6 December 2015

  Hard to believe that we have been living on the boat for 14 days now!  Some things are still new and yet others are getting more routine.

  We are still “Moving in” in that we are trying to find space for all the stuff we brought with us.  Most of that seems to be clothes.  I have gotten rid of a whole other pile of stuff as I don’t seem to need as much choice as I did when I was working.  Joan has some sorting left to go.

  We have been trying to find some things that are “normal” for us since “We live on a boat.”  We went to Mass last Sunday and that was nice for us and we bought a small TV.  We have so far watched one movie.  We need to buy an antenna so we can pick up the over the air signals.   However we also seem too busy in the evenings to want to sit and watch.

Finding Internet

  Probably our biggest evening deal is going someplace where we can get internet.  So far we have tried McDonalds, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and the public library.  The latter was the worst followed by Starbucks.  The best so far has been McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A.  One night we sat in McDonalds and felt obligated to buy something.  That only reaffirmed why we never eat there and why they might be going out of business.  The other night we sat in the parking lot for 2  hours using the signal. How very cruiser of us!  We got quite a few funny looks over the course of that time.  But hey it was free.  Guess that could be our life from now on.

  Once we get sorted out and moved in we will start in ernest on the boat projects.  We heard from one fellow cruiser that we need to jump on those as time really flies and we will be surprised on quickly it goes.

  We have had a couple of unintended projects.  Yesterday Joan was putting a new basket under the sink in our head.  She bumped the water line and it just started leaking.  So for the second time since we have been here she calls out “Honey we have a problem!”  I can tell you I hate it when she says that.  Guess we will need some other code word.

The darn connection was a pressure connection and you couldn’t get the darn thing to seal anymore.  So we needed to start running around and finding a new fitting.  We are lucky in two respects.

1. We have a hand pump so we could still use water and
2. We live in an area with lots of resources for marine parts.

New Aft Faucet

We had planned to replace the faucet at that sink so we both thought that since we were under there anyway let us just replace the whole thing.  Years  ago Joan had bought a faucet for the house she never put in so we had one we wanted to use anyway.  We went to 3 stores to find the right parts.  Ending up at the old local hardware store where the plumber specialist fixed us up right away.  Back to the boat to find out one of the parts did not work.  So back to store number 2 and then back to the old hardware store for the right part. So only 4 trips to the stores to do one plumbing job.  Not bad for us!  Joan did most of the work with pulling off the old faucet and drilling new holes and getting the water lines ready.  We did not have any plumbers putty so we just used Life caulk to seal it up.  All being said and done the new faucet looks great, works well and best yet it does not leak.

OK back to sorting storing and cleaning.

Update 6 December 2015.

Originally Posted April 2014

  We now have a way to get WiFi on the boat so I am posting some of these old posts so that I can get caught up.  We have had the boat for two years and now we can focus on letting you know what that has been like.

April 2014

  I just got back from my second long stay on the boat. Joan is still down there, her 3rd trip. Again it was very difficult to come back.
The good thing is things are getting done. There was definite progress on the engine, new cooling system, sensors, belts, pulley and conversion to a spin on secondary fuel filter. Joan laughs as every time she can't find me she looks into the engine room to find me peering and poking around. But hey it is fun and I am learning a lot about the boat.

  I removed our manual bilge pump and then Joan rehabbed and re-built the whole thing. She called it her first "blue" job. I was proud of her and I know she was proud of herself.
The major project was the re-building of the propane system. Bottom line is it is ready for final connections. So skip the next part if you don't want details.

