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11/02/2003 (Le Marin & Fort de France, Martinique, France) Did you know that Martinique is not a former French colony grated sovereignty? It's France. Oui. You don't spend EC dollars or the like; it's Euros. There are no Martinique license plates; they say France. Get the picture? Weird. Another bulleted highlight list:
This has been the real start of the trip.
And guess what? I absolutely love all of this I can't tell you how wonderful it was to check emails and find over 40 letters for you. It makes it possible to enjoy this silliness knowing that you guys won't forget me. Thanks. Thanks to all of you -- even (especially!) the folks I've never met in person. I'm saving battery life - I should get a set of plug adapters or I'll never be able able to write anything but bullet points. Ciao for now. 11/04/2003 (FdF, Martinique, France) The above praises for France come from a man who hated the French for the last 20 plus years -- I was a fan of the Germans (trains run on time, good food, great wein und bier, a comprehensible language). But I'm coming around. Damn, I even suggested learning this gawd awful can't be understood and standoffish language! They earned some more points this morning. A local, English speaking, dentist re-cemented my crown quickly and cheaply. Juts 40 Euros and no waiting to speak of. I thought briefly of using the crown as an excuse to move on to St. Lucia, an English colony. But then I thought of the teeth of the Crown's followers. The Brits can make beer, wage war, and play footie all extremely well but dentistry seems to have escaped them. Nope, far far better than to trust the anybody but an English dentist. (Harry and Mike, sorry.) I also found a power plug adapter. So when the internet cafe opens I'll take the laptop over there -- a workable keyboard! -- to update the site and send folks more intelligible emails. Between now and then I'm going to look for a cosmetics shop or pharmacy. I'd like to save one or two layers of skin on my hands. They're so dry and flakey that right now the keyboard looks alike a snow covered field. (That's hyperbole folks.) Painless of itself, but then I go to rub an eye or something and damn near sand off that area's flesh. I'd say the hands are the equivalent of about 220 grit sandpaper. PM Update The hand crème seems to be working, I'd say things are at the 600 grit level. I went back to the internet bar with the laptop. Thanks (or as one of you says, "a big shout out to"), Brian, Kate C., SKC, Grace C., and JLJ for the comms. It's good to feel connected. In the course of the 6 hours online I enjoyed 3 Leffe Blondes. Quite the stud, eh? No, they're not women, they're French bierre. I tried this stuff back in NYC once, either at Brasserie Julien or Les Halles (of Tony Boudrain fame), and enjoyed it immensely. So when I can get it, I do. Nice and malty with a lingering but mellow finish (as opposed to a hopsy beer with a sharp finish). It should have set me back €29.33 ($35.77) plus the cost of the bierres. But a courtesy and some friendly chat (ok, and a flirtatious smile) go a long way here. The mademoiselle only charged me €7.00. While online I confirmed that T-Mobile should indeed have coverage here through a roaming arrangement with Orange. SO I went to an Orange Boutique and asked why my phone does not work here. "No, your phone will not work here, we have no roaming agreement with Deutsche Telecom" (said with snottiest French accented English to be found outside of Paris...) was the answer. Ok so Franco-Prussian relations are better than ever in Europe (due to a mutual distaste for the policies of Bush fils and his and his evil friends), but not so here in the hinterland I guess. Being the obstinate fool I am I started tinkering with the phone, reset some stuff, and, voila I had service. The afternoon was spent just wandering the streets and browsing. FdF is really weird. It's run down and dirty yet has a certain charm. There are as many drunk/homeless(?)