After trying to post the previous entry using our Iridium satellite phone and having the email application repeatedly die, it wasn't clear that we had sent anything at all. As it turns out, the email did get sent, and my trustworthy son, Erik, posted the entry. We didn't know that, though, until we next had internet access, 4 days later, so we didn't post any more updates from our longest passage to date.

Strange that nobody seemed to care that we were underway from Palm Beach, posted one update, and then went silent for a week. For all anybody knew we could have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle!

Anyway, picking up where we left off, we continued our very uneventful sail up the coast from West Palm Beach toward North Carolina. Things were so uneventful and the weather so benign we continued sailing and motor-sailing Sunday and Monday, right around Cape Hatteras (the ship graveyard of the Atlantic) and into the Chesapeake Bay. We finally dropped the anchor Monday evening off Sandy Point in the Great Wicomico River, where we'd anchored 2 years previously on our way south through the Chesapeake. We managed to travel 763 miles non-stop over 4 days and 5 hours. More importantly, nothing broke!

About 5 minutes after we anchored, we had a thunderstorm wallop us! Winds gusting to 40 knots and torrential rain, with lightning and thunder to match. But we were well-anchored and felt quite safe and serene, other than some nervousness about how close the lightning was getting. The storm passed and we slept well that evening, after standing 4 hours on, 4 hours off watches for 4 days.

Tuesday we motored to Solomons, MD for the Hylas owners get-together. We had 3 lovely days meeting new friends and decompressing from our long passage. We toured 2 other Hylas 46's, a Hylas 54, and a Hylas 70. Interesting to see other folks' boats, particularly boats that aren't lived aboard 24 hours a day, boats that probably have professional cleaning regularly. Amazing how much more room there is in a 54, only 8 feet longer than our boat, and absolutely astounding how much room there is in a 70! The 70 even had a full-time captain and cook.

Friday we left Solomons and motored (not much wind on the Chesapeake and what there is has been contrary - as usual, right on our nose!) to Annapolis. We'll investigate getting our genoa refurbished here, as well as possibly get the bottom paint re-done and some dings in the bow attended to. We also need to get a handhold on the dinghy repaired that we severed when leaving the dock in Nassau.

Just one other tidbit. We met some other cruisers in a Hylas 49 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and learned that they were fearsome fish killers. They gave all credit to a magic lure purchased at a boat show. Given our lousy record fishing (several strikes, but only managed to pull in 2 barracuda, both of whom were released), I was willing to try anything. I ordered one of these magic lures and it was delivered while we were in Lake Worth. I put it out right after leaving Lake Worth and damned if we didn't get a strike about an hour later! We landed a very nice 5 lb. Little Tunny. Now if you take what I've spent on fishing gear and divide by the 3 or so lbs of meat we ended up with, you'll find that fish cost way more than the most expensive Bluefin Tuna in the Tokyo fish market. Still, it was reassuring to finally land something! We didn't do any more fishing on the passage north, but have great hopes for the future.

We'd been waiting for the sail loft in Lauderdale to refurbish our mainsail and genoa (large jib) since well before we left Lauderdale for Lake Worth. They were finally delivered Wednesday morning; the mainsail was completed, but the genoa was not - apparently a bad couple of weeks at the sail loft. Would have been nice to have left Palm Beach earlier, but what can you do?

We put the genoa up, returned the rental car, and left the marina for one that has diesel. We only needed 66 gallons, but at $4.75 a gallon it was a bunch of money.

We anchored Wednesday night in Lake Worth south of Peanut Island, and after futzing around getting the mainsail hoisted, we finally managed to leave Lake Worth Inlet around 1:30PM yesterday.

It's been fairly uneventful, though we had to motorsail until just a while ago, due to lack of wind. We went through a couple of squalls, one with winds up in the low 30's; funny how the wind can go from 5knots to 33knots in no time!

Once we found the Gulf Stream we were doing 10+ knots consistently, up into the low 11's. We managed 220nm from 1330 yesterday to noon today, an excellent run.

This morning we were overflown by both a Navy jet and helicopter. Later we spotted the aircraft carrier (#71 - anybody want to look that one up?) which called us and requested we scoot around their stern while they were doing aircraft landings and takeoffs. Big honking carrier.

