Sorry i haven’t gotten round’ to this sooner, I’ve kind of been derping around going well this is fun what should i do. Well anyway this blog is about the harry potter attraction at universal. Hope you enjoy.

Harry Potter world. While entering harry potter world, the first thing you see is Hogwarts castle, standing tall and very beautiful. The castle is also home to The “Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey” ride, an AWESOME simulation ride that

Hogwarts castle

takes you through Hogwarts and its grounds. You first start in the castle then outside to the Quidditch pitch and the have to battle certain creatures along the way. After the ride you are directed into Filch’s emporium, a gift shop packed to the brim with Harry Potter merchandise. Then you can follow a path to HogsMede the wizard town. The first few shops you see are Olivanders wand shop, Dervish and Banges wizarding shop, Honeydukes sweet shop, Zonkos joke shop, and The three broomsticks bar.  Inside Olivanders you get a wand presentation featuring three wands. Also in Dervish and Banges there is everything from wizard scarves to biting books. In Honeydukes there is everything from Bertie bots every flavor beans to Chocolate frogs and Peppermint toads. In Zonkos joke shop they have every joke and prank imaginable. And in the three broomsticks they many a food including giant turkey legs.

GIVE THE GRAHAM YOUR FOOD

But what really makes it so cool is the little details like hearing moaning myrtle in the bathrooms, and Butterbeer stands every few feet. All in all harry potter world is one of the coolest attractions at Universal Studios. Ya, so, umm, i can never end these well can I, oh well.

We had a great time visiting with Roger, Lana and Nicole at Seaworld.  We also went to Harry Potter world at Universal (a favorite) and Disney.  It was actually quite nice to get back to the boat and away from cars, people, expense and sensory overload again.  From St. Augustine we went on to Cumberland Island, GA.  It is a national treasure and and we anchored in the Cumberland Sound just west of the island.  On the other side of the small island is, of course, the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a short and beautiful walk through to the other side under moss covered trees which create a shaded canopy of green.  The other side opens up to a big and beautiful beach that looks just like the Jersey shore except there are no houses.  Graham played for hours in the surf.  The next day we had to hightail it to Jekyl Island to tuck in for Tropical Storm Beryl.  From here we will go on to Charleston and on up the coast.

Graham reported to me the other day that when in the Bahamas, he and the other cruising kids were sitting around getting to know each other and in addition to stargazing, swimming, snorkeling, sailing, volleyball, he asked them what their favorite color is. He said almost everyone said “it’s the deep deep blue of the ocean when you make a crossing”. I loved it.

Yesterday we visited the Kennedy Space Center and wow was it full of information. It was a super interesting day and we all loved it. We all rode a simulated ride of the space shuttle. Graham spent a lot of time spinning the solar system (huge marble fountain). The boys are back there today for a look at the Astronaut Hall of Fame and a few more IMAX shows. We were all impressed to learn of some of the country’s greatest accomplishments

Our anchorage in Ft. Lauderdale

We spent 3 weeks in Ft. Lauderdale at a nice anchorage. We were able to spend quite a bit of time with our friends Jon and Jill who are not only extremely hospitable but also quite knowledgeable about cruising which was very helpful to us. We just sailed from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Augustine this week — 48 hours straight offshore, no real sleep, no real meals and a bit of seasickness for everyone. But we made it and we found a fabulous marina — River’s Edge which is quiet, has clean facilities, is close to town and has a great restaurant. This weekend is a folk and blues festival. We are going to take a trolley tour today and perhaps a Ghost in the Graveyard tour this evening. Matt and I went to Art on the Avenue last night in town. We plan to spend about three days touring St. Augustine and next week we are going to Cape Canaveral for a couple of days and then to Universal Orlando to Harry Potter world and then to Sea World to spend the weekend with our friends Lana, Roger and Nicole Parks who we traveled with in the Bahamas. We are very much looking forward to seeing them again.

We were in Georgetown waiting for a weather window to go east toward the far Bahamas and maybe to the Dominican Republic when we got an email from Amy’s Family.  Amy’s uncle Peter was going into hospice.  We had a family meeting and decided to return to the United States.  While we were sitting in Georgetown, it seemed as though one thing after another conspired to keep us from going east.  Now, as if by magic, a terrific weather window opened up.  It was a perfect window to head east.  But, we were going west.  The calm winds and smooth seas stayed with us as we sailed and motored back up the Exumas and on toward Florida.

