December 7, 2014
Jacksonville, Florida

The call from the Coast Guard came in mid morning.  He told me the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Beacon) on Gypsy Palace had alerted them that she was sinking and proceeded to ask questions as to how many souls were onboard, emergency equipment available, etc.  My mind fought to straighten out the inconsistencies.  He said that she was positioned near Mayaguana.  Yes, I knew where that was, we had spent the first Christmas of our sabbatical there snuggly anchored behind a reef.  We’d also spent a couple of weeks behind the same reef waiting for a weather window on our return home but the last time I was on board the Palace, she was in 6’ of water at NAS Jax, what had happened?  I had just renewed our EPIRB registration and wondered if someone had taken it from its cradle.  Then I remembered that in doing so, I learned that the previous owner had never registered it.  So, I started asking questions, what boat are you talking about?  A 2000 Hunter 45 or a 2006 Manta 42 catamaran?  He was looking for a Hunter.  To be brief I told him we had sold our Hunter 2 years prior and that it would take a few minutes to locate the paperwork to ascertain the name of the new owner and asked him to leave me his number so I could call him back. 

 Tears filled my eyes as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that our beloved Hunter was sinking.  We had made so many memories aboard her.  We had so many safety devices on board her.  Dale had dubbed me the safety officer and the locals on the dock had taken to teasing me about how much money and concern I was willing to spend on the bottom of our boat.  Dale had actually installed an emergency bilge pump that many thought would have kept the Titantic from sinking.  What possibly could have happened?

I located the file I had and returned the call.  I answered as many questions as I could and gave him the name of the broker who had handled the transaction thinking that he might have more information available.  I relayed the information regarding all the safety equipment we had sold with the boat which included a life raft and the emergency pump and a manual Dale had created depicting all of the various systems and how to use them. 

When I couldn’t stand not knowing any longer, I called the Coast Guard back and asked what had happened.  What we know is that a Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to pick up 3 souls from a badly listing Hunter; she is presumed to have sunk somewhere near Mayaguana.  She had been sold a second time 2 months prior and neither the persons we sold it to, nor the ones that they sold it to, had updated the EPIRB emergency information.  It is unknown as to how much of the emergency equipment we left onboard was transferred in the second transaction.  It is unknown as to how the accident occurred.  What is understood is that once the batteries are underwater, all power is lost.  What is known, is that a beautiful, sea worthy boat, we still considered a part of our family, is at the bottom of the ocean.  From the first time her bottom splashed water she took us back and forth to the Bahamas each year and throughout the Caribbean for 18 months safely and securely and if it hadn’t been for the fact that we couldn’t accommodate our expanding family for visits, we still would have been sailing on her. 

Rest in peace, our big, beautiful girl. 

 

July 1, 2007
Jacksonville, FL

“Drink it up, this one’s for you,

it’s been a lovely cruise.” 

Being Dale’s favorite artist, it’s not unusual for me to wake to Jimmy Buffet’s crooning but this time it was unusually poignant.

We’d left Sale Cay in the Abacos, in the wee hours of the morning thoroughly expecting the nasty weather we encountered.  The first couple of hours weren’t anything we hadn’t experienced before.  Wind, rain, lightening in the distance, but we were actually running with the wind and it was pushing us along quite nicely.  As the wind increased, we shortened sail but kept running.  I Dream of Jeannie was right there with us and periodically would radio to make sure all was right with the world.  As the rain increased, they radioed that they were going inside and wouldn’t be able to hear the radio. Dale and I looked at each other, not something we would do but then we’re chickens and want to be the first to know when the sky is falling. 

Then the sky fell.  Everything was going along beautifully, when a gust of wind came up, we listed severely and suddenly were going in the opposite direction.  The Palace had a nasty habit of heading up in the wind but it had saved our bacon in a few instances and this was no different.  As if she were telling us “it’s time to slow down and reassess guys” she turned 180* and pointed into the wind.  OK, time to bring in the sails and turn on the engine.  Right about then I Dream of Jeannie radioed back that they’d had enough (we were too busy dealing with our boat to see what had happened to them) and as soon as we made our waypoint at the Bahama Bank, they were making a left hand turn and heading in to Ft. Pierce instead of continuing on to Jacksonville.  We said our ados and wished them well.  The storm eventually passed, the skies cleared and we continued on without further drama; except for the occasional engine sputter that came from bouncing in the storm waves-which was to be expected. 

“I'm sorry it's ended
It's sad but it's true
Honey it's been a lovely cruise”

We entered the Mayport jetty as dark clouds gathered on the horizon and the occasional lightening could be seen.  We followed the old familiar path along the St. Johns River that serpentines just south of the North Florida-Georgia state line.  Shortly after passing Dames Point Bridge and just before the sharp turn toward Jacksonville, our engine sputtered and died.  Dale has become an expert at changing fuel filters during the last 18 months and before we had come to a complete stop, had the filter changed and the engine fired up again.  

We continued along the River toward Jacksonville.  As we approached the big red Mathews Bridge, it really hit home - our Sabbatical was over.  We are back home and soon will be back to our normal lives as if we were just returning from a summer holiday.  We passed under the hart Bridge and soon after requested an opening from the Main Street Bridge.  We motored through Jacksonville under the Acosta Bridge, past the railroad bridge and curved under the Fuller Warren Bridge.  The weather was closing in on us, so we decided to pull "off the road" into Plummers Cover, a little area across from NAS Jax.  Although Bob and Karen from Annabelle II were excited to have us back at our former marina, we were exhausted and radioed ahead to let them know we were stopping for sleep. 

"These moments we’re left with
May you always remember
These moments are shared by few
There's wind in our hair
And there's water in our shoes
Honey, it's been a lovely cruise”

I could smell Dale’s coffee brewing and knew that soon he’d rouse me from my pillow but what I didn’t expect was when he did, he asked me to come dance with him.

"These moments we're left with
May you always remember
These moments are shared by few
And those harbor lights
Aw they're coming into view
We bid our farewell much too soon
So drink it up
This one's for you
Honey, it's been a lovely cruise”
Yea, I know, what a guy!  Just don’t ever tell him I said so. 

 June 28, 2007

Great Sale Cay
Bahamas
26.59.127N
78.12.914W

Another rainy day but today we set about securing the Palace for the transit across the Gulf Stream. We tucked things away that might shift and Dale laid out our jacklines, harnesses, lifejackets and tethers. The dink was snugged up and the navigational lights were checked and rechecked.

Another boat in the anchorage by the name of “I Dream of Jeannie” hailed us on the radio and asked about the weather report for the next coming days. Dale filled them in and it looks like they will be making the transit with us. It appears that if we want to make the crossing anytime soon, we have to travel in nasty weather either on the first day or the last. We’ve decided that it would be better to do that on the first day than later when we’re tired.

We measured and interpolated the speeds we think we’ll be traveling and have concluded that we should leave at 2am so that we can make the Mayport jetty on an incoming tide in the afternoon. Now all we have to do is get a decent amount of sleep before we take off. Always easier said than done.