Day 6 was the trip back up to Ft. Lauderdale.
We started the day early and were all eating breakfast before 8:00am. After breakfast we performed Engine Checks. One of "About Time's" engine was new, the other was original. It was quite easy to tell which was which (both visually and audibly).After the engine checks and topping off the oil in guess-which-engine, we took the ASA 114 test. I got a respectable 94%.
Before leaving the Harbor, we did some close quarter motoring drills and then left the harbor and turned south to go around the Southern Tip of Key Biscayne. After getting just beyond the bottom of the Key, we turned, raising the sails and headed out to sea for a mile or so, then turned north to head towards Ft. Lauderdale.
We had great wind and the benefit of the Gulf Stream, so we were moving along at a very respectable 10 kts!
Eventually the wind shifted and weren't getting quite as much speed, but I ended up at the helm for the last part of the sail, and we changed our heading to 270° (west) to head into Port Everglades. We had a wind directly on our stern, so we ran wing-on-wing for a while (the mainsail on side of the boat and the headsail on the other). The Captain trusted me enough to do this, without us setting up a(n accidental jibe) preventer. Using the windex at the top of the mast, I just steered us to stay as close as possible to being directly on a run, to keep both sails happy.
Eventually, we had to turn on the engines as we entered what can become a very busy inlet to the ICW. Once inside the channel and on the ICW, it opens up and we did a 360° turn, with a brief stop while heading 90° so that we could face the wind, drop the mainsail. We also furled the genoa during our turn when we had enough wind on the headsail to make sure it furled cleanly.
We headed north on the ICW, waited for the first bridge to open, and then proceeded through, turning immediately west so that we could stop at the fuel dock. I pulled us up along side as the rest of the crew ready fenders, docklines and got us tied up.
After topping off the tank, the others took turns at the helm, practicing turns as we went the rest of the way to return to the dock from which we started. The size and number of million dollar plus boats and houses along that section of the ICW is hard to believe.
We got back, took showers at the bathroom in Blue Water Sailing School's office and then got ready for our last dinner together as a crew.
Dinner and the rest of the evening was kind of crazy. Our Captain, with life and limb responsibilities done for the trip seemed to let himself enjoy the eating...and drinking more than during other parts of the trip. Our two other crew members, Caroline and Charles also seemed to ramp up on the enjoyment (which was kind of saying something). We still had one test remaining and it was the longest and hardest of the four, so Sue and I enjoyed ourselves too, but to a more modest level.
Before walking to dinner, everyone enjoyed some/many drinks in the cockpit (the exterior "hang out" area on a sailboat, usually where the helm station is located). The rest of the bottle of vodka was finished off, as were some beers as was the rest of the bottle of rum. We then walked to stop #1; a Mexican restaurant. Well, four of us walked, one of us stumbled.
We enjoyed some Margarita's and appetizers and Caroline didn't seem to slow down on the drinking, as she started to become louder and louder. Oh, and she also fell off of her chair at the table, at which point she decided to leave our group and go make friends with a group of ladies at the bar. None of us stopped here, nor felt bad enough for her new friends to retrieve her. :-)
With our appetizers and drinks done, we settled up and prepared to walk to stop #2 for one of the Captain's favorite places to get a Cheesesteak sandwich. Then Caroline couldn't find her phone. We called it and no luck. After looking on the floor, in the restroom, near the bar, on the chairs (and I think the captain wanted to pat down her new friends at the bar), Charles decided it was time to give up, not dwell on it and use it as an excuse for a phone upgrade. I felt bad she couldn't find it, but was happy to be able to move on.
While Charles and I were inside looking, Sue and Captain were outside with Caroline, preventing her from getting into some random person's car, because she felt like talking to the driver.
On to Stop #2: Parrot. Caroline was still in a deepening "loud, happy drunk" state as we got a table at Parrot. We all ordered and soon noticed most people in the bar/restaurant staring in our direction, their attention drawn by Caroline now at full, outdoor voice volume. We all moved to a separate room of the place, trying to distance ourselves from the others in the bar. That was good for a while, but it was obvious that Caroline had not "crested" yet. Charles soon realized it would probably be best for everyone, if he took her back to the boat to turn in (sleep it off). When grabbing hold of her to take her back, he all of a sudden reached into her bra and pulled out, wait for it...her phone! Our jaws hit the floor.
After "properly putting her to bed", Charles returned to hang out and drink for a while. Soon after, Sue and I were done, and we decided to walk back and get some sleep. Charles and Captain Keith decided to stay out (more on that in the next post).
We returned to the boat, walked into the salon and happened to notice Caroline at the bottom of the stairs to the starboard hull that she and Charles' cabin were in and she must have forgotten to put clothes on. We both pretended to not notice and turned in for bed.
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