Volunteering again

Location: Cambridge Cay, Exumas
Position: N24 18.206 W076 32.436

After our 2 chaotic days doing laundry and shopping we happily set off the next morning northward making for Cambridge Cay in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. Along the way we dropped the hook for a short stop behind a small rocky cay for lunch and a snorkel on some reefs, then continued on.

If you recall, we volunteered here last year as mooring hosts and had a great time. Same wonderful experience again. Some of our duties are: greet new boats that come in; make sure they understand basic park rules and regulations; provide information about nearby snorkeling sites and trails; collect the mooring fees; make sure people tie off to the moorings correctly; and generally be helpful and give help when requested or necessary.

Optional duties include hosting informal happy hour get-togethers and organizing work parties for beach and trail cleanup and maintenance. During our week we happily accomplished all of the above. Apart from feeling like we are giving back to the park, helping a good cause etc. we love coming here because it’s a great way to meet people and make new friends.

Our first day on duty was Valentines Day, coincidentally the same day we started here last year! In keeping with last years ‘tradition’, we organized a sunset happy hour with Valentines chocolate. Last year there were only three boats in the anchorage, so we had it on Rachel. This year there were many more, so we invited them to meet us and tie off at an empty mooring to share the sunset, deserts, and camaraderie. After dark we lit a candle and spent a bit more time sipping wine and chatting with our new friends. During the week we managed to fit in two more happy hours on the beach with up to 30 cruisers attending each.

You may also remember that last year we managed to find and reestablish an old trail to another beach. We spent several days this week clearing out last year’s growth, further marking the trail with conch shells, rock cairns, and other natural materials, and posting painted driftwood “Poisonwood” signs to help guests recognize and avoid a few patches of this shrub that gives a nasty poison ivy like rash.

Our relief arrives this afternoon and tomorrow we’re off to Sampson Cay for internet access and to hide from more wind and squalls for a couple of days.

Tired but happy,

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

Laundry and Legumes

Location: Staniel Cay, Exumas
Position: N24 10.263 W076 26.994

Laundry and shopping are so simple when you are land based! You throw the washing into the machine and forget about it. At the grocery you pop in, pick up anything you need or fancy, drive home, and finish up the washing. We remember those days.

Here on Rachel in the Bahamas it’s not quite that easy. We do not have a washing machine on the boat so we are always on the lookout for a launderette. It’s a common discussion amongst cruisers when arriving at a new location. You need to get the scoop on laundry, groceries, trash disposal, and of course the best happy hour deal at the local watering holes.

We already know that Black Point has the best launderette in the Exumas, possibly the only one, since in most places you pay a woman to wash your clothes. We spend a day sailing down to Black Point for this very purpose. On arrival we are taken aback, there are 74 boats in this normally fairly quiet spot! We know what that means. The launderette will be packed tomorrow! We decide to avoid the early morning crush by arriving later in the morning.

We saunter into the launderette at 11am, and are met by total chaos. There are about 12 washers and 12 dryers, normally this is plenty. All the washers are in use, all the dryers are in use and there are huge piles of wet clothes waiting for the dryers. Everyone is frazzled but trying to stay happy. Hmm, Julie decides to stay. We won’t go into all the painful details but Mark brings her lunch and a beer at 1pm, for a picnic (!!!!) and we don’t get out of there until 3pm.

The next day is mailboat day, translation: fresh fruits and veggies. Staniel Cay has 3 small groceries, Isles General Store, ‘the pink store’ and ‘the blue store’. It is about 10 miles by water from Black Point and with all these cruising boats around we know we’ll have to get there as soon as the boat starts unloading.

We raise anchor at 7am, arrive at Staniel by 9am and drop the anchor right off the town. We quickly jump into the dinghy and head for our favourite store. When we make out a shopping list it’s more of a suggestion, really, because you never know what will actually be in stock. In many stores the shopkeeper does not even have a cash register - just a piece of paper on which he or she writes everything down and adds up long hand. More often than not there are no prices posted so you never really know how much things will cost until you check out. The prices here are very erratic (generally pretty high) and often don’t make a lot of sense, but you only have 2 choices: buy or don’t buy !!

