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…Drop off Laundry…

Every time we have sailed to the Bahamas, now this the 6th year, we have left from Miami. Why would we stage here, people ask? The bottom line is because it is easy and close. There are plenty of anchorages for waiting for weather and there are grocery stores, hardware stores, car rentals, pubs, gas docks, water docks, dinghy docks, all to support our preparation to sail out to the the Bahamas. Every year, we bump into friends at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club and others who are also preparing to leave. This is a great place to stage up and get ready to sail out. Every thing you need is is within an easy walk of this harbor, and we love it here. Add to this, the end of January is always the World Cup Sailing Event where the best of the best from all over the world come to Miami to compete. Many times these races are qualifying races for the Olympics, so it is great meet and watch these world class sailors. This is a sailing event like no other.

The boat in prep for laundry day

So what are we doing?

Well, we have a punch list of final jobs and it always seems to be the same. Firs,t buy up all the food and booze we think we will need for the next 3-4 months. Fix the last items on the boat like: 1. replace the impeller. 2. tune the rigging. 3. fuel up and fill 4 diesel jugs and tie these on deck. 4. Watch the weather and be ready to sail out on any day the weather is good.

This is 8 Gallons/hr from the Spectra Ventura 200t watermaker

We also fired up the Spectra Ventura 200t Watermaker and turned salty Biscayne Bay water into pure drinking water. It is amazing how easy this machine is to run. Simply open the seawater intake, turn on the feed pump, dial up the pressure and out comes fresh drinking water while only using 8 amps of 12 volt power. WOW, that is really amazing. Yes, it is low production at 8 gallons per hours but then again we are running this off wind and solar power which is really cool. We plan to run the watermaker every day during mid day when we have extra solar power. If this all works as planned, then we can keep our water tank full via wind and solar, using about 7-10 gallons of water a day.

ACCO USA 5/16″ G4 Chain

Added to these common prep tasks, we have decided to replace our 250 feet of 5/16″ G4 HT USA ACCO anchor chain which is 16 years old. We beat it to death last year during a bad night on the Bahama Banks. So, we will use the rental car to load 250 pounds into the trunk. Then we will take it to the dinghy dock and haul it into the bow of our 10 foot AB dinghy. We will take it out to our boat, load it up and onto the deck via the windlass. Then we will offload the old 250 feet of old chain. This will be the final refit job of 2016-17 for Island Spirit. Island Spirit is almost like new and she is ready for a new Caribbean adventure. We are excited and we are ready to get sailing. We should be after nearly 3 months of refit work!

Here are a few photos of this week…

Anchored out with a sunrise on Biscayne Bay

Cappuccino Girl Radeen with her green eyes

LASER World Cup Sailing Miami

There they go down the launch ramp…120 boats in the the Laser Fleet

We spent a day in the Library working on the internet web servers

Taking laundry to the boat

5 loads of laundry from the drop off service

Sunset on anchor

Our IP 380 friend Bill of TAMARAK sails by

Perfect water made from Biscayne Bay saltwaer

Salinity tested out at 108 ppm

The machine, The Spectra Ventura 200t

Worlds Cup Sailors

The awards stand and jumbo tron

The winning team of the 49er fleet, the Brits

Radeen packing up the Lasers

Walking around Dinner Key area, amazing architecture

 …..So, here we are in the final prep for sailing out to the Bahamas and then onward to the Caribbean Sea. Who knows what is ahead, but we have been here before and we know that leaving is the hardest aspect of any voyage. We ARE leaving and we hope it is soon, very soon……

…Fred and Gail visit Team Island Spirit…

The Wallcast a top venue in Miami Beach

Hollywood, Florida, a dream beach town

Sailing Biscayne Bay, close hauled, 40 degrees

The overview of where we went and how the 30+ knots of winds arrived.

The Biscayne Bay focused area and Miami Beach

The Sailing World Cup Jan 27-29

The Men’s Laser Class Start

The weather mark

Dinner Key Marina Office

 Here are the best few photos of the 350 I shot!

