January 9, 2004
Fort Lauderdale
26.08.149/80.07.648 -  View Pictures

The Mary Ann left her moorage at Marina Bay in the Fort Lauderdale New River waterway at 1030 this morning bound for Cat Cay in the Bahamas. Aboard were the “usuals”: Captains John and Mary Ann who also double as engineer and crew and First Mate Isabel who doubles as cook and laundress. We also had aboard Captain Bob who has been in charge of the maintenance and upkeep on the Mary Ann while she sat idle during the off season. Captain Bob was to be our guide as we exited the narrow, sometimes confusing, and always very crowded New River to the sea. It is a short distance but a distance for which we have no chart.

It is now 1500. We have progressed three miles down the waterway and are tied to a pier in front of a place called Cable Marine. Both generators are down and the Fly Bridge steering is malfunctioning. Captain Bob has been called off the ship to go to the assistance of another party. Four mechanics are aboard doing their thing. It is said that “All is well that ends well”. We have yet to see how this small portion of our continuing sea saga ends.

John, Isabel, and I flew into Fort Lauderdale on January 5th. From the boat ramp where the taxi driver dropped us, we could see the Mary Ann floating on the water. She had been all lit up in expectation of our arrival. Inside the lights were soft and there was the sweet smell of fresh flowers. There were in fact fresh flowers everywhere. We opened the refrigerator to find Champagne chilling, fresh fruit, and Brie. Obviously the thought was that we would want to celebrate which, of course, we did. Emphatically the three of us agreed that it was absolutely wonderful to be back aboard. We poured the Champagne and began talking about the new journey we were about to undertake. This led to a sentimental recall of all of the adventures we had experienced on our trip in the winter and spring of 2003. The problems of last year—chronically broken air conditioner and black water pump to mention a few—became more and more minor as the Champagne bottle began to empty. When they became of no consequence at all we decided it was time to go out to dinner.

The 6th and 7th of January were set aside for provisioning the boat. Since we are expecting 26 guests aboard at one time or another, it was a really big job. But Isabel and I managed to get all of our foodstuffs and alcohol inventoried and into freezers or storage with room to spare. Replacement of fresh fruits and vegetables will be the only “supply runs” that we will need to make on this trip. That is unless our guests—the majority of whom claim to be great fishermen –are lying. In that case a “fish run” may be in order.

It was our intention to depart Fort Lauderdale on the 8th. We left Bellevue in weather conditions more difficult than have been seen there in years, expecting to arrive in Florida and look up into clear blue skies as we bathed in the state’s famous sunshine. No such luck. The morning after we arrived here we arose to find that a hefty wind from the North was lifting our big regulation size American flag up and out from the stern and flattening it out so that it stood like a giant postage stamp backed into the palm trees. The weather report confirmed our observation. The Northerly was blowing at 30 knots. The Gulf Stream was piled up with 12 foot waves. Conditions would have to improve considerably in the next two days before we dared chance a run to Cat Cay, our first destination and our custom clearance. Weather predictions were not good. It looked like we would still be tied to the dock come spring and that would be a very bad turn of events for my friends, the “Power Group”, who on January 12th would be standing on the docks of the luxury resort Atlantis on Paradise Island awaiting our arrival and their beds for the week. I knew that not being boaters they would have trusted to our holding to the schedule that we had given them and purchased non-refundable tickets. I feared that John and I were about to become their “ex dearest of friends”. Then a miracle! The God of the winds was about to smile upon us. On Friday he would be huffing and puffing in exactly the same direction we were going. We would be on the water with a friendly following sea, riding along on cute little two foot waves. The weather window was short though; just twenty four hours and then things would turn ugly again.

It is now Friday. We are in the weather window and the clock is ticking. We are still at the dock and the boat is still inoperable. We have been informed that boaters do not do the Bahamas in the dark because there—where the water is so shallow—Captains do not rely on their depth gages. They judge the depth of the water by reading its color. I can see that the light will soon begin to fade. If by chance the mechanics are able to repair this vessel, will we brave the dark to avoid the angry sea that is a promised certainty tomorrow. I will think about that later. For now I remain apprehensively yours,

Captain Mary Ann

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January 11, 2004
Nassau, Bahamas
25.04.78/77.19.15 0907 hours -  View Pictures

It was said to me back in Panama, when I asked how the wx was on the Caribbean side, that “… the Caribbean is only famous for two things…” I’m not sure what the second thing was, but the first thing is wind. It is now blowing about 20 knots from the north and we’re fortunate to be here in Hurricane Hole Marina because the northerly winds are said to raise a fearsome sea when they hit the northerly flowing two knot gulf stream. Yesterday was a calm day and our venture across sixty miles of water varying from six feet to twelve feet under the keel was made in comfort with the stabilizers having an easy day of it. I am really glad that common sense got the better of me for once and I had Bob Parrish come along on this first phase of this trip. Between the unmarked hazards, shallow water, wind/wave anomalies, and odds and ends that did not want to restart after a six month period of inactivity, he has been a great help. We ran the section from Lauderdale to Cay Cay in the dark to beat the wx, then ran all the way from Cay Cay to Nassau arriving again in the dark, something I would never have attempted. Bob said he had made this trip hundreds of times, and it showed.

