Homeless because we sold our home when we went boating and haven’t settled down but are looking for a place in a smaller town. Hey, how hard can it be in such a small country, you may well ask!!!

Boatless, because after a year on the market, a buyer appeared, made an offer, we countered, he countered, we countered and stalled and then he walked away after we couldn’t agree on a price. Some time later he reappeared with a better offer which was acceptable and the deal was concluded and today everything was finalised.

There was an earlier “buyer” who just turned out to be a tyre kicking chancer!!

So there it is. Final! Kaput! Finis! Finito! The End! A smile on my face and a tear in my eye.

This blog started almost 2 years ago with a kaleidoscope of emotions, and to a certain extent has ended the same way. But although it is with a tinge of sadness that I say goodbye to Amanzi (and the growling rumble of my puppies, Apollo and Zeus), I do not regret anything. She gave us much joy and a wonderful, wonderful, unrepeatable adventure and those memories last forever. And, surprisingly, it’s amazing how some of the “not so good” memories (eg tornadoes in Georgia, anchors dragging, flat batteries and then some) have already faded into distant memories while only the memories of the good times remain.

So, my good friends, this blog will henceforth remain silent unless we happen upon some new adventure. But for now, it’s time to settle down, get back into some regular work and become “normal” and not “boat” people. How difficult can that be????

Sayonara friends, followers, bloggers and boaters.

Remember my favourite expression:

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DID SOMETHING FOR THE FIRST TIME?

All offers entertained.

See the menu link above or just click here.

Amanzi - our pride and joy

The end or the beginning? Going out or going in? Starting or finishing? Which is it? It’s a good question because that’s where we’re at right now. Ending and starting! It’s now been 2 months since we left Amanzi in Florida and slowly started resuming some aspects of our old lives.

So I thought I’d tell you about where we’re at and where we’re heading and then, mainly for any new people who might stumble upon this blog, give a summary of how we got here and the wonderful adventure we’ve had. This is really to “close” this blog – like the final chapter in a book. I know I’ve read many blogs that just seem to end without a decent conclusion and everything’s left hanging there and I’ve felt quite cheated!! I didn’t want our blog to be like that. The admiral has given a nice summary of what we’ve done since returning in the last blog so I’ll not mention any of that.

Admiral Mary and Captain Lance

Exit – arriving, going in. I am finally back at work (just finished my first week) and, to be honest, I’ve enjoyed getting back into the practice of medicine. I am doing locum work which is really “temping” for doctors who are wanting to take some annual leave etc. As part of the deal I get accommodation thrown in. So, because of this, we haven’t settled down and bought a new home as yet We are traveling around New Zealand from town to town as the need takes me and investigating which would be a nice town to settle in. We’ve decided not to return to the big cities as we like the quieter pace of life! Traveling down the ICW and in the Bahamas at 7 mph has spoilt us! Mary, the admiral, is a chartered accountant and does her work via the Internet – nice!!!

We’ll be in the town of Wanganui for the next 3-4 weeks and then move on someplace else. So, really, we are more or less continuing our “transient” boating lifestyle but on land Leaving our daughters in Christchurch we hired a camper van (RV) and spent the next 3 weeks traveling north to our old haunt of Auckland where we caught up with all our old friends and retold the story of our adventure a number of times.

Camper Van Trip

Following that we headed south again to Rotorua where I attended a medical conference and then moved further south to Wanganui.

RVing is very similar to cruising but without all the stresses and strains that go with running a boat!!!!! It’s very easy to “dock” – just drive in, climb out, connect the power and, voila!, you’re done. No need for dock hands, bow lines, stern lines, springs, connecting power and water, emptying the holding tank, filling the water tanks, checking tidal ranges, putting out fenders and the myriad of other little activities that need to be done to dock and ensure safety

Exit – leaving, going out. Yes, we are leaving behind 9 months of holiday/adventure/relaxation/stress and returning to a more “normal life.”

