Recent FUN sail

A couple of day ago we went for an afternoon sail with some dear friends. We had Jason, Nicole, their two children and many of their in-laws on board. In all, we had eleven on board counting the children. We had light winds that afternoon but a fun time was had by all. Here are some pictures of the day's events.

We have been working on the teak trim and varnish but got side-tracked. It looks good now but wait til we get finished with all the coats we're going to put on her! The materials are here to start the new mainsail cover so her look will be changing again soon.

Darrell and Ann have been compiling the information to renew their captain's licenses. Ann even got to teach some diving earlier in November. Just like riding a bicycle.....kinda!

Time sure flies by when you are busy! We have been doing lots since the last post. We have been for one or two more 2 day sails. The best one was the last one. We went from our mooring south to "Cowpens" anchorage in Islamorada. The place got its name from history of the Keys when they used to herd the manatee cows into this area. We were just outside Snake Creek for the first night then we went under the drawbridge at 10 AM the next morning and headed north in Hawk's Channel - average speed about 6+ Knots. We anchored at Pumpkin Key (just inside of Ocean Reef club) that evening (over 40 miles that day even with the late start). On the way back to Key Largo the next morning, the winds were very light so we got up the courage to try out our Gennaker. For those of you who may not understand this term - it is a light, downwind designed sail that neither of us have ANY experience using. We have been wanting to get it out to try it but the winds were usually too strong or we could find many other excuses not to get out of our comfort zones. Anyway, that morning, we got a dose of courage. Darrell was at the helm and we rolled in the genoa in preparation so our speed dropped to 1.5 knots while I was forward on the deck readying the gennaker. While I was up there, I thought the winds picked up a little but I was busy getting all the lines and "tackle" sorted out. Anyway, I was finally ready to hoist the beast. The sail has something to help contain it until you are ready to let the wind fill it (called a sock) so you send them up together then raise the sock to open up the sail. When we took the sock off, we went from 1.5 to 6.5 knots in the blink of an eye and the boat heeled over about 15-20 degrees! It was exciting!!!! The whole flight of "Wild Thang" probably only lasted 10 -15 minutes before I went back up and doused it with the sock. Getting that sock back down over a big parachute full of wind was not easy - in fact at one point, I didn't have the lines secured to anything on the sailboat and I thought I was going parasailing! It was a great workout for me but since I am usually the photographer, we only have one picture of it in use. I was headed forward to take a picture of it on the foredeck when all H___ broke loose and I had to throw my phone back into the cockpit so I could wrestle the beast. There definitely is a learning curve there for both of us on using a cruising gennaker. Perhaps next time we'll get more pictures. On that trip, we also got Alibi out into deep blue water for the first time.

Our latest undertaking is to refinish all the Teak trim on the boat. Darrell and I had some time on our hands while awaiting our trip to Texas to visit family - bad thing, too much time! Anyway, we began scraping, sanding and prep work to varnish the teak and had the whole thing planned out to do in stages since there is a lot of wood on this old boat. Three days of scraping and sanding and we finally put the first two coats on the back half and some of the pieces that could be taken off the boat to work on. She is looking good but there are several more coats of varnish to go. We will post before and after pictures later.

We have a new mainsail on order and will be making a new cover for that when we get it. Even though we have a sewing machine fully capable of doing the work, we opted not to try and make our own sails. We did some repair work on a friend's sail and that was a chore. The other canvas work is done and we are truly enjoying the protection from weather.

All projects are at a standstill for now - we are flying to Texas today for a long overdue visit with family. When we return, we will get back to putting more coats of varnish on the wood and getting her ready for some cruising. We are glad to report our friends on board S/V Selkie have made landfall in the US Virgin Islands and report that within 1.5 miles of the coast of St. Thomas the water is that beautiful sapphire blue that we occasionally see here in the Keys. Someday we will go see them!

A recent sailing trip on august 17th and 18th - we went from our mooring to Barnes Sound and through Card Sound - out Angelfish Creek to the Atlantic Ocean and south to just a few miles from our house ( near the Pilot House Marina). We sailed the next morning to Sanke Creek and back to the bayside to return home. It was lovely! We all enjoyed it very much.

