Night Sailing and 675 Pounds of Paper a Year

Posted on by by Posted in Florida, Sailings

During a pitch dark sky, a crescent moon arose around 4 A.M. while sailing from Charleston to Fernandina Beach. John did most of the night watch on his BIRTHDAY. (We celebrated it with pineapple cake later.) When I was on duty, I set my timer every eight minutes and went out to check if there are any other ships nearby and things are okay. In eight minutes the boat travels about 1 mile. The sky was dark and the ocean was darker but I enjoyed watching many stars. John enjoyed the speed of sailing and sound of water splashing by the boat.

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Timing was good! Met friends in Charleston.

Posted on by by Posted in Carolinas

Sailing involves waiting, especially for good wind. The wind was awesome sailing down to Charleston but cold weather tortured us. Even worse, the sky was gray all day with no sunshine to warm us up. If you factored in the wind chill, it was 20 something Fahrenheit at sea the whole time we were sailing for 50 nautical miles from dawn to dusk. Having this experience, we decided to skip our next stop, Beaufort, South Carolina and go to Florida sooner.

Charleston brought me some more history lessons. The old city is well preserved with few gift shops,

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Total Body Workout in Georgetown, the Third Oldest City in South Carolina

Posted on by by Posted in Carolinas

Lots of walking to RadioShack, an Urgent Care Center, MacDonald’s (for free Wi-Fi) and other stores (for boat repair items). Luckily, we found a universal charger for a laptop which was broken a couple of days ago. We have four laptops and an iPad but all need different chargers. We also walked to an urgent care center and John paid $130 (without insurance) prior to seeing a doctor. Since the doctor didn’t do anything to solve his problem, he asked for money back from the doctor but the doctor walked away (another long story). He is extremely unhappy with the health care system in the U.S.

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‘Yes’ to Adventure and to Life, behind of a Flock of the Boats

Posted on by by Posted in Carolinas, Sailings

Finally, our sailing has begun on Monday, November 3, 2014. The first route is from Morehead City, North Carolina to Saint Martin. We plan to stop at many different locations on the East Coast of the U.S. We are about two weeks behind (weather wise) of the original schedule, due to the delay of the work on the boat. (We spent last 4+ months on boat work.) In general, most of the boats from North leave in October to head South, mainly to Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean to avoid sailing in cold weather. Because we are behind of a flock,

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Minimalist with Comfort on ‘S/Y Bad Bunny’

Posted on by by Posted in Sailings

I am officially retired (early) since June 2014 from a job as a Computer Programmer, to pursue my real dream ‘Living close to nature and loving all I can.’

The Sailing Yacht ‘Bad Bunny’, a Valiant 47 built in 1992! It has been my new home since June 21, 2014 after driving 14 hours from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Morehead City, North Carolina where ‘Bad Bunny’ was. I brought my cat ‘Sesame’ with me joining the other two cats ‘Enemy’ and ‘Swat’. There are three cats and two people (John and myself) on board.

Because of a limited space,

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Perez Art Museum Miami

Posted on by by Posted in Florida

Perez Art Museum Miami (Driving Time from Fort Lauderdale: 40 Minutes): New addition in South Florida. PAMM was first opened in December 2013. The building was designed by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron who attended the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. They were inspired by Stiltsville, a small community of houses on posts in Biscayne Bay. This building is eco-friendly and collects and recycles rainwater for the gigantic hanging gardens. The concrete floors, which are strong but lightweight, are filled with big plastic balls (acting like bubbles) that are not solid but hollow.

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Freeport in Grand Bahamas – 3 Hours Boat Ride from Fort Lauderdale

Posted on by by Posted in Caribbean Islands

Day trip to Grand Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale (about 15 hours): Taking the Balearia Express Boat is a great way to touch the Bahamas. (Freeport in Grand Bahamas) Three hours after leaving Fort Lauderdale, I was enjoying the crystal clear water and white sand. The boat left Fort Lauderdale at 8 A.M. and arrived back in Fort Lauderdale at 10 P.M. (Very Punctual) I had about 5+ hours free time in the Bahamas. Special roundtrip fare of $67 ($49 + $18 Tax) purchased from TravelZoo. The ocean was calm during my trip. On the Island, I rented a bike for four hours ($15) and went to a local beach and local bar/restaurant.

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The Old 7 Mile Bridge in Florida Keys

Posted on by by Posted in Florida

The Old 7 Mile Bridge in Florida Keys (Day Trip from Fort Lauderdale): It takes about 3 hours by car from Fort Lauderdale to the ‘Old 7 Mile Bridge’ north parking lot (Mile Marker 47). Bike ride on the bridge is one of the memorable things to do in Florida. How one man (Henry Flagler) even thought about building the railroad on the ocean all the way down Key West and actually made it happen. How natural disaster (Hurricane ‘Labor Day’) can destroy the great dream/work in a day. The bike ride/walk is only allowed north side of the bridge.

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Costa Rica

Posted on by by Posted in Central America

Some say that Costa Rica is the Switzerland of Latin Americas. With its rich soil, sun, and rain, the whole country is indeed nature itself. It has healthy trees, juicy tropical fruits, beautiful birds, and all kinds of animals. A popular Gringo city, Atenas is close to San Jose (Capital of Costa Rica). The international airport, is about 40 minutes away. Because of the climate (no need for A/C or heater year around), Atenas attracts people from all over the world. Many expats enjoy retirement life here. Some even grow coffee trees, other tropical plants, and fruit trees. People in Atenas start the day early,

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Sailing Grenada-Martinique-Saint Lucia-Saint Vincent-Grenada

Posted on by by Posted in Sailings

“Sailing is a sport that is both very new and very old at the same time. The earliest evidence of sailboats dates back to about 3,900 BC… The beauty of sailing is the trail is unmarked. You must make intelligent decisions about where and even whether to go… – Dennis Conner”

Prelude:

From time to time, I change my hobbies. Even though I took a sailing lesson from a local community school about seven years ago, my actual sailing training started a year ago with Sunfish (October 2012). I joined a local sailing club and discovered the humongous sciences and history behind sailing.

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