Back from Puerto Vallarta - March 30, 2011

On the 18th, our replacement dinghy arrived just in time to inflate it and mount it aboard on our davits.



We packed and before dawn, caught a cab to the airport to fly to our timeshare and a reunion with Mick and Mary in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a great week + one day and I will put details of our trip with photos on the "While Jupiter's Smile is docked" site.

http://jupiterssmileisdocked.blogspot.com/

The weather here in Florida this week will be somewhat unsettled until Saturday so we have decided to stay at Bruno's Zoo until April 2.

Had a nice reunion with the crew of S/V Kwiana (Formerly Sunday's Child).

Brian, Jay, Barb, Nancy, Daniel (John is behind the camera)

Background on our relationship with these wonderful people may be found in the two links below:

http://jupiterssmile.blogspot.com/2008/08/death-of-sailor.html

http://danieldrydenincidentdetails.blogspot.com/

Waiting for Godinghy - An in depth review of a Mercury inflatable dinghy

Our replacement dinghy, well most of it,  arrived today.  What follows is an owner's (Barb and me) review of this product and the joys of a replacement under warranty.

That's us exploring in the Bahamas

Mercury Inflatable Boat

310 Airdeck Hypalon, White

10 ft 2" long,  Weight about 90 lbs

Purchased on 07/01/2004

10 year warranty on the hypalon tubes

1 year on the vinyl airdeck floor

Practical Sailor rated this dinghy highly, especially in its ability to be rowed it was rated #1.  It is rated for a max. 10 hp motor.  We have a Tohatsu, two stroke, 5 hp motor mounted and with two of us and an average grocery load the dinghy will plane.  We are not fast, but we get there.  The dinghy handles predictably and we can stay fairly dry in a moderate to heavy chop.  Is it the best dinghy in the world - no.  Is it a great compromise - yes.

We inflated the new dinghy at Pueblo Reservoir, CO and enjoyed zipping about on the lake on a weekend in July, 2004.  Satisfied that it would meet our needs, we deflated the boat and rolled it into its storage container and in September, brought it to our brand new Island Packet 370 in Bradenton, FL.  We stored it in our cockpit locker until December.  We sailed into Yazoo Harbor in Pascagoula, AL and the tide left us on the bottom so we took the dinghy out of the locker and inflated it, mounted the motor and used it for the first time in salt water on December 11, 2004.  We towed the dinghy to Kemah, TX and stored it in its container at home in Colorado, until September, 2005.  When category five Hurricane Rita threatened our boat, I went to Texas with the dinghy along with other survival equipment in the bed of my covered pickup, prepared for the worst, but I never needed it since Rita headed to the east of Galveston and spared Kemah.  It was not until February of 2006 that I had an arch installed on our boat that I mounted the dinghy on davits at the stern.  That arrangement has served us well ever since, allowing us to quickly launch the dinghy, to hoist it out of the water at night and to raise the dinghy with the motor mounted if we are underway in protected waters or light seas.  The two of us can lift the dinghy with the motor attached, across the beach with modest effort.  We have enjoyed the use of the dinghy (almost daily) while we cruised over the past three years from Maine to Florida, the Bahamas, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Colombia and Grand Cayman.

We experienced a leak in the airdeck in 2007, but that was successfully patched in Marathon by Eric Hanson of Inflatable Boats of the Florida Keys.  In early 2009, in Panama, the portside tube began to leak such that it needed to be re-inflated every third day.  I couldn’t locate the leak.  We spent the summer and fall of 2010 in Washington, DC with the dinghy stored in its container and inflated it again in October anticipating a departure southbound.  By then, the dinghy was needing to be re-inflated every other day and the two other tubes were softening as well.  We were in Washington, DC to care for my father, who mercifully passed away on November, 18th.  After leaving Washington, I discovered we had spent the summer in a marina just down the street from an authorized Mercury Inflatable dealer and could have dealt with the problem at our leisure, but we had had family matters on our minds.  That is all water under the bridge now and as we traveled out of the Potomac I discovered that the leak in the port tube was at a seam.  Would this be a warranty issue?  I thought it would be.

