Monthly Archives: April 2013

Bahamas post poned

The weather has not cooperated and the due date of our Grand daughter quickly approaches, so we will park Stray CatZ and journey by car to TN to get our first Grand Parent thrill.

We found a dock space to rent in Fort Lauderdale for half the price of Palm Beach so we set off on a big adventure just 50 miles down the coast to a new port.

I checked the weather for the trip. Slight chance of thunderstorms, but winds are supposed to swing around to the SE. We should be able to sail and not motor the whole way.  But it was not meant to be. We headed out the channel and turned right. We hugged the shoreline only about 1/2 mile off the coast so we could avoid the north bound gulf stream current. Seas were only about 3 feet, but the winds were light. We put up the sails (yes even the mainsail) Those pesky lazy jacks gave me trouble again, but this time I won the battle.  We still motor sailed because we couldn’t get over 2 knots otherwise.  It wasn’t long before we saw a pod of about a half a dozen dolphins.  Anna saw flying fish and the water and sky color were beautiful.


After about 6 hours into the trip, the sky started getting very dark. It didn’t take long to realize we weren’t going to miss this storm. We put away the sails, put on foul weather gear and life vests just as the first drops started to fall. It got bad. There was this huge water spout about a mile to the SE. The lightning was striking all around the boat and the thunder crashing.  It rained so hard it soaked through my foul weather jacket. God was kind to us though, because Stray CatZ motored right through it all and came out, other than a little soggy, just fine. A excellent testament for a great boat.

Just as the storm was subsiding, we reached Hillsboro inlet, made a right and raced in past the jetty, made a left at the ICW, cruised a few miles south where we picked up my sister and her family. They were kind enough to bring dinner, so we dropped anchor in Lake Santa Barbara and finished off the day having a wonderful evening with family.

It’s all about the experience

I have some experience around boats, even sail boats, but you sure couldn’t tell it by the way life has been treating me with Stray CatZ. First there was the incident where I left her at the dock for the night, only to find her the next day 1/2 a slip away from where she was left. Some how one of the dock lines came loose and a kind fellow boat owner re-tied her the dock in the new spot.

Then there was the time we took the dinghy into town with SCz at anchor and left all the hatches open, only to soak up the tropical downpour that happened while we were gone.

There was the time where the anchor dragged all around the anchorage for a day and a half, before I finally started all over and got the anchor to hold. The piece-d-resistance was or maiden voyage when we couldn’t get the mainsail up.

Having owned boats before I should know, but I’m re-learning that everyday on a boat is experience.

Safely waiting

We’re supposed to be anchored off some beautiful Bahamian beach, but we’re not.
As a fine welcome into the cruising lifestyle, our scheduled departure from east Florida off to the Bahamas has been delayed. Weather is not corroborating. We had planned to depart yesterday and thought we would be sipping umbrella covered drinks by now, but it is not to be. A front has come into the area and delayed us at least till Wednesday

Maybe Anna can find some more places to put things by then.
I’ll let you know.