/crazy people on the street here as in San Francisco. Yet they seem to know better than to mess with tourists. And tourists stand out -- we're the only ones wearing shorts. Well, a few of the loonies do too actually. There are more pretty black women here than I have ever seen. (That's as much a reflection of the slow pace of integration in the US as anything else.) People are friendly even though they don't speak much English and my French is non-existent. (Well, other than the snotty lady at Boutique Orange.) I took a brief nap before returning to The Crew for dinner again. Tonight it was assiette de charcruterie (assorted cold cuts) followed by andoullete de porc a la moutarde en la mode ancienne (old fashioned pork sausage (wrapped in bacon!) with mustard sauce) washed down with a nice Chinon. Chinon is the world's best food friendly red wine. I'm pretty passionate about it. Dessert was sorbet -- lemon and mango. C'est bon! A long chat with Janice left me smiling and sleepy. I slept well. 11/05/2003 (FdF, Martinique, France) I was up early for no particular reason. But having eaten like a pig the last few days felt some exercise was in order. I stopped at the front desk to arrange one more night in FdF and hit the streets. The hotel is across from the city park so I did a few laps of it. Probably not enough but since it's been a while since I did any I wanted to be reasonable. I pretty much ran the whole thing, just two intermediate and short walks. It felt pretty good and seems to have been accomplished with out any lasting pain. A breakfast of pain chocolat, a croissant and good coffee was a nice start. I then wandered a bit. Along the way I found a barber. It's strange (even scary) to trust someone to do some cutting when you can't communicate. But I'm happy with the end result. And it was good practice for when I get to some place where the language is not even Indo-European. I'm sitting in the park to write this. A loco just sat down next to me, juggling nuts, drawing my caricature on the sidewalk with chalk and asking for cash. His English was remarkably good. I demurred and he politely stopped asking. A quick run to the cyber cafe will post this and then I'll figure out my travel and accommodations. I think I'll move down to Ste. Anne (the town at the southern end of the isle and spot of the best beaches) tomorrow and fly out on Sunday (11/09/2003) for T&T. 11/05/2003 (FdF, Martinique, France) Not much to add right now but it may be the last chance to update things for a few days. So I'll do what I can for now... Yesterday I hoped a travel agent would be able to adjust my return flight to T&T (Gil changed his plans after Ken booked my ticket; I needed to push my return out 1 day) but that was not to be. So I paid a small fortune in cab fares, €50, to make the trip out to the airport to make the changes. While there I booked a room at the Hotel Anse Caritan in Ste. Anne. It's at the southern tip of the island. There are supposed to be some nice beaches there. I got a good night's sleep last night, and I needed it. I was suffering from a bit of weariness that brought on a touch of the "solo travelin blues". A good talk with Janice and a good 8 hours of sleep solved those problems. A quick shower and a breakfast of pain chocolat, cafe au lait, and OJ started things off well. Then I rented a car for the rest of my time here. No more outrageous taxi rides. The trip to Ste. Anne would have set me back at least €75, from there to the airport would have been €50. So a €150 for a car is fine because it gives me some flexibility. My room won't be ready until 1400. So I'll walk around and take some photos -- sorry that I have been so derelict in posting them, they'll be going up soon -- then post this and head out. I'll stop at a rhum distillerie on the way down for a tour and taste (avec moderation of course). Then it will be what it will be. Hopefully there will be web access nearby. If not I know I can drive up to Marin if need be. More as it develops.... 11/06-07/2003 (Ste. Anne, Martinique) The car turned out to be an even better bargain than I had hoped. Insufferable construction delays would have made it at least €125. Plus the hotel is outside of town so I would be stuck here otherwise. The distillery was not much. Hunks of equipment and a French only tour.... But I splurged for a bottle of La Mauny 1979. 24 year old rum is pretty damn good stuff. The hotel itself is a step up from L'Imperitice in FdF. But, and this is a big pisser, you can't run the Ac unless you're in the room. You have to put a key in it. And, the key chain is soldered shut so I can't take it off the ring... The beach here is a joke, 2 meters of sand. But the water is warm and comfy. There is no marine life to see whatsoever. Just a very sandy bottom. Occasional patches of eel and turtle grasses, but even they don't seem to have little fish in them. The second day here I hoped in the car and headed south to Les Salienes the southern tip of the isle. A small islet is about 600 meters off the coast. I saw surf breaking about 25 meters off shore and hoped there might be a reef there. No reef. A bunch of dead, sand covered, algae covered coral heads. But there was a nice anemone and small fish. See the photo gallery for my lame pictures. (Including the headless turtle on the beach.) Every day here I've had a sandwich from the local deli for lunch. On day was ham, another what I thought would be sausage and onions but was hot dogs and onions. Still pretty tasty though. 