Believe it or not! A Ghost Tour

One of St Augustine’s attractions is Ripley’s Believe it or Not. We’d not bothered because we’d been to one in Los Angeles and were fairly busy. But we did decide to take their Ghost Tour.

We collected at the “museum” and were issued with a disposable camera and electronic ghost detectors (actual EMF meters) so that we could detect and take pictures of the supernatural events we were about to witness.

We were led by a lady and gentleman dressed in Gothic clothes who spoke really slowly and spookily. The man made lame Daddy quality jokes. They narrated the tour through the streets of St Augustine as night fell telling tales of murder, massacre, and betrayal. We visited the “oldest house” where a wife waits for her husband each night, a park where children play as ghostly orbs in the trees, and a cemetery that was once outside the city walls where yellow fever claimed the lives of many. We were told of the practice of putting string connected to bells on the fingers of corpses as they were laid in their coffins so that if they weren’t really dead once they were underground, they could let people on the surface know! As we went we took photos and checked the em meter -- no ghosts around that night...

Our final stop was the museum itself. Here our guides left us claiming that it was more than their pay packet was worth to enter the museum at night. A new guide took over and led us through the rooms of what was once a chic hotel where a double murder might have taken place and been covered up. If you haven’t been to a Ripley’s museum, imagine rooms stuffed with oddities, human and animal: tallest, shortest, fattest, ugliest. Think of the old fashioned “freak shows” and you’ll see why it was such a good place to scare people in the dark.

We survived and although we haven’t had the photos developed yet, we’re fairly confident that we won’t see ghostly orbs in the trees, on the stairs, above our heads!

St Augustine

St Augustine is a pretty town. It’s one of the first European settlements on North America and was strategic to North America and the Caribbean so it has a rich and long history of piracy and conflict with native Americans.

It also has a microbrewery right next to the municipal marina.
We had just gone through another storm, so it was fairly rough and we went through some good waves entering the harbour. Inside was calmer and while we were waiting for a bridge to open, we watched some dolphins who were hunting for their dinner. I have another fine collection of photos showing “sea where there was once a dolphin”. These didn’t play or approach the boat and the harbour master said that this was normal – they just weren’t interested in humans.

We were in St Augustine to prepare for Chris’s departure on the Trans-Atlantic back to Gibraltar. He had a crew arriving on the 31st and 1st and we had to do all the boat preparation and checks, provision, washing, packing ... and replace our radio which had been fried in the storm.

West Palm Beach to St Augustine

I had the best night watch ever on this trip. My watch was around 12-4 in the morning and took us past Cape Canaveral. Although we’d been experiencing heavy thunderstorms since Fort Lauderdale, the night sky was as clear as crystal and the light pollution from the Florida shore was much less than expected. Usually it’s hard to fill a 4 hour night watch but this was incredible.

The launch pads and the huge Vehicle Assembly Building of the Kennedy Space Center were lit up like 3 enormous Christmas trees and through the binoculars you could clearly see the details of the launch pads, the gantries and supports and struts. We’ve visited Space Center before: once with the kids on a tour which conveys some idea of the scale of the facility and once in a light aircraft which NASA traffic control allowed us to fly above the shuttle landing runway (pre 9/11). Surprisingly, sailing up the coast quite some distance off shore, brought home how big it really is -- we were in sight of the buildings for at least two hours as they continuously moved in relation to each other. There were many aspects of Floridian/US civilisation and culture that we found depressing in contrast to island living, but the magnificence of the engineering and the achievement of the space program is truly awe-inspiring and for that, you do need the infrastructure and investment that a nation like the US can provide.

I have been fascinated by stars and space since my Dad took me up to Harefield Common to identify the Plough and Orion when I was about 7 or 8. He would have loved seeing the fabulous clear skies where it’s difficult to identify constellations because of the number of bright stars rather than the light pollution we have in the UK. Jamie had been given a simple stargazing book by one of her friends at school and I used it that night to great effect to identify constellations that are too dim in the UK and to try and extend my tiny repertoire. Usually I sit huddled at the helm on night watch, but conditions and motivation were such that I walked round and round the boat with book and torch until I was dropping.

One of the wonderful aspects of this trip is that it gives you the opportunity to construct your perfect world: I’d live near a Bahamian beach that backed on to mountains, with a perfect clear night sky every night and access to Waitrose...

