Preparations and the Second Guess

I am going to take a quick minute and get everything caught up to speed this morning, I am in the midst of getting ready to head to Bimini for a week or so, which will probably be the stop that signals the end of, well the turn around point, of this trip.

Over the last few days I have spent a whole lot of time working on Arden - sealing the chain plates, cleaning, bright work, some work on lines and rigging - you name it I have done it. The standing rigging is all back in tune after being loosened for the chain plate job, and the sealant looks like it has cured. I got my all chain anchor rode all measured out and stowed - 205 feet of G4 chain, should be plenty enough for where ever I go, and, it gives that extra safety margin of being chafe proof. That now makes 4 complete sets of rode on board, for 3 anchors. The only bit of ground tackle I am missing now is a good fisherman style take apart anchor for my storm anchor. I know where one is, and if the money is right when I get back to Oriental NC I will pick it up.

I spent a good bit of yesterday cleaning the boat and topping off the water tanks, I have a full 87 gallons on board, once again Arden is bow down, with the chain rode weighing in at about 275 lbs, and the water tank coming in at just over 320 lbs, her attitude in the water is right back where it was before I added the aft water tank, down by the bow by and inch and a half or so. Unfortunately, I am low on her marks all over, however, right now it is just an aesthetics thing, as her lines where I painted them are a bit below the manufacturer's lines. I will remedy that when I haul her out this summer or fall and repaint the hull.

I have also squeezed in every drop of fuel that I can on board, the fuel tanks are full well into the fill tubes, and the jerry jugs on deck are all full as well. I think that puts me around 47 gallons in the tanks, and 15 on deck, if I can catch a break with the wind, I will be good for fuel at least until I get to the upper end of South Carolina.

I went over to Sven und Gabi's last night, we had a barbeque for Elias' birthday (Elias is the Venezulean guy that owns the beautiful 105 foot sailing yacht) and everyone was there - Elias, Matt (who is leaving with me in the morning) Frank und Sabina, Sven, Gabi, Julia and Carlos. We had a great night, and it was also kind of a going away for Matt and I as well.

I am making my first set of flags this morning, I have made the Quaratine flag, (this is flown as you come into a foriegn port to signal the customs guys that you are requesting clearance into customs) and I am just about ready to start making my Bahamanian courtesy flag in just a few minutes. I have learned a bit about sewing nylon this AM, it is a real pain in the butt to sew out in the cockpit. It might also be that my sewing machine has a bit of age on it and may not be at 100%, but no matter, it is a bit harder to sew than say canvas.

I hope I have everything done, and am spending a bit of time second guessing things as I am often want to do, but I really can't think of much more that needs to be done, so I think I am ready.

I spoke to David and Peg this morning, they are aboard Journey and are making their last minute preparations to sail, and I outlined the plan that Matt and I settled on for our departure. We are going to leave here at about 1015 or so, that is when the tide is slack and starting to come back in. That will have us into the current at the bridges, which will give us a bit more steerage and control if we have to wait for bridge openings. I figure that it will take us an hour to an hour and a half to get down to the ICW, where we will meet David and Peg. Once we are all together, we will sail down to the main channel, out to the ocean, and hang a right and head south, the goal being south of Miami by nightfall. At sunset or just after, depending on how far south we are, our little flotilla will hang a left and head east towards Bimini. That should allow for a bit of drift due to the current in the Gulf Stream (which is at about 2 knots right now) and for some leeway as we will be running with a south/south easterly wind. If all works out as planned, we will make the Bahama Banks at or just below Bimini some time after dawn. If we get there before dawn we will lay off and wait, hopefully we will get there an hour or so after day break.

So here we are, all of us making last minute adjustments and getting set to go. I will post again in the morning, and then that may be the last post before I return to the States in a week or so, I have no idea what kind of internet will be available over there.

Pancakes, Mudbanks and Florida Sun

I announced a few posts ago that I had run out of pancake mix, and had searched the net for a recipe to make my own batter mix, and would report on how that all turned out. Well I can now say that it didn't turn out too badly for a food experiment, those can go so awfully wrong at times, and I will share that recipe at the end of the post for all of those that might be interested. I have been pretty lazy about breakfast the past few days, mainly coffee and toast since changing anchorages in St Augustine, so this morning I decided that it was time to fix another batch of pancakes. I got everything together, it was really fairly simple, and I made up a batch. I can be a harsh judge of pancakes, and for me saying it wasn't bad goes a long way. The only other food critic on board is no real judge of good pancakes, I don't think Spook even tastes them as she gulps them down, but I suppose a wagging tail can be taken as a good solid thumbs up.