11/09/2003 (Ste. Anne, Martinique) The days here are pretty boring. Today's highlight....laundry. Well, I guess it wasn't that dramatic. Today bopped back and forth between Ste. Anne and Marin. About 40,000,000,000 times. I think that count is reasonably precise (but it is wanting for accuracy!) I went to Marin to look for shorts - I should have packed more than I did. I found a pair, realized that I should also do laundry. So I zipped back to Ste. Anne, l picked up the laundry, and raced back to Marin. There a nice old woman, whose English is worse than my French, and I managed to communicate enough to get my whites white and colours bright. At €6 per machine (over $7!) and 2€ per 10 minutes of drying time I'd say the prices were....confiscatory. But the lady's nice smile and help made it workable. After laundry I wandered through an open air arts and music fair going on by the beach. Remarkably, it was almost exclusively locals in attendance. There are 600 boats moored here and nobody thought to come see what was going on. Bad travelers, eh? Then it was back to Ste. Anne. I grabbed another sandwich at the boulangerie. Today's was saucisson (Rosette de Lyon). I'm not much of a salami fan but I like this stuff -- it is lightly peppered if at all. Bread, butter, sausage: simple and wonderful. (I had a discussion with a friend about "sentences" without verbs...that was a perfectly workable fragment, no?). I dropped off the laundry, checked email, took a brief nap, and...went back to Marin. The arts festival looked like it might be more lively after dark. It was. I wandered a bit. Is it art just because you paint it with your feet (No, you have to make some effort to add meaning to the work. I'd say this was "design" at best...)? The coolest thing (but not artiest) was a guy who bent utensils into animals: snails, cockroaches, cows, scorpions, etc. There was a sculpture working in clay that was pretty good, and a woman I would have labeled an illustrator based on a book she was presenting -- but I saw her do some original (and quality) stuff to just fill time. Dinner was a veal cutlet in a sinfully good cream sauce. It was accompanied by the best cole slaw I have ever had. Cabbage and vinaigrette: simple and wonderful. back to Marin. I unpacked and repacked everything. I have too much non-clothing crap. The binocs, vhf, gps, first aide kit, lights etc. are all defensible carry alongs. But they weigh a ton. (or in the EC like I am, should I say "tonne") 11/09/2003 (En route back to T&T, to misquote CCR..."Oh lord, stuck in old St. Lucia again") See the ARRRRGGGGHHHH thread on the Banter Board.... I managed to ever so slowwwwllllllyyyyyyy pass the time in SLU. After the time at the internet cafe I grabbed a few beers and the world's worst hamburger at The Lime. That was no fun, there was nothing else of interest in Rodney Bay so I returned to the airport. I spent a small fortune chatting with Janice, the value of a friendly voice can't be over estimated. To summarize: up at 0500 to travel 20 minutes on a plane, to wait 9+ hours for another (which was an hour late to boot) and then another hour in the air. Leave hotel: 0615, arrive hotel: 2215. That's 16 hours to travel 200 miles by air, an average of 12.5 mph. A very big boat (say a 90' monohull) could have done that... You know I'm tired and cranky tonight. I worried quite a bit that Gil was sitting at the airport and either worrying or fuming about my absence. HAH! Now I'm worried about his lack of arrival....There's an AMR flight that arrives around 2400, I'll wait up as long as I can to see if he's on it. Doubt I'll make it much longer, so he'll have to pound on the apartment door to wake me up I guess. But the AC unit makes what can only be described as an infernal racket so that's a problem. If I sleep as soundly as usual, he'll never make enough noise for me to hear. SUPER QUICK POST SCRIPT -- Gil is indeed here, he is just staying elsewhere... 