Update 11/24/2010 - Hilton Head to Vero Beach

Hello to all,

Greetings from Florida. We made it to Florida earlier this month after our insurance restrictions expired and got some work done by Lamb’s Yacht Center in Jacksonville before heading south to Stuart.

Claria,Jane,Chuck and George after Dafauskie Trip

Our last week at Hilton Head was pretty good. We bought a couple of the rental bikes and rode around the island quite a bit. We were able to use the pools just about to the last weekend when they became a bit too cold. Chuck & Claria and George and Jane from Time Out came over one day in Chuck’s smaller boat and we all took a ride to Daufuskie Island for lunch at Marshside Moma’s. Marshside Moma’s is a pretty funky place and was fun to visit as well as being a pleasant boat trip as well.

Bar at Marshside Moma's

A few days later Time Out joined us at Hilton Head and we had a fun time showing them around. Sun Cat and Time Out left Hilton Head on 10/25 and [preceded down the ICW through Georgia/ Our first stop was the Herb River anchorage in Thunderbolt, Ga where we had a good night on anchor watching the Thunder and Lightning show all around us. The next stop was the Wahoo River anchorage where we had a nice quiet night. We were fortunate to be traveling during a week when the high tide was in the middle of the day, thus making passage through some of the shallow spots in the ICW less difficult.

The next night found us anchored off of the Two Way Fish Camp on the Altamaha River. We dinghied into the restaurant there- a place called Mudcat Charlie’s. Not as funky as Marshside Moma’s but still good. We passed on the catfish but found the Grouper very good. From there we traveled to Brunswick Landing Marina after filling our fuel tanks at Ocean Petroleum. Ocean serves the Brunswick shrimp fleet and always has one of the lowest fuel prices anywhere. We walked around Brunswick a bit and were surprised to find the farmer’s market open that afternoon. We also had a good dinner out that evening at the “Brewburger” restaurant.

From Brunswick we traveled past Jekyll Island, traveling through Jekyll Creek a couple of hours after low tide. Jekyll Creek is one of the worst spots on the ICW and should have been dredged last year but was not due to a buraucratic snafu – they didn’t have a “spoils plan”. Since this section has not been dredged in many years you would have thought they had had ample time to develop one. Worse, within the first mile there is a large spoils island from previous dredging. One would think they could simply put more spoils there without years (and millions of $) of study!

Plum Orchard Mansion

From Jekyll, we traveled across St Andrews sound which was quite rough with the NE wind. Fortunately it was only a few miles and then we turned for Cumberland Island where we made a detour off the ICW onto the Brickhill River which passes closer to shore and took us to a nice anchorage off of the Plum Orchard mansion. We anchored there and went ashore where we were given a great tour of the mansion which is now part of the park. The mansion was built by Mrs. Carnegie for one of her children.

The next day we motored down the ICW to the southern end of Cumberland Island where we anchored and

Beach at Cumberland Island

took a great walk, making a loop from the sea camp dock to the beach, down the beach to the Dungeness ruins and back the main road to the sea camp dock again. Cumberland is one of our favorite stops and this visit did not disappoint us.

It was now November 1 so our insurance would let us go into Florida. We said bye to George and Jane on Time Out as they were headed to St Augustine that evening and we headed up the St John River to Jacksonville where we stopped again at Lamb’s to let them finish the trim around the windows that they had been unable to finish in June due to our schedule.

Just before leaving Hilton Head, we had divers clean the bottom and they had reported that it looked like paint was coming off and that one of the props probably needed reconditioning. So we had the boat hauled to get a good look, an event which was to result in the expenditure of several boat units. (For the uninitiated, a boat unit means Break Out Another Thousand.) The paint was indeed bad and coming off in several places. There had been quite a buildup over the years and the ¼” or so was coming off in places all the way back to the gel coat. After some discussion of options, it was decided to aggressively power wash the bottom and we were amazed to see the paint come off like shrapnel. The bottom apparently had not been properly prepared for the first coat, a common occurrence with new boats.  After the cleaning the bottom was sanded and 4 coats of a primer/barrier were applied before 2 coats of bottom paint.

In addition, we had the props removed and sent to a prop shop along with the spare set. The props we were using were 23” diameter with a pitch of 20 but we were surprised to learn that the “spares” which might have been the original props were 23 X 18. The prop shop recommended that we increase the pitch to 21 on the set we were using so we did that. It appeared afterward that this increase did give us more speed at low RPM and was about the same or a little better at max RPM. We also had two of the big (8D) engine starting batteries replaced while we were there. These weigh almost 200 lbs and were over 5 years old. I didn’t want

Sun Cat's new bottom

to be replacing them in the Bahamas and wanted someone else to try to lift them.  They also finished the window trim and we had the radar fixed as a circuit board in the scanner had quit. We felt we were well treated by Lamb’s and were pleased with the work that was done.

While the boat was out of the water we decided it was a good time to retrieve our car which was still up in Hilton Head. The plan was to drive to Hilton Head, spend the night with Chuck & Claria and then drive back to Jax, have dinner with Tom & Gerry (Sea Knight), check on the boat and then drive to Daytona for a visit with Bruce & Ellie before joining George and Jane in Cocoa for a Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club function. After that we would drive to Jensen beach, spend a day with son Bill and then drive back to Jax with Bill taking our car back to Jensen Beach. (Yes renting a car is easier).

