Uncensored Sailing

John was nice enough to drive me the 60 or so miles from Mandeville to Destin Fl. to Meet Shane, the Boat and Crew. As we pulled into the parking lot at Harbor Water Sports in Destin I looked out and saw my home for the next month or 2. What a beautiful site, pointing into the wind, beam to us I got a perfect view, and what a great view it was with one of the little barrier islands in the background.

I was a little surprised to see Shane pulling up in a pontoon boat, actually, a little confused, most, ok noone uses a pontoon boat as their dinghy. As it turns out Ed from Sunshine Pontoon Rentals made a deal with Shane that if he would show him the boat he would let us use a pontoon boat to get around while we were in Destin.

After saying goodbye to John and my first adventure Shane and I were off.

Getting onto Guiding Light as almost like a dream coming true, I had thought about it for so long and it was finally happening, excited was an understatement at that point. Shane only had one other crew member on board, Russ. Russ is from England on holiday in the US. Russ and I quickly became friends and I soon became translator, bewteen Shane and Russ. Don’t get me wrong Russ’s englsh is perfect, it was the accent that threw Shane off.

With the greetings and get to knowings out of the way Shane, Russ and I headed out. Russ to the hardware store and Shane and I off to crab island. Crab island isnt an island per say, its basically a sandbar but a grea place to hang out and relax and after the last  days I was more than ready for that.

After leaving crab island Shane wanted to show me the incredible sand Destin is so famous for. Almost sugar white and super fine, it was incredible, so soft to walk on. Shane and I spent a couple hours talking to a local couple and getting to know each other before heading back to find Russ.

Finding Russ at AJ’s, a great bar and rest. on the waterfront in Destin we shared our first cocktails together. Aj’s is an open air bar with a palm fraun thatched roof, very open and beachy. I was a great introduction to Destin everything I had ever imagined a coastal Florida bar to be with live music and a rustic beachy look.

From Aj’s we headed back to the boat for dinner  before heading out for the evening. Now you have to understand, Shane and I are working on a lifestyle, so budgeting is part of our plan, the only way to make it work out long term is to be careful with your spending, but that is not to say we weren’t into a little nightlife. Russ being on holiday wasn’t as concerned with budget but we were above a little corruption either, so it worked out really well that it as $2 margaritas at the local Irish Pub, . Not being a big drinker I had a margarita and then switched to soda but I couldn’t tear myself away from the thought of their Bread Pudding with whiskey sauce so I indulged a bit. It was excellent and if you are in Destin recommend you try it, it is delicious!

Leaving  we headed back to AJ’s for a nightcap and last call before taking the pontoon boat back to Guiding Light. Somewhere along the way we had started talking about pulling out of Destin that night instead of getting up in 3 hours and leaving then. I’ll admit I was a little nervous about my first night passage. Standing on the beach at home at night looking out to sea can be a little intimidating, there is nothing, just blackness, it is a very odd felling. But after getting away from the lights of Destin, and my eyes adjusting, I found out very quickly that night passages aren’t as dark as you might think. There are stars, the moon and lights of other boats well off in the distance to keep you company. It is actually kind of neat, but I’ll admit it does take a little getting used to, not having headlights to show you the way.

Next post -  To St. Joe and the Swamp  and then on to Apalachicola,

S/V(Sailing Vessel) Guiding Light is a 41′ Lagoon Catamaran. A beautiful boat that is quite comfortable and light floating on a platform at 23′ at the beam(wide). Being that I get seasick I was extremely happy to find Shane’s(the Captain) ad on floatplan.com. I was hoping that the stability of a catamaran would eliminate some of the seasick issues that have plagued me since I first stepped foot on a boat(so far it is working).

Shane purchased Guiding Light just under a year ago in the Virgin Islands and floated back to the Galveston/Houston area on 2 1/2 week passage, a trip that I am now adding to my to do list. Shane is a retired volunteer fire fighter and Auditor, who has decided to join the cruising lifestyle.

The boat, for those of you that don’t know about catamarans is much spacier than most boats on the water today. There are 4 private cabins, each with its own bathroom/shower, though Shane has turned one bathroom into a complete shower stall. The cabins are quite roomy, with plenty of storage and closet space. The boat also has a full galley(and Shane is an excellent cook), stove, oven, fridge, freezer, no microwave but that is Shane’s choice. The storage space on a cat is amazing.

The only other thing that is really remarkable to me about the boat is its stability even under rougher conditions, set a glass down and it stays put. I guess it is the platform effect. There is no pitching side to side at all, just the bow up and down, it is really very nice.