11/10-12/2003 (Chaguaramas, Trinidad) It turned out that Gil had arrived on time. But he had a room in town again for a pair of nights. I got to the boat and there he was. Luckily he had not waited to long at the airport before deciding I was the victim of island flying. I've spent the last few days doing very little. Gil wants to watch the work crews pretty closely (with justification) so we're just doing odds and ends. I've put on zincs, hung curtains, augured out spacers to fit a bigger pin, and that's about it. But that's fine. I'm enjoying the sun and the company. The boat is ready to launch soon. She is actually on the lift now. Gil had them pick her up and move the supports a bit. That way he could paint the last pieces of the keel. I'll add pics of the splash tomorrow. There are new pics of the boat and the lift in the gallery. 11/11 I was a bit cranky for whatever reason but seem to have snapped out of it today. Each of the last 3 nights I have spent many (and late) hours IMing with Janice. I'm having a blast getting to know her. IM is fun and allows one the freedom to be very silly. So it suits me well. I'll spend time talking to her on the phone when I get somewhere that my phone works and the rates are reasonable. I managed to have a roti for lunch the other day with no ill after effects. That's a nice thing. In fact I generally feel pretty well. Not much else to add. More later if it's merited. 11/13-17/2003 (Tobago Cays, St. Vincent & The Grenadines) What a wonderful place this is. I'm writing fro Tobago Cays, a small reef encircled series of islands north of Grenada. The wind is strong and warm. The waves are lapping gently at the boat hull. I can hear others breaking on the reefs less than 300 metres away. The stars are clear and fascinating. My belly is full. My body is tired. My head is light from everything plus the rum. We got here after a 16 hour sail out of Trinidad that was the culmination of a couple of very busy days. Here's a very brief summary. Thursday - we splashed the boat at 0930. Everybody - the owner, the lackey, the yard, the workers - were all happy to see that happen. She went in without any problem. Because of a work disturbance diesel supplies were low in Trinidad. We wanted to fill her up but were unable to. So we motored to a nearby marina and tied up. Too tired to write....will finish later. Then we spent the day doing cleanup, setup, and crazy errands. In the evening I drove to the airport to pick up the 3rd crewmember -- Dustin from Tulsa. The drive sucked; crazy Trini drivers set my teeth on edge. But we made it ok. A few minutes of chat, some packing and it was time to crash. Unfortunately during that unpacking I dropped the good bottle of rhum vieux I picked up in Martinique. Do damage to the fine marine varnish or the floor. No damage to the bottle or its contents. But, I know have a painful bruise on my left foot. Ouch, it sucks. Friday - What a day. I drew provisioning duty and so set off for the market with a list. I found most of what we needed and rolled back to the boat with about TT$1100 worth of victuals. More crazy Trini drivers but not as bad as yesterday. I rolled backed to the boat to learn that the impeller need to fix the outboard was waiting for us in Port of Spain. We discussed the shopping list and I was off. More crazy Trini drivers; the worst so far. I got the impeller and the remaining groceries. Back at the boat it was unpack and do all sorts of little maintenance -- flaking lines, putting away the power and water cords, clean what we could. The riggers showed up to tune the rig. We tried to start the boat and the engine died. It turned out there was air in the fuel line. So we bleed the filters, line, and injector. Vrooom. When that was set we set off for the fuel dock. There was fuel today. Finally, around 1730 we set sail. It was a very long night. The previous week had not been much for sleeping. The previous night was the worst of them. SO we worked a full day and then set sail with little rest. Dustin and I did 3 hour watches while Gil caught a few ZZZZzzzzzzs and filled in as wee needed. It was a long dark night with little excitement. My first watch was fine; the second was difficult. In the middle of it I saw the silhouette of a lone dolphin jump out of the water by the bow. One jump was it, then it disappeared. When it ended at 0400 I crashed hard. Back up at 0700 I found it a bit easier -- the day was gorgeous. Even so when everybody was up at 0900 I dropped below for