West Palm Beach : Where the living is easy.
26th November – 23rd December 2011
November 26th saw us drop anchor once again in West Palm Beach, Florida, it was great to be back.
However, as our USA visas would expire at midnight, December 1st, we were intent on using our limited time to stock up with food and drinks for the Bahamas, collect and install the boat parts that we’d previously ordered, buy more spares (last chance really), sort out a couple financial matters on the internet, catch up with some Florida friends, take in a few sports bars and restaurants and be ready to leave the USA in 6 days time….yeah right! But you know what? We actually nearly made it. With just a few days to go before our visa deadline, the weather systems for the 50 mile Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas were not cooperating and it quickly became very evident we could not safely leave by the 1st. There was only one thing to do, so off we went to visit the local customs/immigration office to request, aka plead, for an extension, we were thinking that 2 weeks should be long enough. After some to and fro discussions between the uniformed officer on the front desk and his superior behind closed doors, we were told it wasn’t going to happen, definitely no extension, bugger! However, the officer did come up with a great suggestion - catch an overnight cruise ship to the Bahamas and return 2 days later, this would make us eligible for a another 6 month visa.The choices were, either set sail in GWTW in lousy weather and big seas or board the Bahamas Celebration cruise ship for a whirlwind trip to Nassau…it only took a nano-second to decide….where do we buy the tickets? One quick phone call and it was all arranged before we left the car park at the immigration office. We were booked on the ship departing the following evening, December 1st, at 6pm, Nassau here we come!
As this was our first “cruise” we were really quite excited and looking forward to it. The Bahamas Celebration is not a big ship by cruise ship standards, but she handled the rough seas way better than GWTW would have, and to think we were very nearly out there and sailing on that same, rough ocean! The ship can accommodate 1,000 guests and has a compliment of around 500 staff, all of whom were very friendly and helpful. The cabin we chose, the $160 each, all meals included package, was very cosy, perhaps a little too cozy, you couldn’t swing a cat, but it worked fine as we really only slept there. Dining aboard was a treat, the food was excellent and there were lashings of it if you were so inclined, and many were.There was up market dining, the dress up for dinner type, pool side dining, pub style and trattoria dining, the choices were plenty.
And entertainment was provided each evening with singers, comedians and acrobats strutting their stuff. There was an onboard casino, deck games, karaoke, bingo and movies, there was never a dull moment and we had a fun time.
The ship berthed around 7am in Nassau and we ambled ashore a couple of hours later. The docks were teeming with tourists as four very large cruise liners were also in port, spilling out around 4000 people from each. Apart from indulging in a little duty free shopping, I’m not real sure just what you see and do in Nassau, other than visiting the mega hotel/casino/water park complex called Atlantis (we didn’t), but we did make like a regular tourist and enjoyed strolling the streets, stopping for a cool beverage and generally having a pleasant time people-watching.
After checking out a few overpriced menus we decided to have lunch on the ship, so Liam headed back to sit by the pool and Annie wondered off to check out the town and partake in a little retail therapy, and that pretty much sums up our time in Nassau. The Bahamas Celebration dropped her lines and left port at 6pm, arriving back in West Palm Beach just after dawn. What a fast holiday that was!
After passing through all the barriers, we were greeted by a friendly immigration officer who stamped our passports and said a cheery “welcome home”, and that’s exactly how the USA felt to us, it was home. So now we were good for another 6 months, with no frantic rush anymore the sense of relief was incredible. Now we could relax a little, take our time and enjoy everything that the city of West Palm Beach had to offer and head off to the Bahamas when we were perfectly ready to, it was a wonderful feeling, believe me. We hired a car and went down to Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days to do some boat-part shopping and to stay two nights with some cruising friends we’d met while in Corsica, Steve and Karen off Threshold, it was great to see them again and we made the most of their kind hospitality, particularly their bathtub! .
