Update 12/21/08 - Let it snow!

Update 12/21/08 - Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!


What are we doing here? We've asked ourselves that a few times since we came to our home in Maine two weeks ago, since then we've had the coldest day of the year so far, an ice storm that took out our power for 22 hours, two snow storms, the last one yesterday dropped about 4 inches of snow. Today we have a third storm going which is expected to last most of the night and drop 10 to 18 inches more on us! Included is a picture of the house after yesterday's storm.

The answer to what we are doing here is to visit friends and family which is going quite well. we've spent time with both Bill and Steve, made a trip to Cape Cod to visit my mother and brother and have spent several evenings with friends and neighbors. We've also had time for a few shopping trips and to decorate
the house.

Since my last update, we spent another month or so in Hilton Head and then worked our way south through Georgia to Jacksonville, where we left Sun Cat to have her bottom painted.

At Hilton Head, we walked, biked and enjoyed the pool until it got too cold to go swimming. We then concentrated on walking and biking and took a number of long beach walks. We also did some boat projects and went out with Pat & Pat from Salty Dawg a couple of times.

In late October, we traveled back to New England for a week where we spent a few days visiting friends and family in Maine. I also finished winterizing Trader and got her covered for the winter. We then went down to Cape Cod where we celebrated my Mother's 90th birthday. The celebration was a nice party attended by Mom, Ron & Brenda, my sister Sue and Jean and I.

When we returned to Hilton Head, we took a day and visited Tybee Island where we toured Fort Pulaski. This fort controls the entrance to the Savannah river and was captured by Union forces during the civil war. The fort is notable because it was the first use of the new rifled cannon against a masonry fort with the result being that masonry forts were obsolete.

On the first weekend of November we attended the Hilton Head Concours de Elegance, an annual event featuring most older classic cars and race cars. We attended the Saturday event which included a drive in rally by many car clubs and an auction of mostly classic cars. It was great to see all of the older cars, especially those from the 50’s 60’s. Pictures of some of the classics are included with this update.

Early in November, we left the marina for the first time since may, We traveled out to the anchorage at Bull Creek where we met up with George and Marion on Time Out. We had not seen them since May and it was great to catch up. We were joined for the afternoon by Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg who had dinghied out to the anchorage. They had a rather rough trip back but made it before dark. we spent the night rafted with Time out and then returned to Hilton Head while they headed on to Georgia and a tour of the St John river in Florida.

On our way back into the Marina at Hilton Head I decided it would be a good idea to run up the engines to give them a test. I discovered that neither engine would get close to its full RPM, confirming my suspicions that the props had been badly fouled during the long period of inactivity. The result was that we hired a diver to clean the props and bottom. The diver indicated we had over 2” of muscles and other growth on the props. No wonder we couldn’t get any speed!

For the next couple of weeks we continued walking and biking around Hilton Head. This included a long bike ride sown the beach which was something we had never done before. We also spent a day playing tourist in Savannah with the crew of Salty Dawg. What a nice town Savannah is to visit. I’ve added some pictures of savannah to this update as well.

The time had come to leave Hilton Head as we had reached 179 days. If we stayed 180 we might be liable for South Carolina property taxes. So we left and headed for Georgia where our first stop was Skid away Island .

The purpose of our stop at Skidaway Island was to visit with Bruce & Jean elder, a looper couple who we met at the rendezvous in Penetang. Unknown to them they had had some influence on our choice of boats for the loop as we had really liked the layout of their boat. we also wanted to see Skidaway island. We stayed at the island for two days and had a very nice visit with them. We had a personal tour of the entire island by Bruce, breakfast & dinner at one of the country clubs and a good walk along the shore bike path. We also got a look at Bruce's classic cars.

The next day we went to Walberg creek where we anchored with several other boats. We then went to the anchorage at Wahoo creek which is one of our favorite anchorages in Georgia. We were joined there by Lamb Chop who had been working their way down from the Chesapeake for the past month. It was great to see Tim and Jan again! We would cruise together from there to Jacksonville.

After Wahoo we traveled to the Frederica River where we anchored off of the fort as we had done in May. We were disappointed to find that the dinghy dock was under repair and there was no way to get ashore. We spent a nice evening there and part of the next day and then moved down to Golden Isles where we anchored near the marina for the night. The next morning we went up to Brunswick to purchase fuel at a low price and then traveled to Jekyll Island where we went into the marina for the day, arriving before noon. We took the courtesy car and went to the store and then did a driving tour of the island. this included a stop at the Horton House, which was built in the early 1700's and was the original plantation on the island. A picture of the Horton House is also included with this update.

The next morning we borrowed the courtesy bikes and rode to the Jekyll Island club for breakfast. It was wonderful buffet in very pretty surroundings. when we finished we were walking around the club when the bell captain offered us a tour of the Presidential Suite., so up we went to the fourth floor. As expected, the suite was very elegant. it also included the cupola which provided a panoramic view of the ICW and surrounding marshes. We then biked over to the beach and rode the bikes several miles down the beach before returning to the marina.

Our next stop was St Mary's, GA where we anchored with around 70 other boats for the Thanksgiving events in St Mary's., arriving on Tuesday night and leaving the next Monday. while there, we attended several happy hours with other cruisers, we also walked around town quite a bit. Its a pretty town with a number of old southern houses. On Thanksgiving Day, we attended dinner with about 200 other cruisers and some locals. The way it works is the local community provides turkeys and hams and the cruisers provide the fixings, side dishes and deserts. On Friday they had a nautical swap. Lamb Chop was able to purchase a big Delta Anchor very reasonably. That Sunday night we got some very bad news that one of our cruising friends had died in her sleep the night before while at anchor. It was certainly sobering news. Our thoughts are with her family.

We left St Mary’s the following morning and traveled to the marina at Fernandina Beach, Fl. The wind and current were quite strong which made docking an adventure. at Fernandina we were joined by Larry and Sue on Sue Sea Q, John and Pat on Gypsy Time and Ron and Janice on OB Too. Tom & jerry Claire from Sea Knight live there and they were able to join us also. Tom took us around shopping and then we had a good happy hour on Suzy Sea Q and all went our for Pizza. We hadn’t done that for a long time.


The following morning we left with Lamb Chop and Suzy Sea Q and went to Jacksonville. We had timed the tide right and got a great push up the river, picking up 3-4 knots as we went. We tied up the boats at Jacksonville Landing which is a free dock right in downtown Jacksonville. The Landing has shops and restaurants and in a lot of ways is similar to Waterside in Norfolk. They had a 60 artificial Christmas tree at the Landing with over 87,000 lights and every evening we were treated to a light show as well as various performances, mostly by school groups. We attended one by a middle school jazz band that was especially good.



