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    • Jun 9, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      Lightning Master Strikes Back – a rebuttal of Peter Swanson’s earlier article.

      If you are concerned about lightning strikes, these two articles will be of interest. Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $5 a month or $42 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.

       

      Click here for Lightning Master Strikes Back

       

       

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    • Jun 3, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      Bromance and a Boat: The Voyage That Changed Everything and Gave Us Modern Miami

      Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $5 a month or $42 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.

      When all else fails, try journalism.

       

      Click link for How Fidel Castro Invaded Cuba in a Yacht Named ‘Granma’ by Peter Swanson

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    • Jun 1, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      TopSide Marinas has Acquired North Point Yacht Club in Temple, TX

      TopSide Marinas

      TopSide Marinas is a family owned marina company that is looking to buy and operate marinas – they are not a broker – and they would love to meet marina owners who are ready to sell. TopSide Marinas is A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!

      TopSide Marinas recently acquired its third marina, North Point Yacht Club, located on Lake Belton in Temple, TX.  The team saw great potential at this marina and the beautiful Lake Belton. 

      Click here for details:
      TopSide Marinas Acquires North Point Yacht Club on Lake Belton (Temple, TX)

       

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    • Jun 1, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy 1 Comment

      2022 Letter #3 from the Bahamas by Greg and Barbara Allard

      Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises.

      Greg Allard

      May 30, 2022, 11:31 AM (2 days ago)

      Hello everyone – Here is our third Letter from the Bahamas for 2022.

       
       
       

      “In reality, you don’t ever change the hurricane. You just learn how to stay out of its path.”
      – Jodi Picoult

      We included this photo in our Letter from 2015; it was taken a short while after this fishing boat, Summer Place from Nassau, Bahamas, had been driven aground while trying to run from a hurricane.  In normal circumstances, this boat could have been salvaged and put back into service, but the complexity of the project and the estimated costs would have far exceeded its value; it would have been almost impossible (without extraordinary expense) to have the necessary barges and equipment reach the site, because of the shallow water.
       
       
       
      The sea is unrelenting.  This is a recent photo of the same wreck, showing the effects of seven years of time, tide, gales and hurricanes.  There is an upside – a sunken boat such as this slowly becomes a reef, attracting all kinds of small fish and sea life, which in turn attract larger ones.  As we circled the wreck, we saw an 8’ shark who had come for dinner.
       
       
      Kingsley K. Charles –   His eyes say it all – windows to his soul. 
       
      Every so often you encounter someone who fits the category of  “One of the most interesting persons I’ve met.”  He is known as “King” and he’s a native of Great Harbour Cay; his parents live here, and they had eight children.   Some of his brothers and sisters now live in Nassau, Freeport, and a couple are in the U.S.
       
      He is far from typical.  His father, a minister, wanted him to be a lawyer, and he received a scholarship with help from an ex-pat on the island whose company provided it.  He attended Liberty University in Virginia for three years, then began working in a bank and eventually for a brokerage company, all in the U.S.  While in the U.S. he married and moved to Nashville,  but the union did not work.  At one point in his life he toured around the world.  
       
      He returned to Nassau, and began serious work on the passion of his life which is music.  He is an extremely talented and creative musician, who then worked in Nassau for three years in the industry, including the creation of an album, which he has not finished.  He was engaged to a Bahamian woman in Nassau, but that broke off.
       
      So many young men and women who grow up on small Bahamian out-islands follow a pattern:  when they finish high school (or before), they leave the island and do not return.  This is where King differs:  after his music work in Nassau, he said that he “Wanted to come home” to Great Harbour Cay. He mentions “home” often; this is his home. This is where he feels most grounded.
       
      He just turned 40, is smart-smart, reads philosophy and has a high level of intellectual curiosity.  He is looking for his next path in life, but he is not in a hurry.
       
      Currently he is the Assistant General Manager at the marina on Great Harbour, a job he does extremely well.
       
      And finally, he is a truly nice and good person.  It has been a pleasure to know him.
       
       
      King, performing a number of his own songs at a Friday night bar-b-que event at the marina.
       
       
      Most of our photos are taken with a Nikon D7000, a superb professional level camera.  But our back-up camera is….an Apple iPhone.  It has one big advantage over the Nikon – it is light, goes in your pocket (so it’s always with you); plus it takes really good photos in most situations.  It also has a panoramic feature: press the button, and start to pan slowly from left to right, standing in one spot and only moving the phone with your hands and arms.  This photo shows a 180 degree view. When you are done scanning,  the camera seamlessly stitches the whole thing together into one photo.
       