It would not be until we arrived near Jacksonville, Florida that I would be able to address the problem of the leaks with a Mercury Inflatable Authorized Dealer.  I called Marine Max when we arrived in Fernandina Beach, FL. January 3rd.  I arranged with Walt Wilson to have him inspect the dinghy in Beach Marine’s marina on January 4th where he took photos and was 90% certain that the dinghy “skin” would be replaced under warranty especially because the skin was delaminating.  He called with news that the skin would be replaced and that the cost of the replacement airdeck would be $385.70.  The airdeck would not be in until January 24th.  I would need to keep my old oars, seat and lifelines.  Marine Max would assemble the boat for us and he would check on availability.  I was told it would be 4 - 6 weeks before a replacement would arrive. 

I had already weighed the necessity for a new dinghy and was pretty set on the aluminum RIB from ABS as my first choice, but that would mean getting a beefier motor to push it.  We had already experienced great expense getting Jupiter’s Smile ready for cruising in the past month and I did not want to spend the money for a new dinghy/motor at this time.  A replacement for the very satisfactory Mercury for an outlay of under $400 was very attractive, so I told Walt to set the wheels in motion.  As to delivery, Walt told us that MarineMax had offices farther down the coast and we could accept delivery at one of those other shops and not suffer the inconvenience of waiting (in the cold weather) in the Jacksonville area.  Walt passed us on to the Marine Max office in Pompano Beach.  Eight days later, we received an e-mail from Anthony Armao from the Pompano Beach office on January 12th, stating that the skin had been ordered, reiterating the 4-6 week time frame.

On Feb. 11th, I sent Anthony an e-mail inquiring about whether there was any news about the delivery, the feasibility of using Hillsboro Inlet and if we should plan on entering Lettuce Lake to exchange boats.  The Miami Boat Show preparations were underway, but I thought I might get a return e-mail, but didn’t.

On Feb 16th, I called Anthony (954-868-3061) and he said that he would be speaking to the Mercury people at their booth at the Miami Boat Show tomorrow and that it would be better if I spoke to them directly.  Someone would call me.  He said that he was just a middleman and that it would be better for me to hear directly from Mercury people.

On Feb 18th, I called Anthony and he seemed surprised that the Mercury people had not contacted me.  He would talk to them again.

On Feb. 19th or 20th, our friend Stephen on S/V Nightingale visited the Miami Sailboat Show and stopped at the Mercury booth inquiring about our inflatable problem as a favor to us. An associate got on his Blackberry and saw that there were several boats in the warehouse in Ohio.   Stephen called us with that info. This gave me hope, but I had questions as to whether these were “skins” or entire boats and were they Hypalon or Vinyl?  The answers to those questions were not important as we would hear from Mercury soon anyway.

 On Feb 23rd, I called Walt Wilson (904-524-5403) and basically cried on his shoulder that I had no information about the delivery of the skin.  He asked for five minutes and called back.  He said he had asked “his boss to talk to their boss and if they didn’t call back in 45 minutes to call him back.”  We got a surprise visit from an old high school family friend and that deadline passed.  I am sorry for not calling Walt back, because he does everything that he says he will do and he is a great face out front for Marine Max.  I hate to have to involve him again.  We’ll see what I can do with out bothering him further.  I feel I should advocate for myself.

On the Thursday, Feb. 24th, I spoke to Travis at Mercury customer service (920-929-5040) who told me that their “analyst” (I think he said, analyst) was working on the problem and that I would be hearing back if not that same day, soon after.  Travis said that the problem is that the skin is back ordered from the supplier. If I needed to call, I should call Greg or Eric at 920-929-5000 as they were handling the order.  I also called Anthony and he responded that afternoon.  I informed him that Mercury had never, ever contacted me and that as far as I was concerned, Marine Max was doing what they could and that, in my opinion, it was that Mercury that was letting me down.  None the less, whatever he could do would be appreciated.  February 24th, is six weeks and 1 day since Anthony’s e-mail predicting a four to six week delivery.  It is seven weeks and 2 days since Walt’s visit and photography on January 4th predicting a four to six week delivery.  I told Anthony that, “the rabble is getting restless.”  I got no news on the 24th or the 25th!

