We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday 6 May just in time for the US Navy Air and Sea show, guess who was very pleased! Thanks to a tip from our friends onboard Shiva, who we had sailed with to Venezuela last year, we headed to a small dock known as Bruno’s Zoo. We tied up there at the end of a Bruno’s garden with 5 other boats including Shiva & Sarah Grace (can’t shake them off), what a treat and for only $20 a night including electricity, complimentary bicycles and an outside shower under a banana tree! So we had civilization for a few nights, and the first thing on the agenda was to find hair-dressers to get rid of the Venezuelan Orange look and then a good restaurant for a reunion dinner.
Mark getting some free rope at Bruno's Zoo
To get into Fort Lauderdale we had to go under a road bridge, most of them open for you like a drawbridge but some don’t! We had measured the mast twice and Mark had even climbed up with the tape measure in his teeth and we were sure that it was 60 feet to the top of the mast. However, passing under a bridge with a clearance of 65 feet for the first time was a very nerve racking experience. There are calibrated water level boards by the bridges indicating the clearance but peering up from on deck it looks really close – you can imagine that final second of doubt – is an imperial foot the same as a US foot…..
The 1st bridge !
Fort Lauderdale is a very swish place with very large houses on canals with even larger boats – mainly motor boats parked outside. In fact we are finding that sailing yachts are generally a bit looked down, just floating ‘trailer-trash’. When Sarah Grace tried to call the mobile fuelling boat to get some diesel they were told “we just don’t do yachts it’s just not worth my time!” – Not big or rich enough and clearly not squandering sufficient natural resources!
On that note we can see why, whichever President it was, didn’t sign the Kyoto Agreement as there seems to be little effort to preserve the planet’s dwindling reserves (better turn the engine off and start sailing whilst writing this). It’s not only the use of a 7 Litre Hummer as the family run-about (they are, after all, provided with 4 seats for that purpose) but also the whole pattern of life.
For example at the laundrette there are banks and banks of clothes dryers churning away which is odd in a climate where washing dries in minutes on a washing line. Likewise, in a move presumably sponsored but the US clothing industry, shopping is conducted in sub-zero temperatures. Whether it is a cavernous DIY store or the Sainsbury’s equivalent, all retail space is cooled to a temperature that makes the T shirt bra essential. The carbon footprint left by a shopping trip is therefore significant.
Our shopping trips are a little better as we (sadly) have to go on foot, a method of transport poorly catered for in the US. Walking attracts strange looks not so much from car drivers, they lock their doors and look straight ahead assuming that you have recently escaped from an institution, but from those on bicycles for whom it appears the pavements have been provided. Strangely though all road junctions have buttons to push to change those “WALK/ DON’T WALK” signs. However, as no one ever walks there is little point in allocating much time for the non-existent pedestrian to cross the road. Thus one has only reached the fast lane of the first 4 lane carriageway before you are instructed to “DON’T WALK’ and the cars start inching towards you. This makes crossing a road on foot is extremely hazardous exercise spiced up by the ‘Turn right on red’ rule frankly, you might as well walk blindfolded across the M 1.
We waved a final goodbye (Again) to Sarah Grace on 9 May, who are on their way home now via Bermuda – we will watch their progress across the Atlantic on http://blog.mailasail.com/sarah-grace.
We left the next day heading for Fort Pierce via a night stop in Palm Beach. The reason to go to Fort Pierce ($12 to park Dinghy here) was to see Manatees. Mark slightly ruing the Christmas present guide books that told Louise of the Fort Pierce Manatee Centre which was duly visited, we decided not to go on the Manatee boat tour but instead toured the canals very slowly for ages in our dinghy but sadly not one Manatee spotted. Disheartened we had a wander around town and discovered it was the Corvette Classic Car meet, so pottered about looking at polished classic cars and proud owners.
Fort Pierce also introduced us to ‘Love Bugs’ – Big black ******s linked bum to bum in a mass procreation exercise – and they are EVERYWHERE. Louise’s sporting a new white t-shirt around town discovered much to her horror that not only do they like ‘Love’ but also the colour white! Later we found one out another of the disadvantages of having a white boat – Jem was literally covered in these insects copulating away, Louise lost it at this point and started on an episode of destruction but it was a losing battle and we just locked ourselves down below! We are beginning to wonder where all the children are and when are they going to appear?
Sunday 13 May we sailed north to Cocoa Beach, a trip that required passage through our first lock in the inter-coastal waterway; this didn’t go as smoothly as hoped. Louise nearly fell over the guard rail and is still bearing the bruises – this after announcing that being a West Midlands girl she knew all about locks have spent many happy hours down at ‘The Cut’ presumably waiting for sailors.
We met up with our friends Rudy & Lilian on Shiva and went for a joint trip to The Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral; they were wheeling out the shuttle Atlantis ready for blast off on 8 June. It was a great day trip, however Cape Canaveral has been slightly ‘Disneyfied’ but still hugely interesting and very exciting to actually see the shuttle on the launch pad waiting to go! We were tempted by the idea of space freeze dried ice-cream, so bought a packet to eat with our lunch – but very quickly decided we are not going to be adding this to ‘Jem’s’ stores!
The New recruits to the space programme!
Louise was very annoyed to learn that Shiva when dropping their anchor in Fort Pierce, a mere 8 hours after we had left, had a family of Manatees in the water where they were trying to anchor!!! Trying to spot a Manatee remains one of the dullest pastimes available to man.
After the success of the lock, we decided to spend a day travelling up the inter-coastal waterway instead of sailing out in the ocean. This is basically a canal that runs inside any islands or coast strip from Key West all the way up to Norfolk in Virginia. The disadvantage is that you can’t really sail as they are too busy with other boats and bridges that have to be opened however, the best success is that we have finally spotted a Manatee – (Praise the lord) - well a grey tail disappearing into the water but it definitely wasn’t a Dolphin.
Thursday 17 May St Augustine Fl. The oldest town in the US established by the Spanish in 1565, we anchored just off the Spanish fort which made a terribly picturesque anchorage until we discovered that they fired the cannons 3 times a day during various re-enactments! A very pretty old town slightly marred by the locals dressing up in ‘ye olde fashioned dresse’.
Lifting our anchor this morning Sunday 20 May heading towards Amelia Island on the Florida / Georgia borders we saw a whole family of Manatees, so we now feel this animal has been well and truly spotted – hurrah!
Enough Manatee stories - Ed | 