Here’s a short rundown of our trip with some of the ups and downs. Everything’s in the blog, so this is just a taster for new readers. Enjoy

It started years ago when I suggested I would like to do a circumnavigation. The admiral said, NO. So we bought a coastal cruiser and sailed locally for many years.

I then mooted the idea of cruising the Bahamas where the trips would be short from island to island, no overnights, and, mostly, within sight of land. The admiral said YES!!! I jumped with joy and the planning started in earnest.

I read many blogs and trip reports. I read about the Gulf Stream. I read about the currents. I read about the weather. I read about provisioning. I read about preparation. I read about many many things and stored the information.

There seemed to be many obstacles. Most cruisers bought their boat and spent a few years getting to know it and preparing it for a voyage. We lived in New Zealand and didn’t have the luxury of time to “adequately” prepare ourselves or the boat.

But still I researched.

Initially I was going to buy a sailing catamaran but eventually chose a power vessel. Why? From my research, it seemed few cruisers actually ever got to SAIL in the Bahamas as the winds were always contrary. So, if we would be motoring a lot it seemed to make sense to buy a motor vessel.

So we did – via the Internet. A stressful but successful process See my early blogs about this.

We got rid of a lot of our stuff, packed up the rest, sold our home and flew from NZ to Baltimore where we collected our boat, a 1985 38′ Bayliner. We stayed in Baltimore for 3 weeks “preparing” her and ourselves. In this time, for various reasons, we only managed to take her out of her berth on ONE occasion before we departed and this was on the day before we actually left!!! Seems crazy now but that’s the way it was.

From A, Baltimore to B, Miami to C, Nassau to D, Georgetown and then back to Florida

Leaving Baltimore on October 23, 2011, the weather was great with clear blue skies and very calm seas. We were ecstatic!!! Seventh heaven.

We spent 3 days travelling down the Chesapeake stopping overnight at various marinas. We were totally blown away by the size of the Chesapeake. Intellectually we knew it was about 130 miles but the reality was way way different to the mental image.

The next 1089 miles of the IntraCoastal Waterway ( ICW) suddenly seemed very daunting!!!

It was bright and early when we slipped our lines and ghosted out of Tidewater Marina in Norfolk and passed milemarker 1 to get to our very first early morning bridge opening.

First opening bridge!!

Suddenly there were dozens of boats jostling to get in line for the bridge to open. And then it did, our first bridge opening!!! And like a race, the boats were off!!! First the faster powerboats, then the sailboats. All trying to make sure that they got to the next bridge in time for the opening or they would be delayed.

The race is on !!!

Imagine a race, a marathon, with hundreds of athletes jostling each other! Well, that’s what it seemed like to us. Pandemonium!!

Well, we managed that without incident and embarked on the next 1089 miles to Miami. There were many “events” of note. They’re all described in the blogs but I’ll mention a few. Anchoring in narrow tidal creeks.Rafting up as the only power vessel with ~12 other sailboats in the Dismal Swamp.

Rafting up at the Dismal Swamp Centre

So picturesque!!

Dismal Swamp Canal - sheer beauty

Negotiating the locks.

Dismal Swamp Lock

Being caught at anchor in a storm. Having flat batteries because the charger was not up to scratch. Finding out that the previous owner had the start and engine batteries wired in parallel. So a tow was needed from Mile Hammock Bay to Wrightsville.

Mary’s brother and wife had joined us for a few days and declared that they had signed up for the full package – and they got it.

Christina and Robert

First, some boats dragging onto us, then taking 2 hour turns on anchor watch as the storm raged, taking bearings every 10 minutes to make sure we weren’t dragging. No time for my sister-in-law to experience her usual sea sickness. And then, hauling the slimy, mud caked anchor aboard before our tow – no battery or engine power, remember. So yes, they got the full boating package in the space of a few days

Meeting some wonderful people along the way. Both cruisers and shore people. Enjoying the friendliness of small towns.

Dragging anchor in the middle of the night!! And not being able to reset it by moonlight in a 50m wide creek with the tide running. Staying up all night on anchor watch.

