Working down the Checklist

A good sailor know how to swab!

As any good engineer, I have a checklist of chores to do around the boat.  Sometimes it gets so good (or bad) that I have lists of my checklists!  One of the major items we wanted to do this winter is to get the canvas all around the sundeck and the flybridge re-stitched.  Over the years, the UV light degrades the thread around the zippers and the Eisenglass, so about every 3-5 years, they need some work.  Additionally, we had some juveniles around the boat last summer who really tore up what was already fragile.

I couldn’t find a canvas contractor in the Orlando/Sanford area, but found one in Daytona Beach (an hour away) who would do the work if we brought the canvas to her.  Now, taking down this much canvas is not something you do just for fun.  The last time we did it was in August 2012 as we prepared for a hurricane to hit us in the New Orleans area.  It takes about a day to take it all down, and another day to clean all the algae and mildew off of it.  And after it’s all repaired, it takes another day to re-hang it all.  And when you try to zip and snap it all together, you’d think a sadist designed & assembled it originally.  We have to wait for a warm day when the canvas will stretch to make it all fit.  So, we entertained ourselves for the better part of a week on this task.

My Admiral disappeared into the
bowels of the boat!

The other major project was to remove, clean, and re-bed the stainless side handrails along the main deck.  As we removed the rails, it was obvious that they had never been re-bedded during the 27-year life of the boat.  Normally, one would re-bed outdoor hardware every 5-10 years to prevent water leaks.  So as I start unscrewing the first handrail, I find that I’m working on a machine bolt that must have a nut on the other end.  Great!  Now I have to find where in the heck the other end is.  After unloading everything in the storage compartments under the seating on the flybridge, we find all the nuts (which are metric, of course).  And just because you can see most of the bolts & nuts, that doesn’t mean that you can REACH them!  Sue had to climb into some cubby-holes that we didn’t know existed.

Along the lines of wildlife entertainment, for the second straight day, our girlfriend landed on the piling right next to the boat to show off.  She is only 3' away from the stern of the boat, so we get some really good views of her.  She matches exactly the pictures in our guide book:  a female Anhinga in her breeding colors (we call her ol' blue eyes).  You can't see the white stripes on her wings, but they look really colorful.

Our friendly "snake bird"

Anhingas are also called "snake birds" because they swim very low in the water & all you see is the neck looking like a snake.  They dive under the water for long distances to catch fish, and actually fly with their wings under water.  They are not an oily bird, so their feathers get water-logged & they must spend a lot of time with their wings spread to let the sun dry them.  We’ve seen lots of them from the Gulf Coast all along Florida.

Invasion of the Roach Coaches

The Roach Coach is the name given to the food trucks that show up at noon time at the gate of a manufacturing plant, especially one located far from town.  It gives the worker-bees an option to bringing their brown bags for lunch every day, BUT the quality of the food is questionable at best.  So, I was definitely surprised last Saturday night when a dozen Roach Coaches set up shop in the vacant lot across from the marina.  How could anyone VOLUNTARILY eat at these things, especially on a Saturday night?!?  Since my Admiral was looking for an excuse to quit our projects around the boat, we meandered over to join the crowd to see what we were missing.

Turns out that these were “gourmet” Roach Coaches that actually served edible food, everything from gourmet ice cream to sandwiches from El Salvador.  One coach had photos of their owner, taken with several famous chefs such as Paula Deen and Emeril.  And the food that we tried was very tasty.  So, who’d a thought that the bustling metropolis of Sanford Florida would host, every month no less, a coagulation of Gourmet Roach Coaches!

Yesterday was Mardi Gras.  I’m sure y’all remembered to wear your Purple, Green & Gold!  We had invited some good boating friends to our boat to tell us of their vast experience cruising the Chesapeake Bay (that’s our goal for this summer).  Don & Becky live on their boat in Daytona Beach, and we visited them last summer as we cruised northward along Florida’s East Coast.  In addition, they used to live in the New Orleans area, where we first met them when Don taught the US Power Squadrons weather class and Sue & I were just meek & humble students.  So, yesterday they show up wearing Mardi Gras beads around their necks & bring Sue and me our set of Purple, Green & Gold.  We wore them when we ate lunch at the nearby German restaurant & we got lots of stares & smiles.



