Saturday 25 February 2012

Arlo, Beaches and Beer

The Parker Concert Hall held about 1500 people, and  98% of them were pretty much like us. The seats in front were a sea of balding crowns, greying afros and gypsy scarves as Fort Lauderdale's Baby Boomers enjoyed a night out with one of the heroes of the 60s sub-culture. Arlo was still in good voice as he swapped casually between acoustic, electric and 12 string guitar; his own early and more recent material and folk classics by his father Woody Guthrie, Ramblin Jack Elliott and Leadbelly. He connected the songs with anecdotes, including the amusing story of his wife's recent arrest at the airport, which gave a new resonance to "Flying into Los Angeles/ Bringing in a couple of keys/ Don't touch my bags if you please, Mr Customs Man..." The Motorcycle Song was there, of course, but he politely declined to sing Alice's Restaurant, explaining that the reason he had  made records was so that he wouldn't have to spend the next forty years performing that particular half-hour narrative. We could go home and listen to it.

I think what I enjoyed most was the feeling of a great American musical tradition at work. Arlo's son and grandson were up there playing with him. Woody's songs reflected the politics of the Depression and stretched back further through his relationship with Leadbelly to some of the earliest genuinely American music. Just one thing would have improved the night - I was hoping Arlo would finish with Goodnight Irene. He does a great version of this classic song that was first recorded by Leadbelly, who in turn learnt it from his uncle. Terry happens to have the world's largest collection of versions of Irene - 245 at last count! (If I ever disappear overboard, it may be because Terry has decided to stage an Irene marathon).


Now what's wrong with this picture? It's a beautiful warm day, the water is perfectly clear and there are thousands of people on the beach at Las Olas. Why are we the only ones swimming? Do they know something we don't? The Florida beaches are the places to see the kind of people you see on television but rarely in real life - perfect hair, perfect tans, skinny women with improbable breasts and toned guys with all their muscles, tendons and veins on show - like having all their plumbing on the outside. Maybe going in the water spoils the look? Anyway, we love it and we figure we're being good ambassadors for Australia by braving the briny. Even if we are a bit blobby by Florida standards.

Saturday night we went to a beer and wine tasting at what has become our local bar. I'm beginning to worry that Terry will settle in here and we'll never get to see the rest of the world. He looks pretty happy, doesn't he?

Monday 13 February 2012

STILL in Fort Lauderdale...

Hi everyone
Well we haven't moved very far. In fact we're right here where we were exactly a month ago, in Cooley's Landing Marina, Fort Lauderdale. The Bahamas are out there, just fifty miles across the Straits of Florida; tantalising, but still a couple of weeks away, I fear. I'm learning one of the hard facts of boating life: that 'a couple of weeks' is a very open-ended measurement of time, particularly in the vocabulary of marine mechanics and the postal service.

Still, we have been using the time productively. We've ticked off nearly all the items on the 'Safety Requirements' list for the ARC Europe rally. Our Viking liferaft has arrived and we've watched the DVD on how to deploy it. It looked like a breeze with this very competent family happily launching their raft in lovely calm blue water, then expertly setting off flares and tucking into a jolly picnic with supplies from their emergency grab bag.
Other new safety essentials: a fire blanket; a throwable rescue rope; crotch straps and hoods for our life-jackets; up-to-date charts. We've installed boards for storage of extra fuel and water on the deck. On the communications front, we bought a contraption for extending wi-fi internet coverage (see pic) and, importantly, a satellite phone so we can let everyone know we're OK from the middle of the Atlantic. This brings to about 27 the number of small black hand-held communication devices on board. I find myself talking into the TV remote control more often than not.

Still anticipating the installation of two solar panels, which should make us pretty self-sufficient for power, and arrival of a Hydrovane self-steerer. The reviews on these are extremely positive, implying that it is almost like having an additional crew member (one who works uncomplainingly and doesn't need to be fed. One reviewer even called it 'the hand of God' - that's gotta be a recommendation.) Because of this, people say the Hydrovane should have a name - suggestions welcome.;

We have managed to have some fun while all this has been happening. Amongst our adventures: dinghying around exploring the canals; a terrific concert featuring the Four Tops and the Temptations in their current incarnations;  great food, dancing and a lesson in church history at the local Greek Festival; Jazz in the Park when the whole riverfront comes alive with music; Terry has been doing the hard yards on his Beer Tour ... Apart from a couple of rainy days, the weather has been perfect. There are worse places to be stuck.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Long Overdue Beer Reviews

Hi folks
Don't worry, Terry's Beer Tour of the World is still going strong: here are some new brews reviewed for your edification and enjoyment:

Rolling Rock
http://www.rollingrock.com/#/landing/
Ultra-pale lager but don’t let that fool you.  Actually does have a punch.  Reviews on the beer sites are almost all derogatory but then, they rave about strawberry notes and lemon airs of India Pale Ales, which are all the rage here.  Reminiscent of some Bavarian light lagers, a bit sour (which I like) and a little fizzy but not like from a major brewery’s carbonation.  Large cans or green bottles.  A lot of history from an old Pennsylvania beer.  I don’t mind it at all.