Worrying about channels and channel markers.

Red on the right (opposite to New Zealand) but sometimes on the left when you left the ICW and headed up river!!!!!

Seeing other boats aground, calling for assistance.

Enduring the wettest weekend in recorded history in St Augustine but offset by meeting new friends. Anchored alone in a small creek north of Savannah and hearing that there was a TORNADO warning for our area.

Tornado Watch

Sitting, scared out of our wits – I would say shitless but that’s not the way I speak – with the generator running and watching the storm’s progress on our TV and radar. Thankfully it passed north of us and we could finally go to sleep.

Having ice on the decks in the early morning and later sunning ourselves in the warm sun.

Spotting dolphins regularly.

Dolphin - very difficult to photograph

Never ever seeing a Manatee Hearing a Securite message from the US Coastguard a 1000 times about the Atlantic Right Wales!!!

Meeting up with friends along the way south!!

Using our trip down the ICW as our “shakedown” cruise and stopping off for repairs and further modification and installations. Enduring the frustration of waiting in marinas for things to get done and finally getting on our way again. Having a leak in our brand new, never been used, dinghy (Mercury) – what a performance to get it repaired!!

Provisioning,

provisioning, and more provisioning.

This was one of our biggest challenges. Remember, we came from New Zealand so we didn’t know the shops, we didn’t know the products, we didn’t know the brands, and we didn’t have transport for the most part. But we muddled through it all. We used Publix, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, various Dollar Stores and then some.

Of course, we also dropped a fortune at West Marine but were thankful to get huge discounts via friendly people.

We braved the rudeness, arrogance and selfishness of the boaters in Florida!!! To the extent that the admiral was known to hail boaters on the VHF telling them to slow down when passing us!! For the most part they didn’t care that their massive wakes caused all other boats to rock and roll like drunken teenagers. They must be the worst mannered people in the USA. So different from all the kind and gentle folks we met in the Carolina’s and Georgia.

Finally, arriving in Miami

Miami

Puts our little boat to shame

Then waiting for the weather window to make the dreaded crossing across the Gulf Stream to our first stop in the Bahamas, Alicetown in Bimini.

Exit:- to go out, to leave, to depart. Also to go in, enter.

So the morning of 23 December arrives. It’s been exactly 2 months since we slipped our lines in Baltimore and have travelled some 1300 miles!! We’re pretty experienced by now.

The forecast was for southerlies and the sea state for 1-2′ seas – ideal for a Gulf Stream crossing!!

We had anchored just inside Government Cut, so, as dawn was breaking, I weighed anchor and we stuck our nose out into the great Atlantic Ocean for the first time! As we headed east into the rising sun, we entered the Gulf Stream and watched the Miami skyline slowly disappear into the western horizon.

The Gulf Stream, our nemesis, our greatest fear, our biggest nightmare, turned out to be little more than a tame puppy! Almost a huge disappointment after all the hype that is written about crossing to Bimini.

So, exit the USA and enter the Bahamas!! A whole new adventure! We had arrived!

Traveling down the ICW was, apart from the times that were we’re stuck waiting for weather or repairs, more or less a delivery trip for us. Up at daybreak, check the weather, up anchor, travel 50-60 miles, drop anchor or tie up at a marina, have dinner, plan the next day’s route and stopover and then collapse into bed. It mostly passed in a big blur of travel.

But now we were in the Bahamas!!

Leisurely days, great weather, small hops from anchorage to anchorage. Balmy days. Great colored waters, lazy times and leisurely swimming. Sun-drenched beaches. Sundowners and fishing. Lobster and conch for the taking. Ahhh, sheer bliss!

Delusions!! How deluded we were! How misinformed! All those wonderful photos of the Bahamas? Only on the good days. Weather???? Yeah right!

Weather forecasts? There were none after Bimini. We had to get an SSB receiver flown in. Weather ranged from perfect to pretty miserable with big winds. The cold fronts started in Canada and travelled all the way south into the Bahamas causing us many a headache!! When to travel? Where to go? What to do when the wind clocked around from N to NE to E to SE to S, SW, W, NW and back to North!!! We were stunned!

