Once more it was a nice day here in the Gainsville area. Sky's were a little bit cloudy this afternoon, but overall the temperature remained in the upper 70's for most of the afternoon. The weather forecast is for more clouds to move in however, and a few scattered rain showers by tomorrow, with increased cloudiness by Wednesday with quite a bit of rain and wind.
   But for today it was nice to get out and about for a couple of hours. I drove over to the north side of Paines Prairie State Park and walked out on the trail there. Lots of critters to look at and take pictures of. There are always gators to ogle and some of them are quite large. Most of the ones out sunning today were on the other side of the waterway unfortunately, so getting good close up photos of them was harder to do. There were a couple right along the trail though, so it was fun to take even 'more' pictures of them. By the time I leave this area I'll probably have hundreds of pictures of alligators, but so be it.
   There were also plenty of birds to look at of course. A short list would include, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Black Capped Night Herons, White Egrets, White Ibis, Moor Hens, Dabblers, American Coots, Anhinga's, Cormorants, Buzzards, Osprey and two Bald Eagles. It's fun to just stand or sit for awhile and watch as they hunt little bits of this and that in the bog plants. No one caught a fish of a snake this time around, but its fun to watch them grab a big old water snail, throw it in the air and swallow it down in one gulp.
   A late lunch at La Tienda Latina rounded out the afternoon with a wonderful chicken burrito. I'm working my way back through all the different types that they have on the menu, but they have so many that it is unlikely that I will get through them all before leaving early next month.
   Ran over and did some grocery shopping afterwards. There wasn't a whole lot that I needed, but I picked up some more eggs, yogurt and cheese. Also found a bottle of capers that I'll use in some of my pasta dishes as well as maybe in some kind of egg dish. Speaking of eggs; I found a sure fire way to cook eggs with easy to peel shells in a 'Cook's Country' magazine I picked up the other day. These are the people that test all of their recipes, sometimes hundreds of times, until they get it right.
    So quickly: Put about 1 inch of water in a kettle and heat it to a rolling boil. Place eggs in a single layer into the pot using a spoon or steamer basket. Turn the heat down to medium, put a lid on the kettle and let boil for 13 minutes. (Use a timer, the amount of time is very important). When done cooking, immediately remove the eggs and plunge them into a bowl of water with ice cubes. Let chill for 15 mins before removing and using. I've tried it twice now with good luck at peeling them.
    Going to hang out for the rest of the evening, probably reading or watching a movie. I re-watched the movie 'The Imitation Game' last night. Good acting and a story that is spell binding. It was also neat to know that I got to visit Bletchly Park, where the story takes place, last spring while in England.
   For photo's today, and it should be noted that there probably won't be pictures every day, I have some that I took a couple weeks ago on St Croix. Rima and I try to take a sunset sail on the schooner Roseway every year while we are there. The following information is from Wikipedia and seems to cover most of what I know about the boat except for the following; The Roseway holds the one day record for catching the most sailfish at 86 or 87. It should be noted that at that period of time an average sailfish weighed around 500 pounds.
   It is also known that the boat sank at the dock once the bank foreclosed on it. The Organization that ended up with it, World Ocean School, asked that it be donated to them but the bank maintained that they couldn't just give it away for nothing. The story goes that they showed up a couple of days later with a check for $10 and bought it free and clear. After that though it took another $1.4 million dollars to redo the hull, masts and other rigging before it could be sailed again

