Expanding Family

:(  Kara won't be travelling to the Bahamas to see us this year and it saddens me at first but the reasoning makes up for it.  You see, I'm going to tell you a story in pictures.

Kara, our loving daughter gave some fellow her BEST look:

This resulted in the union we told you about in a previous post:

Then, a short time later, something didn't feel quite right:

And now this:

Soon to be our new Grandson (checked today), resides in here for now:

And this has made some folks real happy!:

And now all is right with the world.

The end.  (just beginning really)

Catch up post

"A rose by any other name...."  I know, it's an Orchid and Traci hasn't managed to kill it yet!
It was looking pretty sad, leaves all fell off, there was nothing but a stem and 2 little buds and voila, 2 beautiful flowers popped out.  I had to apologize to Traci.

The Hamrick vessel as it sits on the T dock behind us, in front of us really as we face that way.  You can see the anchor hanging back in the middle of the tunnel and it sits back from the bow about 8 or 10 feet and is really hard to see from the deck.  They left on Friday to head out to the Gulf to do a little relaxing, a little sailing and whatever and when they arrived and went to drop the above anchor it seemed to have other ideas as it wasn't there.  I guess the shiny stainless swivel had corroded in two and parted ways with the rest of the vessel.  I have a feeling it may be right below the water line in this picture.

Ever since we got the boat a few years back, the admiral said she could smell mould when we got in bed.  She has proven her nose in the past in stunning ways so I have no right to even question her smelling ability, you can't get away with nothing around her if ya know what I mean.  Well I finally ripped everything apart and found the mould behind the headboard and 1 job always leads to 10 more on a boat so I expect we'll have a nearly new room soon enough. 

Our new hypalon dingy sitting under it's cover on the dock.  We were in need of a new one but figured it would be another year or so before that happened but a couple weeks ago I was reading the classifieds on the cruisers forum and came across an add that had been posted in July for this brand new, in the box West Marine dingy and he reposted a few weeks ago as not one person had replied to the add and it was at least $400. to $600. less than you can buy it for new at the store for.  Seems a tour boat ran into and damaged their dingy while in the Bahamas and the insurance company purchased this one and had it sent to the marina they were heading to upon their return.  They had patched up their damaged one and used it for the rest of the trip and this one was waiting for them on their return to the U.S.  It was a little large for their boat and they were selling out and returning to "the real world" after a 2 year intermission anyway so I made an offer, picked it up the next day and saved over a thousand dollars, still get warranty, got it all registered and titled and we're ready to go.  If I could only find a 15 hp 2 stroke now we'd be all set.  I want the 2 stroke as they are 40 or so pounds lighter than the new 4 strokes and we have to lift it daily at the back of the boat.

It's getting to be the time of year when it's great to be in south Florida, not so hot you can't go outside and cools a little at night and the wildlife seems to return in force.
Normally the manatee munch on any floating weeds that come over the levee and as a rule only have 1 baby.  Today I watched as the mother, above, left the 2 young ones to play and roll around in the slip next to us while she seemed to be rooting something up off the bottom for some time.  When she finally came up they swam along beside her and seemed to be taking something from her mouth as they took turns sidling up to her like in the picture.

We got and I've installed a new 3 way fridge and a new clothes washer but I have no pics of those as yet so I'll put them in a future blog.
Thanks for reading and bye for now,
Dave

 

Family addition

I need to first apologize to Kara as she is very private and likes to keep things to herself but in this instance I just can't not tell everyone.

Growing up, Kara tried, only a couple times mind you, to drag some kid home or was followed home by some would be Prince Charming just so I could take pleasure in running them off and giving her some sort of lecture so it seems.  However, this one kid would not give up no matter what I did or threatened.  He used to sneak over to where she was babysitting, hang out where she worked and he even put his education on hold in College for a year so they could finish together or some dumb thing like that, young love, go figure.
 I must tell you though that while visiting us in the Bahamas the year before last Matt decided he wanted one of Traci's pickled eggs and proceeded to attempt to open the jar, he twisted hard while his fingers turned red, I suppose little beads of sweat formed on his brow, his muscles bulged and his face grimaced with effort involved but to no avail, the top would not relent to his manlike grip.  He finally gave up and said something to Traci eluding to the idea that he may get angry and break the jar or something similar so little Traci, small -  demure little Traci walked over, grabbed the jar and popped that lid open like it was never there.  He still hangs his head when you mention it and Traci vows to never ever let him forget it.  This is a TRUE story, maybe not the sweat and muscle bulging, I'm not sure as I never witnessed it, I only heard the lid pop open then a little sarcasm from Traci, but otherwise true as the day is long, I swear.  I think there was a real whisper like comment about "I must've loosened it" or something but his face was pointed at the floor so you couldn't really hear him.
     So this kid, the one that wouldn't give up no matter what, married our little girl on Monday the 29th of July, 2013 in a private little ceremony at the court house in Brockville with no one we know attending or witnessing, just the way we wanted to many years ago and just the way they wanted it I'm sure.  We could not be there as my visa is expired, a green card is being applied for and we can't leave the country but we could not be more proud of our little girl and the new son we've gained. 
Thanks Matt for hanging in there.