There's bad weather a-comin'

Then the anchorages. The first one was scoured out so couldn’t get the anchor to set (E of Cat Cay) so had to find another one late in the day. STRESS!! The wind changed in the night and the boat was like a hobby horse, bouncing up and down in the wind driven swell. And this onto a lee shore! Morning couldn’t come fast enough but at least I had a great anchoring system which held perfectly. Some wise decision I made there…

Then the currents while at anchor. I first experienced this on the Bahama Banks when swimming near the wreck of the Sapona.

Wreck of Sapona, South of Bimini

Current pulling me backwards

At anchor, I jumped into the perfectly still and clear water off the back of the boat and surfaced some 4m away next to the dinghy. In that short space of time the current had carried me away. Thankfully I had been towing the dinghy so was able to grab on and pull myself back to the boat. And that wasn’t the last time we had strong tidal currents at anchor.

Crossing the Banks from Bimini to Chub Cay and further to Fraser Hog Cay was a nightmare. Hampered without decent weather forecasts we were beset with bad winds and heavy seas. The same occurred between Chub Cay and Nassau. And we had been expecting the worst crossing the Gulf stream!!!!! This was many times worse.

But the anchorage at Chub Cay was idyllic – all that we had dreamed about. Hot and balmy. Windless. Water so clear you couldn’t tell where it started.

Chub Cay - what the Bahamas is all about

Chub Cay - what the Bahamas is all about

Anchor chain visible in crystal clear water

Chub Cay - New Year's Eve Fireworks - Grandstand view from Amanzi

Depth was impossible to tell by looking. We had to learn to rely on the depth sounder. But it was faulty But I eventually fixed it This, a new one!! There were other breakdowns too: the anchor winch packed up, never to work again on our trip; the GPS pulled a hissy fit but, with help from fellow cruisers, I got it sorted; I dunked my iPad in the sea and it died with all my charts which I was using for navigation since Baltimore.

As a cruiser we met in Bimini asked “when does the fun begin?”

But we learned – and there were many lessons!!

Eventually our SSB arrived with our daughter who had flown from NZ with her 2 young boys to join us.

Luther, Zeke and Leanne

So we could get the weather. But, it took us a week to figure out on what frequency and time!!

From then on, it was up at 6.30 each morning to listen to the forecast and plan the day. The holiday, which had never really begun, was over. No more lazing in bed till the sun was up, enjoying a lazy breakfast, choosing a destination and making a leisurely trip further south to the Exumas.

Cruising had taken on a new twist. When was the fun going to start?

We learned our lessons. We learned the meaning of the forecasts. A high pressure north of us meant very strong winds – different to NZ where we had learned to respect the forces associated with low pressure systems!!! A front meant that the winds would lessen for a while and we could travel. Then they would clock and blow our brains away We learned to choose our anchorages with this in mind. When the weather was great and ideal for the pleasures of lazing, swimming, strolling on the beach, we learned to travel to the next anchorage.

In short, we learned about the weather. We had to. It dominated our lives and everything we did. There was no getting away from it. We learned to respect it.

We also learned patience. Oh yes, how we learned to be patient. Waiting for the weather to improve took patience. Immense patience!! But we learned. We chose our anchorages as best we could so that we could still get off the boat even when the weather was bad. With 2 little boys on board who had boundless energy, we learned well.

Occasionally, we entered marinas to escape the weather and give our grandsons the opportunity to run ashore and work off that excess energy. Even if it occasionally cost us a fortune in a marina, it was worth it for us (Highbourne Cay Marina was $60 per night JUST for the power and $9 for a quart of fresh milk!!!)

Highbourne Cay Marina

But we were learning to have fun:)

Lazing on the beach

Enjoying ourselves!

Suntanning on the foredeck at anchor

We enjoyed crystal clear waters.

