Homeward Bound: Mangrove Cay and the Atlantic Ocean

July 27 – 28, 2010

Our Last Sunset

We arrived at Mangrove Cay in time to have dinner, get a few things in order for the crossing, and try to get to sleep early since we planned to get up at 0300 to make the crossing in hopes of getting back to Vero before sunset.

The water was glassy calm since there was absolutely no wind. That's how I managed to get a decent picture of the sunset. Most of the time the boat is moving enough to make the sunsets or sunrises too blurry. Everything is always a trade-off though; it was so stinking hot and still, I got up at midnight and went outside on the upper bridge deck to sleep where the air was cooler and moving more than the fan blowing on me in the bed.

The conditions were stellar for crossing: glassy seas, no wind, no thunderstorms, and beautiful skies. The only thing that would have been better would have been if we had been abable to catch a dolphin, but I can't complain as King Neptune was very generous towards us in our spearfishing adventures. We did catch and release two tunny tuna, and that provided some diversion.

Never Better Than This

Our trip was rewarded with one more wonderful event, especially appropriate for us bird lovers. When we were 10 miles off the Florida coastline, a colorful palm warbler circled FLUKE a couple of times and then landed. At first it would just sit in the shade outside the pilothouse. The next thing we knew it came inside and literally snooped around for 20 minutes. This little bird showed no fear and made itself quite at home, hopping on the doors, cabinets, table, helm, and floor. It would look in all the corners and louvered door panels , like birds hunt and peck for insects. It even kept landing on the fan and pecking at the junk stuck on the grill. At one point it landed on the laptop's keyboard and just looked up at me with an expression of “well, do you have a problem with this?”. It proceeded to land on my head and then jumped over and landed on Eddie's head (it was too slippery though because of lack of hair). The big moment came when it landed on the door sill, right next to where Visitor (the very fat, great hunter cat) was sound asleep. I was dreading a bad ending to this magic moment, but the little warbler was not to be outdone and had one more trick tucked under its wing before saying goodbye. It jumped from the door sill to right on top of Visitor's fat gut. Visitor awoke in a panic and tried to take a swipe at the warbler, but the little bird was on the ball, flying quickly upward over the cap rail and out to sea. This is truly a worthy entry for my National Geographic moments diary.

Feathered Stowaway

The long day had gone so quickly, and it was time to head into the Ft. Piece inlet. Despite being a Wednesday afternoon, it was like Grand Central Station because it was the opening day of mini lobster season. Anyone who could find a boat that could float was out. We'd never seen so many law enforcement personnel on the water in the same area, and many boats were being pulled over to check for violators.

Inlet Rush Hour

The two hour ride up the Indian River to our home port was easy and uneventful. It felt good to see the familiar sights of our beautiful community.

Always A Welcomed Sight

Readers:

Much thanks to those of you who have posted comments. We've tried to take some of your suggestions to heart and make appropriate changes to the blog.

I know that it may sound like I'm a real sea witch at times when I make somewhat nasty comments about my male crew members. However, I am truly grateful for all they contribute to keeping us comfortable and safe and wouldn't consider finding other crew mates, even if they could guarantee they weren't of sea stooge caliber. Plus, I think it's important to report the good things and bad things and all the stupid stuff we do, so that you get an accurate picture of what this cruising life is all about. We are humbled by our mistakes, and try to look at them as reminders that we can't get too complacent in thinking we know everything. If we did, life wouldn't be as exciting!

I am going to try to do another post or two in the coming months, with appropriate photos, so that you can see what's happening to our big fat lady for the rest of hurricane season. Plus, when we finally make some solid plans, I'll let you know where we'll be pointing her bow for our next high seas adventure.