Wintering Over in New Orleans

Although the weather was very cold & windy, we really enjoyed our stay in New Orleans, spending time with our family & trying like hell to spoil our new grandson.  He’s going to turn into a real lady-killer with those big blue bright eyes of his.

The crew from ZoBe shares some beignets

at Café du Monde

We got together in New Orleans several times with Glynn & Jenny from “ZoBe”.  They came to eat beignets & act like tourists in the French Quarter; they came to a New Orleans Power Squadron rendezvous to eat crawfish for the very first time; and they came for a couple Mardi Gras parades (again, their first time!), before going back to their boat & having Glynn try to rip his lower leg off getting back aboard at low tide.  We drove to Gulfport several times during his recovery from knee surgery.

Glynn & Jenny enjoyed (?) their first crawfish boil

after they learned how to "bite the tail & suck the head"

Back on the boat, we were convinced by the boat broker that the boat would sell easier if we put a concentrated effort towards compounding, waxing & buffing the fiberglass hull & topsides.  So, we hauled the boat for several weeks to spruce up the fiberglass above the waterline, and put a fresh coat of bottom paint below the waterline.  Of course, the yard was late in doing the work, so we had to live aboard while the boat was on the hard.

After throwing more money into the boat, including getting new canvas around the flybridge (B-O-A-T = Break Out Another Thousand), this inept broker generated only 3 showings of our boat during the 6-month exclusive sales contract.  If you’re ever selling a boat in New Orleans or around the Gulf Coast, DO NOT use Murray Yacht Sales!  To add to our frustration, Glynn & Jenny sell “ZoBe”, since he can no longer go boating with his torn-up knee, and our favorite boating buddies in Tennessee, Clint & Leigh, sell their boat “Barefootin’”.  Instead, we resign ourselves to go cruising for the coming summer.