Clear waters of Warderick Wells

We walked on pristine beaches where ours were the only footprints. We swam and snorkelled. We dinghied around headlands exploring coast lines.

Sanctuary Creek in Shroud Cay

We harvested Conch.

Conch

We learned how to extract and cook them.

We fished and actually caught fish.

Catching fish

Small coral fish on the banks and big Mahi Mahi in the Exuma Sound.

We caught lobster with the Hawaiian sling we had bought in Bimini.

Lobster dinner and home made bread

And when we couldn’t catch them, we bought them cheaply from the locals. We later sold the sling to another boater who was traveling south and we were heading home

We observed a State funeral of a former Governor General.

State funeral in Nassau

State funeral

We enjoyed visiting Atlantis in Nassau.

Atlantis, Nassau

We enjoyed talking politics with the Terry, the owner of Ocean Cabin Restaurant Bar and on Little Farmers Cay.

Ocean Cabin, Little Farmers Cay

Lobster for sale

Little Farmers Cay

We braved the standing waves in the cut from Little Farmers into the Exuma Sound. We had learned to choose our weather and sea state to make travel in the Sound pleasurable. We learned to minimize the discomfort by making better choices. Oh, we learned!!!!

We enjoyed the camaraderie of all the cruisers during Regatta Week at Georgetown, Great Exuma Island.

Regatta week, Georgetown, Exuma

We visited friends on their boats and they visited us on ours. We offered them hot showers on our boat as we had virtually unlimited fresh water with the water maker I had installed.

We drank rum and heaps of it.

Rum cocktail

Beer too but it was expensive. Run was cheap

We enjoyed the 1 mile dinghy rides from Little Stocking Island to Georgetown to get provisions – fresh fruit and veges, yumm!! We were joyous when we could get cans of coke at $1 each instead of $2 or more!!

When the wind changed we enjoyed up-anchoring and moved to a quiet secluded anchorage just north of Goat Cay in Elizabeth Harbour where it was too shallow for the sailboats.

Goat Cay, Elizabeth Harbour

Goat Cay - peaceful and mostly deserted

Here we enjoyed piggy backing on someone’s unsecured wireless with our wifi expander and so remained in touch with the world and our families. We could also update our blog

A lot of the time we just watched the comings and goings. Boats came, anchored, people dinghied ashore, returned and they left! These were some of the saddest times for me – saying goodbye to good friends knowing that the chances of ever seeing each other again was slim.

We watched people standing in their dinghies as they zoomed around. Obviously, well experienced! We never got that far as to be brave enough to emulate them, but then I didn’t have a tiller extension for my dinghy motor.

We heard of a boat that had been dismasted; a lady who capsized her dinghy the first time she went solo; a friend of ours who fell into the water as she was getting into her dinghy – she was 78 and her partner was 84 and they’d been doing the trip to Georgetown for the past 10 years!!!

There was always something happening.

We missed our daughter and grandsons who had left us at Staniel Cay to fly back to NZ. But, not before visiting the swimming pigs

Swimming pigs

and snorkeling, yes even the 3 year old, in Thunderball Grotto.

Thunderball Grotto

Thunderball Grotto

Thunderball Grotto

We enjoyed collecting my sister and brother in law in Georgetown after a long journey for them from the UK.

Estelle and Alastair

We still worried about the weather and it still affected us greatly. It pinned us down in Georgetown, Big Majors Spot, Nassau, and Bimini. It ruined our plans to return to the US via the Abacos because we ran out of time. We had a deadline to catch a flight back to NZ for our youngest daughter’s wedding.

We learned that having deadlines is a bad bad bad thing. With any deadline the best laid plans WILL go awry!!

So we retraced our steps. We were up before dawn for the weather forecasts, we caught fish, we met friends and made and lost new ones. We travelled on the good days and explored the islands on the bad. We enjoyed safe anchorages especially in Warderick Wells and revisited Boo Boo Hill via Banshee Creek.