Thunderstorm

We’d got used to thunderstorms. Even in Orlando, you generally experienced a jolly good storm in the afternoon and were able to watch the spectacular lightening in the distance from the top of a ride. We’d actually left Fort Lauderdale heading into a storm but they tend to be short-lived and move quickly so we’d managed to miss it. But we couldn’t avoid the one that hit us full on after dinner between West Palm Beach and St Augustine

We’d spotted it on the radar heading for us so we knew we were in for a difficult time. Chris was sorting out ropes and lines (preventer and barber hauler) and getting ready to haul in the sails, while I stowed everything down below. Because we’d just eaten, this involved more potentially flying objects than normal and by the time I was at the helm ready for sail work and Chris had finished his preparations we were already looking at gusts up to 25kts. We pulled in the head sail in screaming winds with huge cracks of lightening all around us and moved swiftly onto the main when the winds hit 35kt gusts. A second or two later and we were experiencing 40 to 45kt winds. From saying, “You might want to hurry, Chris”, I went straight to “We’ve just got to let it fly!” without passing “Go”. (Apparently this is the wrong thing to say -- one should say "draw"). Usually hauling in the main involves getting the boat into wind, pulling in the three reefs, stacking the sail in the sail bag while tailing the halyard and keeping the boat into the wind, tying up the sail bag and cleating off the halyard. Tonight it didn’t. Forget a nice orderly set of reefing lines and neat stacking. We pulled that puppy down and in, in record time.

Needless to say the kids were in the cabin, with strict instructions to stay there, in life jackets, we were in life jackets and foul weather gear (I’d left mine in Turks so I was a bit stuck, Chris hadn’t re-waterproofed his and was cursing his tardiness), and for the first time on the trip we went through a life raft briefing. Chris went back on the helm and tried to find a short and safe route out of the storm using radar and our visual lightning spotting from inside the bouncing saloon. We communicated via our radio intercom – or at least, we tried. The wind was so loud it was impossible to hear Chris and we had to open the door to torrential rain to shout up “starboard”, ”port”, “forward”, and “behind”. Jamie helpfully shouted up to Chris that “it’s started to rain harder!” – to which his response was, “Thanks, Jamie. I worked that one out!” Fortunately, although the wind and rain were ferocious, the sea hadn’t had time to get really wild. Huge seas and high wind are scary for land lubbers like us, although the skipper revels in them.

I can’t remember how long it took before we were back in clear skies and calm water – probably a lot less time that we thought. Lesson was learned though – Florida thunderstorms are bigger and faster than other places we’ve been and as soon as you start thinking about getting the sails in before an impending storm, it’s time to get them in.

The kids went to bed with lifejacket and warm clothes beside them, just in case...

West Palm Beach

Well... you can keep it.

The guide book extolled the virtues of the Science Museum – so off we went.

We had to dinghy across the extremely busy deep channel which was fairly exciting and tied up cheekily to a local yacht club dinghy dock. An expensive taxi ride later saw us at the museum which purportedly had a really good mini golf with astronomical facts. Well it might have done at some point in time, but not when we visited.

We did enjoy the museum – especially the problem solving puzzle bit -- and planetarium but it wasn’t as good as our local one at Birmingham.

Back on the water: Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach

Here’s something I thought I’d never think, say, dream, imagine – we were back on the water and it felt good.

We’d talked to Keith who’d changed jobs and returned to his old one in the short time we’d been away, said good bye to Scott who’d overseen all our repairs, spent just a little more time in the Captain’s Lounge and visited Coldstone’s again and waited out some storms but were finally on our way back down the river to the sea.
We’d worked out the exact sequence of bridges in advance and Chris handled them like a pro so we didn’t have to wait for any bridge to open at all.

But as we made our way down the river, we saw lightning and heard thunder and when we exited the cut, we encountered a bit of a swell and I didn’t think it was so great to be back on the water – I should have taken a Stugeron...

We’d read the pilotage but plan and reality differed -- instead of turning left and finding a nice large spot to anchor, we turned right and weaved our way through a mass of boats, finally grounding. This time, it wasn’t on purpose. Luckily we grounded on very soft sand and ungrounded ourselves easily and without damage. A helpful fellow yachtie radioed and suggested an alternative anchorage, and we went there gratefully.

Pics: the fabulous suburbs of Fort Lauderdale -- isn't it amazing how tasteless some very rich people can be...?

Back in Orlando

We’re just about to head back to Hakuna Matata – we’re worried how she’s fared out of the water and are sure about only one thing -- she’ll be absolutely, disgustingly dirty.

In the interim, we stayed in our favourite hotel in Orlando (see pic) and picked up a couple of fleeces in honour of the colder weather to come.

North Carolina

Ken and Chris’s house is wonderful: it’s right on the IntraCoastalWaterway and has its own dock on which Chris and Ken tie up their boat. After a spot of Pilates, which demonstrated how lamentably unfit you get on a boat, and despite the weather, the kids were keen to get on the river in Ken’s canoe. Naturally both Flatcoats love the water and are expert canoeists.

After the exertion of canoeing we drove into the local town to get an ice cream in the ice cream parlour housed in the drug store. Here is small town America.

Dog Agility in North Carolina

We went to see our friends Ken and Chris in North Carolina.

Chris and I met Ken and Chris McClung during the 1990s at a Club Med on San Salvador. They had a flatcoat and ran a multimedia training business and so did we. Ken had just completed the ARC with Chris H.

