TideChaser Followers           Day 9

November 29, 2014

Woke at 7:00am Walt was already up making coffee which is hilarious because we have a Keurig coffee maker but we can’t use it while sailing because our generator is not working. We can only use it when we are docked and hooked up to shore power. We could not find instant coffee at the stops we have made. So we take a coffee filter fill it with Folgers regular ground for a coffee maker wrap a rubber band around it and put it in a pan of boiling water till we get the color we like. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. We were desperate. Any suggestions are welcome from our followers!

So moving right along all hands are up and ready to get started. The guys check the engine. It looks good from the engine room. Remember I told you in our last blog how one of the engines was making a weird sound?  Walt starts it up again this morning and that same deep rumbling sound. Not like usual. After talking they come to the conclusion that maybe we did run over one of the crab pots and it got caught around the propeller. Gary puts on his wet suit, snorkel and mask jumps into the water to check out our props. YIKES! Gary comes up from diving under TideChaser and says ”get me a serrated knife the prop is wrapped tight in that cussing crab pot ropes”. The other prop had a bit of rope on it too but nothing like the first. The engine sounds fine after all the ropes are cut off. What a relief we really thought something was wrong with the engine itself. God is really watching over us.

It is still cold outside I thought for sure it would be warm as we traveled through Florida. We are all wearing our coats, hats, warm clothing and then at night I wear my gloves

So here we go past the port of Miami to our west. It’s funny seeing the big cruise ships from this angle and knowing that we are heading out the same channel as they leave out of.  Huge barges line this channel with the big tall loading cranes to lift the boxes onto the barges. Tourist speed boats go past us with their rooster tail wave flying out behind them. Fishing boats, tugs moving barges, our cousin (another catamaran) comes in from the Atlantic as we pass by each other and wave good luck. Radio communication is also very important in this part in case you’re not sure what another boat is doing you can hale them and ask or they ask you. I can see the ocean up ahead. It looks a little rough. I’ll be okay though I know it is only for a few hours till we reach the ICW at Fort Lauderdale, fl. Here we go again. We have to smile now because we see the smaller fishing boats go out and immediately turn back around and head back into to safe waters. Bye Miami.

Hello Ft. Lauderdale we arrive about 4:00pm. This is Captain Gary’s home town. He takes us to 15^th street fisheries which is also a marina and we fill up our diesel tank and freshwater tank . No time to waste we have a long trek down this ICW all night and we have been promised the best chicken wings ever by Gary. Bad thing about ICW’s, ? bridges! There are lots of them and they usually only open on the hour or ½ hour. Some every 20 minutes so this comes down to timing. Getting there at that time but not too early where you have to hold your position till it opens. The currents can push you toward the bridge or pull you away. Twenty-one bridges total! I even got good at haling the bridge tender and motoring TideChaser through. The bridge tender, which is the person who opens the bridge, has to know who is coming and going so you have to say “Royal Park Bridge this is the North bound sailing catamaran TideChaser requesting an opening”. Then they answer back with the time that they will open and ask us our name again. I say” Roger that” and keep heading for that bridge where other boats are waiting too.

As we headed out Captain Gary who also does Endless Horizon Charters.com from this area gave us the grand tour of the rich and famous people. Who owns that yacht or this yacht and giant homes that look like a hotel. After picking up our chicken wings order from BoKampers waterfront restaurant that Gary had phoned in for a carry-out order, off we go. Traveling this waterway was so strange because houses lined both side. I felt like I was on a paved road just driving along. Houses had Christmas decorations up and it was so beautiful. Restaurants and bars with people outside waving to us and loud music blasting. It was lite up all the way through till morning.

Today is my Grandma Penn’s 90^th birthday. I tried calling her twice this evening. I figured she was out partying with her girlfriends or something. If you see her tell her I said Happy Birthday!

Next Blog to go to the Gulf Stream or not with the oceans that we have been through so far

Love Juls

Check out Gary’s website, Endless Horizon Charters.com I told him I‘d give him a commercial plug!:-)