Banshee Creek

To Boo Boo Hill - in the background

Boo Boo Hill - placing the boat's name - a long standing tradition

On the way we tapped the musical stones and saw the water spouts through the Blow Holes.

We took thousands of photos and hours of DVD but still haven’t had time to sit down and relive our memories. Maybe tonight…..

Finally. Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear reader, for accompanying us on this wonderful, exciting, exotic, stressful and sometimes frightening adventure. For that’s what it was – never a holiday but always a great great adventure.

If somehow, someway, somewhere, you are inspired by reading about our adventures, to do something similar, then just go for it. Don’t let your own fears hold you back!!!

Thank you and goodbye.

So, EXIT: go out of the old and into the new!!!

Capt. Lance and Admiral Mary

Goodbye Amanzi

Final PS

Amanzi is now to be sold as we are moving on to other adventures. Please see Mike Dickens, my broker, at Paradise Yacht Sales,  in Fernandina Beach for details.

Our daughter, Dominique and her husband, Daryl were at the airport to meet us, together with our grandson Shaun and our new little granddaughter Jessica. It was wonderful to see them again and to meet Jessica.

Meeting Jessica for the first time

Shaun's 3rd birthday party

We also caught up with our youngest daughter, Shannon (the bride to be) and then a couple of days later, our oldest daughter Leanne arrived with her husband, Shannon and their two little boys Luther and Zeke. You’ll remember Leanne and the two boys as they spent 4 weeks with us in the Bahamas.

Luther

Zeke

As Shannon was getting married on Saturday 21st, the next few days passed in an absolute blur of last minute wedding preparations, Shaun’s 3rd birthday party, the arrival of family and friends from overseas and out of town, the wedding rehearsal and the hen’s night.

A night of pampering & fun at Shannon's Hens' Night

Whew!!!! We were all so busy! But we made it!

Saturday dawned a beautiful, sunny and warm day. It was perfect for the 45 minute horse and carriage ride and the garden ceremony. The wedding all went really well and Shannon and Daniel made a lovely couple.

Shannon & Lance ready for the horse & carriage ride

Shannon & Lance

The bridesmaids - Leanne & Dominique

A very proud moment

Shannon & Daniel

The piper leading the way

Cutting the cake

The Father of the Bride dance

Family photo - Lance, Mary, Shannon, Daniel, Leanne & Dominique

The next day they headed off to the Gold Coast in Australia for their honeymoon and Dominique and Daryl flew off to Raratonga to attend another wedding. So the next few days were spent baby sitting and enjoying more family time.

The last of our overseas visitors left on Sunday and this week Lance and I have begun to make plans for the next few months. We are looking to have a few more weeks off before starting the dreaded four letter word – “Work!”

Since our return we’ve had no time to really even think about our trip to the US and the Bahamas and are looking forward to sorting through all our photos and watching all our videos.

Many thanks to all of you who have followed us on our adventure – it has always been good to know that our family and friends were experiencing our adventure through our blog and were following us every step of the way. Wasn’t our SPOT messenger just fantastic?

But as we all know, all holidays and adventures must come to an end but we can now look forward to settling down again in to our normal lives. And who knows what lies down the track – as the US/Bahamas trip was all Lance’s idea, he says that it’s my turn now to come up with our next adventure.

Looking back over the last 7 months we can really say that we’ve had an adventure of a lifetime.

We’ve been to some amazing places and have met some wonderful people who are all living their dreams.

So make sure your dreams are big – and don’t be afraid to follow them. — WE DID!

——ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo——

Now we are in Jacksonville and flying back to NZ tomorrow and they are in St Augustine. So we arranged to meet half way for dinner and had a great time.

Final dinner with Steve and Linda

Yes, they are the last of our US friends that we will see until we return sometime!!

The last weeks have flown past as we have traveled around – also meeting up with our friends, Tom and Diane, in St Augustine. I had “met” Tom on the Bayliner owners Club when I was looking for a boat and also in person on our journey down the ICW. He has a wealth of knowledge and was most helpful on many occasions when I emailed him regarding any problem that I couldn’t solve myself. Thanks Tom.