That plan worked out very well with one exception. As we were driving into Shelter Cove on Hilton Head (where the car was), Jean asked me if I had the keys. Of course I didn’t and neither did she! They were still in Jax 3 hours behind us!. After some debate about what to do, we called Lambs and they were able to locate the keys on the boat and overnight them to us at the marina. We had a nice evening with Chuck and Claria, using their elegant guest quarters. We then spent another nice evening with Tom and Gerry with whom we wound up staying over. After a short stop to check on the progress on the boat, we went on to a good visit with Bruce and Ellie in Daytona.  The rest of the trip went on schedule as well and by Sunday evening we were back on the boat which was launched on Monday afternoon.

Wednesday morning we headed down the river with the current and spent the next night at St Augustine, arriving in time to take a walk around the historic district. Then it was on to Daytona where we were able to get in s good beach walk and then on to Cocoa and Vero Beach.

Jean at Vero Beach

We spent 2 nights at Vero, another of our favorite stops. We tried to get in a beach walk but the tide and surf was too high so we settled for a long walk in the Riverside Park. The next day, we pulled into Stuart where we will stay until Mid-January when we will head for the Bahamas. Our Stuart adventures will be described in the next update.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Steve and Jean

Update October 18, 2010 - Michigan to Hilton Head

The summer rocketed by and now September is over and its halfway through October. We’ve had a very busy time month since our last update and its time to fill everyone in on our travels and other adventures.

In the last update we were traveling with Eldon and Dianne on Maine Visions and had just reached Detour Village, Michigan. From Detour, we headed out the next morning, traveling through the Le Chenneaux islands to Hessel. The first couple of hours were rough as there was a strong westerly wind which was kicking up 3 to 5 foot waves in  Lake Huron. Once we got behind the islands things settled down and it was a good trip through the islands to Hessel.

Hessel is a pretty little town which turned out to be very busy as they were hosting a sailboat regatta and the harbor was full of Pearson Ensigns. However due to the strong winds they were not sailing that day. The full harbor meant that they had to scramble around to find space for us. They did, partially by moving the committee boat. Eldon went over to say thank you and we were invited to the dinner cruise that night. Amazing what a little rum can do! The dinner cruise was fun and we got a chance to talk with a number of the sailors who were from all over both countries.

Grand Hotel - Mackinac Island

From Hessel we went to Cheboygan where we rented a car and drove back to the Soo to get our car and Eldon’s plane. (He got back to Cheboygan long before we did!). The next morning I took a plane ride with Eldon and we flew over Mackinac Bridge and Island, Hessel and the Le Chenneaux islands and northern Michigan. It was a clear day and the scenery was beautiful. I also got to fly the plane a little – a very different experience!  The pictures below were all taken from the plane. They are the Mackinac Bridge, the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the harbor there.

Harbor at Mackinac from the air

Straits of Mackinac Bridge

It was time for us to go so Jean and I headed south, stopping for the evening in Frankenmuth, MI, a town we’d never heard of. It turned out to be very interesting. The town had been founded mostly by German immigrants and  they had retained their Bavarian heritage and the downtown was primarily done in a Bavarian theme which was quite nice.  We had a good German meal there that evening.

The next day we drove through Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, stopping for the evening at another interesting find, the Cumberland Inn. The Inn is owned by the University of the Cumberland and is quite nice. It was advertised as having a museum attached but no word on what the museum was about. We got there in time to tour it and found it was a private collection of stuffed animals from all over the world. It was quite interesting. After a swim in the pool, we found the problem. It was hard to find a decent restaurant nearby. The picture below is an example of the museum exhibits.

 

The next day we traveled to Hilton Head. The scenery on I-40 between Knoxville, TN and Ashville, NC was outstanding as the road ran along a river and through several tunnels.  We arrived at the boat about 4 PM and found Sun Cat had endured the summer nicely. The dehumidifier had done its job and there was no mold anywhere. The boat was dirty but otherwise in good shape. It was very warm with temperatures over 90. The weather stayed that way for several weeks.

Scenery of I-40

At Hilton Head, we’ve mixed trips to the pool and beach with working on the boat. Among the many boat projects we’ve replaced the radio antenna and main GPS as well as several lights, the refrigerator and the injectors on one engine. In the process I’ve rewired a good deal of the bridge, removing several hundred feet of no longer used wire in the process and eliminating a negative ground strip that wasn’t attached to anything. I’ve also done a great deal of routine maintenance including topping the batteries, and changing all of the filters and the oil in the engines and generator.  

We’ve also been fortunate to be visited by our friends and relatives. Alan and Susan on  Kaos stopped by for a few days as did Phil and Alice on Wonderland. We also had a couple of visits with Chuck and Claria of Odyssee. In addition, Ken and Sharon on Dockers Inn spent a month here and my brother and sister and their families also visited for a long weekend and more.  During their visit we again attended attended the  Jazz and Brew Festival here in Shelter Cove. Son Bill stopped on his way back to Florida and we visited one of Jean’s high school classmates.