  Started out by having to remove the old copper delivery pipe. Good thing too as we found a big crimp in it at one bulk head. So I cut the tubing every where I could and pulled it and the protective foam out. One good aspect of doing this was to learn how to access those parts of the boat and what was behind and underneath there. Having the right tool also helped. I had gotten a copper tubing cutter from somewhere and that made easy work of cutting. Now it was time to run 30' of new LPG hose. But first we had to figure out how to get it through 7 feet of space with 3 bulk heads we couldn't get to and make sure it would not chafe. I sat and thought about it for a while, a Tom Turnbuckle method, I resolved it by realizing that the holes in the bulkheads were pretty well lined up and the boat at this point only curved a bit. I went down to the Home Depot and got a piece of PVC water pipe that would fit the LPG hose. Then with both of us pulling and pushing we got it through the 3 bulk heads and up to where we could get to the hose again. This took many hours, learning to peer through holes using a mirror and cutting our first hole in the boat. There was just one spot that we could not get the pipe lined up. Fortunately it was in the shower so we cut a hole and I was able to reach in and guide the tube through the next bulk head and then it went through the next two easy as pie. The real benefit here is that we now know what it behind the shower, what the plumbing to the shower faucet looks like and how it is connected, and we now have the chance to put in a recessed soap dish or cubby and the LPG hose is fully protected through those bulk heads. We also learned that they had placed a lot of insulation and foam around the ice box. It took about 5 minutes to get the hose run from the locker to the stove. I put the LPG hose through sections of fire hose at the rest of the bulk heads and then tacked the fire hose down so it would not move. I think we are good on chafe protection and plus we know where to inspect it. We will put in a new dual regulator, solenoid and two sniffers next time and call it done. Not bad for 3 days work I say.

  We also got to go get all the boat stuff out of the storage locker where the PO had stored it getting it staged for selling it. There was a spinnaker in a sock and lots of spares. The best thing was all the screens for the upper hatches, but alas no pots and pans or port light screens.

  We had our first lunch in the cockpit. We were invited to dinner with our boat neighbors and got to know them and found they are really good people. They are casting off for Costa Rica here soon on their 40' C&C. We hope to see them again. We had another dock neighbor over for a late lunch. He is the NASA space station engineer, really good guy who now will be doing 3 months at home and 3 in Russia, if we don't got to war. He made us laugh and we will never look at a shooting star the same. Joan was talking about shooting stars and the night sky and he just ups and says "Astronaut Shit" I asked "what did you say?" "Astronaut Shit". Ok explain that one Lucy. Seems that when the toilet gets full on the Space Station they take the bag out weight it down and throw it overboard, yes they are outside the 3 mile limit, and it burns up on re-entry. So next time you see a shooting star and start to make a wish remember you might be wishing on shit. ;-)

  A Bone head oops, a learning moment and Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving rolled around for 2015 and first and foremost how great it is to have so much to be thankful for. One thing is our kids, who despite thinking their parents are nuts, joined us on the boat. Now some of you won't think that is too unusual except we moved onto the boat Sunday and the kids showed up Tuesday. So not much organizing before they got here. Beds made is about all.

  We knew this adventure would have a learning curve but we sure didn’t think we would start curving on Thanksgiving. We wouldn’t have if I’d actually been paying attention . We have my daughters boyfriend here and he is very much into boats. He was very excited to learn everything there is about the boat and how it works. So I decided we needed to run the engine and make all was well with the old Perkins. Remember most things that seem to go wrong are operator error. We went through the pre-start checklist and as usual the engine fires up and ran like a champ. Ran it in forward and reverse and the temp was just starting to come up to temp when it just died!  Went through the usual but rationalized that it stopped the way it did because it had no fuel. After checking the obvious I looked at the fuel shut off switch and it was in the off position. Some work had been done by some contractors in the engine room and it must have been turned off by them. But I also remember checking it so I must have looked at it and it did not register.  Anyway it was off. Now what? Got out the trusty Nigel Calder Diesel Book and began trouble shooting.  Yes we needed to bleed it. No we had never done that before! Well we pretty much followed the sequence and I was glad to have taken the course at the Annapolis School of Seamanship.  One of the good things about the school was being told to get the right tools. I had picked up my Flare Nut Wrench so I could bleed the injectors. After a bit of trial and error getting the lift pump to have pressure in it we got the secondary filter bled and started down the line on the injectors. We got those all bled and then after just a few seconds of cranking she fired right up. Ran like the champ she has always been for us. A few high fives and some beer were now in order. Big thanks to Jon and Joan for working through it with me.

  We were at a seminar with Nigel Calder last year and he said that you never know what you can do until you do it. So big hurdle for us to get the engine back going again.

  Now onto Thanksgiving dinner. We have not yet gotten the stove to light. It looks like we made need a new thermocoupler. So we were not baking anything. But we put together a great meal that included lots of good grilled meat and veggies. But alas no pies. Aren’t pies the reason to have all that turkey as an H de over? We substituted wine I suppose for that. We shared our first holiday afloat with the kids and an engine bleed.
Hope the rest of you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

  When our kids were younger we enjoyed a series of books by author Laura Numeroff. This included titles "If you give a Mouse a Cookie"

If you give a Mouse A Cookie

and "If you give a Moose a Muffin." The books always showed what the unintended consequences are and set up chain of events that ended up where you started. That is sometimes how we feel with the boat. After we closed on  the boat last March it was time to start doing some work and upgrades to her. There was nothing wrong with the boat she just needed some TLC, cleaning and a few things looked after. 