Sheesh! The dinghy dock already has about 10 dinghies tied up. We push our way through to the steps and Julie leaps out, climbs to the dock, and hurries into the shop while Mark ties off the dinghy. Darn, already a whole bunch of people in here and a line for the check out. We quickly go to the veggies and grab some of what they have knowing we can go through and decide what we really want in a few minutes after we get in line. No time to think, just grab before it’s all gone. We leave with 3 bags full of goodies: broccoli, zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, bell peppers and a great find – plain yogurt (oooh).

By the time we leave the store about an hour later, there are hardly any veggies left and no more will arrive for another week.

Back aboard we revel in our bounty. Julie makes one of our favorites – oven roasted mixed vegetables with chili-garlic paste. Hot, spicy and delicious!


Winding down,

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

Boy are we behind

Location: Big Major Spot, Exumas
Position: N24 11.349 W076 27.611

Sorry. We were waiting for something weird and wonderful to happen so we could Khroniclize it. We’re still waiting, so in the meantime you’ll just have to be content with a travelogue. It’s not that we haven’t been having a good time; we just haven’t been really motivated to write anything new or whacky for a while. (Hoo boy – we can feel the shoe getting ready to drop with that statement).
Now let’s see…. we last left you at the Glass Window in Eleuthera. Jeez, that was over two weeks ago…
We worked our way down the beautiful island of Eleuthera, spending a lovely day at Alabaster Bay (N25 15.602 W076 19.263). We walked across the island - about a mile - to the Atlantic side and ‘the Pink Beach’. We decided calling it pink was definitely pushing it a bit – you know how "creative" those marketing types can be. If you looked at the sand really closely you could see little specs of pink, we assume from the coral. However, the sand (while only just barely pink and only if you cocked your head just so – did we mention that already?) was very soft underfoot and we enjoyed a nice long walk along the "calling it pink is really generous" beach.
Our next stop was Rock Sound near the south end of the island (N24 51.835 W076 09.756). We were here last year, it being one of only a few good harbours on Eleuthera with good protection from west winds. Rock Sound is shaped sort of like a big upside down "G". We sat out a cold front here, doing the "Rock Sound Samba", moving from the south to the east, over to the west and then back to the east again to avoid the worst of the winds. We enjoyed the town as much as our previous visit and attended the Friday night fish fry with the locals on the beach.
One day six of us hitch-hiked up to Tarpum Bay to see a local dog show. Most of the entrants were the local Bahamian dogs called "potcakes", crossbred dogs with a great personality. Our first pick in the children’s division (picked by us before competition started, we might add) took Best In Show. The highlight of the day was that we got rides both ways from police cars!
After another front we crossed east over Exuma Sound to the Exumas. This was our favourite chain of islands last year and we are really glad to be back. We have been here for 10 days and have enjoyed seeing some new islands along with several of our favorite stops from last year.
Two of our new favorites (we’re hoping to spend more time at both of them this year) are Shroud Cay and Hawksbill Cay. We spent our first two days at Shroud Cay. We took a couple of long walks along the trails and beaches and dinghied up a creek through the mangroves all the way to the ocean side of the island.
This was followed by a night at Hawksbill Cay, arguably one of the prettiest cays in the Bahamas. We’re sure we’ll be telling you more about Hawksbill and Shroud as we’re definitely going back to both of these beautiful places for longer stays!
With front after front after front rolling through, we’ve had plenty of northerly wind since we arrived in the Bahamas, making it a little cooler than usual. Combined with the higher winds and unpleasant sea conditions, this means we haven’t got to swim and snorkel as much as we’d like. The good part, however, is that we’ve got in a lot more sailing than last year. That being said, we’ve also been spending a lot of time at anchor on the boat waiting out blustery winds. We’re still having a really lovely time, hanging out with old friends, making new ones, walking, and when we’ve been stuck on the boat, reading and catching up on the never quite done list of boat jobs.
Playing catch up,

The Glass Window

Location: The Glass Window, Eleuthera
Position: N25 25.759 W076 36.142

We leave the Abacos at 2:30am on Friday January 9th bound for Royal Island just north of Eleuthera with a nearly full moon as our “third crew member”. A northeasterly wind blows us about 50 miles south and we arrive at Royal Island at 1:00 pm on the same day. Our friends on Barefootin’ and Diva arrive later in the afternoon having delayed their departures until dawn.