Yuengling Traditional Amber Lager
I’ve had this in draft from the Crab Deck.  This is from a pint can and is very nice indeed.  I’ve spoken about Yuengling before and it’s now become my firm favourite.  Until I get a new firm favourite when I can’t find Yuengling in the shop any more.  I buy this by the carton – $14.99 for a 12-can pack for the 370ml cans.

Fullers Ale
http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=3
Good, honest English Ale.  Served cold by a very charming Irish waiter west of Washington DC in some part of Virginia.  I think.  Where George Washington University is.  Had a few while lunching with our friend Jane from Sarasota.  Our waiter, John, gave us a few tips for the west coast of Ireland, including his brother-in-law’s restaurant in Country Clare.

Natty Greene’s Old Town Brown Ale
http://www.nattygreenes.com/
Had this in the Church Street Inn on Swansboro North Carolina.  A North Carolinan beer from Greensboro.  Nice.  No sharpness at all, not overly hoppy.  Smooth but the alcohol sneaks up on you.  Definitely worth a drink or two.
Tried the Circus Boys ale while I was there but didn’t think much of it – hops and nothing else.
http://www.magichat.net/elixirs/9#/elixirs/circus_boy

Key West Sunset Ale
http://www.floridabeer.com/0_home.html
Well, the tossers in the ‘’trendy’’ beer review sites give this (variously) 4/10, 5/10 etc.  They are bigger dickheads than those stereotypical wine-wankers.  Wine reviewing seems to have stabilized a lot since those early days of pretentious twits, but they abound in Beer’s first forays into classifying and reviewing.  Probably moved across from the wine review groups when wine drinkers called their bluff and now we beer drinkers have to put up with them.
Seriously, I had a couple of these in the Tailgate Sports Bar on Daytona Beach.  Good beer.  You would expect the heavy hand of excess in this land of bigger, better, faster etc but apart from a little fruit sweetness at the end, this is very easy to drink.  Of course, it helps that accompanying the beer were 2 ½ pounds of Cajun Crawfish, Banana Pepper Calamari and French Fries, all surrounded by 27 tv screens showing Football, Basketball, Baseball and Men In Black II.  What a Christmas Lunch!!  Your Crawfish comes in a beer jug and is dumped out on your table onto some sheets of yesterday’s newspaper.  Peel, eat, put shells back in beer jug, drink, roll up paper.  Where’s the hard bit? We rode along Daytona Beach on Xmas Day after this, amid thousands of holidaymakers.  In the water?  Kids.  Can you ever keep them out?

Dixie New Orleans Slow Brewed Beer.
Dixie Brewing Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Brewing_Company
A bit too sweet to taste much more.  No bitterness.  Very old brewery (1907) almost destroyed in Katrina.

Old Thumper.  (A Beast of a Beer)
Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland Maine.  From their Ringwood Brewery.
http://www.shipyard.com/taste/
5.6%.  Strong, heavy.  Not caramel tasting and not too bitter.  OK for a couple but not a keeper.  Would be excellent with winter casseroles and pies and the like.

Genesee Cream Ale. 
http://www.geneseecreamale.com/home.php
Very nice.  A bit of caramel in it that makes you think of it as a lolly but there’s kick in there too.  Not something you could drink a lot of but would be good with a casserole or Shepherd’s Pie.  You wouldn’t actually need to drink a lot of it – a few and you’d be done.  A New York tradition.

Ellie’s Best Brown Ale
http://www.averybrewing.com/our-ales/54
Had dinner in “Social Wine Bar and Restaurant”  in Charleston last week.  This was on tap and I’m glad I tried it.  Very nice with tapas-style dinner.  From Colorado.

Karibrew
http://www.cafekaribo.com/karibrew.html
You’re not going to find this in a liquor store near you any time soon.  All they have is three tuns of about 200 gallons each maybe.  In them are the Pilsner, the Stout and the Red Ale.  I had the Pilsner first.  Home brewed? Almost. There’s that typical hint of sharp sourness you get in stuff you make at home.  Nice.  Could drink this for a night or so.
Then I had a Nut Brown Ale.  Not one of the tuns?  No, you mix Pilsner and Stout into the glass and serve it.  Very nice.  Knock you on your ear stuff.
This pub is part of the adjacent Karibo CafĂ©.  In the pub, they have a Tuesday night Trivia Teams (quiz) night – these are popular in small taverns all down the East Coast (can’t say for other areas), Wednesday night is Pad Thai night and Thursday night is Curry night. 
So, given that they don’t bottle anything, next time you’re in downtown Fernandina Beach, Florida, stop into the Karibrew pub and try this.  Preferably on one of the nights mentioned above.  See Jess behind the bar.  Damn I love this country.  Imagine if someone did this in a tavern in Dalyellup.  Place would be full night after night.  With 27 tv screens, of course.

