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!

Happy Thanksgiving From Stuart Florida!

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving.  Jim and I are so very thankful this year for our continued health and all the love and support of our families.  We have achieved the first chapter of our dream (surviving the trip from Erie PA to Stuart/Port St. Lucie Florida) and we are very much looking forward to the next. 

Please continue to follow our journey and don't hesitate to post a comment.  Or if you prefer just send us an email.  We miss all our northern friends and especially our family.  Give us a call and then Come On Down! 

Jim and Linda

November 8-16

LM: Since our last chapter we've reached some family in Port St. Lucie. This last week of the trip included two nights in Vero Beach Marina utilizing the laundry and their intra-city bus routes for some re-provisioning. From there we anchored for a night behind Nettle's Island just outside the St Lucie River mouth. Friday was a blustery day and once again we battled strong winds and currents for that last 15 miles into Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, Florida. We'll be staying here through Thanksgiving while spending as much time as possible with the kids and grandkids! Seeing them makes the last four months all worth it!

We're also working on the transition from “always-on-the-move” to true “Live-Aboards”. The reality of retirement and our unlimited time frames are all new for both of us.   Anywhere we stop now, we're surrounded by people living on their boats.  I knew we wouldn't be alone but I never imagined there were so many peolple doing this.  Full time, part time, seasonal, stay in one location, move around to favorite places, etc.  One of the guide books we use (printed in 2006) estimates the number of snow bird boats at more that 15K each year. We're trying to listen and learn from all this experience and most cruisers are happy to talk about their adventures. 

Jim has some maintenance and repairs to catch up on and I will be attending to the daily domestic parts of our routines. We are scoping out the local waters for carefree places to day sail. What do we do all day? You'll have to keep checking in with us to find out. JM: We're both so happy to finally be doing what we've wanted to do for so long.

So, what's happening where you are? jlmsail@yahoo.com

MANATEE MONDAY

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Special Edition – Manatee Monday!

Yesterday (Sunday 11/6) we motored through some very narrow sections in Mosquito Lagoon passing up Rockhouse Creek anchorages and the lagoon before anchoring just beyond the Haulover Canal Bridge. The tiny basin here has a public launch and room for one boat to anchor, two if you set a second anchor and can keep a safe distance between the two boats. We were very excited about the possibility of seeing some manatees. They are known to be plentiful in this area. The basin was very calm and quiet except for the pelicans, egrets and cormorants diving around looking for dinner. Otherwise we enjoyed a very quiet night. A few afternoon sprinkles sent all the fisherman and boaters home early. The sun sets earlier now too so once we had the anchors set we closed up the boat to keep the little biting bugs out. After dinner it was lights out and no sightings as of yet....

Manatee Monday!!! Before I had even sipped my first coffee we had Manatee sightings within 50 feet of the stern. After at least an hour and 21 pictures (see pics), we had to stop watching so we could get dressed and really start the day. What a great place to sit and watch these creatures float around and move along slowly. One manatee came right over to our boat, checked out the dinghy for a while, then put his snout right up onto the stern for a sniff. These things weigh 1000-1500 lbs. We are sure of there being 5 manatees, as we could see that many at the same time. There were probably a few more but they did not surface at the same times to be sure of a higher count. After finally getting under way we enjoyed another 39 miles of waterway which took us past Canaveral and Cocoa Beach areas. Winds built a few times to over 20 and we had a sudden downpour lasting just a few minutes. The Eau Gallie port is now part of Melbourne and located at ICW 914. We anchored in the Indian River here and just watched some incredible colors in the sky. It's not as if we've never seen a rainbow, but WOW, we just had a double full range rainbow so close and so big it took two shots to get it all with the camera! (see pics)