Tomorrow we fly to Miami and Larry's wedding then on to Mona's 16th cruise
and my first. I've always said I want to be the Captain of any ship I cruise.
So you see who is the neck in our family.We have been having alot of rain
lately but the temperature has remained normal. We will have access to
the internet aboard the ship but not this list so unless you send me an
email the next email from me will be when we are back aboard Snug.
1-13-02
We are on Snug again. We had a fantastic time on our cruise of the
western Caribbean. The wedding was delightful and inspiring. I will
write more tomorrow.
1-14-02
This email will be about details of our cruise. We cruised from Ft
Lauderdale to Cozumel, Mexico 536 NM average speed 14.8 knots. Cozumel
to Georgetown, Grand Cayman mileage 320 average speed 18.1 knots Georgetown
to Ocho Rios, Jamaica mileage 252nm 18 knots Ocho Rios to Half Moon Cay,
San Salvador, Bahamas 503 NM average speed 13.5 Half Moon Cay to Ft Lauderdale
274nm average speed 19 knots.The ship was 720 ft long width 101 feet, draft
24feet 6 inches,55,451 gross tons. We had full contingent load of 1266
passengers aprx 560 crew. The chefs served 6000 meals daily. We had
10 passenger decks automatic stabilizers 8 passenger elevators 2 outdoor
swimming pools, Internet center, health spa, movie theater, duty free shops,
library and casino. Price was $100 per day per person. Alcoholic
drinks were extra but everything else was included in the price.
Tipping was not required. We had entertainment every night, a fantastic
dance and singing group of 6 men and 6 women, a comedian, a magician, and
a juggler. We had 59 different planned activities daily such as walk
a mile, low impact aerobics, daily quiz, ping pong, art and antique tour,
complimentary casino gaming lesson, bad hair day seminar, kitchen tour,
men's and ladies around the world golf, wine tasting seminar, snowball
bingo, tennis, volleyball and basketball, fine art auction, dance class,
back care seminar, name that tune at the piano bar, etc. more later.
1-21-02
We took Snug to Hopetown for the weekend and visited friends Jack and Betsy.
It has been an unbelievable January. It was too hot today; winds
were light. We had a delightful trip over Sat and back Sunday. A
little more information on the cruise. The web site is www.HollandAmerica.com
The best thing I can say is that this is not a cost conscious organization
they have one thought only to convince you that you must come back again
and again. And I will and I don't care where we are going. The food,
entertainment, the activities, the beauty of the ship, the comfort of the
cabin, the service, etc., etc. I am serious about forgoing the nursing
home and moving on board a cruise liner. There is a 92 yr. old lady
living aboard the Q E 2 full time. We had a passenger in his nineties
who had spent 700 plus days aboard. The ship has an infirmary staffed
by one physician and 3 nurses and it is well equipped to handle most emergencies
and routine medical procedures. This week is the beginning of our visitors
starting tomorrow with friend Walt Rothchild and then sister Mindi.
1-29-02
Today was a good day. Jim got the hydraulic hoses connected for the
auto pilot and the reversible pump installed. He says the hardest part
is installed. Our company is gone but we got great news today. Chris
Hayne says he will be here the 20th of Feb and will return to Florida with
us on Snug on March 1st, so Mom you can end your worries. We thoroughly
enjoyed our company Walt and sister Mindi and Ric. We took Snug out
several times something we don't do unless we have company. It has
been the best January of the eight I have been here.
2-26-02
We left Marsh Harbour at 430am. We are now in Green Turtle Cay where
we may be for a day or two because a cold front is coming in tomorrow morning.
It brings strong gusty winds. We are heading north to the Erie Canal
in New York for the summer arriving about the 15 of June. Our first stop
upon arriving in Florida will be Melbourne at the Trawler Fest. This
is a combination educational seminar on boating and a social outing. We
will be able to spend some time with our friends Skipper Bob and Elaine.
We hope to move slowly north so not to be in any cold weather. We hope
we can send email from West End, Grand Bahama before we make the Gulf Stream
Crossing. Once in Florida we will have our cell phone activated to
send email. Our friend Jim installed our auto pilot. We gave it a
good test this morning and it works great. It was so good to be able
to focus on the water depth going through the Don't Rock passage which
is very shallow and not concentrate on staying on course as the auto pilot
drives the boat.