another catnap. Saturday - The guys woke me as we were entering Tobago Cays. It's a series of very small cays and wonderful reefs. We anchored and jumped in the water to cool down. A great feeling. Super clear waters, white sandy bottom -- wonderful. Out of the water we set to doing a bunch of repairs. The guys started to work on generator and engine problems. I straighten up what I could and then spent most of my time fetching tools or supplies. The guys were doing things beyond my limited mechanical skills so I went for a nice snorkel. The reef is about 300 metres up current from the boat. It was a pleasant swim there. Along the way there were a few patches of turtle grass and broken coral. There were plenty of lobsters running amok here. And one spotted moray trying to find space as well. Then I got out the the coral reef. A series of plate coral patches loaded with colorful juvenile fishes. A pleasant way to spend a an hour. When I returned I did more of the fetching and helping. Then Dustin wanted to see the reefs. So I hoped back in and showed him around. Back at the boat I helped Dustin replace the impeller on the outboard. Much easier than the impellers on the generator and the engine. The night feel as we finished. A dinner of pasta and salad with a few drinks rounded out the evening. Then I sat down to write the logs for the last few days and got to the point where I stopped above. Sunday - I was up bright and early . An up really high. The mast needed cleaning and I cleaned it. Simple Green did the job nicely. See the pictures in the gallery. Lots of great views. A few moments of adrenalin when the boat pitched or the wind picked up and I got tossed around. No bruises, cuts, sprains, or other worries. While I was up above the guys were working on the steering. I got below as they were wrapping up. After Gil put everything back into the locker he was trying to close it. It was sticking so I thought I could help by standing on it while he twisted the latch. Except....he put his fingers in the hatch just as I started to step on it. He let out a massive yelp and I stepped away. Stupid on my part not to have said anything before I stepped. But in the end his reflexes were quick enough to avoid any damage. I felt foolish and lucky. Gil was as gracious about the whole incident as one could ever hope for. After that was done, the three of put the dingy in and set off for the reef. With the boat we were able to go to the outer edge. It was a nice wall reef loaded with healthy fish and corals. Little in the way of sponges though. We saw some squid (or perhaps they were cuttlefish...). My camera acquitted itself ok with the housing this time. Clearer water and I set the flash to be used automatically. Again, see the photo gallery. Monday - Up at dawn we set sail for Bequia to do some shopping. it was an easy sail. 20 miles all on a nice beam reach. We'll have lunch and go ashore. I'll post this and collect a series of emails I'm eagerly awaiting. More later Then we set sail for St. Barts. 330 nm and about 40-48 hours away. A day there then to St. Martin to catch a plane to FLA. 11/18-19/2003 (Saint Martin, France) Tuesday 11/18 - Wednesday 11/19 The steering problem mentioned above in the finger incident was because the auto helm does not work at all, We've been steering by hand all day, every nautical mile. It can be hard work if the seas or wind are picking up. The boat will round up (turn into the wind) on every puff of wind and fall down (turn away from the wind) on every lull. It can be very delicate work to keep the boat on a relatively straight path. I'm an not very good at it and it's frustrating. When a big correction is needed I make a small one and vice versa. The easiest situation is when you can pick a fixed point - like an island - and steer to it. Without and especially at night, it's a bear. The generator is also down. A bad water pump means we can't be sure it will not overheat. So no running the watermaker...so water is to be preserved and used wisely. Not rationed, just not wasted. There's not a lot to report about the sail. It was long and fun. Dustin and I did a 3 on, 3 off watch schedule. That makes for a very long couple of days. The hand steering made it even more so. I would do my watch and crash. Meals were light -- typically fruit or a sandwich. The sun was bright, the wind was generally strong enough and from the right quarter to sail, and it was a good time. The days passed in that magically long and short way