmm.

 
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Everyone loves Christmas Cookie season.  We had two cutters on the boat, a tree and a gingerbread boy, so that’s what we made.  Mom made the frosting which was a real treat for me because the taste is a blast from my past and she does it just right.

We joined Ed and Marybeth for a Christmas Eve party and Church to celebrate Jesus’s birthday.

It was great fun for the kids to have time with other children.

Then of course there was the main event, the morning everyone has been waiting for.  The gifts have been piled in the corner for weeks, new ones added here and there, occasional rearrangements and re-stacking.

The stockings were filled by the tree, the living room was tidied up and off they went tearing into packages.  Actually they went really slow, carefully opening and testing out each gift.  Hmm, that’s new.  They used to dive in for the shear enjoyment of ripping the paper off.

In the end everyone was pleased.  The kids each received a kindle for reading library books (thanks Grandma Beth!), Roy has a load of fishing gear, a few toys, books and movies.

The sisters each have a mermaid tail made from delicate swim and dance fabric sewed on the same machine that chugged through bolts of canvas, webbing and plastic window material. Genny’s gifts are a little more on the artsy side as well as a few dolls and books.

Marie had a higher than usual concentration of cute little animals.

One sunny afternoon she sat out on the porch painting rocks with the kits Grandma Beth sent.

Sailmakai.org received a new camera. Last winter we struggled with underwater photos.  The GoPro didn’t have a flash or viewer so the photos came out dark and the colors were faded and I had no way of sharing the beauty we enjoyed while snorkeling. In April the Annonson’s came for a visit in the British Virgin Islands and brought along their new camera.  We were so impressed it got put on the list of necessary equipment for this winter in the Bahamas. To see examples of the photos they took with the Olympus T2 Tough, check out the Annonson Family Visit post.

On Christmas Eve we made a traditional dinner supplemented with several dishes from Tracy our neighbor.  The dogs carefully guarded the left overs so the Bumpus Dogs from the Christmas Story wouldn’t come and take the turkey away.

The rest of Christmas was spent at the water.  Mom and I took the dogs to the beach and for a swim in the pool, then we spent the rest of the day at the boat.

The mermaids spent the day keeping their tail damp.

Roy and Ed got in quite a bit of fishing.

Dock fishing seemed to produce more bites than dinghy fishing, but it’s nice to go for a ride.

At the dock Roy pulled in the Jack one after another, it was great fun.

but cleaning after dark proved to be a chore.

Spending as much time with a line in the water as Roy does, you are bound to pull up all kinds of sea monsters.  This is the first eel we’ve seen on the line.

Our plan is to anchor near the channel entrance tomorrow and head out just before dark for an early morning arrival in Port Canaveral on Dec 30. We’ll spend about a week there visiting with the Aanonson’s at their Grandparent’s house nearby. Then as quickly as the weather allows get ourselves down to the southern Bahama Islands

We run our outboard in salt water all year long.  Our tell tale stream was getting pretty weak.  We flushed the system with Barnacle Buster using our kitchen trashcan.

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Tell tale stream is running strong again.  We are good for another season.

This summer we added a third membrane from Cruise RO  to our watermaker system.

When we had 2 membranes we saw 40 gph.  With the third membrane, we hoped to increase our output a little more.  The membranes are added in series, each membrane is good for about 20 gph.  When they are in series, the output isn’t quite additive because each downstream membrane sees saltier water from the previous membrane.  We knew we wouldn’t get another 20 gph, but we would be happy with 10 gph.

Here is output at 48 gph

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When I went to shut down the watermaker about a half hour later it was reading 50 gph.  This was with a water temp of 60 degrees.  We should get a little more output as we move into warmer water.  We were making good water, with a PPM reading of 124 ppm.

We are very happy with this latest modification to the system.