A happy, but soaked, Mardi Gras
reveler, holding the prized Zulu coconut



Of course, we had to text our son & his family, living in New Orleans, to see how they are celebrating Mardi Gras.  Even though it was 45 degrees & raining, the party went on (Laissez les bons temps rouler!)  They went to the Zulu parade, and our wonderful, special, perfect granddaughter got one of the hallmarks of the parade – a 2014 Zulu coconut!  If you don’t have fun at Mardi Gras, it’s your own damn fault!

We have a litany of projects to do on the boat in the next 10 days.  We then drive back to TN to work on the outside of the house (which is up for sale), before we head farther north to Ohio to visit Sue’s uncle in a nursing home.  Sue is trustee of his property (in addition to being responsible for her mother’s health & finances), and we’ll spend 2 days taking care of things.  The end of March will find us in the Big Easy for medical appointments & Sue getting her “Oma fix” with our granddaughter.  Mid-April we’re looking forward to a visit from my sister-in-law and her daughter’s family here in Orlando.  They will spend a week in town acting like tourists, bringing lots of that good Yankee money.  Additionally, my sister will fly down at the same time for about a week to go cruising with us as we depart Sanford FL heading northward.  She’ll ride with us down the St John’s River as far as Jacksonville, & then fly back home to that cooooold Michigan winter.

It’s time to start thinking about CRUISING!!

A looooooong cooooooold winter

Several relatives have asked where these postings have gone, since I haven’t written since October.  Thanks for reading these & keeping me in line!

8" of heavy wet snow tops the bird feeder
and bird bath

As any good snow bird would do in the Fall, we headed south for the winter.  So, even though our boat enjoyed the 65-85 degree winter weather near Orlando, we decided to pack up our horses and head back north to Tennessee for most of the winter.  I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed the 8” of snow and the -4 degrees for several nights, so I won’t!

We drove back to Cleveland TN in late October to care for Sue’s mother.  The live-in care giver, who had cared for her mother for about 5 years, was leaving.  We also knew it was time, at 91 years old, to move her mother to a memory-care facility that could provide better care than what we could do at home.  And then there was the upcoming family reunion held every Thanksgiving at her mother’s.  Finally, since people were out of the house, why don’t we spend the next two months fixing & painting the house & put it up for sale?!?  I’m sure glad that we’re retired, so we have nothing to do!

Since the end of October until the 3^rd week of February, we’ve been in TN, except for one week in New Orleans for Christmas, and one more week on the boat in Sanford FL when we took our ideal super ever-so-perfect granddaughter to Disney World.

Most of November was spent moving the caregiver out, and starting to repair the house (the caregiver had a strong tendency to break things).  Sue was challenged to start her mother on medication, and to find the correct dosage, before her mother could be admitted into the care facility.  The relatives showed up at the end of the month for Thanksgiving, which Sue’s mother enjoyed immensely (although she couldn’t remember names, she recognized familiar faces).

The middle of December, her mother made the move to the facility just outside Chattanooga.  Sue took care of all the paperwork and arrangements, even getting furniture into her mother’s new room.  By the time we left for New Orleans, Sue was mentally & physically exhausted.



Running from the rushing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Her expression is priceless!

The week around Christmas was enjoyable & relaxing.  Our youngest son & his family hosted us and our other two children (coming in from Austin TX and from L.A. on the left coast).  When we left, we hijacked our wonderful granddaughter Miss Madeleine to see the sights of Orlando.  She always enjoys staying on the boat with us & is right at ease climbing vertical ladders and sleeping in her own bunk room.  We started her visit by going to Blue Springs State Park to see the manatees, which stay at the springs during the winter for the warm spring water.  The next day we went to Marineland to see the dolphins do their tricks and to stick our feet into the cold Atlantic Ocean.  On January 1^st and 2^nd, we took her to Disney World for her first time.  Being 6 years old, she was exactly the right age to enjoy every bit of it (and Sue & I acted like 6-year olds)!  For some strange reason, the rain both days just didn’t seem to bother us!

