 Dee Light  |
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 Bahamas 2005 |
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Dee Light |
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Bahamas 2005 |
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| Friday April 29, 2005 – Fort Myers Florida | Centennial Harbour Marina – Fort Myers Florida - 239-461-0775 – Website - www.marina33901.com | |
| .. after a great dinner at Betty’s place when was on my way back to Dee Light I got a call from Margie .. she said that Dan has ended up in the Hospital ( Health Park ) with an apparent Heart problem .. Dan did have Heart surgery last July but has been doing great since then so this is quite unexpected .. UGH .. he will be undergoing many tests over the weekend and on Monday he will be seeing his Doctors .. | ||
| Saturday April 30, 2005 – Fort Myers Florida | Centennial Harbour Marina – Fort Myers Florida - 239-461-0775 – Website - www.marina33901.com | |
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HEADLINES Missing Bride-to-Be Is Found Alive 05:05 am - Georgia Woman Located in New Mexico, Says She Was Kidnapped 07:30 am - Update: Police say the bride-to-be discovered in New Mexico late Friday told them she had not been abducted ALBUQUERQUE, NM ( April 30 ) - A Georgia woman who vanished just days before her wedding was found in New Mexico early Saturday after she called her fiancé from a pay phone and said she had been kidnapped, authorities said. Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, was in police custody more than 1,420 miles from her home on what was supposed to be her wedding day, said Albuquerque police spokeswoman Trish Ahrensfield. Police were searching for a blue van with a man and woman inside. The bride-to-be had been missing since Tuesday, when her fiancé reported that she went for her nightly run and didn't come home, police said .. she just got COLD FEET .. .. Saturday was a busy day on DEE LIGHT with many last minute ‘things’ happening .. Ross ( Classic Yacht Service ) spent a number of hours finishing up some ‘Warranty Work’ on DEE LIGHT’s Hydraulic Steering System .. Margie finished moving their things on DEE LIGHT .. Dan spent the day at Health Park undergoing a Stress Test .. Phil continued his work on the new Back Deck Furniture .. . we ended the day with a trip to the Loveboat Ice Cream Parlor after having dinner with Betty’s Mother’s .. it was her ‘Last Supper’ here as she heads out in the morning .. |
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| May 01 thru 03 2005 - Fort Myers Florida | Centennial Harbour Marina – Fort Myers Florida - 239-461-0775 – Website - www.marina33901.com | |
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.. on Sunday ( MAY DAY ) Phil finished his work on the new Back Deck Furniture .. and does it look great !! .. on Monday Jon was back to finish up the final waxing / polishing of DEE LIGHT’s exterior .. Dependable Diving cleaned DEE LIGHT’s bottom side .. including the removal of a number of feet of Nylon Line from a ‘Crab Pot’ that we had picked up someplace .. .. we picked up our new Chairs for the Back Deck .. so now our Back Deck remodeling job is all but done .. on Tuesday Joe from Blue Water Marine Service LLC checked out all six of the Air Conditioners on DEE LIGHT .. we are also starting to look ahead to what type of weather to anticipate later in the week .. the local Weather People are calling for rain on and off for the next number of days .. .. the last few days have been tough ones for Dan and Marjorie as the Doctors have now determined that they will not be able to head out with us as anticipated on 05-05-05 .. at this time they are expecting that they will be able to join up with us in about one Month .. on Tuesday afternoon Marjorie stopped by DEE LIGHT and moved a few of their things back off DEE LIGHT .. UGH !! .. .. Tuesday afternoon Jon gave DEE LIGHT one more exterior ‘face lift’ before we head out for Fort Myers Beach in the morning .. DEE LIGHT has never look better !! .. and Betty tried to buy out Publix when she picked up the last of our supplies .. .. we concluded our last day at Fort Myers with one last trip to the Daddy Dee’s Ice Cream Parlor where we met up with some other Boaters from the Marina .. it was as great as ever !! |
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| Wednesday May 04 2005 – Fort Myers Florida | Centennial Harbour Marina – Fort Myers Florida - 239-461-0775 – Website - www.marina33901.com | |
Weather Forecast – overcast and 84 with 5 to 10 knot winds from the East … good chance of Strong Thunderstorms in the afternoon ..
