THE RENDEZVOUS / October 24, 2015

We attended our first Looper Rendezvous October 14-17 at Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina on the Tennessee River in Rogersville, Alabama.

Since we knew the weather would be nice, we decided to take our RV and we were not disappointed.  We did not have to run the air at all and we got to see some nice fall foliage, nice break from the Florida heat!

Rendezvous' are put on by the Looper Association (AGLCA) twice a year.  May in Norfolk, Virigina and October at Joe Wheeler.  Mainly because many Loopers are in the area at those times of year.  This is a great opportunity to those of us in the planning stages to meet others in progress and those that have already completed the Loop, called Gold Loopers.

There are several seminars a day, basically the do's and don'ts of cruising the Loop.  From how to provision both food and medical supplies to learning about where to stay and things to do on different legs of the trip.  Dinner and lunch are provided each day.  Most everyone looks forward to the "Looper Crawl".  Where anyone can go aboard boats that are owned by Loopers attending the Rendezvous.  It's especially useful for planners who are unsure of what kind of boat they want.  We even got to go on then "Reflection", owned by a Looper that wrote a book about their trip.  They are on Loop #2.  

To me, the best part of the weekend was meeting fellow Loopers.  Our favorite couple was Mel and Ann from Mobile.  They attracted our attention when we saw their Auburn shirts at lunch. Due to all the trees in the RV park, our satellite could not pick up anything.  So I decided I needed to make friends with these two and maybe get an invitation to watch the Auburn/Kentucky game that night.  So I found them later at their boat, yelled War Eagle and the deal was sealed.  Mel is quite the storyteller.  He got me hook, line and sinker three times! 

 But we had a great time, plus Auburn won the game!  We exchanged info and are hoping they can stop by our home in St. Pete Beach, since we are just off the Intracoastal Waterway, before we leave in January.  Otherwise, we are planning to meet up in the Bahamas sometime in February.

Mel's boat, Morning Star II, if you look hard you can see the Auburn Shirts.

Everyone tells us the best part of this adventure is "the people you meet that make it so worthwhile". This is a big reason why we are embarking on this journey.  We exchanged info with several other couples as well.  A few plan to stop by our St. Pete house and others we are making plans to meet up somewhere down the road on the Loop.  Who knows where, but that is half the fun.  No schedule...just take it day to day.

We had an added bonus while we were there.  An old friend from college (no offense Carol), Carol Darden Gordon and her husband Mike, were on their inaugural trip on their new boat, just up the road in Florence, Alabama.  We enjoyed a champagne toast on their new boat and a great Mexican dinner.  They completed the Loop in 2006-07, so we picked their brain about their experience.  Carol would do it again in a heartbeat, Mike not so much.  

Carol and Mike's new boat, Evelyn J.

 We can't wait to "be in progress" at the next Rendezvous in Norfolk in May.  Maybe we will be one of the couples giving advice about the do's and don'ts. 

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE / September 10, 2015

Our first trip without another Captain.  The purpose was for me to get more experience driving and docking.  So we took a quick trip to Long Boat Key Club in Sarasota.  

Another gorgeous day on the water.  The dolphins love our boat, they love to surf our wake.  I drove pretty much the whole way, we left Thursday September 10th at 1 and arrived at 4.  But I did not dock, we felt the slip was just to narrow for me to maneuver.  

Long Boat Key Marina is kind of expensive, but you get what you pay for.  It has a very nice restaurant, ship store, bath house, laundry and pool on premises.  You also have access to the resort which you can get to buy a shuttle that runs anytime you need it.

The first night, Mike had pizza and I had stuffed mushrooms at the marina restaurant, which were both very good.  

On Friday we took the shuttle to St. Armand's Circle shopping district.  We bought some cruising clothes and some yummy nuts.  Had lunch at a French restaurant.  We waded in the pool for a couple of hours and met a couple from Palm Harbor on a weekend trip in their 34 foot Sea Ray. We had leftover pasta for dinner on the boat, watched a little football and went to bed.

Saturday we took the shuttle to the Ringling Museum.  It was more interesting than I thought it would be.  He loved Italian art and culture, their house looks like an Italian Villa. They have quite the art collection, huge banyan trees and a lovely rose garden. We learned he bought and started St. Armand's Circle so his wife would not have to go far to shop.  He even had a boat in the Gasparilla parade in the 1930's.

 I did not know that John Ringling was nearly broke when he died.  But he did have the foresight to bequeath the entire 66 acre property to the state of Florida, so now we all can learn and enjoy the history of the circus in America.   

We left Sunday around 9, the weather was a little iffy,  we had hoped what we saw on the radar would have moved on by the time we got back home.  No such luck.  But it was probably a good lesson on how the boat handles rough seas.  She fared pretty well. And it was the first time we drove from the Pilot House so that was fun as well.  We did get blown out of the channel a little and ran aground.  But luckily the wind and waves pushed us back and we were going pretty slow so we don't think we did any damage to the props.  We will find out pretty soon, when we haul it out to be repainted.

