Accepting the Costs

Having made the big move to Florida means that we have now entered the next stage of getting ready for cruising.  With the house rented out for the next few years we can now really focus on finishing the last of the big projects on the boat. As any boat owner well knows, especially one preparing for cruising, the costs can be quite great.  We love our boat, but when we bought it, it needed a lot of help.  I have made it a point to only buy the best I can for the boat which means I am quickly parted with my money (Does that make me a fool??). With the unexpected, but necessary purchase of the new air conditioner for the boat, the expenses are adding up.  I jokingly told Ashley that after adding up how much I thought we had left to spend on the boat that I was having a mild panic attack. It may not have been an all out attack, but it was sure eye opening! Goodness.....  The last of the big expenses is a new dinghy with outboard and an all new electronics package.

The Dinghy.  Any man that has ever owned a dinghy and any woman that has a man who has a dinghy (did you follow that?) knows just how freakin fun dinghies are! Maybe its the speed, maybe its the closeness to the water, maybe its the ability to explore small, tucked away areas or maybe all three, but there is just something about going out for a dinghy ride.  I have spent many days with just our dog and a cooler out exploring away in our dinghy. Not only are they fun, but absolutely essential to a cruiser.  We currently have an old (But stout) Seaworthy 8 foot dinghy with slat floors and a 3.5 outboard. For the past few years, this set up has served us well. Now that we are on the coast, with real weather, real seas and where reliability is essential, it just won't cut it. Having looked at the cost of new Dinghies, I have greatly considered buying used.  After much thought and reading many blogs, I feel used is too risky given the importance of reliability.  I knew we wanted Hypalon,  RIB hull, big enough for Ash, Me and the dog with groceries but small enough to be stored on deck, Light weight, stable in rough seas, dry and a big enough engine to get around quickly and against current. (I know, it's a lot)  After much research, I have settled on a Highfield CL290.  It's Aluminum hull, light weight, 9.5 feet long with large tubes and it only weighs 100 pounds. For an engine, a 9.8 Tohatsu or 9.9 Nissan (Same engine).  From what I have read and been told, these dinghies blow AB and Caribe out of the water and they are cheaper. They come out of Australia and are somewhat new to the US market. Now knowing this is what we need..... Accepting the 6K dollar price tag....Gulp.......  I have discovered a distributor in Cape Canaveral and I plan to pay them a visit in a week when I return home. Anyone need a Used Dingy??

Electronics..... A topic debated by all sailors. The hardcore say they are not needed, the nerdy like to have it all and somewhere there is a middle ground.  I feel that as a Professional Mariner I "Know too much".  For instance, I know how dangerous ships can be, that Asian Container ships will not alter course for any reason, that sailboats don't show up on ship's radars, Mates on ships are overwhelmed with paperwork and look at a computer more than out a window and that ships are fast and quiet and you won't see them or hear them until its too late.  I've also picked the brains of very experienced cruisers, learned the absolute importance of a high quality auto pilot and the dangers of losing it. I've seen the outcome of buying cheap or outdated chart plotters as well as the dangers of relying solely on one. Given all of this, I know we must have a Powerful and reliable autopilot, a modern and update-able chartplotter that can use multiple chart platforms,  Radar as well as Radar reflectors, depth sounder and at minimum a Class B AIS receiver but preferably transponder. Now that I have accepted this, I somehow need to find a way to afford it! I hear kidneys sell quite well these days.... At this moment, our boat has a mid '90s chartplotter, early 80's (and non functioning) autopilot and a broken depth sounder. .....I have a long ways to go...... I have done a great amount of research and all systems seem to have the good and the Bad. There is always those few that have had nothing but trouble as well as those that swear by the same system.  There is always the Factor of human error in either operation or installation and there are just some stupid people.... Ok, maybe lots of stupid people but I give anyone on a sailboat the benefit of a doubt.  Because Sailors are the best there are right?? At this moment I am looking at the Raymarine system with the Type 2 ram and their midline chart plotter. It's an expensive system, but overall gets good marks. I guess there is only one way to really find out.

