THE FINAL DAYS / January 22, 2016

I have to back up a little here.  The last days to cast off were so hectic!  Oh. my. gosh. Had to get rid of a car.  Get our mail forwarded to Mike's office, so his CFO could take care of any emergencies.  Luckily I pay most bills on line, so that was covered. Provisioning drove me crazy!  Food to take, clothes to take.  We have limited space so you had to plan, load, take off, re-load.  Then I finally said what the heck...we are not going to be in the middle of the ocean!  I can buy what I need when we are docked at marinas, or ship home if I don't need.  So once I made that decision, it was quite a bit less stressful. But I still had a hard time sleeping those last few days. The anticipation was killing me, we just needed to GO!

A friend of ours had a friend that comes down here every winter from Michigan and needed a place to stay for a few months. So we met Leah, she was perfect and she loved cats.  We were worried what to do with our sweet Missy. 

Leah sent this of Missy on our bed.

Before we left, a friend of ours Bill Fisher, who is also planning on doing the Loop when he retires, stopped by with a bottle of champagne and a gift card to West Marine; which we have nick-named Tiffany's.  If you are a boater then you know what I mean.  Unfortunately, Tiffany's, oops, West Marine is sometimes  the only place you can find what you need.  I have to fess up tho, I stole that name from my friend Bonnee and her husband Casey.  But it's perfect. 

Bill took this photo of us the day before we left.
He said we were his heros. 

                                     

                                     

VISITORS / January 8, 2016

Living on the Inter Coastal Waterway we get to see "Loopers" pass by our house almost daily this time of year.  It's pretty cool to know that we too will be Loopers very soon.  

One of the Looper couples we met at the Rendezvous in October were Mel and Ann Cosgrove from Birmingham.  They are the couple who let us watch the Auburn game on their boat.  We told them they were more than welcome to make a stop over at our house on their way to the Keys.  

Since we sold our  Cabo Sport fishing boat, we had space for another boat.  So on November 22, Ann and Mel docked and plugged in at our dock.  It was so neat meeting this delightful couple at the Rendezvous and then being able to host them at our house.  

We took them to one of our favorite Seafood restaurants and introduced them to Stone Crab.  Mel was hooked. I hear they even had them for Christmas Dinner.  We have already made plans meet up with them on Morning Star II when we go to the Keys next month.

Ann and Mel at the Island Grill

ON THE HARD / January 8, 2016

"On the hard"  is a boating term for the boat being pulled out of the water to have the bottom or the hull worked on.  It's a lot more technical than that, but for us boat novices, you get the idea.

Mike wanted to get the hull re-painted and at the same time they apply this stuff called prop speed.  This does not sound like what you think it would be.  It is this dull gray looking flat paint that keeps algae and parasites from growing on the metals, so I'm told.  So once they pulled the boat out of the water, they discovered quite a bit of blistering.  Now this does describe exactly what it looked like.  And blisters are NOT a good thing.  Before any painting can be done the blisters have to be sanded down and there should be no moisture around those blisters. The more they sanded the more they found. It takes a loooong time to dry.  The boat ended up being out of the water for just under two months. 

Mike was having withdrawals, not being able to tinker on it for that long.  I'm sure the service manager got tired of him calling and stopping by.  Finally after spending quite a bit more than was expected, because of the blistering, we took her back to our Yacht Club on December 8th. In case you don't know BOAT used to mean Break Out Another Thousand, but with inflation...it's Break Out Another Ten Thousand.  Remember....it's a boat. 

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...