Dockmasters office at Sunset - Shelter Cove Marina

To give one a feel for how things go for us on a daily basis, this was what today was like. We had breakfast and coffee in the morning sun out on the sundeck and then went to work on the boat. I’ve had a persistent leak around the starboard electrical connection box so we put the dinghy down and proceeded to clean out the old sealant and add new. Of course this meant turning off the power and sealing both the inside and outside of the box. This wound up taking about 2 hours. We then took a dinghy trip about 2 miles to a restaurant at another marina for lunch. Then we came back, secured the dinghy and took the bikes to the pool where I did some laps and we enjoyed the sun.  Then it was back to the boat where I fixed the head yet again. This was followed by happy hour on the sundeck where we enjoyed the live music from the outside restaurant about 200 feet away. After dinner, we took a walk around the marina, a distance of about a mile. Now I’m watching football and writing this after corresponding with several of our friends.

Still having a great time.

Steve and Jean

Update 8/15/2010 - Maine to Sault Ste Marie

 
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Greetings from Northern Michigan!

No Trader didn’t make a wrong turn. We are cruising for a week or so with our friends Eldon & Dianne on their Grand Banks 42, starting in Sault Ste Marie .

The Bubbles - Jordan Pond-Acadia National Park

Our trip in Trader went very well. After Perry’s Creek we had another wonderful sailing day to Northeast Harbor on Mt Desert Island. Northeast is one of our favorite stops and we spent several days there. We took the bus to Jordan Pond, walked around the pond, had a nice lunch and then walked about 4 miles on the carriage trails to the Brown Mountain trail head where the bus picked us up again. The picture to right is Jordan pond with the bubbles at the end. We climbed them last year.

After a trip to town for the farmer’s market we took a cruise up Somes Sound which is the only natural fiord in the US. Our favorite mooring was occupied so we went over to Cranberry Island where we picked up one of the town moorings for the night.Somes Sound is below.

Somes Sound

The next day it was a long mostly motor to Rockland. After a morning walk to the grocery store, we headed for Teal Island where we rafted up with our friends Larry and Cathy for the night. The next day we had planned to visit relatives in Round Pond, but they were not available and with threatening weather we headed for Boothbay again.

The next stop was Sebasco Resort where we had a nice lunch on the outside patio, used the pool and took an evening walk on the golf course. Sebasco is always a great stop! Then it was back to Portland to get organized for the next trip and the return to Sun Cat.

We had a good dinner with our friends Barb and Stew and did a CYC Wednesday night race on Trader with Steve and Christine and Christine’s kids.(I think we finished third!)

On Thursday we finished packing, visited our old house to say bye to the neighbors and hello to the new owners, cleaned up Trader and then headed to Steve’s for dinner.

Niagara Falls from Cave of the Winds

Then the current road trip started. First it was off to Cape Cod for a few days to see my mother. The next stop was dinner with my sister and husband, stopping for the evening near the Mass/NY border. Then it was on to Niagara Falls where we met up with Bob & Sharon of Catch Me If You Can, who happened to be there in their land yacht. We spent the next day playing tourists, viewing the falls, and doing the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds trips (and getting quite wet!).The picture to the right is from the hurricane deck of Cave of the winds and the one below is on Maid of the Mist.

Wet but happy crew on Maid of the Mist

That afternoon we drove to Tim & Jans where we stayed for a short visit. The  next day we spent traveling through rural Ontario to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan where we met up with Eldon and Dianne. We played tourist a few days before taking off in the boat. We toured the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point on Lake Superior (Remember the Edmond Fitzgerald??) and spent another day riding an excursion train to Algoma canyon in Ontario.

Canal at the Soo - lock is behind us

Today we went through the Soo lock and motored 15 or so miles into Lake Superior and turned around and went back through the lock.Its always interesting to be a tourist attraction! The picture left is exiting the Soo Lock in Sault Ste Marie. We then proceeded towards the Straits of Mackinac, stopping this evening in Detour Village.

Update July 26, 2010 Hilton Head to Maine

It sure is nice to be boating again! Wind flowing through the bridge, dolphins swimming in our wake. Its too bad the trip was only 3 days!

At the end of the last blog we were in Jensen Beach waiting for the new windows for Sun Cat. They were supposed to arrive on Thursday (after a lot of cajoling of the manufacturer by Lamb’s) so we drove to Jax, stopping in Daytona for a nice lunch with our friends Bruce and Ellie. The next day it was on the Hilton Head where we left our car and drove a rental back, arriving Thursday night only to find no new windows. The truck that was supposed to deliver them had driven right by and they were now in Georgia. The folks at lamb’s then tracked them down and went to the depot themselves Friday noon to get them.

I should note here that timing was getting critical. The boat was not insured in Florida after 6/15 and that Friday was 6/11.  If we’d had to wait until Monday (6/14) we might not have made it.

Anchorage at the Wahoo River

In any event, the windows were installed Friday afternoon and we were able to leave on Saturday morning, spending the first night on anchor at Cumberland Island. The next day the tides were wrong for hitting the shallow spots on the Ga. ICW  so we elected to run outside from St Simons island to Sappello inlet. It was a good run except that it was very warm (over 100 degrees), so even outside it was not cool. We found out later the ocean temperature was 85 degrees! We spent that night anchored on the Wahoo River which is another of our favorite anchorages. The picture to right is the anchorage at Wahoo.

The following day we were up early and made it to Hilton Head in the afternoon. We got the boat secured and I told the dock attendant we would be up to check in the next day. We’d had enough of the heat and were headed for the pool!