We wanted  to upgrade the batteries and electrical systems and get an engine over haul. In both cases the people people doing the work commented on how nice the boat was and the engine guy was very complimentary of how well maintained the engine was. 

New Inverter

  One of the big things we needed done was replacing the muffler system. It was at the end of its' life so needed to be replaced before we felt comfortable taking the boat out. Other than that there was nothing, or so we thought, pressing to prevent us from taking the boat out sailing.  

  We were trying to get to the boat about once a month or every 6 weeks. So we started working on the many items that we found during our survey.  I was finding that I could only get one very organized thing done each long weekend.  Over the last two years we have done a lot.  In some cases I can't even remember what it was we worked on.  I do know we put in all new thru-hulls, new A/C pump and best of all a new sanitation hose for the aft head!  Now that special project could only have been done with the help of friends.  Dave  and Shelley came and Dave helped put a new sanitation hose in.  What kind of friend even asks a person to do that?  

And finally just before moving to the boat we were able to get our propane burners, but alas not our stove, just before Thanksgiving 2015.

Burners Work

  Originally Posted November 2014

  One of the best TV shows ever was M*A*S*H.  But before there was the TV show there was the movie and before that was the book. Hawkeye Pearce grew up in Crabapple Cove Maine and he and his Dad had a term to describe good people and other events; "Finest Kind." 

  Our experience thus far in cruising and getting ready to cruise is that there are a lot of "Finest Kind" people out there. This is no more so than our our dock in Texas. We have the couple who are from Minnesota who are like us fixing up a good boat and heading out soon. There is Gary and Scotty who have many miles under their keel and I listen intently when he starts to talk. He is currently looking after the boat when we are not there. There is Larry who sailed the Atlantic, twice, and the Pacific. The college professor and his wife. She is a Cherokee and wonderful to listen to as she tells stories of the Cherokee. Charlie, who is right next door, who is planning a cruise due south on his South African boat. One of Charlie's first trips was escaping from communist held Viet Nam. And Doc, not sure about him, a little mysterious, generous to a fault, and lots of water under his keel. All of these sailors have helped us, encouraged us and inspired us.

Our Sunrise view

Two of the Finest Kind are Dave and Shelley.  They have been to the boat twice now and have been great to have aboard.  They have jumped right in and worked on the boat with us, removing the old name, putting in new sea strainers, reviewing the engine, cleaning and even replacing a sanitation hose.  Now that is being the Finest Kind! They were with us when we took the boat out of the slip and into the bay for the first time.  I can't thank them enough for being crew for us that first journey.

First trip out using the iPad for navigation

First cruise with Dave and Shelley

Yes it is that much fun

Finest Kind

  One of the things these two do is make us stop working on the boat and take time to look around.  In this case we made a trip to Galveston and visited the tall ship Elissa.  This ship was built in 1877 and during its' heyday paid two visits to Galveston.  The story of her rescue and restoration is pretty inspiring.  We made the short trip and spent time exploring this active ship.

The Tall Ship Elissa

The rigging on Elissa

Never Pass up a chance to see what is around

Glad we made the trip and could share with Dave and Shelley.

Originally Posted November 2014

Really!  We were just looking.

Or How we found the boat

  We had narrowed down to what boats we were going to consider, see The Vessel  and now it was time to start actually getting on some of the boats and trying them on for size. We decided that we would look at boats that we could drive to, which eliminated boats on the West Coast and in the far North East of the US.  

  Previously we had spent a week looking at boats in Annapolis and it was here that we first got on some Center Cockpit boats. We climbed on an Endevour 43. We were pretty amazed at the size of the aft state room. We got on a lot of boats including a very nice Caliber 40 and a Cabo Rico 38. We also began to quickly realize that if we didn't take notes right after we looked at a boat we quickly got them confused. In fact now as I look over these notes I can barely remember some of the boats that we looked at. 

