We departed Vero Beach on Saturday, November 28th around 8 AM headed towards the Ft. Pierce inlet. Within minutes of entering the ICW, I engaged the autopilot and it immediately blew the breaker.

As we hand steered to Ft. Pierce, I wracked my brain as to what could be the cause. Shortly before we arrived the lightbulb in my head lit up. The old adage "what did you work on last" hit me. While installing the AIS system I had upgraded the buss bar that provides connecting points for several wires.

We dropped anchor in Ft. Pierce and I dove back into the aft cockpit locker to re-check my work. It didn't take me long to discover my mistake! I had inadvertantly misconnected one of the wires which supplies power to the autopilots drive unit. I corrected the wiring and we raised anchor and went out the inlet into the ocean. Our original plan was to proceed to the Lake Worth area and turn east and cross to Luycaya, Bahamas. Once in the ocean I engaged the autopilot and it blew the breaker again! Not good.

As we again hand steered south I read the manual and discovered a warning. "DO NOT ground the course computer"! It seems that when I mis-connected one of the wires that provides power to the drive unit, it in fact acted as a ground, frying the circuit board in the course computer. Not good!

Along the way we decided we were not going to cross until we had the autopilot working. We arrived at Lake Worth that evening in the dark and picked our way into the anchorage and dropped the hook. The next day my friend Bill from Veranda came over and doubled checked what I thought to be the problem and confirmed I was about to pay the price for a self-inflicted wound! I hate that.

I called Raymarine (the manufacturer) and discussed getting the computer repaired. They said "sure, send it in and within 4-6 weeks we'll get it back to you". 4 to 6 WEEKS! That won't work for us. I then attemped to buy a new replacement mother board only to find out they didn't have one. They only repair, not replace. CRAP!

Winding up this tale of woe, West Marine in Lauderdale had a new upgraded computer in stock...the X-30. The X must stand for Xtra expensive! Good fortune finally gave us a break as we learned that a friends son, who crews on a Mega Yacht was in a marina about a mile from where we were anchored....and he had a car!

Brian graciously loaned it to us and off we went. We returned to the boat with the new computer and a much lighter wallet. A weather window presented itself on December 1 and rather than install the new computer we headed for Ft. Lauderdale. We picked up a mooring ball that afternoon and said hello to our friends Bob and Mary Lou on Cygnus who also were there. The following day I installed the computer and did the basic programming. We were finally good to go.

Thursday morning we caught the 5AM opening of the 17th bridge and head for Bimini. Seas and winds were light in the morning but steadily built through out the day.

We arrived in Bimini On Thursday, December 4 about 4:30PM. It was our first time here and clearing Customs and Immigration has never been easier. We took a slip at Bimini Blue Water marina which is also a very nice facility. I expect we'll depart here tomorrow, December 7 and head for the Tongue of the Ocean and then proceed south.

After six months on the hard, Far Niente is in the water again. She's a happy lady sporting all new canvas (by Diane), fresh bottom, all shined up and is anxious to head over to the Bahamas for the winter season.

A real fish story.

We were sailing in the southern Bahamas this past spring, having left the Jumentos headed for Long Island, Bahamas. Our charts showed that the water was several thousand feet deep and I had two rods rigged and fishing. I heard one reel start screaming as line was running out and I jumped up and began to increase the drag. Of course the fish hit on the rod with the smaller of my two reels. I tightened the drag as tight as it would go and finally slowed the outrun of line and began to work the fish. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was big! We slowed the boat down and I began to slowly work the fish back towards the boat. Then, surprisingly, it started trying to circle behind the boat! I never had a fish do that before. Diane was at the helm and I told her "give me 90 degrees to port". As she turned the boat, the fish continued trying to circle the stern. For the next hour and a half, I fought the fish and Diane drove the boat in circles! I finally got it along side and grabbed the gaff. The fish, a Mahi Mahi, was on it's side and I was not aware of the girth of this monster. I have a medium sized gaff and when I gaffed him and got him on the foredeck, the first thing I noticed was the gaff did not go all the way thru. About the time that Diane was handing me the rubbing alcohol to squirt in his gills, he literally exploded! Violently thrashing on the deck, I mean 3 or 4 feet off the deck! The power he had amazed me. I jumped up on the cabin top to escape his trashing and in a flash he was free of the gaff and escaped under the lifelines. He then broke my 100# steel leader and was gone (along with my cedar plug). Diane estimated that he was at least 5 foot long and I figured he went a good 75#. What an adventure! I realized, afterwards, that I was totally unprepared to land a fish of that size and strength. The good news is he probably lived. I hope so. He left not one drop off blood on the deck, so the gaff had not done any major damage. I'm going back this winter and will attempt to make his aquaintence again.

Retirement is wearing us out! We've never been so busy. We drove to Dallas in June to see the kids and so I could have shoulder surgery to repair an injury I suffered after chasing a pop fly during a softball game in the Bahamas a couple years ago. I've been rehabing back in Vero for almost 10 weeks now. Progress has been pretty good, although sometimes painfully slow.

Diane has been sewing a new set of "clothes" for our lady. New dodger, bimini, and complete enclosure. 30+ yards of Sunbrella, 75+ zippers, and about 150 yards of bias tape! She's almost finished! In her spare time she's made new covers for our diesel, gas and water cans. She also intends to make new covers for all the winches. We must be color co-ordinated you know!

