My Sextant
Getting your latitude by celestial navigation can be actually relatively easy. It also can be totally overwhelming if you read the incredibly obtuse chapter 8 of Bowditch. My advise when learning is to stick to a few basics as outlined below. Continue reading “Celestial Navigation Primer” »
A Bridge Enroute to Lake Okeechobee
It is posible to save 165 NM of navigation by crossing the state of Florida via Lake Okeechobee instead of doubling the Keys. Going counterclockwise, you enter through the Port St. Lucie Inlet, then motor up the river, and finally connect to the Port St Lucie canal. This canal leads under many bridges, past Indiantown, through two locks, and into Lake Okeechobee. There are draft and bridge clearance restrictions. Excellent information is available on the super Blue Seas website.
Danger: Traveling this route during the tropical season from June until November is not advised.
Route April 2012 from Fort Lauderdale to Saint Maarten
Traveling by sea from Florida to Saint Maarten is a 1,500 nautical mile journey upwind. There are two options: (1) the scenic route down the thorny path (2) the delivery route on route 65. The path to most take advantage of predominant wind conditions is route 65 as detailed in this article. This option is the proven path over decades to most quickly and safely jump from Florida to the Leeward Islands. Continue reading “Guide from Fort Lauderdale to Saint Maarten” »
Updated version of my guide to Cartagena. Just finished my second delivery.
Warning: Do not travel this route during high hurricane season from August to October.
Caution: From June until November, keep a sharp eye on tropical weather and avoid crossing the Caribbean Sea if a storm is predicted.
Route From Miami to Cartagena
The key to cruising from Southeast Florida ( whether your departure location is Fort Lauderdale, Miami, or further north such as Stuart ) to Colombia is to stay as far east as possible. The prevailing south easterly trade winds will push you west to Panama and force you to beat back to Colombia. The trick is to sail into the Bahamas, follow along the leeward side of the Exumas, shoot through the Windward Passage, and power reach down to Cartagena. If the winds are strong from the south east, a trick may be to hug the west coast of Haiti and leave Navassa well to starboard. Then let the winds lift you as far east as possible when you round the mountainous coast. The winds sometimes wrap around Hispanola here and will come from due south. The further east you are lifted, the more you will have in the bank during the long Caribbean Sea crossing. Do not go north around Hispanola and leave the Dominican Republic to starboard. You are wasting your time going 300 nautical miles upwind when you can catch the currents underneath Hispanola for the same effect. Read on for a more detailed report on the two halves of this journey. Continue reading “Guide to Cartagena, Colombia from Miami, Florida” »
Sunrise over Cartagena in June 2011
I am currently en-route to Cartagena, Colombia on a Leopard 46 sailing catamaran. I should be back on radar in early December. Please feel free to follow me on SPOT enroute to Cartagena, Colombia. You can see my route from a previous trip and an explication on my guide from Miami to Cartagena post on Waves in July.
I am updating this blog from Big Majors anchorage in Staniel Cay on Sunday, November 27th. It is amazing how well you can stay in contact with the world these days. And the $10 per 200 MB of Wifi here at Staniel is worth it.
Tonight we leave at midnight to complete the last 5 or 6 days of this delivery to Cartagena. Kevin is tipsy on Bahamian rum while mis Peruvian patas are enjoying their last tranquilo momentos hasta el viaje. El jefe is chilling in the master hull while the ambasidor is watching a movie starboardside. The wind has picked up, and rain is falling. But all reports are for an usually calm Caribean once we get through the Windward Passage. We have over run our welcome here at Big Majors and seen enough of the Thunderball grotto and swiming pigs. I have swum the anchorage every dawn and dusk keeping up my fitness. I will be glad to get moving again.
Stories and reviews will come in future posts.
Miami River Bridges
Outbound from Hurricane Cove (max 75′ clearance)
Call Bridges on Channel 09
Monitor Channel 16
All Bridges Open on Demand
The American Practical Navigator by Bowditch
A colleague pointed me towards this Blue Seas website a week ago. First he had found via a Google search pdfs of Sailing Directions, the volumes of coastal pilots familiar to merchant mariners such as this one of the Bahamas. What a tremendous find! The government site was in a poor format though, so searching a little more, he found this Blue Seas Navigation website. This site not only has Sailing Directions but Chart 1, the Sight Reduction Tables, and Bowditch all available free for download. I have upcoming deliveries to Tortola and Columbia, and by downloading these onto my iPad, I will no longer have to lug around my hardcover copies. The new tools for your celestial navigation pleasure are an iPad and sextant. Make sure you download the current Nautical Almanac.