He hasn’t had to moor a 22 foot beam boat in a 23 foot slip in Hurricane Hole Marina hundreds of times though, and although he managed it with considerable élan it scared the stuffing out of me and the crew. Just as we committed the vessel backing in between two giant yachts the wind gusted up, the rain poured down, and the people on the dock sat back under their umbrellas to watch the spectacle. It reminded me of trying to put the meat back into a weenie skin. We nudged one of the adjacent boats as I was calling on Bob to move the bow starboard, which he couldn’t do because the starboard side was already up against the dock posts. I was hiding out on the bow with my hands over my eyes and ears most of the time while the ladies raced about giving each other orders, but when it was over the gallery erupted with applause as Bob bowed his appreciation and accepted a beer. I don’t think I would have even tried to get into this slip. Hope I can get out as Bob is gone now and we have to move over to Atlantis Marina in a couple of hours for some reason. The boat mechanical equipment isn’t the only thing aboard that has gown a little rusty from lack of use.

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January 17, 2004 0749
Atlantis marina, Bahamas
25.04.850/77.19.326 -  View Pictures

Do you remember the old Beatles song, ‘I’m a Loser’? Well, I admit it. I have finally come to the realization that this boat is just too technical for me to operate. Let me tell you how it went and what has led me to that conclusion.

As you know, when we pulled out of Marina Bay we discovered that the boat deck steering was inoperative. At about the same time, this being minutes away from the dock, the starboard generator overheated and shut down. Within ten minutes of starting the port generator it too overheated and shut down. We limped down the river to Cable Marina where the steering problem was found to be the result of a tiny gear having fallen out of the electronic steering ‘black box’. The gear fell out because the Allen screw to retain it was loose. Captain Bob opined that the screw probably came loose when some mechanics were trying to remove the steering wheel to install a stainless fitting and had used a hammer as a persuader, but fail it did. The fix was simple as was replacement of the impellers in both generators, the vanes in which were completely torn off although not from heat, or so the mechanics advised. Captain Bob did not advise his position vis a vis using a hammer on an electronic component.

So we departed Cable Marine in Port Everglades at dark and quickly discovered that the variable frequency electronic device that regulates the amount of outside air pulled into the engine room would not function. Diesel engines need a lot of air to operate efficiently and Detroit Diesel had made quite a point of the need for more engine room air when they required Sovereign Yachts to add this additional air flow device before they would certify the engines and issue their product warranty. This component of the boat began to make noise as we were returning to Atlantis days later, but to date has yet to pull its’ first gulp of outside air.

It didn’t take long to learn that the air conditioning that had caused so much grief last year on the trip down was up to its’ old tricks, not functioning when the engines were running, this despite a long story about how it had been cleaned out and was running fine back at Marina Bay. Later I spoke to the dealer in North Carolina who advised me that the mains were starving the AC of raw water for cooling, which seemed consistent with the error message, ‘High inlet water temperature’. The lack of AC on this phase of our saga, however, was nothing compared to the annoying distraction of the starboard engine alarm which kept beeping and honking that it had a Code 339, low gear oil, problem. I decided that it was merely another sensor problem since there was nothing I could do about it, and it finally stopped complaining.

We had already noted that the satellite TV and the satellite phone were inoperative, the TV because the antennae was locked onto the wrong satellite and the phone because Stratosnet had not reactivated my account. As things turned out, though, I couldn’t figure out how to work the satellite phone anyway so it might not matter whether it worked or not. However when combined with the fact that the new Siemens cell phones didn’t work in the Bahamas because that was not part of the ATT roaming area, I felt that the lack of a sat phone was somewhat more than just inconvenient. The communications gap was not helped by the fact that neither the SSB/fax wx system nor the Pactor II Pro SSB email/wx system would function, the former because I couldn’t remember how to run it and the latter due to the disappearance of a connection between the device and the laptop computer.

We did, as reported, make it to Atlantis and the first of our guests arrived on schedule, the others having been scattered across the American geography by missed connections and security delays. When they arrived I was busily engaged in fixing the door from the master suite to the engine room that would only open from the engine room side for some reason. I fixed this in a typically salesman like manner by whacking both handles at once, which fixed the problem and has now become a regular part of my daily inspection tour.

