We’ve been back on board Pandora for five days already, and it’s been a very busy cup of tea here. We thought we’d be crossing to the Bahamas on Wednesday this week, so there was a lot to accomplish!…. food provisions, engine maintenance, propellor cleaning, boat bottom cleaning…. various other small, but very important chores….not to mention getting ourselves further south so that the angle of crossing would be more favorable. And as weather often does, it has changed so that Wednesday is no longer our departure day. We are now cautiously aiming for Thursday… or Friday….
We left Ft. Pierce on Saturday morning and stopped in a lovely spot called Manatee Pocket that evening. Great name for the location where I did see my first manatee! No kidding, these creatures are unbelievably ungainly and touchingly sweet. I now fully understand why they are at the mercy of fast traveling power boats. They move very slowly and cannot possibly get out of the way of a speeding boat. When I saw my first manatee it had just started to descend back into the water, so its back looked like a giant black mooring ball!
There is so much beautiful bird life here … egrets, herons, osprey, kingfishers…. my favorite are the ibises. They are so delicate….almost ephemeral.
During our evening walk along the shore of Manatee Pocket (looking for the perfect restaurant), I found a weaving studio! Can you believe it??? Unfortunately for me, it was closed.
Who wouldn’t love spending time here??? That is a chenille warp on her loom.
Yesterday we motored 57 miles and went under 20 bascule bridges….surely a phenomenal logistical feat for any sailboat! We deserve a prize! I saw The Breakers from the waterway…. where I once spent a decadent long weekend with Bob about a million years ago! I thought I might want to jump ship and stow away in a luxurious resort suite….but oddly, I didn’t! At the moment I’m quite happy in my less than luxurious accomodations on Pandora!
The houses along the canals are getting more and more impressive. It’s more Mediterranean here than the Mediterranean with all the stucco and terracotta roof tiles….and porticos! The houses are huge, and are so close together. It would seem to me if you have a house with a full acre of square footage, you wouldn’t want to be looking right in the windows of your next door neighbors! To each his own…
On the knitting front, I cast on for a small Fair Isle purse at the airport in Connecticut. It’s Beth Brown-Reinsel’s design from Interweave Knits Fall 2004 issue. I’m making a number of changes to the pattern; the most significant change is that I could not stomach the idea of knitting this purse flat. I know Beth must have had good reasons for her design, but since I’m pretty stubborn about stranding in the round, that’s what I’m doing! I’ve got plans to make this a small tote bag, so I’ll be making a somewhat rigid insert for the bag when I return home next spring, along with a lining and leather handles instead of a drawstring.
I raided my J&S shetland and AS Scottish Campion stashes for these yarns (two large comforter-size storage bags stuffed full of yarn!), and I was quite surprised to find that I had absolutely no brown! So I solved that dilemma with a quick trip to Yarns Down Under the evening before my flight. Everyone needs a LYS who is willing to open shop for emergency travel knitting! My LYS is the best enabler!
We are leaving shortly for Middle River, Ft. Lauderdale.