that they do when one is focused, busy , and growing tired. Being at sea only exacerbates and makes it more fascinating. We made Saint Martin after dark on Wednesday. With the steering done and an unfavorable wind rearing its ugly head Gil, wisely, decided to skip St. Barts. So 48 hours, almost to the minute, after we set sail from Bequia ("Beck-wee" not "beck-wi-a") we dropped anchor. The route into the harbor was a stressful one there are two unlighted dolphins (large, actually very large, mooring buoys for ships). They would be real trouble for a fiberglass hull. We knew they are there (from Gil's previous trips) and were franticly watching for them. We only saw the second one, 25 yards off our port bow. Scarryyyy to come that close to a big potential problem. When we finally dropped the hook we were tired and sweaty. Very tired and very sweaty. No more time to write but I'll add: The cruise ship close call, SXM by daylight, and waiting for Gadot later The rest of November and first three days of December....(11/20/03 -- 12/03/03, SXM-MIA-Islamorada-Marco Island-Naples-MIA-SXM) Ok, this is way to late in being posted. Plus even though I am writing on 03Dec03 I don't know when I find someplace where I can actually post it.... The cruise ship close call referenced above is the fact that passing Guadeloupe we were passed, too closely, by a small cruise ship on my watch. I looked up and Whoa! there were a bunch of lights off my starboard quarter. I realized that it was a big ship, showing me a red running light therefore moving the same way as I was. But not on a parallel. It was moving quickly and I was not sure what would happen. So I headed up (turned into the wind, in this case to starboard) to insure that I took her stern rather than playing chicken with its bow. In the end it passed about .75nm ahead of us, safely. No harm (i.e., shattered boat and dead bodies), no foul. Ok, I have not the faintest idea of what I meant by "Waiting for Gadot"...unless that's my time in MIA waiting for Janice. Such are the perils of waiting over two weeks to post. Sorry. So here we go with the rest of this wonderful 2 weeks. If I attribute the wrong thing to the wrong day and you catch it: 1) so what?, 2) let me know and I'll correct it... Thursday 11/20/03 -- SXM by daylight... Whenever a boat comes in from sea it means one thing - cleaning. So we spent the day washing down the decks, and making sure everything was in order. Soap, water, brush, rags were all put to use. I handled the stainless while Dustin attended to the decks. It was hot sweaty work, but when dine looked fine. Whenever a boat is back from sea and the cleaning is done it means one thing - drunk sailors. Ok, so the others weren't drunk; but I got buzzed on two tiny (10 oz.) Heinekens. At least I can claim it was because I was doing this on an empty stomach. We settled in for lunch. I had pan seared foie gras with grappa, a Crepe Florentine (spinach, bacon, eggs, etc.), and a dessert crepe of sugar and lemon. All washed down with a bottle of cider from Normandy. Sheer gluttony. I'm glad no snotty French waiter taunted me into enjoying "one wafer thin mint"... Dinner was on Gil at a nicer restaurant. But alas, I gad so gorged myself at lunch I was unable to enjoy much. Friday 11/21/03 -- A long tense wait... We awoke and spent the morning cleaning. My task was to use a vinegar and water solution to wash down the interior surfaces (the acid keeps mold and mildew from taking hold.) I did an OK job at best. To say I was distracted would be an understatement...my mind was not in SXM, rather it was in MIA. I finally left for the airport. There I finally caught my flight to MIA. When I arrived, finally, I cleared customs and headed off to pick up my rental car. Then it was back to the airport. I had a meal -- the worst Cuban sandwich to date -- and a manicure -- the worst to date. Then I questioned my sanity for getting either of those let alone both in a freakin airport, especially this frekin airport. I finally sat down and started to write an update for y'all. Then Janice finally arrived. We "met" through eHarmony.com. I'll let you explore the site yourself, but I certainly recommend it it. After 5 weeks of long questions through eHarmoney, many many emails, long AIM sessions, and long phone calls (including my night watches on Boundless) we finally met face to face. She came walking out of the concourse and I recognized her instantly from her photos. She claims I let loose with a big smile