The dodger is nearing completion - just a few minor tweaks to get her done. Then we plan to install a window in the top of the bimini and a "connector" between the two to keep the cockpit dry as can be. She is looking good! We also got new lettering done that lists our hailing port and changed the color to navy blue (eventually will be khaki and navy) instead of green.

We are getting bids for a new set of sails but they are pretty pricey so we're not in too big of a hurry. We bought some line today to replace some of the more worn lines of the "running rigging". Eventually all of it will be replaced. Most of the items on our list are MORE big ticket items so we are slowing a bit in our spending spree.

Yup, we have had a little time to do some sailing! Here is a shot from the parasail boat that docks in the marina with our dive boats. Isn't she beautiful!!?? She will be even nicer when we get the dodger done - the sewing machine is coming back next week!

Not a lot of news but we are steadily making progress on our list of items. We are certainly getting itchy feet too! About time that we make a pilgrimage to the Texas panhandle. We miss all the family back home.

We enjoyed a visit from Tom Loveday this week. He seems relaxed on Alibi - a bit TOOOOO relaxed!! LOL Great fun the other night, Tom!

New Electronics all working - $$thousands

New House Batteries - $$hundreds

Peace of mind - priceless

Yes, I was enjoying a cup of coffee this morning in the cockpit of Alibi when I saw dolphins swimming nearby. Not everyone gets to enjoy something as nice as that! Roxy was down in the cabin but you can be sure that when she sees them, she is on alert!

We went sailing yesterday and the day before but the weather was less than cooperative. We had rain and more rain so we came back home - drowned rats!

We are about to have all the electrical issues sorted out on her. We are ready to tackle making a new dodger. All her documentation and paperwork is in order. Need to do some work on the windlass - it seems that Ann put it in a bind the other day and probably blew a breaker or something. Anyway hauling up an anchor and all chain rode is not exactly Darrell's idea of fun - HA! Enjoy the pictures of another sunset in paradise.

OK here we are with July almost over! Summer has been HOT and BUSY! A good problem to have - right? We had a wonderful time showing our appreciation to the staff that helps keep our divers safe and happy on July 4th. Some pictures here.

Update on Alibi. I had forgotten in the last couple of posts to mention that Captain Al and Darrell installed some gauges in the cockpit so we can monitor temperature, oil pressure and volts. After driving dive boats that had these, we felt they are pretty important. They look real nice and they took up some of the space where the old electronic instruments were.

We have all new electronic instruments including a color chart plotter, radar, sonar, and satellite weather at the helm. It took us a few days to get it installed and working - in fact, still have a glitch with the radar to sort out but it looks real nice. Will get a picture of it after we get the teak trim finished.

New bimini top is almost completed (just a few tweaks left) and the dodger will be the next major project. Darrell is a great seamstress helper! It seems that the lighter color may make the cockpit a few degrees cooler. The company where we bought the materials for the new bimini and dodger recommends that we replace the sails when we get ready to change the canvas on the two foresails. They said that it is a lot of work and if the sails are old that we would be more or less wasting all that effort soooooooo - new sails are on the horizon but not right now.

This morning I was sweeping and washing down the cockpit and I was thinking: How nice is it to have a living room that can be hosed down. After we get this canvas replaced, we plan to add zippers on all sides to put up shade cloth. That will help make the cockpit cooler in the evenings and possibly deter some of the mosquito population.

We had a visit from Jason (Ann's favorite fishin' buddy) and car chief on the #20 car. He did some diving and some fishing while he was here. Sorry Nicole couldn't come but she's out of comission for diving right now with Baby Ava still in the oven. Great times, Jason! Thanks for the fishing reel!

We were given a lovely thank-you gift by Jerry and Sandy (the ones we went sailing with in June). They gave us a set of Tervis Tumblers with S/V Alibi and our names on them. For those of you who don't know - they are insulated cups that save on ice down here in the tropics. They're great! Thanks Jerry & Sandy!!!!