We arranged that I would accompany Chris M to an agility trial to see her youngest flatcoat, Jazz, in action. Jazz is both gorgeous (successful in breed showing), talented (in agility, obedience and gundog work) and has a great character – Sam eat your heart out! From the intense heat of central Florida, the Virginia weather was strikingly cold and wet – reminded me of Good Ol’ Blighty. Despite this, Jazz did a fantastic clear in his agility round to place 2nd and made a very small mistake in his jumping – probably because the ground was affecting both members of the team. Jazz reminded me of the best elements of Poppy and Jolly.

Watch the video to see him attacking the course with joy.



The journey back to Chris and Ken’s house took about 2.5 hours and this was one of Chris’s more local trials!!! Now in North Carolina, we met Doc who is also gorgeous, well behaved and affectionate, and were treated to Ken’s incredible cooking.

Closed for a holiday in Orlando

Ft Lauderdale

Hakuna Matata had an appointment with a bloomin’ great lift at 8:30 the next morning. The reason it was being lifted was to effect repairs to the stern glands and to realign the shaft on the port engine.

We got into the space for the lift second time around – had to fight a bit of current – and disembarked. A diver (brave given the colour of that river water) fixed two enormous straps under Haku and the lift started. Very slowly our little boat emerged from the water and seemed to grow enormously in size. But as it moved off at a snail’s pace, controlled by a bloke with a remote control unit very like a toy car remote, it got smaller again against the giant wheels.

The boat finally came to rest amongst a bunch of others, was supported on blocks and our new way to embark was via a set of blocks, then up the vertical diving ladder and then up the transom steps. The weirdest feeling is being on a boat 20 feet up in the air and when you look through the window, nothing moves.

We spent the next few days in a hotel in the area while Chris worked on the boat. It was incredibly hot in the yard and the work was incredibly hard. We explored the beach and swam in the pool – we did do school.

Pic 1: The diver is the small dot in the middle of the picture under the boat.
Pic 2: The boat is the small thing next to the huge wheels.
Pic 3: The boys and discussing the technicalities of the job.

Ft Lauderdale

This was our last day on the boat before it was “lifted” and the warranty work carried out. We spent an hour or so at the CatCo Lagoon open day and had a pleasant time looking at the new and beautiful boats as well as the pre-owned cats and the living solutions their owners had come up with.

Then we went off for an ice cream – v nice – and to visit the local Science Museum and IMAX. This was a reasonable museum and we did manage to cover some of the Science topics on the curriculum but it wasn’t the best museum ever. This clock was the most impressive exhibit. It's a huge marble madness construction that accurately tells the time!

Back at the boat it was clean, clean, clean because tomorrow we’d be disconnected from both fresh and sea water.

Miami – Ft Lauderdale

The run to Ft Lauderdale was about 5 or 6 hours and we were scheduled to pick up our “river pilot” Scott mid-afternoon. You can see from the map – the red line shows our route – why we needed a pilot first time up the river to the marina.

As we approached the cut into Fort Lauderdale we saw a huge submarine steaming in at a great rate of knots. It’s one of those sights that’s both menacing and magnificent. Spot the little men on deck.

The first bridge, the 17th Street Bridge, opened on the hour and half hour – naturally we missed the opening by about a minute and had to wait for half an hour on the south side of the bridge. The bridge raises quite briefly and you have to be quick off the mark and hope that you don’t meet anything big coming the other way. Once past, we picked up our pilot at the end of one of the water streets. Scott is not actually a river pilot: he’s the Lagoon guru at CatCo and was coordinating our repairs and warranty work. Scott is larger than life, known by everyone who’s anyone at the marina and can get things done. In the case of river piloting, he directed us through the fantastically pretty water suburbs, with a commentary, and radioed ahead to the subsequent 4 or 5 bridges that open on demand so we didn’t have to change speed at any point en route.

Once safely parked, we were able to explore the marina and discovered the Captain’s Lounge. This was Alex’s heaven: it had a big TV and the Disney channel. Sadly he did have to share it with adults, but he was able to get his TV fix. We met a lovely Captain called Keith who gave Chris a lift to a Thai takeout and took a real interest in the kids.

1st pic: The map of our route through the city
2nd pic: A submarine
3rd pic: The 17th bridge raising and boats coming towards us
4th pic: A river "street"

Biscayne Bay

The third and last park on our itinerary. Biscayne Bay is a largely underwater experience and the kids recent diving and snorkeling really paid off because we missed the last snorkeling trip and they wouldn’t have been able to finish their badges without this and the in-depth mangrove project we did in Antigua.


The Ranger at Biscayne was absolutely fascinated by the family’s experiences to the point where we showed her our blog and the images from our diving in San Salvador.


We did take the boardwalk through the mangroves and round the Bay – I say an Eagle ray in the shallows but we didn’t see any manatee…


Jamie and Alex did the last part of their Ranger quest and won the coveted teardrop award. Well done!