Going South with Gerry and Jeanne Helldorfer
10+ good things to add to your boat for the waterway
- Full cockpit enclosure
- Ham radio email
- Egg crate bunk pads
- Big batteries
- Really good lighting
- Cockpit VHF or speaker w/vol control
- His and her binoculars
- Shelves in lockers
- Fuel cans for Catalinas
- Dinghy davits
- TV antenna and cable tv connection
10+ more things to add to your boat for the Bahamas
- Two really big anchors and heavy chain
- Ham or marine SSB receiver
- Max freezer capability
- Small generator, big battery charger
- Backup VHF radio
- Extra water storage - 50 gal per person
- GPS - learn to use the rhumb line display
- Dinghy kit (anchor, VHF, water, etc.)
- Spare parts (filters, pumps, eyeglasses)
- Comfortable deck cushions
- Extra boat hook
Things we liked
- Endless summer
- Key Largo - Marina del Mar
- Incredible beaches
- New friends
- Almost every place we stopped
- Fresh bread
- Offshore adventure
- No schedules
- Exuma land & sea park
- Traveling with the Gandys and Wesleys
Things we hated
- Dirty marina showers
- Canned food
- Strong weather fronts
- Ocean inlets - strong cross currents
- Waterway fishermen
- Florida Marine Patrol
- Inconvenient storage
10 best reasons to make the trip soon
- Life is short - eat dessert first
- You already spent $800 on a video camera and $1000 on a digital camera
- You had to write a composition in high school on "What I did on my summer vacation" and you couldn't think of anything to write
- You find the look of women smoking real cuban cigars highly erotic
- It's better in the Bahamas
- There are still a few things in the West Marine catalog that you don't already own
- Y2K glitches are expected to cause Boeing 747s to no longer be able go to windward better than sailboats
- You've already spent a fortune on the boat and you need to explain this to your relatives
- You love the taste of canned peas and where else could you justify eating them
- Soon you won't even be able to remember your spouse's name