We wound up spending 3 days in Jacksonville. One of our adventures was a trip on the monorail to the south side of the river. There we visited the maritime museum and the science museum and took in a show at the planetarium. We also sampled the fare at the River City Brewing Company. One evening there was an art show downtown. apparently they hold this once a month. They way it works is they open a number of buildings and various artists display their work. They also serve free wine and soft drinks in a number of the locations. It gave us an opportunity to tour some of the facilities in downtown Jacksonville that we might not have gotten into otherwise and made for an interesting evening overall.

On Friday, Lamb Chop headed downriver again to visit St Augustine and we traveled about 5 miles further up the river to Lamb’s Marina where Sun Cat would stay while we went to Maine for Christmas. We were greeted by Pat on Salty Dawg and Phil and Alice on Wonderland and wound up going out to dinner with them and Pat & Clyde on Momacita.

The next morning we were surprised to receive an email from Joan on Christine that they were headed up to Jacksonville to see us before we left. We quickly finished our packing and boat projects and they arrived around mid-day. We visited with them and Pat for a while and then we all took a trip to the used book store before having an early dinner at Tom & Betty’s, a local restaurant with good food and low prices.

The next morning, Pat was kind enough to arise at 0500 and take us to the airport for our trip home which was fortunately uneventful. Thank you Pat!

I started this update with our Maine activities. The next update should come out in early January. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous new year.

Steve & Jean
Relearning how to shovel snow!

Update 10/10/08 - visiting The Villages and Hilton Head

Update 10/10/08


A more timely hello to all!

This is the third of three updates I’ve posted this weekend. Hopefully I can keep things more up to date from here on out. In this issue you may learn what a “chucker” is. Our first week at Hilton Head went by all too fast. We did a fair amount of cleaning on the boat and some basic shopping to reprovision the boat. In addition, we made good use of the pool and took two long walks down the beach to Coligny Circle where we had lunch and walked back. We also had a nice evening with Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg who are staying in another marina on Hilton Head. Its interesting the comparison of Hilton Head now versus when we were here in July. In July, the place was jumping but now there are a lot fewer people around and the weather is great. We heard that in addition to the usual seasonal factors part of the issue is the weather forecasting. When there is a hurricane offshore, the weather channel (and others) says that a hurricane is threatening “the Carolina’s”. However, the forecast is really calling for a hit on the North Carolina shore with the storm staying well away from Hilton Head. Regardless, lots of people hear this and cancel their reservations here. This area actually hasn’t had a hurricane in over 100 years. Part of the reason is that the gulf stream is well off shore here whereas it is very close to the southern North Carolina coast.

We decided that since we had time we would take a car trip and visit friends in Florida. Our first stop was the Villages where we visited Paul and Susan from Sweet Dreams. The Villages were one of the areas of Florida we wanted to see and it proved to be quite interesting. We learned to play “pickle ball” and played it all three days we were there. Pickle Ball is a game somewhat like tennis except its played on a smaller court (see picture), with a paddle that looks like a ping pong paddle but smoother and slightly larger, and a whiffle ball. I kept expecting the ball to bounce higher but it didn’t! In any event it was fun and good exercise. In case you are wondering, the game originated in Seattle and is named for someone’s dog!

We also took a tour of the Villages, attended a pot luck and went to a happy hour. The happy hour almost rivaled Sparky’s in Marathon with all you can eat wings, $5 pitchers of beer, good music and good company.

On Saturday, we also attended a polo match - a first for Jean and I (and most of the people we were with). We took the golf carts to the polo field. Golf carts are the preferred method travel in the Villages as there are cart paths to go everywhere. At the field, we set up for a tailgate party and waited for the match to start.
Up until now, if you asked me what a chucker was, I would have thought it had something to do with throwing something as a part of a game. However, a chucker is the equivelent of a period in hockey with a match consisting of six, ten minute chuckers with an extended half between the third and fourth chucker.
A team consists of 4 riders who might use up to eight different horses in the course of a match. The field is big, approximately 300 yards long and about 100 yards wide. This meant that the action was often a long ways away from us even with our centerfield position which made the tailgate activities even more enjoyable for all. After the match, we traveled to some friends of Paul’s and Susan’s for more party and a soak in the hot tub.

We left the Villages on Monday and had a leisurely drive through rural Florida (there really is such a thing) to Daytona to visit our friends Bruce and Ellie. Bruce and Ellie live in another interesting gated community as this one was a naval aviation training base at one time and the community has its own airport and many of the houses have their own hangers with taxiways running through portions of the community. We had a good visit them also. We took a golf cart tour of much of the complex, checking our some of the more interesting (and in some cases more extravagant) houses. We also saw several slide shows Bruce had compiled, including their trip to Alaska in June. After a nice dinner, we all sat up much too late and way too much on the edge of our seats watching the Red Sox beat the Angels to win their American League Divisional series. Next stop-Tampa Bay Rays.

Our drive back to Hilton Head was uneventful. The next day we watched as a technician from Caterpillar installed new injectors on the starboard engine. I ha intended to do this by myself but decided it was more complicated than I wanted to attempt. This turned out to be a very good decision as I learned what was really required and it was well beyond what I wanted to attempt. Sometimes discretion is definitely the greater part of valor!

The last few days have had on and off showers but we got in a trip to the beach as well as a few shopping expeditions. We are continuing to enjoy the warmer weather and the general ambiance of Hilton Head.


Steve and Jean
M/V Sun Cat
Hilton Head Island

Update 9/28/08 - End of summer boating in Maine

The summer and the month of September have just flown by!

We are back on Sun Cat in Hilton Head after a very busy (some would say crazy) month and a half, We spent much of August working on the house as it had not received much in the way of maintenance in the past 3 years. Among other things Jean washed over 400 windows and I fixed windows and doors and painted the porch. We also had a new roof installed, including all new lumber on the porch roof as the 100 year old boards had become very weak. The house looks great now.

Although we spent a lot of time on the house, we still got to do some sailing, mostly over long weekends. The weekend before labor day, we set out on Thursday, spending an evening in Harpswell harbor and then spending a day and evening visiting friends at Great Island Boat Yard. That Saturday we spent the day at the cottage of Bill & Valarie Sowles, a couple from Maine that we had met in the Bahamas this winter. We enjoyed a very nice dinner and breakfast the following morning with them.