From Wikipedia:  Roseway is a wooden gaff-rigged schooner launched on 24 November 1925 in Essex, Massachusetts. Built in 1925, she is currently operated by World Ocean School, a non-profit educational organization based in Camden, Maine, and is normally operated out of Boston, Massachusetts and Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997 as the only known surviving example of a fishing schooner built specifically with racing competition as an objective.
Roseway was built in 1925 for Harold Hathaway of Taunton, Massachusetts at the John F. James & Son shipyard in Essex. Hathaway's intention was to build a boat that might beat the Canadians in the international fisherman's races popular at that time; to that end, Roseway was impeccably maintained and used only occasionally as a fishing boat.
In 1941, Roseway was purchased by the Boston Pilot's Association to serve as a pilot boat for Boston Harbor. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor later that year, mines and anti-submarine netting were installed to protect the Port of Boston, and all lighted navigational aids were extinguished. Roseway was fitted with a .50 caliber machine gun for service with the Coast Guard Reserve as patrol vessel as CGR-812. She continued her piloting duties in this challenging environment, for which service her pilots were awarded a bronze plaque from the Coast Guard at the end of the war. 
Roseway continued to serve as a pilot vessel until the early 1970s, at which point she and San Francisco's Zodiac were the only pilot schooners still in service in the United States. She was then sold and converted into a passenger vessel for the tourist trade. Roseway changed hands several times in the ensuing decades, operating primarily out of Camden, Maine and the US Virgin Islands. In 1997, she was listed as a National Historic Landmark. Roseway, at that time, retained between eighty and ninety percent of her original hull fabric and was badly in need of repairs. She remained docked in Rockland, Maine until she was repossessed by the First National Bank of Damariscotta, which in 2002 donated the vessel to the newly founded World Ocean School.
Following two years of restoration in Boothbay Harbor, Roseway again set sail in 2005. She currently serves as the platform for the World Ocean School, which offers various educational programs in St. Croix and the northeastern United States.

Evening Cruise on the Schooner Roseway on St. Croix 

 Feb 9, 2016

A shot showing two 'Tall Ships' at dock in St. Croix. On the left is the 2 masted schooner Roseway. The one we ill be sailing on. The one on the right appears to be a two masted Barquentine. I don't remember the name, but it had been built in France and was new enough to have a steel hull and modern furling gear for all the sails, even the square sails on the foremast.

Getting ready to board the boat.

Across the harbor stands the Christiansted fort that was built to protect the harbor entrance. The town of Christiansted is just behind the fort.

Looking out to sea as we get ready to leave the dock, it is fun to note all the different sailing craft in the harbor. I remember sailing boats like the dingy that is under sail, an 'El Toro', many, many hours when I was younger.

On board and looking aft as the crew begins getting the boat underway.

Looking up at the top of the foremast before the sail has been hoisted.

Both the main and fore sails have been hoisted using the crew and, in this case, most of the paying passengers to haul them aloft. Note to self: go on a night with more passengers if you want to be free enough to take pictures while the sails are being hoisted. The main sail alone weighs 4 tons, so it isn't like you can just stand around and watch a couple people doing all of the work. The jib and stay sail are much easier and take only two people on each to get them up.

The crew does a good job of coiling up the various halyards and sheets so they will run free when needed.

Nothing is the same as feeling the sails fill out and the boat start to move. Once the sails are up there is time to sit and watch the water or the boat.

My girlfriend Rima. She makes a beautiful boat look even better.

A bit of 'fancy work' under a turning block to protect the deck.

Looking forward as the boat is preparing to tack. The wind wasn't all that strong so I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to make it all the way around the first time.

But they back filled the jib and stay sail and forced the head of the ship over. Very well done by the crew.

Enjoying the setting sun.

The ocean was pretty flat this year but I am still grateful that Rima seems to have found some motion sickness meds that work for her. She has a nice tan after only a week in the sun.

The stay sail traveler. This block is part of the sheeting system for the stay sail and connects to a couple of other blocks mounted on the bottom of the stay sail boom. Also known as 'the club'.

Messenger lines for attaching to mooring lines before throwing the 'monkey fist' end to someone on the dock. I remember using these things often while in the Coast Guard. We tied them to our towing line before we threw the end to the boat in need of a tow. I use to be pretty good at tying 'monkey fists' at the end of a line. haven't had to do that much lately.

Another nice view of Rima.

 

The sun is going down, and as always it is beautiful.

The crew, other than the captain and the cook, are all young high school and collage age kids. Here they are taking in the jib and stay sail. Boy do I wish there had been something like this when I was their age.... or if there was, that I would of known about it.

One last picture as the crew drops and stows the main and fore sails. An end to a wonderful couple of hours with sweet memories to keep until next year.

*brk