Our first leg was from Georgetown to Staniel Cay.  We were out on the Exuma sound for the first 30 miles and then we came in through the Galliot Cut on to the banks against a 3 knot current.  This is a really beautiful wide cut with cliffs that reminded us of Ireland.  We were back in the crystal clear waters of the Exumas.  We headed for Big Majors Spot, where we knew we could find good anchoring and, surprisingly, decent wifi coverage with our high gain antenna as we were trying to stay in touch with the folks at home.

Our next day was a relaxed motor and sail up to Highborne Cay.  We passed right by the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park which had taken us more than 10 days to visit last time we were there in February.  We anchored west of Highborne Cay.  Graham and I swam over to another boat for a chat.  Lots of rays and sharks in these waters.

Our next leg took us across the Yellow Banks to Nassau.  We motored through the numerous coral heads that make up the banks.  We planned our crossing so that we could easily see the coral heads in the morning sun.  We were also able to sail a good distance toward Nassau as well.  Nassau was a huge adjustment after the sparsely populated Exumas.  There were two cruise ships in port and the resorts were busy with sun seeking tourists.  We couldn’t resist a little trip over to Atlantis where the rooms range from $400 to $25,000 a night although we stayed at Nassau Yacht Haven for $50.

The next morning we set sail again in moderate winds and seas.  Unfortunately the wind was right on the nose for this leg across the Northeast Providence Channel.  Our destination for this day was Chub Cay in the Berry Islands.  However, I didn’t like the look of the anchorage in Chub so we picked up a mooring at the Berry Islands Club on Frazer’s Hog Cay.  It was a delightful spot.  Once the moon set, the night sky was awesome.  We have a new iPad App called Star Walk that helps us identify stars, planets, constellations, and even man made satellites.  The night sky is so visible here where there is practically no light pollution to detract from the viewing.

We left the Berrys early.  This is our longest leg of the trip.  We will be going for 24 hours nonstop.  We cross on to the Great Bahama Bank past the NW Channel Light at around 11 AM.  We keep going past Mackie Shoal and then pass the North Rocks of North Bimini and out into the Straits of Florida at 10 PM.  The wind is still on the nose so we are motoring for this entire leg.  At about 2 AM on April 3^rd we enter the Gulf Stream and pick up speed.  Arriving about an hour before sunrise, we wait for the light to navigate into Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale.  We have to wait for a couple of bridge openings and then we pick up a slip at Las Olas Marina so we can get some rest.

After a couple of days in the Marina, Amy flies to the Twin Cities and Graham and I move Troubadour to an anchorage off the Middle River.  Our friends, Jon and Jill, helped us find this convenient spot.  It is close to their home as well as to lots of other services like groceries and restaurants.

After 5 months in the Bahamas, it takes us 5 days of sailing and motoring to get back to the States.

What a place.  We arrived on February 19^th.  We were planning to stay about  4-5 days.  Over a month later we getting ready to depart.

What kept us here?  Well there were boat repairs, a visit from Amy’s parents and sister, the cruiser’s regatta, lots of kids, and weather.

Georgetown’s Elizabeth Harbour is a large well protected harbor.  The city of Georgetown is located on the west side of the island.  We stayed in Georgetown at Exuma Yacht Club during the times we were working on the boat.   Most of the time we anchored on the eastern side of the harbour in the lee of Stocking Island.  Stocking island has miles of beaches, great hiking, and great places to just hang out.

Headquarters for the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta is a restaurant on Stocking Island called the Chat and Chill.  Chat and Chill’s beach is also known as Volleyball Beach.  It has picnic tables, volleyball courts, swings and treehouse for the kids, and benches for “Beach Church” on Sunday.  Chat and Chill completes the scene with BBQ, hamburgers, a Sunday pig roast, and lots of refreshing beverages.

Chat and Chill Headquarters for the Georgetown Cruisers' Regatta

The Georgetown Cruiser’s Regatta is a really a series of fun events which includes some sailing races.  Events included the hilarious coconut challenge, Texas hold’em, volleyball, homebuilt model boat races, and the in harbor and around Stocking Island races.  It’s a fun family friendly event with Dances on the opening and closing nights.

Coconut Challenge on the water portion

Coconut challenge on land portion-toss to your teammates

Dinghy race in the improvised sailing dinghy category

Mostly, Georgetown is an almost ideal setting for a cruiser’s paradise, which is why you will find more than 250+ cruising boats here during the season.  The Bahamians here are very cruiser friendly.  The Exuma Market is a grocery store with its own protected dinghy dock, free water, and free wifi.  The water taxi offers services like special events trips as well as shuttling people to and from the Chat and Chill.

