Have a Bubbly New Year!

Many sailors tend to stick to one or two dishwashing liquids because both brands will “suds” well in salt water.  The brands are also supposedly kinder to the environment.   On Imagine we’ve used both the yellow and the blue brands, but prefer blue, because, well, it is one of my favorite colors.

Not only do we use it for washing dishes, but also for making foaming hand soap.  A good squirt of detergent in a recycled foaming hand soap bottle and topped off with water makes an easy inexpensive substitute.  On laundry day grease stains on clothes get a small dab on the offending spot.  It does certainly break down the grease.

If you haven’t already guessed, I accidently discovered that the blue goo is champion at making bubbles.  On Imagine we store a good portion of our household products. It’s cheaper to bring them along than to purchase items on an island nation.

Each year we carefully stow two three-quart refill bottles of dish soap.   Believe me when I say that heavy plastic bottles full of liquid can chafe and rub in rolling seas.

Two years ago the bilge received an instant scrub when a gallon bottle of greased lightening chaffed through and leaked into the bilge.  Bubble wrap and rubber floor matting thereafter became our friend.  Problem solved… or not. 

Imagine left Marathon in late November and headed to the Bahamas with all items secure and battened down.  Bungee cords wrapped snake-like around provisions stored in large plastic containers layered in a once empty quarter-berth.   Foam beverage can insulators separated dishes that might slide and bang in the cabinets. 

All cabinet doors were secured to ensure one didn’t open underway and spill the contents.   I only needed one experience with cans exploding from a their storage area and rolling around the cabin sole as the boat rocked violently back and forth on a beam reach in seven foot seas.  Picking the cans up resulted in bruises and a bump on the head as the seas bounced me back and forth below decks.  

That brings us back to the bubbles.  Who would have dreamed that a bottle of dish soap encased in bubble wrap, and cushioned with a storm sail, could actually crack when an equally wrapped quart bottle of honey squashed a bottom corner of the soap bottle?

At the time Imagine was plowing into five to seven foot seas. Waves easily lifted the boat. Imagine would do its nautical version of a cannon ball dive, spraying water over the decks and into the cockpit.

After all this time sailing, why am I not surprised that weather predictions and wind patterns seldom coincide with a perfect sailing window.

For 225 miles, with the wind on the nose, Imagine bucked forward and aft.  Nearing the end of our 31-hour odyssey, Ed pops up from below holding a blue goo covered finger.  “Do you think this is dish soap?” he asked.   “Sure does captain,” I reply. 

The trail of blue ooze grew wider and longer as the motion of the boat pushed it out from the aft storage area of the V-berth.   While I vaguely remembered the location of the bottle, I also remembered that all of our spare toilet paper (an important boat commodity) was hidden away in the bottom of the locker.  I pictured heavily soaked blue rolls.

Discovery would wait.  First Imagine docked at Nassau Yacht Haven under a yellow quarantine flag.  All on board were required to remain on the boat until both customs and immigration officials arrived to grant Imagine and crew access to the Bahamas.  After checking in at the marina office, I decided to take the “bubbles” by the horns.

Propping up the queen-sized V-berth mattress, I lifted the cover board and began to slowly unpack sugar, crackers, chocolate bars, snacks, oatmeal, flags, canned goods, paper products and the all-important toilet paper.  Yes! The blue goo had not contaminated any of our supplies.  As I lift the bottle from its’ nest I notice an indented tear at the bottom of the bottle.  

Most of the blue goo collected under a rubber grate at the bottom of the locker.   The sail bag for the storm trysail and the sail inside had soaked up some of the mess.  A miniature dustpan and brush allowed for a quicker clean up and I was able to save a good quart of goo.

My first bubble mistake was rinsing detergent soaked sponges in the sink.  Bubbles filled the sink and the sponges would not rinse.  I dumped a dishpan of soapy water down the head and watched as bubbles filled the toilet bowl.  That was my second bubble mistake.  Bubbles rose out of the bowl and floated into the shower each time I pumped the toilet.

