Cruising to the New Year

December 31, 2015

Today we finally got a weather report from Chris Parker telling us that winds may be more favorable to cross the Gulf Stream.

So time has come to leave Coconut Grove Sailing Club. These have been incredible folks who opened their arms to us since  December 5.

Let me tell you about that day. We left the boat at Another marina and rented a car and drove to the sailing club since we could not get anyone to answer the phone.  Jerry parked the car and sauntered in to find someone to talk to. He immediately met Lauren the general manager who said no mooring balls were available.  You guys know  Jerry so he persisted telling her that he was surgery and needed to be in a secure place. Well she called for dock master and voila we had a mooring ball.

Hmm angels working again! We have grown to love them and promise to be back.

The  Orange Bowl Regatta is going on now so we have had privilege to see accomplished kids sailing their hearts out.

The best part of cruising is the people you meet and the friends you make. We met a lovely couple who cruised the Carribean. She just happens to be an artist. The card is her Bon voyage gift. It will be framed Becca!

We will be leaving from an island just off Biscayne Bay called No  Name harbor for an early start to arrive to the Bahama Bank in daylight.

we imagine it will be crowded but at least we will see the Miami fireworks.
Happy New Year!

Next post hoping to be some pics of crossing and our new Adventure.

Sally

December 25, 2015



I wasn't going to send anything out till we started to cross the gulf stream but too many people are asking.

Sally and I drove to the doctor's office two days early to locate it and be ready for traffic & parking.  I also wanted to give the nurse that arranged our appointment a box of chocolates and it turned out Forest was right, you never know what you are going to get when you give chocolates.  The doctor wanted to meet the man that bribed with chocolates and called us back to his office.  After about 5 minutes of casual conversation he said, I'm not all that  busy now why don't we operate now since you are here.  He cut the tissue out and we were back on the boat in about 30 minutes.  Totally unexpected!  The next day I stopped at a 7 -11 for gas and when I came back to the car, Sally was crying like she had been shot, when asked what was wrong she said the nurse called and said the tissue was clear of cancer and could we come in right away to be stitched up and that's why she was crying.  The doctor is leaving for Guatemala for two months so I will remove the stitches, take a picture and send to him.  

We missed our window the stream has 8 to 10 waves so we are hunkered down in paradise once again, may be able to leave Christmas but not sure yet.

this is for you Mary Gregg. my first official post. Coconut Grove has been outstanding but it is time to move on.
we listened carefully to Chris Parker this morning. We are hoping for a crossing on Wednesday night or Thursday really early!
i promise to do my best to keep up the postings. Since the fun is about to begin.
Sally

December 14, 2015




and here we sits!   Today Tammy & Bruce sailed off into the gulf stream and have crossed into the Bahamas Bank only to push on east.  We, however, must sit here during the ideal crossing weather until I can be cut up again on Thursday.  Then we may be able to tell when we can leave.  I was not going to write anything until after the procedure but my brother came looking for me today (by email) so I figured I'd better let people know.

We are in Coconut Grove Sailing Club mooring field which is about as close as we can get to the doctors without putting wheels on the boat, so we rented a car.  This undoubtedly the prettiest, friendliest and most convenient mooring field/marina/yacht club we have been in.  Coconut Grove is an ultra rich neighborhood with landscaped walks, plenty of greenery and quaint little shops, nothing like Miami.  Not only is Neman Marcus here but  Aston Martin/Jaguar, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, and Lotus dealerships right up the street.  I could not even look in the window, much less parking next to one.
There were no mooring balls available when we got here but they checked with a guy who was having his boat worked on and rented us his mooring.  (chocolate always works if the mgr is female).    The pictures are of Miami at night, sunrise in the mooring field, and a rainbow showing the sailing club is a pot of gold!   Y'all please check the spot out in satellite mode and zoom in the see where we sit in the mooring field to give you an idea what we are experiencing.

Hanging on the mooring ball in Ft Myers!

November25, 2015


We are still hanging on the mooring ball, literally hanging on.  The wind has been blowing over 20 knots with waves in the gulf 4 to 10 ft. since the day after we got here.  The last trip cured my masochism so we didn't even think about it.  We have gotten a little work done, a lot of rest and more sleep than we need.  We will probably leave here Friday  morning,weather dependent, to catch up with David & Mary Lucas in Marco Island for overnight and then on to Shark River for overnight then to Islamarado.  David & Mary are going to Marathon from Shark R. so we will stop playing leap frog with them.  Tammy & Bruce will continue on with us up to Biscayne Bay where I will get cut on again before heading to the Bahamas.  Sally has become my pseudo mom and called every doctors office in south Florida to get me the best Dr and appt to fit our schedule, not theirs.

I am still having fits with this computer and will try again to send a pic of tonights moon but don't think it will work.

any how, y'all have a great holiday.  Sally baked a pecan pie with my brothers pecans (looks delicious but she won't let me sample it).  Tammy is cooking a turkey (hope it isn't  Bruce) and we will share Thanksgiving on one or the other boats.

November 17, 2015

this is just to let y'all know we are about to move again.  the plan is to meander down the icw towards ft meyers beach to meet up with the David & Mary Lucas in two or three days.

Spot has corrected some of it problems and will be on when we move,

However, I still have computer glitches and don't know when I can send any pics & stuff but will as soon as I can.

November 9, 2015

We tied up along the North T-wall as usual, but this time I insisted on turning around so we are heading out and took the end of the dock.  Every time we have been here and start to leave, the wind and tide pick up and we are in the middle of a bunch of million dollar yachts trying to turn around in a 60' wide canal while the wind is trying to blow us into the big money.  I just knew every slip would be filled by nightfall but the old saying, if you are prepared for it, it just won't happen came true again.  We were the only transient on the dock.

It rained Sat afternoon, night, Sunday and I mean rain.  The wind got up to 28 kts after midnight and I had to get out in the rain and add fenders and retie the boat twice.  Sunday afternoon it became patchy rain so I was able to get the wifi project going.  Just as I was stepping into the bosun chair two cruising friends from Muskogee, OK walked up to see how we were doing.  They had been to Apalachicola staging vehicles for their trip from Panama City and then cross to Clearwater, FL.  We had not seen them in a couple of years and they sold their sailboat and went to the dark side with a Gulfstar 44 trawler.  Good visit and lunch but it cost me a couple of hours and I ended up working in a cold windy mist. 

We plan to leave St. Joe Tues. morning motoring the ICW to Apalatchicola to ready for a Wed jump across the gulf.  The pics were taken with Ifone from the spreaders on the mizzen mast.

Destin is a gorgeous little anchorage, usually well protected tho the grounded boats will probably argue!  The north side is lined with restaurants and bars but quiets down around 1700 but probably not on week-ends, the rest is lined with houses and high rise condos.  The several times I went up to check on  the other boats, there wasn't a ripple in the water and all the neon signs from the bars were reflecting color mixtures that were just boggling.  There are a few liveaboards we recognized from our last stay but about 6 transients were anchored when we arrived. 

We were underway by 0600 and followed the sportsfishermen out for another day of .rocking & rolling into the east wind.  Fog set in once we cleared the jetties and i had to power up the radar, it was just a security blanket here since not a ship channel, and it lifted around 0800.  We decided to bypass Panama City, one our favorite stops, cause we are meeting the owner of Island Time PC, who is bringing us a replacement unit to boost our wifi in marinas.  We came through the entrance to St Joe bay around 1800 turned right and dropped anchor at 1830 on the wrong side of the bay in a easterly wind, but we are worn to a frazzle.

Easting on Encore! We've done this before!

November 6,2005


We got up early after a smooth anchorage night and headed out just as the sun was coming up thru the clouds.  A bunch of dolphins were having breakfast but none were playful so didn't have any shots.  A pretty little red mainship was catching baitfish before going out for a day of fishing off shore.  He cut inside of our track and beat us out to deepwater.  We turned east to a headwind from 10 to 20 knots and waves from 2 to 4 ft. despite the promised 1 to 1.5 ft, made me sorta queasy.  Sally will save tons of money cause I got my fill of hobby horsing and won't ask for quarters at wal-mart to ride the little horse out front any more.  We tucked into Destin harbor early to get out of the waves and spend the night at anchor in the little harbor.  There are 5 sailboats and a powerboat beached from a not too distant storm, ominous sign indeed. 

November 5, 2015

This is a new operating system and has many kinks, so bare with me.
I spent last night on the boat trying to get as many last minute tasks completed as I could before liftoff.  I awoke at 5:30 and tried to complete a few more before Sally brought breakfast from Hardees.  She got to the boat at the same time Bob Riggs came down to bring a repair part  from  Pensacola at 0700.  Buck Monroe came by to help untie the lines and send us off at 1020, so much for the real early start.  We entered a glass smooth bay and had to motor all the way to the ICW.  Saw a lot of dolphins and butterflies, both good omens for me but can't figure out why butterflies are in the middle of the bay.  Once we got in the ditch, we looked back to see and eagle looking back from a dead tree.  When we got past Ono Island we could see the smoke trails from airplanes practicing for this weekends big show with the Blues, look close over the condos on the left and you can see two airplanes.  We couldn't see the sunset but saw some fantastic scenes of the sun playing peek-a-boo in the clouds.  As we headed towards Perdido Bridge I could see a red triangle in the distance and could not make out what it was, but it was in the channel and the same height as the markers, turned out to be a cute little sailboat with two kids loving life to the fullest.  Just as the sun set a couple of old stearman ww2 trainers came over headed to the show.  I don't know how this system will do so I am splitting up the pictures into two groups with a following email.