Holy Mackerel Special Golden Ale 8.5%
http://holymackerelbeers.com/
Obviously from the number above, this is quite powerful but it doesn’t have much in the way of flavor going for it.  I let it warm up to see if it released anything but no. Just OK.

Playa de la Cruz
http://www.playadelacruzbeer.com/
From Guatemala.  Absolute knock-off of Corona, down to the packaging and bottles.  A bit light on, seems like there’s been some extra carbonation done to sparkle it up.  Still, better than Landshark and not as good as Corona.  The know-it-alls in the beer review groups give this 2 out of 5 and complain about “corn smell”, “mouthfeel” and all sorts of bull that used to belong exclusively to wine tossers, but they are full of it.  It’s not a bad beer when you consider it’s $5.99 for a cold 6-pack at Walgreen i.e. a buck a bottle.  At that price, this stuff is a great hot afternoon drinker, which is what it is here today in Fort Lauderdale.  Thunderstorm threatening, bbq on cooking steak and onions, cold bottle to drink.  What’s not to like?

Tona Cerveza
http://www.cervezatona.com/en/
A Nicaraguan beer.  Enough to make you forget the Sandinistas, the Somozas and any other dictatorial dickhead family in the country and emigrate.  The surf there is A1, the food is first class and this beer is something you could drink forever.  The website is a bit limited but interesting for the cultural information.

Non-beer aside:-
I bought a bottle of Absolut in Publix (the supermarket) liquor offshoot, like Coles and Woolies offshoots.  1.75litres for $29.95. (Australian price - $42 for .7liters)  You can buy beer and wine in the supermarket, but not hard liquor.  Depends on the state – some you can, some you can’t.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Interlude in Southern Florida

We've been reading all the posts from home about the relentless hot weather in Perth and Bunbury, and feeling really fortunate to be in southern Florida in the winter time. No wonder those with the means retire here - mild days 28 - 32 degrees, nights with a gentle cooling breeze. And speaking of means, there is some serious wealth in these parts in the form of palatial homes and unbelievable luxury boats. Fort Lauderdale is largely built on a system of rivers and canals, so there are miles and miles of water frontage and every waterfront mansion seems to have a substantial yacht or powerboat on its dock. You wouldn't want to have a big psychological investment in the size of your boat here. Even Spielberg's $200 million yacht is overshadowed by one across the harbour belonging to a Russian 'businessman'. Apparently this guy has so many assets around the world that he doesn't even know where his boat is.


As we kick back on the deck of Common Sense here in Cooley's Landing, there is an endless parade of craft up and down the New River; game-fishing boats, water taxis and ferries, megayachts being towed by tugs, tiny skiffs, party boats, yachts from all over the world - it's endlessly fascinating. This marina is right on the New River, a very deep waterway which was created by an earthquake in the recent geological past. Many people live aboard their boats along the river and the endless canals that branch from it, adding to the energy and colour of the waterfront area. We are right on the 'riverwalk' within an easy walk of the performing arts centre, the science museum, some good bars and restaurants and the Las Olas shopping district.

This compensates to some extent for the fact that we are pretty much stuck here for the next couple of weeks while we fit solar panels and a self-steerer, and purchase a few essentials for the upcoming trip across to the Bahamas and the big one from Bermuda to the Azores in May. I have done a lot of Bahamas research and planned various passages, feeling just a bit frustrated that we can't yet take off for the part of the trip that we've most been looking forward to. Oh well, that seems to be part of the cruising life; we've met lots of boaters stuck in various places awaiting parts, repairs and family complications, some of them with very little prospect of moving any time soon, so I guess we're OK from that perspective.

Once again we've met some terrific people, catching up with Canadian friends Russ and Suzie from Opportunity, and meeting experienced Aussie cruisers Jennifer and Michael Gough from  Mahili, who invited us to a delightful Australia Day dinner, complete with vegemite for appetizers, pies and sausages, banana splits and plenty of cold beer. And of course all the friendly folks right here on our dock, from overnighters heading to the Bahamas to our next door neighbour Sheldon, aged 91, who has lived here aboard his boat for years.


This interlude has given us time to do some of the planning and paperwork for the ARC Europe rally in May, so we're now fully subscribed and paid up members. We've bought our life-raft, a thing of beauty and fine engineering that we hope never to see in action, and we're stocking the various spares and supplies we are likely to need. Most importantly, we're very much looking forward to meeting Padraig, who will be joining us as a crew member for the rally!