Labor day weekend we started very early, setting out on Wednesday to meet up with son Steve who was traveling down from Penobscot Bay. We got a late start so we spent the first evening at Cliff Island where we walked around a bit and visited with some of Jean’s relatives there. The next day we traveled all the way to Teal Island where we met up with Steve. Teal is at the eastern end of Muscongus Bay and we were able to pick up a mooring there for the evening that looked like it would hold a big ship. The sunset was gorgeous (see picture). After that we went to Seal Cove, a pretty anchorage up the Damariscotta River above East Bootbay. The following day we stopped at Seguis Island and climbed to the lighthouse. Seguin has a “first order” Freznel lens and we were able to go up into the lighthouse to see it. We then went to the Basin where we met up with our friends Larry and Cathy on Moondance. The next day the three boats went to Sebasco where we spent a nice afternoon enjoying the pool and then walked around the golf course and climbed Robinson’s Rock the next morning. Robinson’s Rock is interesting. During the Revolutionary War, the colonists would hold up 2 large white boards in a cross pattern to signal the colonists in Portland that there was a British ship in the area. Portland is approximately 20 miles from this spot!

After a (car) trip to Cape Cod to visit my mother and brother , we enjoyed a weekend with Bill and Steph, taking a day trip to Jewell Island . It was nice to get in a visit with them

After that, we were off in the sailboat again for one more trip, this time to meet up with some of our looper friends, including Allan and; Susan on Kaos, Rich and Sue on Lionheart and Russ and Molly on Total Return. Kaos and Lionheart had been traveling together for most of the summer doing the “Downeast Loop” which takes one up through NY State, out the St. Lawrence, around nova Scotia dn then down the Maine coast, eventually arriving back in New York. We had planned to meet up in Boothbay but they wound up ahead of schedule so we met up in the basin instead. We had a quiet evening at the basin and a great happy hour on Kaos. A picture of the three trawlers anchored is included in this update

The following day we all stopped at the Dolphin Marina for their lobster stew and blueberry muffin lunch and then went to Jewell Island for the evening. At Jewell we tried an interesting raft, with Lionheart and Total return anchored facing one direction and Kaos and Trader facing the opposite with the sterns tied together. This might be a good time to explain that Trader at 35 feet is considerably smaller than the others. The other three are trawlers with Kaos being 46 feet, Lionheart being 54 feet and Total return being 57 feet.
This rafting arrangement was intended to hold everyone in the middle of the harbor no matter which way the wind came from.

We had intended to tour the island the next day but it didn’t work out. The wind came up very strong and when we put out an extra anchor the raft appeared to move even though it looked like the two windward boats (now Trader and Kaos) did not seem to be moving. In any event we broke up the raft, Total Return headed for Boston, Kaos and Lionheart anchored in Chandler’s cove to sort out dock reservations in Portland, and we headed for the yacht club. The following evening (Friday)we had a nice dinner at our house with the crews of Kaos and Lionheart.

After that it became a mad scramble to get ready to return to Sun Cat on the following Wednesday. With the help of Steve and a lot of friends, we took Trader’s mast down on Saturday, then got a call from my bother that my mother had gone to the hospital and we needed to be there on Sunday and Monday. After a fun dinner at the house on Saturday night with our friends Doug and Maggie, we set out early on Sunday and spent 2 days on Cape Cod helping Mom. Tuesday was spent packing and doing last minute errands and then we had a good flight (starting at 0545) to Savannah. By 1430 we were back on Sun Cat and pleased to find it in good shape.

It’s good to be back on Sun Cat in warm weather!

Steve and Jean

Update 8/11/08 - Our downeast trip on Trader

Hello to All

We are back in South Portland after a rather soggy trip downeast. I can’t remember a summer when there has been so little sun and so much rain!

In any event, we had a fair trip. From McGlatherty, we sailed up to Northeast Harbor on Mt Desert Island. Northeast is one of our favorites because there is a lot to do there and the (free) bus service will take you all over the island. We went to the farmer’s market and bought some steaks and then did a little shopping in NE Harbor and took the bus over to Bar Harbor to play tourist with the tourists for an afternoon. We also took the bus over to Southwest Harbor to visit the West Marine store there, only to discover that there was now a West Marine at NE as well! We had a very wet walk in the rain in SW Harbor but did find the part I wanted. Unfortunately it didn’t solve the problem so its going back eventually.

We then went up Somes Sound. For those not familiar with Maine, Somes Sound is a natural fiord with mountains around it and very deep water. Its absolutely gorgeous (when there is no fog so you can see it). We picked up our favorite mooring off Man-O-War brook and spent two days there, largely doing boat projects, working on organizing some of my loop pictures and playing cards.

The following day we motored up Eggemoggin reach to Buck’s Harbor. The wind was very light but it visibility was good and we enjoyed a trip through another lovely part of Penobscot Bay. The next morning we went to the farmer’s market in South Brooksville, and then set out on a nice sail all the way down to Rockland. It turned out to be one of the best sailing days of the trip. The following two days were spent in Rockland, walking around town and dodging raindrops. From there we went to Tenants Harbor and then had a very wet trip to Boothbay the following day. Our reward for that soggy trip was a nice dinner ashore with Greg and Barbara Franklin on Gonecruzin who were doing the Downeast loop.

The next day was spent in Boothbay playning tourist and then we went to Sebasco resort where we spent an afternoon enjoying the pool and the sunshine. We’d planned on a walk the next morning but the weather was threatening again so we headed back to Portland and just beat the bad weather as the rain started as we rode the launch in.

The pictures in this update are from our anchorage in Somes Sound showing Man-O-War brook and the mountains surrounding the cove we were in, Valley Cove. Also included is a picture of Buck’s Harbor.


Enjoy,

Steve & Jean

Update 7/29/08 - Sailing in Maine

Fox Islands Thoroughfare

Hello to all!

This is my third attempt to write this -and is the third state I’ve tried to write it in! Hopefully I’ll get something done this time!

As I write this, we are anchored in a beautiful cove located between McGlathery Island and Round Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine. We are on a sailing trip on Trader although the wind hasn’t cooperated and we’ve done a lot of motoring.

Brown's Head Light - Fox Island Thoroughfare

Windjammer - Penobscot Bay 

This trip was supposed to start last Wednesday but the weather was not good and we wound up putting the start off until Friday. We got a somewhat late start and when the fog set in very thick we decided to stop at Cliff Island rather than go on. It was a whole big 9 miles but at least it got us going! After that we had a good trip mostly under power up to Round Pond where we picked up the guest mooring and visited Paul & Mimi Aldrich. Paul is Jean’s cousin and we had traveled with them for quite a ways going up through the ICW in the spring of 2007. We had a good visit with them, going for a swim in the pool and enjoying a nice BBQ supper.

The next day there was a sailing breeze although it was a little slow at times. We sailed across Muscongus Bay, through Port Clyde and then up through Muscle Ridge Channel (with a big assist from the tide) to Rockland. In Rockland we were able to use Barb & Stew Hart’s mooring . We mostly worked on the boat the next day and had a nice dinner with our friend Peter Van Alstine that evening. We left Rockland this morning and again mostly motored over to McGlatherty.

Anchorage at McGlatherty and Round Islands

Since my last update in late June, we’ve actually done quite a bit of traveling. We spent 2 days visiting with family on Cape Cod , spent a day playing tourist in Newport, RI, and then joined our friends Larry and Cathy on their new (to them) Cambria 44 sailboat “Katahdin” for a cruise on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. It was planned as a shakedown cruise and it was. We enjoyed seeing Narragansett Bay. There were a lot more anchorages than we expected and we were able to take in 4 or 5 fireworks shows from various towns, three of them from the same anchorage. We also toured the Hereshoff Museum in Bristol Rhode Island.

Cliff walk in Newport, RI

Monday the 5th turned out to be a real travel adventure even though everything pretty much was on schedule. We left the boat at 0600 and Kathy dropped us at the Providence train station about 6:30. Less than 10 minutes later we were on the train moving toward Boston. We thought great, maybe we could get an earlier plane to Atlanta and then an earlier one to Hilton Head. We got to the airport before 8:30 but were disappointed to find that 2 of the Atlanta flights were canceled and we would have to stick with ours - at 12:10. During our wait I made the first attempt at this update. That flight was fine and we made our connection in Atlanta on time - and then the next flight to Hilton Head was delayed. The result was that we got to Hilton Head about an hour late. Half an hour later we arrived on Sun Cat and were pleased to find her in good shape. We made up for the long trip with a couple of Margarita’s and a nice Mexican dinner.

The next week was filled with walking, biking and trips to the beach and pool. The marina is part of a resort and dockage there includes the use of all resort amenities and the “dune buggy”. The dune buggy is a van service that will take you anywhere in the resort including al of the above plus the two malls. It was great fun to call and ask for a ride for 2 to “the pig” - otherwise known as the Piggly Wiggly Supermarket. We thoroughly enjoyed the Tuesday night fireworks show and the pleasant ambiance of Hilton Head. We also had two very strong thunderstorms go through while we were there. I made a brief attempt at writing an update as well. The time went all too quickly and before we knew it we were on a plane back to New England.

Bill’s birthday is in mid July so we celebrated it by having Bill and Stephanie on the boat for a weekend trip to Cliff Island where we were joined by Stephen on Nette and Larry and Cathy on Moondance. The weather wasn’t perfect but we had a good walk on Cliff and an enjoyable weekend.

The next week was spent mostly working on the house. Our tenants had left and so we were busy cleaning, putting our things back out and doing minor repairs. I did sneak away for a Wednesday night race (called early because of a thunderstorm) and I also had a nice visit to my office where I had lunch with Marc, Rich, Dave and “G”.

After a week of working on the house we were ready for another trip so here we are, off again enjoying the Maine summer and the beautiful Maine Coast!

The pictures on this post include a sample of the scenery on the Fox Island Thoroughfare, a Maine windjammer and the anchorage at McGlatherty Island as well as the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI Enjoy!


Steve and; Jean
S/V Trader

Update 6/29/08 - Back to Portland

Update 6/29/08

Its 50-60 degrees and rainy here in Maine - makes me wonder what we are doing here! Actually June is normally nice so this is unusual - and a big contrast from the great weather we had in New York State while on the loop at this time last year.

We had a good trip up from Hilton Head to here. We had a nice visit with Jean’s sister Gail in New Jersey and then a nice lunch with my sister Sue and her husband John the next day in Connecticut. We then spent 2 days with my brother Ron, Brenda and my mother on Cape Cod. We arrived at (son) Steve’s about 11Pm on Friday night and on Saturday attended Opening Day at the yacht club where we met many of our friends. It was a good homecoming!

The next day we started working on Trader to get her in the water and to our surprise we were able to launch her 4 days later with the bottom painted, new zincs and the engine tested. She was in great shape for having sat on the hard for almost 2 years, the only issue being a frozen fitting on the propane hot water heater. While we were working on the boat, we stayed with Steve and our friends Larry and Cathy Clough and enjoyed several nice dinners with them as well as with Eldon & Dianne Morrison.

We spent the next weekend visiting (son) Bill and Stephanie and helped them move some items into their new home. The next day, we stepped the mast at the yacht club with help from 10 or so of our friends. Trader’s is definitely the largest mast to be done at the club but it went fine and it was good to be ready to sail again!

However, before going sailing I took a short trip and helped Eldon move his boat from Yarmouth, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Eldon is doing the Great Loop but adding a significant number of miles to it by going around Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and then up the St. Lawrence. It should be an interesting trip and we’ll be ready to see the pictures. We had a somewhat rough overnight crossing to Yarmouth but I enjoyed a day or so of visiting friends there. It was good to see Jane Smith, Brian and Sheila Lewis and Jim Quick again. It was interesting sharing boating adventures with Brian and Sheila as they had done a number of trips to Bermuda and had lost a boat in the process. I had originally planned to travel to Halifax with Eldon but decided to jump ship early and came back on the Cat (a fast ferry) as there was still a lot of work to be done on Trader.

The rest of the month has gone by swiftly. During this time we did a cruise to Jewell Island and the Goslings on Trader accompanied by Larry and Cathy on Moondance and Andy and Gay Howe on Keywaydin. We also took another trip to see Bill, raced in several Wednesday night races, attended the “summer solstice” party at the yacht club and made up for all of the medical appointments we missed last year. Earlier this week, we had a visit from fellow loopers Larry and Lola from Lola Marie, who were touring Maine and Nova Scotia by car.

A number of our friends have wondered how we would adjust to the sailboat after spending so long on Sun Cat, which is both bigger and has more amenities. I’m pleased to report that it has been an adjustment but we are doing fine. I think we miss the refrigerator the most but are getting along fine with the ice box, especially as friends keep giving us ice they’ve frozen for us. Now if the weather would just return to normal, we could really enjoy sailing!