       
      The mailboat has arrived, the lifeline to the cay.  Yes the water is shallow for such a large boat, which is why the captain prefers to arrive and dock at the upper half of the 3’ tide.  Sometimes offloading takes too long, the boat starts to sit on the bottom, and it has to power its way back out.  There is a mini-van on the midship deck, being transported to some island.
       
       
      When the boat docks, dozens of trucks and cars descend on the government dock to take away their goods.  It is organized bedlam.  This pickup truck, heavily loaded with food, is one of the last to leave the dock area. 
       
       
      Few restaurants in the out-islands of the Bahamas look like a major American chain restaurant.  This charming but unassuming place is called Brown’s Garden, and the owner Ronnie is the excellent chef.  He has no inside tables, just a bar under the blue umbrella, and a table on the other side of the road, from which this picture was taken. Fortunately for the rooster and some nearby chickens there was no poultry on the menu.
       
       
      Ronnie Brown.  He served us some excellent cracked conch, and a delicious salad.  Unfortunately we learned that the lease on “this old building” was soon to be up, and he would not be continuing his restaurant.  The pandemic was particularly hard on him, as there were almost no visitors to the island, and the economy affected the locals who had less to spend on locally cooked meals.
       
      He intends to return to his prior career in fishing.
       
       
      One day, at the Beach Club, our waitress Clinique (whom you’ve met in prior Letters)  offered for us to taste a dilly. A dilly??  It is a small fruit which grows on trees, and once it is ripe it is delicious.  We’ve never had one before.  It’s full name is Sapodilla. (We ate it so fast we forgot to take a picture of it, so this is not one of our photos.)  You can see a full sized dilly under the open one.
       
       
      This is Leonard Wright, who has a long and talented career in art.  He recounts that while in school he was always drawing things, and was bopped on the head by the teacher more than once for “doodling and drawing” and being distracted from “real learning.” When he was young, he went for six months to a specialized art school in Freeport, on Grand Bahama, which is the only formal art training he received.  He has self-taught to work in all media including painting, (oils, acrylic, water), drawing, glass etching and wood carving.
       
      He is 59 years old, and has four children, two boys and two girls named Bernice, Bernette, Bernard and Jeremiah.  He has a private pilot’s license.  He and his wife are passionate about the need for their children to have an strong education.  His oldest daughter just finished law school and is preparing to take the bar exam.  Two of his others are in college, one studying construction and engineering, and the other electrical engineering/aerospace. His youngest son is in high school.
       
      He has developed a fine specialty in creative engraving on bottles.  His work is superb. A truly creative, well-spoken, talented and engaging man.
       
       
      A Leonard Wright creation – a beautiful beach scene on a repurposed tequila bottle. My favorite is the hogfish in the lower right. This is only one of the three sides he engraved on this square bottle.  After engraving, he uses a white engraving compound to highlight the drawings.  
       
      Two of the cruise ship lines have nearby islands they stop at, about five miles away.  He and his wife have a small booth there, where he sells his beautiful engraved bottles to the passengers.  He can customize existing ones, or create new designs in an hour or two.  When they depart, I hope they appreciate that they have left the island with an authentic craft by an extraordinarily talented  Bahamian artist.
       
       
      A nice home, owned by the family that runs a good local restaurant, Coolie Mae’s.
       
       
      There is still a great deal of poverty on these islands.  This house looks better in the photo than it does in real life.  Curious how the color of the car matches the building.
       
       
      One day, while visiting Ruth Adderley-Rolle’s neat little Bahamian shop, this gentleman entered.  He’s Chief Sherman, Assistant District Superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.  He is the responsible for all of the Berry Islands, a large area with multiple islands stretching thirty miles from Great Harbour in the north to Chubb Cay in the south.  He does so with 5-6 officers.  He has been with the RBPF for twenty-five years.  He rotates throughout the Bahamas on assignment, and his current one has him in the Berrys for two years. Police Officers here patrol unarmed, and their 4WD Jeep police vehicles don’t have flashing lights – and likely not even a siren. There are no traffic lights here, only a handful of stop signs 
       
       
      A few days later, while at the outdoor Beach Club tiki bar and restaurant, Chief Sherman remembered us, came over to our table and chatted with us for a good while. He was not in uniform, but likely was on-duty.  He has an engaging personality and from our observations, has built strong relationships with the people he serves.
       
       
       
      The next time you are boating in the U.S. and complain about how the Aids to Navigation (buoys and channel markers) are inadequate or improperly placed, remember this photo of what passes for a channel marker.  These are quite common.  The problem with this one is that there is shallow water all around it, for some distance.  Perhaps it is just a reference point, and the locals know to “go 50 yards to the west.”   In some of the larger harbors there are good channel markers, but this one adds local flavor, if not navigational aid.
       
       
      There are hundreds of these private little beaches.
       
       
      No words necessary.
       
