After we got bounced around offshore going north from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach, Florida, we decided that our next leg would be on the dread Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). For those not in the nautical know, today's ICW is a channel about 3000 miles long that extends from Norfolk, Virginia in the north to…
Our two days in Ft. Lauderdale went very pleasantly. As terrible as the Floridians' behavior was on the water, every single person we met on shore went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. We officially checked in to the US in person at the US Customs/Border Patrol office down by the commercial…
Wow, has it been almost a year since we sailed from Puerto Morelos, Mexico, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida? That road trip we'd taken through the Yucatan Peninsula was one of our best road trips ever, anywhere. With that now behind us, on May 6, 2011, we checked out of Mexico* and started across the Yucatan…
In late March on the Caribbean side of Panama, the weather grows calmer and cruisers select from many fine travel choices. Some prefer to stay in the San Blas archipelago for, like, ever. Others work their way NW to Panama's popular Bocas del Toro and all its anchorages and marinas. Perhaps the majority of Western…
Yeah, we spent about 2 weeks of March, 2011, in the San Blas islands on the eastern (Caribbean) side of Panama. I'll just get it out of the way right now and put up this cliche photo of the exotic white-sand San Blas coral island with the happy native happily paddling his sailing cayuca to…
Meet Lenny. He's about 4-1/2" of lizardly leanness, sort of a toasty-brown color with orange highlights. He has a prominent light-tan stripe down the middle of his back, with darker stripes along his sides. He's quick as lightning. He's a Southeastern Five-Lined Skink, Eumeces inexpectatus. There are lots of his type hanging around Florida, and…
The weather forecast for this trip – July 9-11, 2011, looked good: SE breezes generally in the 10-15-knot range, with calm seas making for a nice easy downwind sail. The thunderstorms, which during this time of year are automatically forecast to occur daily (whether they actually do or not), had disappeared. The sky was white…
Departed Stuart, Florida on Friday afternoon, July 8, 2011, intending to quickly fuel up and then wind our way out the St. Lucie River on a rising tide. The goal was to arrive at the shallowest area at the highest tide: The Crossroads, 7-1/2 miles from Stuart, where the shallow and shoaling St. Lucie River's…
Yeah, not much posting lately and zero pics. What a stupid blogger. We arrived in Stuart, Florida, on Friday, May 13. Did one uncomfortable 51-mile day offshore from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach, pounding thru head-seas with a frisky Gulf Stream current shoving us right into the tall chop. Lots of water on deck.…
5/9: winds very light, <5 kt. E, seas flat-calm w/ 2' E swell. But, we're motorsaillng at 5.8-6+kt. SOG w/ only 2000 rpm on engine – we've found the Gulf Stream & it's helping us thru the Straits of Florida. Today's forecast has us right on the edge of 2 weather systems, so it'll either…