It was very warm all the time we were at Hilton Head. We got in some swimming and biking and beach walks but the time went by too quickly and the following Wednesday we painted our way out of the boat and headed north again by car. The destination this time was Jean’s high school reunion in Vermont that Saturday. We chose to go up I-81 versus I-95 to see something different and were rewarded by a much more scenic drive through the mountains. We also saw something we’d never seen before when the car registered an outside temperature of 104 degrees on our way through Charlotte,NC. We picked out hotels with pools. On that Friday night we stayed in Albany and had dinner with Greg and Bill Gardiner and their wives. They are longtime friends from my childhood.

That Saturday, we had lunch with Jean’s niece and her boyfriend and then went to the reunion which was fairly well attended by folks who were now from all over the country. Jean had a good time connecting with her classmates, many of whom she had not seen for over 30 years. We hope to see some of them again.  We stayed that night at a condo with one of her classmates.

Bill's boat moored of their home on Lake Champlain

The next day we were off to Lake Champlain where we spent 2 days with Gold Loopers Bill and Jill from Transition at their home on the lake. While we were there, we took a trip to a nautical history museum that Bill used to be on the Board of and took a ride on the lake in one of the several classic wooden boats owned by Bill. The boat is in the picture sitting in front of their house. Then we headed west again to visit Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop.

We helped Tim and Jan celebrate Canada Day which included an evening boat ride with one of their friends for fireworks. It was a bit thrilling to skim over the lake at 40 knots in the dark but we had a good time and a great view of the show. We also took a trip to Toronto to see downtown. The trip up the CN tower provided a wonderful view of the city and Tim pointed out some of the landmarks and places he had worked. The tall ships were in so we walked along the docks and viewed the ships as well.

Toronto Harbor from CN Tower

That weekend, the four of us drove to Penetang, Ontario (Georgian Bay, Lake Huron) where we visited with Ron and Janice on OB2 and John and Pat from Gypsy Time.

Coming back to Maine, we were over two hours getting across the International Bridge but made up for that with a nice dinner in Clayton New York with George and Jane from Time Out and Lee and Carol from Carol Ann. We arrived back in Maine the next day in time to have dinner with son Steve and Christine. We had driven 60 hours and over 2900 miles since leaving Hilton Head.

The next three weeks were basically spent emptying and cleaning the house. The process took much longer than I ever expected. We took many trips to Steve’s with stuff to store or to use.  We had an auctioneer come and take a truckload of stuff away. We had a two day yard sale, we had a bookseller come, we had piano movers come and we had the Salvation Army come. Everyone except the bookseller took stuff away. Throughout this process, Steve, Christine and son Bill were a tremendous help. We couldn’t have finished it without them. I’m pleased to say we are all finished and the house is ready for its new owners.

We also took time to have a bit of fun. We had dinner with friends Larry and Cathy and Horace and Barbara, did a cookout at Fort Williams park with Steve & Christine, did a sailboat race, spent a weekend with Bill, had dinner with our neighbors, Rick & Pat and Dan & Merideth, and sailed to Peaks Island for dinner one night.

Yesterday, we started a short sailing vacation on Trader. The first day was 33 miles in light wind to Boothbay and today was 40 plus miles in as much wind as we wanted to Perry’s Creek, which is an anchorage on Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay. We had expected to meet a group from the yacht club here but instead of Centerboard Yacht Club we found another CYC, the Camden Yacht Club.

As I said at the start of this, its great to be boating again. We had a good sailing day today, seeing dolphins and seals and enjoying a warm sunny day although the wind was a bit strong.

Enjoying a Maine sail.

Steve and Jean

Update June 4, 2010 - Vero to Jacksonville

Hello to all

On the beach at Vero

I know, I did it again. Hopefully we’ll get cruising again by fall and I’ll find more time to keep these updates flowing. We said 2010 would be a transition year for us and it is certainly proving to be that. In the last update we had left Stuart and were headed up the ICW with the last update coming from one of our favorite stops, Vero Beach. The picture to the right is Jean with some great sand sculpture we came across on the beach at Vero.

After a couple of good days at Vero we motored up the waterway rather quickly, anchoring off Titusville for the night and then proceeding on to Daytona Beach where we spent a couple of days enjoying the beach and visiting with our friends Bruce  Ellie. The picture to the right is Seven Seas Marina in Daytona which is one of our favorite stops.

From there we motored all the way to Jacksonville Beach to get a good start on the river currents the next day as the current in the St. John going up to Jax can be fierce if it is running too hard against us. It meant staying at Beach Marine rather than anchoring out at Pine Island but as it turned out it was a good move for unexpected reasons.

We got off early the next morning but as we motored up towards the river we heard the Coast Guard announce a notice on the VHF that the St John River would be closed for approximately 4 hours that morning starting around 0830 while an underwater pipe was laid across the river. The exact location wasn’t clear ( I will eventually learn to understand southern drawl, even over the VHF) and we proceeded on while trying to find the location we were hearing on the chart.

When we reached the junction of the ICW and the St John River we held up for a large container ship to pass and began to follow him up the river. (He quickly outran us). At one point we passed two Sea Tow boats anchored and passed close enough to ask where the closure was and were told we were in it but that they hadn’t started yet. We made it through with about 20 minutes to spare. Had we stopped at Pine Island the night before we would have been held up for several hours while they laid the pipe and then had maximum current against us.

