Sailing Miles

 This Facebook post was from a couple of years ago, but since we celebrated Stephen's birthday yesterday, I thought it would be fun to share the snip of the post.

We sailed off Punta Tuna, Puerto Rico, this morning. I was hoping to catch a tuna. Makes sense, right? I did hook a spanish mackerel, but the shark wanted his half... 🦈

  Bucket List: Elbow Cay Lighthouse in Hope Town, Bahamas We docked the dinghy, with a stern anchor out, right at the lighthouse dock for our free self-guided tour. The woman in the gift shop was very friendly and informative. The light in this ligh thouse is the only one in the world that still runs on kerosene and is hand-cranked! We saw the block-and-tackle they use to bring up the kerosene to the pressurized tank. OSHA has no jurisdiction here... 101 steps to the top. It's fascinating to us that a cochlea   is a naturally occurring geometric shape. Part of the beautiful way God made order in the universe. According to the brochure, "The lighting source is a 325,000 candlepower "Hood" petroleum vapour burner. A hand pump is used to pressurize the petroleum (kerosene) which is in the heavy green iron containers below the lantern room. The fuel travels up a tube to a vapourizer within the burner which sprays into a preheated mantle. Pressurized camping lanterns oper...

After a great week in one of our favorite Florida anchorages, No Name Harbor, we found a great weather window to head to the Bahamas. We were D-U-N, done with Florida after a year of repairs. Even though the time in No Name was amazing, with dear friends, we were excited to move on. We checked into the Bahamas in Bimini.  We had been there in March of 2020, just before Covid created such trouble. We sailed with Danny, Cindy, Steve, and Glenn. We had been using Glenn as slave labor for almost a week, so we thought sailing would be a good reward.  Checking in went well, even though I had to call on our IT guy to help me fill out the Click2Clear website.  We had missed the detail that it is mandatory now. The first Customs guy was a bit touchy about our ignorance, but after I secured Steve to help make things happen, the first guy was at lunch.  The second guy was like a website support specialist for cruisers.  I think the paper method took less time, but maybe we...

An update on SV Miles on Facebook

The chainplate project is coming along. It's almost a bummer to cover up all that shiney stainless steel. Good thing, too. We FINALLY have an ETA on our new mast to be delivered. Whoo-hoo! We may lay eyes on it at the boatyard just after the Fourth of July holiday. Of course we then need to attach all the goodies to the mast, then put it in the boat, then turn it a few times. It's nice to not continue wondering, though.

  Well, that's a bit different. Looks fun, though. Some printing on the side said "XTender." We were really hoping this was some restored tender for a huge ship, although it looked pretty up-to-date. We found that a company called XTender makes custom boats. This may be one of their builds.

Accomplishing tasks seems to take longer on the boat. While we were trucking, I would buy groceries in the span of my half-hour break. Now the trip is so long boaters have a different name for shopping. It's called provisioning. Sometimes it takes all day. Put the dinghy in the water. Put the engine on the dinghy. Load up all the backpacks and roller bags. Motor to shore. Find a place to dock the dinghy. Walk to the store. While you're in town, check the hardware list, the marine store list, the liquor-store list, and make an attempt to see a local site. Find a friendly trash can. Go through all the supplies and eliminate unnecessary cardboard (cockroach eggs can live in boxes). Take off excess plastic packaging. Repack all supplies into backpacks and roller bags. Walk back to the dinghy. Motor back to the boat. Hand bags into the cockpit. Hand bags down into the salon. Unpack and stow supplies. Go to bed. Walking around towns is mostly fun, and exploring is why we are out here...

How fun! Our quick photo of Miles won Waterway Guide's "photo of the month" award in July of 2020. We found out that the same picture won "photo of the year!" Cindy actual took the photo, not me. However, it was my idea. I guess we can share the credit. God gets the glory, though. 

 Cindy and I thought we would go for a snorkel.  The weather was toasty, the water was cool, and we had seen many people diving and snorkeling close to a nearby shore covered in mangroves.  As it turned out, maybe they were looking for lobsters! I think they might want to come to supper tomorrow. If you get tired of staying near the diver-down flag in the dinghy, tow it along. Many small corals lived on the sandy ground, among the sea grass. These spiny guys were under a lot of defunct corals.  Safety? Or parasitic? The rules on lobster harvesting are complicated in Florida.  We will have to study up on catch size and restricted areas before we decide whether or not to take the chicken drumsticks out to thaw in the morning.

Before going cruising on a sailboat, we heard amazing tales of sunsets, dolphins, and foreign lands. Now, after over 7000 nautical miles in just over a year, we are living the dream. Chainplates are large pieces of stainless steel that help hold up the mast. Kinda important. Before removing Miles' chainplates, we heard frightening tales involving power tools, pry bars, and Plan Cs that didn't work. Now, after a few weeks, we're living the nightmare. While our mast is being built, it's a perfect time to inspect all areas of our chainplates. As it turns out, they're so difficult to get to that if you pull out 32 year old chainplates that look perfect, you would probably want to replace them anyway.  Ours were not perfect. Half-inch stainless steel. The round part sticks up through the deck. Big shroud lines attach to the hole. Crevice corrosion makes stainless steel weak We are learning interesting rigging terms, like point-loading, crevice corrosion, elongated clevis...

Click here to see a Facebook post about this endangered critter. In the arena of "how wacky has Danny's hair gotten in retirement?": I gave up on the long mustache. Sam Elliot doesn't need to worry about me taking his gig.  I missed my lips,  Cindy  missed my lips, all my food tasted like a lip ferret. As long as I was trimming, I took a swipe at the crazy-old-man eyebrows. I planned to use them for shade in a couple of months. Oh well.   Yesterday Cindy said she was trying to talk to me, but my hair was distracting her. Then  Stephen  chimed in that it looks like a really loose toupe. Great. Thanks Steve. Now I can't talk to my wife anymore. Li

Bahía Honda Key anchorage was the closest we have stayed to a beach. The swimming area was only sixty yards away! However, it was 67° with 28 kts of wind. That comes to a wind chill of nah, nevermind. So we set our sights on Marathon,  Florida, and enjoyed our sunset anchorage off Vaca Key. https://bahiahondapark.com/

We made it to Key West! We are getting provisions, doing repairs, and planning for our Bahamas crossing. I also challenged Cindy to a "campy" photo contest. She's winning, with a video of a floating tiki bar going two knots through the channel. Here's a few, so far, along with some random flower photos. I'm not sure why GoogleMaps thinks we sailed down US 1 for a while. "Uhm, yeah. I'll take the Mullet. To go. Customers waiting for a table. I winked back. Is that flirting? We love this tree. It's like its own eco-system. I think a parking ticket on the window would add. Sponge Bob? We picked up a few boat items... Key West Social Club? Their recruiting departments have different approaches.