Today Spook and I set out exploring after a very, very cool night aboard the boat, I told you I am getting quite spoiled by the temperatures here, I think it hit a frigid 40 degrees last night, so we were moving slow this morning. After a nice pancake breakfast for both of us, we headed off to the beach again. I think old Spook may just be getting used to the water now, she actually had all 4 paws in the water, and considering she just is not a fan of swimming, that says quite a bit. We must have walked 3 miles round trip, and then rowed back over to the boat. When we got home I was in full photographic mode, so we headed into the inlet I am anchored in front of. We got some good photos of Ibises, a type of bird I know of, but have never really seen until this morning. There was also an exposed oyster bed, with quite a few small conch or whelk type shells mixed in, all empty. They were small, and I may have the species completely wrong, but they were cool none the less.

When we got back to the boat, I realized that this mornings north east wind had pushed Arden into the shallower side of where we were anchored, up onto a mudbank, and had I had the zincs that I need to replace on hand, it would have been the perfect time to replace them, as we were basically careened - the boat was sitting flat on the bottom, the tide had fallen away, and Arden was 2 feet shy of floating. I did find that in this attitude she is still very stable, unlike my old Cape Dory, and I spent the remainder of the morning on deck doing dishes, some wiring, and basic clean up. Had I thought of it soon enough, I would have gone ahead and repainted the waterline and boot stripe, as it was completely exposed and is definitely in need of a touch up, but that didn't come to mind until the tide had started to come back in. Maybe next time, as I have plans to careen her again when I get to West marine and get new zincs.

So today was totally an outdoors day, well with the exception of running a virus program on this computer that ended up totally crashing the machine. Luckily with what little computer knowledge that I do have I was able to get it back up and running, but I was really sweating it there for a bit, not sure what I would have done if the computer had not come back online and got going again.

Just a quick word on statistics - readership is growing, yesterday we had an all time high number of visitors, and we have had folks view from 19 states, coming from 67 different cities over the past 30 days. Not to mention the visitors from overseas - 10 different foreign countries and counting so far.

So here is the pancake mix recipe, not quite Bisquick, but a good, reliable recipe that turns out a decent pancake.

Ingredients
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup dry milk powder
1 cup shortening

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and dry milk. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

I omitted the shortening, as I will be storing this dry, and when I mixed it into batter, I used water and an egg. I made 6 really good sized pancakes out of 1 1/4 cups of this batter mix.

Anchoring On the ICW

Ok, its 12:37 am, I'm awake again, so I decided to take a bit of time and ramble on a bit more about my travels.

Here on the ICW if you follow some of the charts that are published, or a few of the guide books, you will find that there are preferred anchorages that are marked on the chart or mentioned in some of the guides. You will even find some of these anchorages mentioned on waterway guide websites, such as Cruisers Net. But what do you do if you find yourself at the end of the day in an area that does not have a preferred anchorage, such as where I am now. One solution is to find a spot of your own, and do what I have done this stop, and get creative about how you anchor.