We finally have enough wind to sail, so we turned off the engine a short while ago, and we actually were doing 12 knots under sail. Haven't gone this fast since we came through Hell Gate on the East River in NYC with the tide.

We'll continue on and decide if we want to go all the way around Cape Hatteras and into the Chesapeake without stopping. We'd like to join some fellow Hylas owner's on the Patuxent River this coming Tuesday, though it's going to tight.

Hello Everyone!

May 28, 2008

The past week and a half has not been as exciting as the previous two weeks, no long passages, no mechanical failures, no lines caught under the boat. Been most pleasant!

As Ken mentioned in his May 16th Journal, we arrived in Ft Lauderdale, and that afternoon met with the rigger. Well it's been over a week and the rigger is still working. Hopefully today all will be done.

As we didn't sail to Key West, we decided to go see it via a rental car. A good decision as we were both very ready to be off of the boat for a few days. We stayed in a hotel on Duval Street in the heart of historic Key West. Soooo nice, a comfy king-size bed, a clean shower with endless hot water, nonstop air conditioning and reliable WiFi. Ahhh the pleasures of life on land.

We found Key West to be overly touristy. At times it felt like we were in Disneyland, especially when the Conch Train Tours passed by. Nevertheless, we took it all in and enjoyed ourselves. Sunset at Mallory Square was not to be missed, street entertainment and drinks every night as the sun sets over the Gulf of Mexico. Ken and I particularly enjoyed the "cat" show. Domestic cats performed for a wacky trainer. Silly and fun. The cats were impressive as they did not mind the crowd, including dogs, and did not leave the open space on the square where their show took place. And I got a kick out of seeing them jump through hoops!

We even went to the Disneyesque Pirate Soul Museum where the "in the hold" experience gave me a fright! We wandered from the Pirate museum into what appeared to be a costume shop next door, but was in fact a sex-toy purveyor. Yes, there were lots of costumes for sale, but I don't think they were meant for Halloween. And the abundance of "devices" available for purchase was, well, astounding. Merchandised from floor to ceiling, the store was well stocked. Fun to be a fly on the wall here. Just imagine the conversations of families as they wandered through the shop. =^)

The Museum of Art & History housed in the refurbished Customs House was my favorite Key West "attraction." The ICONS exhibit by J. Seward Johnson was worth seeing. Bronze, life-size sculptures of iconic images in art ("The Mona Lisa," "American Gothic," "Girl with a Pearl Earring"), but each with a different twist. His take on Mona Lisa was that she was in fact a male, as confirmed by her hairy legs which one doesn't see in the painting, but does see in Johnson's bronze.

Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West for many years with his second wife Pauline. We toured their house. Interesting man. Intense.

Route 1 through the Keys to Key West was a bit of a disappointment. My vision of an endless causeway crossing aqua blue water connecting palm tree covered keys with white beaches was not realized. No, not what it's like at all. Think about an old highway, like route 66, lined with scrub brush, sand and buildings from another era. Regularly a bridge or causeway connects two keys. The thing is, the bridges were not picturesque, just another section of an old highway that has seen better days. All in all we enjoyed Key West and our much needed break from Aurora, but once was enough.

After our return from Key West, we took advantage of having a car to do errands. We found most everything on our shopping list, did a provisioning and restocked our supply of wine. Also, I had the print we purchased in Trellis Bay, BVI framed. Finally we have a picture hanging in the saloon. We even saw the new Indiana Jones movie. So nice to have wheels. But it was only for a short time. The car has been returned.




The riggers should finish the work today. Well maybe not, it's 5:00 p.m. But for us, it's time to move on from Las Olas Marina. Our next stop is Lake Worth in the West Palm Beach area where we'll visit with our friends Gary and Len as well as take delivery our refurbished sails. Then it's on to Beaufort, NC to wait for calm weather in which to scoot around Cape Hatteras. Then we'll be in the Chesapeake where we'll spend some time. If all goes well, we'll meet up with other Hylas owners at an informal gathering scheduled for mid June.

June 4, 2008

Got busy. Didn't finish and send the update last week. We motored from Ft Lauderdale to Lake Worth (Palm Beach, Fl) and have been here since last Wednesday. Still waiting on our sails. They should be delivered by Friday. Not so. Just found out they will not be ready until next Wednesday! Another week in Lake Worth. Not where we want to be!