Though a lot bigger than what I will end up with(someday) the Guiding Light is a great boat. I am still leaning towards the Gemini 105, its only 35′ with a 14′ beam which will make it easier to find dock space. There are very few marinas that can accommodate a boat 23′ wide like the Guiding Light.

John had asked me to come down for the Blessing of the Fleet the previous yr and now I am very sorry I didn’t. Mac’s 52ft sailboat is one of the ost beautiful I have ever seen and getting out on to the lake as one of the greatest little rides I have ever had. Through the Bayou where Mac tells me he has seen alligators and turtles. Though we didn’t see any alligators today we did spot a couple turtles soaking up some sun.

Once out the wind decided to die down so we really didn’t get a lot of sailing in, mostly just floating around, which worked for me. At one point Bruce and I got talking about the response of a sailboat so told Mac to let me spin her, surprisingly that big ole boat could turn almost on a dime and really the biggest problem I had was learning to make small adjustment instead of larger ones. But I think that will come with time.

Another thing we talked about was Katrina.  Bruce lives in New Orleans and it was funny talking to him because all the things we were shown on TV he never really got to see or hear about in the aftermath. Bruce was one of the lucky few that the didn’t end up with water inside the house, it stopped just 3 houses below him.

Anyways back to sailing. We headed in for the Blessing of the Fleet and it was great! All the boats involved lined up and paraded down the shoreline until everyone was past the entrance then we turned around and headed back to go by the padre.

We had been told there was 5′3″ of water available to us, but we were the first to find bottom, several other boats did as well. Including a 41′ Formosa(pictured) that needed a pull off by BoatUS. From there it was back to the marina and some definitely needed down time. Before we headed to Destin the next day to get on the S/V Guiding Light.

This was a long day, after the trolley and St. Charles Street John and I made our way back to our hotel via Bourbon street. Even during the day there is a lot going on Bourbon Street. This picture was taken on a Saturday afternoon and it isn’t even half the people that were there the night before. It was amazing that a what had been a trash strewn, beer stench street the night before was now reasonably clean and didn’t smell half as bad.  I would really hate to have the street cleaners job.

Walking down Bourbon Street during the day, with out the crowds, doesn’t mean you aren’t going to see the antics of Bourbon street. Every few blocks you may see a street performer, all the bars are open and some even had music going, though at a much lower decibel than the previous night. Really the only big difference on Bourbon Street during the day is the crowd size, its a little smaller, but you still get the party vibe.

One little note about the street performers. When it comes to ingenuity they get an A. Have you ever seen beer can tap shoes? Me either. They cut the bottom of the can of beer off and basically nail it the the bottom of the shoes. The sounds travels amazingly far and some of the guys are really talented.

From Bourbon street to the hotel for a well deserved nap. Two hours later we were headed back to Bourbon street to get something to eat. We had planned on just jumping from place to place and just having appetizers but we never made it past our first stop, Pier 424.

I have had raw oysters on the half shell all over the place, but I have to say that Gulf oysters are my favorites and Pier 424 knows ow to take care of their customers. We ordered our first dozen and decided that wasn’t enough, moved to the end of the bar where the guys were sicking and ordered another dozen. We got talking with the guys shucking and that dozen turned into about 16-18.  So for about $40 we had well over 2 dozen oysters, a couple beers and 2 mixed drinks, not bad at all!

After oysters it was back to the Old Opera House for some more dancing and another drink or threee then back to the hotel early(1am) so we could get up and head to Mandeville to meet Mac and head out on his boat for the blessing of the fleet.

Melissa

My second day in NO was a tourist day, John took me to several places, first was the walk to Cafe Dumonde. From our hotel we had to walk through a neat little area spotted with mule drawn carriages and art exhibits. The area was great but the carriages seemed pretty pricey at $15 a head and though most of the animals seem to be well cared for the one I decided to have a close look at was crusty with sweat at 10am and had a couple loose shoes. My personal thoughts were if you charge $15 a head all day long you should be able to take care of your money maker a little better, but that is just me.

We got to Cafe Dumond way to late or way to early I am not sure which but the line was easily 150 people  long so we decided to skip it, and I still haven’t had a chance to try a binet!

I think the real highlight of this area was the street performers, they were scattered around here and there but there was one guy dressed up as the tin, he was absolutely hilarious. Although there was one mime that seemed a little sketchy, we just avoided him, though he was good at just stading there, if  you didn’t know it was a live person, his stare would have anyone convinced that he just died standing there with his eyes wide open staring at nothing.