In company with Barefootin’ and Diva, we leave Royal Island on the 10th. The challenge of the day is to negotiate Current Cut at the north end of Eleuthera. It’s a narrow cut with a vicious current – hence the name. After going through the actual cut, we have to negotiate a 100 degree turn to starboard, close but not too close to the rocks, and avoid being pushed by the current onto the shoal to port. Or, to paraphrase Jimmy Buffet, “Shoals on the left, rocks on the right, and you’re the only boat in town.”

Last year when we came north we went through Current Cut about 1.5 hours after high tide in Nassau – that’s the closest tide station we had – and saw less than a knot of current. So we time it the same today. Another boat makes it through about a half hour ahead of us and sees 3 knots. By the time we get there it’s down to less than a knot and we make it through with no excitement, thank goodness.

Our destination today is The Glass Window. The island of Eleuthera squeezes down to a narrow, rocky waist about two thirds of the way up its length. There used to be a natural bridge at this point that was captured by American painter Winslow Homer. In 1872 an enormous wave washed away several couples who were picnicking there. The 85’ high natural span was subsequently washed away during a hurricane in 1926. A bridge was built across the opening in 1960. Then on Halloween Day, 1991, a rage spawned a huge rogue wave that knocked the northern end of the bridge 7 feet to the west. It has since been repaired by closing opposite lanes at each end of the bridge allowing traffic to pass via a single lane that runs catty-corner from one side of the bridge to the other. In March of 1996 two people were washed off the bridge by another wave – by some miracle one of them survived.

On top of the bridge looking out to the East we see the rich, deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean. To the West, the various shades of emerald and turquoise of the Bight of Eleuthera provide a stunning contrast. We’re way above the water – the wave that reached up here and slapped the bridge around must have been absolutely monstrous. We stand in awe of the forces Mother Nature can bring to bear and hope we never see a wave that size – at least not from the vantage point of our Rachel.

That evening we had a happy hour and bonfire on the beach with 4 other couples and a beautiful sunset. Life doesn’t get much better.

Humbled,

How many people will fit into Rachel's cockpit

Location: Great Guana Cay

Q: How many people will fit into Rachel's cockpit?

A: 12

Junkanoo

Location: Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: N26 45.780 W077 20.086

We have been in the Green Turtle Cay/Manjack Cay area for almost two weeks along with several friends we met last year. Our time has been spent attending a cruisers pot luck Christmas dinner on the lawn behind Brendal’s Dive Centre along with about 70 other cruisers; enjoying many long walks on the beaches and through the town; taking advantage of the free wifi offered at Manjack Cay, which gave us the opportunity to call family over the holidays; and attending several happy hour gatherings on the beach and on various boats.

The main reason for staying in the Abacos for so long was so we could attend the Junkanoo on New Years Day. Junkanoo is a street parade with music, costumes, dancing, drumming, cow bells, and various other noisemakers!! We had heard it was great fun and a real Bahamian tradition. Yesterday, New Years Day, we all dinghied into town around noon. The ferry boats that run back and forth to the main island, Great Abaco Island, were working overtime bringing spectators to see the parade. All over the town of New Plymouth booths were set up selling the local fare; conch fritters, conch salad, conch burgers, peas & rice, macaroni & cheese, chicken, ribs, all variety of homemade sweets and any rum drink you could possibly want. We spent the time before the Junkanoo started wandering between the stalls trying this and that and comparing notes with each other on which stall had the best food.

Finally at around 2:30 we could hear a big commotion. A long string of fire crackers popped and the parade started. The first participants were the 3 local police officers clearing a path followed by 2 girls holding a big banner decorated “Lil’ Island Slammers”. All ages of girls followed from maybe 6 to 16 in colourful costumes strutting their stuff in time to the music. They were followed by adult women also in costumes that included large frames fitted over their shoulders and reaching maybe 10 feet high, faces were painted with an exotic flair. At one point one of the ladies lost her balance and fell. The costume was so heavy 2 or 3 people had to rush over to help her back onto her feet to continue on.

The next wave was the musicians, all male ranging from age 4 to 60, the main instruments of all size and variety being the drums, cowbells, and horns. The beat was thrilling! Spectators were encouraged to bring their own noise makers - we had saved food tins and filled them with nuts and bolts. As the musicians passed by we got caught up in the beat and found ourselves moving to the beat and shaking our cans (both kinds ).