that calmed her nerves. All I know is my nerves were wound really tightly. Her smile and subsequent kindness were absolutely instrumental in calming me down. We gathered gear and set off for the Keys. A few hours later we were checked in. Then we had a few beers and called it a night. Saturday 11/22/03 -- A cold front but a warm smile... When we awoke a cold front was hovering over the Keys. After weeks in the tropics 67°F felt frosty. But Janice was full of smiles and kind words which made things right. We drove around the mid-Keys area for most of the day: down past Duck Key and up onto Key Largo. Just enjoying the day and chatting. Frankly I don't remember any more reportable events than that. Sunday 11/23/03 -- Tourists, YUCK!... We decided that the hotel, The Chesapeake Resort, was falling woefully short of our expectations. Their website makes the place look great. Reality is I've stayed in Motel 6s in better shape. A quick call led to the discovery that Cheeca Lodge and Spa had rooms available. A better rate and much better road than the Chesapeake. What a great decision to move. After moving gear and settling in we decided to head south. I wanted to see Key West. I do not know what I thought I would find; some sort of Carl Hiassen, Tom Corcoran, James W. Hall, Jimmy Buffet type of place. We drove about 90 miles to get there. Within the time it took to walk 3 blocks down Duval Street my illusions were shattered. I turned to Janice and said "This place is full of tourists! I hate tourists! YUCK!!!" So we turned around walked three blocks back to the car and drove north for nearly 90 miles. Oh well. Jerry Lee has now seen Key West. Monday 11/24/03 -- Cat bites... We did some more driving around and just chatting. Ostensibly the goal was to rent a boat so we could see the flats and mangroves. The first place we stopped was out of working boats. The second place told me I was crazy as I would surely run aground and screw up their boat. So we passed on that. Back at Cheeca we rented a Craig Cat. This is a tiny power catamaran. It's about six feet long with a four foot beam. They're powered by a 25hp outboard. Unfortunately they seem to have found a way to limit the power -- perhaps a governor, perhaps a fuel line that's too small. Even so it was a blast. Janice took the helm, she's far more experienced with small power craft than I am. She smile from ear to ear as we bashed into waves and pounded along. I told she looked like an eight year old on Christmas morning. That made it all worth while. Tuesday 11/25/03 -- The fly is cast... The morning was spent just driving and wandering the mid Keys again. At one point we stopped and looked at a few of the flats to see what was happening there. A fly fisherman was there and we watched him for a bit. Josh and Carol's son, the amazing Max, had asked me for some coral skeletons. I know that most places prohibit taking them from the water, but I don't know of rules against taking them off the beach in the Keys. So we gathered up some elkhorn, staghorn , and some other type (a thick column like colony but not brain coral so I don't know its name) for him. To make sure his sister, the lovely Emma, was not left out we gathered some pretty shells for her. For me the whole trip was made worth while by finding a dead jelly fish and a dead Portuguese Man O' War on the sand. In and of themselves they were ok. But what was real cool was learning a lot about their biology/physiology from Janice (she's a marine biologist). It was very cool to be with someone who's interested in things I am. In the evening we took fly casting lessons from a local guide. Standing on the golf course we made idiots of ourselves. Well at least I did. Knots, clumps, nonloops, and a general mess for me. Janice was much better at it than I. Although the guide was smart enough to devote 70% of his time to her rather than me. Hey, I can't really complain, I would have done the same. Wednesday 11/26/03 -- Puttin on The Ritz and going lowbrow...We lollygagged through the morning: packing, grabbing brunch, taking a side road as we headed north. The destination was the Ritz Carleton in Coconut Grove. It's a wonderful place. The original plan called for me to entrust them with Janice's comfort and well being while I went off to see Mom and Dad on Marco Island. But I realized that would not be fair to Janice. So I had cancelled my Wednesday night reservation on the Gulf to stay with her on the Atlantic. Good move. The room was opulent and