We have been preparing the Island Ventures crew for us possibly taking off in September for a trip to the Dry Tortugas. It is a destination we have been wanting to do for a while and the dive business slows down considerably then. Keep your fingers crossed that we have the weather to do that.

Middle of July! Where has the summer gone? Whew!

Well the updates are as follows:

1) We bought a new dinghy because the old one was leaking both air and water - no we didn't fix it when we did all the work shown in the last photos.

2) We got new electronics installed but it is not functioning yet - still have to figure out what Darrell and Capt. Al didn't do or something.

3) I have an office full of fabric and parts/pieces of a new bimini top and new dodger (the pretty cloth and vinyl that keep us dry in the cockpit). We took off the old bimini yesterday and installed some new hardware on the ends of the bars and have it positioned right now to begin making the patterns to cut a new one. We're moving it back farther to shade the helms person and we're going to install a "connector" between there and the dodger to give more weather protection. Instead of green we're going to make it khaki so perhaps it will be a few degrees cooler in the brutal Florida sun. We have our work cut out for the next several days/weeks!

We had a staff appreciation party on July 4th. We rafted one of the dive boats to Alibi and filled coolers with beer, rum punch, and had plenty of snacks. Front row seats for the fireworks were great! Roxy even was pretty calm for all the commotion (doggie downers are great).

The pictures of Roxy getting a bath are take at the shop - our dive gear rinse tub. She was none too happy about getting a bath in public! Hope all of you are having a safe and wonderful summer - we are.

Jessica, Happy 22nd Birthday!
Summer is speeding past in a blurr. Darrell went to Amarillo earlier this month and had a great visit with family and friends. Here are a couple of pictures of him and Roxy in the dinghy with his suitcase.
We went to work on the dinghy to try and find the leaks in the tubes. We bought some liquid stuff like fix-a-flat and had to roll it around in the tubes so we put it in the basin and flipped it every which way. Here are some pictures of Darrell and Capt. Mike who drives for us working on the dinghy. We still have some leaks and will most likely try and find a source to get new tubes instead of buying a whole new inflatable.
We had a very busy Father's Day weekend at the dive shop but Sunday evening, we departed for a sailing trip. Two friends (Jerry and Sandy Canning) who are sailors came and we went for a day and a half sail. We left the dock around 7PM and motored up into Barnes Sound for the night. Ann chose an anchorage close to the mangroves to try and give a calm mooring for the night (strong west winds). Darrell didn't want to get that close to the land. Welllllll we learned a lesson - listen to Darrell. We were SWARMED by mosquitoes!!!! They were clinging to the net on the companionway trying to get in and suck our blood. Many did in fact make it into the boat and all four of us are covered in mosquito bites - in spite of the bug spray, OFF candles, and incense sticks. Whew they were BAD!
But we did manage to get up and plan a hasty departure just after sunup the next morning and outrun the rest of the swarm! We sailed north through Card Sound and out Angelfish Creek to the ocean. We went to Turtle Rocks and did a snorkel venture. After that, we sailed back home. Jerry and Sandy have a lot of sailing experience and gave us several good tips! We had a great time and are already planning the next trip to meet them somewhere. They own a 40 ft Catalina and live on the southwest coast of Florida.
We are back at work at the dive shop and are beginning menu planning for the July 4th party mentioned in the last post. Sometime in late July or early August (Happy Birthday Darrell) we will begin the installation of new electronic instruments on Alibi. The chartplotter and radar will be COOL! Of course Darrell and I still like our PAPER charts too.
In less than a month, we plan on having Jason (our NASCAR friend and Ann's favorite fishing buddy) come down and do some sailing, diving and fishing. His wife, Nicole, is expecting their second baby and will stay at home this visit. Plan on keeping up on the blogs because there will be some great stories from that visit!
Ciao for now
~~~~~_/)~~~~~

Saturday, June 13

Yes, my friends, progress is being made on this old boat. We have replaced many of the items lost from the lightning strike AND we have made some progress on "the list" we had before that. Many of the items had to be shuffled and prioritized because a lot of items require electricity to work.

After the last post, we learned that we owned a bosun chair but didn't know it. We had borrowed one from our Friend Joe Wilson and found out that we have one almost identical to the one we were using. THANKS!, Joe. Have not made any more trips up the mast lately but have made progress on the lower levels of the boat.

Darrell went to Amarillo this week and while he was gone, I did a few more things to the boat. I bought a new stereo as we both missed our music and NASCAR. I got it installed and was jamming to some tunes last night. I did a service on the marine head yesterday - what a shitty job! We bought a new start battery last week and the house batteries seem to be holding their own for now (they are also several years old). I have spoken with a friend who works at West Marine and he is going to come over and help us sort out some of our electrical issues that are above and beyond our level of expertise (inverter and electronic instruments).

I am beginning formulating plans to replace the dodger and bimini on the boat. We had a lot of rain this month and we like to spend a lot of time outside. In fact I consider the cockpit more like our living room than the salon area. Especially with this South Florida heat - we have to have all the breeze we can get. We still get lots of compliments on the boat - many from total strangers passing by in other boats.

Its hard to believe that the summer is going by so quickly! We are planning a July 4th party out there in Blackwater Sound. We're going to raft the two dive boats up on either side of Alibi and people can mill around on all three - plus we'll be legal with numbers of passengers and life jackets and all. The fireworks will be right over our heads and we will have all the modern conveniences right there - what fun!!! Above are a few pictures I took recently off the boat, hope you enjoy them as much as we did being there watching.

