Cap'n Steve, alert on watch
Department of Second
Guessing ...
Guessing ...
| Things We Should Have Brought From The States But Didn't More batteries, more batteries, more batteries, more batteries Pump to change diesel engine oil More wrenches and hex keys (metric and U.S sizes) Jay's skimboard Beach toys - soccer ball, frisbee Spaghetti-O's Cake and brownie mixes More of those yellow sticky notes |
| Things That I Need To Do or Figure Out How To Do Better Install clothes hooks in the cabins Humping the new (74 pound) outboard on and off the dinghy Get a second hand held VHF |
| Things I'll Do Differently Next Time Get a decently-powered dinghy outboard from the start NEVER EVER EVER tow the dinghy in open water, no matter how short a sail or how settled the weather is predicted |
| Things I Wasted Our Money On Outboard motor lock. The second time I used it I dropped the hasp in the water anyway; it's lousy design since the lock, hasp and bar are three separate, unattached pieces. A simple cable lock is easier, cheaper and more obvious A Marinco 50/30 amp shore power adapter that's the wrong kind for anyplace we've stopped; you'd think the West Marine staff in Ft. Lauderdale would have known better Screwing around trying to get the 4 HP Suzuki outboard working properly |
| And, Some Things I Did Right, In Most Cases Because I Got Good Advice Upgrade the electrical system with 100 amp alternator, AGM batteries and a Prosine Inverter/Charger/Power Management System Install a flat screen TV, DVD player and X-Box Our new bimini/dodger/cockpit canopy Our electronics package Skymate onboard email and Globalstar phone |
| Things I Wish We Had But That Just Aren't Practical A hard dinghy ... a 4 meter, flat bottom Boston Whaler with a center console, 50 HP engine and a fold-down bimini top would be just about perfect! A separate 2 kw onboard diesel alternator and a 12 volt refrigeration system so that we wouldn't have to run the engine twice a day just to charge the batteries and the refrigerator holding plate A full time crew (stewardess?) to clean and polish the boat - if there are any takers among viewers, I'd furnish you with a complete uniform: snappy boat shirts (with collar), Bermuda shorts, knee sox and white, white Adidas |
Random Thoughts and
Ruminations
Ruminations
| OK, so it looks picturesque, but what about poor Jay, who has to clean the dinghy? |
| I changed my mind ... I wouldn't want a full time crew to clean, polish, etc ... that's what kids are for. What would be awesome would be an onboard physical therapist/masseuse ... yeah, that'd be the ticket! It struck me last night that I haven't driven a car since January 18, when I picked up my cross-the-Gulf-Stream crew in West Palm Beach. That's going on 7 weeks. I don't miss it. I also don't miss the news. Nobody here talks about Iraq. We talk about the weather (a lot) -- but it's actually so important to our day-to-day lives -- boats, cruises past and future, fish, best places to snorkel. When you meet someone, you exchange first names, boat names, type of boat, but people rarely ask about careers or employment "back home." Maybe that's because pretty much everybody we're meeting is, basically, unemployed. Or, their employment is obvious and varied and up front, as in the case of boat caretakers and marina staff. I need to stop viewing seasickness as a moral failing. My inflatable life vest has a yellow tab hanging from it that says "Jerk to Inflate." I can't stop wondering, what if I fall overboard and there isn't one in the water with me? |
Our neighbors in the Rum Cay marina
brought in this wahoo on the same day
Maddy landed her first fish, but she wasn't
intimidated. They cut us a 10 lb chunk of this
baby ... awesome on the grill! (Dakota Rose
is the blue sail cover to the right in the
background)
brought in this wahoo on the same day
Maddy landed her first fish, but she wasn't
intimidated. They cut us a 10 lb chunk of this
baby ... awesome on the grill! (Dakota Rose
is the blue sail cover to the right in the
background)
| Maddy playing Whack the One-Eyed Cat with the jack she caught ... which also was great on the grill (OK, she wasn't actually hitting the poor cat, it just looks that way in the picture! |
More Random Thoughts and
Ruminations as our Cruise Comes to
an End
Ruminations as our Cruise Comes to
an End
| At Highborne Cay, we came across yet another example of why a Commission on Boat Naming needs to be established |
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Steve's Page
