A very sad day

My wonderful father passed away today, gently and peacefully while in a deep sleep.  We shall miss him terribly.

The funeral is Friday.  After that, we will began to resume our usual world, but it will be without one special soul.

The ups and downs

Dad has taken a drastic turn for the worse.  The doctor told me to stay in Charlotte.  I will post later.

The things that you learn...

Something that I've learned is that my dad is one tough old bird!  It runs in his genes....my grandfather was 72 when dad was born and his brother was 101 when he passed away.  Dad has miraculously gone from "beginning final stages of life" to preparing to move to an assisted living facility!  We never thought he'd leave the hospital.  My assessment meeting yesterday with the skilled care facility staff indicated that he should be able to move to assisted living in about 3 more weeks, baring any medical setback. 

With that prognosis, I am planning to fly back to Luke and Smoke on Friday. I'll come back to Charlotte in time to arrange the move and get dad settled in.

YEA!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Back in Miami .........

The Miami International Boat Show, with three venues - sail and power both on the water, and the boat stuff at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

First to learn the Metro, which runs high above ground, through the imposing downtown Miami.

The "Strictly Sail" exposition was actually quite modest compared to our memories of the Annapolis Boat Show of years gone by.

Dominated by large multi-hulls, few of the familiar mono-hull names were there. Hard times in the industry over the last few years, and very expensive to exhibit, I heard.

There was a ferry shuttle to the power boat section, again showing off the Miami waterfront skyline

The scenery featured this line up of cruise ships readying for their next adventures in paradise ----

The power boat section had way too many center console runabouts with two or three or four 350 horsepower outboard motors on them! 

So, let's see -- 350 hp x 4 would be about 1,400 hp on, say, a 30 foot boat --- hmmmm?

Moving on rather quickly, there was another bus ride to an unrelated but gigantic concurrent "Yacht and Brokerage" show on about a mile long stretch of the Collins Canal by Miami Beach. It featured very large everything, including "Sportfish"

an endless array of large "Motor Yachts"

including this one fully equipped with a helicopter

I did learn a price point -- in the 63 to 68 foot range, in the used boats, one crosses the $1,000,000 mark - depends on age and condition, I suppose. In the new boats, I think you can't get to 50 ft before you get there. There were many boats in the 100 foot range.

The take away lesson: Latitudes is wonderful, love the one you're with.

And then, for something entirely different, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival which also ran last weekend, almost blockading our marina from Coconut Grove. It was a very large show, with almost 400 exhibitors, attracting an estimated 125,000 visitors.

There were many stands of jewelry (which I didn't feel qualified to buy for Bobbie), some painters,  many photographers, most with very large, high resolution prints, several carnivorous plant vendors, a promotion for "Jungle Island"

and a lot of glass, pottery and sculpture, including this sculptor who specializes in humpty dumpty in all his foibles ---

and many food vendors.

Quite an exciting weekend in Miami. And -- Smokey and I miss Bobbie

Improvement

With some gentle PT, dad is beginning to do a little better, such as sitting in his wheel chair rather than being bed bound. He is feeling both better and safe in his new surroundings.  If this continues to be a trend, I hope to fly back to Miami late this week to rejoin Luke, Smoke, and Latitudes.  We need to start taking Latitudes northward soon, back to a summer port.  I know I can get back to Charlotte quickly if necessary.  I miss Luke and Smoke!

And this is why we go south for the winter....

 

Yes, I'm in that southeast snowstorm.  Only about 8 inches here, unlike home where they got 15 inches.  Or Miami where it's 85...  The view from dad's almost vacant apartment.

 

 

 

Beth has the car only car scrapper between us, and she is leaving tomorrow.  I decided it would be a good idea to clean off the accumulation before she left, so out I trudged.  No snow boots?  No problem!  Plastic bags! I wore identical snow boots as a child.

 



The Snow Angel.  She wishes she was a mermaid.

This is a man's glove, large and long.  Just a reference for the snow on the car.

But, a little hard work and ta ta!  I have a red car again!

Of course, it's still snowing like crazy, big fat flakes that stick.  At least it should not be another 8 inches.

May go back to Luke, Smokey, and Latitudes early next week.  Dad is apparently comfortable in his new surroundings.  I haven't been able to talk to him today, as many employees are not at work and a lot of phone lines are down.  But he sounded good last night.  When Beth and I managed to get a nurse who offered to wheel him to a phone, he declined, saying he'd rather eat his lunch. ha!  But at least he's' eating and apparently doing ok.

Missing Bobbie

Smokey and I wake up each morning missing Bobbie

She's been in Charlotte for five days now, with her father in the hospital. She and sister-in-law Beth have been determining what's best for him, preparing to move him into a nursing home, downsizing his world, etc.

On Sunday, long time family friends Ange and Ray came to visit, and submitted to my very first selfie.

While the time I babysit the boat and Smokey drags on, Sunday afternoon masses of racing sailboats return like birds to roost.