~~~~ _/) ~~~~

Friday, May 29, 2009
Great NEWS!!! We have a masthead light. We were unable to get the wires down the chase inside the mast but we ran them in the mast and hopefully they won't clang-clang in rough seas. We think that the PVC pipe chase must have fallen down inside the mast all the way to the bottom and someday when we step the mast, we'll correct this (just not now). The most frustrating part is that when Darrell pulled the old wires, there was a break in one wire about 2-3 inches from the top that we couldn't see. Oh well, we have new wire in there that we know will last another 20 years barring anymore lightening strikes. I am busily doing online searches for the other electrical parts so if any of you find chartplotters or anemometers or inverters in your storage sheds, give us a call.

Last night we had a surprise visit from Captain Jorge and Chelsea. We heard "Hello Neighbor" from a slowed passing boat and I said - that sounds like Jorge. Anyway they spent about 45 minutes touring and visiting. For thsoe of you who don't know him - Jorge worked with us at Kelly's and he was our mentor when we were studying to become captains. It was a very happy reunion!

Probably another trip up the mast today to complete some previous work and then we hope to return the bosun's chair that we have borrowed. Perhaps next post I can put a picture from above and below with "one of us" up there. Just waiting on the clouds to clear out so we aren't human lightening rods.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Longtime between posts. We have been busy with divers over Memorial Day weekend and in between work, we trudge away at the tasks at hand. We have determined that the wires inside the mast to the top for the anchor light were probably fried and neither of us can get them to come out the top or the bottom of the chase in the mast. Ann has gone up the mast (50 + ft) two or three times and Darrell has one or two - it is really fun up there except when a boat comes by and makes a big wake - then you cling to it until the waters calm down.

According to all that we can test and all that we can read, most electrical items on the boat will eventually get replaced. They are just not built to withstand that kind of current over that short of a time. We have resigned ourselves to slowly but surely work on one item at a time - we sometimes get impatient and want her back the way she was! We are still VERY ahppy with the boat and very proud to be the owners. We started the porcess of getting all the documentation changed over - I know we should have started this sooner but didn't.

We're looking into making a trip home to Texas in early June. Plans have yet to be finalized but we'll be "landlubbers" for a few days then. We are looking forward to the chance to hug Jessica and tell her in person how very proud we are of her for making the cut for Dental Hygeine school!

More later,
Sparky and the gang

Monday, May 18, 2009

These pictures show the after and the before of the fateful lightening strike. We are all safe and well following the incident but still trying to sort out what electronics were adversely affected. We are fast becoming better at electrical work and testing!