In October we'll move the boat to the "work area" of the boat yard to prep and paint the bottom, wax the hull and prepare her for launching. We'll then return to her Vero's marina and begin re-assembly and provisioning. We're looking forward to returning to the Bahamas for the winter. It may be our last visit as we're seriously considering doing the ARC Europe in 2011.

This year, two boats from our Texas marina will be joining us in the Bahamas. Good friends Bob & Bev on Savage Son and Keith, Carol and Mike on Prevailing Wind are shipping their boats to Fl in Novemeber and will cross to the Bahamas in December. It will be so much fun sailing with them!

Finally, the condo is shaping up nicely as well. We "bit the bullet" and had granite counters installed in the kitchen. Also went with a nice large and deep double sink (stainless), a high tech faucet and a high power (but quiet) disposal. What a difference! We also have a standby generator now which will guarantee no hurricane will pay us a visit!

We're C.L.O.D.S!

Yes folks, we're swallowed the anchor for a while and are now CLODS (Cruisers Living on Dirt)! We stopped in Vero Beach, FL around Thanksgiving in 2007 enroute to the Bahamas and were very impressed with the community. In 2008 our friends, Jim & Nancy, told us about the real estate situation in FL and that they had bought a condo. Diane & I had oft discussed where we would want to live when "the day" came. We were also pretty sure that "the day" was still years off. Well, guess again! We found a very nice (we think) 3/2.5 condo/townhouse with a 2 car garage (Jay's gotta have a garage). We closed in November 2008, moved a few things from TX (when I say few, I mean few as we had sold almost everything prior to moving aboard!) We visited the Bahamas for just 2 months this year and now, for the first time in nearly 5 years, Far Niente is on the hard, lashed down and prepped for hurricane season here.

I'll try to udate a few things in the weeks ahead.

Junkanoo film clip

Not great, but you'll get the idea.

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y2/bottleinamessage/?action=view&current=GeorgetownJunkeroo069.flv

George Town Junkanoo

We'd never been to one of these before and it was a hoot! Got up at 2:30 AM on December 26th (boxing day) and took the dink across the harbor to town. At 3AM it was in full swing. We left at 6:30. Most enjoyable. The locals take these very seriously. There are judges brought in from other islands. All materials and floats are only used once. They even sent someone to Canada to buy feathers!!!

A few more pictures of the Hermatige

Cat Island

Our visit to Cat Island was also very nice. The remants of the old plantations are impressive, but Father Jerome's "The Hermitage" stole our hearts. After ministering on Long Island, he traveled "down under" where he served as a "bush priest". When he was finally ready to retire, he came to Cat Island and constructed "The Hermitage", a minature replica of a Fransican Monesary, atop Mt. Alverna where he lived until his death. He is buried there.

Father Jerome

Father Jerome was first educated as an architect. He later became an Anglican minister and built a very nice church in Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas. Some years later he traveled to Rome, where for 3 years he studied for the priesthood. He returned to Long Island where he built a wonderful Catholic Church. It has been recently restored.

Wintering in the Bahamas

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y2/bottleinamessage/?action=view&current=MVI_0017.flv

We've had such a great time since arriving in the Bahamas in early December. So I'm just going to post a few items that were very special to us. The first is a short clip of a on-water concert we attended. The group was made up of several cruisers (from different boats) who called themselves "White folks on Boats"!

Oops!!!

We, and about 20 other boats were waiting for a bridge opening south of Norfolk on the ICW. I began slowly backing up to gain clearance from another vessel when CRUNCH!!!

I had collided with an underwater object (tree stump?) with the trailing edge (think weakest spot) of the rudder. We continued on for a few more days. The boat steered differently and the steering effort had increased.

I decided to go Jarrett Bay Boatworks near Beaufort, NC. We arrived on a Monday and they hauled the boat that morning. Pictures tell the story. They put me in touch with an on-site sub-contractor who started work immediately. A week later it was repaired as good as new. We were back in the water and continued on our way south.



This summer, after the bow thruster was installed, we decided to stay in Annapolis and work on "boat projects". Boy, did we ever!

Rigged a topping lift for the whisker pole.
Had mainsail recut to correct the luff.
Re-wired instrument panel, replaced panel glass cover and added a power port.

Re-wired solar panel and wind generator negative cables to enable the Link 2000 to show their charge.

Rewired refrigerator with #6 wire. Installed an amplified wifi antenna. Had the salon cushions recovered in Teal Ultra Leather. Replaced 2 fire extguishers w/5# Halon models. Replaced the faucet assy. in the "master's head". Install water tank gauges on all 3 water tanks. Replaced VHF antenna at masthead. Cleaned and repainted the front of the engine and replaced the water hoses and clamps. Replaced both solar panels with 130W Kyrocera panels. Removed bimini and dodger so Diana could resew (rotting threads) and replace worn zippers. Replaced glass and latches in all 6 deck hatches. Sold Mercury outboard and bought a new Yamaha 15HP two stroke. Traded the Avon (West Marine) HP floor dinghy in on a new 10'6" AB lite. Had diver clean boat bottom. Installed new depth transducer and Tridata reader. Changed engine oil and filter, changed trans oil, replaced Racor fuel filters. Cleaned all raw water strainers. Washed and wax hull sides. Replaced all zincs. So you can tell we were very busy, but the boat is in tip top shape and ready for the Bahamas!!