Miami City Hall is very close to the marina, and is in the building that was the Pan AM Airline terminal for their flying boats connecting Miami to the Caribbean and South America in the early 1930s. These are a couple of Sikorski "Pan American Clipper" flying boats tied up to the terminal, now city hall.

Bobbie has had her father moved from the hospital, where he was "under observation" into a nursing home. He has been enrolled in a rehabilitation program. Time will tell how that goes. I have been standing by to drive to Charlotte with Smokey to help out. However, the forecast winter storm heading for the southeast has caused a daily slip in that plan. Depending on Bobbie's father's progress, Bobbie may simply return to Miami, or I may head north late this week.

Meanwhile, Smoky has decided that I may be qualified to provide attention after all, as she eyes me from her "rub me" spot.

The Missing Days to Miami

Winds from the south are not attractive for going south, especially on an open ocean passage. After waiting several days for better winds in Lake Worth, getting with friends Otto and Mimi, and watching the Super Bowl, we moved five miles south to anchor just inside Lake Worth inlet. At dawn's earliest light on Tuesday, we raised our anchor, and found our inlet filled with a returning cruise ship.

After 10 hours of sailing and motor sailing south along the coast of Florida, still with some adverse wind and wave, we approached Miami. Note the unused fishing pole -- too rough to manage the fishing process.

At dusk, we set our anchor just inside Government Cut, for a peaceful, secure evening and this view of the Miami skyline in the morning.
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Our peaceful anchorage featured a visiting flotilla of floating Portuguese Man of War jellyfish looking like plastic baggies drifting by in the morning light.

But all is not peace and light. The bottom held a dark side -- this large, heavy steel cable that got to know our anchor during the night. 

At first, we could not lift this cable with our winch. We tried pulling from different directions, with the boat in reverse and forward, to no avail. We must have pulled it out of the mud, because finally we were able raise the anchor and cable. At this point the solution was simple: pass a line under the cable, tie it to a forward cleat, drop the anchor from under the suspended cable, release the line and we're free. We developed this technique in St. Augustine a few years ago, when we pulled up a large, old, heavy oyster encrusted fisherman anchor with our anchor chain wrapped around it four times.

Free at last, we passed through the Port of Miami to the imposing waterfront of Miami itself.

If Miami isn't called the City by the Sea, it should be ----

We had originally planned to anchor near Miami Beach to explore that area. However, with ever worsening news about Bobbie's father's condition, we decided to stage ourselves for better access to Miami's airport, and proceeded to Coconut Grove. Here we are in what has been described as one of the largest marinas in the country.

At home in the mooring field on a foggy morning, awaiting the future.

 

Smoke and I are still in Miami while Bobbie readies her dad for transition to a nursing home.  He is in the stages of the end of life and it is very sad.

 

Changes

Sorry about the non-posts.  I have made an emergency trip to NC to take care of dad.  He is still hospitalized but will be released to a nursing home tomorrow.  That will be a big change for him from independent living.  I don't know how long I will be here.

Luke promised to try to do a blog for me.  He and Smoke are at the boat in Miami, taking care of things and enjoying the warm weather.

Miami at last!

Only 70 miles, but it took us 11 1/2 hours to make it here.  Long day - uneventful, but long.  I'll post tomorrow, using pictures that we took along the way.

oh, those hard decisions

Yes, we all have to make them sometimes.  Dad is home but the recuperation is slow.  We have accepted the fact that I should be nearer instead of further.  So, for now, we will stay in the US.  Maybe in a few weeks we will cross to the Bahamas for a short visit, but we won't be going just yet.  Maybe we'll see the Keys this year!

The cruiser anchorage in Lake Worth is surrounded by beautiful, luxury homes. 

And luxury boats.

We are still going to Miami tomorrow, weather permitting.  So, to save time, we brought Latitudes back the 4 miles (1 hour...) from our anchorage to the small anchorage area near the inlet channel, where we anchored when we came in from Vero Beach.  As we approached the anchor field, we heard a call announcing that the 192 ft  motor yacht "Islander" was entering the channel, headed north on the ICW, towards us....).  And yes, it was...except it ran around!

A TowBoat US boat helped show us the way around the grounded ship.  But, boy, how nice to realize that even high-priced captains of gazillion dollar boats can run around! snicker...

Along our way we saw the racing catamaran, Rambler.   A beautiful 100 ft racing vessel, she capsized a few years ago in a major race. For the story, click here

Back to the working docks of Lake Worth.

And the large shipping vessels that rock little Latitudes on their way in!

So, tomorrow we shall leave at the crack of dawn again to try to make the 70 nm outside run to Miami.  And hopefully, catch some fish along the way!

Catching up in Lake Worth, FL

Ahhhh, do I ever feel better now!  A little seasickness can make you feel really bad.