The parade was fairly short, it’s just a small community after all, so after it had passed we ducked around to the next block and waited for it to pass again. We watched it from the other side this time. After it passed we continued following side streets so we could pass it and get another viewing. We managed to see it a total of seven times before it finished. During each viewing we saw different things, different painted faces, pieces of costume, cute little children, tiring as time went on. What great fun. We can imagine that the BIG Junkanoo parade in Nassau is much more spectacular and longer but we loved this small town version and were so glad that we got to watch and participate. What a great way to start our 2009. The thing that really impressed us was that this was not a big commercial tourist event; there were no T-shirts, no balloon and cotton candy vendors. This was an event by and for the local townspeople - we were welcome to watch and enjoy, no strings attached, but the focus was entirely local.


Happy New Year

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

http://svrachel.blogspot.com pictures on the blog.
For more info on Junkanoo see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Checking in

Location: Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: N26 45.780 W077 20.086

After spending way too long at Palm Beach, FL waiting for weather we finally got the window we wanted. Wow! Now we just had 2 days to do laundry, last minute shopping, and making sure everything on Rachel was stowed securely. We said goodbye to all our friends who were not yet leaving the US and off we went at 2pm in the company of 2 other boats, Diva and Temptation. The crossing was easy and uneventful we travelled 153 miles in 25.5 hours, the only thing missing was some wind so we could actually sail! Can’t have everything, we know, and we did manage a brief sail down the Sea of Abaco which was great.

Saturday. We arrive at Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos and drop our anchor at 3:30 in the afternoon. We are flying our yellow quarantine flag (yellow, for the letter “Q”, don’t ask) from the starboard spreader as required when arriving in any country until you have cleared customs & immigration. We aren’t sure if Customs will be open on a Saturday, so Mark calls a local business on the VHF. The lady there is very helpful. She tells us we can go to the customs house and if the officer is not there we should go to either of the grocery stores in town and they’ll call her for us.

Until you’ve cleared in, only the captain is allowed ashore. So off the 3 captains go in the dinghy with all the paperwork, passports etc. The customs office is closed, so they walk over to the grocery store. The lady there calls the customs officer at her home. The customs lady says she will not be working this afternoon, or Sunday, so just come in on Monday. Oh, and by the way, it’s alright for everyone to go ashore before then. No worries. One reason we love the Bahamas.

Arrangements are made to dinghy in to Pineapples, a water side bar we discovered last year with 2 for 1 rum punches for happy hour, which finishes at 6pm. The 6 of us quickly organize ourselves and make a bee line for the bar. Did we mention that these rum drinks are REALLY strong? Rum is relatively cheap in the Bahamas, but the mixings are very expensive. Thus drinks tend to be strong… very strong. 2nd reason we love the Bahamas. We each have 2 drinks and share an order of grouper fingers and then we’ve had all had it. None of us had got much sleep Friday night during the crossing, so we decide to call it a night and head back to our boats.

Back on the boat. A guy who is anchored next to us, shows up with a big cream pie in his hand and a server. We did not know him from Adam! “Hi, take a piece of pie for each person on board, and enjoy” “Wow, thanks. What’s your name?” “Steve” he says, and off he goes to the next boat. Main reason we like cruising – cruisers are so friendly.

After a great night’s sleep here we sit listening to the roosters crowing on shore. We can see the anchor dug in on the sandy bottom since, for the first time since we left the Bahamas last year, the water is crystal clear. 3rd reason we love the Bahamas. We are waiting for three more sets of friends to arrive this morning; they left the US yesterday morning. We will all spend Christmas here together, we’ll probably also invite the neighbour with the pie, and anyone else who is here, too.

Monday. Rumors are rampant. The customs lady is going to be coming to the marina near where we’re anchored, so we won’t have to make that long dinghy ride in the open in 20 knot winds. A friend at the marina will call us on the VHF and let us know when she arrives. Oops, nope, she’s not coming. We jump in the dinghy and head into town. We’re able to hug the shore so we don’t get too much wind chop and have a relatively dry ride in. As we arrive at the dock, two other guys are getting in their dinghies – she’s not going to be there today – she missed her plane in Nassau and won’t get back until late. All the while more boats arrive from the US. Now, instead of just the three of us who need to clear in, there are more than 20 boats waiting. This could get painful.

