Ahoy there!

Apologies for the delay in writing but our new crew, Roger (Andrew's father) & Rodney (Andrew's Uncle), have completely overturned turned our normal, peaceful routine! These two keen sailors who have clocked up more nautical miles than they care to remember have volunteered to join us for our shakedown cruise from here to the Florida east coast.

 

We picked them up from  Orlando , after having searched arrivals for them. This was the first of many disregards of instructions but we couldn't complain as we'd been delayed by traffic and they had brought quantities of alcohol with them. The journey back to St. Pete's took about 2 hours and they were far too noisy for people who had had an 8 hour flight! We began to have an inkling of how the next three weeks were going to pan out and frankly we were getting nervous! We dropped them at the boat and did a quick supper shop at the local Italian deli. On our return they were drinking next doors beer – see what we mean!

 

We spent the weekend shopping and buying all the things that were easier to do with a car. R & R were introduced to Fish Tails which is an excellent restaurant (which looks like a shack) near the marina where huge amounts of fish were consumed and Rodney took a shine to Ana, our Portuguese waitress, calling her a 'poppet'! On Sunday evening we had a little 'do' on the boat to thank all our neighbours for their help. We invited the chap from our local chandlers as we had become daily visitors and he brought us a present from the store. Tim made us all very impressive nautical knot key rings and Holly obviously took pity on Sharon and gave her a large bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin! It will be quite sad to leave the friends we have made in the month we were here but we hope to keep in touch.

 

 

On Tuesday our destination was Cabbage Key which took ten hours and is very exclusive.  The President has a residence here. We had an early night and cooked American style breakfast the following morning as today was the long passage to include a night sail down to Key West . We settled on 2 x 4 hour watches. Rodney & Sharon took 10 p.m. to 2 a.m  and Roger & Andrew 2 to 6 a.m. Unfortunately the peaceful weather disappeared at about 11 p.m. when the wind blew up to 20 knots and gusty. It was still warm but we got wet with spray. Not a peaceful night as we also had to keep the engines running to make the passage. We began to see the benefit of the autopilot. Overall not much sleep!

 

We arrived at Key West at about 9.30 a.m. for two nights and treated ourselves to a marina stay. Priority was a shower! While Andrew & Sharon tidied the boat R & R went off to find food. They came back with a great assortment from a local deli which we ate on deck along with our Cuba Libre's (rum & coke to the uninitiated). After this everyone started nodding off so we all had a siesta.

 

Everyone loved Key West . There are some beautiful old wooden houses called Conch houses which are now very desirable.  It's all very southern with Spanish moss hanging from the trees and a slight air of decay. Sharon particularly liked the cemetery, much to Andrew's horror, as all the graves are built of coral stone and placed above ground because of the high water table. Families are buried in plots with    multi-storey graves .Anything goes in Key West and Friday night down Duval St. was a complete riot! Most bars had live music which you could see & hear from the street. One R & B group came to a grinding halt as the kilted, marching pipe band of the local police marched down the road, into their bar through one door and out the other side through another!

 

We have discovered that Rodney does enjoy his food. He was horrified when we said that we usually only have a yoghurt & fruit for lunch! The first night in Key West he 'accidentally' had a main course for his first course! The restaurants here are quite good with fish featured in many. We enjoyed the Key West Café and discovered the front of house manageress came from Canterbury . Most of them have roadside views and people watching became compulsive.

 

Choosing anchorages was quite tricky as a lot of the keys are very shallow and won't take our draft. But we found one in particular that was so nice we stayed for 2 nights (this gave Andrew the opportunity to service the heads!). A small fishing boat came up to see us as he had seen our British ensign. The owner was originally from Newcastle but had lived here for 40 years. Anyway he gave us a mahi-mahi fish, which Roger filleted and the boys grilled for supper.

 

The journey to Miami was fairly dull with long days and little wind. Once there we checked into a downtown marina and went sightseeing. The first day we took a taxi to Miami Beach where all the Art Deco buildings are. After a full American breakfast (which included Bloody Mary's for the 2 R's) we went touristy. We found it a bit seedy, although Andrew did find the bar where the waitresses wore bikinis fairly interesting. Sharon showed more interest in the shoe shop. We stayed 3 nights which included some excellent meals out. Surprisingly we found a Chinese that even defeated Rodney's appetite!

 

Next stop was Fort Lauderdale which is a favourite town of ours. We had the best of both worlds as we picked up a mooring at the city marina which gave us some privacy but we could use their facilities. The city is a bit like a modern day Venice with lots of canals with remarkable houses. Andrew took us on an evening tour in the dinghy which was fun. Two nights and we were off to our final destination with our crew at Fort Pierce . Their last day sailing with us was quite exciting. Thunderstorms had been forecast for late afternoon and normally we wouldn't go out but we had to get to Fort Pierce for the connection to Orlando and their flight home. We were doing fine until about 2.30 when it went very dark. Thunder & lightening all around and the heavens opened, we have never been so wet. The lightening was hitting the sea so close to us you could smell the ozone and the hair on our arms were on end! Somehow Rodney contrived navigation duty at this stage and stayed dry in the cockpit, occasionally passing us fresh towels. Fortunately we were out of the area which had strong winds. We were ‘ buddied ' by a French Canadian boat which was quite comforting. But Paragon behaved well and the rain had stopped by the time we reached our anchorage at Fort Pierce . 

 

We had arranged a hire car to take the 2 R's to Orlando airport and Sharon managed an upgrade to a stretch limo! Have you ever had 15 minutes of instruction to be a passenger? Well there were DVD & CD players to learn, the automated, under-lit ice bucket and drinks cabinet plus the location of the fresh coffee machine & snacks cupboard! They were wishing the journey was longer!

 

It seems very quiet on the boat now. We hope that all our crew/guests are such fun. We left Fort Pierce on Sunday and spent two long, hot & tiring days on the boat. The trouble with this stretch of the coastline is that unless you are taking the Intracoastal Waterway  (ICW) which is just inside the long island on the outside of the mainland there are very few places we can go in for shelter because of our draft. The weather forecasts have been worsening. Saturday & Sunday evenings we sat & watched the most amazing lightening which just seemed to be contained in the clouds. It was just like a special effect from a sci-fi movie. Last night we had just snuck into a little creek when we were surrounded by a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain. Decided today was not the day for going anywhere. As the forecast is not too good for the next couple of days we are considering pottering up the ICW as we are in a stretch we can get under the bridges, or they will open, to St. Augustine . And then we are nearly out of Florida .

The next update will be quicker, and shorter!

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew 

P.S from Roger

Captain and first mate Bligh have not yet reverted to flogging because of our good behaviour but it's been a close thing on a number of occasions!