We did make it home safe and sound in about 3 hours.  On the way home was when I made the decision that Mike is going to dock us 99% of the time.  If there is an emergency I think I can dock us bow first, but it's the backing in I don't think I'll ever learn.  I think I'll just handle the lines from now on. 

This model circus was huge and very intricate.

THE MAINTENANCE / September 17, 2015

"It's a boat..."  That's Mike's favorite saying whenever I complain about something breaking or the cost of a repair.

So I'm sure you can imagine there are a lot of things that can go wrong and will go wrong on a house floating in the water.  But we are trying to get as much fixed as possible by professionals, so hopefully we won't have as much to fix on the water somewhere ourselves.

So far we've replaced 2 out of 4 air conditioners.  Replaced a small refrigerator with a 2 drawer combo frig/freezer.  Had the teak railing refinished.  Bought a new anchor, not a cheap one by any means, but better to be safe than sorry.  Had satellite TV/Radio installed, but hey, it works using Bluetooth, oh boy!  Mike's selling point, haha.  Let's see, new strainers, plumbing fixes, electrical fixes and plenty more I'm not aware of I'm sure.  Because ..."it's a boat...."

Luckily the previous owners left the sheets, tons of charts and maps (which can get costly, so that was nice). I had a lot of towels, cleaning items, dishes and kitchen utensils since we had 2 houses for a while.  That does not to include the tons of little things that crop up.  But I guess we are more prepared than we were 3 months ago.  I'm sure this will be an ongoing post, remember..."it's a boat..."

THE SHAKE OUT RUN / September 17, 2015

I decided I needed to do another post to keep you all interested.  This blogging thing takes time and I need a little more practice.

So I'm backing up a little here.  We actually did the shake down run before The Training Post.  We went to Key West June 16-23 with my old friend from high school and college, Bonnee Brooks Jones and her husband Casey, who happens to be a captain, a big reason why we wanted to do this shake down run.  We figured we would rather be safe than sorry on this first trip, so having another captain on board would be a good idea!
I had not had my training lesson yet, so Mike and Casey did all the driving and docking.  I did learn a little about tying lines at the docks though.

We took the Inner Coastal to our first stop, Little Gasparilla Island Marina.  The seas were perfect, winds kept us cool up on the flybridge and we even had dolphins swimming along side the boat.  We arrived around 5 pm.  Not one of the better marina's we've been too, no cleats and no help.  But we managed, had a quick dinner, watched a little TV and called it a day.  A long day in the sun and gently rocking, made for a sound first night sleep.  This was the first time we had slept on the boat and found the bed pretty darn comfortable, even tho it is a queen and we are used to a king.  
  
After a couple cups of coffee we untied and headed to Rose Marina on Marco Island.  The people at the marina were very helpful, had great docks and ship store.  Bathrooms were small but clean.  Dinner at a local bar was fair, but the walk there and back was nice and relaxing. On our way to Marco, we passed by sister's condo.  I texted her to look out her window to see if she could see us.  It was so funny, she saw us, or our boat I should say, and I took a picture of her condo.

On the 18th, Mike decided we would be in for a long day because there was not really any place else to stop before Key West.  So he wanted to see how much time we could make up by increasing our speed.  Normally we travel around 8-10 knots (about 9.5-11.5 miles an hour).  But he pumped it up to around 14-15  knots.  We made great time, 6 hours, but burned 3 times as much fuel!  Lesson learned...But good to know in an emergency we have that option.  Off in the distance we saw the Key West Express a ferry that runs from Ft. Myers to Key West in 4 hours!  Now that's burning some fuel.  But for $100 a person it's a pretty quick and easy way to get there.

We arrived at Galleon Marina around 3pm.  Nice floating docks but kind of narrow.  After tying up we headed for the pool for a nice relaxing cool swim.  NOT!  If you like bath water.  So disappointing after a long hot 90 degree day on the water.  Shower facilities were OK but I've seen better laundry facilities that's for sure.  

We cooked on board two nights and went to the Raw Bar at A & B Marina the last night.  It was very good and we had a seat in the corner where both windows were open so had a nice view of the marina, people watch and saw a couple of rolling tarpon.

The next day we went on the famous "Conch Tour Train".  Kind of hokey but was a way to cool off with the breeze blowing, it was pretty darn hot while we were there.  Our last day on Key West we basically hung out.  The guys did some maintenance and Bonnee and I did a little laundry.  After dinner we had to go to Mallory Square.  Which  is always entertaining, you can't go to Key West and not go and watch the sunset.  We saw the obligatory mimes, fire thrower, dogs dressed in costumes and just overall weird people.  But it would not be Key West if not for those sights.

We left early the next morning heading back to Rose Marina on Marco Island, finished off the leftovers and hit the hay for the long run to Captiva Island the next day.  We stayed at South Seas Plantation Marina.  Nice dockage and great shower facilities.  They even provided towels and hair dryers.  My sister Suzy and her husband Larry live in Ft. Myers, so they came to see the boat, then the 6 of us had dinner at Doc Ford's at South Seas Plantation.  