All along the ICW there are small creeks, streams, and other small waterways that empty into the main channel, and provide small inlets that indent the side of the the waterway. Right now I am in such an area, and when I came in, I carefully checked the bottom contour with the depth finder. I found an area that was off the main channel, that held about 10 feet of water. There is about a 3 foot tide here, so that means at low tide I had over 3 feet under the keel. When I came in I nosed in right to that 10 foot line, and dropped my main anchor. On Arden, like many cruising boats, I carry more than one anchor. I have 2 on the bow, a 35lb CQR primary and a 33 lb Bruce as a secondary. I also carry a 15 lb Danforth as a kedging anchor - an anchor used in the event that one runs aground, that is dinghied out, dropped over board, and then used to pull ones boat backwards off the shoal. If you ever see an anchor carried on the stern of a boat, that is what it is for. So last night, in order to keep Arden from swinging into the channel, I dinghied out the kedge anchor about 50 feet from the boat, dropped it, and then hauled in on the rode to get Arden anchored parallel to the main channel. The great thing about being in a narrow channel is that even if you are in moderate winds, you are shielded from them by the land on either side of the waterway to a great extent, so anchoring in this manner does not create a huge problem with presenting the side of your vessel to the wind. Additionally, there can be strong tidal currents here in the waterway, and anchoring in this manner will usually keep your keel parallel to the current, so that does not create a problem either. So here I sit, just off the main channel, in a spot that has great access to where I want to be, tucked in away from the traffic that goes up and down the waterway. Another way to anchor that will limit the movement of your boat, and that can be used in bad weather to give extra holding should the wind shift 180 degrees, is the Bahama Rig. Anchoring in this manner requires that one anchor is set into the wind, as is usually done, and then you drift back a fair amount and drop the second anchor, and then winch yourself back to the center of the space between both anchors. Or, as I do, you dinghy out the second anchor and drop it, making sure to pay out equal amounts of anchor rode to each anchor. This can be done with 2 separate anchor rodes, or, as is preferred, it is best done with 2 equal lengths of anchor chain linking the 2 anchors together, and then a chain or rope rode going from the center of that set to the bow of the boat.

I was thinking about what to make for dinner last night, and I came across a great recipe that not only used a portion of the 27lbs, ok now it is about 23lbs, of rice I have aboard, but also put to use the last tomato I had from the Fernandina Beach farmers market. It was pretty simple to make, and other than Basil, I had all of the ingredients on board. I had heard about a very similar dish from a friend of mine, so I decided to try it myself last night, and it turned out great. So, at the bottom of the post, check out the recipe for stuffed tomatoes.

Yesterday, I guess now it was yesterday, I was walking back from the beach road, and I saw my first live native Florida Alligator. I had to get a picture of it, so I dragged out the camera, and proceeded to try and get a good shot of it. No dice, from where I was I could only get a shot of its head. So I tromped on through the grass and tried to get a bit better angle for the picture. When I was about 30 feet from him, he turned on his tail and launched into the pond behind him. Man those things are fast. I mean lightning quick. You would never expect such an ungainly looking lizard to be able to move so fast. I learned a bit about gators yesterday, and I will give them just a bit more room than I probably would have if I had not seen it move like I did.

When I made it back to the dock where I came ashore, I made an alarming discovery - the dinghy was gone! Immediately I went into panic mode, and began to wonder not only what the heck happened to my dinghy, but also how in the world I was going to get over to my boat. When I landed, I tied the dinghy to a cleat on the dock, but the dinghy, and the cleat, were gone. Teaches me not to trust dock hardware for awhile. I had quite a few bad scenarios going through my head, not only how was I going to get to the boat today, but if the dinghy was gone, like gone for good, how was I going to continue this journey? There goes the ability to take Spook ashore and it also eliminates the ability to anchor out. I don't have the funds to buy a new dinghy, so what in the world was I going to do if I didn't find it. Luckily, the guy whos dock I was tied to had a few kayaks, so he lent me one to get over to the boat, and I planned on getting over to Arden, pulling up anchor, and going to look for my dinghy. He and a few neighbors began to canvas the neighborhood and the seawall for my lost dinghy. Just as I was ready to haul anchor and go looking, he called over and said one of the neighbors had found it under their dock not long ago, and had secured it, correctly assuming it had come from the sailboat anchored out across the channel. You cannot imagine the relief I felt at that moment.

So today will be another beach day, and then I think I will head south to Daytona tomorrow, and then when I get a good weather window, probably out offshore again to round Cape Canaveral. Heck, if the wind dies down a bit tomorrow, I just might start working on my tan.

Stuffed Tomatoes:

6 lg. tomatoes

1 c. uncooked rice

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. basil

1 garlic (crushed) or garlic salt to taste

1/4 c. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut top off tomatoes; scoop out pulp. Place pulp in large bowl; add seasonings, oil, rice and cheese; mix well. Place tomato shells in Pyrex baking dish which has been greased with olive oil. Fill each tomato with mixture and garnish with stuffed green olives if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until rice is cooked.