M/Y Mary Ann

The Mary Ann left her moorage at Marina Bay in the Fort Lauderdale New River waterway at 1030 this morning bound for Cat Cay in the Bahamas. Aboard were the “usuals”: Captains John and Mary Ann who also double as engineer and crew and First Mate Isabel who doubles as cook and laundress. We also had aboard Captain Bob who has been in charge of the maintenance and upkeep on the Mary Ann while she sat idle during the off season. Captain Bob was to be our guide as we exited the narrow, sometimes confusing, and always very crowded New River to the sea.

It was said to me back in Panama, when I asked how the wx was on the Caribbean side, that “… the Caribbean is only famous for two things…” I’m not sure what the second thing was, but the first thing is wind. It is now blowing about 20 knots from the north and we’re fortunate to be here in Hurricane Hole Marina because the northerly winds are said to raise a fearsome sea when they hit the northerly flowing two knot gulf stream.

Do you remember the old Beatles song, ‘I’m a Loser’? Well, I admit it. I have finally come to the realization that this boat is just too technical for me to operate. Let me tell you how it went and what has led me to that conclusion.

We float on calm water. Our background is the beautiful coral colored Atlantis Resort with its towers spiraling up to meet a clear blue sky, water splashing down from sea shell fountains mounted between its balconies, and large stone sea horses jutting from the walls as if they were standing on guard of this castle on the sea. It is a perfect place and I love being here on our very beautiful boat . . . as long as it doesn’t move. I wrote in the log on our day of departure, “All is well that ends well”. Now I add another wisdom: “Pretty is as pretty does”.

I didn’t think I would be posting any more entries to this log when I left the boat in Atlantis after our sad saga of visiting the Bahamas! I’ll have to say that at times I am definitely a loser, but at least I’m not a quitter so here I am, alone, back on the boat at Marina Bay, soaking up the 80 degree wx and getting the boat ready for another round. Time heals all wounds, they say, and now in reviewing my last log entry on January 17 I see some humor in all of the boat problems that befell us, although they weren’t very funny at the time.

Captain John has proclaimed that departure from our slip here in Marina Bay is imminent. “Imminent” is beginning to take on a new meaning, for that has been the state of our departure since we arrived here four days ago. This morning Isabel and I received his proclamation at 0700. Immediately after it was given he departed for shore “to do a last minute errand” and we have not seen hide or hair of him since. Probably he is listening to tearful farewells from all of his friends, the repairmen. They are very sad to see us go.

Boy, I feel like I should go back to Captain’ school! There is no doubt whatever that this Intracoastal Waterway business is confusing. The old rules are best forgotten as new aids to navigation along this route seem to have their own identity codes thus far. “Red Right Returning?” Maybe yes, maybe no, depends on whether you’re going upstream or downstream, inland or outbound, old channel or new channel. Sure gets your pulse going.

The mysterious eastern Air Conditioning Guy arrived early in the morning with his helper, the boss. He had determined--as was already known to us--that there was no Freon in the A.C. system. The system was leaking they explained to us: a very astute analysis. Mysterious Easterners know how to take care of problems like this. The leaks were quickly plugged and we were at last ready to start our journey up the Intra Costal Waterway.

At 0855 this morning we departed from our Marriott Marine Resort moorage behind Hutchison Island and whomever the pirates are that attend high school somewhere on the island. Although it was a pleasant moorage we are not sorry to be gone. It is a dangerous place. Still I cannot fault the restaurant management for the treachery that befell us in their establishment. They gave us a replacement umbrella to keep and to use on our way back to the Mary Ann. After all prom queens are not the only type of women who might be concerned with the preservation of a hair do.

You see that these by-lines are all marinas. The reason for that is that I have been too uncertain about the depth of the water to try anchoring, and not very many other boats seem to be very confident either. The tidal swing is only one to two feet, but given the apparently uneven nature of the bottom, as indicated by my having rubbed along it several times every day, I’m concerned that we’ll awaken perched on a mud pile. We actually had to push our way into the marina at Hutchison Island although we were dead center in the marked channel.