Diane and Tom

We have also been frantically cleaning the boat and getting her ship shape and ready for storage while we are away. While in Riviera Beach I have had some essential work done and will then be having her moved to Tiger point Marina in Fernandina Beach where my broker can look after her

Many thanks to our “crew,” Alastair and Estelle – my brother-in-law and sister – for all the assistance with everything that had to get done. I hope that the pleasures of the trip have outweighed some of the disappointments!

Alastair and Estelle at Fort Clinch, Fernandina Beach

Final Dinner aboard Amanzi – not lobster again???

Pork chop, Lobster, yellow rice and salad - yummy!

Goodbyes………

Estelle and Alastair who joined us from the UK for the last 6 weeks

And finally, emotionally we also said our fond farewells

Where did it all come from?

SUV packed with luggage!!!

PS

There will be one or two more entries in this blog site after we get back to New Zealand and are over the rush of our 3rd daughter’s wedding next Saturday (21 April) and we have settled into the hum drum life of landlubbers again. So watch this space for a while yet.

Not quite yet!!!

Now, I just have to prepare, write, rehearse and finally present my “father of the bride speech.” Helllllpppp. This is more scary than the thunderstorms and tornadoes we faced near Savannah last year!!!

A few days ago it was a beautiful day – hot, sunny, cloudless and windless. So we thought we’d take Amadink for a little ride up the ICW and have lunch at a waterside restaurant just beyond the next bridge.

So we started with a short trip to have a look at the Tiki bar just south of us. We had had dinner there when we first arrived in Riviera Beach and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately there was no place for dinghies to tie up to so we moved on.

Back we went, past New Port Cove Marine Center where we are currently tied up and headed further north. Mary had inquired from the office about waterside bars and restaurants and was told that there was one just past the next bridge. Northwards we continued. Never mind that the next bridge was nowhere in sight!!! We’ll just get to the next bend/next small islet/next rock outcropping and then see. Well, after what seemed a long time there was still no bridge in sight!!!

Naturally, being in a protected marina on the protected ICW waters we hadn’t bothered to look at the charts an neither had we looked at the weather report!!

By the time we turned around, never having even seen the bridge, the wind had piped up considerably. I know that I had looked at Windfinder the day before and the report was for 10 knot winds.

I knew that the wind that we were now experiencing was way in excess of 10k coming from the south!!! The tide was also ebbing!! So we had a wind against tide effect. Now, those of you that have been reading this blog regularly will know that I have detailed the effects of wind against tide. Suffice it to say that we got WET returning back to our marina.

We did stop off in the lee of Peanut Island for a couple of hours where we dried off and baked in the sun and actually had a great time!

Returning to Amanzi we found that the next bridge was about 3 1/2 miles north of us and the wind report recorded 20, gusting 25, knots while windefinder was still forecasting 10-14!!!! Story of our whole trip!!

Since then we have been lazing around – cleaning the boat and getting some boat chores done.

We can’t believe that we’ll be winging our way home to New Zealand in 8 days time!!

Then it’ll be our youngest daughter, Shannon’s wedding. Guess I’ll have to prepare some kind of father of the bride speech in the next few days

As it was almost April 1st we thought it might be fun to keep Spot running on our travels. So for those of you who’ve been following us, you may have noticed that we seemed to be travelling over the land and ending each day at a land based location – this was our best attempt at an April Fools joke.

Anyway our first errand on Friday was to go Walmart and try and get our vehicle GPS replaced. We’d bought it in Walmart in Baltimore at the beginning of October but it was no longer working – it’s been safely stored in a drawer since then but perhaps somehow the sea air got to it!

No luck though – it was out of the warranty period – and as our second errand involved getting a new sim card for the ipad, which was also no longer working, we made a snappy choice and bought another Tom Tom. At least now we could get to where we were planning to go!

The next stop was at an amazing mall – The Gardens Mall. It was huge, with lots of flowers and water features. Of course it also had all the big names like Louis Vuitton. Another first for us was that it even had the Easter Bunny in a lovely butterfly garden and you could have photos taken with him/her- just like Father Christmas at home. I resisted though, just settling for a photo of the bunny.

We arrived at Titusville in the late afternoon and checked in to our hotel – all very nice with a convenient Denny’s on the premises.

These two nights were to be the first nights that Lance & I have slept in a bed, that doesn’t go up and down and sideways, since we moved onto Amanzi in early October. We were looking forward to some very restful sleep – no weather to worry about and no water to be heard lapping around the boat.

Estelle and Alastair were also looking forward to their bed – no climbing over each other to get in or out!

The Kennedy Space Center was fantastic – we enjoyed every minute of it and could probably have spent a lot longer than one day there. For me it has always been the Apollo program which stands out for me – I guess I was a very impressionable young girl back in 1969 when we listened to the first moon landing over the radio. Back in those days we had no TV in the very small town in Zimbabwe where we lived.

Yesterday we headed for Cocoa Beach and had a drink there in the beachfront bar. It was a perfect day.

As you can tell we just can’t stay too long away from the water and we then went to the upper reaches of the St Johns River and went for a air boat ride. It was excellent and we all enjoyed it very much. Mind you I’m not sure about what must be worse – doing a donut in an air boat in the alligator infested waters or doing a donut in front of the rocks on the jet boat rides that we get in New Zealand! (I’ve never been game enough to do that!)

We saw lots of alligators peeking out of the water and quite a bit of bird life. We even stopped to chat with some local fishermen out in the middle of the lily pond and they were more than happy to show off their catches to us.

Last night it was back to Riviera Beach and Amanzi. The weather has been perfect and very hot – the marina we’re in has a boat club and all 62 of its boats were out yesterday although they were apparently all caught in a big squall.

And oh yes – you’re probably wondering – did we sleep better on dry land? Unfortunately no – not really – it may be a while before we settle back in to a normal sleeping pattern.

Got our immigration and customs sorted as well as registration of the arrival of a foreign registered boat.

Also been to the grocery store and stocked up on some essentials – beer, soft drink etc

For the next few days we will continue to hang around here, doing a bit of sight-seeing and stuff before we continue north up the ICW to Fernandina Beach.

We spent our last couple of days in Bimini soaking up the sun at the pool at the Big Game club, enjoying a great “last supper” at the club. Started off by great cocktails, naturally and a great meal.

Sometimes, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry!!

Yesterday, on arrival, like a good little boy, I phoned in our details to the US CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and was given the standard 24 hours for all of us to present ourselves in person to the nearest customs and immigration. This office is just a short taxi ride from our marina – 10 minutes maximum. Half the reason we came to Lake Worth was for the convenience of the location and hence the ease of sorting things out.

But, as I said, the best laid plans…. True to form the customs/immigration office close by is closed on Saturdays and Sundays So we have to take a taxi to the airport to check in. Man!!!!!!!

Today, it’s hot here but clouding over with a 40% chance of thunderstorms!!

We spend our time wandering around Alicetown, going to the beach, talking to other cruisers and eating lobster!

Yesterday we met an Australian couple, Carol and Terry, who are from the western side of Australia. They sold their home and bought a boat in Annapolis last year and have spent till now, fitting it out and traveling down the ICW and finally made it across the Gulf stream a few days ago. Sold him my Hawaiian sling as I have no further use for it!!

Wandering along the western beach of Bimini we came across another wreck – guess this is what happens if you don’t pay attention!! On the western side, the beach and sea are still idyllic as it is protected from the wind. So we keep working on our sun tans!!

In the meantime we buy, yes buy, lobsters from a local fishing boat at $30 for a dozen!! Cheaper than going out and diving for them myself!! So we have lobster salad, lobster in bread rolls, lobster fettuchini, lobster……

Ah well, it’s a hard life….

** Aeolus – Greek God of the Winds