 The new Hamrick vessel sitting behind us, waiting for an adventure.......

I have a whole bunch of work I should be doing so I thought I'd sit down and blog instead while I drink my coffee.  I promise I'll add some more photos of adventure tonite but for now I'm just desperate to remain at the table till the boss pops something to eat out of the galley.
I'm kind'a sad to hear that Coyaba went on the market and sold, not that I wish them to keep a boat that doesn't suit them but the fact that they now have no boat at all when I know that Paul's blood consists of 80% water.  I've made the offer, I told him that when he can't resist the urge to upgrade and work on a vessel, they're welcome to come down and spend time here!  I got a paint brush that could have his name on it!  Trim to install, new fridge is going in (yes, we`re going to rip the galley apart again) new, or refurb the roller furler and on and on.
The main bedroom has it`s inner self exposed right now and I got side-tracked with a wind generator right in the middle of that project.

  
The new sewing machine had some technical difficulties right out of the box.  I was sewing 2 layers of Sunbrella which is supposed to be a breeze for this machine, and the feed dog broke.  We had watched the dvd before starting any project and it said that the foot tension should be pretty much left alone from the factory to which I have to strongly disagree as there is no other explanation for what happened.  They sent me another right away at no charge but it now has me worried as the thing is poorly cast with a moment of about three quarters of an inch which is supported by cast material of about 4 and half thousands of an inch at 2 little end points.

I`d best get to work or I may get fired or worse, not fed.  Later!
Dave
 

Figured it out!!!!

Sorry for the extreme delay in posting ANYTHING!  I went to log in some time ago and was all prepared with various sources of pictures scattered on the table, you know, camera, phone, video camera etc etc cause you're never carrying the same thing twice in a row, and when I entered my info to sign in to the blogger it was wrong?  HMMMM, remember some crap from Google coming through on my phone that I never really read and promptly deleted so posting went on the back burner for awhile.
I hate when anyone takes over my electronic stuff or basically any change whatsoever in anything really, creature of habit.
 As you can see, I finally figured it out and this a "please keep the faith and check the blog once in awhile" post as I will post the pics of new stuff I have or will have in the near future as someone amongst us keeps clearing all my good crap off the table, bless her heart.
We went on a little sailing adventure a couple weeks ago.  I found our neighbors a new to them catamaran on the cruisers forum, went with them to check it out, they bought it and Traci and I went with them to sail it from the east side of the Keys to the Gulf side and up the Gulf a wee bit to Port of the Islands.  It is now docked right behind us on B dock and Johnny is being indoctrinated to big boat ownership, you know, no more money, never ending job list, infinite list of "I wants" and the supreme test of your relationship.  I still think that the first time you reach a foreign shore of your own accord and you look across the crystal clear, never ending blue water, and you anchor in the middle of the banks on a calm night with not another hint of other humans insight and come to realize the lack of noise, odors and light that you've become accustom to, it's all worth it.
For us, we have our old, built like a tank Daruma and being true to form for big boat ownership, we have a list of new "stuff" that is really all I have to post about right now other than going for a supposed drivers license type medical yesterday for an upcoming job in Brooklyn that turned into so much more.  These American doctors have followed suit and commercialized their craft into a profit oriented only business along with the rest of the world, they up sell the crap out of you so to speak.  A simple "Department of Transport medical" turned into a more expensive "wellness" medical which meant being lubed and violated and paying extra for the privilege.  She started ordering all these additional tests and the dollar figure kept rolling upwards, finally I just said whoa and phoned the office to see exactly what was required although too late, I'd all ready been violated which as Johnny says is usually a 2 drink minimum.  She even called in a second female to observe the whole thing which was compounding the issue in my mind.  "Come on in and watch me fondle and violate this slightly aging guy.  It should be fun!"
For the boat we bought a new sewing machine, new wind generator, used - newer course computer, new spot light, enough new flooring to finish the floors, sent the USB radio I talked about in a previous post out for repairs, new - larger capacity bilge pumps, new engine thermostats and a few missing engine parts.  Just have to get it all done now.......
  

