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SEA GEM LOG
February 1, 1999
FROM TITUSVILLE TO FT. LAUDERDALE The trip from Titusville
to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful. Our first night was spent at the Port Canaveral fuel dock, which is pretty much our M.O. when coming or going. A good place to fuel and whether arriving home, or leaving, we
always seem to need a place to crash, get a little rest and get ready to go again.
The first day we went outside, and down the coast, into a headwind so we had to motor all the way. The weather reports did not coincide with what we were experiencing, not terribly
rough conditions, just bumpy enough to relocate a lot of stuff below. When we put in to Ft. Pierce for the night we opted to take the ICW south to Lake Worth the next day. It was a pretty
run, like thumbing through an edition of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." All the big beautiful homes with manicured lawns
on shore and immaculately maintained yachts sitting, at the ready, at waterfront docks.Piloting the ICW is constant, and by the end of the day the only grounding we had done was
when I was at the wheel and misread a marker. Not a serious situation, but a definite black mark on my record.
After spending the night near the inlet at Lake Worth we
went outside the next morning and mot ored
down to Ft. Lauderdale in calm conditions.
Ft. Lauderdale
is a yachting capital and an action center. There are a lot
of boats, all sizes and shapes, along with the personal watercraft
nipping in and out of commercial traffic, leisure traffic
and the inevitable sightseers who are just there to watch
 the
action. Action is everywhere: on sidewalks there are
in-line skaters, bicyclists, walkers, runners, and strollers, (with
and without babies.) On the roads traffic is constant: convertibles
with tops down, full of beautiful people and just people,
everyone seems to be outside and moving, just absorbing the wonderful
winter weather of South Florida.
Prior to leaving, Charlie had made arrangements to dock at Las Olas Marina but true to form
when we arrived somebody had not gotten the word and we were put in a temporary location. All was well, we had power, water and a good place to tie up. We moved the next
day over to another slip and began to enjoy the ambiance of the City of Ft. Lauderdale's newest marina, secure new docks, clean new restrooms and the nicest laundry facilities I have
ever seen. In fact I found one woman just sitting in the laundry room reading, and another couple having a wine and pizza dinner while waiting for their clothes to dry. I have
experienced the social life of the laundry in many ports, but never under such elegant conditions.On January twenty-ninth, two of the other boats joining the Millennium Odyssey arrived:
Distant Drum, with Betty and Duke Marx aboard, and Hornblower II, with Judy and Bob Hall, and their crew member Michael Frankel aboard. We also found that Adoris was already here
with owner, Saadia Rees and his wife Tseppi aboard. They were tied up at Sailboat Bend, close to the Riverwalk at a place Jimmy Cornell had arranged for, with the City of Ft.
Lauderdale. The boats were rafted, because of inadequate depth, power did not work right away and the conditions were not even close to Las Olas so we have opted to stay here,
absorbing all the luxury possible, for a time it may be needed down the way. The reasons for our early arrival in Ft. Lauderdale were many. First we had to have our
electric roller furling system serviced. It has worked so well we used the old adage, "If it ain't broke...." and we have left it alone. Embarking on such a long voyage we decided we better
have it overhauled and we have had that done. We also had our HRO water maker which has been rebuilt reinstalled and that required a new remote switch which had somehow
malfunctioned just sitting there. There is no end to stuff that can go wrong on a boat and the more "stuff" the more that can go wrong. Today we having the new ICOM digital VHF with
emergency features installed. (Everyone needs one of those.) We have provisioned here in Ft. Lauderdale all the canned goods, dry goods, and paper and
plastic goods. Today we will begin the fresh provisions, and since we had the dinner here on Sea Gem the other night we have a little freezer space to fill. We also will buy some
canned meats, not so much for ourselves but to trade in the islands along the way. We purchase a new bread maker at Target just before we left and it has proved to be a jewel.
It was on sale for about $45.00 and we liked it because of the shape, it fits where it can be permanently fastened to the shelf between the galley and the salon. The bread maker can run
off the inverter and we can bake bread without having the oven on. I also opted to bring the crock pot on this trip so I can do some slow cooked meals without running the generator.
 There
is very little planned for the Millennium Odyssey group here in
Ft. Lauderdale. I believe we will have a meeting with the
mayor but we have been grouped in with The Pineapple Cup race to
Jamaica. Tom Williams is Jimmy Cornells' representative here, Tom
is from Jamaica and is just trying to keep things together before
we set out. It is difficult to group racers and cruisers together-they
are a different breed altogether, and we have enough sense not to
get in their way when they are jockeying for a start.
 Wednesday
night we will all get together after the captain's briefing for
Duke
Marxs' birthday
dinner at BIG PINK a restaurant on the River Walk. There will
be about thirty of us between the sailors, and Duke's family who
are coming in for celebration. It won't be quite the crowd
that we saw last night for the Superbowl Street Party but a good
one to celebrate a neat guy's birthday and introduce the incoming
crew members to the others on the rally. Time to go.
Buy more stuff. Then, try to find a place to put the stuff.
Until later. . .
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