Countdown — Cupcake Afloat

This messy table is the first of about five loads of groceries we loaded yesterday.

For the past few days we have been running around taking care of provisioning, repairs, upgrades, and visiting. Unfortunately, not as much visiting as we would prefer. But this morning it looks like the trips to the grocery store, to WalMart, to West Marine, back to the grocery store, back to West Marine, back to the boat, and on and on are drawing to an end.

Yesterday Moss escaped the chaos on board when she upped stakes and went to her cousin Claudia’s house for a sleepover with a passel of other cousins. Ellen and I used our first night alone on board to take care of stowing some provisions and then fall asleep. Very romantic.

We got the old batteries off the boat, into the car, and exchanged for new batteries. Got the new batteries out of the car, onto the boat, and installed. That’s about 350 pounds of batteries out and in. Look at the crummy dock we had to manage. I need a vacation.

After round 1 of grocery shopping, Ellen left me on Cupcake to get fix-it chores done while she went back to the store for more grub. While she was gone I fixed what may be the last leak for the time being. This is the one that gets Ellen’s side of the bed wet when we are in big enough seas that the bow goes into a wave. Doesn’t happen often, but nobody wants a wet bed, ever. So we will see what happens. Big seas are more likely over the next couple of big passages than they are typically.

Got the solar panels attached to their new frames. I am mostly pleased with the job. At some point we will have to have a canvas professional add some reinforcement to the spots where I popped bolts through the blue canvas. And I couldn’t get the panels to lie completely flat since they’ve taken on a semi-permanent bend from their years lying directly on the canvas. But overall they should flex significantly less in a stiff breeze.

The chain stopper that keeps the anchor from slipping off its roller and plunging into the ocean was pretty weak, getting bent, and generally not confidence-inspiring. So I replaced it with a shiny piece of boat bling. The new stopper will take some getting used to for Ellen, but she is eager to incorporate it into her anchor rituals. Pablo seems happier. He is certainly more snug.

Back in Virginia I broke a bracket that holds one of the water maker filters. I jury rigged a good-enough repair, but figured I should replace the bracket if I can. So I called the Spectra water maker guy who happens to be based in Hollywood, Florida. Turns out he lives right down the road from the marina. J. T. at Halden Marine Service delivered the bracket to us and then refused to take any money for it because it was a used piece (although in perfect condition.) Super nice guy. Call him for all your water maker needs.

The temperature has been in the low 80s since we arrived yet it was a major search to find a store that sells Crocs (can’t get summer shoes in the winter in Florida, I guess). But you can absolutely go to the North Face store in the Aventura Mall and buy jackets that would keep you warm in Maine. This is a crazy, maddening state. We saw a guy in his convertible Porsche, with the top down, wearing a wool winter cap. I’m sweating just thinking about it.

Moss got new Crocs because her paddles have grown so much since we set sail. These should be easy to spot when they fall overboard.

One project we didn’t even think about until we were in St. Augustine was adding lights to the dinghy. First of all, it turns out it’s illegal to motor around in the dark without lights on your dinghy. Second of all, it’s really dangerous to be in a tiny little boat at night with no lights. Particularly in a crowded anchorage. So we shopped around and decided it made sense to spend a little more for quality lights. We got Navisafe LED lights. The light mounts on a stick that attaches to the little white doo-dad I bolted to the back of Mr. Flowerpot’s engine cover. The light itself is tri-color: red, green, and white. We will see how it does when we make our first evening excursion with it tomorrow.

We also retired our Maine flag. It had gotten pretty tattered. Although we love our state, we think its flag stinks. Looks generic. Like New York, Vermont, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut. Can’t tell them apart.

So we replaced the flag with a super cool old-school Maine flag. This was the state flag in 1901 and we like it lots.

This morning I got the fishing gear out of deep storage and moved it to the top of the pile. I rigged up a lure on each of the two reels we’ve got. Now we are ready to catch something delicious as soon as we are in deep enough water that we have a chance of finding a tuna.

Ellen is the killer on board and got all sorts of crazy looking lures. Based on what we’ve seen on the YouTubes, it looks like dispatching a big unhappy fish in the cockpit of a little sailboat is a messy, bloody, scaly proposition. We’ve also been told that dosing the fish in the gills with alcohol before it gets brought on board can settle it down so the murdering goes much more smoothly. Ellen picked up a bottle of Fleischmann’s vodka and I put some into a spray bottle. We are ready. (And if we catch nothing, still: vodka.)

While I was in re-arrange mode, I got the snorkel gear out of the bottom of the storage locker and buried the fenders, the chafing gear, and the hurricane lines down there. It’s really nice to switch from ICW mode to tropical waters mode.

Based on what we are seeing in the weather forecasts (check out windy.com) we think we will have favorable wind and seas for a Gulf Stream crossing some time between Saturday and Tuesday. We want no hint of a wind from anywhere north. We want small seas. And it would be truly ideal is we had a 15 knot breeze we could sail as well.

Ellen and I just looked again and are getting pretty comfortable with Sunday as the day. The winds seem right and the swell will have settled by then. In preparation for the crossing, I moved our offshore emergency flare kit to a spot where we can reach it quickly. We will up anchor and be underway by 4am so we arrive in Bimini well before sunset.

Tomorrow we leave the marina to anchor in the little lake behind the docks. Marina life is convenient for many of the tasks we needed to accomplish, but it is not how we like to live on Cupcake. Less privacy, more noise and dirt and grime. Ironically, the marina is the place where we have access to fresh water hoses and the marina is the place where we most need to scrub the boat clean. In any event, Ellen’s got a hankering for anchoring, as usual. And we are all itching to get across that Gulf Stream. Saturday we will move back to Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale and rest up.

We may be incommunicado for a day or three at the beginning of next week. Don’t panic: Joshua Slocum didn’t have a cell phone. Neither did Ahab or Noah. And 66% of them survived their most famous voyages. (Landlubbers: Joshua Slocum was the first person to sail around the world alone. He did it 1895-1898. Read his fabulous book “Sailing Alone Around the World.”)

Our technological needs hinge on our ability to get a compatible SIM card for my cell phone. But when I emailed and called the Batelco office (Bahamas Telephone Company) in Bimini I got no response. So we will just have to count on getting what we need once we arrive. If we can’t get a SIM card and a Bahamian phone number and data plan, we will manage the old-fashioned way by going from wifi hot spot to wifi hot spot.

I keep finding great properties for my brother and sister-in-law to buy (like this little cottage in Fort Lauderdale). All of a sudden they are telling me we may need to split the cost. And I’m doing all the research!

Hollywood, Florida. Not moving here: I’m still too young and spry.