Oddments, #1

1. As of today, Tuesday, 12/23/08, we have been underway 42 days, exactly six weeks. We have been gone from the house, and on the boat, an additional week. I haven't yet killed Carol although there certainly have been grounds for justifiable homicide. She hasn't yet divorced me although there have certainly been grounds to have done so.

2. Sea Harbour in Oriental is just north of ICW mile 180; Miami is at ICW mile 1089. We're a little over 800 ICW miles, so far. Of that 800 miles, almost 300 were on the open water. We have about another 150 or so open water miles to Key West

3. In Florida we must have seen more than 300 signs about protecting the manatees. We have yet to see even one manatee.

4. Having been on the ICW for about 500 miles, I have been amazed at how clean and litter free it is. There is the occasional piece of stuff from high water during a storm, but is is surprising to see a beer can or any other common trash.

5. We have motored out of several ports. On the charts, printed at the end of the channel are always these three words: North Atlantic Ocean. If this doesn't focus your mind, you should stay in the tub with a rubber ducky.

6. On a sail boat, things always happen slowly, until they don't. The segue is hard on an old man.

7. In open water, well away from the shore, the Atlantic Ocean is an incredibly beautiful gray/green color. The fact that I'm red/green color blind has not dimished my enjoyment of the color. There have also been some little bits of seaweed from the Sargasso Sea that have provided a nice yellowish contrast to the water.

8. Not meaning to upset any ladies, but ..... on boats with hetero couples it seems to be the natural order of things that men are the captains and women are the first mates. What's interesting is this: on sailboats the "first mate" usually is also usually the first mate, i.e. original marriage. There is a much higher incidence of trophy wives on motor vessels. I guess the deal is that you need a new babe to go with the new boat. Lucky for us that we bought a sailboat.

9. Another thing about motor vessels ..... When you pass or are in an anchorage, it's almost always all sailboats, probably at the 98/99% level. I guess that when you're spending $100 a day, or more, on fuel, the incremental cost of a marina is not a big deal.

10. If the only thing that a person were to see of this country, the USA, was the view from the ICW, that person would truly think that the streets here are paved with gold. The houses are incredible! Very few would have a price with less than two commas in it. I thought that I had become enured to all this. Then we hit an area near St. Augustine where the piers and docks certainly cost more than our house did. I was stunned.

11. On the trip to Miami, we saw our first flying fish. They don't actually fly, it's more of a glide. And, they always seem to glide into the wind, for more lift and more distance. But, how does a fish underwater know how to gauge the wind direction?

12. While traveling about Miami Beach I have been looking at balconies by the thousands. So far I have seen just two people on balconies.

13. We just tried our second two anchor mooring. It was event neutral, unlike our first attempt. I guess that after a few more attempts we will have eliminated all of the wrong things to do and the only alternative left will be the right way.