Sandboxes Rated

1. Vero Beach

NoLL

Yesterday, I posted The 45-25 Box article about our sandbox. I gave the criteria for a sandbox as follows.

1. Warm in winter, cool in summer.
2. Numerous anchorages. We can't afford to stay in marinas very often.
3. Allows us to avoid hurricanes and typhoons.

So, what other sandboxes in the world might meet those criteria? I mapped some out and rank them below. Please bear in mind that the actual size and placement of these boxes and my knowledge of their facts are only rough.

1. US East Coast: This is our current sandbox. It meets all the criteria very well.
   
   
2. British Columbia: This area is outstandingly beautiful to sail. Infinite free anchorages. Juneau, AK is very nice in the summer. Perpahs Seattle, WA is not warm enough in the winter.
   
   
3. Chile: I think the west coast of the Americas is rough, with safe harbors many hundreds of miles apart.
   
   
4. Brazil-Uruguay-Argentina: This part of the world may be very nice. I'm not sure about anchorages.
   
   
5. Western Europe: I heard horror stories about sailing in the English Channel. I have not heard of any coastal places where one can anchor free. It may also be necessary to stretch to box to summer in the Baltic and winter in Portugal to achieve the weather we would need.
   
   
6. West Africa: This doesn't sound practical. To get south enough to avoid the Namibian Desert, the lower half of the box extends into the terrible 40s of the Antarctic Ocean.
   
   
7. East Africa: This area could be very nice. However, I'm afraid that political instability rules it out.
   
   
8. West Austrailia: I hear that Perth is very nice, but the rest of the west coast of Austrailia is unknown to me.
   
   
9. Japan-Korea-China: I fear that every place from Japan down to Viet Nam is prone to Typhoons. I would also worry about the politics of some of the countries -- we might not be welcome.
   
   
10. East Austrailia: The Great Barrier Reef in winter and Sydney in summer. Sounds nice. I know nothing about the rest of that coast.
    
    
11. Fiji-New Zealand: Fiji-New Zealand sounds very nice, but the attractions are on either ends with vast open ocean in the middle. Perhaps this box should have been drawn to cover just New Zealand. One could do the North Island in winter and the South Island in summer. I think it would be great to spend a year or more sailing New Zealand.
    
    

So there we go. There well may be other very attractive sandboxes in the world. Nevertheless, it is hard to beat zone A, the USA East Coast. If all the facts were exhaustively investigated, I suspect that zone A would rate #1 in the world.

The 45-25 Box

Vero Beach

NoLL

It seems that we have fallen into a repetitive migration pattern. Despite a few exceptions, we seemed to be confined pretty much to the following sand box.

I call it the 45-25 box because it runs from about 45 degrees north to 25 degrees north. The East-West width of the box is less important.

Why this box? The answer is very simple; climate. We winter at 25 north, thus avoiding cold and the need for heat on board the boat. We summer at 45 north, thus avoiding excess heat and the need for air conditioning on the boat.

I'm certain that Libby and I have lost a lot of our tolerance for heat and cold. We both grew up in cold climates and the winter never seemed like a burden. Heck, I remember having a great time playing hockey on the river in Potsdam NY one night when the temperature was -45F (-42C). But now, our blood is thinned.

What about voyages out of the box? Sure, we think about that and we probably will. A voyage to Trinidad/Tobago, Panama, Belieze and back would be fun. A voyage to The Baltic Sea, Sweden and Finland would be nice. Don't rule it out.

A more curious question would be could we find similar climate boxes on this globe, and if so how would the sailing be? I'll address that question in the next few days.

The Stars Like Dust

Vero Beach
NoLL

Credit & Copyright: Louie Atalasidis

The Stars Like Dust is the title of a science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov. I thought of that title when I saw the stunning picture above on APOD. In the picture, you see somebright blue stars in the foreground. Behind them are countless stars packed so densely they do seem as bits of dust. The dark patches are true dust clouds. The view is toward the center of our own galaxy, The Milky Way.

Imagine how we would think differently about the universe if the stars in our neighborhood were packed as densely as this. Imagine how differently we might think about the practicality of interstellar travel. Imagine how much starlight we would have and what the night sky might look like in that stellar neighborhood.

Unfortunately, due to high levels of background radiation, it is believe that there could be no habitable planets near the galactic core. What a shame. What a fantastic place the universe is. Don't you agree?

Part of the Health Care System

Vero Beach

NoLL

Well now I'm officially part of the health care system. I went for my "Welcome to Medicare" physical. That's the first time I've been to a doctor in 6 years. Things went well. I'm healthy. No problems found. Strange though, the Doctor said my EKG was "normal variant" but it looks like a heart attack. He advised me to carry a copy of my EKG in my wallet. In case I have an accident, I can show it to the EMTs to show that I'm not having a heart attack.

My only medical complaint is that my left heel gave me great pain three times in the past 6 months. Each time the achilles tendon swelled. Each time, I had to lay flat for a week or more to recover. I told the doctor that each time it happened after walking several miles. His medical advice was startlingly direct and to the point. He said, "Well, don't do that any more."

I was curious about general practitioners here in Vero. I read a recent article that said general practitioners (GPs) make only 30% as much money as specialists to. Since Vero is a very rich town, it crawls with wall-to-wall medical centers, and medical specialists like flies. I wondered what the GPs would be like. I learned the answer while waiting. The waiting room was full of brochures for botox, laser hair removal, eyelash enhancements and so on. Aha! this GP boosts his income by selling cosmetic treatments to the wealthy. Well, why not? I don't think those kinds of things burden the taxpayers, and it makes it possible to have GPs in a place like Vero Beach. Libby's turn comes later this week.

p.s. I repaired the Drinking While Driving post. The pictures were missing.

Turkey Turkey Turkey

Vero Beach Public Library
NoLL

The leftovers after Thanksgiving are a big part of the holiday. I recall one time before retirement. We had a full house of family and friends for Thankgiving dinner; it was great. The following day I went to the refrigerator to get fixings for a Turkey sandwich. There was none. Libby was so generous that she gave the leftovers away to our guests to take home. I wasn't happy. This year she made up for that; here's how.

We went to the cruiser's pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner. It was great, but of course we returned home with no leftovers. On Black Friday Libby went shopping; not to the mall but to the grocery store. She was looking for turkey on sale. She came home with a six pound turkey breast.

We cooked it in the oven Friday night. I carved it. Man oh man what a breast. This must have been the Dolly Parton of turkeys. We had lots of meat. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry for dinner that night. Yum yum. In the following days we had turkey sandwiches and turkey soup. We invited Derek from the rafted boat next to us for hot turkey over biscuts with gravy. Yum yum yum. I think I'll be able to have turkey sandwiches for lunch every day this week. I'm happy now.