Pavlovs Manatee

There is nothing tastier to a Manatee than fresh salt-free water. I have watched them push and shove to get a few precious drops. We have a saltwater anchor wash down hose. Yesterday morning as Ed was hosing the anchor and chain a big Manatee came swimming by. He was very unhappy that we had saltwater spraying through the hose. The big lug could not help himself, he kept coming back to verify that it had not changed to fresh water each time we turned the hose on. Pavlov would have been so proud.

Solar

We rented a car for a day to buy the solar panels and do some shopping. Got almost everything done in 22 hours then back to enterprise. We were concerned about overheating so we arranged for a mechanic to do some work on the cooling system too. I figured 4 maybe 5 days to complete the install and a few more things. We finished almost everything in 10 days, just in time for severe storms to come through, so we stayed 2 more days.

But now we have 240 watts of solar. We were running our generator almost 3 hours every day when we sat at anchor. This should cut that back to 1 hour every few days! Yea!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Ft. Lauderdale

We've been thinking of installing some solar panels and a good supplier is located in Lauderdale. So we decided to stop here to do the work. We went a few miles up the New River to the city owned Cooleys Landing, right downtown. The amazing thing about sitting here is the parade of megayachts. There are major repair facilities further up this narrow, twisting river. At least a dozen 100'+ yachts would pass by every day. Some beautiful machinery and some gaudy crap too. Amazing sights.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

SoBe II

South Beach is amazing. I've never seen so many outdoor cafes. Must be thousands. The art deco architecture goes on for miles.

We met Wally aboard Gypsy Wind and Ben & Jane on Old Rosie. Wally wants us to go to Cuba with him next year. Wally would be great fun, but sorry we'll have to pass.. Old Rosie's name was lifted from a Bob Seger tune. It became apparent Ben didn't name the boat after his wife! The 4 of us took our bikes on a long ride all thru South Beach. A perfect place for bikes, a great day of sight seeing, dining and goofing off.

After a very quick, fun week, we decided we'd better get underway before we spend all our money on lunches & dinners! We stayed off the beach, too much skin. I don't like seeing women in skimpy bikinis cavorting in the sun.

Next stop Ft. Lauderdale, a short day sail up the coast. Got yelled at by the water cops for trying to use the ship channel while cruise ships were present and got yelled at again in Lauderdale for circling around while waiting for a bridge opening; got to close to where there were no cruise ships!



Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom