SeaZen

Hello Viewers

Have you ever wanted to spend a week in the Bahamas and snorkel on amazing coral reefs every day? Well Now you can! The Sea Zen Crew is happy to welcome you to an amazing experiance aboard our 42 foot sailboat. Wheather you crave a sunset sail or  a week of sun and fun. Cruising the Keys or across the Gulf Stream. You will enjoy every minute of your experiance aboard our vessel.

If you have a yacht but can not get it to where you want to be we also offer Yacht delivery. Ranging East Coast North America to the Caribbean. We sail it down You fly in. Its that easy.

For charters rezervations a required and the same with Yacht deliverys.  Have Fun With us!

Hello Sea Zen visitors,

We left Bimini early in the morning and it was sad that we were leaving the Bahamas. The crossing was a great big, wet, rolling desert. About half way in the middle of the Gulf Stream I threw a message in a bottle over board. Where it will end up I do not know. I hope that someone will find it and get back to me. We pulled in to Lake Worth, FL . It took about 10 hours to cross this time. The next day we had to check in with the customs. It was a wet dinghy ride in because it was thundering and lightning. We checked and everything was ok. We had dinner with Sea Fox X who crossed with us. The next couple days we went up the ICW to get to the marina. We stayed at 3 anchorages before we got to the marina. To get ready to haul out.  We hauled out at a place called Riverside Boat Yard.  Everyone pulled into the city marina and started getting ready to put their boat to bed. That means put the boat into storage. Even when the boat was put into the yard there was still a lot to be done. We had to do all kinds of things: packing, putting things in Space Bags, and washing down the whole inside of the boat with vinegar to prevent mold and mildew, and we had to take the sails off as well as the booms and some of the rigging. I did some waxing on the boat to prevent oxidation and cracking on the decks. It was a lot of work. We left may 7th in a rented cramped mini-van with all our stuff in it. We made my stops to our friends Carol & Doug in St. Augustine, and to Monticello, and to Gettysburg. We got home may 14th. Everything was good when we got home. Luna’s ball was right where she left it. I was sick as soon as we got home I only had it for one day but my dad had it for 4 days I think I might have a strong immune system than him, but im not sure. We are nice and settled in and I hope that you are too!

Will blog again about Gettysburg and my trip to Nova Scotia when the next adventure presents itself!

Until next time.

Monticello was meant for Jefferson’s house, retreat, and 5000 acre farm. It was built in 1770 and it was Monticello I.

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It was Monticello I for one year before he went to France and he saw all these domes on buildings. Upon his return from France he had the second floor torn down and he designed a dome for the second floor roof Monticello II is the one that stands now. The first one that was put up was a mix of Roman architecture and Virginian. Now the one today has Roman, French, and Virginian. It took 40 years to build Monticello. There was a brewery, winery, blacksmith shop, carpenter, and a smokehouse There were also Thomas’s quarters and study, a parlor, kitchen, ice tank, two privy’s, two storage rooms, family room, a library, museum, two guest rooms, two play rooms, a dining room, a wine cellar, a dome room, and a north and south pavilion. There were also stables. Monticello could have as much as 26 people living in it at one time. James Madison was a frequent visitor at the house and was the 4^th president of the United States. When you first enter the house there is Jefferson’s museum that had things that Louise & Clark brought back Indian artifacts, antlers of all animals, bones, and they tried to bring him an elk but that went south pretty fast.

He tore down the first Monticello and put up the one you see below.

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The slaves at Monticello grew their own crops and Jefferson’s! They had to tend the things that he tried to grow, things like French grapes for the finest wine, rosemary, cabbages, and beets, carrots, and all kinds of flowers most of them failed. The life of a slave was hard and they only got 1 blanket every 3 years and 1 pair of shoes every 2 years. Slaves made up 89% of the work force at Monticello. The manor was run by 180 slaves. Thomas only released 7 slaves two in his lifetime and 5 in his will. He wrote the Declaration of Independence which said that everyone is created equal, but what about the slaves he never gave the slaves what he said they should have.  Also there was a Virginia law that said ‘’if a slave is released it must be out of state in one year.”  Thomas said “that slavery was something for someone else to resolve in another time after mine.” He had a farm and all plants of all shapes and sizes. There was the place where the slaves lived and worked all day from sun up to sun down! The slaves got ½ pound of meat each from Jefferson and they worked 6 days a week and then after they were done with Jefferson’s work they got to do the work they needed done.

Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 and died in 1826. In his life time he had the accomplishments of being vice president, president, ambassador to France, inventor, and a qualified writer. He married a woman named Martha and she died 10 years later. He had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Only the daughters survived.

Monticello and its history have survived hundreds of years. Let’s hope it can survive for future generation.

We left Warderick Wells eight days ago and we were on route to Hawksbill Key. The weather was a little rough and the waves were on the beam for about 1 hour. Everything was great; sailing down we were making 7-8 knots under jig and jigger. (Head sail with the mizzen.) We were sailing so fast! The trip was 15 miles we made that going just on the sails. No motor! We got to Hawksbill Key and got a mooring in the south anchorage. The night was a little rough but we slept through it. The next morning we were up with the sun and we are traveling with our friends Dee & Ed on Sea Fox 10(x). They are nice folks. They are 67 (Dee) 71 (Ed). This is year 7 out 0f the 5 year plan and they are going for it. The morning was crisp and the coral heads were hard to see so we took it slow. We got out put the sails up and away we went.

Around the middle of the trip mom was down below and dad needed help jibing the boat. I said “Jibe,” and dad started I had to haul in the mainsail boom, and then let it out again to make it switch sides. The next thing was to swing the head sail over. I let out one side then started pulling in the other. The jibe was complete and I was spent. It was hard work. I had to do that one more time to get on course.

We pulled into Nassau and went to a marina called The Nassau Harbor Club. We tied off and went to help Ed and Dee a few minutes later. We helped them and they were right next to us and it was a fun night, for me at least. I gamed all night long!!!!! The next day we went to the downtown straw market and looked around. Mom bought a few things and so did Dee. Then we went to the Main ST ice cream parlor. The ice cream was soooooooo good. The bus was different from the American buses that I’m used to. Everything is different, the environment in the bus, the bus it’s self just everything.

We got back to the boat and had a movie time with Ed and Dee. We watched the movie, This Is It. It was about the show that Michel Jackson was going to do before he died. It was just an amazing movie, just all of it, in every way. The show would have been magnificent!!!

We went back to the Straw Market again and did some business. We went for another ice cream and everything was just the way a normal day goes.

We left Nassau the next day and it was really early in the morning, around 6:00 I would say. The entrance to Nassau was a little bumpy. The weather said that the waves were going to mellow out and they did!!! Later in the day you would think you were in the ICW again. It was so flat there was only a little bit of wave action. We had a nice sail to the Grand Bahama Banks.  Were we dropped anchor to spend the night. It was got wavy really wavy! We got up and had a rocky and rolly day to Bimini where we are now. We have had two dinners with our friends Dee & Ed outside on the picnic tables at the marina. Ed caught a BIG Mutton snapper and we have been having that for dinner. Both nights! I think there is a Wahoo (a fish that can get up to 6 ft long ) is in Bimini harbor. I have met some kids and they left this morning.

Early tomorrow morning we are leaving for the States. We had a great time in the Bahamas. We are sailing into Fort Lauderdale or Lake Worth. Ed and Dee are crossing on Sea Fox X ( 10 ). I don’t want to go home but I miss everyone. I’m in the mud, don’t know which way to turn.

