Southern Florida

2/6/13

Dear Family and Friends,

Geoff and I are anchored near Lantana, West Palm Beach Florida.  I am not sure, but I think there may be MORE than 1% out there.  We have motored by amazing homes, mansions, and YACHTS!!  These things are HUGE.  I was so scared today.  I actually piloted us up to the fuel dock AND backed us away with 100 foot yachts all around and I didn’t even hit one!!!  My knees were shaking when I was done though.  I was proud that I said I would do it.  I almost chickened out but Geoff had faith in me.

I was also scared yesterday.  Geoff left for a dinghy ride at 5:45PM(sunset 6:07) and didn’t return until 7:50 PM.  It was pitch black.  I guess I thought he would be gone for an hour.  Tim, I was about to call you and ask what I should do.  Luckily, Ben happened to call and talked me down and confirmed what I had been trying to convince myself, that Geoff usually knows what he is doing.  I was happy that he had so many no-see-um bites though after the worry he caused me.  Okay, any psychology book would say that I only caused the worry for myself…what a bunch of hoowee.

It has been incredible weather.  We are headed to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow for another walk on the beach and prep for our friends Jack and Julie Davis to meet us on Saturday in Miami.  So far I am enjoying this adventure and Geoff and I are getting better at not bumping into each other on our sweet little boat.  Bye for now, Patty

2/7/13

In Ft. Lauderdale

MANATEE SPOTTING TODAY!!!!! The manatees are getting a poor deal here in South Florida, they are rather slow, docile creatures (they are usually compared to a swimming cow) but to find the food they need they must co-exist with gigantic boats that are allowed to travel at speeds of up to 25 mph.  Most of the canals, which are often less than 300 or 400 ft wide, allow the boat traffic that is traveling the main channel to crank along at 25 mph- at which speed the skipper has zero chance to spot a manatee in his path-while at the same time limiting boats outside of the channel to “idle” speed (about a walk).  We have been in the channel for almost 150 miles and have seen numerous manatees only boat lengths away from our path;  since we travel so slowly, we can see them swimming near us and can easily avoid them.  Every time a boat goes screaming by us, I understand just a little bit better why 90% of the manatee deaths are from propeller strikes. I am glad we have a slow boat.

Again today Patty took the helm and with ice water flowing in her veins, piloted us to our overnight mooring buoy without mishap.  We decided to moor in Ft Lauderdale, which is a very busy section of the Intra-Coastal Waterway, in a small mooring area tucked in tight to a bridge.  Not only was the space tight, there was a 2 knot tidal current rushing through the mooring field, requiring a deft hand on the helm and throttle to keep us out of trouble.  Patty needed a sedative after we managed to snag our chosen  mooring ball, but she handled all of the maneuvering with aplomb.  What a woman  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!