Have a great summer!

Steve & Jean
Aboard S/V Trader
Currently in Portland Harbor

Update 5/26/2008 - Vero to Hilton Head

It’s just amazing how fast these weeks go by! We had a great trip up the ICW from Vero Beach accompanied by Lamb Chop and Suzy Q. Sun Cat is now at Hilton Head where she will spend the summer.

We spent 3 days at Vero Beach doing some shopping and boat projects but also managing to get in a dinghy expedition to the park and several long walks on the beach. We were joined one evening by Bob and Allie from Bali Motu whom we had traveled with for over a week from Chicago down to Kentucky. It was great to catch up with their adventures after they completed the loop in December and we had a nice dinner with them and Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop. We also found (with some help from George on Time Out), a new restaurant on the beach that had a great happy hour which turned out to be dinner a couple of nights. In addition we went to the “cruiser’s breakfast” one morning. The cruisers turned out to be mostly folks who had moved ashore in Vero as the four of us were the only ones from the marina. It appears that we are somewhat behind the bulk of the cruisers headed north as there were no boats rafted at Vero and lots of empty moorings.

From Vero Beach we went up to Titusville and anchored just above the bridge for the night. The next day we pushed up to Daytona where we spent 3 days at Seven Seas Marina. The marina facilities there are pretty limited but its two blocks to Daytona Beach and we enjoyed walking the beach and swimming in the warm Florida waters for several afternoons. After Daytona, we continued on up the ICW, passing St. Augustine and anchoring at Pine Island for the night, There were a handful of other boats there as well.

The next morning we delayed our start to try to time the bridge opening at Jacksonville Beach. The drawbridge there was replaced with a high level bridge and they had a work barge blocking the ICW channel that opened for traffic only between 1200 and 1300 each day (or 1800 to 0700). However, when we got to the bridge they were a day ahead of schedule and they were no longer blocking the channel. We proceeded on to Cumberland Island where we had a rendezvous with George and Miriam on Time Out, Fred and Judy on Amarse, Pat & Pat on Salty Dog and Larry and Sue on Suzy Q IV. We had not seen George and Miriam since early December and it was especially good to see them again. Amarse and Salty Dog left the next morning after a party on Time Out and the rest of us had a great four boat raft up for a couple of nights and a nice tour of the island starting with a long beach walk and then a tour of the ruins of the Dungeness mansion.

Time Out left the next morning to go to Brunswick. We had really enjoyed traveling with them last summer and had hoped to travel some with them as we headed north but the timing just wasn’t working. The rest of us went south again to Fernandina Beach so Tim could pick up a package. While there we visited with Tom and Jerry of Sea Night and had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant that Tom knew. The following morning we took a walk around town, admiring the fine Victorian houses and visiting the farmers’ market. Then the three boats headed back to Cumberland Island.

While underway, Larry called and informed us his dinghy motor was missing. It apparently had been stolen in Fernandina Beach the night before while the boat sat on a mooring. Sue and Larry went back to fill out a police report and the rest of us went for another long walk on the island, mostly on the beach.

Cumberland Island is one of our favorite stops on the ICW. It has beautiful roads and trails for walking, a beach that goes for miles, the ruins and a small museum. It also has lots of wildlife including several hundred wild horses and armadillos. It is the only place we know of on the east coast to see these latter animals and we saw quite a few during our visit there.

From Cumberland Island we went to Jekyll Island where we used the courtesy bikes to go to the historic district and tour the “cottages” which were built by the multi-millionaires of the early 20th century as well as the Jekyll Island Club itself. Our tour was cut short by a threatening storm which dissipated by the time we got back to the marina. We consoled ourselves with a trip into the hot tub! Tom and Jerry drove up to join us for dinner and they also loaned Suzy Q and outboard to replace the one that was stolen.

Our trip out of Jekyll was a bit tense. The channel is very shallow there and we were met by a tug and barge just as we got to the worst part. We communicated with the Tow operator and made it through ok but not without kicking up a fair amount of mud. We then went to the Frederica River where we anchored off of the fort. There was no water at the dinghy dock so we set up the deck chairs on Sun Cat’s foredeck and relaxed for most of the afternoon.. The six of us then had our own “howl at the (full) moon” party, complete with Bahamian music, dancing and rum drinks. The next morning the tide was up enough to get to the dinghy dock so we toured the fort and the ruins of the village that surrounded its land side. The history was very interesting as they did a good job explaining how people lived there as well as the military activity that stopped Spain from claiming part of Georgia.

From there, we went up to the Duplin River where we anchored behind little Sappello island. We tried to take a dinghy expedition further up the river but the wind was too strong and that made the river too choppy. After a quiet night’s sleep, we then proceeded up to Walburg creek where we anchored again for the night. On the way there, Sun Cat was boarded by the Coast Guard for a routine inspection which we passed with no problems. We were traveling between Lamb Chop and Suzy Q so why they picked us is somewhat of a mystery. The anchorage at Walburg was good and we had another quiet night’s sleep there, accompanied by only one other cruiser.

After that, we proceeded through Florida Passage, Hell Gate and the Skidaway river to Turner Creek, which is just before Thunderbolt, Ga, a Savannah suburb. We’d never been into Turner Creek but it turned out to be a good anchorage and we rafted once more. That evening, we went into the marina with the dinghy and walked ashore on Wilmington Island, checking out the various restaurants as we wanted to have a little celebration as it would be our last anchorage together.

The six of us must have been a strange sight as we walked (with no sidewalks) down one side of the street and back the other, checking out menus as we went, because as we approached the last restaurant a car stopped and asked if we were looking for something and could he help. He reviewed what he knew about the various places and recommended a Greek restaurant down the street. We thought that sounded good (and it was) and then he gave all of us a ride to it! We had a very nice meal there and later saw him there dining with his wife. Apparently she thought it was a good idea also!

The next morning we said goodbye to Tim and Jan as they were going to take the bus into town that day and tour Savannah and would then be picking up their pace considerably to get back to Ontario. We had been traveling with them for over four months and we had had a great time together. We set out with Suzy Q across the Savannah river and through Field’s cut to Hilton Head where we also sadly said goodbye to them as they headed toward Beaufort and points north. We had been traveling with them off and on since last summer also.