  We heavily researched Center Cockpit boats, after our visit to Annapolis and the Eastern shore, and created the list we reference on the Vessel page. Armed with a narrowed down list we became addicted to Yachtworld and several other "boats for sale" sites. We got pretty bad checking out those sites a couple of times a day. We also began planning trips to those areas where we could get on boats. On one of our first trips we headed to south Florida as there were a number of boats in a small area. We managed to find and get on our first Gulfstar 44. This boat was in a slip at Dinner Key in Miami. So not only was the boat nice but also the location was fantastic!  The boat itself was very nice and had a lot of cruising gear on it.  The owner was a good "do it yourselfer" so had made several nice upgrades to the boat. What was good about this visit was seeing the layout of the boat. We would soon come to realize how nice this was. The walk through was high enough that Joan and I could both get through without having to double over. The other big plus is that it had a dedicated standup shower.  On our list of things we would like to have that was near the top. 

   While in south Florida we also were able to see a Kelly Peterson 44, Gulfstar 41. Gulfstar 47 Motorsailer and a Hylas 44.  The KellyP was again a boat just back from cruising with lots of cruising gear and again lots of mods made by a very self reliant cruiser.   He had even had made his own water maker.  The GS41 was very dirty, smelly and over priced!  The Gulfstar 47 was very big and not a craft for us.  The Hylas was a very nice boat but also above our budget plus it was hard to step in and out of the cockpit.  A nice view of several choices of boats with the best result of the trip was we really liked the layout of the Gulfstar 44.

The layout of the 44

  Our next trip to Florida saw us in Key West and we got on a very nice Hunter.  This was not on our list but it was good to see how boats were set up.  We  also found out that brokers really like several days notice when you want to look at boats. The other part of this trip visiting marinas where we might want to hang out for awhile.  The best deal was on Naval Air Station Key West were a slip was half the price of a commercial slip, and a nice secure place!

  We soon found ourselves south bound again.  This time we were delivering furniture and cars across the country.  We traveled the entire east coast of Florida from Fort Lauderdale to Fernandina Beach and then into southern Georgia.  We again got the opportunity to visit marinas up the coast.

  We finally ended up in Brunswick GA visiting Tom and Sabrina Nichols who were there getting their Caliber 40 ready to go cruising. While here we not only got to stay on their boat but also got to meet a lot of cruisers. They were all very generous enough to show us their boats.  Besides the Caliber we were staying on we saw  a couple of Pearson 422s, Island Packet, Out Island and even a very nice trawler.   There was a Brewer 44 in Brunswick as well.  We had really wanted to get on one of these as it was also on our short list but unfortunately it did not work out meeting up with the owner.   We also stopped in St Augustine and got on a nice Bristol 45-5.  This was a very nice boat and we liked the layout.  It has a great reputation.  The only thing about this boat was it was a little high priced and it had a swing keel.  We also made the trip to Green Cove Springs to look at another Gulfstar 44 but the yard was closed for the July 4th holiday so all we could do was look at it through the fence.

  In August we decided to head in the other direction, North!  We drove up to Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay to look at two Gulfstar 44s.  Just before we left one of the boats sold proving that the  GS 44 was still sought after.  We were able to get on what must be the nicest GS 44 we ever saw.  The boat was in Elk Rapids Michigan, which is a very pretty little town.  The boat was in prime shape.  Everything was in place and ready to go.  It even had bow thrusters!  We spent several hours on the boat with the broker and were able to really get to know the GS44.  While this boat had everything on it and it was very clean it also was priced at the top of the market.  We drove away thinking that if we found nothing else then we would make a bid on this boat, after the winter, and enjoy sailing in the Great Lakes and then making our way to the east coast.

  Later in the fall we had the opportunity to head back to Florida for some sailing.  We were able to spend a week on an Island Packet 46.

Paul's IP

Best Seat in the House

The Crew Nov 2013

Swing Bridge on the ICW north bound

  The skipper is a friend, and great teacher,  so we learned a lot about cruising.  It also confirmed for us that we would like to own a center cockpit.  While there we were  did get onto another Gulfstar 44.  This boat was in not good  shape and would have taken way to much time and money to get her up to speed.  But it did confirm to us that we loved the size and layout.  While in Palmetto Florida we met up with a great broker who showed us several Island Packets of all sizes and years.  We also got on a Morgan 45, another boat with a great rep.  This boat was on our short list so we were glad to get on.  We discovered that we were not keen on the layout.