The good news is that these "Should" be the last of the major purchases.  Down the road there will be a water maker, maybe a wind generator or more solar panels and the typical repairs that pop up. We have to upgrade our battery bank but all of these are minimal when compared to the last two.  I still have to remove our teak decks, but this is really more labor than costs and we plan to do it ourselves.   We plan to Haul out in October to do a lot of bottom work. We are planning our wedding in the Bahamas for July of 2016 so our goal is to have all of these projects (YES ALL) done by around January of 2016. It's a daunting task, but our boat will be ready for cruising at last and we will be able to cast our lines anywhere we please.  In the meantime, I plan to take a lot of dinghy rides with the dog....

-Adam

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another...

As per usual, just before Adam is supposed to go back to work the A/C decides to barely work. We noticed as soon as we got plugged in at the new dock that it was only keeping the boat about 10 degrees cooler than the outside air. In Florida this means it was about 80 degrees in the boat. After much debate about having the unit serviced before Adam went back to work, we decided to put it off and hope I could make it a month before we can just replace the whole darn thing. We knew it would need replacing eventually, we were just hoping for a few more months! Now I have keeping the boat cool down to an art. I set up a ‘tent’ on top of the coach roof to add some extra shade, keep all the curtains closed, keep the door to the head closed (it vents directly to the outside via the anchor locker), let it get as cold as possible overnight and started putting the canvas back over the hatch to help insulate it. This seems to be working pretty well, keeps it about 75 degrees during the hottest part of the day. It’s not an issue for the human, but the two pets (especially the dog) don’t do great in the heat for a long time. This also means that any sort of cooking with propane during the day is out! Handy dandy tiny slow cooker to the rescue! It lets off so little heat that I can actually cook, which now my other option is to wait till 8 pm to cook anything. Ready, set, Go made up recipes for the slow cooker!

There is always something to spend more money on. We were hoping once we got to Florida we would have a few months to recuperate from the move (cash wise), but apparently the boat has other plans. In addition to A/C’s (the one at the house was ALSO vandalized, but that’s another story!), my two best friends are both getting married a week apart from each other in June. I have already purchased airline tickets for myself to attend the first one in Vermont. After finding out about the cash we are about to have to drop on an A/C and that airfare just sky rocketed I’m going to have to skip the second wedding. In addition we have no pet sitters in the new city so we could not go together. I’m just hoping that I won’t offend anybody by missing out on her wedding.  The kicker is that the wedding I’m missing is my childhood best friend, who is having the wedding at her parents’ house, which is just down the street from my parents. So my parents were also hoping to see me then. Either way we pretty much figured Adam would not be able to come with me, so there was the added downer of being away from Adam for two weekends in a row, if I was able to go.

I am not a planner, I leave that to Adam. Thinking beyond the next week and possibly even the next month gives me a headache. BUT we have finally started to plan our wedding! I want a VERY small wedding with minimal pomp and circumstance. This means I have to go dress shopping (arggg!). I will definitely need help in this endeavor, so in lieu of going home for my best friend’s wedding I am trying to find another weekend to head north so I can recruit my step mom to go dress shopping with me. I do not like to spend money, especially on arbitrary things (like clothes) so I am very hesitant about this whole process. Let the planning begin! (grumble grumble grumble).

I still have no job, which I really don’t mind, except for the lack of funds. I had one interview so far, but the job sounded so dismal that Adam and I decided it was not worth it. So, I have been spending my days running with the dog, reorganizing the interior of the boat, and visiting the local beach. I have to say it has been pretty darn amazing! Cocoa Beach is beautiful. It is far less crowded than I expected. It is also the largest nesting area for loggerhead sea turtles in this hemisphere (and possibly the world)! I like to go down and walk along the beach for miles. I often see a lot of people surfing, which looks pretty darn fun, thinking I’d like to try that eventually. There is something very restorative about a mostly empty beach. 