A word of caution, the tin man, don’t turn your back on him or bend over to tie your shoe, you may find everyone around you laughing at some unknown thing he is doing, they are laughing at you and his antics. He was definitely one of the highlights of NO for me.

From the tin man we grabbed the trolley to the french market and to get something to eat. The french market could be really be called just a flea market, with vendors selling everything from Sunglasses to t-shirts, hats, alligators heads etc. If you have never seen it before it is definitely worth the trip, but I don’t think it warrants more than one or two trips. Right down the street there is the Jimmy Buffet store, which was surprisingly reasonable price wise, but nothing really jumped at me and shouted buy me, so I passed.

From there John and I walked several blocks to Canal St.(?) and grabbed a trolley to have look at the garden district. The homes in this areas are what I really think of when I think of New Orleans, true southern homes, 2 stories, intricate railings around the balconies and beautiful gardens. This is one area of New Orleans that I really would like to see again.

We rode the trolley to about the end of the line where we found a small little open air cafe sat and had a drink and a rest for a few. The whole area is beautiful but the trolley ride and all of the old homes was definitely the highlight.

Back to Bourbon Street that night but I’ll get to that in the next post.

Melissa

I arrived in New Orleans at night but the only way to get good pictures of Bourbon Street, just as a street and not the crowd is to go back during the day for pictures, so most of the photos are going to be day shot though there are a few nighttime ones.

John and I wasted no time at the hotel, a quick check in the mirror and we were gone. Walking to Bourbon St. was as simple as 2 blocks up and 2 blocks over, though dark in that area there were enough ppl around that it wasn’t completely like a dark alley but they are a little sparing on their lighting in New Orleans, maybe that is because they still use gas lamps in the touristy spots. But I felt 100% safe.

Stepping onto Bourbon street for the first time is like stepping into a Vegas casino, lights everywhere. We got there about 10pm and it was already pretty busy, for my NH friends it was like bike week at the Weirs but with more ppl and a longer street, but with balconies over head lined with ppl.  A real party crowd, with no age limit. We saw your typical younger crowd raising hell but  as well the older crowd seemed to be really into it too. You would expect with that many ppl in such a small area there would be problem but for the most part everyone was kind and courteous.

Unlike all the stories you hear, you don’t have to “work” for your beads, most are happy with a wave and a big smile, I came home with several string both nights. Drinks are available everywhere, anything you ant from beer to daiquiris (shops that have them already mixed and several flavors to chose from). There are several places all along Bourbon St. and with a names like “Big Ass Beers” there is no question what they sell. I even saw a few HUGE Miller Lite bottle, about 18″ tall with handles built into the plastic bottle.

The different bars seem to compete with each other for who can be the loudest, we found one, The Old Opera House that played all 80’s and 90’s music and stopped there several times throughout the 2 days we were there. No matter what you like for music and drinks there is a bar for you on Bourbon street. From Jazz to Techo, we heard it all and the drinks weren’t bad either.

Like so many other tourist spots there were gift shops everywhere but I didn’t have much interest in them, I wanted to check out the voodoo shops, the bars(even though I don’t really drink I love to dance), get something to eat and catch the crowds the first night, my brain was on overload at all the new things to see.

I did want to try some of the great food that I had heard about so Jon and I found this little place called the Cajun Cabin right there on Bourbon St. it as extremely reasonable and their food as excellent. I had Jambalaya and fried alligator tail. It as the perfect intro to NO food.

My intro to NO was not at all what I expected. We had taken a wrong turn and were looping back around to get to our hotel room when we saw 3 cops putting a guy in handcuffs, being at a red light across the street we couldn’t really help but watch, to me it as like a train wreck, you know, you just have to look. Anyways they get him out of the car, cuff him, and then proceed to pull a gun out and set it on the hood. Welcome to New Orleans! I have never seen anything like it, it really was a rude awakening to what went on outside my little island where there is no crime.

Flying into a new city is great when you fly in during the day, I didn’t have that pleasure in NO, so I didn’t get to see much on my way in. John had gotten us at a room 2 blocks from Bourbon street, a great little hotel. It was a great little Best Western in the perfect spot, away from the noise but close enough to the action.

On the way to the Hotel we passed the Super Dome. The only pictures I had seen of the Superdome were  picture and videos on the TV during and in the aftermath of Katrina and they did this building no justice what so ever. If you have never seen a stadium this big before, you really need to, the  size alone is amazing.