      Warmest regards,
      Greg and Barbara
       
      Copyright Greg Allard, 2022
      Final – 5/30/2022
       
       

      Comments from Cruisers (1)

      1. Alan V. Cecil. (M/V SIGMACHI) -  June 4, 2022 - 12:25 am

        The photos and the definitive explanations accompanying each of of them of this sojourn through the Berry Islands are non-pareil!
        Thanks for your generosity in sharing them!

        AVC

        Reply to Alan
    • Jun 1, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      Hurricane Season Port Condition Definitions

      Along with Watch and Warning designations, these alphabetical listings, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee and Zulu, are used to indicate the anticipated severity of an approaching storm. And while the port restrictions are directed primarily at commercial traffic, the same port conditions allow recreational boaters to gauge the level of risk from the storm. Obviously, the further along the alphabet, the more severe the forecast for a given port or coastline. The official hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30.

      HURRICANE SEASON PORT CONDITIONS AND CATEGORIES
      Port Conditions are set by the Captain of the Port and are used to alert the maritime community to changes in port operations needed to prepare for the storm’s arrival.

      PORT CONDITION WHISKEY: Gale force winds (34 knots or 39 mph) are predicted to arrive within 72 hours. Port Status: Open to all commercial and recreational traffic.

      PORT CONDITION X-RAY: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 48 hours. Port Status: Open to all commercial and recreational traffic.

      PORT CONDITION YANKEE: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 24 hours. Port status: Closed to inbound traffic and vessel traffic control measures in effect on vessel movements within the port.

      PORT CONDITION ZULU: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 12 hours. Port Status: Closed to all inbound and outbound traffic.

      PORT CONDITION RECOVERY: The storm is no longer a threat to the area, however, some damage may have occurred and response and recovery operations are in progress. Port status: Reopened to outbound traffic at the completion of the port survey. Vessel traffic control measures remain in effect on vessel movements within the port.

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    • May 27, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      The latest news for you from Marv’s Weather

      Our thanks to Perry McDonald for sharing this sad, but hopeful, news with us.

      Marv's WeatherMarv’s Weather
      Marv’s Daily Virtual Buoy Weather & Tropical Weather Reports
      Special Message From Carol Market

      By now most of our current email subscribers to Marv’s Weather Service have received the new, reformatted newsletter and seen the new website; now we would like to give you quick update on what has been happening ‘behind the scenes’. Beginning late last year Marv began working with Pierre Narath in an endeavor to make the weather site load faster, mobile friendly and less labor intensive to produce.

      With the onset of Marv’s cancer diagnosis we needed to step up the pace considerably and the site was developed into what you see today. Sadly, Marv passed peacefully in his sleep on May 22, 2022 but he was able to favorably review the site before that time came. With the help of Pierre and Buoyweather.com we are so pleased that Marv’s legacy will continue to be of service to our cruising community and that his mission of keeping pleasure boating safe and comfortable carries on in his name.


      Wishing everyone fair winds and smooth seas!

      Blessings, Carol Market and Family 

      We will try to have our buoy and tropical reports updated twice a day.
      Tropical weather reports will be updated as determined by weather conditions.
      You may have to refresh the webpages to see the latest updates.       

       

      Tropical WeatherBuoyWeather Reports

      Buoyweather’s point-based marine weather forecasting system empowers users to make informed decisions about their offshore navigation and recreation. Click here to view the latest reports

       
      Tropical WeatherTropical Weather Reports

      Tropical Weather Discussion for North America, Central America Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, northern sections of South America, and Atlantic Ocean to the African coast from the Equator to 31N. Click here to view the latest reports

       

       

      Marvsweather.com has been sharing (as a free service) via email our offshore daily
      virtual buoy reports and our tropical weather reports with other boaters and non-boaters.

      Marv’s Weather Service | 950 N Collier Blvd., Suite 419, Marco Island, FL 34145
       
       

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    • May 26, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments 26.8167,-80.0479999

      A Souvenir of Florida’s Nearly Forgotten Past by Ginger L. Pedersen


       View In Chartview

      In Rochester, New York, a little wooden box lay forgotten on an estate table sale; a knickknack bought by a Florida tourist more than a century ago. 

      A souvenir box made in Mauchline, Scotland, depicts a banyan tree on Pitts Island, now known as Munyon Island, near North Palm Beach. That’s Singer Island beyond. PHOTO BY GINGER L. PEDERSEN

      A souvenir of Florida’s nearly forgotten past
      Ginger L. Pedersen for Palm Beach Florida Weekly

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    • May 24, 2022by:   Larry Dorminy No Comments

      Maritime Safety Guide

      Although focused on maritime workers, this safety guide has ideas for use on private vessels.

      Maritime Safety Guide
      Lanier Law Firm

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