The last day home was uneventful.  We got back to the Yacht Club, thanked Bonnee and Casey for their help and got our land legs back.  All and all, pretty smooth sailing and I for one was glad to have Captain Casey on board, you never know....

War Eagle, baby!

Back seat sailors...

They just love to play in our wake.

Role playing...

Typical Key West Sunset antics.

A little R and R, boating can be so tiring...

Captain and Admiral

Sisters...

THE TRAINING/ January 19, 2015

I did not want Mike to teach me the ropes...pun intended!
We had had a few run ins on tying up to the dock and me driving in the past.  So needless to say I did not want him teaching me about this boat.  He would get frustrated and I would get discouraged.  Enter Captain Chris.

We hired Captain Chris as our boat trainer for four days in July.  We covered markers, signals, reading charts and electronic navigation.  We spent nearly a whole day in the engine room.  I learned about impellers and hoses.  How to read oil sticks and gauges.  I drove and docked.  I still need a lot more practice in docking, but I think in case of an emergency I can get us to help!  I'm feeling more comfortable and I think Mike even learned a thing or two!

THE BOAT/ July 19, 2015

I was starting to get more excited about the trip.  I read two books written by two couples who had done the Loop, while Mike looked for boats on line.
In March we went to Ft. Lauderdale and met with a boat broker we had met at the seminar.  We had narrowed the search down to six boats we found on line.  We did not know exactly what we wanted, so we picked several different kinds of boats to help us with that decision. 

We did make a list of the priorities we were searching for.

1.  Speed- most trawlers just go 7-10 knots, we wanted the option of going faster in case of bad weather or an emergency.
2.  Fly Bridge
3.  2 Engines
4.  Up galley

We did not find our boat on that trip, but we did learn a lot more of what we needed vs. wanted.  Back to the internet.  We had been told it could take up to two years to find the boat that was right for us.  But Mike had other plans.  We did not have two years, he wanted to leave next January of 2016!

He had seen a boat in Orange Beach Alabama on line, and now that we knew more of what we wanted, that one was looking more promising.  It was a 48 foot Offshore semi displacement trawler.  That meant it could go faster and was about the right length.  The pictures looked pretty good on line, but pictures can be deceiving, so in June we made plans to go see it.  Thinking we might need another set of eyes and unbiased opinion, we took another Captain friend; Casey, the husband of my friend Bonnee.

The owners had completed the Loop in October, so it was low enough to go under the many bridges we would find on the Loop.  It was totally re-fitted in 2012, meaning all new electronics, the sofas had been re-covered, the engines had been gone through. The electrical system was totally redone, with updated televisions and satellite TV's and back-up systems. Keeping a boat up is an ongoing battle, "Salt water is hell on everything" we knew we would have to update some systems on any boat we choose.

We went home, made pros and cons lists comparing another boat, but the Offshore won out.  So after a little negotiating, on June 10th we had found our Rowe Boat!

THE IDEA / January 19, 2015

Mike has been wanting to do this for a couple of years now.  His one main obstacle...me!  I did not know much about boats.  They are quite intimidating and I'm still learning ropes are called lines, left is port, right is starboard and many more nautical terms.  AND more importantly; spending a whole year with the same person confined on a floating two room house seemed pretty daunting to me!

He persuaded me to go to a Looper seminar this January.  We met others like us still in the thinking and planning stages.  There were also a few who had already completed the Loop.  A lot of them had the same questions and apprehensions we had.  About the closeness thing, it's just like at home, you each go to your own space and cool off.  Most of the finished Loopers said the trip actually brought them closer; because you had to trust and depend on each other to get the job done. The one thing they all agreed on; just do it!  If you wait until you think you are ready, you will never start.  I was beginning to warm to the idea after this seminar, but still needed more convincing. 

One of the speakers was Chris Caldwell and his wife Elise.  They lived on a boat for 19 years and just recently bought their first house.  They started a boat training business and had a lot of good, practical ideas I could understand.  More on Captain Chris later.

Fun Fact: less people do the Loop in a year than climb Mt. Everest!  
We will be in very exclusive company. 

THE PLAN / January 19, 2015

If you are reading this, then you know Mike and I are taking the plunge again...
no not that one.  In mid January 2016, we are planning to set out on a 5,000 mile year long boating adventure called America's Great Loop.  We will basically circumnavigate the eastern part of the US.

We will leave our home port in St. Pete Beach and either travel through Lake Okeechobee (the "Ditch") or down to the Keys and over to the Bahamas for a few weeks.  Then cruise up the eastern seaboard through the Inner Coastal Waterway to the Chesapeake, and into the Hudson.  Then the Erie and Oswego Canals into Canada and cruise the Trent Severn Waterway.  Back into the US via Lake Michigan, the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Then the Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile and finally cross the Gulf back home to St. Pete Beach.

We plan to take a year, but one thing we were told was take one day at a time, be flexible.  We will go through over 150 locks, take lots of side trips and meet lots of new friends.  We already have 5 couples who plan to cruise a segment of the trip with us. 
We hope you will follow us on this once in a life time adventure!

leannmikerowe@gmail.com

To learn more about America's Great Loop check out this link.
www.greatloop.org