On Monday morning, Feb 28th, I got Kevin in Mercury’s customer service who spoke to Greg or Eric between phone calls and I got the same answer as I got last Thursday: the skin is back ordered.  This is a problem and not a solution.  I need a solution.  Kevin, through the operator, got me to Joe in the office of the VP (of sales?) and he checked the case number through the boat’s serial number (suggesting that there was no record of my previous calls, “but that was not important.”) Well, no, up until last Thursday, I have been working through the dealers at Marine Max - following regular procedures.  I spoke of our aborted Bahamas plans due to the dinghy problem dragging on and that now I needed help in resolving this matter.  I spoke of the fact that Mercury representatives have never, ever once called me back as they said they would.  Joe said he would check on things and call me back. 

On March 8th, we left the Lake Worth area and headed toward Santa Barbara Lake near Pompano Beach where, on March 11th, Marine Max sent a boat out and we gave them our dinghy.  We would head to Bruno's in Fort Lauderdale and the new dinghy would be delivered to us there.  The dinghy was delivered on March 17th, but without the floor board from our old dinghy.  On the 18th, I bicycled to the Marine Max store, found our old dinghy, extracted the floor board, returned and assembled our new craft. Finally!

It was a frustrating experience, but in the end, worth it.  The ABS dinghy is still in my sights, but not for a while.  The new Mercury will do just fine.

Any inaccuracies in this account brought to my attention would be appreciated.

Around Fort Lauderdale's Beaches

This is Bruno's Zoo, where we have just spent a week.  Jupiter's Smile is the last boat, with the three flags flying and the radar reflector hanging from the spreaders.

Barb is departing the boat

We have biked a few times to the beach and these photos depict the Spring Break scene.

We hooked up with Ruth Puzo for lunch on Sunday and visited the daughter of a friend of hers in search of a good dock from which we might do some boating.  Did we remember to bring the camera?  Nope.  Next time, Ruth.

On Monday, Chris Pennington picked us up for dinner and we ended up at one of her favorites (the same place we went to lunch the day before), but the food is good and reasonably priced so the revisit was just fine with us.  We met her friend, John there as well.   We plan to see her again when we return from our trip to Mexico.

Barb, Chris Pennington and Jay

Docked in Fort Lauderdale

Jupiter's Smile departed Lake Worth's Old Port Cove Marina on Tuesday March, 8th.  We went only a short distance, to Lantana, just south of West Palm Beach and anchored off the ICW in front of the Key Lime House where we planned to go for a nice dinner ashore.  We met Steve and Cindy from S/V Slip Away as we walked across the Lantana Bridge towards the beach.  Steve had a hat on with Slip Away embroidered on it so I knew they were neighbors in the anchorage.  We chatted a while and learned that they were acquainted with cruisers we knew,  S/V Pea Soup and S/V Scandia.  We decided to eat together at the Key Lime House and spent a nice time there.


The next morning, we left to travel another short distance to Delray Beach, anchoring in a small man made lake off the ICW.  When we pulled in, there was a nice sloop anchored and Barb went out on deck to ask how much anchor rode they had deployed so that we could be sure to be far enough away when we anchored ourselves.  The fellow said that this was a terrible anchorage as he had been dragging most of the night and had snagged a plastic chair as well.  I was thinking that he was trying to discourage us from staying there and since he hadn't answered Barb's question, she asked again.  He said that he had thirty feet out.  That explains why he dragged!


The lake was at nearly high tide with just under twelve feet of water depth.  Add another five feet for the distance from the water's surface to the anchor platform and you have seventeen feet.  We put out a five to one ratio of rode to depth, so we would use eighty five feet where he had used thirty!  We anchored well away from him!  An hour later he left and we had the anchorage to ourselves.  Good luck on your travels, sir!


