Today was not really one of my better days. On another day, I will attempt to tell you all about it. I will share that I'm having trouble with the Moldy Landlord and am wondering just what I have done to deserve all this karmic upheaval?
I hope to have better news to share with all of you tomorrow. Tonight, for a laugh and some good reading, I offer instead an epistle sent by HalfNakedRobin who is having herself quite the adventure. I bet she'd be really happy to help me get my HAPPY back.
Hello -
Hope everyone is having a good week. I've been enjoying my
adventure. We left out of Cape Fear Saturday. We've been going 24/7
until this afternoon we pulled into Cape Canaveral. Great experience
and a good thing I don't sleep much ;-)
Paul let me start the sail out the channel by Bald Head. I was the
first to put up the sails and skipper the boat on our off shore
experience! He's a brave fellow, letting me mess with his 1/2 a million
dollar baby ;-) I had a little confusion around the first green marker.
Think opposite of what you're steering towards. Like Winnie the
Pooh...think, think, think. I like using my compass better than
watching the chartered course on the GPS so much. Later that evening,
when I was on night watch from midnight to 4, I used the compass fully.
I turned the GPS to dim. We moved at 7-8 knots for the first 12 hours.
When the moon came up, the winds started to diminish and we dropped to
6 knots. The moon came up about 2:40 and looked like the perfect slice
of a Georgia peach. I also saw a meteor or something at about 2:30...it
lit up the ocean and lasted several seconds. I need to research what
that was. The next couple of days have been at about 6 knots, some
with sails, some motoring. We haven't had a lot of wind. I think Paul
broke the world record for the longest time to put up the spinnaker. It
was an exercise of futility. We never caught any wind in that sail and
as Russell would say...it was a disaster ;-) It took another 40 minutes
to get it down. At one point Linda had three lines tangled around the
wench. We had a lot of laughs with that one. (don't worry, Paul and
Linda really do know what they are doing)
I am learning a lot. I like Paul's approach to fixing things. He's
not afraid to take the damn thing apart and figure it out as we go
along. We are now fixing a pump in the bathroom. He says, well the
thing is fucked up. He says there is a SNAFU with this or
that...translation: Situation Normal, All Fucked Up ;-)
Tomorrow we leave for Miami. I am glad to have a night at the
dock. I took my first shower since Friday. I'm retarded. The nice
showers, which we paid for with our docking fee, have a handicap sign
on the door. Why would I go into the handicapped shower? So I went to
the another restroom which you had to put quarters into. I was
thinking, geez, why the production with the key for the showers if none
of the showers are locked and I have to put quarters in the damn
thing? So there I am all naked ready to shower, quarters in, and the
shower won't start! I paraded out in my towel over to a forklift and
screamed up to the driver...can you get the water turned on please? He
screams back to hit the reset button in the first restroom and it
should work. Now, I'm working for the marina, naked under my towel ;-)
Love it! I just love boat people.
I miss you all. I would love to have you with me on this trip. I
would also like Jacques Coustaeu and Rachel Carson here to explain some
of the things I've been seeing in the water. What are the flourescent
things I am seeing at night in the wakes? Why are some dolphins almost
black and others are very light grey with spots on the belly? What kind
of bird do we have on our boat that made a nest in the boom? It's seems
like some kind of finch, but how did it find us 30 miles off shore in
the Atlantic? I'm not sure. I named it Moriah, hoping the bird will
bring us some wind. I've been calling on Notus too.
Happy hump day, prince spaghetti day, whatever you call tomorrow...
ahoy mateys
xoxo
skipper neal
ps I've seen 9 shooting stars over the last two nights- since I keep wishing for peace..it should be eminent by now!