Tuesday. She’s definitely supposed to be here today. We go in at 9:00 am. There’s already a crowd at the customs house. Another lady arrives and says the customs lady is due in on the 10:45 ferry. She doesn’t have a key, but if we can break into the customs office, she is authorized to hand out the paperwork. She can’t clear anyone in, however – we’ll have to wait for the customs lady for that. We head back to the boat figuring we’ll 1: avoid prosecution in case someone in authority doesn’t like the idea of Americans and Canadians breaking into a Bahamian customs house, and 2: wait until after the crush to come in so we’ll get processed more quickly. While we’re gone, several captains help her “gain entry” and the paperwork is distributed. We already have ours, obtained from our friend at the marina on Sunday.

We arrive back at the customs house at about 11:30. There’s a line. A long one. The “breaker inners” who waited all this time are just starting to trickle out. The lady who previously wasn’t authorized to process the paperwork is now apparently authorized to do so – she’s the only one there and the customs lady still hasn’t shown up. About the time we get to the front of the line the customs lady shows up. Now there are two of them processing paperwork and the line moves much more quickly. We’re finally checked in and legal and ready to go after only 4 days. No worries, mon!

Merry Christmas

Lake Worth

Location: North Palm Beach, FL
Position: N26 50.405 W080 03.212

We’re currently anchored at the north end of Lake Worth, near North Palm Beach, FL. Lake Worth is a long, shallow body of water that runs north and south of the Lake Worth Inlet at Palm Beach. We arrived here in the late afternoon of Friday, December 5 after a nice sail down from Ft. Pierce. We finally had a chance to try out the new windvane self steering and are happy to report that it worked fine. With a few adjustments and modifications to our setup we expect to use it a lot. We’re looking forward to using it when we cross to the Bahamas.

The high point of our visit here so far was the Christmas boat parade last Saturday night. We overheard the Coast Guard on the VHF telling someone it was going from Palm Beach all the way up to Jupiter Inlet! Being about a mile off the route, the best part for us was the fireworks. We’d never seen this before – a fireworks barge led the procession and there was a constant fireworks display taking place for the entire 1.5 hours we could see it. It was really amazing! Easily the longest lasting fireworks display we’ve ever witnessed, and a big hit around the anchorage. About every 5 minutes there was a big ‘grand finale’ type display and we’d think it was over but then it would start back up again. We sat up on the coach roof with a glass of wine and had a wonderful time. It wasn’t even cold!!!

On the down side, we’ve been here for nearly a week and still haven’t found any nice walks. There’s a grocery store a short walk from the dinghy landing and a chandlery about a mile away. Apparently there’s a hardware store about 2.5 miles away but unfortunately, all of these destinations are on busy streets that aren’t very pleasant to walk along. We understand there’s a pretty good bus system and for $3 you can ride all day. If we’re here long enough we’ll check that out, too.

We did discover a very nice state park (John D. MacArthur State Park) with a nature center, lovely walks, and a boardwalk to the beach, but it’s a couple of miles just to get to the entrance, and then another good half mile to actually get into the park. The walk from the dinghy landing to the park is on a very busy road lined with gated communities, guard houses, thick hedges, and chain link fences. No little side roads, no bike paths (except those we could see inside the gated communities) – it’s a long, noisy walk. We’ve heard about another anchorage closer to the inlet that is within a short dinghy ride to another, smaller park. We may move down there for a while after the wind shifts - we do like our walks, after all.

We’re stuck on the boat today while, in cruiser’s parlance, it’s “blowing like stink”. The wind is between 20-30 knots from the south making the anchorage pretty bouncy. The good news is the frontal boundary is scheduled to pass through at around 4:00 this afternoon, clocking around to the west where we have more protection and we expect things to settle down considerably by this evening.

It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a weather window to cross to the Bahamas anytime soon. After today’s front, it sounds like it’s going to be blowing pretty steadily from the northeast, kicking up pretty high seas in the Gulf Stream. We’ll make the best of our stay here and, if a crossing window doesn’t open within the next week or so, will probably head down to Miami and try from there.