The car also allowed us to shop at leisure and we topped up on items we were certain would be hard to find where we were heading. And as the football season was winding up Liam, and Bob off Scaramouche, frequented one of the best sports bars around, Duffy’s, where they had about 20 BIG TV screens covering every game being played. We even dusted off the golf clubs and smacked a bucket of balls up at the Country Club’s driving range, we were a tad rusty and it wasn’t a pretty sight but we both needed the exercise.
For those of you not exactly sure of where West Palm Beach is, it’s located around 60 miles north of Miami and is basically a winter holiday spot for those who have an ability to afford the finer things in life. Most of the apartment blocks are empty a good part of the year and, as the holiday season approaches, you suddenly notice more and more lights coming on in the evenings. West Palm also has a number of prestige car dealerships, the most outstanding being the Aston Martin dealer. Maybe it was just for Christmas, who knows, but there were around a dozen brand new AM’s on the showroom floor, all gift wrapped with bows just waiting for a buyer, and we suspect there were quite a few people in the market for that very special present.
The city’s local council is very active when it comes to organising community events. We were anchored right in front of the main street, Clematis Street, and it’s adjoining waterfront park area where every Thursday evening a band would perform. Seating and tables were provided and food and beverage tents were erected, it was a real family-style event with some people relaxing under the stars with their dogs while others, kids and adults, kicked a ball on the grass or were up and dancing to the beat of the band.
During our extended stay we watched the Palm Beach Marathon, the runners filing past just a few yards from GWTW, and one Sunday the annual horse-fest equestrian event was held in the park just across the road from us, there was a small ice skating rink installed in a local shopping centre with fake snow flowing from palm trees, it sounds corny and probably was, but it was neat to see the kids having so much fun.There was also an amazing sand sculpture exhibition with the works of these artists scattered around town in shop windows and on the streets corners.
America was now in full swing for Christmas and the holiday season and everywhere you looked , on TV, house fronts and in the shops and the malls it was plainly evident that no one does Christmas quite like the USA.
Every Saturday morning an excellent “farmers market” was set up, again right on our doorstep, we were especially partial to the lobster bisque and clam chowder, it came in pint containers and needless to say we bought quite a few containers to freeze for a rainy day, so to speak. Overall, there was something on every weekend and when you throw in a good selection of restaurants, bars, shops and great supermarkets all within walking distance from the boat, you can understand why we were in no real hurry to leave town.
For a couple of weeks we were also joined in the anchorage by Remi De, with Bruce, Toni, Remi and their dog Ollie, it was great to see them again. They had plans for some extensive additions to their boat that would keep them in port long after we headed off to the Bahamas, so we made the most of our time together catching up for the odd meal or coffee and to celebrate Annie’s birthday, which was made even better with them bringing along a surprise birthday cake and boy, was that one delicious chocolate cake.
They would be spending Christmas with friends up in Orlando, so we all got together the day before they drove off and had our own mini Christmas in advance. Remi got lots of prezzies and really took centre stage, it’s always nice to see kids excited over what Santa, and in this case what his GWTW elves, had brought. It was a great evening and with more than a little sadness, we waved farewell to our good friends and to the USA the next morning, December 23rd, and pointed our bows east towards the aqua waters of the Bahamas.
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Cruising Notes: Formalities. Call Lake Worth CBP on arrival on #5618486922, open M – F 0800-1600. Anchorage & Dinghy Dock: Anchor opposite or between the town dock pontoons. You can tie up at the docks between 0700 & 2300. Water is available from the water pipe under the docks. Trash receptacles are on the docks or in the waterfront park area. Dinghies can be left at the dock day or night. Fuel: Fuel and water are available from the Palm Harbor Marina, to the right of the town docks. Supermarket: Publix is located on Rosemary St, 15 min walk or 5 min free trolley ride from the town dock. City Place: Shopping area and restaurants/cafes also on Rosemary St, past Publix. Clematis St: This is the main restaurant Street, great variety including Cuban, Italian, Thai, Mexican and pub food.
St Mary’s : A little town with a big heart.