Given that we were here for a few days, we decided to tour Florida. On Saturday we, along with thousands of others, watched the launch of the shuttle Discovery from Titusville, a town west of Cape Canaveral. One can find a spot along the coast and watch the launch which takes place across the water at the Kennedy Space Center. Although 12 miles away, it was still an amazing view. First time I've seen a live launch. The feelings of pride and awe I experienced were unexpected and strong.

From the east coast of Florida we drove across the state to Sarasota, on the Gulf, to visit the Ringling Museum of Art, which is a complex that houses the Ringling Museum of Art, the Circus Museum, Ca d' Zan (John and Mable Ringling's home) and Historic Asolo Theater. Quite interesting and worthwhile. Learned much about the golden age of the circus in America, 1880's to 1919, and about John and Mable Ringling. The miniature circus created by Howard Tibbals was well worth seeing. Mr Tibbals spent 50 years creating his model circus. The detail is incredible, from the train yard with the unloading of the circus wagons, to the back yard where the behind-the-stage life took place to the midway with its strange and freakish shows, to the Big Top with its three rings, every detail was addressed. Mr. Tibbals even modeled both the men's and women's "rooms." Nothing fancy, not even rooms, just open-air canvased off sections between the midway and the Big Top. The men's had a ditch for a latrine with instructions stating "face this way." The dressing tents, the eating tent, the animal tents as well as every other aspect of the traveling circus was depicted in exacting detail. Truly amazing.

We had planned a slow drive back on the Tamiami Trail scenic highway through the Everglades, but had to alter plans when we took a look at the Monday tides. Oops, minus low tide at midday! We had to move Aurora into the marina on Monday to accommodate the refrigeration techs scheduled to come on board Tuesday morning. With our 7 foot draft, the only time there would be enough water in the shallow marina channel was at high tide, and high tide was going to happen in the wee hours of the morning. But if we moved her at 9:00 a.m. there would be just enough water in the channel. So we made a quick dash across Florida's interstate 75, better known as Alligator Alley, early Monday morning. Whew, we just made it! Ken said the depth finder reported 7 feet as we came into the marina!

We've seen several lightning storms in Florida. Not surprising as Central Florida is known as the lightning capital of the United States, as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. On our drive to the west coast we were treated to a spectacular lightning storm outside of Tampa. Just hope a bolt of lightning doesn't hit Aurora's mast while we’re here. That would fry the electronics on the boat. Another reason to move out of Florida quickly. Hurricanes and heat being at the top of the list of why we need to scoot. Unfortunately the sail rep informed us this morning that our sails will not be ready until next week! The cruising life requires patience!

Ken has been following the adventures of a South African family on their sailing vessel Gilana for the past 4 years or so. They've been out cruising for 10 years and they maintain a great web site which they update regularly. They started out sailing with their 10 year old daughter and 80 year old mom. Been interesting to read about their adventures and how they raised their daughter on a boat. It turned out that Mike and Laura of Gilana were in Lake Worth not far from us. So we dinghyed over and introduced ourselves. For Ken it was quite something to meet the folks he has been reading about for years. We were able to get together with them for a visit which we enjoyed. Interesting to hear their story and why they chose to live on Gilana. Over the years the family unit changed. Liz their daughter grew up and moved out on her own and sadly, Laura's mom has passed away. Liz is working as crew on a mega yacht. Mike and Laura expect to sail the Med a bit more and then settle in Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. In fact, they will be leaving to cross the Atlantic any day now. Inspirational couple.

Well another day has gone by and this update has still not been sent! We decided to stay in south Florida and have the sails delivered to us next Wednesday. However, we changed marinas and are now at Palm Beach Harbor Marina in West Palm Beach. A much more comfortable locale within easy walking distance of services and a downtown.

Remember the awning I was working on forever in Trinidad? Well it is coming in handy in this Florida heat and sunlight. We've had it up for several days now and it helps block the sun and keep the temperature down. Guess all that work was not in vain. I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever use it.

Updated photos at:

http://www.svaurora.com/newsite/PhotoGallery/Passage%20and%20South%20Florida/index.html

Okay, time post this update, really.

Enjoy your summer,

Maryann