The smell of salt in in the air

As Ashley has mentioned, we did it, we finally freakin' did it!! The ol' girl is back in the Salt Water and life is good. It seemed not all that long ago when we said to ourselves, in two-three years, maybe, just maybe we will be able to move the boat to the coast, and now here it is.  I just hope the next few years go by just as fast to when we can finally cast off the lines and head South for good. Go explore all the islands, anchorages and sights that we read about so often in other blogs.  I suppose, that this is all just part of the Journey and as any sailor knows, it isn't about the destination, but the adventure getting to the destination.  The next few years will be exciting and we will be able to explore the coast of Florida and eventually the Bahamas.   I have slowly grown to really appreciate the fact that we have been able to do this so far at such a relatively young age.  At our new home, we are by far the youngest of the 120 some liveaboards and not just by a few years, but at least 20. Most all are retired and finally living out their dreams so for us to do so in our early thirties is truly a gift I appreciate.  It hasn't been easy, but we set our minds to it and never looked back

Getting prepared for our move took vast amounts of planning and the help of a lot of good friends.  I traded a car hauler trailer I had for an enclosed trailer.  The plan was to use the trailer to haul all of our goodies we stripped off the boat for shipping and then it could be used as a portable storage unit in Florida. It is packed full of tools and boat parts as well as our bicycles. So far it was worked out great and when needed, we will just sell it.

On Lake Murray, our sail club is the only place that has a Gin pole for raising / lowering masts.  This Gin pole consists of a telephone pole approximately 50 feet high with blocks on top to winch up or down a mast.  This works great as long as you have an army of very willing people to help lower the mast then carry it to a good resting spot. It's a very precarious operation and usually several cold beverages are needed to calm the boat owner's nerves and to bribe the people helping.  As many like to brag, hundreds of masts have been raised and lowered (Typically while drinking) and no limbs or boats have been lost yet.   The great People of Windward Point Yacht Club were very helpful in lowering our huge mast and I cannot thank them enough.  The kindness of fellow sailors never ceases to amaze me.

I took the time while the mast was down to do some work to it. I ran new wires for the lights, installed new spreader lights. Replaced the blocks and ran new halyards and did a few other small projects.  Our cockpit enclosure was finally finished the day before we left and we packed up the whole show into the trailer.  We spent the last week in town saying goodbye to many dear friends many of whom I've known for most of my life. All were glad to see us off on this adventure, but they will certainly be missed.

On Monday morning, Ashley and I cast off the lines for the last time at WPYC. It was a beautiful crisp morning as we motored our way an hour up the lake to the marina where the truck was meeting us.  A few of our friends and my father drove up to see the operation. It took about 3 hours to finally load the boat onto the trailer, but it went smooth and Paul from Tritan Yachts was fantastic as usual.  From there we had lunch with my father and we left to head south for 7 hours to our hotel in Cocoa Beach.  A flat tire at the very start slowed the show, but we quickly got it changed and got on the road.  It was  a hurried time and busy, but we were finally off, it was really happening.

The trailer loaded up and ready to go.

Mom and Dad coming to see us off.

Alex and Drew, friends from WPYC seeing the boat get loaded.

All ready to go.

The mast coming down. Scary.

Sailors Exchange- 'cause we all need more stuff

It seems no matter how organized we think we are there is always another random pile of stuff that is in the wrong place (or more commonly, has no place). We keep finding items that have no real home on the boat, like dog shampoo. I need to be able to find it, but it doesn’t need to sit out all the time. As I write this Adam is making a valiant effort to organize some of the mysterious items found in the quarter berth.  I guess that is part of having two people and two pets on a 33’ boat.

We have been taking our laundry to Let’s Talk Dirty in Cocoa Beach and then making laundry day also beach day. If you haven’t used a laundry service before, don’t! You can’t ever go back! They wash and fold and organize all of your laundry so nice and neat. Wow. Laundry day now is awesome.

I am still searching for a job, although the prospect of having to leave my family to go to work is not exciting. I have a few options as of now, but nothing too promising at this point. Adam is hoping I find a job less stressful than my last one, partly so I don’t drive him nuts too!

We drove up to St. Augustine last week to visit the much anticipated Sailors Exchange. We were looking for a few specific items with the understanding that we would probably find a whole bunch of things we needed. After a few wrong turns we found the legendary Sailors Exchange. They have a whole lot of stuff! If you are looking for something specific it would be good to call and see if they have it in advance.  Also, make sure you have correct measurements for everything and anything you might want to buy. It was about a two hour drive for us and we weren’t sure what we would find. We ended up buying a new light fixture, 8’ stainless pipe, anchor swivels, and they gave us a sample of dyneema line to try as new life lines.  I can’t even begin to list everything they have. I can tell you they did not have any self tailing winches or parts to one (no surprise there!). We also stopped and got lunch and walked around a bit while we were up there. It was a beautiful spot, looks pretty tourist-y but we plan to take the boat up there for a weekend at some point.