Sue & Madeleine at Mickey's house

 

By the end of the week, we had spoiled Madeleine enough to return her to her parents.  We met them halfway between New Orleans and Orlando to reluctantly give her back.  We spent a couple days back in Sanford cleaning up the boat (it’s amazing how much green can grow on the boat), then packed our bags and drove back to TN on January 12.

The only chairs we had left were two that didn't sell
at the garage sale!  The only tables left were
two TV trays.  Our bed was a mattress thrown
on the floor without a frame or headboard.

The next 5-1/2 weeks turned into a marathon effort to prepare the house to go on the market for sale.  Sue’s twin nephews came for a week (one from Ohio, the other from Florida) to lay laminate flooring in 4 rooms and to rip out carpet from the rest of the house.  When they left, their rental trucks and trailers were full of furniture and belongings from the house.  The following week had new carpet installed in the remaining 4 rooms of the house.  Then the painting began in earnest.  We ended up painting everything in the house except the floors and the ceilings.  We even painted the garage steps, railings, trim molding, walls, and shelves.  (I’m reminded of the old Navy saying:  If it moves, salute it; if it doesn’t move, pick it up; if you can’t pick it up, paint it!)  During our “spare” weekends, we held a garage sale on 4 separate days (in 20 degree weather!) to further empty the house.  (I note with chagrin that one’s every personal possession will eventually be sold at either a garage sale or an estate sale for 10 cents on the dollar).

One pleasant highlight during the blitz was selling her mother’s car – a 2006 Buick with only 29000 miles.  We had it repaired and detailed before we listed it only on Craig’s List.  Once listed, the first phone call came within an hour, and it sold in 1-1/2 days at 97% of asking price.  I was really surprised at the rapid results of Craig’s List.

During the 5-1/2 week marathon, I crammed in time to get new eyeglasses, and to get a crown on a tooth.  On a more pleasant note, we took time to break bread with our Power Squadron boating buddies Clint & Leigh, and then with Ken & Betsy, and again with John (whose wife Susan was in Texas caring for HER mother).  Also, we drove to Atlanta to have an enjoyable evening with our daughter, who flew in for a weekend reunion of Alliance Theater/Kendeda Playwright Awardees.

So, the bottom line (for all you melancholy personalities) was that the house was listed with a realtor February 14 (Happy Valentine’s to all you lovers), and within the first 6 days we had two showings.  We’re hoping that house sales will increase during the spring, and that by summer, we’ll have no more house.  When we come back here in late March, we’ll have to paint the outside stuff (doors and porches) if it is warm enough.

As I write this thought about selling the house, I realize that Sue & I will need to find another residence for our legal address.  I’ve already signed up with a mail forwarding service in Green Cove Springs FL, which a lot of cruisers use.  I think they also help their clients establish Florida residency.  Makes it kinda interesting being a full-time cruiser (but harder for the IRS to find me)!

Manatee encounter

So, yesterday Sue is on the dock talking to the neighbor, when she sees the swirls in the water - the telltale signs of manatees.  The mammals need to surface regularly for air, and they sound somewhat like whales blowing when they do (although I've never actually heard a whale blow).  She goes to the end of the finger pier and sees two adult & one young manatee playing around.  I watch them from our boat as they come under it and bump into it.  We watch for about 10 minutes before we lose sight of them.

30 minutes later I'm taking trash to the dumpster when I walk past an empty boat slip that has a lot of hyacinths in it, and see the hyacinths moving from below!  I stop to watch, and soon see the whiskered snout of a manatee munching on the hyacinths.  The 3 manatees are now in this slip feeding.  I watch for 15 minutes while they feed & frolic under the docks & right up next to the boats.  At times, they come to the surface within 3 feet of me & roll onto their backs.  A perfect time NOT to have a camera in my hands!

The neighbors say that some manatees stay in the area year round.  Their number will increase during the winter months.  So, I'll learn to carry a camera with me.


Today, we'll drive 20 minutes away to visit Sue's brother.  We were surprised to find that this marina is so close to his house.  We haven't seen him in several years, so it will be good to visit.  Tomorrow we drive north to TN and OH.  This cold front has already come through that part of the country, and they now have that white crap falling from the sky!  Gee, I'm glad we moved to central Florida for the winter!

South to our Winter Home

Exiting Ortega River onto St Johns River,
with Jacksonville city skyline

I’m beginning to feel like the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, with a summer home up north, and a winter home down south.  But, as our sign on our boat says, “Home is where our boat is.”

We stayed at Ortega Landing Marina just south of Jacksonville for a week; visiting the city, doing minor boat repairs, sitting by the pool, and waiting on 2 days of stormy weather which was the RETURN of Tropical Storm Karen which had passed through the first time the previous week.  We finally departed Jacksonville on Wednesday October 16 into a partly cloudy day with cool north breezes.  The “Executive Summary” for the next three days is that the weather was perfect, and the trip was uneventful (the best kind of cruise to have).

Osprey nest on the navigation markers.
This bird used Spanish Moss in the nest.
Note crab traps behind the marker.

We had wanted to cruise the St Johns River because we had heard & read that it was very interesting and pretty.  Again, we weren’t disappointed.  Just south of Jacksonville, the river is very wide & calm, just like a lake.  And, for once I can say that this section had more crab traps than even Lake Pontchartrain!  The ones with only a small black float were particularly difficult to see, and we were constantly dodging them, even inside the navigation channel.

Bald eagle nest.  Look who's home!

I was surprised when we had a tidal current from astern the entire first day because the high tides were progressively later the farther south on the river.  So we made good time, and we saved maybe 1-1/2 gallons of fuel.  We anchored both nights we travelled, since there were numerous places to do so, and the marinas along the way couldn’t handle a large ya-chut like ours.

The second day, we diverted at Lake George to Silver Glen Springs, where the manatees gather for the winter in the constant-temperature water.  We anchored about ½ mile offshore in the Lake, launched the dinghy without mounting the motor, and rowed to shore.  Then we found that the spring source was another ½ mile up the river.  (Yes, we both got our exercise that day!).  The water was crystal-clear, the springs were beautiful, but no manatees.  Apparently they are just now starting to move south to warmer waters.  So we rowed back to our ya-chut, weighed anchor & went about 10 more miles before anchoring for the night.

Lake George was so calm that we had to make
our own wind!  Quite different from our trip
out of Brunswick GA.

 

There are Manatee zones all along the length of the river, so this must really get interesting during winter months.   The mammals eat mostly the water hyacinths.  Which means that the river is just covered with hyacinths, at times almost across the entire river.  The second and 3^rd day, we were constantly dodging patches of hyacinths.

Water hyacinths everywhere!  Manatees will follow!

We went half way across Lake Monroe to our new temporary home at Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford FL, where the Admiral made yet another perfect landing into the narrow slip, although I really had to scurry around the deck in order to make her look good!  Before we even finished tying up, the neighbors were out on the dock introducing themselves.  And, Sue saw a manatee right in the marina behind our boat.  We think we’re going to like it here.

So last night we walk into the old town of Sanford to eat at the famous German restaurant (after all, it IS Oktoberfest!), and wouldn’t you know it, but our waiter was from Huron Ohio (where my Aunt lives), and his cousin owns property on Middle Bass Island Ohio (where Sue & I met, and where “Fruition” is home-ported)!

Tomorrow we rent a car to drive back to Brunswick GA to retrieve our car.  Later this week we will drive north to TN to assist Sue’s mother, and then to OH to assist Sue’s uncle.  I guess we’ll have to find our woolies, since they’re starting to get that white crap on the ground by now.