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.. after sharing a number of farewells with many of our Live Aboard neighbors and the Staff at the Marina we headed out for Fort Myers Beach at about 10:30 .. as we passed under the Sanibel Bridge at Noon we could see the demolition work just started on the removal Construction Crane that had collapsed two weeks ago killing the Operator of the Crane .. UGH !! .. DEE LIGHT preformed better than ever all the way to the Beach .. before heading out we had checked the Fuel prices all around and found that the Ballard Oil Company at Fort Myers Beach Florida ( 239-463-7677 ) had the lowest prices .. so we filled up DEE LIGHT on our way to the Salty Sam’s Marina .. we arrived at Salty Sam’s Marina at 01:30 pm just ahead of a huge Storm Front that passed thru the area .. Gene and Kathy ( FRONT PAGE ) had moved Betty’s car from Centennial Marina to Gulf Marine that is located very close to Salty Sam’s .. they are having some work done on FRONT PAGE so the car moving worked out great with them .. .. later Jon and Sarah came by to see us off and to show us the addition to their family Armani .. thus Marv is a Gramps again .. then we all had dinner at Salty Sam’s with Gene and Kathy .. |
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| Thursday May 05, 2005 – Fort Myers Beach Florida | Salty Sam’s Marina - Fort Myers Beach Florida - 239-463-7333 – Website - www.saltysamsmarina.com .. Channel 16 and 17 - Dockage - $1.90 / foot plus Electrical .. | |
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Weather Forecast – Scattered Showers and 84 with mainly Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots .. Seas 1 to 3 feet
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. after a quick breakfast we headed out of the Marina at 07:00 am .. all was quiet aboard FRONT PAGE when we went past them at Gulf Marine where they spent the night .. it was overcast with a very light rain .. when we went past our last Marker off Fort Myers Beach we headed into Seas of 1 to 3 from the South .. by the time that we made it to the Naples area the Seas were 3 to 4 foot with Rollers .. about 09:00 am the Key West Ferry passed us on its was to Key West .. since we were heading right into the Seas our ride became quite ‘bumpy’ .. with our SOG at 19.5 knots DEE LIGHT felt good .. WELL that was until about 10:00 am when the Seas got rougher and DEE LIGHT became a Submarine .. we got a SALT BATH from top to bottom .. after about an hour of pounding we adjusted our speed and our course a little and that helped a lot .. over the Marine Radio we heard the US Coast Guard talking about ‘Water Spouts’ and 50 Knot Winds .. on our Radar Unit we spotted a HUGH HUNK of weather heading towards our projected path to Marathon .. we were on a collision course with Mother Nature .. we altered our speed and changed our direction to the West about 30 degrees .. we ended up heading well to the West but we avoided the HEAVY part of the storm .. when we started to head back to our proposed Course we detected some type of problem with our Port Engine .. .. we talked with MS DIANNE and BENNEDICTION on the Marine Radio .. they were behind us and the Storm but by the time we made it back to our course MS DIANNE got ahead of us and made it to the Marina just ahead of us .. we had Dee Light backed into our Slip at 03:00 pm .. we later found out that they did clock the winds at Marathon to be about 50 mph .. UFFFDA .. we talked with MARMAUR .. their Auto Pilot failed so they headed back to Fort Myers and will not be continuing on the trip .. both Marv and Guy spent the balance of the day in their Engine Rooms .. MS DIANNE had an Alternator problem and DEELIGHT had a Port Engine issue .. KYKNOS had an eventful trip also .. after starting out from Fort Myers on Wednesday they made good time heading South until Thursday morning when the picked up Seaweeds in their Water Strainer on the intake Water Line that cools their Engine .. they lost over four hours fixing their problem and then dropped their Anchor and set out the Storm .. but they made it to the Marina in time to join all of us for dinner at Annette's Lobster House ( 305-743-5516 ) .. after a great dinner and Cinco de Mayo ( the 5th of May ) .. after dinner we returned to the Marina and Marv went right back to the Engine Room .. | |