In the harbor, bubbles that went down the drain popped up under the boat and floated away as I continued to sop up the mess.  Oil spill rags came to the rescue and absorbed the remaining blue residue.

I took the sail into the shower and began spraying the sail and sail bag.  Holding a sail is akin to grabbing onto an icy surface.  Aw I wrestled the sail, the shower stall filled with bubbles that build up faster than they could escape through the shower grate. 

At that point I shrugged and began to laugh. I hadn’t seen so many bubbles since the time someone (whom I won’t mention here) decided to use regular dish soap in a dishwasher.   Parts of the kitchen were waist high in bubbles on that memorable day.

The blue soap maker boasts that is the number one brand used to clean spilled oil from the feathers and fur of sea dwelling creatures that get caught in another kind of goo that is black and is too often spilled from rigs and ships.  It is also champion at bubble making. 

Just in case you feel like kicking up your heel and creating some bubbles of your own, bubbles.org, says that the blue goo makes great giant bubbles found in bubble makers at children’s museums.  The recipe follows: use ½ cup blue goo, ½ gallon of warm water and one tablespoon of Karo syrup.  Stir gently.  Remove the foam as the foam can break down bubbles.   Find your favorite bubble-making wand and go to town.

And for those of you who are more practical, and not into bubbles, the goo makes a great alternative to using salt to melt ice on sidewalks.  Mix 1 teaspoon of blue goo, 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol, one ½ gallon warm water and pour over walks and steps.  This remedy is supposed to keep the ice from refreezing.

From Imagine and crew, we wish all a bubbly New Year filled with the all the best it has to offer.

Buskers, Boats and Bars in Key West

No one person can describe Key West. Just the mention of Florida’s southernmost island brings a myriad of images to the listener.  For me I see buskers, boats and bars.  There is no shortage of any of those. 

Ed and Tom at Schooner Wharf Bar

Others immediately conjure Jimmy Buffet and visions of Margaritaville.   Then there are the reef divers and deep-sea fisherman who see light green-blue waters when they define Key West. For others Key West is their party place with a pick of over 300 bars with liquid beverages as varied and unique as the Island itself.  

Eccentricity and individualism add to the color and experience of Key West.  On one visit we were not surprised to see a faux Anna Nicole Smith, dressed in a form fitting red floor length red gown, slink through patrons drinking mango mimosas with their breakfast at the Schooner Wharf Bar.  If an open-air bar can become quiet, it came as close as it could be that day. Some of the best female impersonators call Key West their home.

There are sculpture gardens, butterfly gardens, and beaches.  Key West is also the southernmost point of the United States and is marked with a larger than life red, yellow and black buoy that provides photo ops each day for countless tourists. 

Key West sunsets draw both locals and visitors each night to Mallory Square where just about anything can happen.  Sunset brings schooners and catamarans to sail back and forth along the waters edge while fire jugglers, acrobats, fortune-tellers, musicians and vendors line up along the bulkhead to entertain and pander to the crowd. 

Key West street performers are referred to as buskers.  Busking is a custom that comes from a time when wandering minstrels and bards traveled from place to place while performing to earn food or lodging.

Before recording and the electronic age, busking was a common way for performers to earn a living.  The term busking is said to have origins in Great Britain.  At sunset, be prepared to throw a few coins or bills in the hat or guitar case as buskers sing or perform for their supper.

At the historic seaport, schooners of days long gone, sit waiting to fill with tourists for scheduled tours that allow visitors to experience life on a sailing ship of old.  Mixed among the majestic schooners sit catamarans, fishing vessels and sailboats that offer diving, snorkeling, parasailing, fishing and history tours.

A Key West Christmas Tree with Lobster Traps

One fishing boat maneuvers in between an already docked sailboat and motorboat.  At the controls the captain completes a sideways shuffle using one screw to neatly stop at the dock along the bulkhead.   One by one the crew pulls fish from coolers, positioning the catch around the back of the boat in U-formation.   

Four foot and longer tarpon appear in the waters below waiting for the captain and crew to clean the fish.  As scraps go overboard, the almost tame tarpons snap up a free and easy meal.

My most recent foray to Key West began with husband, Ed and his brother, Tom, in late November. Even though I have visited there several times, there is always something new to see there. There is also something new to learn.

This year Key West, celebrates the State of Florida’s 500^th birthday, the anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s discovery of Florida and the Gulf Stream in 1513.  Colorful red, white and blue banners featuring historic trivia hang from streetlights throughout Old Town. 

There is no documentation that Ponce de Leon ever set foot in the Florida Keys and the fabled quest for the fountain of Youth is mostly myth.  However, the Spanish explorer is credited for discovering the chain of islands west of Key West that he called the Tortugas for the sea turtles his men captured as food.

According to Key West history tidbits, the English later added the word Dry to the island chain warning sailors of the lack of fresh water on the islands.  I added another piece of trivia to my already overloaded brain circuitry when I learned that Ponce de Leone named the Florida Keys Los Martiers (The Martyrs) because the islands reminded him of suffering men.

Key West’s history is not complete without mention of the legendary Henry Flagler who built the Florida Overseas Railroad connecting the keys to the mainland.  He rode the first train into Key West during 1912.

By that time the industry of sponging, turtling, and the tradition of wrecking were already giving way to cigar making, tourism, churches and hotels.  By the 1890’s there were over 200 cigar factories in Key West that produced over 1,000,000,000 cigars a year for export.

Of course, history buffs all know that the first international phone transmission took place between Key West and Cuba on Christmas Day 1900.   And don’t forget that Earnest Hemmingway called Key West home for a time and the descendants of his six-toed cats wander around the grounds today.  Sloppy Joes Bar continues to pay tribute to its most famous hard drinking patron.

President Harry Truman stayed in his humble getaway in Key West.   American presidents to include Kennedy, Reagan, Eisenhower, Clinton and others have visited there.

Key West also continues to offer a haven for artists of all genres.  There are many galleries tucked in among the bars, shops and restaurants throughout Key West.  Renowned Maine painter Winslow Homer spent time in Key West, as did John James Audubon.  American folk artist Mario Sanchez hailed from the Keys.  The son of Cuban immigrants became famous for his carvings and vibrant paintings of life during the 1930’s in old Key West.

It doesn’t matter if you are strolling down Duvall, Simonton, Catherine or Whitehead streets; there is something in Key West that will make you smile.  Kick back.  Do a little happy dance.  Go on a pub-crawl or take a ghost tour.  Trying to choose what to do is the kicker.

Tough Year for Sea Cows

The underwater grazing sea cows of Florida are not having a good year. So far over 770 of the slow moving gentle marine mammals known as the West Indian or Florida manatee have perished.  This breaks the previous record of 722 deaths in 2010 that occurred when a record-breaking cold snap decimated the already endangered population.

Many of 2013 deaths have been caused by toxic red algae, according to Save The Manatee Club, co-founded by Jimmy Buffet to protect the species. An average of two manatees died each day for the first ten months of 2013.

Of that number, 126 were calves. The high mortality count skyrocketed with a sudden bloom of toxic oxygen depleting red algae that killed 276 manatees near Fort Myers.  Another 111 manatees died along with 47,000 acres of sea grass near Indian River under mysterious causes earlier this year.

Patrick Rose, Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club said that in 2010 the Florida Fish and Wildlife commission counted a record 5,077 manatees before the cold related deaths that occurred later that year.   He added that the 2013 toll is nearly double the 392 deaths that occurred in 2012. 

The Fish and Wildlife Commission reported another 453 manatee deaths in 2011.