Florida!

We have finally made it down to Florida! This is a bit late, we arrived on April 28^th and are now starting to get settled in. We have already seen an alligator and dolphins just off the boat! It feels like we have been on vacation since we got here

The new place is pretty nice, relaxed enough that we can do work on the boat while we are here. It seems that all of our new neighbors are retired.  For the time being I guess I fit into that as well. I left my job so we could move down here, so until I find a new one I am off! Adam can still work his current job from here, just a slightly longer drive to the airport.

It seems like just about everyone we have met is planning to take off in the near future. We will have to get used to that now that we are on the ocean. There are a lot more live aboards at this marina and it seems pretty much everyone is retired!

Morgan, our dog, has a hard time with new people and she is very protective of us. We have made a huge effort to make her more comfortable here with all the new people. She is getting tons of treats and we have even had some of the people give her some treats. She is doing much better here than she was before. Johnny, the cat, is a rock star as usual. He has lived all over the country and is pretty stoic about the whole situation. They both had to

hang out in the car for about two days, one for the loading of the boat and drive and the second day while we were working on the boat and putting it back in the water. They both seem pretty happy here and very calm. We can fit in this slip bow in, which makes it much quieter in the boat and muffles any noise from the dock.

Going back to before we moved, we had a successful trip all around the country. We visited my parents in CT, friends in MA and VT and then to my cousins cattle ranch in WY and SD. We drove from South Carolina to Connecticut with both pets and then left them with my parents and did the rest of our traveling while they hung out in CT. By the time we got back from that it was time for Adam to head back to work.  Adam bought me a sewing machine, so for the month he was gone I learned how to sew and made some curtains for the boat. The previous owner had some plastic place mats cut up to the shape of the port lights for curtains. We purchased some fabric and light blocking material and I sewed them into 8 curtains. We had debated about how to attach them, we ended up using snap fasteners to put them up.  They work great (although are far from perfect!) and if I decide to make more later on we can use the same snap to put up a new panel.

By the time Adam came back from work we had about a week to get ready before the boat was shipped. We wanted to try to pull the mast down the first weekend he was home, so we could have a week to run new wires and lines. I was very relieved when we got the mast down, if you have ever taken a mast down with a gin pole, you can understand the relief when it is down and everyone still has all their limbs and digits. Thankfully we had a bunch of help to lower it down. We spent the next week saying goodbye to everyone and slowly disassembling the boat.

Well this was kind of a cyclical entry, but now you are pretty much up to date. Now to explore Florida!

Cheers!

Renting out Houses and trying not to Panic

Hello Folks! Sorry for the lengthy delay in entries. Alas, this seems to be a problem that plagues all Bloggers.  Seems like anytime you actually have time to sit down and write, all you want to do is veg and enjoy a cold drink.  Well, At work I'm not allowed to drink so it's where I get most of my entries done. It also helps that I spend a majority of my time looking out a window cursing the existence of Sea Gulls whom I despise. Dirty flying rats.... Grumble Grumble.....  This time is great for making Blog entries and also allowing time for me to contemplate all of the upcoming projects that we must do causing me much anxiety.   Too much time to think can be bad for anyone. Too much time to think and Google at your fingertips can be especially bad! Ashley has started putting restrictions on my internet use mainly to protect my sanity!  

Reading Moitessier's Blog has led to a great amount of panic concerning Chain Plates in our beloved HC.  On the HC33 the chain plates are encapsulated so there is no way to actually inspect them without cutting a hole in the boat. A process which makes all boat owners queasy. Lucky for us, there is a sailor at our Marina that owns a portable X-ray business who said he would x-ray our boat for us!! We haven't discussed price, but I think good bottle of scotch will do it for him.  I just have to get a hold of him and set up a time which is proving to be more than difficult with the limited amount of time we have left before moving South.  