We left Vero Beach as planned, around 10 a.m. on Friday, bound for an overnighter to Miami. The rains had continued for over 24 hours, filling our dinghy with inches of water.  Smart Luke had already devised a water pump-out system using a small electric bilge pump.  He just plugs the little motor into the starter battery for our outboard motor on the dinghy and it pumps away, saving many, many strokes on our hand bilge pump,!

It was still sprinkling when we were ready to leave, but the promise was clear skies and a relatively calm sea later, so we optimistically set up the fish cleaning table!

Smoke, ever sleepy as a cat should be, was rousted by the despised sound of the boat engine starting.  She came to the cockpit, but she was not particularly happy.

In an effort to appease her, I brought out one of her favorite cushions.  I don't know why some of our friends say she is spoiled... LOL... anyway, I love the way this accidentally came out - looks like a floating carpet with the Princess aboard.

As we motored for 2 hours to reach the nearest navigable ocean inlet for Latitudes, Smokey resigned herself to a usual spot, between the cockpit and the stern hatch.  Judging that look, I'd say she was still unhappy.  Luke will explain a little below, but Smoke had no clue how unhappy she was about to be!

Approaching the last bascule bridge before the Ft. Pierce Inlet.  The high rise bridge further along the ICW is on the other side of our inlet. 

And finally, our inlet to the Atlantic.

Looks calm, doesn't it? Boy, oh, boy..... We had cleverly timed our departure from the inlet to be near maximum ebb current, about 3.5 to 4 kts for this inlet. While we are very aware of the "rage" phenomenon, where current opposing wind generates unusually steep and high standing waves, wind was from the north, parallel to the shore, at less than 10 kts, so we dismissed that as a possible issue.  Well, wrong again! Waves were from the east, current going to the east at least 3.5 kts. Shortly after we were congratulating ourselves on our timing, getting a free ride with a boat speed of 10+ kts, we noticed the standing waves, kinda like rapids, except not going down hill.  In reality, waves were probably only about 4 ft high, but close together, as we smashed our way through them, spray flying, boat slamming. It was mercifully brief, and we were out the other side. Smoke, however, thought she was going to die and howled the entire few minutes.

We had unrolled our main sail to help reduce the rolling with the waves from the east as we headed south, and to sail a bit, when the main out haul line broke, leaving the sail flapping (note --- no rope on the loose end of the sail). We turned into the wind, and furled it in with no problem. For the next few hours we used the jib and motor, and things were relatively comfortable.

As time went on, wind came on the nose, and waves nearly so. After 6 more hours of rolling around a bit (and not being able to fish!), we opted against 9 more hours of nearly the same. We decided to call it quits and duck into the Lake Worth Inlet.  Another 10 hours or so to Miami, overnight, uncertain of how conditions might change,  just was not in the cards.  We made it in about 1/2 hour after dusk.  I hate anchoring in the dark, but Luke did an excellent job of navigating the inlet using our PERFECTLY WORKING CHART PLOTTER, radar and the lighted markers indicating the channel.  He found a good anchor spot just off the channel and we were all happy.  As we turned out of the channel to find an anchorage, one of those massive cruise liners slowly began  her approach into the ocean.  Lights everywhere, loud 70's salsa music, and happy screaming passengers.  Glad we weren't 10 minutes later!

Soon after we settled down we heard a "secuitie, securite" alert for an incoming TowBoat US towing a "partial submersible"...not at all sure what that was, we watched it come in.  A TowBoat US boat was leading her and at least 5 more security boats surrounded the 100 foot plus something coming in.  Sure enough, only about 10 feet or so of whatever it is was above the water, like an upside down boat but lit from the inside.  A big 10 foot rigid tail came up from the back. A naval combat vessel ... Here is way more technical info than you may want   ...  click here

The night was fairly tranquil, but large vessels came through all night. One - the loudest one that woke us up - carried 3 huge, vacuum wrapped sport fishing boats --- lotsa money on that barge!  Most were like this ship from Germany, carrying containers for Tropical.

Ok, I'm gloating here--- yes, Virginia, it IS warm in this part of FL!  Here I am at 8 a.m. - ish, getting ready to pull up the anchor so we can move to a quiet anchorage about 4 miles from our first anchorage spot.

No, that hair hasn't grown much yet!

We did move to a large, quiet anchorage north of the inlet.  Here Luke has replaced the missing line on the main sheet and also put a new bow roller on our anchoring system.  Pretty clever, this guy - note the strings tied to both his wrenches and his wrist.  I believe this is something of a "live and learn" as there has been more than one little tool that has slipped to a watery death.

Yesterday we relaxed, took showers, did a few chores, and then caught up with Mimi and Otto for dinner on their boat.  The Super Bowl is on tap for today (no, I don't care who wins, just want to watch the commercials and see how cold it is!).  If the weather forecast stays the same, both boats plan to leave Lake Worth tomorrow early, go back outside, and end up in Miami before dark.  Maybe I can do some fishing! Then we will wait for the right weather window to cross to Bimini.