We left Black Point and went to Big Majors Spot. It was the land of swimming pigs and land pigs. Yes, sir they come up to your dinghy or in this case swim up and see if you have any food for them. They will climb into your dinghy and it is kind of scary. I like the little ones: they’re cute, their poop is small, and so is everything about them. Also when we were there we went to Thunder Ball Cave, t he one in the James Bond movie, ThunderBall. It was a good, day nice and hot. The water felt warm. It felt like I was swimming into the unknown. The light in the cave was a shadowy light casting shadows all over the walls. There was a little current in the cave. The cave was a huge cavern with a few over hangs that had a small or large room. The cave water was about 10-15 feet deep. The bottom was rock but not jagged with some sand mixed in. There was a little exit that you could swim into and dive under the water and out of the cave. There were all kinds of fish like Nassau grouper, Yellow Tail Snapper, Squirrel Fish, Queen Angels, Gray Angels, French Grunts, Sergeant Majors, all other fish of all shapes and sizes. We saw all types of coral in the cave and under it. I was not really paying attention to the coral. I found a little part in the cave that you had to wiggle into to get to the entrance but it was more fun than the easier way in. It was compact and very interesting. You had to move your body in a certain way in order to get through. It was really multitasking. It was a different environment than the cave you saw a lot of things up close and personal.

Our friends Paul & Malinda told us about a ray hole. The hole was on the opposite side of Big Majors in a cut between the open ocean sound and the Bahama bank. The hole was about 40 feet deep and about 90 feet around. On one side the incline was not steep and there was a deep drop on the other side. It was the best!!!. This is where the spotted Eagle Rays like to hang out! We had to drift dive here due to the current and waves coming in from the sound. We went up above the hole and we dove in and tied the dinghy to dad and we floated over the hole with the current and held onto or stayed close by the dinghy. It was amazing! It was like being on a high mountain and looking in a canyon and watching eagles fly. We had a great time.

The next move was to Little Halls Pond Key. We came in and the first thing I did was to jump into the water. We stayed there for 2 days. During those 2 days we dived on a plane that was under water. We also went to a underwater reef that the park calls a sea aquarium because there are so many fish . Great!!! We went to a dinghy mooring and tied up. The Sea Aquarium was a good free dive. A free dive is when you take a breath and go down to a depth of 5 or more. I like seeing the things under water at the fishes’ level. I saw so many fish of all shapes and sizes, like Nassau grouper, Yellow Tail Snapper, Queen Angels, Gray Angels, and Sergeant Majors. We saw a lobster that was huge. It looked like a Maine lobster but no claws and the color is a copper color.

After Halls Pond Key we went to Warderick Wells again. We are headed north. We pulled in and did not do anything for the first day. The next day we had a great breakfast with our friends Dee & Ed on the ship, Sea Fox X. The breakfast was fantastic!!! We had pancakes with pears and apples inside, coconut on top, and an orange sauce all over it. Next on the list was to go snorkeling at a place called Judy’s Reef. but we saw a shark and went to a different place called the Rangers Garden. The reef was covered in coral and fish. They were most of the same fish as we have seen. It was patchy and there were big coral heads and little ones. We saw so many big Lobsters!!!!! Like 10 -15 I think!

We came back to the boat because of current. Dad and I went to a Powwow. We brought cake that mom made. Mom stayed on the boat to rest. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of people there and I met a lot of new people and got to see some old ones.

On Wednesday we had a fantastic day. First we left Warderick Wells and had a nice sail, but the wind died down and we had to motor. We motored for a little while until we got to the Rocky Dundas. We were going to go into the sea caves but we had to wait till 3:00pm, at low tide so the current would not take us away. So we went conching with Steve from Hook. Mom came, too. The first few spots we went to had no conch and that was that. Then we hit the jackpot! There were so many it was insane! We were pointing our fingers underwater and going like, “I want you, you, and you.” We got like 6 or 7. We came back to the boats and got the conch in to a bag and threw it into the water to keep the conch fresh until we could clean them.  After that, we went to the sea caves. They were amazing. We rode over in our dinghies and got a mooring. I was the first one in the water. There was a reef. It was great we went in to one of the caves and there were stalagmites, stalactites, and it echoed when you spoke. It was great! We got our picture taken and then we snorkeled around the reef for about forty five minutes. There were Queen Parrot fish and all sorts of fish and coral. There was even Fire Coral! Fire Coral is rare in the states because all the reefs were destroyed because it is extremely sensitive.

On Thursday we traveled on the boat from Rocky Dundas to Black Point. It was a nice sail; we were going about 7.5 knots with just the sails up. I was down below sleeping and everything was good. There was a good heel, about this / angle. We rolled in and anchored and met Hook. We went ashore to walk Luna and she was a big hit. All the kids loved her. We walked her around and took her back to the boat. Then we came back into shore to have dinner at Loraine’s Café. It was great but there was a long wait for our food. We found things to do though. I had BBQ ribs. they were delicious. We had our fill and went home full. We had ice cream!!!! The Hooks left us to go farther south and we are now all alone. We said our goodbyes this morning and everyone was sad. We walked Luna around this morning down the other side of the island. It was beaches and the open plains of the island with the ocean in the back ground. We went back to the boat after that and now I am writing this.

I’m highlighting our trip from Nassau.

We set of from Nassau, to a place called Allen’s Key. When we got to Allen’s Key we went right to anchoring. After that we went swimming off the boat. I went diving on the anchor and I was swimming around the boat having a great time. The Hook crew came over to our boat and I went with them to a little snorkeling trip around the sand bar. The next day we went to a snorkel and spear fishing trip. It was a rocky ride; my dad broke a pin on the engine. We fixed it on the beach. There was not a fish to spear. There were so many Iguanas on that island.

We went to Highborne Key a few days later and everything was good. We met up with friends Monty & Betsy on Salsa, and we met up with Gary & Ann on a boat named Flyght that we saw in the Chesapeake. We went snorkeling in a great reef called the Octopus’s Garden. It was great. There were so many fish and plant life. I saw all types of fish every shape and size. We had a beach powwow that night, with two types of fish, snapper and some grunts that we got from some local fishermen.

We left the next day to go back to Allen’s Key to seek safe harbor because a storm front was coming. When we sailed into Allen’s Key we tackled with the anchors for a while until Steve came and helped. We had a good time there again.

We left Allen’s Key at around 9:30 in the morning. We sailed for about half the day. Everything was going great but the wind had really died and there was not much to move the boat or cool us so- we dropped sail and motored for a good while. It was getting pretty hot and mom wanted to put up a little tent -like thing to block the sun. It just was not doing the trick so mom said that we should jump in and cool off. It worked!

We pulled into Wardrick Wells in the Exuma Park. We did not go ashore the first night. We were too tired. Last night in the moonlight we went up the Boo Boo Hill trail, trying to see Murphy the Headless Horror.(Murphy was marooned  by some local fishermen people think they know why they put him there but it was never proved. They left him he so they could get back to Georgetown before the weather. He died. The fishermen came back and they found him dead. They took his head as evidence. Now he is a ghost looking for it.)

We had dinner on the beach with the Henry’s before the hike. It was great!! The food was great too!! There was pasta. I had like 7ths on that; potatoes; and a salad. It was magnificent!! During dinner we had some visitors: the Bahamas only land mammal, the hutia. They were like a guinea pig with a rat’s tail. They were so cute.   Then we went up the trail and we crossed Banshee Creek in the middle of the night. It was amazing! The water was up to my knees, and you could see the bottom; it was that clear. At the top of the Boo Boo Hill trail there was a big drift wood pile. Cruisers put their names on pieces of drift wood and put them in the pile. We and the Henry’s wrote on our own drift wood and we set them on the pile. After that we went to the blow holes and had some Blow Hole Pie!!! (Key Lime Pie with meringue on top which we carried to the top of the hill with us.) We had a lot of fun and we stood over the blow holes, and we had a death grip on that pie. Then we walked back to the dinghies, retracing our steps and got back home safely.

That’s the trip so far!

There were a few days when there was not much to talk about.  Then there was the day.

It was about yesterday. It started out like a normal day. Everything was good. It was around lunch time, when suddenly dad said that there were some sail boats coming in to Bimini harbor. He had noticed that all of them were moving but one. So, he went to the boat and got the binoculars to have a look. The boat was not moving and dad figured out that it was a ground and not moving off the sandbar. Then, we saw the life raft deploy and dad turned on the radio to see what was up. They had run hard a ground and had panicked. They were calling MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY on the radio. Dad and Steve from Hook went around and they found a skiff that would bring them out to rescue the people in the raft. When they came in only one person had a life jacket on and they had no radio. But the one guy had his file folder. They came in and I, Steve, dad, mom, Emma, Maddie, and Kirsten helped them out of the life raft. They had two dogs Misty (a Chihuahua puppy) and Princess (a middle aged boxer). When the entire hullabaloo was done dad  went with some locals to go get the boat. When they found someone that could tow the boat dad looked to where the boat was, but it was not there.  It had drifted into 3 ft of water and was hard a ground. They put in a whole rescue operation into order. They had a tow boat out there; they had a boat standing by, and a dinghy waiting if a guy fell off the boat a ground. They had people swimming to get on the boat that they were trying to tow.   It was just amazing everyone trying to help and the commotion, the boats getting rocked around, and the one they were trying to save getting destroyed. It was getting boring and nothing was happening. So mom, Emma, Maddie, and I went to look at a steel hulk on the beach. After we did that we went home and I went to hang with the girls. Then we heard on the radio “Steve! Get some dock lines! We need help bringing this boat to the dock!” We went running over to the dock and saw the damage: the solar panels were destroyed; the hull was cracked in many places and she was sinking at the dock. We helped for a while and said our good-byes and went and back to the boat and had dinner with the Henry family. The next day we went to the Shark Lab. It was a slow start to the day and well, I will explain it. I woke up, got breakfast and went back to bed. Finally mom got me up and we went on the Bimini ferry. It was a short ride to South Bimini and we got a bus that was running all over South Bimini. We got on; it was cool. We were riding in a home made bus, in the Bahamas! We got to the Shark lab and every thing was good, but we had to wait a little while. Then we got our tour. It first started out as a tour with pictures of all the sharks they catch. We learned about what sharks are dangerous and which ones are not, good dive points, and the lemon shark population in the Bahamas. Then came the fun parts. We walked out to the back of the lab and walked out to the shark pens. We waded into the water to about my knees. We stood on cinder blocks that were holding the pen down. Our guide Jim climbed into the pen and caught a small lemon shark. Then he showed us the many senses of the shark and he flipped  it over to put it in a type of sedation. Then we got to touch it! It was smooth if you rubbed to its tail, but it was like sand paper if you ran your hand to the head. We went back to the beach and we went back to the parking lot and The kids got to hold a Bimini Boa. It was so gentle and strong. We went home and had dinner with the Henry’s. Yesterday we went conching and our catch was two conchs that we had for dinner. Kirsten and Steve made a special recipe with them.It was so good.  We had stone crab as the main course,too. We had to rock- paper- scissors for the last one. We had Bimini Bread pudding that mom made for dessert.

In the amount of two days we went from Marathon to Rodriguez Key and we did the overnight crossing to the Bahamas.

I woke up at around 2:00 in the morning and the boat was rocking and rolling. I tried to go back to sleep without any luck so I got up, got dressed, and went up into the cock pit. It was pitch black outside and the boat was banging into the waves I was looking around when I saw the boat Hook. Hook was our crossing buddy. The family on Hook is the Henry family, Steve, Kirsten, and their children, Emma (9), and Maddie(6).  They looked worse than us. Their bow would get buried in a wave every now and again. The green bow light would disappear the reappear over and over again. It was getting on morning and the waves picked up a little and everything was getting rocky and rolly. There was not much to talk about except seasickness. We came into the Bahamas and the depth sounder was not working, Hook made an old fashion sounder: a rope with knots and a weight on the end. We got in fine and WE WENT TO A MARINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing and the power has fed me well. My computer is fully charged all the time. It is great!!! We went snorkeling two days ago. I was blown away.We were not even on a reef and it was amazing. There were two wrecks, both speed boats. There were queen angel fish, butterfly fish, yellow tail snapper, NURSE SHARKS (they were my favorite), a dead lion fish that some one had speared. (They are an invasive species and MUST BE EXTERMINATED.) These were some of the other fish that I saw: squirrel fish , wrasses, spotted eagle rays. They were amazing!