Speaking of moving South, it's quickly approaching! April 27th the truck arrives. Holy Moly. I know that sounds Months away, but a whole month and a half of that I will be at work and two weeks of that is our grand tour of the US visiting Ashley's Family. ( CT, VT, MA, CO and SD)  This whole past month at home, We both busted our butts getting our house ready to rent. Why on earth is the nicest your house will ever be is when you are fixing it up for other people??  At the end of four weeks we still weren't done and Ashley has been spending every afternoon after work and her weekends finishing up!  We hope to have it ready to go on the Market to rent next week. FINALLY!!!  Once that's done, it crazy time stripping the deck and getting ready for the truck.   But it's almost here!! We are heading back to the Salt!! I cannot express how happy this makes me!!  It's a major step towards being anchored in the Islands!! 

As for the boat. Our new Bimini and dodger are almost done!! It's been a long project since we had none to begin with and it's all custom made. The guy doing it is amazing but I keep having to remind him that we are moving 7 hours South soon.  When he is done, we will have a fully enclosed cockpit! SWEET!!  Also, the boat knowing I was out of town decided to blow an element in the Hot water heater blowing the dock breaker (Reverse Polarity)  Not a huge deal since Ash can heat the water with the engine, but still something to work on when I return home.  

Cool Picture Ash Took with Morgan

Kitty in the Cockpit!!

Morgan Hanging out Outside

Sorry for all the Dog Pictures!! Morgan with her Light on.

Surprised Ashley with A Christmas tree!! I Love Christmas.

Morgan's New Stylish Raincoat. She Actually Likes it!! She hates the rain.

BVI Charter

Our BVI Charter on a 34' Beneateau
May 14
We flew into St. Thom and took the ferry over to Tortola from there. We met up with Adam's friend Megan and her boyfriend Drew on St Thom. We visited some local bar spots (Tickles and Betsy's Bar) for some drinks.  Megan has a beautiful view and they are growing pineapples. I love growing things to eat so this intrigues me!
May 15
Took the ferry to Tortola. It was about an hour and pretty choppy due to a rain storm. Went through customs and then took a taxi to Conch Charters. It was possibly the shortest taxi ride ever!  Dropped our bags off and got lunch at a little place right near the charter dock. Then walked to the grocery store, if we would have known, we probably would have taken a taxi to the grocery store instead of to Conch Charters. We bought a lot of groceries, then took a cab back to the boat. We were able to get on the boat and unpack. Two groups gave us their left over food and drink from their charter. We we able to meet up with an old college friend of mine in the evening. He is a reporter on Tortola and seems to know everyone!

May 16
We got up early and waited on our check out. Checked out with our boat guy and headed for the Indians. Did some snorkeling at the Indians then went to night mooring at Willy T's. We went snorkeling at the caves and of course had to visit the famous floating bar, Willy T's. It was as advertised and most (if not all) of the clientele where 3 sheets to the wind!
May 17
Sailed to Salt Island and the Wreck of the Rhone, didn't see a whole lot of fish at this site, but the sunken boat was pretty cool. We tried to go ashore on Salt Island, but couldn't find a good spot to beach the dinghy. Only when we decided to head for Cooper Island did we see the beach and dock area, apparently we had headed the wrong way around the island. We picked up a mooring ball at
Manchioneel Bay. The water was crystal clear with sand and sea grass on the bottom. We saw a sea turtle and large barracuda that liked to hang out under the boat. We went to beach and had a drink and did some regular old swimming. We came back did some grilling for dinner with a beautiful sunset behind us.Put up hammock and called it an early night.

May 18
Snorkeled on Cistern Point and then around boat mooring, saw another sea turtle (!!) and barracuda under boat. Sailed to the Baths and hiked to Devils Bay. The Baths are a place you have to visit at least once. Definitely make the effort to go to Devils Bay. Make sure you bring your amphibious footwear for the hike! It is as ideal a Caribbean scene as you could ask for! Then we sailed to Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor. Got a slip for the night. We walked around the area a little only to discover that the only bar was the beach front bar. I think we both agree if we had to do it differently we would not have stayed at the marina. It was very calm and still in the marina, which meant no wind to cool it down, it was a warm night! We were able to refill fuel, water and food stores while we were here.