Our docking at Hilton Head went well and we proceeded to prepare the boat for an extended stay. It seemed strange to be preparing a boat for summer storage! I understand what I have to do to winterize a boat but this is different. We cleaned, ran fresh water through the generator, engines and outboard, lubricated metal parts, polished and coated the stainless steel and packed up the things that we hadn’t used in a year or were duplicates, or that we needed on Trader. Saturday afternoon, we were joined by Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg and we all took a break at the pool followed by a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant we like.

The boat projects went well and we were able to take some time off for another trip to the pool and a bike ride. Today we left the boat for the first time in over a year and half and started our drive back to Maine where we are looking forward to seeing friends and family. For the record, we’ve traveled over 7000 nautical miles in this time, visiting three countries and 17 states in the process. We’ve also made many new friends and learned a lot about the history and geography of the places we visited.. The adventure isn’t over however, as we plan to sail Trader for much of the summer and then return to Sun Cat in the fall.

Included with this update are pictures mostly from Cumberland Island showing the beach, an island road and our crew. In the picture Larry,Sue, Steve & George are in the front row and Jean, Jan and Miriam in the back row. Also included is the layout of the original town of Frederica. Blow this one up to read it better.

Best wishes to all for a pleasant summer!

Steve & Jean

Back in the USA -update 5/5/08

We are back in the USA after a very good crossing on Sunday. Our stay in the Bahamas was a lot of fun and we really hated to leave but it was time to move on if we were going to meet our insurance requirement of being north of 32 degrees by June 1.

Our last week or so in the Bahamas was as good as the rest. After a short walk on Man-O-War we went to Guana Cay with Lamb Chop. There we walked the beach, went for a swim, had drinks and appetizers with Bob & Gerry, did more walking, had lunch at Nipper’s and went to another “Pot Luck” night at Grabbers.

We then went to Treasure Cay where we spent 4 days walking the beach, enjoying the pool and taking in the entertainment at the resort. We also had drinks and desert with Wanda and Phil of Amazing Grace at the condo they had occupied there.

The following day we set out for Green Turtle Cay via Don’t Rock channel accompanied by Lamb Chop. However, there were waves breaking in the channel so we decided to go around Whale Cay instead. There were 4-6 foot waves but we made it through ok with nothing breaking in the channel but waves breaking on both sides. There was plenty of anchoring room in the harbor. Our stay at Green Turtle was a lot of fun. We took the dinghies over to the settlement, enjoyed the pool at the Bluff House and walked the ocean beach. The highlight was Wednesday night when we attended another performance by the Gully Roosters. It turned out to be a lot of fun dancing and crowd watching.

Manjack Cay

The following day we traveled a whole 10 miles to Manjack Cay where we anchored and took the dinghies ashore. The island has several hiking trails and we walked to both the ocean beach and “Coco Beach” which was on the inside. Both were beautiful and the walk was good for us as well.

Alas, it was time to leave the Abaco’s so the next day Sun Cat and Lamb Chop traveled to Mangrove Cay where we anchored in the lee of the island for the night. We were the only boats there. We left fairly early the next morning and went though Indian Cay channel on the rising tide. We went into Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End where we were able to confirm that the weather for a Gulf Stream crossing would be good the next day. We also enjoyed the pool and the fine Bahamian weather for one more day and had a nice dinner in the restaurant that evening.

The next day the wind was forecast to diminish as the day wore on so we delayed our start until 6AM and were thus able to leave in daylight. The crossing was very good. We had 1-2 foot waves to start out, diminishing to less than a foot by 9AM. The roughest part of the trip turned out to be the inlet at Fort Pierce where the outgoing tide was running hard against the incoming waves, creating a nasty short chop. The only real excitement was a US Navy ship which appeared to be doing training exercises in the Gulf Stream-right in our path. In all, we did the 82 mile crossing in less than 9 hours, getting a 2 plus knot push from the Gulf Stream current.

However, when we got to Ft Pierce it got interesting. First, the current was running hard against us. Second there were boats everywhere, some fishing in the channel, some beached on the adjacent shore and some running in all directions. Finally, when we got to the dock, there was a big dock party going on at the slip they guided us to. Its enough fun to back the boat into a slip with winds and current but we didn’t really want to provide entertainment for 20 or so people as well! Fortunately, the docking maneuver went well and we were able to clear Homeland security with just a phone call and no hassles. We were able to join the dock party and then had another nice dinner at the marina.

Everything went well as you can see except that there was apparently a wiring problem on the dock which wound up burning out my 50 to 30 amp splitter. Luckily after some anxious moments and some testing, we were able to determine that the inverter had correctly assessed the situation and shut down the 110 volt system on the boat, preventing a problem from developing with the systems inside the boat.

The next morning, we went for a short walk while Tim and Jan went to the airport to finish clearing in. We then went up to Vero Beach to spend a few days getting organized and relaxing after which we will begin our trip north up the ICW.

The pictures which start this include the group at the pool at the Bluff house , the Gully Roosters band and a waterspout we saw from the beach, all at Green Turtle Cay. In addition, there is a picture of the pool at Treasure Cay and the beach end of the trail at Manjack Cay.

Still having a wonderful time enjoying the warm weather and sunshine!

Steve and Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Update 4/21/08 - It's a tough life in the Bahamas

Time sure goes fast here in the Bahamas. For the most part the weather has been great, temperatures in the 70’s that have been good for walking, swimming etc and comfortable for sleeping at night.

From Tavern Cay we went back into Marsh Harbor for a couple of days to ride out some strong winds. During that time we did some shopping, relaxed, used the pool, snorkled on mermaid reef and spent an enjoyable Sunday visiting and playing cards on Salty Dawg.

We then went over to Guana Cay for a couple of days where we enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends, Bob and Gerry Sylvester at their house there, we spent the next day walking the beautiful beach at Guana, had lunch at Nipper’s and then met Bob & Gerry again for the “pot luck “ dinner at Grabber’s. The pot luck occurs there every Wednesday night and is attended by both island residents and cruisers. It was a lot of fun.

After that, we went back into Marsh Harbor to prepare for the arrival of my brother Ron and his wife, Brenda. While waiting we walked and shopped, took in the “box car” races on Saturday, went to steak night at the jib room with Lamb Chop and generally relaxed, used the pool and took it easy, We attended a “low country boil” at the marina on Sunday night accompanied by Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop and Paul and Claire from Our Turn. When Ron & Brenda arrived on Monday, we made sure they enjoyed the pool, had dinner on board and then took them to Curly Tails for some island entertainment.

Tuesday and Wednesday did not go as planned because a front went through and the winds were more than I wanted to travel in. So we changed plans (all of our travel plans are usually set in Jello), rented a car and drove down to Little Harbor where we walked the beach and had lunch at Pete’s Pub. The next morning we drove to Treasure Cay where we walked the beach and toured the marina. Driving on the left handed side of the road was an interesting challenge. That evening we went to Rib night at the Jib Room where they serve a mammoth rack of ribs and follow that with island music, dancing and a limbo contest (its more like a show as the “limbo king” always outdoes everyone.

The winds finally subsided somewhat so we headed off for Hopetown. At Hopetown we climbed to the top of the lighthouse, walked the beach and took a swim, and then went up to the Hopetown lodge where we used the pool. We had planned on an evening at Captain Jack’s but all seemed tired so we didn’t go there. The next morning we called the Abaco Inn and they came down and picked us up to go to the Inn for breakfast. It was a nice breakfast in a very scenic location and the ride there gave Ron & Brenda an opportunity to see a part of the island we couldn’t walk to. After that we toured the Winnie Malone Museum which told the history of Hopetown, took a long beach walk and took a swim in both the ocean and the pool.

The next day we motored over to Guana where we took a long beach walk, swam in the ocean (the waves were a lot of fun) and had lunch at Nipper’s. We then went back into Marsh Harbor and did steak night again at the Jib Room. Ron & Brenda really enjoyed that. The following day we did another snorkle trip to Mermaid Reef, accompanied by Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop and Bill from Calypso. It was then time for them to take the plane home and we proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon in the pool. We then joined Bill and Valarie from Calypso to watch the sunset with Doug and Lynn on BFB. BFB is a 1975 Huckins with classic lines. We were given a tour by Doug - it’s a very pretty boat . The sunset was spectacular that evening also.

Today we left Marsh Harbor and motored down to Tilloo Bank but the wind became unfavorable to stay there so we motored up to Man-O-War and picked up a mooring right off the marina. We expect to be here in the Bahamas another week or so and will then head back toward the states.

Someone is posting comments to this blog that say "Please Click Here". Clicking on this link activates my anti virus software so do not click on a comment like this if you see it. I've brought it to the attention of the blogmasters and they deleted the most recent one.
We hope everyone is enjoying the spring. It's become beautiful here. I've added some pictures of the box car derby, Jean & Jan raking and scraping, Hopetown Harbor, Ron and Jean dancing at steak night. 
Steve and Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Update 04/05/2008 - The Bahamas

Little Harbor

Wow, I just realized that almost a month has gone by since I did the last update! That must mean we’ve really been enjoying the Bahamas for the past month!

We wound up spending 4 nights at West End, walking, biking and enjoying the pool. The last night we had a big dock party which was attended by most of the cruises present. The next day we were in a virtual parade from West End to Great Sale as everyone headed east through Indian Cay pass and out onto the bank. That evening, Ted and Nancy hosted a happy hour on their boat Aloha Friday for a number of the cruisers and we had a good night at anchor there at Great Sale.

The next stop was Allen-Pensacola Cay where we spent 2 days accompanied by Gypsy Time and Lamb Chop. The first day was beautiful, we found the path to the other side, walked the beach and found the tree(s) cruisers hang mementos of their visit on. We intended to return the next day but the wind changed around and we spent a rough day working on the boats after an early morning anchor drill.

The next day we went to Green Turtle Cay which is one of our favorite stops. We wound up spending a week there. We took the dinghies into the settlement at New Plymouth where we played tourist and shopped a little. We walked all over the northern end of the island which has long, beautiful beaches .We also spent considerable time at the Bluff House and Green Turtle Club pools. One day we rented golf carts and explored every road on the island (including some that turned out to be long driveways. We also took them over to the settlement and had a picnic on the beach. The picnic was fun, even in the 25 knot winds. On Wednesday, we danced and partied to the music of the Gully Roosters a (the) local band.

After Green Turtle, we successfully negotiated the Whale Cay pass and went into Marsh Harbor where we spent several days shopping, walking and playing tourist. We spent one evening at Rib night at the Jib Room. On rib night, they serve a large rack of ribs plus salads and desserts and your favorite beverage. The meal is followed by island music and dancing and a limbo contest. One night we also participated in Trivia night at the marina. Trivia night consists of happy hour, a pot luck dinner and then a trivia contest. The Teams consist of 6-8 people and our team actually won.

From Marsh Harbor we headed down to Little Harbor which is at the bottom of the Abaco’s . The wind was still in excess of 20 knots so the trip was a little rough when we had to cross a couple of the passages that lead out to the open Atlantic. The harbor is well protected and interesting to visit. We walked on the beach, explored a cave that the first settlers lived in when they first got to the harbor. We also found the foundry where they cast sculptures in bronze. It was not operating on that day, however. We had dinner that evening and the next morning Pat on Salty Dawg led a dinghy expedition consisting of the crews of Salty Dawg, Sun Cat, Gypsy Time, Lamb Chop and Silver Foxes. The expedition took us into some shallows behind some mangrove covered islands. On the way there we saw several large sea turtles and some large starfish. We also saw some big rays, a shark and a number of smaller fish. Behind the islands we also found a “blue hole”. A blue hole is a place the water suddenly gets deep. This one was about 30 yards in circumference and dropped from 5-6 feet to over 30 feet in less than a yard.

The wind was forecast to increase again so we felt it best to leave there and proceed back across the entrance to the passages rather than have a rough ride back. We stopped at and anchorage on the edge of Tillo Bank where we anchored off a nice beach in 5-6 feet of water over bright sand. It was my first opportunity to see how the bottom of the boat looked and I swam along the sides where I could see the entire bottom. The zincs looked like new and running gear looked good but there has been a considerable amount of growth so I’m going to get it cleaned before we head back to the States . It actually looked really good considering nothing has been done to it since early last January.

The following day we went back into Marsh harbor as the wind was building as predicted and the anchorage was not well protected. We spent a couple of days there and then headed out again to Hopetown on Elbow Cay. At Hopetown we again rented golf carts with Gypsy Time and Lamb Chop and toured the southern half of the island, spending part of two days at Tahiti Beach. We also spent an afternoon at the pool at the Hopetown Lodge and took in the entertainment at Captain Jack’s.

That brings us up to today. Gypsy Time headed to Man o War Cay to begin their trip back to the states and we headed to Tilloo Bank again with Lamb Chop. Unfortunately, the wind direction was not good to stay there so we anchored off of Tavern Cay. I took a swim to check the anchor and discovered that our anchor was well set but was only 10 feet ahead of a power cable. If we dragged anchor we would hook it for sure. So we picked up the anchor and set it again. This time when I swam torward the anchor, a big ray crossed my path. It was a bit disconcerting to find myself swimming with it!

On the Blog version of this I’ve added some pictures. They are Jean with Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop on the beach at Green Turtle, a pretty road scene at Green Turtle, a picture of Little Harbor looking over the top of Pete’s Pub, part of our crew at the entrance to the upscale dining at Pete’s Pub in Little Harbor, the Limbo King performing at the Jib Room ( we didn’t try this!), and Jean enjoying a dance at Snappas in Marsh Harbor.

We don’t have internet access here so this probably won’t get sent until tomorrow. In any event, you can see we are staying busy and still having a great time.

Steve & Jean
Aboard M/V Sun Cat

update 3/06/08 - To the Bahamas

Hello to all,

Its been a very busy month or so and a lot of fun! We very much enjoyed our stay in Marathon, swimming almost every day and taking a lot of bike rides as well. I also got a fair amount of boat projects completed.

We had a good super bowl party with the resort letting us use one of the empty units for the party. The wrong team won but Jean did well with the pool, having the right score two quarters and for the game. We had about 25 people in attendance.

We also had a surprise birthday party for Jean on Dubhe III. It was one of those milestone birthdays. Later we had a pizza party to celebrate Tim’s birthday and followed that with a Mexican night. Our cooks are certainly versatile! Combine this with several pot luck dinners and a number of trips to Sparky’s as well as a few dock parties and you can see there was no lack of entertainment!

While in Marathon we had some company as well. Our friends Larry and Cathy Clough and Dick Hodskins visited us from Maine and Son Bill and Stephanie visited us as well. Bill and Steph traveled with us from Marathon up to Ft Lauderdale

West End Marina

We also took in a number of the local tourist attractions. We toured the Pigeon Key historic site and museum with the crew of Carol Ann,. Pigeon Key was the primary work camp for the laborers who built the railroad that ran from Miami to Key West. With Larry and Cathy we went to the Crane Point Nature Preserve and the Bahia Honda State Park, and we took Bill & Steph to the Dolphin facility. We also went to the Miami Boat show.

On March 1, we left Marathon, accompanied by Gypsy Time, Lamb Chop and SueSeaQ4. Our destination was Fort Lauderdale where we would wait for an opportunity to cross to the Bahamas. We traveled inside of the Keys from Channel 5 all the way to Miami. It was a part of the trip we had been unable to do with Trader 2 years ago as the water was too shallow to travel on the inside and we had to use Hawk Channel on the outside the entire way. Water depths have not improved and we kicked up a lot of sand as we traveled.

Our first stop was an anchorage in Tarpon Basin which is near Isamaralda. It offered good protection from the NE winds and we had a nice quiet night on the anchor. The next night we spent in Hurricane Harbor near Miami. It seemed full of boats when we went in but by the time we had sat a while there, there were only a few other boats.It was another nice night on the anchor.

The weather was threatening the next day so we went to the Haulover Park Marina in North Miami. We could see heavy clouds to the north and the weather radar showed heavy rain over Ft. Lauderdale. At the park, we walked the beach and had a good party on the dock. The next morning we traveled the remaining 15 miles to Ft Lauderdale, spending a night at the (swimming) Hall of Fame Marina to reprovision and get prepared for the crossing which was planned for Thursday. We had a good party to see Bill and Steph off that evening. The next day we picked up moorings at the Los Olas Municipal Marina which is my favorite jumping off place for the Bahamas.

In my last update, I reported that we had officially closed the loop when we crossed Trader's wake in Marathon. When we reached Ft. Lauderdale, Sun Cat crossed her own wake. Thus Sun Cat has now done the entire loop as well as the crew. During this time, we traveled 5613 nautical miles which includes approximately 500 miles to the Bahamas and back.

Thursday started early as we were up at 0430 and moving before 0500. We were crossing with Lamb Chop and Gypsy Time and the forecast was good until late in the day. The trip started out very smoothly and we were quickly into the Gulf Stream where we picked up 1 to 2 knots of speed for most of the rest of the trip.
The last 20 miles turned out a little lumpy with 1-2 foot rollers coming at us on the beam. All in all, however, it was another very good crossing and we arrived at West End around 1330.

Our plan was to only spend one night here but the weather has not co-operated. The winds have been averaging over 20 knots since and are close to 30 today. The accompanying picture shows why we are staying put for another day! It’s a nice resort with a great pool and good walking and biking. Yesterday there was a “manager’s party” at the beach bar with free drinks and snacks. As you can see we are not suffering by waiting !

Still having a great time!

Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Update 2/2/08 - Crossing our wake!

Hello to all,


We did it! Last Thursday (1/25) we crossed the wake of our sailboat Trader when we entered Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Fl. This means that we have now completed the entire great loop! Sun Cat will cross her own wake when we get to Ft Lauderdale.

We had a little champagne that evening with John and; Pat from Gypsy Time and Jim and Judy from Silver Foxes. It was both an exciting moment and a little bit of a letdown. But stay tuned – there will be more adventures!

Our trip from the Little Shark River started out with heavy fog and very shallow water. Even well out of the anchorage in the open water of the Gulf of Mexico the depth sounder was only reading 4-5 feet. Eventually we got to 7 feet and then “very deep” water at 10 feet. The fog dissipated by early afternoon and we had a good trip into Boot Key Harbor.

Pool at the Boathouse marina

We spent two days on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor, visiting friends and walking around Marathon and then moved to a marina where we will spend a while as there is a pool, good walking and biking, enough shopping and most importantly 12 other looper boats.

We’ve spent the last week doing boat projects, biking around Marathon, enjoying the pool and generally relaxing. We did a trip to the local turtle hospital to see large sea turtles . There were several nearly 3 feet in diameter.

The ladies at one of our many dock parties

We had a dock party one night and the next day Mike and Cathy took a group of us on Explorer for a snorkeling expedition to Sombrero Reef. Unfortunately, when we got out there, it was too rough to get on and off the boat. We did see a large sea turtle swimming near the boat. We’ve also had several trips to Sparky’s, (a local watering hole) for happy hour, followed by another dock party.

We were not disappointed to have the groundhog predict another 6 weeks of winter. Its tough when its 70 to 80 degrees every day!

Tomorrow, a major Super Bowl party is planned. Go PATS!

Enjoying the Keys,

Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat