Goldcoaster

The HMS Beagle is currently anchored at Goldcoaster Harbour, in south Florida, just at the head of the Florida Keys.  There are quite a few other ships here as well, but many more of the moorings have been filled in and converted to permanent dwellings (or manufactured homes, as they are called here).  Many of the residents of Goldcoaster live elsewhere and return year after year during the winter months while others are permanent residents who live and work in the area and whose children attend local schools.  A good many of the residents are descendants of people who came from Central and South America, as well as from Cuba, and are thus bilingual speakers of Spanish and English.  A great many others are descendants of English speakers, from both the United Sates and Canada, while a number of the Canadians are French speakers from La Belle Provence. 

 

Goldcoaster is in the process of eliminating its RV sites and so in a few years the HMS Beagle will no longer be able to anchor here (however, after much polite nagging by the crew of the Beagle, there will be a place next year for us).  The RV sites are being converted to sites for the aforementioned manufactured dwellings and although older dwellings here are single wide units, currently all the new homes are double wides. They are brought here in two half sections and then joined together to make one unit – mostly with duct tape as far as we can tell.  A long time resident of Goldcoaster told us that the entire park was razed to the ground by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.  

 

Goldcoaster has a number of fine recreational amenities for those staying here –  a clubhouse which houses a hall, library and kitchens for activities as well as a laundry, washrooms and shower; a large swimming pool and a heated spa; a shuffleboard court, horseshoe pits and a pétanque pitch.  Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally “piglet”) or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground (who makes up these games?).  When we were here last year, the French Canadians played pétanque every evening – quite a show. Alas, this year, the gentleman who organized this extraordinarily odd game is no longer here, and without him, our French Canadian friends have forsook the piglet.

 

Still, there are  many clubs and events organized by various mysterious forces at Goldcoaster, including dinners, games and dances (signs appear, people attend, but the guiding forces remain unknown to us).  The crew of the Beagle generally does not attend these activities as Mr. Darwin is not permitted to come any closer than 50 feet to the community centre where they are held.  Needless to say, this sort of species discrimination is anathema to the whole crew and the events are vigorously, if silently and absently, boycotted – the exception this year being a Canada Day Celebration, for which Mr. D was left aboard ship, much to his dismay.  

 

There were enough Canadians in attendance to fill the hall in the community centre and the pot-luck dinner was a great success.  Canadian Flags festooned the hall and most people were wearing red shirts or clothes with Canadian symbols, messages or flags on them.  Fitzroy and Chaffers attended for the meal and a little of the following events, which included the singing of Oh Canada and the Star Spangled Banner led by a choir of local residents – after which one wag said “OK now we can start the hockey game.”  Other songs of Canadian provenance were sung, including a rendition of Snowbird made popular by Ann Murray.  While all this singing was frankly dreadful beyond words, it was at the point when the line-dancing demonstration was to begin that the Captain and Master offered their thanks and appreciation and hastily left the festivities.

 

It won’t be long before the Beagle will make sail for other ports.  Much will have to be done before then, but for now, the Beagle lies peacefully at anchor here at Goldcoaster.