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Friday May 06, 2005 – Marathon Florida
Weather Forecast – Small craft should exercise caution this afternoon - South winds 10 to 15 knots becoming Northwest in the afternoon .. near shore Seas 2 to 3 feet .. well offshore Seas 2 to 4 feet building to 6 feet in the afternoon .. chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms all day ..     |
Faro Blanco Marina Bayside - Marathon FL - 800-759-3276 / 305-743-9018 – Website - http://spottswood.com/index1.htm - Dockage Rate - $2.00 per foot Weather Forecast – Small craft should exercise caution this afternoon - South winds 10 to 15 knots becoming Northwest in the afternoon .. near shore Seas 2 to 3 feet .. well offshore Seas 2 to 4 feet building to 6 feet in the afternoon .. chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms all day .. .. both MS DIANNE and BENEDICTION took on Fuel yesterday when we arrived at the Marina soooo at about 09:00 am after our morning Skippers Meeting they headed out for Cat Cay with a close eye on the weather .. they took the ICW / Hawk Channel route up the East Coast then cut across the Florida Straight to Cat Cay .. after checking out the long range weather forecast KYKNOS decided to head out ( up the ICW also ) for Marina Del Mar Resort in Key Largo Florida as there travel speed is much slower and they do not want to be in the Florida Straights with a 15 knot wind from the North or Northeast .. DEE LIGHT ended up waiting for two Mechanics from Roger Bennett Marine Service ( MAN Engine people ) .. last night when Marv replaced the Final Fuel Filters on the Port Engine he stripped out the Bleeding Valve .. UGH !! .. the part is made of Die Cut Aluminum and is designed to be the ‘weakest link’ when dealing with ‘Saturday Mechanics’ like Marv .. once damaged there is no ‘fix’ to this part ( Secondary Fuel Filter Head ) thus a new one had to be installed .. it is a common part to be replaced thus it is a ‘shelf item’ ..it only took take the Mechanics minutes to replace the part and once they were done we moved DEE LIGHT to the Fuel Dock .. FUEL .. when we took on Fuel at the Ballard Oil Co the Forward Fuel Tank that feeds the Starboard Engine as well as the Generator took only 8 gallons .. ?? .. and the Auxiliary Tank that should have been full took on 52 gallons .. ?? sooo when we made it to Salty Sam’s Marv called CCM .. when Craig from CCM arrived we went over all of the Fuel Lines as well as the Fuel Valves and we could not find anything that was out of order .. ?? .. Jerome from CCM contacted Viking Yachts and they FAXed some information from Viking that was waiting for us when we arrive at Marathon .. when we filled at Marathon the Tanks took their normal amounts .. ?? .. figure it out .. .. once our Fuel Tanks and Water Tanks were filled we headed out .. it was high noon .. after passing under the Bridge at Marathon we decided to not take the ICW / Hawk Channel but instead head out to the Florida Straight .. we called Guy and told him what we were doing .. he said that all was going great with them and that BENEDICTION was out ahead of them .. at 01:00 pm the Seas in the Straight were 1 to 2 footers from our Port Aft .. we spotted a number of Cargo Ships in the Shipping Channel .. by 02:00 pm the Seas were 2 to 3 footers and ‘Choppy’ .. it was a great day to be in the Florida Straights .. but before we made it to the Marina the weather took a turn .. UFFDA .. for the last 20 miles the wind direction had changed just like the weather forecasters had said that it would and we had rough Seas all the rest of the way to Cat Cay .. 