| We have gone through a huge number of batteries. In retrospect, rather than bringing more batteries from home, I should have hard wired and mounted D size and AA size battery chargers and bought high quality rechargeables ... it would have been cheaper, easier, and a whole lot better for the environment. We rigged the outboard with a lifting harness that makes it a lot easier to handle on and off the dinghy. Jay and I had it down to a routine. Even the new, 100 amp alternator proved inadequate for our electrical demand. After burning out two in succession, I ended up installing a 120 amp alternator, plus a new ventilation fan in the engine compartment that blows outside air directly on the alternator to keep it from getting too hot. So far it seems to be working. From our trip back home in May ... things I miss about the States:
California, banning smoking in outdoor venues, bars and the like, I do like not having smoke waft over me during dinner Supermarkets, Costco, and hardware and marine stores where they pretty much have what you need, in stock, sorted properly so you can find it, and "help" that is actually helpful I found it deeply embarrassing, while in St. Martin, that the French shopkeepers and restaurateurs felt obliged to offer us, as Americans, charity, in the form of subsidized exchange rates for our meals and food purchases. I mean, for crying out loud, it's a sad spectacle to see the American Dollar ... once the world-wide symbol of financial strength and stability ... swirling in the toilet compared to even the Euro, an ersatz currency whose very name screams out "I'M NOT REAL ... I'M NOT REAL ... DON'T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY!!!" And yet, our current regime continues to pursue its bizarre economic policies. Did he really go to Harvard Business School? What did he learn there? After six months together on the boat, in close quarters, you'd think that we'd be ready for some time alone, away from each other. As Jay has has said, there have been times when we've all felt like throwing someone overboard. Yet, now that Dianne and the kids have gone home, I find myself missing them more than I ever did when going away on business travel for all these years. I'm hugely proud of the way the Dianne and the kids took responsibility for duties on the boat: Jay as "dinghy captain" and standing night watches during passages, Maddy for "mast aloft" duties, untangling halyards and cleaning lines while suspended in the bos'ns chair sixty feet above the rolling boat, and Dianne for agreeing to a trip that was fundamentally alien to her, especially the overnight passages. Since my family left a few days ago, I've been going through Dakota Rose from stem to stern, doing minor repairs that have been stacking up, and giving her a much-needed, thorough cleaning. Much of what I'm fixing we've been living with for some time: the latch on Jay's hanging locker that doesn't quite close properly; the panel in his head that needs recaulking; the engine compartment panel in Maddy's room that vibrates, which we "fixed" by cramming in a piece of folded paper; the portlight gaskets that leak in heavy rains; the iffy wiring on the anchor windlass; the LEDs on the DC power panel that are burned out. While all of this needs doing, it's depressing to me in a vague way ... I'm erasing evidence that we've spent the last six months cruising on her. |
One thing I don't miss about the States:
pervade our society: "smoking may be hazardous to your health"; "drinking during pregnancy causes birth defects"; "chemicals used in this facility have been found to cause cancer"; "wash your hands after using the lavatory." I mean, duh! We haven't encountered this sort of in loco parentis where we've been, yet the people seem to get by. The latest annoyance which, when we were back home, was getting more radio airplay than a '70's AM one-hit-wonder, was brought to us by the NHTSA: "click it or ticket." What business is it of our federal government, requiring us to prioritize our scarce, local police resources to peer into my car to save me from plunging head first through my windshield if I should choose to go beltless on my four block drive to Vons, especially when they could be out there winning the "War on Drugs" or ticketing high school kids for not buckling their mandatory bike helmets? When did we stop taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions? It's the creeping, insidious but relentless emasculation of the Independent American Spirit by a busy-body, too-much-time-on-its-hands government. For this I pay taxes? |