The rest of the trip upriver to Lamb’s was uneventful. That afternoon we drove back to St Augustine where we had a nice dinner with George and Jane from Time Out, stopping in Green Cove Springs to get our mail on the way.

The mail stop provided another surprise in buying a car in Florida. We had expected to pick up our permanent license plate for the car in that mail but it wasn’t there. We called the dealership to find out what to do and learned that Fl. does not mail the initial plate to the owner but instead sends it to the dealership. Luckily, the dealership had just received it and we told them to hold it as we could pick it up the next day.

Our plan had been to take the rental car from Jax back to Jensen Beach and pick up our car (about 225 miles each way), dropping the rental in Stuart. The dealership was in Palm Beach another 40 miles further so we added about 80 miles to the overall trip but were at least able to secure the plate before leaving for Maine which we had planned for the next day. We took Bill to dinner, said good by and got back to Jax tired but still on schedule.

We were 5 days and about 1800 miles in getting back to Maine. The highlight of the trip was stop to visit Lee and Carol of Carol Ann at their home in Maryland. We took their jet skis and did a +/- 25 mile trip up the river to Salisbury where we had a nice lunch at a restaurant on the water. I’d had little experience driving a jet ski and Jean and I had difficulty at times keeping up with Lee and Carol but it was a lot of fun with nearly perfect weather conditions for such an outing. It certainly is different traveling at 25 to 30 miles an hour over the water!

The following day we stopped in Cape Cod for a visit with my mother and brother and family. Mom is doing great for 90 plus and we were able to take her out to lunch twice while we were there.

We found the house in very good condition when we arrived and soon settled in and got organized. The house is under contract to sell with the closing scheduled for July so we had a lot of work to do. Our plan was to store the things we wanted to keep at son Steve’s house and set it up so we could stay there when we in Maine. We quickly discovered that the renovation project which Steve had started last fall was no where near complete so Jean and I spent most of the next month sanding, mudding and painting sheet rock, installing knotty pine wainscoting, cleaning up construction debris, organizing and cleaning the rooms downstairs and painting the floor at Steve’s while at the same time sorting and organizing things at our house. By mid May the project at Steve’s was finished but we had barely started! At least the project came out looking very nice.

On top of that Bill came back to Maine earlier than planned and we spent Memorial Day weekend at his place cleaning, organizing and fixing things to help him move back in and begin the process or readying that property for sale.

We did take some time to have a little fun. We went to two daytime Sea Dogs (Double A baseball) games, had dinner with Larry and Cathy at their home and on their boat, had dinner at Eldon and Dianne’s, went to a cook out at Dan & Meredith’s next door, attended a couple of CYC events and spent a beautiful day sailing Trader from South Freeport to her mooring at CYC. It was good to get out on the water again, this time under sail. I also was able to have lunch with my office partners and got a tour of the new office facility. It looks great. Nice job G! The picture to the right and below is Hadlock Field in Portland where the Sea Dogs play.

By the end of May, we had moved most of what we wanted to store to Steve’s and I had packed up what seemed like countless boxes of glassware and dishes. We should be able to wrap up the rest fairly quickly but that will be in July as we need to get Sun Cat out of Florida by June 15.

While we were in Maine, Lamb’s was working on Sun Cat. The front windows had been leaking for some time and the wood around them had rotted. We had been able to slow the leaks by covering the windows with sunbrella (which also is an effective and necessary sun screen). Therefore we had Lamb’s rebed the windows and replace all of the rotted teak around and under them. Also, we had been having trouble with the aft cabin windows leaking and after their removal determined it would be better to replace rather than refurbish them. So back in April, new windows were ordered from a place in Miami. In addition, I’ve been concerned with the rust spots on the engines so we had the engines cleaned and repainted as a step toward preserving them.

The new windows were supposed to take 3 to 5 weeks which would have been before Memorial Day. So we left Maine on June 1, stopping at Cape Cod again as well as to visit Jean’s sister Gail in NJ and my niece Kelly in SC. We had planned to leave our car at Hilton Head and drive a rental to Jax but since the windows are not in we decided to continue on and are presently at Jensen Beach at the condo. We hope to return to Jax on Tuesday or Wednesday and leave on the boat on Thursday or Friday. We had a nice dinner last night here with Alan and Suzanne of Kaos.

The weather in Maine this spring has been beautiful and we hope the summer will be more of the same. The temperature here in Jensen Beach Florida is in the high 90’s and we are about to head for the pool.

On the road again!

Steve and Jean

Update April 5, 2010 - Punta Gorda and Stuart

Well, I did it again. The months just seem to fly by! For someone not working at a job I seem to stay awful busy, and the time just flies! Therefore this update will cover 2 months of activity.

We left Ft Myers beach fairly early and had a good trip up to Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda. The trip up the Peace River was longer and took longer than I expected but was otherwise uneventful. The marina has a tradition of happy hour on the dock at 5 PM every evening and also has a nice pool. However it was so cold the happy hour only occurred twice and I only got into the pool 4 times. Way too much time was spent in long pants and jackets!

Highlights of our stay there included several dinners out with Ray and; Linda from Summertime and Jim and Trish from Great Expectations both fellow loopers. We also had a short visit from our neighbors, Rick, Pat and Dan but unfortunately it was too cold and windy to go out on the boat so we had to settle for lunch and a trip to Pine Island.