May 19
We checked out of the Marina and headed toward North Gorda Sound. The wind was blowing pretty good so we had a very fast sail! We discovered the Beneateau was not as good under strong wind as we were used to! We caught a mooring ball and then enjoyed a very empty beach. We grilled dinner on the boat and then headed to Saba Rock for the famous Pain Killers. When we came back to the boat it was pitch black and our boat was a bit farther away than normal. That was a bit stressful for me! Thankfully Adam navigated us back to the boat with no problem.

May 20
Crazy rain and wind overnight. Need to dry everything out today. We made a long downwind sail to Muskmelon Bay, which turned out to be an empty mooring field (and free!). We snorkeled around the boat a little and made an attempt to take the dinghy to Monkey point, but quickly realized our dinghy was not up to that challenge. Settled in and cooked some dinner and relaxed in the hammock.

May 21
Went to Monkey Point and snorkeled, probably the best yet. The National Park moorings fill up quick at this site, it worked out well for us that we had stayed just around the bend overnight. We then sailed to Cane Garden Bay. Another day with plenty of wind, even had the boat leaning over (which of course tossed all of our belongings everywhere!) . There was A LOT of wind in the bay, which thankfully did not effect us grabbing a mooring ball, but we watched plenty of others struggling! It calmed down in the evening. We went to the beach bars Tonys and.. another one which the name escapes me. We grilled dinner on the boat. We were next to two boats from Switzerland . We met up with my friend Jason, again,  for drinks at Quitos

May 22
Left Cane Garden Bay and had a short down wind sail to Sandy Cay where we picked up a NP mooring. We took the dinghy to shore and beached it. Walked on beach and then walked path around the whole island. We saw lots of birds, lizards and really interesting trees. Beautiful views all along. Then we headed to bubbly pool mooring. We went to dinghy dock by Foxy's Taboo and walked to bubbly pool. It was a beautiful hike, we saw lots of signs warning of poisonous trees. This would be the Manchioneel tree, which we were aware of, but we read up on more when we returned to internet.  Bubby pool was very pretty and was fun when the waves would push up through the rocks. It started to rain storm so we headed back. We had drinks at Foxy's bar and met Sandy and Ray who are cruisers on their Beneateau.We talked to them for a long time and eventually headed to the boat to fix some food.

May23
Sailed to White Bay and waited around for a mooring but none were available. After a little while of weighing our options we went to Great Bay and moored there. Took the dinghy to White Bay and got lunch at Soggy Dollar Bar.  We then set up and relaxed in front of Ivans. Met a couple from Charleston who helped us launch our dinghy(we found out later is was full of water- making it far heavier than it should have been). Went to Foxy's (the original one!) looked around and then went to dinner at Ali Babas, Adam had Anagada lobster and said it was worth the extra effort (and $$) to try it!

May 24
Left Great Bay and motor sailed to Peter Island Great Harbor. All the mooring balls had life jackets on them. We picked up a ball and went in and paid later we found out they were reserved for MIT boats. We hid the life jacket and were able to stay. The longer we were there the more MIT boats kept coming in! In the end there had to be about 30 of them! It appeared to be their first night, they had all the extras on their boats- kayaks, paddle boards, and all sorts of floats. Adam made sangria (yum!). We did some snorkeling and saw our first ray. The snorkeling in this bay was surprisingly good! We saw so much here it was overwhelming!
May 25
Motored to Road Town. It was very choppy and busy because of a poker run. Went back met a couple who owned restaurants in Baltimore. Gave them our left overs. We packed up and took a cab to the ferry. Once in our hotel in St. Thomas, we walked down to the Green Room (the only place open on a Sunday!) and had some food and drinks. We hung out at the hotel pool and relaxed for most of the evening. We eventually got hungry and ordered a delivery pizza for dinner. Seemed out of place for the islands, but we didn't feel like paying a lot or venturing out again.
May 26
Our very last day! So sad. We got up had breakfast at hotel. During breakfast we met women from Ohio and Oregon, one of which was there to do a group charter. We then met up with Megan and Drew for lunch at Gringos. After lunch they were nice enough to deliver us back to the airport for our trip home.

We barely made it back due to some issues with our flights, but we did eventually make it home! It was sad to leave, but good to be back home with our dog and cat (Morgan and Johnny). The idea is that next time we go it will be on our boat and they will come too!