18th – 26th November 2011
Overnight passages had almost become a thing of the past to us (having done so many day-hops of late), but reality came crashing back with an almighty thud when we left Rudee Inlet just south of Chesapeake Bay bound for Charlestown South Carolina, 360 miles to the south. The trip down was a combination of motor-sailing and sailing, in fact we didn’t really have enough wind to fill the sails until nearly twenty four hours into our two day passage. It was so nice to turn off the engines and hear nothing but the sound of the water rushing under the transoms and the occasional flap of the headsail as we clipped along at a modest 8-10 knots of boat speed. As we passed Cape Fear the air temperature suddenly got warmer, at last we had crossed the magical line and left the cold weather in our wake. Charleston, this time, was to be only a pit stop. We had to drop in to collect a couple of packages that we’d ordered a few weeks earlier, do some quick provisioning, top up the diesel tanks, have a well earned sleep and be on our way again the following morning. Stopping here also gave us the chance to go out for an early pizza dinner with friends off a yacht called Tiger, who we’d first met when we were in Turkey and again as we headed up the US coast bound for Maine. Renel, Neil and their sons Pete and Ameil, had recently moved off their boat and were now land based in Charleston so that the boys could attend school. Neil was delivering a charter yacht down to the BVI’s, so we didn’t get to see him which was a shame.
At 0700 the next day we were once again underway. Mirror seas and a lack of wind saw our Yanmar engines hard at work for the entire 150 mile leg, until we dropped the anchor outside the small town of St Marys a few miles inland on the Georgia / Florida border. It’s a bit off the beaten path when heading south, but Annie had read in a cruising magazine that every year the townsfolk welcome the cruising yachts with open arms. Aside from lots of social activates, they also very kindly put on a fabulous Thanksgiving lunch for all those away from their land based families, so we decided to detour and check the place out, figuring that it could be a bit of fun, and it certainly was.
This would be our first ever Thanksgiving and we timed our journey to arrive the day before, on November 23rd. The reputation of the town could not have been more accurate. Within minutes of dropping the anchor our VHF radio burst into life announcing that the local radio net would be starting momentarily and to switch to channel 68 for info regarding the days activities and the Thanksgiving Day lunch arrangements. We changed channels and quickly felt right at home. There were announcements welcoming new boats to the bay, offers from locals to drive you to the supermarket, hardware store, Wal-Mart or to take you to get your propane tanks filled. We never met a community so eager to help the cruising yachtsman. There seemed to be something going on every hour of the day. There were laundry runs, a very popular outing for the ladies, book clubs, afternoon teas, and come 4pm, happy hour rum-punches at a dockside party and, if you still had any energy left, this was followed by an oyster roast at Segals, the local bar-come-restaurant.
The oyster roast was a lot of fun with each cruiser bringing along a plate to share, and the locals supplying as many oysters as you could eat, and there were some pretty hearty appetites there.The presentation to the table via a shovel was a bit novel, but very practical as they were coming straight from an open fire and they were really hot. It was a perfect way to meet many of the other cruisers, there were around 80 boats in the anchorage, and also get to know some of the residents. As a bonus we also got to catch up again with our friends Frank and Christa off Hun Bun 111, Leif and Birgitta off Persamus and Robbie and Jenny from the English yacht Maymio, who we’d last seen in Washington DC.
Next day was Thanksgiving, and the weather gods weren’t shining on St. Marys. It was very windy, gusts of around 40 knots were common, a strong tidal current swept through the bay and many yachts were swinging wildly around their anchors, collisions were not uncommon.
The intended plan for the day was that the locals supply the venue, turkey, trimmings, hams, prawns and desserts, while the cruisers would bring along side dishes. Each boat, having made a dish enough for about six people, would deliver their lunch contributions to the organizing folk at Segals restaurant around eleven, and then everyone would head back in for the big lunch just after midday. Well as they say, the best laid plans…. Due to the wild conditions and the carnage that was happening in the anchorage a lot of people, ourselves included, elected to stay aboard a while and keep an eye on our floating homes. As it turned out, more than one yachtie, whose hunger had got the better of them, was summoned from the luncheon with a radio call suggesting they should rush back to their boat as it was drifting or colliding with a neighbour. Around 2.00pm we felt comfortable enough to head ashore, GWTW was well set and not too near any other boats and she appeared safe enough. Although lunch had been going a couple of hours there was still enough food to feed an army, more turkey than you could jump over, side dishes for Africa and deserts that would do a cake shop proud. No one went hungry no matter what time you turned up.
Adding to the atmosphere was the bartender Cindy, with her devastatingly quit wit and a character larger than life, she was really good fun and kept many of us amused all afternoon. If you gave her lip you risked a verbal lashing, in a sporting sort of manner, but she had the ability to make you look more than a little silly with her sharp retorts, and everyone there enjoyed her “colourful” banter.
Lunch drifted well into the late afternoon, and as we were heading out in the morning we declined a few invitations for cocktails aboard our friends’ boats and settled for a rather early night, a little unusual for us but a good call, nevertheless. We had a great time in St Marys and if you happen to be passing that way on your boat, we would highly recommend stopping there for Thanksgiving.
The weather forecast promised a steady breeze for our next (overnight) passage south to West Palm Beach, and the following morning we slipped out of St. Marys and headed out into a rather boisterous Atlantic Ocean and a 15-20 knot wind on the beam.
It made for a fast, but rather wet, trip. The first day was excellent, we covered 220 miles in 24 hours and were looking at one of our faster passages. Passing Cape Canaveral in the wee small hours we had a good view of the illuminated launch pad and the Atlas rocket set to to blast off to Mars the next day. And that wasn’t the only thing illuminated out there, we passed a steady stream of cruise liners lit up like Christmas trees heading into Port Canaveral, no doubt for their customers to watch the launch as well.
Unfortunately, in the hours that followed, the wind moved forward of the beam, the waves got bigger and rougher and tons of white water, waves and spray regularly washed over our bows, sweeping across the front windows and cascading off the coachouse roof.
The motion became very jerky and it was quite uncomfortable at times. The Gulf Stream flowing north was being challenged by the ocean swells heading south, producing an outcome of steep waves at very close intervals, and we were out there, sailing along in the midst of the conflict. But we had been through this sort of thing before, the boat was doing ok and we had reefed down the main to reduce stress on the sails and rigging, and as always, daylight lifted our spirits, we were now only 60 miles from our destination, Lake Worth / West Palm Beach. As we neared the channel entrance the US Coast Guard broadcast a security call on the radio, a man was reported missing off a nearby beach and they asked for any vessels in the area to keep a “sharp lookout”. We saw boats and a chopper making a search, that we understood some time later, to be futile. As we entered the inlet to Lake Worth we had expected to feel elated, but instead we actually felt a bit depressed. News of this nature is always disturbing, and when you are in the exact area where someone has drowned it hits home even more.
So here we were once again in beautiful downtown West Palm Beach, a place we really enjoyed some 6 months and 3800 miles ago and do you think we were glad to be there? You bet we were! Along with Fort Lauderdale where we made landfall in the States, this place pretty much marked the start and the end of our journey up and down the east coast of the USA. It represented a big milestone and the finale to one of the most enjoyable sailing seasons we’ve been lucky enough to experience.
The next week would be spent indulging ourselves while we stayed at one of our very favourite places on one of our very favourite coastlines.
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Cruising Notes:Formalities. Call CBP Brunswick, Georgia on # 9122626692. Supermarkets : Wal-Mart and Publix are a taxi ride away,or find a helpful local for a lift. Propane Refills: Available while you wait from Ace Hardware.Post Office: Across the road from Ace Hardware. Laundromat : A taxi ride away near the Dollar General store.
Goodbye Chesapeake Bay, and thanks for the memories !