Larry and Cathy also visited us for several days and something similar happened. We had planned to take them out to Pelican Bay/Caya Costa State Park but once again it was much too windy. Therefore we had to settle fo a long bike ride, a trip to the Edson Ford estates and a Lee County park (to see the Manatees) in Ft Myers, and a trip to Boca Grande Island by car. We also had dinner out with one of Larry’s former business partners, Bruce & Doritt. The last day we finally got in a short boat ride down the bay and back. The picture to the right is Larry driving a power boat!

Larry at the controls

Other events included a trip to a jazz concert and rooftop bar with Jim & Trish, and a couple of pot luck dinners. These included a “B Dockers” party which was held away from the marina and included many people who had previously stayed at the marina and had now purchased houses in the area. We also played Mexican Train Dominoes with Ray and Linda several times, enjoyed the super bowl with Jim and Trish, took numerous bike rides and enjoyed the (free) entertainment at the Fishermen’s Village Shops. The month was over much too quickly.

Tim and Jan (from Lamb Chop) joined us our last day there for the trip back across the Okeechobee Waterway to Stuart. The first leg was back to Ft Myers Beach where we picked up a mooring for the night. Ray and Linda came over for happy hour and we had an uneventful evening. After getting fuel the next morning, we headed upstream stopping again at the Franklin Lock. Jean and Jan learned to play hillbilly golf at the RV park there. The next day we traveled through more locks, stopping again at Moore Haven for the night. We were able to get in a nice walk around the town, which had little of interest but the exercise was good. The picture below is Tim getting a little help at the helm!

Tim at the controls

A short day -15 miles followed as the wind was too strong to try to cross Lake Okeechobee, so we stopped at Clewiston and got in another good walk. Tim cooked some awesome ribs that evening. The next morning we got up before dawn and left as soon as it was light to get across the lake before the wind came up. We failed somewhat on this and had a somewhat rough trip across the lake. It was a relief to get through the Port Mayaca lock on the far side and we had an uneventful trip the rest of the way into Stuart other than being held up by two railroad bridges. The four of us had a good dinner that night with Alan and Susan from Kaos, trying out the 23oz drafts from the Jensen Beach Ale House.

The following day (Friday)we took a rental car and drove back to Marathon with Tim and Jan. We had a short but good visit there, partying at Sparky’s with a number of our boating friends and staying overnight on Lamb Chop.

We drove back to Stuart on Saturday arriving just in time to pick up Alan and Susan’s car which we would have the use of for the next 3 weeks. Thank you Alan & Susan! Son Bill arrived that evening and we commenced to get the condo set up the next day. We purchased a bed and some appliances and did a few minor repairs on the items identified by the home inspector. Bill was able to stay there by the second night.

The rest of the month was a blur. Rick and Betsey were renting a place on Nettles Island for the month and we were able to get together with them several times. Eldon and Dianne flew in for a couple of days to join us and we were able to go to the maritime museum with them. Larry and Sue (from Sue Sea Q) visited for a week by land yacht and we had a number of afternoons and evenings with them as well. Alan and Susan returned and we had a couple of nice evenings with them. We also ran into Mike and Judy, friends from New Brunswick and spent went out with them a couple of times and of course we spent many days and evenings with son Bill who put on several dinners for ourselves and our friends. The picture above is the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the picture to the right is Jean and Bill on our (unsuccessful) trip to see Manatees. This was as close as we got!

After looking at our plans for the summer,we decided to buy a car and I learned all about buying, insuring and registering a car in Florida. Every state is different and insuring anything in Florida seems to be an adventure! The condo insurance took forever and we got quotes that were several times the entire house in Maine. Fortunately we also got some more acceptable ones as well. On top of that, the company Sun Cat has been insured through is getting out of the marine business so I was working on that as well. Combine these with doing our income taxes and way too much time was being spent on the computer! Fortunately the weather has finally warmed up and we were able to swim a bit in the pools at both the marina and the condo.

We left Stuart on Easter Sunday (yesterday) and traveled to Vero Beach where we got in a nice walk in the sunshine. This morning, we got up early and saw the shuttle launch. It is an awesome sight even from 50 (or so) miles away! We will be here for a few days and then will head up toward Jacksonville.

That is a quick summary of two months activities! Still having a great time!


Steve and Jean

Update 2/2/2010 - Jacksonville to Ft Myers Beach

Greetings from Ft Myers Beach

As you can see we have left cold snowy Maine behind. Unfortunately it has been colder than normal here although low 70’s are far better than winters in New England. January has gone by like a rocket shot. We spent the last week of January visiting with friends and working on both our house and Steve’s. We had a nice dinner with Eldon and Dianne on Thursday night and on Friday night I did a program at Centerboard Yacht Club on cruising the great loop. On Saturday we went to a birthday party for our friend Larry Clough which was also attended by a number of our boating friends/ Sunday was spent with our sons and then on Tuesday (1/12) we flew back to Jacksonville to pick up the boat. It was around 40 degrees when we arrived and we were pleased to find the heat in the boat running. The boat was in good shape when we found it.

