RIVIERA BEACH AND FT. LAUDERDALE

Hello from Florida: As my hero Jimmy Buffett says it – “Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, some things never remain quite the same.”  I believe that JB was talking to all of us who have been lucky enough to own a boat.  I have talked in the past about the boat world being controlled by the weatherman, and it has really hit us this past week or so.  

We departed Stuart following a great 5 days staying on the mooring ball and headed to Riviera Beach.  We anchored for a couple of days - it was a cute little town but not too much going down.  

 

View from the ICW

Since Tim got here from Seattle our game plan has been to make a move to the Bahamas when we get the much needed weather window - no N winds or very, very slight.  We have had our hopes deflated about 3 times in the past week.  I would say that this past Sunday was the most frustrating.  We did all of the preparation for an early departure and rolled out of bed at 6 so we could make the crossing earlier than later on Sunday.  We arrived in the Big Pond about 6:30 and headed out for about 5 miles or so.  All had changed with winds, weather - everything kind of headed south and it was a mess.  Tim said when we get to the gulf stream it will be much worse.  That was all we needed to hear, and we turned MTB around and headed back to Fort Lauderdale.  We feel really bad that Tim took 9 days away from Seattle and he won’t make it to the Bahamas.  As great as Florida is, the 3 of us were really excited about leaving for the Bahamas.

 

Another beautiful sunset

The good news is we had a chance to do some snorkeling, watch the Buckeyes last Saturday, and most important do some boat fixing. Tim has been a gr8 help, and we even got Mr. Dingy’s engine sort of rebuilt.  We had a fuel/carburetor issue and all seems to be just fine now.  

We are staying in a downtown Ft. Lauderdale marina.  It’s a great area to hang with lots of restaurants, bars, and great walking areas.  In our year plus of the boat world, I believe here in Ft. Lauderdale there are more mega yachts than you could ever imagine.  I would say the average boat within our view is about 100 feet - the yacht in front of us is 120 feet.  Of course, when you are pulling in behind one of these 10 million dollar yachts it certainly gets your ticker ticking.

 

One of the many yachts moving up and down the New River, Ft. Lauderdale

 

MTB is small compared to the yachts docked along the New River

After seeing all this weather all over the country (other than Phoenix), it is pretty tough to complain about 80 degree Florida.  I don’t mean to be bitching – it’s just a little frustrating, but that’s the way the boat world can be.  

Tim leaves here on Wednesday.  Pat and I will probably make a decision around Thanksgiving about what we are going to do. Our options are to keep trying for the Bahamas or to pass on the Bahamas and spend more time in the Keys - not a bad deal if that’s what we decide.  One thing for certain is that we will make a good decision because we never shoot from the hip when making big boat moves.  We also are very, very safe so we will certainly take no chances on the crossing if we decide to head to the Bahamas. 

Not much more happening here but we will keep everybody posted on our world of “Where is Waldo??” 

Have a GR8 Thanksgiving,  Jack

 

She Said:  

We left Stuart and had a pleasant day on the water.  We decided to anchor at Phil Foster Park just north of the Lake Worth Inlet in Riviera Beach.  We got in around 3pm, set the anchor and settled in for a quiet, early night.  I took out our passports and filled out 5 pages of Immigration and Customs paperwork.  The plan was to cross to the Bahamas early Thursday morning and I was ready.  We were looking for winds less than 10MPH and from any direction but the north.  As Thursday morning got closer, the wind speed increased and it wasn’t clocking around as we expected.  Bottom line – we weren’t crossing Thursday.  We were all bummed out, but we did our best to make a disappointing situation enjoyable.  It was 82 degrees outside so we hopped in the dinghy and did some exploring. 

We found Peanut Island – what a delight.  Peanut Island was created in the early 1900s from the dirt dredged from the ICW.  In the early 1960s, bunkers were built here to house the Kennedys in case of a Cuban conflict.  Today the island is a great picnic and camping area.  There’s also a nice snorkeling area.  All 3 of us grabbed our snorkeling gear and went for a swim in 78 degree water.  I was the first one out of the water – there were jelly fish and that sort of freaked me out.  That night we went into town for dinner at Two Drunken Goats.  The Cuban sandwich was the best I’ve ever had. 

 


Snorkeling off Peanut Island - beautiful water

 



The Kennedy bunker on Peanut Island

Our next crossing opportunity looked to be Sunday.  We decided to head to Ft. Lauderdale and wait out the weather there.  I remember last year that the trip from Lake Worth to Ft. Lauderdale was slow because of the bridges, boat traffic and No-Wake zones – but it was even longer than I remembered.  We finally grabbed a mooring ball at Las Olas Marina at 5:00pm.  Jack and I went to Quarter Deck (a favorite from last year) for dinner.