Next morning was clear and bright and our guests reported a wonderful night of sleep, but a less than wonderful experience in their bathroom where the water faucet gods had again found a vulnerability and caused the tap water to shoot under the sink into the cabinet rather than into the sink in a useful manner. By now all six guests had arrived so when they, and Mary Ann, left to go shopping or something, Isabel and I attacked the sink, which is the very same sink that has caused so much grief in the past and which, I was told, had been completely repaired by someone while we were in Florida. Isabel loves to fix things and actually is pretty good at it but, being a polite person, she let me fiddle with it for a while before asking to ‘take a look’ and gesturing to give her the wrench. We hammered, pounded, and sweated for several hours before concluding that the compression fitting was not compressing, or whatever it is supposed to do, adequately to direct the water where it was intended to go. We were stumped until Sonny Verstegen asked to take a look and determined that he could make a gasket for the fitting out of string, which he did and fixed the problem for some indeterminate period of time.

By then it was again cocktail time, which meant that it was time to find that the salon icemaker had taken a vacation and that we had all better learn to drink our whiskey English style, warm. Cocktails preceded a delicious steak dinner which regrettably could not be done on the boat deck electric grill as its electrical connections had rusted out, necessitating a trip to Nassau next morning to buy a George Foreman electric grill, which worked perfectly.

We left Nassau with some trepidation as our charting devices were acting suspiciously and the book of paper charts that I had purchased were only one step above a place mat chart. We headed for Highborne Cay, told to us to be a popular spot for Bahamas cruisers. Our destination was only 32 miles away, but across something called the ‘Yellow’ bank, a characterization that I was thinking might be applied to me since I was very nervous crossing 32 miles of 8-15 foot water, but we finally arrived off Highborne Cay and anchored in about 12 feet. After an hour I decided to check the anchor and found that it had dragged an unacceptable distance across the scoured bottom and was not likely to hold any time soon. I decided to move to an area where I could see boats at anchor, started the engines and raised the anchor. This is when the GPS/plotter device confirmed my suspicions and decided to go on strike leaving us with no plotter position in this area of shallow water strewn with coral reefs, one of which I quickly managed to brush across.

Six hours later after the tide had come in and raised us 20” we drifted off the reef and re-anchored in 15’ of water which by now seemed deep. I had seen that only the starboard propeller was on the reef, so hoped that damage might be minimal even though the necessity of a haul out was certain. I drank several whiskies and went to bed, thankful that it had been a calm day and the boat had not rocked while stuck on the reef. The good news about this day is that when it was over I had managed not to cry, being closer to catatonic as Mary Ann charitably suggested.

Next day we staggered back to Atlantis through the shallows, minus our GPS/plotter aid and with considerable doubt as to the right course to take, as I couldn’t work up my courage to cross the yellow bank again. We managed to make the eastern entrance to the Paradise Island/Nassau harbor channel where we waited until another boat near our size came in that we could follow. Atlantis welcomed us back although they looked apprehensive when we had to back into a narrow slip without bow thrusters, which had gone inoperative and into alarm mode as we entered the harbor. I reserved space for a week, which is what I figure it will take to get somebody over here to take the boat back to Lauderdale, have the propeller turned, and clean it up for sale. I have determined that, after seventeen years boating in the old 48’ Tollycraft without incident, there is something about this new boat that doesn’t like me. Mary Ann agreed and that is why you see her hanging the ‘For Sale’ sign off the stern in the photo section.

So this is the end of our round the continent saga, a little bit of a downer just now I suppose, but, what the hell, we may have been dealt a lemon or two lately but we made a lot of lemonade too. Thanks for listening. Ju

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Sunday January 18 2004 Noon
Atlantis Marina, Nassau
25.04.850/77.19.326 -  View Pictures

We float on calm water. Our background is the beautiful coral colored Atlantis Resort with its towers spiraling up to meet a clear blue sky, water splashing down from sea shell fountains mounted between its balconies, and large stone sea horses jutting from the walls as if they were standing on guard of this castle on the sea. It is a perfect place and I love being here on our very beautiful boat . . . as long as it doesn’t move. I wrote in the log on our day of departure, “All is well that ends well”. Now I add another wisdom: “Pretty is as pretty does”. And that is all that is going to be said by me about the operation of our boat.

Our guests aboard, the Siegals, Kempers, and Verstegens, have gone ashore. They have hired a car and driver to take them on an exploration of New Providence Island and Nassau where they will perhaps do some additional shopping. John and I saw as much of Nassau as we wished to see in our wild and frantic search to replace the electric grill on the upper deck that, being improperly covered, rusted out in the summer rains of Fort Lauderdale. If our guests wish to buy a George Forman grill, we can tell them where to go. As for the rest of the island, I’m disappointed that we couldn’t do as I suggested and explore it by boat. But John said, “Are you insane, Mary Ann? As sure as we attempt to lower one of the shore boats down from the deck, the davit will break off and fall into the sea. Or else the shore boat will sink when it hits the water. We have tortured ourselves enough. Let’s just sit here and really enjoy a ‘so far’ wonderfully uneventful day”. So that is what we are doing. Our lives cry out to be uneventful.

So ends our sea saga. I go with John to drink lemonade as we ski out the rest of the winter in Sun Valley. Good bye, my friends. It has been fun sharing with you. My special wish is that your own sea journeys be without adventure.

Captain Mary Ann

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