CHAPTER FIFTY ONE: CRUISING WITH A PORPOISE (OR BETTER YET, FOUR)

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE: CRUISING WITH A PORPOISE (OR BETTER YET, FOUR)

The Admiral and I have been shivering in the mornings, shivering in the evenings, and shivering at supper time. Florida has not been kind to us so far. As we crossed the Georgia line into Florida yesterday, heading for Fernandina Beach, storm clouds loomed everywhere. It was supposed to rain last night. It didn’t. It just got colder and colder, until we got up to check the weather for our 60 mile journey to St. Augustine today. The Admiral was up at an ungodly hour, proving once again he is merely an Admiral, not a God. He got me up at 7 a.m. And it was cold, and cloudy, and not at all what the Sunshine State promises.

The first question was: Should we risk torrential rains for 60 miles and head to St. Augustine? The question had to be answered before 7:30 a.m., if we were going to do it, because this is at least an 8 hour trek for Slow Motion. Now that we are in Florida, we have entered the “no wake zone” world again, where the folks on the waterway don’t cotton to cruisers rockin’ their boats. With every “no wake zone”, we slow down to about 6 miles an hour. Yes, that’s a ten hour trip to St. Augustine. Well, never ones to shirk from the difficult decisions, we left the dock at 7:30 a.m. and put-putted into a fairly calm waterway, with tons of rain-laden clouds overhead.

We had a fallback position, if the rain became unbearable, and that was to cruise 30 miles or so to Jacksonville Beach and stop for the day. As luck would have it, when we got to Jacksonville Beach around 11 a.m., we saw a little blue sky, a very little blue sky, but the rain was still holding off. What to do, what to do? Here again, not ones to shy away from challenging the Weather Gods, we continued past Jacksonville Beach on our way to St. Augustine. And I am so glad that we did!

At about 45 or 50 miles into our cruise, we were joined by four porpoises, two on each side of Slow Motion’s bow, who raced us for the next few miles down the waterway. From time to time, as I leaned over the bow with my camera, one of the porpoises would turn on his/her side either to get a better look at me or merely to rub my nose in the fact that our big, powerful boat could not outrun them. Not that we were trying to. These animals are the most fun. Don’t think I didn’t have thoughts of jumping on the backs of two of them and riding down the waterway – yee-hah! The Admiral was sure they were going to grab my IPhone/camera and start taking pictures of us! I think that thought crossed the mind of one of them who jumped pretty close to me. I took some action videos and we have transmitted them to a lot of people. If you would like to see the video, just let us know, and we’ll send it to your email. It’s 32 seconds long.

The whole time the porpoises were racing with us, I had no concern whatever for the weather. It was a glorious break from all of our weather worries. And as the fearsome foursome bid us adieu, I swear to God the sun came out almost at the same instant. I knew there were going to be porpoises in our future, when we saw the porpoises come say good bye to us at Jekyll Harbor Marina, and then again, yesterday, when a porpoise greeted us as we docked at Fernandina Beach. They were portentous of our close encounter today with the Fab Four. The Admiral says this happens all the time with the lobster boats in the Keys, but it was my first experience and it was exhilarating. I can’t wait to go to the Keys to experience this as an everyday event. I will never, never tire of it. Porpoises just make me happy.

Something else that makes me very happy is the beef barley soup we have been eating. This hearty meal is sustained us through many a chilly night. We put half of the soup stock in the freezer and we took it out and added barley and lentils tonight. I can only say that, after the race with the porpoises, two bowls of homemade beef barley soup are about as good as it gets.

And what is the weather doing out there at this moment? It’s threatening rain, again. As we head farther south tomorrow, a cold front is supposed to be going through, bringing the temps down 10 degrees. Tomorrow will be another day in the 50’s, with a high in the 60’s. Just a few days ago, Mike K. told me it was in the high 70’s and sunny at Vero Beach, and he and Mary Lou spent the day at the beach. We are not that far from VB, so I’m beginning to worry that we are bringing the cold, rainy weather from the north. However, when the Admiral checks the weather charts, it looks like most of the rain is coming from the west. Nevertheless, it will be a cold north wind that buffets us about in Slow Motion tomorrow, blowing at 10 to 20 miles an hour. I may have written this once before, but never again will I complain about the hot, humid weather of the summer time. Sticky hair is still “better” than being chilled to the bone. Those of you who are shoveling your driveways are saying about now: “What wimps! They’re complaining about temps in the 50’s and 60’s? Are they nuts?” Yes, we are, but that’s beside the point. The point is that when you expect sunny weather in the 70’s, and you don’t get it, you tend to get a little querulous about it. And if you who are shoveling snow and driving on black ice want to join us on Slow Motion, you know you are welcome any time – even when it’s raining.

We cruised past Kings Bay yesterday, our premier submarine base on the East Coast, and for those of you concerned about our national defense, it appears that the submarines are doing a great job defending us. We saw not a one, and that’s a good sign, right? I wonder if the porpoises ever race the submarines. Now that would be a great video! Slow Motion was clearly not a challenge for those swift swimmers. Can you picture them tonight swimming around in a circle laughing as only porpoises can laugh about the slow motor boat they lapped again and again? And about the crazy woman with the IPhone hanging over the bow, who didn’t know how close she came to losing it? I hope we brought them as much laughter and joy as they gave us today. And for those of you who received the video, enjoy! It’s perfect for a cloudy day – or any day.