Bob and Lauren Gardner had said to contact them when we were nearby and since they lived less than two miles south of our anchorage right on the ICW, we called.  Even though they were preparing to return to Long Island that afternoon they suggested that we go to lunch.  Barb and I hopped in the dinghy and scooted down the ICW to their place and tied up.  We had a nice lunch right next to the Boca Raton Inlet Bridge and had a nice chat.  When we returned to the dinghy the tide had gone out and one of the tubes of the dinghy had been sliced by an oyster or a barnacle and was essentially flat.  I said that the boat should still float with its inflatable floor and the other two tubes still inflated, but it would be a much slower return ride.  We did just fine and called to say that we had made it back safely and for them to have a safe flight to Long Island.  


With some nasty weather approaching we decided to stay put the next day and that turned out to be a wise move.  In the morning, the tenth of March, the earliest possible day when we were told we might have our replacement dinghy (and that would have been fortunate, considering the events of the previous day) I called our representative at Marine Max in Pompano Beach, just fourteen miles away.  He e-mailed me the tracking number and he indicated to me that the dinghy would not be in until next week.  Yet another disappointment.


The weather service put out an alert for fifty mph winds and heavy rain with a chance of water spouts in the afternoon and I watched the approaching squall on the radar.  We had set the anchor the previous day into the East wind.  During the night the boat's bow pointed to the south with very gentle wind.  With this change of wind, the anchor had not been pulled towards the south at all.  When the wind changes the process is usually gradual enough that the anchor resets itself firmly, but this was a much more rapid and forceful change.  The cloud that swooped towards us was very, very dark and the wind turned the boat violently from pointing southwest to pointing north in seconds.  I started the engine to be sure that, if the anchor did not reset itself in its new direction that we would still have control of the boat.  The rain came down in buckets, but in time, it became clear that the anchor was holding and we just needed to wait out the passage of the squall.  Within an hour the wind was moderating and the rain was much more gentle.  We had a nice sunset.


On Friday, we set out to visit the Marine Max store and deliver our sad remains of a dinghy.  I called once we arrived and practically forced the dinghy on them.  We anchored a few hundred yards from their shop and they came out in a boat to get the dinghy assuring me that they would call me on Monday to report on the situation and arrangements for getting the replacement dinghy.


I was unsure of the anchorage and the fact that it was a Friday afternoon, I wanted to be settled into a place away from the crazy weekend traffic.  It was early and in spite of not being able to contact Bruno by phone we set out to travel the short six and a half miles to his dock.  We called a second time, but got no answer.  As we floated right to the docks another cruiser poked her head out and Barb was able to ask if Bruno was there.  The woman (Pam) went to get Bruno and he directed us to a dock where we tied up without incident.

Barb departs the boat at Bruno's

We met neighbors, Pam (her husband, Bruce, is away tending to his father) on S/V Ahquabi and Paul and Sandy on S/V Quarterdeck.  Both of these boats and crew are circumnavigators and are very interesting to talk to and coincidently, they remember hearing about our friend Dorothy in Venezuela several years ago and know Graham and Iris on S/V Pelagic, cruisers from Australia we met in the Bahamas.

View from Bruno's looking east

Looking south

So here we are today, on Saturday, pretty much settled in.  I called our former cruising friend, Christine Pennington and left a message for her that we were in town for a week and spoke to my nursery school chum, Ruth Puzo and we will meet her tomorrow for a visit.

Barb's bike ready to emerge from its backpack sack...

....and ready to be unfolded.  It is a full sized, 21 gear mountain bike!

We took our bicycles off the deck, unfolded them and after lunch we took a ride to see the Las Olas Boulevard St. Patrick's Day parade ending.  We biked to the beach and  realized that this is the first day of the Spring Break for many college students.  Much of the sand on the beach is covered by very uncovered flesh.  Sand is a chemical compound composed of one part silicon and two parts oxygen - silicon dioxide, the same as glass.  There are other silicon compounds and mixtures observable on the beach as well.  A major golf tournament, the Cadillac Open, is going on at the Doral.

The MetLife blimp video platform for the golf tournament

We look forward to the change to daylight saving time.

Until next time, be well!