3-1-02
We are in West End Grand Bahamas our jumping off place to Florida.
The day we sailed from Marsh Harbour was a fair cruising day the waves
being higher than we preferred but doable. We (Chris Hayne, Mona
and I and Jim Richardson) on Indolence Pursued Sailboat) ate at the Bluff
House. Price was excessive at $33.00 per person plus tip. We took
our dingy into New Plymouth and had lunch at Laura's Kitchen. The
next day Chris and I took the bikes into New Plymouth. We had cocktails
at Sherry Thompson's ideal cottage on the water. The next morning
we left for Great Sale and had an ideal day cruising. We four had
dinner on Snug and spend a comfortable evening at anchor. We watched
Air Force One DVD. Today the winds were 16-26 but fortunately they were
mostly on our stern or stern quarter. The auto pilot (Mr Wilson)
was fantastic. The quarter waves caused the boat to swing a lot but
the auto pilot handled it better than a human would have. The weather forecast
is unfavorable for several days for the crossing to Florida, so we are
settling down for a relaxing time.
3-4-02
We remain in West End. Forecast out to Thurs is unfavorable for crossing.
We are hopeful we don't have to wait the 2 months we waited in Florida
last winter but our resolve for favorable conditions is firm. There are
about a dozen boats waiting to make the crossing with us.
3-8-02
After a week of waiting we had a pleasant crossing to Lake Worth, FL. Chris
left Snug before we crossed. We will head north to the Trawler Fest.
3-14-02
We are in Melbourne FL attending the Trawler Fest. I have been trying
for days to get the cell phone and computer to talk to each other. It is
past 11 and we have to be up early tomorrow so I will write more tomorrow.
3-17-02
We spent 4 great days with our friends Skipper Bob and Elaine at the Trawler
Fest. We served as their assistants and in return we got free admission
to all seminars two meals a day and got to spend hours daily with two of
the best people in the world. Tomorrow we leave to go to Stuart, FL It
is two days travel south. We want to spend time with our friends Bill and
Marylou Hawkins another great couple. We have reservation for two weeks
beginning May 12 at Gangplank Marina a stone's throw from the Jefferson
Monument. Mom and Helen are going to join us for a week. We have been concerned
about going into the cold on our trip north. Yesterday and today the temperature
has been 89.
3-19-02
We are Stuart, FL embarking on a new experience. We are on a mooring
instead of in a slip in a Marina. That means we swing a lot, have
no electricity, must take the dingy (small boat) to shore. We operate all
electrical appliance from the boat's battery. We have an inverter
that converts 12 volt to 120 volt (house current). We have a gas operated
generator that also can produce electricity but it is noisy. We are going
to try this until Friday then we will go to Harbor Inn Marina and act like
the rich folks we are. We also are renting a car for the weekend.
3 days @ $9.99 per day (Enterprise) We are at the base of a high rise bridge
(65' clearance) a railroad bridge vertically up until a train comes and
another lift bridge that is very busy all day. We are in a lagoon
and it is very picturesque. Tonight we have dinner with friends Bill and
Marylou. Stuart is one of our favorite cities. We have reservations for
Mom and Helen's flight to Washington in May. It is 85. Life is good.
We are doing a first. We are composing and sending this email while
we are cruising. We bought an inverter that changes 12 volt to 110 house
current that powers the computer. The cell phone has its own battery
power. We spend several days in Stuart visiting our good friends Bill and
Marylou Hawkins. We went to Madam Butterfly Opera, Sunday brunch
at the historical Inn in Indian Town and ate dinner at an excellent Thai
restaurant. We shopped at flea market, Walmart, West Marine and grocery
store (Publix). We felt as though we were civilized. We are planning
to stay the night in Vero Beach FL.We have 900 anytime minutes on our cell
phone and 3500 weekend minutes. Des Moines area folks it is not a long
distance call for you.
3-27-02
Sorry about the repeat 3-25 ff email sent today. I had originally
typed it on this laptop and couldn't get it sent so retyped it on the desktop
and sent it then forgot had it waiting when sent email from the laptop.
Aren't you sorry you asked. The weather is about perfect. Warm days,
cool nights, and the bugs haven't come out in force yet. Today we
had miles and miles of butterflies. Must have been a breeding area.