Another post from Daruma

Ever wonder about karma?  Do things you've done really come round and bite you in the a$$ later in life?  I'm begining to think so. 
When we came to Florida way back after our Grenada trip the discussions always came round to the same thing, the trip was ok, quite a learning curve, saw a lot of stuff, boat needs this and that or would be nice to have this and that etc but the thing we both agreed upon was that we needed a reliable source for weather any where we may be so we know if we should be leaving or snuggling down where we are to ride out a storm.  It seemed the answer was an SSB radio which is like a ham radio on steriods, meaning that it does all the ham radio channels and marine and weather channels as well, seemed like the answer indeed.  I began a search and had the discussion with another boat at the Cocoa Village Marina where we tied up at the time which was just shortly after our return to civilization having traversed the West Indies from Grenada.  The fellow on this boat commented that he was never going offshore again so I could buy his if I wanted for a real reasonable price.  He and his wife took Traci out shopping while I was away on a job and he gave me a ride to the rental car company, seemed like a nice guy.  I got his email address and phone number and stayed in touch for the next 6 months at which time I called him and he drove for 2 hours to meet us half way and we exchanged the radio and tuner for $1000.00 and he explained that he couldn't get the antenna apart due to corrosion so I'd have to get one or use a stay on the boat as one, all good.  Here's where the Karma comes in.  I commented to Traci after first meeting him that he had so much hair on his ears that it looked like he was wearing earmuffs, the poor man.  She hadn't noticed at first but shared the same sentiments after next she saw him.  Afterwards when we were talking of the radio or install  and his name didn't come to me quickly I refered to him as "Fuzzy Ears" and she knew without question who I spoke of.  Now, 3 years later as I look in the mirror to shave after a shower, I notice the small forest growing on my own ears and turning darker and becoming more noticeable by the hour, the hair in my nose seems to grow 4 times faster than the hair on my head ever did and hair seems to be growing in places you don't need any while slowing growth in places you want it.  I've frequently commented to Traci how sorry I was I ever called her attention to his own hair dilemma and called him Fuzzy Ears, and to top it off, 3 years later I get around to putting a new antenna on and hooking up this life saving radio and the damn thing doesn't seem to work!  I'M SORRY ALL READY!
A couple years ago I hooked the radio to what is called a dipole antenna and a ground in the boat that goes through to water and expected I should hear something but didn't.  I quickly wrote this off to not having a proper antenna and counterpoise which is sorta a fancy term for a ground that balances or counter acts the frequency you're going to transmit on and uses the surroundings to reflect your signal for round the world type reception.  I bought an antenna and radial counterpoise, had Steel Services bend me up some stainless to mount the antenna, got her all hooked up and turned it on like it was Christmas morning and haven't gotten a peep out of it yet.  I'm going to send it to Tallahassee and see whats wrong with it.  Fuzzy Ears' revenge I guess.

                                                        As yet unpolished antenna mount

                                                       Where'd I put that mouse?

                                                    Crew's home parked behind us

                                                    Whipped this up on the beach (not really)

                                               Bending water with the power of my mind?
Not really bending the water with my mind, this is how crooked our floating house in Canada was with the water being so low when we were home last fall.  The sand sculpture was from the contest in Fort Myers.  A drunk guy on a plane told me in some midwest state they have a butter carving contest?  Sara and John's boat as we see it out our door and Crew in their house rooting through an open drawer.
Later,
Dave

Bahamas 2013

The above and following pics are of Thunderball Grotto at Staniel Cay in the Exuma island chain.  Around 1964 a James Bond movie called Thunderball was filmed there with Sean Connery and used some of the locals as divers in the movie.  Sir Sean must have been impressed because appearantly he lives in Nassau somewhere now.

The next one is Sara and Johnny Hamrick who was cold and wimpy so Traci got sucky baby a blanket.

                                         Brandy leaving the dingy lagoon at Staniel Cay

                                         Dingy parking lagoon at Staniel Cay
Sir Farts Alot heard Traci say something about taking the dingy to Rose Island and exploring and so a few hours later he asked if we were going to take the ding a ling to the island or not.  Traci thought that was pretty funny.  When they got here I started reading the all the rules, sit down to pee, don't go out on the deck without telling anyone and on and on and on and the last one was they had to send me an email for this blog about their adventure.  The following is what they sent:

Went to see Dave and Traci on our holidays. 

Enjoyed it very much. Greatly enjoyed all the snorkeling, fishing/spear fishing, going to Alantis, seeing the different islands, and sending days on the beaches. 