Silver Glen Springs is part of a NATIONAL FOREST.
During the government shutdown, they posted
black vultures at the gates to keep out the "unwanted".

Crystal-clear water at Silver Glen Springs

This ain’t “pleasure” boating!

We waited around a couple days for that darn tropical storm to pass by Brunswick, and enjoyed beautiful weather while waiting to depart for points south.  So we were more than ready to leave Tuesday Oct 8, looking at weather reports ranging from 20% rain up to 70% thunderstorms.  In hindsight (which is always 20/20), we should have believed the 70%.  All our boat neighbors were watching/helping us leave; maybe they just wanted to see for themselves that this lady captain could actually handle this big boat!

We took 200 gallons of fuel at a dock just south of the marina which services the commercial shrimp boats, and spent 60 cents per gallon less than at the marina.  We departed under overcast skies and 20-25 mph winds.  An hour later the rain started and the winds went to 30 gusting to 35.  The only reason we continued travelling was that the seas and wind were all from astern, so the ride wasn't too bad since we were mostly in the protected ICW.  But when we crossed one of the open-water Sounds following the ICW to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, we got caught by 4-5’ sea swells.  For 45 minutes, we pitched and rolled about 30 degrees, which mixed up some stuff in the cabin which wasn’t tightly secured.  Sue turned to me & asked “Are we having fun yet?” She added that she doesn’t have to go to Texas to ride the mechanical bull now, since she has already experienced a ride at least as exciting.

The rain and winds continued as the temperatures fell.  When we arrived at our anchorage, we had minimal protection from the winds, as we were still in the grass marshes of Georgia.  We had planned to raft up for drinks & dinner with another boat, which had left the same marina in Brunswick with us, but the wind was too high to try.  We spent a very restless night, getting up every two hours to see if our 65# anchor was dragging.  Luckily, it held, despite our rotating every 6 hours when the tide shifted.

By morning, the wind had died down to only 20-25 mph, but we still had a light rain & cool temps.  Another day not to go boating, but we certainly didn’t want to spend the day anchored in the marshes.  To add to our fun, we found that our windlass would not work electrically to raise the anchor.  I had put out 100’ of all chain rode (because of the high winds during the night), which we then had to ratchet up manually on the windlass, 3” at a time.  Found out the next day that the windlass battery had shorted out & died.  So much for “pleasure boating”.

Our escort on the river, USCG Cutter "Dauntless",
travelled next to us for about 5 miles.

Within an hour, we had entered the St Johns River, which we will take upriver past Jacksonville all the way south to Sanford FL, just north of Orlando.  The river was big, deep, and full of commercial traffic.  We planned our trip to catch the incoming tide, which gave us a 2 mph boost.  And finally, the rain quit and the clouds started clearing!  At noontime, we were finally into the city (I found out that Jacksonville is actually about 25 miles west of the ocean, not right next to the Atlantic).  We docked for lunch at the River City Marina, which is adjacent to the River City Brewing Company, so Sue could sample their craft beers.  We’ve been finding local craft breweries from St Augustine to Savannah, so Sue can compare notes with our two sons.  After a good lunch, we left the dock just prior to the scheduled opening of the nearby railroad bridge.  The bridge has had mechanical problems, and opens to marine traffic only 9-10 AM and 2-3 PM, so if we had missed that opening, we’d be spending the night somewhere else.

Oh, all right......I guess we'll let him have the right of way!

As we continued past the city, the St Johns River transitioned from a fast-flowing business-like river, to a wide calm lake.  An hour later, we finally arrived at our temporary home of Ortega Landing Marina, just south of Jacksonville, and Sue made yet another perfect approach and landing to the dock.  She’s getting so good a docking the boat, I’ll be forced to keep her a while longer!  We’ll stay for several days at this marina, especially since they are having their Oktoberfest party this Saturday, serving beer from…………..wait for it…………..a local craft brewery!  Sue has her list of a couple other beer pubs to check out in town before we resume our cruise. 