  We  then kept monitoring all the boat for sale web sites, usually a couple of times a day.  On one Monday in January Joan checked Yachtworld in the morning and saw nothing new.  In the afternoon I checked and there was a new listing for a GS 44 in Kemah Texas.  We called the broker and Tuesday morning found us on the road to the Houston area.  About Oklahoma City I got a call on the phone offering me a job I had been interviewing for!  Some things were coming together here.  Wednesday we met with the broker who assured us that this was the nicest GS 44 we would ever see.  We got on the boat and after about a half hour he commented that we obviously know more about the boat than he did so he left us to it.  It was indeed a very nice, clean boat.  It was just about ready to go cruising and more importantly it was priced right!  We ended making an offer, which was countered and we accepted.  We then went through the process of buying a boat.  It surveyed very well.  The final statement from the surveyor was "You have a dang fine boat there."

Broker and Pat on the shake down cruise

Checking the bottom during survey

We can actually get INTO the engine room

The Boat came with both a dingy and davits

Center Cockpit, Very easy to step in and out of

Lookling aft from the V-berth, Nice wood work

Port Sette, again check out the wood!

Our Gulfstar 44

So that is how we have become the lucky, proud and privileged owners of a 1981 Gulfstar 44, Center Cockpit.  We will now start documenting getting the boat and us ready to go.  More details of the boat can be found on the Vessel tab

---

Original Gulfstar Logo

Originally Posted October 2014

Been a while since I have written anything but must try to keep up with this.We traveled to

Sailing Capital. Wonder what Newport and San Diego think of that?

  Annapolis earlier this month to attend the Mecca of sailboat shows, the US Sailboat Show. We had been before but this time we were actually shopping for things for our boat. Before we had just been lookey loos. 

  On our first trip we had spent time enjoying the boats and this time we did not climb on a single one!  Now I don't know if that is a good or bad thing but we sure did not need a boat. 

  We spent two days in the tents talking to all the vendors who were selling things that we needed for the boat. We had done a lot of research and we pretty much knew who were going to talk to and what we wanted to get. And we even managed to avoid any impulse buying! Man we sure could have though, so much you can add to your list.
The best thing was being able to eliminate and add things to the list. We did get several things but nothing to big,  a fancy boat hook and parts for our port lights.

  We had planned to buy solar panels but the shipping on those eliminated the savings they were offering.  We did however find the wind generator that we were interested in, Marinekinetics, they gave us great deal so we bought that. If you have not shopped at Marinebeam  you need to. Lots of affordable, yet well built, items, especially LED lights. I guess they have been written up recently in a couple of the sailing mags.

The generator arrived today so now we have to get it to the boat and get it mounted.

Our new wind generator from Marine Beam and Cruising Solutions

  We did not get on any of the show boats we were able to go see our friends Dwayne and Carla's new to them 38 Catalina.  They are planning to cruise for  a few years and chose this very nice boat to do that on.  They bought the boat in Connecticut and were able to bring it down through New York harbor.  Something we hope to do one day.  They had the boat on the Bay south of Annapolis in a very nice harbor called Harrington.  Might be a place we will stop at one day.

  We were also able to spend time with my brother and family, always good to connect with family.  My nieces are now well into their teenage years, just so hard to believe.

  Our final boat discovery was finding Bacon Sails and Marine.   This was a true treasure trove of all things second hand that a sailor could ask for.  It was well organized but your head just started to spin looking at all the stuff.  This would be a place you will need to go to with a list!

Originally Posted in December 2013

Diesel Class in Annapolis;

If you are going cruising on a sailboat, or any boat, you will have to be self-sustaining.  If you are already a sailor you will know what this means.  If you are not a sailor it is like owning a home and being the painter, plumber, electrician, roofer as well as the cook, cleaner and HVAC specialist.  You have to keep the boat floating as that is your home!  On the average size cruising boat that might seem daunting, but never fear, there are ways we found to learn how to take care of our floating home.  We have read books, gone to seminars and found experts to teach us.  In some cases we just jumped in and did it.  We also talked to a lot of fellow sailors and followed blogs of cruisers who are already out there.  Most sailboats have an auxiliary engine, the "iron ginny."  On bigger boats this can come in the form of a diesel engine.  Now if you are like me the last time you worked on an engine was on your 1965 Mustang convertible with the old 289 in it.  I have to admit that being a diesel mechanic was intimidating!   To get over that we decided that I needed to go to a course to become a little more self-reliant.

Lots to learn here.