lush. It would have been unfair to throw Janice into that alone...I sure enjoyed it. We unpacked and decided to head out. Somewhere in the Keys I saw a mention of Jai Alai in the sports section. I've been a fan of the sport for a long time (See the 09/13/2003 entry for example). Janice is an extraordinarily good sport and suggested we go when we got North. So we did. We managed to survive A1A all the way up to Dania. The crazies around South Beach tried their best to get themselves killed and crunched but we missed every target they presented. We had a surprisingly good meal in the clubhouse. There had been a review of the food in the local paper the week before and that was posted at the ticket office. Based on that we took a chance and were rewarded with a nice meal. I lost a few bets and quit betting. Poker has been legalized in FLA evidently. I played a few hands, badly. And we rolled back to the Ritz. Thursday 11/27/03 -- THANKSGIVING I dropped Janice at MIA. Sigh. Then swung over to Avis to replace the car, this one had the unfortunate habit of accelerating on its own when it was supposed to be slowing down. Ensconced in a Mustang I roared across the Everglades. It's a very cool place: birds all around, changing scenery, just wonderful. I hit Marco Island in time to check in, chat briefly with Mom and Dad then grab a shower. Then we piled into their rental and drove north to see the new condo in Naples. It's a great place. Large and open space. A great sunroom overlooking the golf course. The biggest damn bathroom I've ever set foot in. After a bit we went to the club house to enjoy dinner. It was as nice a buffet as one could hope for. The food was fresh and hot, the service was quite good. Then back to Marco and a good night's sleep. Friday 11/28/03 -- Groundwork for Ground Hog's Day...Dad and I woke at a reasonable hour and went to breakfast. Dad can be counted on to find two things within 30 seconds of entering a town in the south: a BBQ pit and a breakfast place. I had a corned beef hash omelet. It sounds heavy but was actually very good. Then we headed out to see Collier-Seminole State Park. At midday there really wasn't much to get excited about. There were however MiG-29 sized mosquitoes. Nasty. A drink at a local hang out and we headed back. Dad took a nap, I rented a Hobie Cat (all this time Mom was off shopping). The cat was so horribly mistuned (all three stays were so loose they all flopped no matter which point of sail I was on) that I could not tack or gybe because the boat would just stop. It never got up a head of steam at all. A pretty big disappointment. I complained to the guy that rented it and go no satisfaction at all. Back in the room there was a message from Janice. Turns out she got home and learned of a very cheap fare for LAX to MIA. I called her and said "Book it Jano". She was home a grand total of 20 hours. I was just thrilled she was coming back. Saturday 11/29/03 -- I Am The Glade Runner...I was up early and out of the hotel. Not early enough. I roared through the Glades going east and it was just as cool as the previous trip. Poor Janice was forced to wait a bit for me at the airport. It had only been 48 hours but I sure was glad to see her. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and raced for the Glades. About 10 miles past the last gas station for 75 miles, which is not marked as such, I realized I needed gas. So we doubled back, laughing at my goofiness. After we crossed the glades we picked I-75 north. As we exited we must have hit some road debris. The next light was red, I pulled away and immediately knew I had a flat. So we pulled over and changed it. I hate donut spares.... 2 more miles and we were at the condo. Janice met Mom and Dad and everybody seemed to enjoy everybody else. That was good and a huge relief. We chatted for a while and then M&D left for the airport. J and I headed out to swap the rental car. This time we ended up with a Buick Century. Gee, driving around Naples in a big old boat...almost like we were a pair of 80 year olds. A quick dinner of BBQ at Michaelbob's and we headed home. A long but very happy day. Sunday 11/30/03 Swiffer And Other Fun...We slept in a bit and then got started on the day's work. Cleaning. We shopped for supplies and then proceeded to use them. Swiffers and other stuff all put to use. Not a hell of a lot seems memorable. Well, at least not that I'm willing to write about here.... |
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