Frosty the Rowman
door plaque reads - my other house is a village
I hope their chimney is bigger than this gap in the hedge
Saturday, Dec 25th:
In the peaceful spirit of the holidays, the bilge alarm sounded. We thought maybe Santa was confused about his nautical descent. Checking it anyway was a good decision. When Tom requested the manual bilge pump, I suspected something was up (i.e., the internal water level). Water from the water tank was pouring into the bilge - not usually a reassuring sign. I grabbed the kids, lifejackets, marine radio, and plastic farm animals, while Tom shut off the pressure system and pumped - Jonas had to put just one more piece on his lego jet. Tom's actions worked - although the farm animals were very appreciative. It turned out to be a faulty valve - easily repaired. Phew...my watch wasn't waterproof. Tom later relayed that ironically, the previous boat owner had written a sailing magazine article about the time the water had risen above the floor boards - maybe I missed my literary opportunity - as opposed to this...
We later learned that some unassuming sailor was actually following us throughout this ordeal - his electrical sytem (GPS) had failed - boy did he choose the wrong ship. The remainder of the trip to Fort Lauderdale was fairly uneventful, as we sailed past the quaint backdrop of mansions with helicopters, lawns scattered with golden Greek statues, rooftops with 20 foot inflatable snowmen, and docks of two boat households (excluding the jetskis).
We went ashore, anticipating a walk through a deserted city on Christmas day. Well, it sure brought back those childhood holiday memories..throngs of people mulling from body piercing store to swimwear shop to tattoo parlor to swimwear shop - waving at the monster trucks and the Santa with the red velvet sombrero. Actually, "party central" was an eclectic array of visual stimuli - the miles and miles of beaches with green water, families swimming together, friends taking beach photos with Santa hats, children on scooters, roller blades and bicycles, Frank Sinatra mixed with Latin jazz, and huge ocean liners anchored on the horizon.
So ends another Christmas.
vroom vroom - enjoying their Christmas presents - most toy stores were sold out of this popular dinosaurs on the runway set
elves relish their much deserved vacation
WINDow Seat, Ft. Lauderdale beach
Sunday, December 26th:
Shh..don't alert the Fort Lauderdale patrol to the fact that we've overstayed our 24 hour anchorage limit - if we're caught, we may try that old "but officer, we have 2 young children aboard and the small craft advisory with the 35 mph gusts might be unsafe" excuse - do you think they'll buy it? Okay, how about, "we'd love to pay $20 per day for a mooring but they're all taken, and we can see how this city is in desperate need of that daily $100 dock slip fee you charge to contribute to those golden Greek statues that line the ICW, but we were happy for the opportunity today to support your businesses with our grocery purchases." We hope to continue waiting out the winds here, until the patrol catches up with us - otherwise we may have to outsmart them and move downstream a mile (which doesn't really fit that limited 24 hours of anchorage anywhere in Fort Lauderdale for a 30 day period.
Tuesday, December 28th:
I guess our days as outlaws are over - the dockmaster found us out. However, on a positive note, the marina dock costs much much less than we anticipated, so we opted for access to land, showers, laundry machines, bathrooms with flush toilets - to name just a few of the luxuries - rather than moving on in the 30 mile gusts. I'm living the life of Riley (I hope he likes living the life of Ellen) - I stepped off the boat to the marina's deserted lounge - complete with chairs, table and couch - WILD! - having the time of my life - eating chocolates, sipping tea, and typing correspondence course assignments and e-mails. I talked to Dorothy today - they were having their staff (what's left of them) holiday party - they're still hanging in there, Dorothy seems to be doing a bang-up job of keeping the OYA ship afloat - I do miss them and being there. Speaking of blasts from the past...my old friend Lisa (of course she's not old - or then I would be too) and her husband and one of her children (4 yrs) dropped by for a barbeque - I can't believe it's been 6 years since we've seen each other - we reminisced about walking to elementary school, our crazy Queens teen years diner hopping, teen angst, family angst, the neighborhood maniac...
We're still deciding how many more days to stay here - based on the winds and flush toilet access (not necessarily in that order). No word yet on our website honorable mention - which may be that they "honorably mention" we don't apply again.
my ship has come in, Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale
a tropical shade of blue