Traci fed us well, ahha and Dave taught us how to run the boat. First night, making Greg the First Mate and putting him in charge of the anchor light. Oh and can't forget, teaching him how to tie a bowline knot. We enjoyed the nights playing marbles and cards. It was an amazing trip and we all enjoyed it very much. 

Thanks again Dave and Traci for the great experience and good trip. It was nice seeing you guys and getting to spend time together.

So, if you guys want to come back next year and do different stuff then you have a full year that you have to listen to your mother and do as she says and if the reports are good then we'll talk.

I'll try and put some more pics up tonite and every chance I get.

Thanks for looking......Dave 

Friday, March 1, 2013
Well, we made it back to Florida in one piece and are safely tied to a dock at Port of the Islands Marina.  I will try to summarize our trip and you may find a few posts with pictures only as there are so many pictures and so little memory left at my age.
This year was busy with company of friends and some family coming and going in a steady stream with one party leaving in the a.m. and the next arriving in the p.m. and we had a blast sharing our experience.  We would love to have others visit us in such beautiful surroundings and get a look at things that most would never see in their lifetime as cruise ships don't take you to Thunderball Grotto or pull into Rose Island or Allens Cays and anchor in 4 feet of crystal clear water but there's only so much time and so little space so maybe next year.  We ran out of time this year and things I really wanted to do with the Patricks' weren't all possible due to the broken stay on the boat.  We were afraid of losing the mast in rough water while waiting for the new stay to arrive from Florida so we didn't move too far while they were on board.  I really wanted to take Shawn out in the deep water and crank the sails up and put a couple lines out and troll at 8 or 9 knots and wanted to sail with them to Allens Cays and let them see a real dark night unpolluted with any light and so many more stars than you ever see anywhere else.  As it was, Shawn helped me change the stay and I'm glad for the help.  Thanks Shawn.

On top of the roller furler is a plate held on with 2 pins are driven into the aluminum extrusion.  Corrosion from the different types of metal being in contact made the pins loose and one fell out and down between the furler extrusion and the cable and during use it splayed the individual wires out making the stay weak and it broke there.  It could've been alot worse than it was as the mast could've went over the side or stern and killed someone in the process.  I still have to dismantle it again to replace the pieces at the top of the furler that were lost when it broke but otherwise it's better than ever as I had a turnbuckle installed that wasn't on the old one and it's now fully adjustable and properly tensioned all around.  The furler, for the non sailers, is a device that the front sail is attached to that turns or undwinds and lets sail out to work and when you want to bring it in you pull a rope and the sail winds back up around the furler for compact storage.  All this turns on the wire or stay that supports the mast in the forward position of the boat.  There are six stays all together that share the load and 3 largest are in the range of 52 feet long and 10 mm thick stainless steel cable.

                                         Great place to dismantle a broken stay (Coyaba in foreground)

                                         Shark cruising by while dismantling the stay

                                         Brandy at Thunderball Grotto
Shawn and Leslee Patrick and their 2 kids, Brooklyn and Little Sir Farts Alot (Greg) flew down and joined us for a week.  Traci made Sir Farts Alot excuse himself from the table and run outside to the front of the boat to do his business so it became known as "the poop deck" and when he said he needed out from the table, everyone wasn't long moving to get him out there.  Traci fed us all burritos one night for supper and they were good but the results afterwards produced enough gas to fly the space shuttle into orbit and back.  She had such a good time with the kids that now she's talking grandchildren and is for sure going to be one of those meddling grandmothers.

                                         Shawn, groping Leslee, Brooklyn and Sir Farts Alot

Traci and I left Rose Island just outside of Nassau to head north a couple days after the Patricks left and it was a little rough but not choppy so I decided to throw the pink squid looking lure that has been onboard since we came up from Grenada.  There was a large debate over the effectiveness of WD40 on a lure which involved this very squid like lure 4 or so years ago.  Traci commented on the fish pole and muttered something about time being wasted and I commented that I was going to catch supper but first I was worried about a supply ship that seemed to be coming right at us.  We watched and though it appeared that he would likely pass behind us, I was concerned for the large amount of fish line and pink squid looking lure trailing behind us so I picked it up and began to reel in fast.  About 3 or 4 cranks into it and bam I had a fish on.  He didn't want any part of coming to the boat and the ship was bearing down on us so I asked Traci to give us 10 degrees to the left and she also pushed the throttles ahead some more which made it even harder to control the fish.  The ship appeared to go 10 degrees to his port as well thus avoiding our boat, fish and pink squid looking lure (with NO WD40 on it Shannon) and the throttles were pulled back and the fish slowly was brought to the stern of the boat, thrown inside the cockpit and given a shot of some rot gut rum that Paul bought on the Grenada trip and no one could drink.  It was a Mahi Mahi and he is delicious.  That's not a whale beside him in the below pic, it's me, I'm on holidays, give me a break.  I so wanted Shawn to catch one of these cause I so wanted to eat it.