A video from Alton Brown's show Feasting on Waves showing how to make Bush Tea while foraging in St. Kitts
Alton Brown’s “Feasting on Waves” captures a fun, attractive slice of cruising – exploring the cuisines of Caribbean cultures. If you have not seen the show, Alton sails around on two 50-foot custom catamarans, “Chef de Mer” and “Boheme,” to taste the flavors of local eateries in the islands. Apparently the show was produced in 2008, but I first saw it a couple weeks ago. He starts in St. Kitts and travels north through the Leeward Islands enroute to the BVI’s. He seeks to find authentic, traditional dishes. I like how precise and colorful Alton Brown is whether in his old show “Good Eats” or here. I caught the second episode where Alton is in St. Martin. He surveys the open markets of Marigot, goes to the Island Mauby factory (which is not very clean seeming), taste tests a Lolo in Grand Cass, and finally forages on Saba. The show made me dream about the Caribbean. Continue reading “Caribbean Geography: Feasting on Waves” »
This article was featured in the May issue of Waterfront News. Jennifer Heit co-wrote the content.
What does a railroad bridge and an alligator have in common? Both are local icons that have sparked an idea to transform Riverwalk’s Florida East Coast (FEC) railroad bridge into a bright green alligator in honor of the city’s 100th birthday next year. To simulate the gator, the bridge would be wrapped in a 3M product similar to advertising displayed on buses and airplanes. Orange traffic cones would represent the gator’s teeth. “It’s complicated and challenging but it will be worth it,” said JoAnn Medalie, a member of the city’s Centennial Celebration Committee, assigned to identify city landmarks to be decorated and raise private funds for the projects. “It will be fun. You need things in a city that will bring smiles to people.” Fort Lauderdale City Commissioners unanimously approved the conceptual plan in March. A cost estimate is expected by May. No funding is in place yet, with the committee still in the process of setting a budget and having plans drafted. RailAmerica, which runs Florida East Coast Railway, would then review the proposal. Medalie, a former city employee, came up with the idea after years of hearing former co-worker Susyn Stecchi, who ate lunch on Riverwalk every day, comment that “’when I look at that bridge, all I can think of is a gator — a big, green gator.’” Boaters traveling downtown encounter the bridge located just west of the Andrews Avenue bridge. It closes to river traffic to allow freight train access. If all goes according to plan, the gator design is targeted to be in place by next March, in time for the city’s birthday celebration taking place on Riverwalk March 27.
Riding into history
A moss green alligator would be quite a change for the traditional steel bridge gracing Riverwalk’s skyline. Jim Kovalsky, treasurer of the Florida East Coast Railway Society, e-mailed that he personally has his doubts about the project. “…I am concerned that this kind of a project will make the bridge even more of a target for vandals who want to “tag” it with graffiti. Anything that can increase the desire to trespass on railroad property will increase the risk of someone (likely a teenage male) being killed by a train.” The bridge has been renovated twice. It was originally built in 1895 with a single track. It was replaced with another single track span in 1925. The pivot point for the leaf moved from the south to the north bank of the river. During the 1930s and 1940s, FEC trains carried passengers and freight, according to FEC company historian Seth Bramson. “Southbound trains were mostly arrivals coming from Buffalo, Chicago, and other places up north,” Bramson said. “Northbound trains were departures. The passengers arriving would have to walk a long way southward to the station. The passengers departing would have to walk a long way towards the New River to get on their passenger car.” In 1978 the current two track bridge was installed. Today about 16 trains a day running 24 hours a day carry only loads of freight on the rails.
City birthday plans
Another proposal the committee is investigating calls for adding signature lighting beneath the 17th Causeway bridge in time for Winterfest in December. “The specific type of lighting has not been identified, but we are researching options that make sense from an environmental and economic perspective,” said city spokesperson Shannon Vezina in an e-mail. To see a video on the bridge proposal, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-0BXipCoZA.
Summerfield Aerial Cerca 1998
Summerfield Boat Works was a boat yard across from Lauderdale Marine, Broward Marine, and Riverbend on the South Fork of the New River in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 1930 to 2006. The yard sold in early 2005 and closed down in 2006. I remember this sale well as our brokerage office was at Summerfields. We had just finished renovating the back office when the news came. The property sold during the boom years of the real estate market for $5 million and then again $10 million according to Broward County Property Records. In 2009 Regions bank foreclosed on the New Orleans developer. On September 14 2010, the bank unloaded the property for $1.25 million according to the same Broward Records.
But still the property lies dormant. Everyone I talk to expresses the disappointment with the sale and the current status of Summerfields. “It makes me sick,” says a former yard hand there. If it had turned out financially better for the purchasers, the closure might make more sense. But to tear the yard down and do nothing for five years really is not only heartbreaking but a waste of resources. Continue reading “Summerfield Boat Works – New River, Fort Lauderdale” »
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