After a day of errands and provisioning, we set out for St Augustine, fighting the current much of the time. We were met in St Augustine by my brother Ron who would be traveling with us for most of the next week. From there, we had a good run with the current to Daytona Beach. We took a short walk on the beach and then enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends Bruce and Ellie. The next day we had another good run. Strong winds and heavy rains were forecast for that evening so we went into the marina in Titusville and took a short walk/ We found a good bakery but failed in our quest for Ron (a railroad buff) to see the trains which run close to the marina.

We set out the next day for Cocoa planning to either stay at the park dock or anchor out. Unfortunately we found the park dock to be fully occupied. and the winds were again very strong. We had a 20 degree heel from the winds on the boat some of the time!
Therefore we opted to into Melbourne Harbor and stay at the Marina there. We arrived in the middle of a sailboat race and had to dodge the boats trying to start and moving quickly under shortened sail. We had a nice walk around Melbourne, finding the Ice Cream shop but once again missing the trains for Ron.

The next day we went into Vero Beach which is one of our favorite stops. The weather had warmed up enough for shorts. We took a walk on the beach, splashing our feet in the water and enjoyed another good happy hour at The Pearl.

After Vero, we stayed at the Harborage Marina in Stuart for almost 2 weeks. During that time we shopped to a new home that our son Bill could stay in, We also had several nice dinners with both Alan and Susan from Kaos and Bob and Allie from Bali Motu both at their homes and at restaurants. In addition, we took a little time to enjoy the pool at the Harborage. Our search may have been successful. We made an offer on a property which was accepted. However, the seller is a government agency which repossessed the property and we have now been over a week dealing with various versions of paperwork. I can’t believe anyone would want these people to be controlling their healthcare! Hopefully the process will come to a successful conclusion.


From Stuart we proceeded across the Okeechobee Waterway. The first day was a short run to Indiantown where we stopped as the lake was too rough to cross that day. When we hooked up the electricity, the circuit breaker tripped immediately and I spent the rest of the evening trying to find a short in our system. It turned out the problem was the GFI breakers that were part of their system. The next day we crossed the lake accompanied by Toucan under acceptable but not idea conditions as the waves were around 2 feet with occasional larger waves. The crossing took about 3 hours and we were glad to get to the other side although it really hadn’t been that bad. We stopped at Moore Haven that evening and tried to go to a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended to Toucan. We found it closed and wound up with Pizza as a substitute. The next days run was good, and we stopped that afternoon at the Park at the Franklin Lock just in time to avoid the rain. The park is small but nice.

The last day on the Okeechobee started under partially sunny skies but soon clouded over and it was raining by the time we passed Fort Myers. The rain let up as we reached Ft Myers Beach and the sky lightened so we decided to fuel up then rather than wait until morning. (Ballard Oil in Ft Myers Beach is one of the best places to fuel up in Florida) The rains came back quickly and we got very wet taking on fuel. We had planned to pick up a mooring ball but we were offered the fuel dock for the evening so we stayed there rather than picking up the mooring in the rain and then having to launch the dinghy and go in and pay for it in the rain. As I write this, it is still raining but we have dried out.

Its supposed to be nice tomorrow!

Steve & Jean

Update 1/3/2010 - Hilton Head to Jacksonville

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Hello to all from Snowy Maine!

It’s a marshmallow world out there! As I write this on Sunday morning its been snowing pretty much continuously since Thursday noontime and its supposed to snow most of today.  No wonder we are more than ready to return to Florida! Clicking on the link below will get you to a web site that will let you play dean Martin's Marshmallow World song.

http://www.last.fm/music/Dean+Martin/_/A+Marshmallow+World

In my last update it was November 1 and we were about to leave Hilton Head. This is what has happened since.

Our first day out of Hilton Head was short as we traveled only as  far as Thunderbolt, Ga. Thunderbolt is a savannah suburb and has the distinction of being the only town in the country so named. We had dinner that night at Tubby’s with Ray and Linda on Summertime.

The next day was not a good one. The trip through Ga. was pretty but uneventful. However, when we went to anchor that afternoon, the anchor line parted at the rope to chain splice. We rafted onto Summertime and tried to drag a grapple with the dinghy to find the  anchor but were not successful. Then as we returned to the boat (as it was getting dark) Jean informed me that she was not able to start the generator. This was a surprise since we had tested it a few days earlier. After a few hours of testing I determined that the problem was the electric fuel pump. Fortunately I had an electric pump I could make work and after another couple of hours the generator was working again.

The next day we traveled the rest of the way through Ga. to Fernadina Beach where we spent a nice evening with Tom and Jerry Claire at a pot luck dinner held at their sailing club. Calls to Lamb’s and West Marine during the day got a new fuel pump and new anchor and chain on order as well. The following day we went to Jacksonville where we stayed at Jacksonville Landing, a free dock right in the middle of downtown.  It was the first Wednesday of the month so they were having their “art walk”, a 4 hour event where they serve free wine and one gets to view artwork in a number of interesting buildings, some of which we toured. The following day we walked around, did some shopping and went to the maritime museum. This museum is small but has a lot of historical information about Jacksonville as a major river port (which it still is).

After a day at Lamb’s getting the new fuel pump and anchor on board and installed we headed upstream (south) on the St John River. The first night was spent at Palatka. We were having a quiet drink with Summertime when the locals on the dock invited us to go to dinner with them in Welaka, so off we went to a very rustic lodge and marina for dinner and some live entertainment.  The following day we anchored in Murphy’s Creek and went exploring in the dinghy looking for wildlife. We saw plenty of birds but no alligators.  The river here is largely undeveloped and is quite pretty. It gets even nicer further down.