Fred the master sail trimmer

Hayden and Fred racing Island Spirit style 🙂

Gail and Radeen racing Island Spirit style

The Projector at the Wall Cast, South Beach

The Wave Machine at the Beach, Margaritaville

Of Course we watched CAPTAIN RON on our 32″ HD Samsung TV

Did I say Wave Machine!? Surfs UP!

The Beautiful Hollywood Beach

Gail and Radeen dressed for dinner out, Thank you Fred & Gail

Fred and Gail, our dear friends

Radeen and Gail at Le Tub, the 1959 local burger joint in Hollywood, FL Thank you, Fred and Gail for a great night out at a fun place.

Required Selfie, Hayden, Radeen, Fred & Gail

Fred and Gail get a new Bentley

World Cup 49ers

Team Island Spirit racing with ease

Radeen racing, tough job

Heading into South Beach via the Collins Canal under the roadways. We enjoyed the concert with Bill of IP380 Tamarak and Jim & Loretta of IP380 Plan Sea

The Sat night Wallcast in South Beach, a MUST ATTEND event

The ICW as seen from atop the Hollywood Bridge

Radeen and Fred on the Hollywood walk

Hollywood pavers and beach walk, about 2-3 miles

The waves were big on Sunday

The girls in the ocean

A fine dinner of Moroccan Chicken Stew by Radeen.  www.BoatRecipes.com

Walking over the ICW to the Hollywood Beach

This is how you wash your 100 foot+ sailing yacht

Washing the bow, WOW

Brickell Point, always a photographic scene

Setting sail again on Biscayne Bay, beam reaching south

ZIP….there goes another 49er at 20 knots!

ahhhh, there goes Island Spirit at 6 knots

Gail is a great sailor, Radeen is a great helper

And what would a trip on Biscayne Bay be without a view of Stiltsville?

Yes, the WASZP sailboat can FLY, see this one up on foils…WHAT? (Photo credit to Radeen)

…The 50 foot dinghy has 4 outboards 1,400 hp…

We traveled through the mecca of world yachting today. Fort Lauderdale, and then onward south to Miami where we turned east at the Venetian Causeway West bridge to make a stop in South Beach (SoBe) known properly as Miami Beach.  The photos we take in this section are always over the top when it comes to demonstrating wealth. The waterfront “winter” homes are even more massive than what is just north of here on yesterday’s leg. The yachts are the biggest anywhere in the world, and there are many of them. It is surprising to learn that having boat work done is not excessively expensive in Ft. Lauderdale, due to all the competition.

Anchored off Belle Island, South Beach

We have now made it to one of our “happy” places, that of Miami Beach, Florida. We are anchored out off Belle Island, as usual, and we take the dinghy into the Collins Canal and dock at the Publix’s Dock. Construction on the retaining walls is complete and the canal is open. There we climb the tall dock and then onto the street and walk 1.5 miles into Lincoln Road. Here the street is closed off to traffic with coffee shops, ice cream, pizza shops, and everything that the international traveler needs like an Apple Store, a Garmin Store, and upscale clothing lines. It is a great place to walk and to enjoy the many sights and international languages. Lincoln Road leads over to Ocean Drive for a 3 mile walk along world famous South Beach. Several public parks, beach accesses, walking paths, the famous Art Deco buildings and many bars and restaurants are found along Ocean Drive. If you are a cruiser, then Belle Island is the place to drop the hook and explore this wonderful area.

Here are the photos of the day….enjoy…

This is when a smaller boat pays off, We can pass under the Julia Tuttle Bridge. It is 56 feet, we are 49’6″. Taller vessels must go off shore between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

There it is, our first view of the Miami skyline.

Radeen driving under the Julia Tuttle Bridge

These lift bridges are so interesting to transit.

The centerpiece home in Ft. Lauderdale.

The stern of this yacht opens to lift out the jet boats with a crane. The 50 foot tender has 4 outboards, this is 1,400 hp!

The same yacht as seen from the bow, I am calling this 130+ feet long. That tender is at least 50 feet long.

Here you see a person cleaning the windows on a smaller yacht.

These guys give perspective to the size of the yacht. They are mounting railings on the 3rd floor.

Same yacht as above, look for the guys on the 3rd floor

This one is my favorite, It is called Savanna. Well, it is everyone’s favorite…. winning”Super Yacht of 2016.” She is 274 feet long. See photos here:

Another photo of “Savanna”

This yacht has two staircases on the stern and is four stories tall!

Container ship at dock, notice the underwater bow bulb

These are containers, they are tractor trailer boxes. You see them on the road all the time. 10 boxes across, 5 boxes high, ON DECK

Container ships run at about 15 to 20 mph at sea

Cruise ship getting washed. There was one guy power washing each balcony!

Hollywood Lift Bridge

Condo living on the water, beautiful views

Notice the balcony twisting effect

Notice the specks high on both sides of the building, then look at next photo.

Those specks are window washers rapelling off the roof!

We like the palm trees on these roof top decks.

This is how we get into South Beach, via our dinghy into a canal.

Beautiful steps outside this building

The #1 venue in Miami Beach

Lincoln Road Plaza walking around. This is where the street used to be.

Lincoln Road is right next to the New World Symphony

This is the park where hundreds of people will gather for the Wallcast concert. The projector in the middle and on the sides are speakers in tall tubes.

Our anchorage off Belle Island, Miami Beach, FL

Our view of Miami from South Beach

I shot over 400 photos today. There are always so many great scenes to photograph. We never get tired of running this section of the waterway. Biscayne Bay is just one more hour south to the best place for sailing. We will move over there Friday, for now, it is a day in Miami Beach.

PS:
We are running a LIVE tracking map. When the boat moves, this map is updated. Also our blog home page shows our current position.

…condos off Lake Boca…

Driving south on the ICW from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale takes you past some of the most amazing winter homes on the water you will ever see.  Then there are the yachts that are docked in front of these magnificent homes. Yachts like a Pershing 72 which is easily a $2,000,000 yacht look small when compared to the neighbors’ boats. In some cases, the property is enormous because the owner bought two or three lots, tore down the old homes, and then built a massive new mansion.

Mega Cat in for service at Lake Worth

It is really crazy, it is so over the top, yet it keeps getting more and more crazy as you continue into the hub of it all which is the center of Fort Lauderdale near the inlet. The largest and most expensive homes and yachts are always near the inlets. That way you can easily get your yacht in from the ocean and then dock it safely behind your home.

Tomorrow we will make it through this crazy area into Miami and go directly over to South Beach. For now, we are only into day #2 of moving south, and it is just as much fun as it always is!

Here are the photos of the day….

Welcome to Fort Lauderdale, yachting capital of the world

Dinner aboard, simple and easy

Sunset at our Sunrise Bay anchorage near Ft. Lauderdale

Heading SOUTH, compass on 180 degrees

Only half of the Flagler Memorial Bridge can open while a new span is under construction. It only opens once per hour and not during morning and afternoon rush hours, so timing an arrival is critical here.

This is a winter house, it is NOT their main home

Lift bridge gears are so interesting

This is a Pershing 72 footer, it is worth $2 million, and it looks small !!!!

That is ONE home, and a typical view as you push south. The ICW provides views you can never see from the streets.

This is not a row of townhouses. It is one home.

We passed 19 bascule (opening) bridges today. Trying to talk to the bridge tenders and staying in position in the current while waiting with 10 other boats for the bridges to open can be stressful at times!

If you import Toyota cars, you get to buy many yachts, this is one of many.

Pelican wondering, “What they heck am I doing here?”

One after another, home after home just like this, amazing waterway

Radeen taking the boat through the bridges, it is a worry sometimes.

We will soon reach Biscayne Bay where it will be easy and we can sail. Yes, we will go over to South Beach and, yes, we will run around Coconut Grove and the sailing club. We love Dinner Key area. Right now, we need to finish running one last day of the ICW and get to Miami. This is the most amazing area of the waterway, it is never boring. Thanks for running along with us.

…The ICW = Bridges…

We departed Stuart, Florida, Sunset Bay Marina on Monday, Jan 16, 2017 and headed down the waterway with our first destination of Miami / Biscayne Bay. We want to shake down this new gear, and break in our new watermaker and sail. We also have good friends, Fred and Gail arriving on Friday for a nice winter break from the cold north. We plan to attend the Saturday Wallcast in South Beach and then sail south to Boca Chita before the big front arrives Sunday mid day and blows over night. First let’s all remember just how much fun it really is to run the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the A-ICW.

Jet ski jumping wakes in front of our bow, FUN

Then imagine how crazy it is to run this on a holiday weekend with everyone out and about on every kind of watercraft there is. Oh but wait, let’s add one more a fun activity.  The Stuart Boat Show closed at the same time and all the power yachts are running full speed past your beam one boat length away. Yes, welcome to the fun of the Florida ICW. We always say, the people in Florida really enjoy the water, they are out and about on the water more than any other state. We love it here! It is great to be moving the boat rather than working on the boat. Island Spirit ran perfectly today. She is a great boat and she loves to run.

Let the fun begin again with these few photos….

Hayden and Radeen Year #6 of cruising

Our last sunset at Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart FL

Hobe Sound where people own their own cruise ships

Hobe Sound where the fishing boats are longer than the homes

Jupiter Sound where everyone is out and about on the water

Small winter home on the water. On the right is their boat with 4 outboards=1,400 hp

Some bridges are bascule bridges and you need to request a lift for your passage

Radeen at the helm, she is so good at running the boat

Our log, brand new B&G gear, with 67 nautical miles This should reach 2,000 by May!

So here we are anchored out in our first anchorage for the season. Our cruising friends, Laurie and Jim of IP 350 Kismet, dinghied over to visit. The conversation was lively and the laughs were many, but no photos to prove it. Hope to see you guys again soon in a wonderful Bahamian anchorage!

The wind is blowing 15 knots and the boat is running all lights, computers and the refrigerator via the wind as our Marine Kentic MK450 adds power to the new battery bank. Day One is in the books. With 2,000 miles to go, figuring 50 miles per day, that means we need to move 40 days to travel 2,000 miles. With 40 days of moving for February, March, April and May, that is 10 days a month moving for 4 months to reach our goal. But first, lets just get to Miami. 🙂

…Walks around town every day…

With our New Year’s goals set for our plan of sailing into the Eastern Caribbean, we are now wrapping up our refit time here in Stuart, FL. Our days are filled with looking very closely at every system on our boat, every line and every spare part, and then replacing or rebuilding what we think needs to be replaced. Since January 1, we have replaced all running rigging, halyards, sheets, furling lines, reefing lines, traveler lines and the anchor bridle. We rebuilt the shower bilge pump and wired it to be controlled by the switch rather than the float switch. We also installed a new house battery bank of five GPL31t Lifeline AGMs. We changed the oil and the fuel filters and we bought many spares of these along with spare alternator belts. The entire bow is nearly full of  spare parts. We think we have enough spares on this boat to almost build another boat!

Full moon rises over our bow

The boat is down to her waterline from the weight of provisions and spares, but when we get out of this nearly fresh water of St. Lucie River and the Okeechobee waterway to real saltwater, we think we will float a bit higher. We hope!

We sold our car to  good friend, Terri of IP38 Sailbatical, for her son to use at college. “Goldie,” our 2003 Ford Taurus had 4,000 miles on her when we bought her. She is a great car and we know she will enjoy going back to college again. Drexel then, UCF now!

We will enjoy one more very fun event before leaving the Treasure Coast. Our dear friend Carey, formerly SP Cruiser Catspaw, is getting married on the beach in Vero this weekend. After this big event, we plan to sail out to Biscayne Bay where we will break in the watermaker and shake down all this new gear while sailing as much as we can. Our weather expert, Chris Parker, sees no opportunity to go east into the Bahamas for a week or two or more. The easterly trade winds are just non-stop. That is OK, we can happily sail Biscayne Bay for weeks. Just fine with us.

Here are some photos of the past weeks:

Look who stopped by, Dr. J. B., our dear friend and scuba mentor

Rebuilding the shower sump pump under the aft berth

Typical evening at Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart FL

Cold front arriving from a big snow storm up north

Mack Sails had the solution to rebuild our broken traveler, a new 2″ sheave

Walks around Stuart Waterfront Park

Nighttime bridge photos

“Goldie” pressed into yacht service, picking up 450 lbs of batteries

5 new batteries loaded onto the boat

New cruising guides for the Eastern Caribbean by Don Street and Bruce Van Sant

Northern and Southern Leeward Islands and the Virgin Islands

Sunset Bay Marina porch, beautiful

Taking out the battery wires and all sensors

The new bank installed, notice my years of notes

Sunrise creative photo of our shadows on the bow

Old instrument holes needed to be covered

1/4″ black plastic covers the old instrument holes

Review of the helm with the Samsung tablet on a RAM mount

One last run to Mack Sails for our new main halyard

Beautiful splice, thank you Mack Sails!

Radeen sells her car to a good friend. Now “Goldie” goes to college in Orlando.

…Radeen enjoying the marina..

We have been enjoying our time “stuck” here in Stuart, FL, at Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage as we test out our new gear and installations. This marina has the number one best customer service and the best marina facilities of ANY place we have ever stayed. We have sailed from Acadia, ME to Key West to Tampa Bay to Georgetown. Exumas, and no place has better customer service than Sunset Bay Marina!

With that kind of service, we find ourselves “stuck” in Stuart, FL. We are not disappointed. Yes, we are frustrated that our plans of sailing over to the Bahamas for Christmas did not work out. We had planned to spend Dec and some of Jan at The Jib Room in Marsh Harbor, but we stayed here working on our refit and using our car to get items for the refit and now we are into a seemingly endless loop. We have always said, “The hardest part is simply leaving!” That is the case here once again. One thing is for sure, Radeen and I are goal driven. When we set goals out in front of us, we write them down and we work toward them. This season we are setting the goal of sailing back into the Exumas and then pushing onward into the Caribbean Sea, where we plan to base for the next 4 to 5 winters. That is our goal, that is why we did the refit and we will push to make it happen.

Sailing on Christmas Day, a dream

Our Christmas was peaceful and calm. On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed the marina party with catered food and professional singers caroling. On Christmas Day, we went sailing in the morning, something we have always wanted to do, and then we enjoyed a cruisers potluck on the marina porch with about 50 cruisers. There are cruisers here from all over the world. Many of them have just sailed in from the Caribbean or Bahamas. Others have completed the Great Loop around the entire Eastern USA and the Mississippi down to the Gulf and around Florida. There are some experienced cruisers here and some that are just starting out. It is fun visiting with everyone.

Sunset on our boat, Christmas Day

Our next task is to move onward in about another week so we can truly test out our new autopilot and radar. We plan to sail outside down the coast to Biscayne Bay because we really love Miami and South Beach and Coconut Grove and the sailing there. This will give us a few more weeks to test out the gear, fix what breaks, and to commission the new watermaker. (It is finished and ready to go, but once it is started, it needs to be flushed every 5 days. So, we have decided to wait until Biscayne Bay.)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and peace to all. Here are a few photos….

The Stuart Riverwalk on our daily 3 mile walks

Our Christmas Day Champagne for Breakfast

Gifts

Nothing says LOVE like a bilge pump for my Gift 🙂

Our home, an Island Packet 35, 1994

Santa found us

Naughty Santa…

The best deli in Stuart

ahhhh so good

Merry Christams from the boat, our happy place

Sailing Christmas Day

Santa and a Sailfish

The Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage First floor store, cafe, office Second Floor Jumbo TV room, computer lounge, hot popcorn machine

Somehow, someway. someday, we will leave this wonderful place called Stuart, FL! Thank you all for following along.

….shhhh don’t tell anyone, but today we released our 14th Island Packet Calendar!

…There it is… 4G RADAR, AIS, B&G Zeus…

What was I thinking?! Refitting our Island Packet 35 while on a mooring ball in Stuart, FL. Really, what WAS I thinking? After one month, we have completed the most extensive project to date on Island Spirit. We wanted to replace our old 1994 and 2002 B&G electronics with new B&G gear and to add a Spectra Ventura 200t watermaker. Plus we installed new head sails from Mack Sails. All of this since we launched the boat 4 weeks ago. To add to the challenges, we did it all while NOT at a dock!

The view of our mooring ball, 2nd one on right

We completed the work while on mooring ball #25 at one of the best marinas we have ever encountered, Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage in Stuart, FL. We are really thinking that Martin County Florida is #1 in Florida. They simply have it figured out. The town is well planned and we find very nice people live here. Top that off with a marina staff whose number one focus is customer service and making the grounds and facilities spectacular, and we have found a perfect place to refit.

Mack Sails for all your refit work

Add the full support and constant encouragement of Colin Mack of Mack Sails along with my fantastic B&G rep Steve Hamber and these are the reasons we have been so successful with our projects. If you have any need for refit, sails, electronics, chain plates, etc, I highly recommend that you contact Colin Mack and give him your list of items. Colin will work with you and he will get you the best price out there. I never knew that they did more than sails, but they do and they can do it all. Mack Sails has become THE place to go for Island Packet Yacht refit work. Thank you Colin for all your support and help. Your company is amazing! Your attitude is wonderful, your team is well respected!

People have been asking us what have we added? So here is the list:

B&G Gear:

• 2 Triton2 Data Displays
• 4G Radar on the mast
• Zeus2, 9″ Multifunction Display
• DST, Depth Speed Temperature sensor in a new 2″ thru hull
• 508 Digital Anemometer on the mast head
• NAC-3 Digital autopilot computer
• Rudder Reference
• Compass 9
• Autopilot control head at the helm
• GPS on the bimini frame

• Spectra Ventura 200t, 8.3 gallons per hour at 8-9 amps 12 volt DC
• New dedicated 3/4″ thru hull in the galley floor for watermaker saltwater feed pump
• New plywood epoxy platform built to mount the 35 lb Clark pump
• Feed pump and filters mounted up high on outboard side of cockpit seat ice box
• 1/4″ product water hose teed into sink hand pump
• 1/4″ sample water hose coils into cockpit ledge, pulls out to flow into cockpit drain
• Product/sample valve just under cockpit sail locker lid ledge
• Gauge mounted next to valve
• Brine discharge teed into cockpit ice box drain

So, now it is time for us to prepare this boat for sea trials to shake down all the new gear. We may do that as we sail out, but we really think we need to make some offshore runs testing the pilot install and the ability to sail to wind via autopilot. We do that frequently and we want to make sure this boat sails as well as before on autopilot. We also need to work out the new reefing system yet to be installed. We have the new sails on, but we have not even opened them up to see them and test them. Refitting is nearly complete, now it is onto prep for departure.

Here are some photos…

Running the old RL70C from a 12 volt plug to download our 900 waypoints….oops, we forgot!

Success, we downloaded them and my B&G rep converted them to B&G waypoints. Then we uploaded them into the new system.

While doing refit, we are working with our friend and customer who is buying an IP 38. Sea trial is next, very exciting!

Our sunset views from the porch where locals and cruisers share wine and snacks.

Our beautiful porch and comfortable teak furniture

Rewiring the underside of the helm with new RAM Mic and new Radar control wires.

Every day, it seems, we go to West Marine. This one is in Ft. Lauderdale the mega store. (Bob and Nina of Moondance, where are you??  We ran into you unexpectedly the last two times we were here!)

Diversion to Ft. Lauderdale downton to see Team SVDelos

The Ft. Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade was a pleasant surprise!

The last water hose needed, 1/2″ to connect fresh water to the watermaker flush.

Back to Stuart West Marine

Here is the white 1/4″ sample product water outflow hose. I spent about a week working the sail locker.

Connecting the 1/4″ product water into the hand pump hose.

We added a shut off valve to keep the hand pump usable in an emergency. Thanks for the good advice from our plumber in Pennsylvania, Fred!

This was the last job of the refit.

We are now labeling all items.

The product valve. Sample water to measure salinity, then product water plumbed into the water tank.

10 AWG wire with a 15 amp breaker powers the watermaker. This is wired directly to the battery charger, which is connected to the battery bank.

The direct power feed, 15 amp breaker, 5 micron filter and pressure cylinder, all mounted on the back side of the cockpit ice box.

We are so relieved to be finished! Overall, when you look at this work, one month for two people is not too bad, especially when out in the harbor. We can now return to our regular program of routine maintenance, provisioning, sailing and traveling. Again, our goal is to sail into the Bahamas and then onward to the Caribbean Sea where we will base for the next 3 to 4 seasons. These are exciting times. Thank you for sailing along.