2nd – 18th November
From Washington we day hopped along the Potomac River and then south down the Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville, a familiar place where we had spent a couple days while heading north to Maine some months earlier.The trip of 125 miles was pretty boring and bitterly cold, and with the temperature hovering around 8-10 deg C it made for a very unpleasant passage, sitting at the helm was not much fun at all.
Once clear of the Potomac we were greeted with a strong following breeze, and we sailed at a fair clip to Reedsville, dodging a lot of menacing looking wooden fish stakes along the way (memories of sailing in Indonesia came flooding back) and then on to Deltaville where Daryl and Annie from No Rehearsal were there to greet us and take our lines. Daryl had negotiated a crazy low rate at the Norview Marina for us, like $75 for the week, so we decided to take that rather than spend a week on the anchor, it was quite a novelty for us.
Staying in Deltaville also gave us a chance to once again catch up with our friends Donny and Judy, who live in Richmond, and have a lovely holiday house in Deltaville. Donny was kind enough to (again), lend us his Lexus SUV, so we took full advantage and did some provisioning as well as a little touring around.
As luck had it, that weekend the annual Oyster Festival was being held at the nearby town of Urbanna, so Daryl and Annie joined us in the Lexus for a fun afternoon out.
The festival is held over two days and attracts around 80,000 people. This was our first small town fair and it was a real hoot, by the time we got there it was in full swing.The main attraction of course was the abundance of oysters, served raw, steamed, stewed, fried or frittered.There were oyster tents, chowder tents, craft stalls, oyster shucking contests, the crowning of the Oyster Festival Queen and to top it off a big street parade with colourful bands, baton-tossing marching girls, floats and lots of flash cars, bikes and trucks that were mostly collectors items.
The parade lasted about an hour and was very entertaining. Interestingly, there were only two places selling alcohol, though outside the supermarket there were quite a few people discreetly drinking from bottles in paper bags. A small area was set aside where you could buy wine by the glass, we didn’t go in though, it was way too crowded. The other was in a field behind the Fire House, the area was enclosed and you needed to produce ID to enter (even at our age), as beer was available from a small mobile bar. Liam had a couple of drinks and then we joined in with the locals and had a dance. The band that was playing was excellent and everyone was very laid back, sort of mellow actually, the place had a nice feel to it.
After leaving the festival we headed to Donny and Judy’s who had invited the four of us over for a Saturday night dinner.They certainly rustled up a great meal with BBQ’d oysters, home made crab dip, steamed prawns and baked potatoes. It was a great night that went well into the evening, they are terrific company and excellent hosts. They even suggested that we make use of their house during the rest of our stay in Deltaville and we nearly did. Judy’s bathtub was very alluring and Liam had his eyes set on the big screen TV with all those sports channels, but sadly time just slipped away and we didn’t get around to it.
A novel feature at the marina where we were staying was the extravagant lengths that many of the boat owners had gone to, to make the place a “home away from home”.
All the docks were undercover, sounds a bit strange I know and we’d never seen anything like it before. These boat garages, they were all power boats, had a roof and walls with the boats tied stern-to in their pens. Each owner had personalised their little piece of turf and installed the necessities of life that ensured they were comfortable when they were there, even if they didn’t take the boat out. Lounge chairs, kitchen sinks, refrigerators, microwave ovens, carpet rugs and bars complete with stools where you would sip a beer or two and while away the afternoon. Jimmy Buffett memorabilia was very popular, one section was even called “Jimmy Buffett Drive”. Several times we saw people come down to stay on their boat, in the pen, for a few days, and they sure did make good use of the gear they had installed.
After a chilly and windy week at the marina it was time to move on, this time to Hampton. We had driven down there during the week and dropped off our spinnaker for some minor alterations and now it was time to go back and pick it up. We were a little annoyed that we were changed another $125 as we’d already paid them the best part of $700 the first time that we’d left the sail with them some months before, and they hadn’t done the repair correctly. Oh well, that’s life when you own a boat I guess. A couple of days later we motored out of Hampton and across the bay to Norfolk, 15 miles away.