After another night in a pretty anchorage avoiding strong winds, we crossed Lake George and spent a night at the Blackwater Inn in Astor. There isn’t much in Astor but strong winds were predicted (there was a hurricane warning out further north) and the dock at the Inn is only $10 a night. However, we did have lunch and dinner at the Inn so that made it a bit more expensive a day.  From there we went all the way to Sanford which is effectively the head of navigation. We spent several days there touring the town and visiting  the museum.  They also had an evening event going  downtown called ‘”Alive at Five “ This consisted of live bands and street vendors and free food and drink. What fun!

The next night was spent in a pretty anchorage called the river forest loop. In addition to the usual wildlife we saw wild turkeys and another large bird that stood over 3 feet tall. Then it was back across Lake George where we anchored for a couple of hours in the afternoon and took the dinghies into Silver Glen Springs State Park to see the manatees, followed by a night at Georgetown marina. (There is nothing there!). The next three nights were spent at three more nice anchorages-Deep Creek, Six Mile Creek and Black Creek and then it was back to Lamb’s where we spent a day or two and then left Sun Cat to fly back to Maine for the holidays. Sun Cat will get some needed maintenance while we are up north.

The five or six weeks here in Maine have been a blur. We had a pleasant Thanksgiving with our sons Steve and Bill, and had a good trip to the Cape to visit my mother and my brothers family. We also spent a nice evening with old friends Rick and Betsy Blake.

Steve is in the midst of a major renovation of his house so I’ve spent quite a bit of time helping him with insulation and sheet rock. It’s a big project but he’s doing it the right way and it will be very nice when he is done.

We had somewhat reluctantly decided to sell our house here this fall so we have also spent a good deal of time cleaning and organizing things here at the house. It looks great! There have been a few showings but no nibbles yet.

Christmas was spent with our sons and was over all too quickly. It seems hard to totally relax for that holiday but we managed to have fun anyway.

In addition we’ve visited with friends, attended the “Past Commodore’s Lobster Stew” at the yacht club, and went to several concerts. We hope to see more of our friends before returning to Sun Cat.

We wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2010!

Steve & Jean

Update 11/09/09 - Hilton Head

We arrived back at Sun Cat just before Labor Day and spent the weekend cleaning the boat and traveling to the beach and the pool. It was great to be back in nice warm weather although the last 2 weeks in Maine and the week in upstate New York were also warm and we wore shorts most of the time there as well.

Shelter Cove Marina Hilton Head

As I reported in the previous update, the boat was in good shape when we returned but had not been cleaned all summer so we spent a number of days cleaning and polishing with particular attention to the plastic windows that surround the bridge and sundeck. We also cleaned the dinghy and added a new coat of UV protection as well as had the divers clean the bottom and running gear. Our plan was generally to work in the morning and play in the afternoon and evening. It worked for the most part!

We traveled to Beaufort twice the first week. We had a nice lunch there with Ken and Sharon Vogel, a couple we had met at Hilton Head 2 years ago. We also made a trip to get a new set of tires on the truck as one had gone flat and one was bad. We also had a nice dinner with my niece Kelly and her husband Steve at their house in Blufton.

After a week or so, we had lots of company. Ron and Brenda came for another visit as well as my sister Sue and her husband John, her son David and his family and her daugher Kelly and Steve. Everyone stayed at Kelly and Steve’s in Blufton and we had a good time traveling with them around Hilton Head and the area. One day we took the Sun Cat and went over to Daufuskie Island for lunch, ducking rain showers the whole time. We also visited the Harbortown lighthouse and south beach as well as the nature preserve in Sea Pines. Steve had grown up in the area and served as a guide. Ron & Brenda took us kayaking in the lagoons of Palmetto Dunes one morning and we spent a day with them playing tourists in Savannah. The picture to the right is the view from Harbortown lighthouse.

Palmetto Bluff, SC

Soon after ever they left, fellow cruisers Bob & Sharon on Catch Me If U Can arrived and we spent much of the rest of the time there showing them around Hilton Head, working on our boat, going to the beach and pool and partying with them. Among other adventures, we went to a classic car drive in, took a boat ride to Buffalo’s restaurant at Palmetto Bluff, attended a performance of Cabaret and played many games of Sequence. We also enjoyed many dinners together with Sharon preparing several wonderful meals and Jean introducing them to a Low Country Boil.The picture to the left is the restaurant at Palmetto Bluff

Before we left Hilton Head, we traveled to Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, Alabama, which is on the Tennessee River. There we attended a Rendevous of the American Great Loop Cruisers Association where I did a presentation on traveling from Key West to Jacksonville. It was fun to meet the latest group of Loopers and tour some fo their boats. We actually got to see a larger Symbol of the same vintage. The picture below is the view from our room at Wheeler.

The river at Joe Wheeler State Park Alabama

The time had come to leave Hilton Head. We returned the truck to Chuck and Claria. We’d used it so much and really enjoyed it. The F-150 is definitely a good vehicle! It was sad to leave our friends and a place we like but we wanted to do a tour of the St John River in Florida before flying to Maine for the holidays so we had to go. Our next update will cover that adventure.