We move about a half mile in Lake Worth

We slowly hauled the anchor after being here for a month.   Barb scrubbed the anchor rode while I pulled it aboard.  As we lifted the anchor from the bottom we saw a marine head (toilet) hooked on our anchor.   It is impossible to tell when we snagged it.  Maybe the anchor hooked onto the marine head while we hauled the rode.  In any case, the anchor held successfully for several weeks.  We made our way to the Old Port Marina without raising the anchor and head out of the water.  As we approached, the marina staff suggested we slow down and raise our anchor before we entered the marina, but I said that our ground tackle included the head and that we would remove it once we got to our slip.  They had big smiles on their faces as we passed by.  We were told at the marina that several vessels sank in the area in Hurricane Wilma.  Maybe the head came from that event.  At least we didn't hook an entire boat and we have done our part in cleaning up some of the junk at that anchorage.

Now we have a day to clean up the boat, do laundry, pump out the holding tank and fill the water tank in readiness to head south and to pick up our dinghy in Pompano Beach.  Stay tuned.

While ashore in West Palm Beach, we revisit 1966

In late 1965 and early 1966, Rodger Dill and I were in training to save the world from communism.  We were together in boot camp and then at the U.S. Navy Hospitalcorps School in Great Lakes, Illinois.  The results of that experience include the making of life-long friends, the coldest weather to which I have ever been subjected, a blind date that is still on going, acquiring useful life saving skills and the fall of communism.

On April 9, 1966, Rodger, another corpsman, Chip and I made our way to the Illinois Central Railroad station in Chicago.  We were meeting three girls from Park Forest.  For Rodger, this was his second or third date with Bonnie, but for me it was a blind date with Barbara.  Soon, a vision of loveliness, dressed in an orange sweater and skirt, a shapely, beautiful brunette with hazel eyes approached.  It was like the rest of the world became a blur and the only sight in my field of vision was Barbie.  We strolled around downtown Chicago for several hours, sometimes hand in hand.  We boarded the train bound for Park Forest and the rest of the Easter week end, where I was warmly welcomed by Barb's parents.  Barb's dad had been a Navy radarman in WWII and her mom was a wonderful cook.  It was a nice visit and now, having married on 9/4/68, we are approaching forty five years of the continuing saga, still sometimes hand in hand.

Nearly thirty years later, Barb was at a professional conference in Boca Raton, FL and as it was concluding, I joined her to tour Florida and visit Disney World.  Waiting at the airport, on our way back to Colorado, my mind wandered to those Navy days and the memory that Rodger had lived in West Palm Beach.  I wondered what may have become of him.  I checked in the phone book, found a name and number and called.  The woman's voice that answered inquired as to whether it was Rodger, Sr. or Rodger, Jr. to whom I wished to speak.  I said I didn't know which, but the Rodger I wanted was about fifty years old and a Navy veteran.  That would be Rodger, Sr.  We only spoke on the phone for a few minutes and then Barb and I boarded the plane, but that was enough to reconnect to a long lost sailor buddy.  A few years later, during a second professional conference, Barb called and then visited Rodger and his wife, but I had not been along on that trip.

In January of 2007, we were headed south toward our first Bahamas trip and we stopped in Vero Beach.  We called Rodger and he and his girlfriend joined us aboard Jupiter's Smile for a reunion.  We had not seen each other for forty one years!

Libby and Rodger in January, 2007

Jay and Rodger, 2007

We got together again in Lake Worth two more times and vowed to keep in touch.  That really hasn't happened very well while we have been out of the country and I submit this apology for not contacting Rodger earlier as we lay over, waiting for our replacement dinghy, in Lake Worth this time.  I did finally call him and we reconnected for an evening with Rodger, Libby (now Mrs. Dill) and her father, Robert, at Duffy's.  Rodger is still working and pursues his passion for Corvair automobiles along with his wife and friends.  The expression, "It keeps him off the streets" does not apply here.  It serves to occupy many weekends in his "barn" with his buddies tinkering with cars and going to shows. This Saturday we spent the day with them, visiting their home, looking at corvairs, doing some shopping and then dining at The Key Lime House (pictured below.)

Barb and Rodger

Libby and her Dad, Robert

Jay, Barb, Rodger, Libby and Robert

I see that Rodger has just joined facebook and there will be no excuse for not keeping in closer touch from now on.  Sounds like a resolution, doesn't it?

Till next time - be well!