Saturday, December 6, 2003
Pearce was up before the sun this morning, had untied his "stability"
line from the pole, and was pulling up the anchor as the first streaks began to
show in the east. A sailboat had come in last night just before dark, and
it was already heading out the creek before us. He must have turned into
the ICW a bit too wide, because as we came around the corner he was
aground. Pearce had told Kay to stay in bed until the heater warmed up the
cabin, but now she had to grab some warm clothes and go out into that 40 degree
weather. She caught the sailboat's line and secured it to the bow.
Pearce started to back up, and whing! the line broke. So now Kay has to
retrieve a wet, cold line and throw it back to the sailboat. He came off
neatly, they said thank you, and Kay went inside to warm up and make a hot
breakfast.  The
sun was never warm enough today, or maybe the wind was too cool. Pearce
said he thought his toes were frostbitten. Anyway, it was a day for hot
coffee, hot cereal, hot chocolate, hot soup, and finally, a glass of wine when
we got to the anchorage. We talked to New York friends. They were
toasty inside while the first half of the blizzard had dumped 6 inches of snow
on the streets. Kay tried to call daughters Caryl and Cynthia who had
tickets for themselves and all the children for Christmas Carol in the
city. Pearce talked to them this evening. Caryl tried to take the
train in from Shirley this morning, but nothing was running east of Babylon, so
she and the kids drove there to take the train to the city. She hopes the
new storm won't bring too much snow to impede her trip home this evening.
Cynthia and clan had taken the train down from Orange County. Everyone had
enjoyed the show, and they were all on their way back home when we talked to
them.
 There
are quite a few boats out. Some are coming from the north and are headed
south like us, but many are local boats out having fun.  Everyone
is bundled up, but they looked like they were enjoying their fishing and
cruising. We came past Daytona Beach and all the other coastline towns,
including the beautiful lighthouse at Ponce de Leon Inlet. This inlet was
originally called Mosquito Inlet, after the lake of the same name, but the
Chamber of Commerce thought another name would be more conducive to attracting
tourists. Kibon is anchored a few miles south of Canaveral.
We could see the huge buildings and launch site for miles before we got
there. The waterway must be busy when a launch is scheduled. Pearce
is out fishing again. He caught one cat fish so far. That's a start
on dinner.
Sunday, December 7, 2003
We were up bright and early this morning and left at first light. I asked
Pearce how he could see the markers because they all aren't lit. He said
Hal shows him the way. I couldn't see out of the cabin windows because
they were all steamed up. It was 55 degrees in the cabin when we woke up
(before we turned on the heat), so it must have been somewhere in the 40s
outside. The cabin heated up nicely, but the windows steamed up, so I
couldn't check on our progress. After many miles of marshes and spoil
islands, we began to pass fancy homes. We noticed flags at half mast at
the marinas we passed, and it took awhile to realize that today is the 61st
anniversary of Pearl Harbor. We haven't been connected to TV since St.
Augustine, and our radio reception leaves much to be desired, so we weren't sure
what day it was or what was going on in the world.
We had slowed to go under a bridge when a manatee surfaced 20 feet in front of
us. We came to a full stop while we waited to see where he/she was
going. He slowly crossed the channel and lazed around the bridge
pilings. Kay tried to take some pictures, but the image was too far
away. Pearce finally showed her how to increase the telephoto shots...too
late! The dolphins played around us all day. At one point there were
several pods frolicking all around. We traveled 96 miles today -- the
longest since the overnight from Jones Inlet to Cape May.
Monday, December 8, 2003
We're really getting anxious. Pearce was warming up the engines at 6:15,
and we were underway within 10 minutes. It was a full moon last night, and
it was huge and orange as it set in the west this morning. Half an hour
later the sun equaled it in size and color as it rose in the east. The
batteries in our camera were charging -- of all times! Pearce was
concerned about reaching the Palm Beach bridges during the afternoon rush hour,
so he wanted to get an early start. We made great time down through Stuart
and past the gorgeous homes of Hobe Sound. We saw quite a few boats that
were decorated for one of the upcoming boat parades. Kay had brought all
the extra tree lights and the Santa Claus suit because she hoped to decorate the
boat. We just haven't had the time or the inclination. Maybe later.
We made such great time that we approached the first Palm Beach bridge just in
time to miss the 10 am opening. Not to worry, we can wait half an
hour. But, at 10:20 the gates went down and one half of the bridge
opened. Workers were on the bridge and needed to get somewhere, so the
bridge tender raised one side. The tender replied "Yes" when a
boat captain asked if he could proceed through. The next bridge had
already announced that workers would have their barge in the channel of the new
span, so she would not open until noon. We joined about 25 other boats
that were anchored and waiting. The first bridge remained open until
11:45, so many more boats joined us. Can't you image the frustration of
the cars stuck on that bridge since 10:20? The workers on the barge
decided to go to lunch, the workers on the first bridge decided to do the same,
so the first bridge closed and the second bridge opened. There was a tow
with two sand barges waiting to go through, too. When the tow captain
announced, "I'm starting into the channel, so all you pleasure boats might
like to back off a bit to give me room," he was greeted by an anonymous
captain. "You have no priority. There are more of us and we
travel faster, so I think you should give us room." I wonder if this
is the first time in his life that he had to give way to a pleasure boat?
We all made quite a procession going through the bridge.
 
We arrived at our slip at the Boynton Inlet at 1:30 -- ahead of schedule, but
very, very happy to be home. We called a cab and were back at the condo by
3. Now we have days of unloading and unpacking. Kibon was not
only our mode of travel, she was also our moving van. We look forward to
some quiet months.
After a loop-and-a-half, we're ready to settle down for a while. Maybe there's a
trip down to the Keys this winter in the plans -- or even over to the
Bahamas (if we can figure out some way to get Kay across the dreaded
"stream" without rocking). Whichever, we've stopped reporting until
there's something to say. We've enjoyed keeping this log and hope you've enjoyed
reading it. If you've missed any parts (or want to review) click back to the Log
Index and browse about a bit. Thanks for looking in... love to all. Pearce &
Kay
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Cruisin' The Loop Aboard Kibon