5 to 7 footers and some blinding rain .. the rains would rinse the salt off DEE LIGHT just as the winds / waves would pour more salt on DEE LIGHT .. DEE LIGHT is now really ‘salt encrusted’ .. UGH .. once we got near the Islands we used Eye-Ball Navigation .. and when ya cannot see that well it makes it a little challenging .. we found out later that BENEDICTION did bump a little in this area on their way in earlier today .. once thru the ‘Cut’ between the Lighthouse and the Coral Heads we followed the ‘little Red Line’ on our Chart Plotter and we did not have any problems at all .. it was still windy in the Marinas Harbour but we were able to get Dee Light docked without an issue .. we had DEE LIGHT docked and tied off with our Yellow Quarantine Flag by 06:15 pm just in time for our Bahama Mamma Party .. the party / dinner was on the Dock .. Lindsay and the Crew from MS DIANNE did a great job of orchestrating the party and the Crews from each of the other Boats brought one of the courses for the meals .. soooo we had a ‘four course meal’ on the Dock .. when we checked in at the Harbour Masters Office we were told that the Customs Office was closed so we are to check in with them in the morning .. Travel – Marathon to Cat Cay – 132 N Miles – Cumulative N Miles 273 miles |
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Saturday May 07, 2005 - Cat Cay Yacht Club – Cat Cay
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Cat Cay Yacht Club - Cat Cay Bahamas - 242-347-3565 - Website http://www.catcayclub.com - Dockage $2.50 per foot plus Electrical Power and Water .. the strong winds continued all night so DEE LIGHT rocked and rolled all night .. Cat Cay is a private island, owned by its members .. admittance for non-member Yachtsmen is restricted to the Marina area which includes the Nauticat Restaurant and Lounge, Dockside Bar, Commissary, Boutique and Clinic .. the rest of the Island, including the golf course, tennis courts, pool and beaches are available for members and their registered guests only .. . over breakfast we filled out our Customs and at 09:00 am we walked to the Customs Office .. after just a few minutes and our $300.00 in US cash the Customs Officer cleared us and Autumn .. when we returned to DEE LIGHT we took down our Yellow Quarantine Flag and raised our Bahamian Courtesy Flag .. Betty arranged for a Van Tour of the Island and it was most interesting to see all of the Members Homes, Beaches, the grounds, etc .. after our Van Tour Betty and Lindsay took a long walk .. .. yesterday on our way from Marathon our Starboard Engine started to do the same thing that the Port Engine had done the day before sooooo today after the Van Tour Marv changed out the Final Fuel Filters on the Starboard Engine .. when we were at Marathon Betty had picked up the proper Oil Filter Wrench sooo today it was easy to change out the Final Filters .. we also made water with our Water Maker .. .. at 06:00 pm we had our Skippers Meeting at the Bu’s Bar and watched the Kentucky Derby at the same time .. Steve ( BENEDICTION ) was the big winner .. after Guy went over our anticipated course for tomorrow we all headed into Nauticat Restaurant for a GREAT dinner .. Travel – none – Cumulative N Miles 273 N Miles |
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Sunday May 08, 2005 – Mothers Day - Cat Cay Yacht Club – Cat Cay – Dockage $2.50 per foot plus Electrical Power and Water
Weather Forecast – East winds 5 to 10 knots all day and night for the next number of days .. near shore Seas 2 to 3 feet .. well offshore Seas 2 to 4 feet Seas ..  MS DIANNE - 60 Viking  Mothers Day - Nassau |