We had a storm pass through the upper keys this evening. We were on the sailboat having just finished the work day and busy doing projects. There were lightening strikes all around us until boom - one struck our mast at about 8 PM. We are just beginning to sort out which electrical systems were affected. We are all fine but it had us rattled for a while. We need to listen to Roxy better. About 15-30 minutes earlier, she was looking at the dinghy like she was about to get in it. She knew it was made of rubber and a safer place to be for what was coming! Anyway we have a new "list" to get to work on. I love making lists!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We continue to be so happy with our Alibi! We are working away at the "to do" list and feel like we are making great progress. Dick and Nelda took such good care of Alibi that the list is not all that long. Most of our projects revolve around the fact that she was in dry storage for a while AND she is not a new boat. Anyway I am scratching things from the list every day.

We were busy this weekend with lots of divers here so not much progress was made but we earned our keep. We are now into our typical summer weather pattern with less wind and more heat/humidity. That almost shuts down progress on "the list" during the middle of the day as it is like a sauna when you're working in some of the tight places on a boat - speaking of that, I was reading a list of things that Dick made up for us and had a great laugh this morning. One task on the boat is to change the oil in the windlass periodically and it is not an easy one for anything larger than a pigmy. Dick said we should train a monkey or find a small child to help us with that task. Guess who gets to perform those tasks that Darrell is too big to do - you guessed it - Annie!

The last couple of days had me crawling into the cabinet under the sink to replace a hose from the propane locker. Darrell couldn't get his shoulders through the opening. The picture shows the cabinet right next to the trash can. Yes you could say it was hot in there and since the hose had probably been there since the boat was new, it didn't want to come off. I hope that I sweated off a couple of pounds doing that! I'm on my way to West Marine to pick up a rebuild kit for our main water pump. We were showing off the boat to a friend (Pam Wilson) the other day and when Darrell opened a cabinet to show her the storage space we have, he noticed some water. When I ran the galley sink faucet, water shot out of the top of the pump. We were really lucky to have discovered it with minimal amounts of water in that compartment. Needless to say we are building a check list for daily, weekly, and periodic things to watch. We went to West Marine yesterday for two items and came away with a sack full of stuff - bet they are glad to see us come in their store.

I know this is long but I have to tell a story about our trip up the sound here for lunch. We had seen a sailboat come through (see photo above) that we hoped to get a closer look at so off we went to Gilbert's for lunch via dinghy. Of course Roxy lover the long ride :) Anyway I was reminded of the days when Jessica had a trampoline and we used to play "popcorn". The little waves out there on the bay caused Ann and Roxy to bounce quite a bit and I told Darrell that it reminded me of :popcorn". When Jessica used to do that to me I would get the giggles and laugh until I cried and I am smiling now just thinking about those times.

Darrell went diving this morning so I know that he will be coming back glowing from doing something that he loves. We are doing very well here and hope to get to come to Texas for a visit soon. I've also pasted a picture of my DEAR friend Kelly above. She and her husband and their dog became such great friends to us while they were here. They were making their way from here to the Virgin Islands on their sailboat when her grandmother became ill and had to have urgent surgery on the arteries in her neck. Before Kelly could get to an airport to fly home her grandmother died following surgery. My heart goes out to Kelly for her loss. And we hope Stephen and Jake are not missing her too bad while she's stateside taking care of family business.

Love to all,

Ann, Darrell, & Roxy

Captain Darrell at the helm!

Remember the part about Darrell not getting the motor started......well here they are rowing to shore (potty call) at Rockhouse Creek in Ponce de Leon, FL - the no-see ums were about to eat Darrell up - in fact he had to close hie eyes at times to keep them out of his eyes! I almost got the lighthouse in this picture - it was beautiful!!!

See the boat behind Darrell - they didn't hug the north shore like Dick told us to do and they were aground for about 15 minutes while Darrell and Roxy were running up and down the beach.

There is a tiny little red and white dog's head peaking out of the mess we made on Alibi during the survey - this was Roxy's first visit on the boat and she was at home instantly!

Sunset off the coast of Florida.

