XANADU

Xanadu Marina & Beach Resort, Freeport, Grand Bahama Island:
Sun and fun. Island lifestyle, friendly locals, and our first official boat guest - Stacey! Not many people here, empty marina... not sure why. The shower doesn't work, maybe that's why? We still like it here anyway. "Junkanoo" is a big New Years festival downtown that we will be attending for sure. I have a KILLER tan. Time is slooowing down. I'm happy and grateful. This some of the real meat & potatoes of why we made this trip....

Nice to see some locals who still dress up on Sunday. God bless 'em:

Food, drinks, music... all right here:

Team Audax (and special guest Stacey) hard at work:

Our lunch cook Duncan. Conch salad (awesome), catch of the day, and his own spicy mac&cheese with his sister's home made cinnamon raisin rolls. He was a big fan of Stacey:

West End, Grand Bahama Island

We're here. Not the funnest Gulf Stream crossing... winds out of the East, and us heading NorthEast. Basically steaming all night with the breeze and 4ft seas on the nose. Not fun. However, we did decide to crack off the breeze and head North for West End instead of continuing due East for Freeport... this allowed for some really enjoyable sailing... beam reach, 7kts boat speed, sunny and hot. Arrived in West End Grand Bahama Island today around 4pm. Customs no prob, my passport gets its first stamp, move Audax to a nearby anchorage, dinner in the cockpit, and I'm hittin' the rack. I'm TIRED. It was a long night, very little sleep. More to follow.... but we're here. We made it safely. Morale is high, but we are sleepy.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

TODAY, THURSDAY 12/27, IS MY LAST DAY OF CEL PHONE SERVICE.
I am on "vacation hold" for my time in the islands, which starts tomorrow. We are "jumping off" tonight! Next stop, Freeport Bahamas! Morale is HIGH.

I will make urgent calls via Skype when I need to, and otherwise, please email me at:
stevestjean@hotmail.com

If you NEED to speak with me, say so in an email and I will Skype call ya as soon as I can....

LATER!!

How I spent Christmas day....

Cool Boat

Christmas in Miami!

I met a longtime Miami resident here in Fort Lauderdale, who offered to show me all around Miami, since Audax will not be making that trip. What fun we had! It's Christmas day now, and I have to try and remember all the fun stuff we did... hhmm... here we go.....

She took me to a Christmas Party at the Coral Reef Yacht Club where she is a member:

I KNEW there was reason why I brought my infamous lobster pants!

I bought a new longboard! (skateboard) This will be my transportation in the islands, since a bike takes up too much space on the boat. Skateboarding is FUN! I cruised around the beach today on it. Here's a blurry action shot of me testing it out....

I saw these kids skateboarding down the sidewalk and yelled out the car window at them "HEY.. you know where I could buy a used longboard? Will you sell me that one?" Turns out patrick works for www.onecoolworld.com a foundation that keeps kids off the street by teaching them fun stiff like skateboarding... COOL!! I'm so glad the money went to a GOOD CAUSE! Here's a pic of the deal going down....

We drove around... just checkin' stuff out....

We rode our bikes all around SOUTH BEACH. What a TRIP that place is!! Thank you Nancy (Steph's friend) for loaning me a bike that fits. Major culture shock. We got coffee at one the the hundreds of open-air cafes, and believe it or not, the main dude in the TV show "Miami Ink" (and his entourage) sat at the next table over! True story. It was so close that I didn't wanna take a picture. He didn't seem to be the most friendly chap....

The above picture was taken right after Steph took a major digger trying to ride through soft sand. What a trooper. Still smiling.

Christmas eve in Fort Lauderdale

We've been enjoying lovely Fort Lauderdale for the past few days. I used to associate Fort Lauderdale with college spring break drunken beach parties. So did Fort Lauderdale. So they changed all that. Now it's more of a beautiful boats, beautiful houses and beautiful people kinda place. Diluted with throngs of Euro-blue-collar cruise ship passengers who swarm the beaches, bars and junk shops. I am now desensitized to Mega-Yachts, Feraris, Bentleys, Chanel, D&G and surgically enhanced breats on overly-tanned middle aged women. After three days here, they don't even get my attention anymore.... just part of the scenery when you walk around on Las Olas Blvd, which is where S/V Audax is at. Not to worry, we're quarantined into a transient anchorage in the normal-people-income cruiser section. A lot of Canadian cruisers for some reason. We are not taking the boat to Miami, as previously planned. We like the current arrangement too much here in Fort Lauderdale, Maimi is a bit intimidating from a cruising standpoint, and we can just as easily "jump off" from here. (set sail for the Bahamas). I am still going to "do" Miami, however: my new friend Stephanie is a local Floridian very familiar with the area, and she has offered to show me all around Miami. I have accepted her offer. Pics and stories to follow. Merry Christmas, y'all.

$$$$, $$$$ & $$$$.

The ICW ride from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale gave me a whole new perspective on how many rediculously wealthy people there are in southern Florida.

FLORIDA: Fort Pierce, Palm Beach....

Fort Pierce, Palm Beach....

Left St.Augustine in some really breezy and choppy conditions... some pretty big waves heading out of the inlet. Motor sailed through the night all the way to Cape Canaveral. We had intended to stay in Cape Canaveral and maybe do the NASA gig, but as it turns out, there is really no cruiser ports / anchorages in that vicinity. So we went into the ICW instead, and made a pit stop in Cocoa for some supplies. After this stop, the ICW opened up wide, the sun came out, the breeze picked up out of the east, we spent the afternoon doing some fun sailing within the ICW! Fun sailing while listening to a few choice CD's was just what I needed to get my mind off the whole Rico bit. We anchored in Fort Pierce, and took a dingy ride into the town marina. Showers and wi-fi... we stuck around the Tiki Bar cuz it was jammin' at happy hour, and I met a few fun locals. Back to the boat for gourmet guacamole burgers. That brings us to today.... today was a FUN DAY OF SAILING. It was warm with a stiff breeze out of the South East, and we just sailed south about a mile off the beach... all the way to Palm Beach which is where we sit as I type this. We had some heavy conversation while sailing today; topics included ego vs spirituality, sobriety, relationships... deep life stuff. That was cool. We really do seem to be getting along well and getting to know each other a little better every day. It's amazing that three different dudes with different backgrounds and different mojos can coexist in a 38ft long fiberglass tube and not kill each other. Good communication and open-mindedness has kept things flowing smoothly so far.....

Thank you Mike Ternosky for the Mercedes-Benz tour of West Palm Beach. Playground of the rediculously wealthy.