I better go do some work before the admiral fires me but I'll try and put some more pics up tonite.  Bye for now and thanks for reading about our misadventures......
Dave and Traci

Finally got internet

Hi All:  We had to make our way to Nassau to drop off Brandi and Brock, pick up Shawn and Leslee Patrick and contact Tropix Air to see about delivery of a new forestay we had to order from Fort Lauderdale as ours snapped just as we were leaving Staniel Cay heading for Compass Cay to swim with the sharks.  I phoned work while I was getting a signal and spoke to Shane and figured I better go to Starbucks and update this blog or I may never get per diem again.
On January the 2nd we left the marina at Naples with Johnny Hamrick on board with us and headed south in the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Sable where we anchored for the night.  Next morning we headed for Long Key and dropped the anchor there for the night and Johnny's wife Sara joined us for the next night and then her and Johnny left next afternoon for home at Port of the Islands and Traci and I sat out some weather until the 6th.  Crossing the Straits of Florida and the Gulf Stream for the first time in a year produced a lot of moaning, creaking and groaning but she finally took a pill and went to lie down, the boat did fine.  Johnny and Sara flew over and joined us for 10 days and they left and Brandi and Brock arrived same day.  In both cases we headed south and snorkelled at Thunderball Grotto, anchored off Norman's Cay, one of our favorite places, and found Macduff's closed and some major construction going on, our hearts were broke.
We left Staniel with Brandi and Brock a couple days ago to go to Compass Cay and were then going to head to the Land and Sea Park and decided to throw up a sail to make some time.  I was unfurling the Genoa when a loud snap was heard and the mast shook around alot and the front stay with the roller furler on it was all floppy like.  I furled it in pronto, climbed the mast and brought some ropes down which we secured to the front in various places to keep the mast from falling like a tall pine tree and maybe hurting someone in the process.  We did an about face and headed into the island with the pigs on it and anchored right in front of Paul and Shannon on Coyaba.  Paul came over to help out with the dismantling of the stay and furler and then he and Shannon came over that night and we played a round of Pictionary which us guys lost at.  I used Paul's sat phone and called a sail and rigging place in Fort Lauderdale and ordered a new 3/8" stainless wire stay and fittings and turnbuckle and it's been sent all ready so it's on it's way.   Originally we were going to have it sent to Staniel but we had to get to Nassau, about 100 miles away, to drop off and pick up so we had it sent to an office here and on Monday I'll call and get the skinny.
I'm running out of time here at Starbucks so I'll cut it short and get some pictures up.  My laptop will not charge it's battery anymore so it makes it more difficult than ever to get online somewhere and update but I will every chance I get and when we get back I'll flood the site with the rest of the stuff.
                              Storm clouds while crossing the Gulf Stream, on radar below.

                                                Lost some instruments after putting trim on...........

                                                 Leaving Florida, Daruma = 1 crabtrap = 0

What storm clouds look like on radar

Crossing the Gulf Stream in the a.m.

We left Port of the Islands on Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. or so to go out the canal with the tide and stopped for the night in a cove between Middle and Southern Cape on Cape Sable.  The waters were smooth Wednesday and Thursday with little wind which was mostly on the bow so not much good for sailing.  We saw lots of dolphins and a few large sea turtles, one had two Ramora hitch hiking on his back.  We arrived at Long Key on Thursday afternoon and have been sitting waiting for the wind to switch from NNE to ESE to make for a more comfortable crossing.  Anything from the North is in opposition to the Gulf Stream and causes some large waves and could be dangerous.
After dark, where we are sitting, the tide comes in and brings jellyfish with it and they light up like Christmas lights with a soft green glow and stay lit for 10 seconds or so.  If your lucky enough to see one light up close to the boat, you can see a soft green light come on and rotate clockwise around in a circle within the thing and the next time it lights up it's rotating counter-clockwise, like a little led light being swung around in a circle.  Neat stuff.  I wanted to update before we left as we won't have any access to internet or phone until next weekend at best.
It's not letting me upload photos from my camera or laptop right now so we'll have to throw them up on the next one.
Cheers,
Dave and Traci