Thursday, May 7, 2009
Gosh if this life gets much better I don’t know what we will do! We spend so little time at the house and only stop by to pick up a few items. As I said before, it truly is a very short ride to the dock when I need to get to work. We have to go take care of “land-based” things every now and then but only when we have to. The weather has been wonderful and gorgeous sunsets - tonight we enjoyed a live band from the shore. We have some people who are looking real hard at buying this dive shop from us - and yes, we’ll let them so we can be free to take Alibi where she is FREE. A busy weekend coming up for the dive business so don’t look for a lot of progress on “the List” but keep tuned - we might get to sail her again next week!

Love,
Darrell & Ann, and Roxy

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Slowly but surely we are crossing items off the “to do “ list. I had to work a lot to catch up at the dive shop yesterday. I did make a trip to the house to pick up some things and co course stopped at West Marine! Mothers day cards went in the mail yesterday. The dinghy got repaired yesterday but still has a slow leak - they make some stuff to put inside that must be sorta like “fix-a-flat”. That will be our next move. I moved the electric coffee pot on board and now we don’t have to wait 45 minutes for it to perk. We’re next on the list for the county “pump out” boat as it seems that the holding tank is full. (It’s a short dinghy ride to the dock - thank God!). I still have not quite figured out the SSB radio. I know the frequency and time that Selkie is contacting the USVI but have yet to hear the transmissions. I am listening to the same frequency right now and there is a broadcast called “under way”. Good way to keep up with fellow cruisers - they are good people. Well, it is time to close this report and begin “the List” for today. Stay tuned!

Monday, May 4, 2009

We took her to the dock at Sr. Frijoles and gave her a good scrubbing - she loved her bath! Then we had our second boat guests - Jack and Donna De Vore. They were so gracious to give us a gift card from West Marine - Thanks Guys!! AND they taught us how to light the oven!! We now have hot water fro the water heater (hooked up) and don’t have to depend on the sunshower exclusively anymore. Darrell can’t get me to go to the house to sleep anymore. In fact, we are sleeping SO WELL on her. Tomorrow we will have to go back to work but it is a short dinghy ride over to the dock.

Sunday, May 3, 2009 - Yup we missed a whole day! Feels like it too! She is home in Key Largo and we have begun work on “the List” that we made to make her ready for many more miles. After two years of storage there are some minor repairs that we are busy doing but we both agree she could take us anywhere we want to go - right now (thanks Dick and Nelda for taking such good care of her).

Friday, May 1, 2009

We made it as far as Ft. Pierce last night just before dark at 7 ish to an anchorage outside of Harbortown Marina. The fuel dock closed at 6:30 and we couldn’t get there by that time. We took a dinghy ride in to the marina for Roxy and I told Darrell that I thought that the water was deep enough to cut across the anchorage and we WENT AGROUND in the dinghy!!!! Darrell had to “walk” the boat out to deeper water - of course me and Roxy stayed dry - HA! It was so shallow that only about 1-2 inches of the bottom of his shorts even got wet!!! Yes, he was not real happy with me. When we left the next morning, the sailboat anchored where tried to cut acorss the the night before was aground and trying to get himself off. We got fueal that morning and decided to take Alibi out to sea to see what she would do. Dick told us “now when you decide to go outside be sure to tie everything down real well”. We went through the Ft. Pierce inlet and it was four foot waves in short succession and I tried to go too fast through them. I almost beat Darrell up in the cockpit! The dinghy needed more tie-downs since she had lost air during the trip. I had take care of the inside since I was used to stowing things in a camper for rough traveling roads. Anyway - we now know what Dick meant!!!!!!
Well she really sails nice! She was so happy to spread her sails and run up the coast of Florida - really down the coast! You could tell that she was happy to be back on the water. When the day was fading and it got close to time to look for an anchorage, I let Darrell talk me into a “night” sail. So we just kept going. We motor sailed a lot but could make good (as good) speed without the motor. Fastest speed noted was 8 Kts but the average speed was about 6 kts. We were both worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep so Darrell took most of the Helm hours. I did get about 1 ½ hours of sleep and felt GOOD after I got up. I took the helm and we made “NO Name Harbor” at around 8-9 am. For those who don’t have a chart, this is in Biscayne Bay just south of Miami - we were in our backyard - finally!!!. Darrell was worn out from the night sail and needed rest BADLY! I took the helm again (after taking Roxy ashore) and we started the last leg into Key Largo. We arrived by 7 PM to find our mooring was GONE! We thought that a boat was there when we arrived was taking it because there was a lot of mud stirred up. Anyway we dropped the anchor and stayed on the boat that night.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