Norfolk, in Virginia, is famous as the world’s largest naval base, and is home to huge nuclear powered aircraft carriers, menacing looking nuclear submarines and an abundance of frigates, amphibious landing ships, destroyers and their support ships. We cruised by two aircraft carriers, the USS Enterprise and the Dwight D Eisenhower, a couple of submarines and some very interesting looking ships that we were unsure of, and while all the ships were behind a floating fence, we were still reasonably close to them.
Norfolk is not a big town, but it was interesting with an excellent naval museum, Nauticus, located just across the bay from our anchorage. The unquestioned star attraction of the town was the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa class WW11 Battleship, the last one ever built, and it looked amazing. If you ever saw Cher singing “If I could turn back time” aboard the USS Missouri with those big guns up on the bow then you know what the Wisconsin looks like, they are identical sister ships. There were tours available that, unfortunately, did not get you into the bowels of the ship, so we were content to simply gawk and take some snaps.
The local movie theatre was showing J Edgar Hoover, and having just been in Washington where scenes from the movie were filmed, we took the opportunity and went to see it, a great show with Leonardo putting on his usual, brilliant performance.Walking back through the mall after the movie it was pretty obvious that the silly season was just around the corner. Christmas displays and decorations filled the shop windows.No one quite does Christmas like the yanks.
By now we were really killing time until the weather systems settled and we could head off around Cape Hatteras and on to Charleston, a distance of 360 miles. Cape Hatteras is notorious for shipwrecks, it demands respect as the weather can be treacherous due to the north flowing Gulf Stream against the opposing swells, and right now those swells were big and threatening.
Rather than wait in Norfolk, (we’d seen it all in four days) we decided to move further along some 30 miles to Rudee Inlet, a fairly small bay just south of the entrance to the Chesapeake. Another catamaran was already there when we arrived late in the afternoon, and together with No Rehearsal we pretty much filled up the place, and Remi De was yet to arrive! While at Rudee the weather was foul, driving rain and very cold, we simply stayed put inside the boat and away from the elements. Bruce, Toni, Remi and their dog Ollie from Remi De had a tough trip down, sailing in a strong breeze and lumpy seas, they hit a speed of nearly 15 knots down one wave. Naturally, they were exceptionally happy to drop the anchor in our nice calm bay, away from the rough conditions just outside the inlet. As Rudee Inlet was to be the parting of the ways for Remi De, No Rehearsal and us, we all got together for a farewell dinner on GWTW.
We had been sailing in company with the other two cats for roughly the last six months, from the Bahamas to Maine and back and it would be sad to break up the herd. Daryl and Annie were heading straight to Cape Canaveral to haul out No Rehearsal and head back to New Zealand for a few months and the Remi’s would be carrying on to St Augustine to spend Thanksgiving with friends down in Orlando.
A couple of days later the weather had settled, the seas were down and the skies were clear, and we were ready and eager to move on. Every mile under our keels was a mile closer to warmer weather and believe me we were over being cold, and were now champing at the bit to pack the winter clothes away and to break out the shorts and tee-shirts once again.
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CRUISING NOTES. Formalities: Call CBP Richmond on # 8042269675 each time you change anchorages. Supermarkets: Deltaville The Deltaville Market will pick you up and then drive you back. Also in the same shopping complex is a West marine and a Dollar General discount store.True Value hardware, Ullman sail loft & the Post Office are all within walking distance of the marina.There are a couple of restaurants ,cafes and a seafood market on the main street.
Norfolk: Anchorage / dinghy dock : Anchor between Hospital Point and the Tidewater Marina and take dinghy to the dock outside the Nauticus Museum on the opposite shore. McCarther Mall is three blocks from the waterfront. It has movie theatres, department stores etc. The supermarkets,Harris Teeter and Fresh Farm are a short taxi ride away.