I have already talked about how helpful the cruising community is in my previous post.  The community is also friendly, experienced, organized, and interesting.  Some of the cruisers have been cruising for more than thirty years.  People have amazing stories.  If you have a question, you call it out on the radio net in the morning and somebody will respond.

We have been in Georgetown for about a month and have really enjoyed ourselves. Graham has found many friends here several of whom use the Calvert Homeschool program too. He gets his work done early in the day so he can be off to the beach to swim and play volleyball and jump and dive and they all come home at sunset when they are hoarse from all the laughter. It is wonderful for him to be around kids his own age again and especially ones who are cruisers too. Most of the ones he has met have been cruising for 5 years. Matt has found another project — it is amazing to me how he can diagnose and fix these proble s on the boat. I too have found many things for me in George Town. I love the library here. I love the vegetable lady here. I love my walks with my music. There is not much opportunity for wifi which is good and bad. My parents and sister came to visit last week for 3 days and that was fabulous. They brought 150 lbs. of luggage for us — not kidding.

Graham and Mal at the Chat and Chill

Cruising is working on your boat in exotic places.  I had heard that phrase many times before.  Now it has really started to sink in.

I will summarize some of the work we have done so far.  If you are interested in the details, I will be  including them on The Boat page of the blog.   We were offshore on our way into the Bahamas when our chainplate broke.  Chainplates are thick stainless steel straps that are the attachment point for the sidestays that hold up the mast.  When one of them breaks, it is a big problem.  Lucky for us it was the attachment point for a lower sidestay and there was sufficient support for the rest of the mast.  We have been motoring not sailing while the chainplates were being worked on.

When we got in to Green Turtle Cay we found that there were really not any riggers or repair facilities on the island.  We went ahead and took a little R&R in GTC and then motored to Marsh Harbour, where we were told CJ’s Welding could fabricate chainplates.  I took the broken chainplate in to CJ’s so they could use it as a template.

The other thing about chainplates is that if one breaks, you need to pull all of the others to make sure that the others are not about to break too.  So I pulled some of the other chainplates.  The not so good news is that the other chainplates showed similar corrosion.

In the first photo you can see the top portion of the broken chainplate.  As you can see, the top of the chainplate and the portion below deck is in pretty good shape.  The corrosion occurs where it goes through the deck.  They survey missed this completely, although to be fair, a standard survey doesn’t usually include pulling a chainplate to check for corrosion.  The close-up of the break looks even nastier in real life.

Broken Chainplate

Close up it really looks nasty

Ultimately, the decision to replace all of the chainplates was validated when I pulled the port upper (the support for the top of the mast) and found that it was nearly ready to fail too.  As you can see in the photo, almost 75% of the chainplate was gone.

Port upper almost 75% gone. We were lucky this one didn't break.

We finished repairing the chainplates around the beginning of February and we continued cruising south into the Exumas.

Our other major repair is in progress.  While we were coming into Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay.  We were having problems with the engine overheating.  As it turns out, we had a hole in our mixing elbow about the size of a dime.  The mixing elbow is part of the engine exhaust system, where water and exhaust gases are mixed together and then forced out through the exhaust.  In order to get us to Georgetown, I improvised a patch over the mixing elbow.  I made patches from cut up spare engine hose and then used hose clamps to hold them in place.  This repair held up for 8 hours of motoring or motorsailing for our trip from Staniel to Georgetown.  Here is a picture of the improvised patch.

Improvised patch for the mixing elbow.

When we got to Georgetown, I located a welder willing to try to weld the hole.  However, when he looked at the elbow he said it couldn’t be welded.  He then drove me around Georgetown to the hardware store and a marine store while we gathered the parts to fabricate a replacement.  In the photos below you can see the old and new side by side.

Noke welding a fabricated mixing elbow

Old and new mixing elbows side by side

In the meantime, we found out that my in-laws would be visiting us in Georgetown.  I arranged to have new parts sent to them so that they could bring them down with them.  This will make the 4^th time I have had to remove the exhaust system between the engine and the muffler.  Hopefully it will be the last for a good long time.

The good news here is that the cruising community is helpful, knowledgeable, and expert at improvising solutions.  A call out to the cruiser’s net here in Georgetown resulted in six responses including one with a spare mixing elbow that might fit.  It is a great community of boaters.