Cat Cay Yacht Club - Cat Cay Bahamas - 242-347-3565 - Website - http://www.catcayclub.com - Dockage $2.50 per foot plus Electrical Power and Water .. today is Mothers Day soooo the first thing that Betty did was to open up her Mothers Day gift from her daughter Cheryl .. she found a Doll made up just like Betty was when she was in the RPYC’s program Puttin On The Hits .. the Doll was a great hit .. before we left Fort Myers Betty bought Roses for all the Mothers for Mothers Day .. Betty kept them in one of the Refrigerators until today .. all the Mom’s just loved them .. we were not able to get checked out of the Marina until after 08:00 am when the Harbour Master arrived .. sooo we did not pull out of the Marina until 08:30 am .. the four of us started out together with an East wind at our Port Bow but it was not long and MS DIANNE disappeared ahead of us .. we has 2 to 4 foot Seas and about 12 foot of water for about 60 miles ( noon ) when we came to a very narrow spot that we had to thread thru .. once past the ‘Cut’ we had DEEP ( 6,000 feet ) waters and a 3 to 5 foot Seas on our Port Bow .. we had a great trip in the open waters .. before entering Nassau harbour we called Nassau Harbour Control on VHF 16 first .. they asked us for the name of our Vessel, our Documentation Number, destination ( Atlantis ), and where we came from .. this is the procedure must also be followed if moving to another location or anchorage within the Harbour .. once we were in the Harbour area we looked for a place to get Fuel and found Bayshore Marina on the South side of the East West Harbour .. from there we went to the Atlantis Marina and were docked by 05:30 pm .. we heired Samual to clean our ‘Salt Encrusted’ DEE LIGHT .. after cocktails on the Dock we walked to The Point .. a restaurant on the ‘Point’ overlooking the Harbour Entrance to the Marina .. dinner was GREAT and the y even had Ice Cream for desert !! .. then we just had to explore the Casino before calling it a day …. Travel – Cat Cay to Nassau – 114 Miles – Cumulative Miles 387 miles |
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| Monday May 09, 2005 - Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas | The Marina at Atlantis - Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas – 242 363 6068 - Website - http://www.atlantis.com - Dockage $3.50 per foot | |
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.. we were able to get back ‘on-line’ for the first time since Marathon .. a quick update on the Crews that we are traveling with .. MS DIANNE, FENDER BENDER, BENEDICTION and DEE LIGHT are all here at the Marina .. KYKNOS is heading from Cat Cay to Chub Cay today and will be here tomorrow when we leave .. last Thursday MAURMAR had to terminate the trip as they lost their Auto Pilot on the way to Marathon .. .. The Marina at Atlantis has 63 slips, accommodating Vessels as large as 220 feet .. unrestricted mast height and direct access from Nassau Harbour. Minimum water depth of twelve feet at low tide .. the Marina offers world-class facilities and is a landmark with its towers, spires and domes and coral pink buildings .. the Aquarium here is spectacular and worth a visit even if you are not berthed here .. it offers every conceivable service that even the largest mega-yacht could desire .. if your boat is under 12m forget this Marina as 40ft is its minimum length .. 11 Swimming Areas, Free-form and Zero-entry Pools, 2 Children’s Pools, 7-acre protected snorkeling Paradise Lagoon, Lazy River Ride for tubing, Six-story Mayan Temple with five thrilling water slides, Beach, Tennis Courts, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Table Tennis, 18-Hole Putting Course, Driving Range, Fitness Center, Club Rush Teen Center ( exclusively for guests aged 13-17; no adults allowed! ) Duty-Free Shops, Craft Center, Library (with 12,000 volumes) .. and there are many Restaurants in Nassau …… .. after spending the morning exploring the island and the Atlantis grounds ( HUGH ) all of us spent the afternoon at the Aquarium .. after getting a little sun and after we had a few ‘adult beverages’ we did every Water Slide, Water Shoots, took the Tubes on the River, etc, and even did the ‘Leap of Faith’ .. it is a stories Water Slide that drops straight down .. UFFFDA !! .. it was a great fun .. by sunset we were all quite tired so we decided to take a short walk to a local Caribbean Restaurant for dinner .. where we had dinner under the stars .. and then we had to take one more last trip to the Casino .. |
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