Happy Holidays

We've had several days of rain and sprinkles this past week. We're told it's very unusual to see so much rain at one time and for so many days in a row. Last Friday night/Saturday morning Port St Lucie got 7” of rain which caused several road closings and also flooded the parking lots and back yards everywhere. (Yeah, we're really missing the northern weather patterns.... If that was frozen precipitation we would have had 6 ft of snow! ) We did have to bail out the dinghy which was very close to being total submerged. We had left it over night while staying with the kids. It only took about 10 minutes and we were off a running.

The winds are generally out of the east, north east, and range from 10 to 30 each day. Every once in a while we will see a calm flat day and then the strong severe winds again. We're having to try to learn these new patterns so we're better prepared to say what is a good day to travel and what is not. The “weather windows” are so very important to this new life. It's a very popular subject up at the marina building and patios. We've met so many other couples living aboard and enjoy trading stories and experiences with them. Some have already moved on to prepare for a “crossing”! The journey from Florida to the Bahamas isn't very far, but again that weather window combined with the northerly gulf stream make it a very calculated event.

We're so very happy and warm here in Stuart and we know it's going to be a difficult day when we detach from the mooring next month. We have two weeks of family fun ahead and then we'll be moving on.

Jim and I hope that you and your families are also doing well this holiday season and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Living Aboard_Nov 2011

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Making Lists

Anymore, if there are more than 3 things to remember we need to write them down. And we haven't escaped making lists by simply sailing away. When we really got serious about the To Do list for our trip the lists were several pages long. We had a list of lists just to try to organize it all. No really, we had the house list to prepare it for the market. We had vehicle lists to keep them running and to prepare them for sale as well. We had all the work involved with liquidating the contents of the house, too. Then we had the boat lists! We got most of the work done, but not all of it. The house was sold without any problems. The vehicles were sold after a few necessary repairs. Our personal stuff was reduced to a more manageable load. And the boat was complete enough for us to set sail, kind of...

Now that we have finally reached Florida and warm weather we're back to working on the proverbial list. There were a few things we never quite finished before leaving PA and of course there are a few new entries to the list.

LM: After we write a few things down we think of a few more and all of a sudden it's amazing how long the list really is. It's just like still having the house.

JM: I was worried about being bored silly with nothing to do. There's always plenty to do.

If you know anything about us at all, you know we like to stay busy, we always need to have a project, and we like working on the boat. We're having a great time trying to put a dent in that list, and our new home gets more and more comfortable every day. We're adapting easily to the Live Aboard lifestyle here at Sunset Marina. We're surrounded by so many other full time Live Aboard couples and daily routines become a necessary behavior. Each day of the week might be designated as laundry day, or grocery day, or one of my favorites – go to the beach day! Everyone has their own routine and we all move about each day tending to our chores and saying hello as we pass one another at the dinghy docks. A few of our latest projects include: rewiring the inverter, sanding and conditioning the teak trim in the head, scribing and sanding a new swim platform before installing, polishing all the stainless steel on deck, and washing off the salt water stains on the boat's hull. The work never ends, even in retirement. Some things on our list would never have been accomplished up north. The season was so short that the priorities were very different. You do what you have to to keep the boat working and then try to use the boat as many days as you can before the season is over. When the season ends we would put the boat away for the winter and forget about the projects until spring. Now we have all 12 months to balance work and play! And the list...may it never be done!