Fair winds,

Giving Thanks

Location: Vero Beach, FL
Position: N27 39.75 W08022.36

We’re currently on a mooring in Vero Beach, Florida (a.k.a. “Velcro Beach”). We arrived here on the 18th of November and rafted up on a mooring with our friends on ‘Diva’ and ‘Smiles’.

The afternoon we arrived in Vero, friends we met last year in the Bahamas on ‘Better Days’ stopped by and took us shopping. They have a house in nearby Ft. Pierce and invited us to share a lobster dinner at home with them. They then proceeded to loan us the car for two days and invited us back again the next night for a turkey dinner and birthday celebration! After several trips to the store and several more trips from the dinghy dock out to Rachel and back, we have pretty well completed our major provisioning for a season in the Bahamas. Rachel is now sitting low in the water and seems eager to head out before we think of anything else to load into her.

A couple of days ago we rigged up Belle for sailing and met some friends in their dinghy for a leisurely sail around the anchorage. It seems that everyone we pass is happy to see us sailing – and perhaps a bit envious, too, as they sit in their cockpits wishing they were out here with us. What a great way to meet new people.

Thanksgiving morning is a chilly, still morning and the boat is covered with heavy dew. Julie cooks the filling for a couple of chocolate pies we’re bringing to the cruisers Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon. By afternoon the weather is sunny and warm. We shed our sweats and fleeces in favor of shorts and tee-shirts. Thanksgiving in shorts – what a treat!

The cruiser’s Thanksgiving is a success. Three lines of tables are covered with all the Thanksgiving fare you can imagine. About 75 people attend, and there’s more than enough food for all of us. We’re pleased to run into several sets of friends we haven’t seen since we were in the Bahamas last year.

After dinner we sail Belle back home to Rachel in light wind on the nose, tacking slowly back-and-forth through the anchorage. As we sail, we talk about all the things we have to be thankful for on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day. We have each other. We have our families. We have our health. We have our shared love of living aboard and sailing. We have many, many friends – old, new, and not-yet-met. The list goes on and on, and after a while get silly, laugh, and smile, and remember once again why we’re doing this.

Gratitude and best wishes,

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

Wow!

Date: November 14, 2008
Location: Fort George River, FL
Position: N 30 26.424 W 081 26.143

We left Cumberland Island and headed further south down the ICW to the Fort George River today. On the way we saw a beautiful rainbow. It made a complete semi-circle from the earth up through the sky and back down to earth again behind us! Wow!!

We hadn’t stopped at the Fort George River last year and it turned out to be a lovely anchorage. Marsh grasses on one side of the river and an old plantation home on the other with excellent protection from the south – all good points on this blustery day. We went ashore and walked around, then headed back to the boat for dinner.

We had heard people talking about a shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, FL, but hadn’t really paid much attention to it. On the VHF we heard someone asking if anyone knew when the shuttle launch was tonight. Someone responded that it would be at 7:30 pm.

We were both a little skeptical that we would be able to see it from 125 miles away, but it was a nice night and it was either that or Julie beating Mark at dominos again – and that’s getting a bit old for one of us!!

So up we go to the cockpit after dinner and gaze intently to the south. 30 minutes later we have seen nothing and it’s getting chilly. Well, maybe they cancelled or delayed it. Maybe we just missed it, it is, after all, pretty far away. So off we go back down below feeling a little disappointed. Julie tidies up the galley and Mark works on a boat chore, when suddenly we hear this huge roaring sound. Like distant thunder, but more constant.

Wow!! Could that be the shuttle?

We quickly scamper up the companionway just in time to see this ball of fire clearing the top of the trees as the roar intensifies.

Wow!!

It only took maybe 15 seconds for it to disappear into the clouds on it’s way into outer space – but

Wow!!

We couldn’t believe it. We sat there looking up for several more seconds in silence, soaking it in. It looked like a comet! Just think – how fast were they going? Way faster than we do in Rachel, that’s for sure!

Wow!!

If it was this spectacular so far away, imagine what it would be like from the launch site! It’s possible to anchor at Titusville for a ring side seat, but we haven’t managed to do that, yet – we need to pay more attention to the launch schedule earlier in the year. However, after tonight’s launch we’re determined to see one “up close and personal”. Mark has always loved fireworks…..

Wow. You never know what you will see when you are out cruising.