We tried to leave as early as possible so the law didn’t come after us for anchoring where it is no longer legal to anchor. Last night Dan showed Darrell the “secret” to the outboard motor - there is a “deadman” kill switch like they have on jet skis which I had seen hanging next to the stairs and wondered why we had one. We got underway at 7:20 and motor sailed south in the ICW again. We are finding many things weathered and brittle from storage and age. The lines are weathered but good for now. Can’t figure out how to get hot water without the sun shower. I also couldn’t get the oven to light but I WILL figure it out!!!! Darrell has been busy tinkering and we take turns at the helm. We woke up extremely early today and I got a little grumpy with D. Of course waking up at all hours of the night because we are EXCITED about this new adventure is nothing new for us. We have seen dolphins multiple times a day - every day. Today we saw an Osprey nest with a mother and 1-2 babies. Winds have been 10-20 Knots today and we have had the main up as much as possible.

Wednesday April 29, 2009

We got an earlier start at 7:30 after Darrell took Roxy to shore for a bathroom break. He couldn’t get the dinghy motor started (more about that later). We experimented with the two fore sails today and got more comfortable with which lines control what and how to trim them. We didn’t lift the dinghy onto the arch but dragged/towed it. We only made 49 NM in 12 hours today (perhaps there is more drag from that rubber thing with a 15 hp motor on it ???? W e anchored next to Cocoa Bridge (illegal now Dick) and Darrell rowed ashore for Roxy and to pick up our first boat guest. I was cooking dinner while the boys and Roxy tried to get back to Alibi but the winds had picked up considerably AND Darrell didn’t take time to pump up the dinghy (oh yeah there are some leaks that Dick couldn’t find and we sure haven’t had time to look for but we think this is as good as a stair climber for us to get in better shape.) Anyway while I was cooking I would go up and down the companionway stairs to see where they were every now and then. I finally had to throw them the lifeline to get them back to the boat before the dinghy sunk!! Anyway, Dan (we call him NASA Dan but he answers to Dr. Dan and Lt. Dan) stayed for dinner and cocktails before he had to leave because he had to dive the next morning.

Tuesday, April 28, 2008
This morning we had to return the rental car (they were closed last night by the time we could have left it) so Dick picked up Darrell and we spent the next 1-2 hours going over some of his notes – and let me tell you that man kept some excellent records on Alibi! We left the dock at 9:45 AM motoring south on the ICW ( Intracoastal Waterway ). We motored nine hours and forty-five minutes for a total of 55 nautical miles and anchored just before dark at Ponce de Leon, FL.

Monday, April 27, 2009
This morning we rented a car, packed it to the roof with items we had taken off Lil’un and left with Roxy for St. Augustine. We drove straight through and crammed McDonald’s food in while we watched the boat yard get ready to launch Alibi. She went into the water at about 3PM just after Dick (one of the former owners) slapped some more bottom paint on her. Darrell had a slight learning curve to docking her, especially with strong currents in the river near the boat yard. We worked like dogs unloading our stuff , going to Dick and Nelda’s (the other former owner) and buying provisions for the trip. We dropped into bed and “one of us” (me) slept hard for most of the night. Darrell, however, hardly slept! The strong flow with the current change at 3 AM almost turned her sideways at the dock.

Check back later today for details of our trip from St. Augustine!

April 27, 2009

Going to Sail her home tomorrow. This will be our first shakedown cruise from St. Augustine to Key Largo. Pictures and details will follow.

April 15, 2009

Survey of Island Packet 35 S/V Alibi.