Our good friends on s/v Honey Ryder, currently enjoying the eastern Caribbean, had gone to a diesel engine course in Annapolis MD.  On their recommendation I also decided to attend the Annapolis School of Seamanship.  The school offered both a basic intro to marine diesels and a more advanced class.  I decided to take the basic class and then when we got a boat see if I needed the more advanced class.  The other good thing about the class was that it was in Annapolis, the capital of the American Sailing world!  If you are a sailor, and have never been, you must go.  I was there in November so most of the boats were put away for the winter or had headed for warmer climes.  But still a great place to wander around and soak up everything sailing.  You know you are in a sailing town when you go into Starbucks on the City docks and the guy sitting next to you is wearing his Musto jacket and the lively conversation in the corner is by a group of people wearing coats with the name of their boat on it.

Sailing Capital. Wonder what Newport and San Diego think of that?

Since it was the end of November when I was there it happened to coincide with the annual boat parade.  I missed that since I was staying Baltimore, but I did get to see what must have been the best in show boat.

Leg Lamp Boat from the Annapolis Boat Parade

"The soft glow of electric sex in the front window"

OK back to why I was there, the diesel class.  Prior to the class I had read Nigel Calder's  Diesel book from cover to cover, I am glad I did!  Before we jumped into learning how to be mechanics we needed to introduce ourselves to the class.  When you are on the east coast, and doing something sailing related, being from Kansas always brings out the  comments,  "They have water out there?",  "We know you have lots of wind."  But this time as soon as I said I was from Kansas a skipper on the front row whipped around and said "Your Tom and Sabrina's friend."  I looked at her and before I could stop myself I said "Captain Annie!"  This was a friend that the crew of Honey Ryder had visited on their way north last fall and had posted the visit on their blog so I recognized her from that.  It was really cool to meet her and enjoy the shared connection.  We hope when we get to Charleston she is still there and if not enjoy sundowners where we find each other.

  The two days of the class were really well presented and I learned enough to feel confident to do all the basic, routine maintenance on the boat and more importantly to be able to have a cognitive discussion with a "real" mechanic when things were beyond me.  We started by reviewing how diesels work, how to do routine maintenance and then onto troubleshooting.  It is hard to pick out which part was most useful.  We learned which tools were best to have on board, identify all the parts of the engine, how to change all the fluids, belts and impellers.  The class was very hands on and you got to work on several different brands.  A few people in the class got to work on the same engines they had on their boats.  The class ended with troubleshooting actual engine problems and getting them running.  "Failure to Crank" what do you do?  There were 3 stations where each engine had a different problem that you had to figure out and get the engine running.

One of the Instructors at Annapolis School of Seamanship. Notice this engine is cut away, and runs like that!

This was a great class and well worth the time and money as it will help us not only look at an engine when we get a boat but also be able to keep one running when we are out there.

First Published November 2013

More Florida Cruising

  Time to catch up with this as some things are moving pretty fast for us at the moment.
We had intended to pick up our crew on Tuesday and then sail across the Gulf to St Petersburg.  The weather was on the verge of marginal that evening but after a good meal we all felt ready, the boat was ready,  so we decided to press on.

   We began about 10 PM with the rain passing and Tampa Bay as smooth as silk.  Things were looking good!  A lot of the marks were unlit which gave me a chance to try out my green light laser. Being careful not to light the rigging on the boat which reflects the light right back at you, the laser was great for picking up the marks a loooong way off.  It also leaves a pointer trail so it is much easier to guide the crews' attention exactly to where you are looking.

  As we neared the Pass-a-Grill outlet the front was pushing the waves into the narrow passage and making things pretty rolly as the tide was going out. I made the mistake of looking down at the small screen on my iPhone, as it had more updated chart info than the chart plotter. Oops now I was feeling the mal-de-mer! More on that later.

We got out to the Gulf got the sails set and pointed to NO.  Everyone else went down below and I stated my watch.   I was having a great time as we crashed into the waves and just felt the boat going along with the almost full moon and stars peeking through the low scudding clouds. And while I felt a bit queasy I was not getting worse.  The bad news was the wind and waves were building, and worse yet,  they were coming around so about every half hour or so I had to fall off to keep things comfortable.

  At 3 AM Paul came up to relieve me. After a quick briefing I headed down to the sea bunk and then things got bad!  As soon as I wasn't top side and concentrating on something my really tasty chicken dinner from the St Petersburg Yacht Club - only the best will do you know - decided to try to come back up. I kept things under control but now spent the next couple of hours keeping things that way.