Considered endangered, the West Indian manatees are protected in the U.S.  Under federal law by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which makes it illegal to harass, hunt, capture or kill any marine mammal.  The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978 also protects the West Indian manatee.

Long before the conquistadors, explorers and European settlers made their way to the shores of what would become known as the Americas, the West Indian manatee made its home along the tropical and subtropical waters.  To the indigenous populations along the shores and inland rivers the large and slow moving marine mammal was a familiar sight.

Sailing in and around the Caribbean Christopher Columbus wrote about manatees. He is attributed to seeing three “mermaids” that are not as beautiful as they are painted while on a trip to discover a western trade route to Asia in the late 15^th century.

Adult manatees can reach 10 t0 12 feet long and weigh 800 to 1,200 pounds.   The aquatic mammals have human like round faces and paddle shaped tails.  Gray in color, manatees often sport a symbiotic dark tan algae growing on their skin.

On close inspection one can see that the skin is sparsely covered with tactile hairs that the manatee uses to detect slight changes in the water movement.  They have a whiskery snout that helps in locating underwater vegetation for grazing.

A small group of manatee barrel rolled and glided in around the dinghies tied to a dock in Marathon Florida recently.  The awkward looking creatures gracefully moved through the slightly murky aquamarine water without creating a ripple. A mother and baby stayed close followed by another adult manatee and a juvenile.   It wasn’t long before the word spread.  Dinghies streamed from boats in the mooring field to catch a real life manatee documentary in progress.

Manatees love and are drawn to fresh water and were probably looking for it near where the cruisers fill their water jugs. The manatees disappeared under a dinghy and reappear with a slow flip of a large paddle like tail used for propulsion. 

One might, with a little imagination, see why sailors mistook the manatee for a mermaid.  My son, Ian, while kayaking in Florida during a stint in the U.S. Navy described his first close encounter with a manatee.  “I was enjoying the morning and suddenly I saw this grayish body ahead.  I though it was a bloated dead body.” 

According to National Geographic the manatee skeleton consists of heavy, dense, pachyosteosclerotic bones that help serve as ballast.  Manatees have teeth is that are continually replaced as they are worn down by grazing.

Florida manatees migrate seasonally.  In the winter, many move to the warmer and southern parts of the state.   These giant and gentle marine mammals have low metabolic rates and a low capacity for retaining body heat.

Manatees are often called sea cows because of their normally slow pace and bulk.   They can however move quickly, gliding along at five miles an hour and swimming up to 15 miles an hour in short burst powered by their strong tail.

Often manatees are seen alone or in small groups for periods of time near feeding areas, freshwater areas or near warm water sources.   During extreme cold spells groups of 300 or more have been observed in the warm water outflows of Florida power plants.

In darker waters usually the only thing visible from the surface is the animals nostrils and snout as it comes up for air.  A resting manatee can remain below water for up to 15 minutes, but while swimming it must surface every three to four minutes.

Female Florida manatees can become sexually mature as young as three years old, although most first give birth at age four to five. Mothers must help calves to the surface for their first breath after birth.  The manatee calves drink their mother’s milk from a nipple found under her flipper.   Adult manatees are voracious grazers.  They can eat a tenth of its weight in a 24-hour period.  A calve may nurse up to two years.

This docile species can live up to 60 years.  While the manatee has no natural predators, it faces extinction at the hands of man and nature.  Some die as they are caught in locks, accidently hit by motorboats in the crowded Florida waters.   Manatees also succumb to unusually cold winters, poisoning by a red tide organism, and sometimes hurricanes.

Increased human population has also resulted in habitat loss.  Using former coastal zones and lowlands for agricultural and industrial purposes have led to pollution and run-off that add to threat of extinction for this migratory marine mammal.  

While concentrated in Florida, manatees can be seen as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts.  It is more common to see the grazing sea cow along Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina when the weather is warm.