Once under way, we’ll be on our final leg of cruising for this year.  We’ll keep the boat in Sanford for the winter, while we spend about half our time back in TN and OH caring for relatives.  Our goal for next summer is to travel up the East Coast to New York City, go up the Hudson to the Erie Canal, and eventually get to Lake Erie.

Old Savannah

Historic building fronts along the river wharf.
The street stones are old ballast stones from
the sailing ships.

We drove our car up to Savannah for a couple days, because we had heard that it was a beautiful city full of history.  We were not disappointed.  The city looks a lot like New Orleans’ French Quarter with the historic buildings surrounded by live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss.  But the architecture is definitely British, with the layout of the city one of the first “planned communities” with small parks every 3-4 blocks.  Savannah’s historic district is small enough that you can walk most of it, but its history is so enormous that you should take a narrated tour around the area.  Numerous tours are offered everywhere, and I was surprised at the number of tourists visiting the city.

The other side of the river-front buildings, all built
on a bluff.  Note the catwalks to the front doors.

The city was founded by James Oglethorpe in the early 1700’s as a place to put England’s debtors (English debtor prisons were already full), as well as an effort to create a planned society where the government tried to create a Utopia on earth.  I could make a snide remark here about the current political situation, but I’ll refrain.  Oglethorpe’s Utopia fell apart when his people discovered free enterprise.

I was amused during the city tour when the guide talked about Oglethorpe, who was trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, etc, etc.  He was the local hero who saved Georgia from those dastardly Spanish explorers down south in Florida. The amusing part is that just 2 months ago when we were touring St Augustine, we learned how Ponce de Leon & Menendez saved the countryside from those terrible British up north, led by Oglethorpe!  Teaches you to always evaluate the source of any “facts” you might be told!

Savannah's Cotton Exchange,
headquarters of the US cotton business
in 1887.

Savannah’s history is tied to the sea and its position as a major seaport.  During the early 1800’s, it was a major exporter of cotton, and this is where some obscure man named Eli Whitney tried to enforce his patent for a cotton gin (our daughter studied Whitney’s life when she wrote a TV script about the social impact of the cotton gin).  It was interesting seeing the converted historic buildings along the river wharves & the river bluff where Oglethorpe originally set up the city.  One reason these buildings still exist is because the city of Savannah was not burned down at the end of the “War of Northern Aggression” when William T. Sherman marched to the sea.

Did I mention that Savannah has some excellent restaurants? We found a couple of them.  One thing we started doing along the way is looking for any craft breweries or pubs serving craft beers, so Sue can sample the beers.  We’ve found one in St Augustine, Jacksonville Beach, and now Savannah.  We already have the addresses for the breweries in Jacksonville next week.

Enjoying our mint julep and rum punch at a
river-front restaurant.

Tybee Island lighthouse.  Sue is
tremendously disappointed that it was
closed & we couldn't climb it!

We drove out to Tybee Island, the northernmost barrier island in Georgia to see the lighthouse & whatever else.  There wasn’t much else, certainly when compared to the barrier islands of Florida (both the Gulf Coast & the East Coast).  We tried to visit two of the historic forts of the 1700’s, but since they were both US National Parks and since the date was October 1, and since your Congress just can’t get their crap in order, everything was closed.

 

We’re now planning our departure from Brunswick GA, on a 2-day cruise to Jacksonville, then farther up the St Johns River to Sanford FL, where we’ll keep the boat for the winter months.  Having to watch that tropical storm/hurricane approaching New Orleans, and how much wind/rain it will bring to this area.  We need to be back in TN by Oct 20, so unfortunately, we now have a schedule.

 

Florence Martus, Savannah's "Waving Girl".
She waiting over 40 years for her sailor to return.
Guess what?!?  A sailor has a girl in every port!!

                                          

Huge container ship headed up the Savannah
River.  The channel runs very close to the city, very
much like New Orleans & the MS River.