St Petersburg Yacht Club. Home of the tasty chicken

  In the mean time Paul was trying to get us to New Orleans.  Several hours later I woke up and I thought how nice and smooth everything was. When I looked out the port hole I was surprised to see land, a record breaking trip across the Gulf?  No,  it turns out we had the chart plotter and radar fail at some point during the night and with the winds on the nose had decided to head back to Tampa Bay and here we were. We went back to the marina in Palmetto rested and cleaned up on Wednesday.

  On Thursday we started sailing up and down the west coast of Florida.  We went south to Venice with its' very pretty little harbor.  We tied up to the Yacht Club there and appreciated the dock side help.  We enjoyed a walk on the beach known as the shark tooth capital of Florida.  I found a very nice one and gave it to Captain Paul as a souvenir.  The next day we motor sailed up the GICW looking at the bridges, houses and wildlife.

Sunset in Venice

Opening for us

ICW Homes

Swing Bridge on the ICW north bound

We had our first encounter with dolphins in the bow wake!

Mom and baby in the bow wave

A mom and baby enjoying a swim with us, one of the things on our life list.  Can't wait to see them again.  For lunch we dropped the hook on the west edge of Sarasota Bay.  Nice views of all the water activity and the City.  Pressing northward we had a great sail across Sarasota Bay, just sailing back and forth.  That night we anchored at Bradenton Beach and after a nice dinner on-board we took the dink over to the City dock and went and found some really good handmade ice cream.

Handmade Ice Cream Bradenton Beach

The next day we decided that we would keep going north.  We had anchored just south of the 684 bridge so as we raised the anchor we called the bridge keeper and asked for the next opening.  He was happy to oblige and got the bridge cleared and then... nothing.  After a few minutes we again heard the buzzer and still nothing.  By this time a pretty good line of cars had built so we called the bridge keeper and said we'd go the other way.  He thanked us profusely and we turned south.  Now how to get out to the Gulf?  Captain Paul recalled he had gotten out through Sarasota Bay so we headed for the New Pass inlet.  As we got close we called the bridge keeper and he confirmed that we could get through with our draft and that as soon as he got the bridge open he would talk us through!  How cool is that?   Always be nice to your bridge keeper!  When we got through the bridge he even talked us through the channel to safe water.  How even cooler is that?  At this point we turned north and had a great sail across the mouth of Tampa Bay and as far north as Clearwater.

Clearwater Beach Stroll

We again docked at the local yacht club and with the help of the great harbor master got all tied up in a very tight slip.  I am beginning to really like bow thrusters.   After another long walk on a great Florida beach we enjoyed the sunset and a local troubadour.

Clearwater Beach Sunset

The next day Jim left us to go back to Kansas City and we sailed south and snuck back in to Sarasota Bay through the New Pass.  We again spent time sailing Sarasota Bay and then took a mooring ball in the city owned mooring field.  After a wonderful dinner ashore we sat in the cockpit for a couple of hours just watching the tableau of the city change as we moved around the mooring ball.  It was exciting and peaceful all at once.  This was one of our favorite nights.

Sarasota from the city mooring field

The next morning we sailed off from the mooring ball and headed across Sarasota Bay again.  While shallow this is a great place to sail.  We motor sailed through the GIWC until we came out in the Manatee River.  We tried getting to lunch on Anna Maria Key but found the restaurant had burned down, darn.  We then sailed up the river and anchored off the De Soto National Monument and enjoyed learning the history of De Soto's landing in Florida as he was looking for the Fountain of Youth.  It was here that we found the Gumbo Limbo Tree.  This is a tree that they call the "Tourist Tree."  As it stands out in the sun turns red and then peels.

Tourist Tree. Gumbo Limbo

While we did not make a Gulf crossing it turned out for the best as we spent the days sailing, navigating the coast, navigating the GICW, picking anchorages, picking up a mooring ball, running the systems on the boat and generally living the "cruising" life.   Paul is a great teacher and we learned a lot.  He is an even more gracious host.  Before we left we met a new broker who showed us a whole bunch of Island Packet boats.  She is new to the industry, very nice and motivated so if you need a broker on the west coast of Florida let us know.

We sadly left the boat and our brief time as "cruisers" and headed over to the east coast of Florida to visit family.