They were beautiful! Earlier as we came thru the Haulover Canal near Cape
Canaveral we had five or six manatees around the boat. Last evening as
Mona was washing the boat there was a manatee drinking the fresh water
that was dripping from the upper deck. This morning the manatee was
trying to drink from the engine outflow--that was not fresh water, poor
thing was after fresh water. No alligators yet. The ospreys are on
the nests, but we haven't seen any little ones yet. We are in Daytona Beach,
FL. Tonight we will have the coldest night of the winter for us 56
degrees (above zero F)
We are in Wrightsville Beach, NC 283 miles from Norfolk, VA. All is well.
We are making about 60 miles per day. We get up at 6am before the
traffic gets heavy on the ICW and the winds are less. Today we borrowed
the courtesy car from the Seapath Yacht Club where we are staying and went
into town to buy groceries. We got 15 large bottles of wine for $7.39
per. Now we won't go hungry. Tomorrow we are breaking one of our rules
and will travel on the weekend. We are scheduled at Tom and Nancy's
in Washington, NC. They are friends from Marsh Harbour.
We are in Washington, NC a beautiful place. We are staying with our
winter friends Tom and Nancy OBrien. We have spent two nights on
Snug at their dock in their back yard. It is on Broad Creek.
They drove us around the area today and it is lovely. Lots of development
primarily for retired people many from the north. Most of the condos
are built on golf courses and are very nice homes. The scenery looks
like the Master's course at Augusta, GA.We leave in the morning continuing
our move north. We hope to be at Solomon's Island, MD by May 2.
We are driving to New York to attend friend Burt's retirement ceremony
on May 4.The weather is not as warm as the Bahamas. It is in the
40s at night
4-28-02
We are in Chesapeake, VA one of the communities that make up Norfolk. Tomorrow
night we plan to be a the Navy base here. The weather was poor to
continue further today, high winds, lightning, etc., so we stopped at 11am.
Tomorrow is not supposed to be any better to start up the Chesapeake Bay.
5-5-02
We are back aboard Snug in Solomon's Is. MD We will do boat chores
tomorrow and head for Gangplank Marina in Washington, DC. We have
reservations for 2 weeks starting next Sat. We hope to get two (2)
additional days starting Fri. at Gangplank. Skipper Bob and Elaine
are having lunch with us Friday. We had a super weekend with friends Burt
and Jan. It was not a false alarm, Burt really did retire.
It was a fun and scholarly ceremony. We went with them to a theater
in the City. I was expecting a play but the entertainment was unusual
but entertaining. The single performer did amazing mind actives such
as computing the cube of a figure in the hundreds of thousands, while also
doing other task such as reciting lines from a Shakespeare plays etc. He
also did sleight of hand tricks with cards. Jan and Burt had a subscription
to the theater. We had to wait an hour and half for tickets as the
theater was sold out. The best time of the year to go to New York is May
5th weekend. The azaleas, the dogwood, tulips, crabapple, lilacs,
etc were in great splendor. It was a 5 and half hour drive for us but well
worth it.
5-8-02
We are 25 miles from Washington. We will be at Gangplank Marina tomorrow
night. The cruise up the Potomac River was very scenic. We have a guide
that gives us a thumb nail sketch of the history of various sites example
George Washington's birth site and no it was not Mt Vernon. Next Wed my
mother flies in and will spend a week with us on the boat. The cell phone
signal was not strong enough to send this yesterday. Today 5/9 we are in
Washington and are very pleased with the facilities. We are a stone's
from Jefferson's Memorial just across the river we are on is the National
Air Port. The Safeway Store is 5 minutes away as is the Arena Theater.
We are going to a live stage play tonight. We will be here until Tues the
28th nearly 3 weeks. I would to stay 3 months next summer.
5-26-02
We are nearing the end of our 3 week sabbatical. We leave for the Erie
Canal Tues at 5 am, assuming Skipper Bob opens the canal. It has
been great. The 3 day visit with the Helms in Winchester was very
special. The week visit by mother and sister Helen was most enjoyable.
We were able to show Mom the capitol, IMAC theater viewing in 3D the development
of the space station. She also saw the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln
monuments up close and the Korean War Monument. She had enough energy after
she arrived back home to go out for dinner with sister Alice and Joe. Not
bad for a smoker of 89.
CLICK HERE to continue the
journey north through New York State.
