SeaZen

This interview is about our friends Meryl and Sandy.

#1 Q: What influenced you to travel on a boat?

A: Meryl was very young and he read Treasure Island and it was about action, the sea, and adventure. He always wanted to do those things. Life got in the way. His wish was to sail the ocean on his one and only boat. He was going to die from cancer but fate said otherwise. He always wanted to do what he is doing now.

#2 Q: Why did you pick this type of boat?

A: He picked the O’Day 25 because it was the first boat he saw that he could afford. It was a gift to him from the previous owner. The boat was in a marina in the NH border. It was run down when Meryl saw it; it needed a lot of work.

#3 Q: How do you like the trip so far?

A: It was hard bad, weather and seas, scary coast, and granite bottom. They met the best people you could imagine.

#4 Q: Have you met many sailors?

A: They met many people young and old alike. Many were fisherman and cruisers. Meryl helped where he could and people that were in need. He worked with a fisherman when the fisherman was in need of help. They try to help with everything they can.

#5 Q: What was your favorite state so far?

A: They liked a lot of places along the trip down the east coast. The people were so nice and would let you use their car or take a shower and you don’t know them. They love Florida.

#6 Q: Do you have a favorite marina?

A: Marian, MA. They loved it, weather could have been better.  At Barlow’s boatyard in Pocasset, MA the people would drive them to get parts or to get groceries and they would not have to pay their driver, and the place was family owned.

#7 Q: Did you have your sails up a lot?

A: Their sails were up all the time. The only time they were down was if there was no wind. The ship, Amber Marie, will sail on almost no wind.

Last Saturday we (as in Steve (the captain#1), mom, dad, me, new friends, Linda, and Steve (the guest#2) went on a day sail of a life time on Steve #1’s catamaran called Hanalei Moon. It started as a good day. We boarded and went off the mooring. The cat cruised down to Sister Creek on the other side of Boot Key. The ship went out into the open ocean and we headed out to the reef.  Dolphins started riding the bow and we got up close and personal with them. First, 10-15 dolphins roll up the waves. “That’s insane!” I kept telling myself. Just then, after they leave, 10-20 more come and that was amazing! We were just blown away. They rode the bow some more and then they went back to fishing.

We motored out to the reef. At first the water was a little cold,but it always is when you first jump in. There were so many fish! We were tossed oatmeal flakes in the water and then when we were in the water we held bread and then schools of Yellow Tail Snapper & some sort of gray fish came right up to us and were swimming around me, dad, and Steve#1. Then the barracudas came (Jaws music here: danda, danda, dandandanda, strike) not at us, but at the fish. Everything is all right. The barracudas leave. We snorkel around the reef, we see Sea Fan, brain coral, lots of fish in all different shapes, sizes, and colors on the reef. Dad and I get out and mom goes in. Dad lets Luna go (she has been crying all this time when we jump in.)  She sees the bottom, sees mum, and jumps! Of course she thinks she will touch bottom! FAT CHANCE!!!!!! She soon finds out that it’s 25 ft deep. Then, this happens in her head: “Mom’s fine! Got to get back to the BOAT!”  She swims back and dad hauls her out and she shakes. I go back in with mom and we go around the reef looking at many things. We are seeing many fish and sea life on the reef. Then I start to help Steve#1 clean the bottom of the cat. That’s boring and the task is quickly aborted.

We leave the reef and go fishing, trawling to be exact. Next thing you know, we get a fish and dad is fighting with the rod. We finally get the fish aboard. Then we find out that it’s a  HUGE Grouper and have to let it go because they are not in season and it would be illegal to take it. I was starting to smell it on the grill. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. We let the fish go and we wet a line again. Nothing for two hours. Then something I least expect happens; we see a sea turtle. A Green to be exact. But when we passed it, it didn’t dive. I was the turtle expert so we called the Coast Guard and they gave us the number of the Turtle Hospital.  The turtle staff told us to take it in the boat. We captured it and went straight to Burdines, a restaurant in the harbor with dock. We put the injured turtle in the cockpit and sprinkled some water on the shell to keep it from drying out. When we got there the staff asked us what we wanted to name our female turtle. We said Hanalei after Steve #1 ’s catamaran. Hanalei means ” to make a flower lei.” Lei is a Hawaiian symbol of affection.For more info and pix go to http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/.

Hello Sea Zen viewers!

I’m going to be doing interviews of people that I meet along the way.

This one is about Brian & Nicole on the vessel Sponge. They started out in Rhode Island with their two dogs, Shrimpy and Dexter

#1 Q: What is influencing you to travel on a boat?

A: Brian wanted to travel since he was a child. He heard about sailing and adventure on the high seas; he always loved boats and things that sail. Brian did not want to work anymore and instead of working more,  he wanted to live his life to the fullest. Nicole just went with the flow.

#2 Q: Why did you pick this type of boat?

A: They picked an intrepid 28 foot mono hull sloop. Most other boats are way too much money and they were not too experienced at the time. The ship’s lead keel is very sturdy. The boat was damaged by a tree hit and Brian could repair the damage to the hull. Nicole was in charge of painting, and scraping the hull, gross and simple, but tiring jobs. Size was a good factor because any larger wound be too much to handle and any smaller would not have enough room.

#3 Q: When did you have the idea of sailing?

A: Brian was around 12 when he wanted to sail. He did lots of research and found Sponge in a scrap yard, did a lot of work with Nicole. They had some challenges:  he had to buy a new head sail; they had to rebuild some of the inside of the boat; they had little sailing experience so they had a rough time in the beginning, especially with weather.

#4 Q: What was your favorite state?

A: Their favorite state was Florida/south, because of the temperature, with New York in a close follow up.

#5 Q: Do you have a favorite marina?

A: Their  favorite marina was a marina in New York City because of location.

#6 Q: Have you put your sails up a lot?

A: Yes, but  Brian & Nicole still need sailing skills improvement, experience wise.

Duck!!!

This is a video of  New York harbor.

Have you ever wondered what the Gulf Stream is?

The Gulf Stream is a very strong and big current that originates in the Gulf  of Mexico. The Gulf Stream goes up the coast of Florida, the normal temp for southern Florida is 23c (77f )  and then up the coast of North America, goes off towards Europe, taking the warm waters and wind up from the Gulf of Mexico. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream are going with the strong westerly winds that the Gulf stream creates. Go along the coast of England, Ireland and Norway. That’s why parts of England and Ireland are warm and have palm trees. When it gets to Europe it turns and goes down to Africa.The strength of the Gulf Stream is  depleting now. Then when it gets to the lower part of north Africa it goes to south America. Next it will go up to the Caribbean and it splits. The Gulf Stream goes around the Caribbean and the rejoins with it self at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

The gulf stream can move in the spring 30 cubic meters of water in a second. In the fall it can move 150 cubic meters of water in a second. The gulf stream is going a year round. Only in 2004 when it stopped for 3 days. There were many weird things happen that year. With the spinning motion it has a very good part in the cyclone formation in the Atlantic ocean. It moves warm air in a cylinder that will form a hurricane or a cyclone.