Wasting no time we left the hotel and headed to Bourbon Street soon after arrival. I am going to continue in another post, because Bourbon St really needs its own page, or three.

Melissa

The small set back yesterday is now resolved a FedEx truck just showed up. That problem out of the way there are really only a few things left to do to be ready for departure tomorrow. A little running around, a little computer work and some last minute shopping(I am about tired of shopping at this point) and I should be ready.

Going to weight all my gear tonight as I don’t want to incur over weight baggage fees but I think I am good, I can still pick my gear back up so I should be good…lol

There are so many little things to do when you are getting ready for a trip like this that it could become rather overwhelming and on such short notice it almost has, but thinking things threw, taking a break, often, and having a good checklist has saved me from insanity the last few days. Also the knowledge that I will be living an adventure for the next two months has kept my sanity in check. Though the excitement is overflowing, it is the one emotion I can not, nor have I ever been able to really control. Perma grim is my new facial expression! LOL

Melissa

So I needed good foul weather gear, cheap yellow plastic stuff wasn’t going to cut it on this trip so i went to West Marine Monday got a jacket, but they were out of my size in the Third Reef pants I wanted, actually they didn’t have any womens pants or bibs so no matter what I did they were going to have to order them.

So I have a great West Marine employee, Jim and we start looking. We find out that  if I have them shipped to West Marine they will get there Friday the same day I leave, that wasn’t going to work. So in looking around he found that if we ship store to door they would be here Weds., AWESOME! PERFECT etc. etc… Jim did the paperwork, and assured me they would be here on Weds.

So I get up this morning and make a call to get the tracking number from Fedex and look them up. Much to my delight it says “out for delivery”. 2pm rolls around and I start getting nervous, 4pm an I am seriously worried, it is now after 6pm, oh shit! So I check Fedex again, “not due for delivery” WHAT?!?!!?!?!I give them a call and they say they weren’t really supposed to be delivered until Friday so if the driver doesn’t have time they will hold the package on the truck.WTF?!?!

Let me explain a little why this doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me. I live on an island, with one road, not two or ten, but ONE! And it runs not 50 feet away from the front of my house and I know that driver went by here today. My desk faces the window, I see every car that comes into town and leaves.

So anyways I have been on the phone with Fedex Customer Service, I have been on the phone with my local Fedex Office and I have been on the phone with West Marine. The guys at West Marine are great they are going to call Fedex first thing in the morning and see if they can coax them into putting the package out for delivery tomorrow considering that is when they were told it would be delivered. Fedex on the other hand, well lets just say I don’t have much faith at this point, the customer service guy was somewhere in India and could barely understand what I was talking about. Now the lady at my local office was a little better but she left it as I will try to get a message to some and if I don’t get here early enough I will see if someone else can.

So I don’t have much confidence in the measures Fedex is taking to make sure I have them but we will see. Now the West Marine guys I am really pulling for if anyone can make this happen, I know they can! Everyone keep their fingers crossed!

For years I have been dreaming of a sailing trip, well actually more that, a sailing life, but until recently I never thought it would be possible, between work and life in general it never really fit into my lifestyle. But more recently it was time to do something other than work work work. A quick phone call and I had a trip planned to spend some time in New Orleans at the Blessing Of The Fleet, from there it blossomed into the trip of a life time. A learning experience but also a life experience(yes there is a difference). So for the first time in my life I am walking away from everything with no time frame in mind and nothing to hold me back. The plan is 2 month, the reality could be much longer or much shorter, either way, I can’t wait!

So here is the itinerary, Friday, get on a plane and head to New Orleans, Friday night and Saturday will be spent exploring the area. Since I have never been south of Myrtle Beach, SC this should be a great trip, though I am told culture shock increases with every mile south you go. Works for me. Sunday my friend and guide, John and I are heading over to Mandville, LA for the blessing of the Fleet on Mac’s boat. A 52′ sailboat. I’ll post picture for sure.

Monday is where the scrambling begins. My captain, Shane, has to be in FT Lauderdale by the 27th to drop off another crew member, so Monday John has been gracious enough to drive me the 4 and a half hours to Destin Florida, having to be back at work that night makes it a long day for John, and I will never figure out how to thank him enough. The plan is to spend ther night on the boat in  Destin and then head out in the morning for Apalachicola, Fl and then on to Ft Lauderdale. After that comes the unknown, Shane has a schedule/plan but as with sailing anywhere it is not set in stone, just tentative. Works for me.

Okay enough for now, have to make a trip into town for pepper spray and a knife(both of which I forgot to pick up while out the other day).

Melissa