 

Night time view from MTB at Las Olas Marina, Ft. Lauderdale

 

Our AM/FM radio wasn’t working, and we thought we might be able to get it fixed in Ft. Lauderdale.  Mission accomplished - we got it fixed Saturday morning.  We headed into town – Jack to watch football, Tim to explore, and me to the beach.  We kept a close eye on the weather and were excited by what we saw – the forecast for a Sunday crossing looked near perfect.  We went into town for a quick dinner and to bed early.  The plan was to get up at 6:00AM and depart by 6:30AM.  A weather check at 3:00AM had the conditions deteriorating and by 6:00AM it didn’t look good – winds were around 15MPH and the winds were ENE, but we decided to give it a try.  The inlet was choppy and it didn’t get any better as made our way northeast.  After about 30 minutes at sea we decided to admit defeat and head back into town. 

A gorgeous day on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale

Instead of going back to Las Olas Marina, we decided to take the New River 1.8 miles into downtown Ft. Lauderdale.  The docks are right on the river and there’s lots of boat traffic – pleasure boats, sightseeing boats, and mega yachts.  Within an easy walk of the docks there are lots of restaurants and shopping.  It’s a great place to settle in for an extended stay.  Really bad weather is predicted for the foreseeable future (7 days out), so we’re going to stay put for at least the next week. 

Tugs are used to move the mega yachts up and down the New River

We've never stayed in a marina quite like this one, 100 slips along the New River - City Docks, Ft. Lauderdale

We will continue to do small boat projects while we’re waiting out the weather.  The dinghy motor’s been acting up, and Jack and Tim spent several hours working on it; I think they fixed it (knock on wood).  We’re also working on alternative plans in case a Bahamas crossing doesn’t materialize.   

We probably won’t send another update for about a week while we’re waiting out the weather.  As soon as we have a plan we’ll let you know.  Thanks for reading.

LABELLE, CLEWISTON, STUART

BACK ON MEANT TO BE

 

He Said: After 5 ½ months of no blogging, the English major has returned.  Pat and I had a terrific summer but now begin the second half of our world of boating. We flew into Ft. Myers and spent the nite at a hotel near the airport.  Our flight did not get in until after midnite so it was about 1:00AM when we finally got to the hotel.

The following day we headed to Moore Haven to reintroduce ourselves to Meant To Be. The drive is about an hour and the last 15 minutes are what I would call Hillbilly Haven.  MTB was doing just fine, but 5 months of the hot Florida summer had MTB looking a little beat-up.  We spent the following 5 days working our asses off getting ready to toss MTB into the water.  Most of my time was spent with my new buffer - lots of work but the boat looks mighty nice.  While I was busy shining for a few days, Pat was just as busy cleaning the inside of MTB - lots of work also.  At the same time we had our bottom dude taking care of the bottom of the boat – cleaning barnacles and other crap that had traveled with us for a year.  They did a great job cleaning and painting the entire bottom of the boat.     

 

MTB before she was bottom painted

MTB after bottom painting

On Monday Nov. 3 away we went to LaBelle where we got the deal of the day. We spent the following 3 nites on a nice city dock with no charge - even the 50 amp was free.  The town was cute and a short walk away, different from Moore Haven which was 16 miles to a flipping Circle K.  We met our friends Mike and Lori for dinner and of course had a terrific evening. The rest of our time in LaBelle was spent just kind of killing time and hanging out.

 

At the free city dock in LaBelle

Following our departure from LaBelle we headed to Clewiston at a very famous bass fishing type of marina. We pulled up to a long face dock, but the dockhand moved us about 100 yards stating that the karaoke tiki bar can get a little loud.  Of course, we headed to the bar and had dinner and listened to some pretty good ol’ boys sing some pretty good ol’ cowboy music.  We met the owner, and she is very famous in the bass fishing world.  I liked her a lot because she said that she knew me from when I was with the Beach Boys - how about that!!  We had a blast and headed back to MTB.  We could still hear the tunes until about 11 or so. 

The following morning we left for the fine little city of Stuart, we spent time here on our last trip so it is always fun to go back to a city that we are familiar with. We spent Friday thru Tuesday on the ball and had a fun time. Stuart is very cool but the weather was a little damp. We, of course, found some great happy hours and some fun food.  On Saturday, I found a bar to catch the Buckeyes vs. Michigan State game.  For the first time in maybe 45 years of watching the Bucks there was not 1 OSU fan in the bar so Pat and I headed back to MTB for the 2^nd half.

 

Relaxing on MTB - Stuart

On Monday our good buddy Tim from Seattle arrived and our plan is to cross the big pond (Atlantic) in the next few days. We left Stuart on Wednesday and we are anchored in Riviera/Palm Beach waiting for a weather break. Tim has about 5 days remaining so we hope like hell we can cross while he is with us.  The shitty news is that the north winds are not being very friendly in the Gulf Stream - we don’t like northern winds due to the collision with the stream which travels from the south.  The combo of N winds and S Gulf Stream can easily create 5 to 10 ft. waves - we will not travel in those conditions.

 

We will keep you posted as the weather is always changing.  We may have to push our Bahamas trip back a week and travel without Tim - we hope not.  If we can’t leave we may hang our hats in Ft. Lauderdale for a while and wait it out.  That’s it for now. 

Take Care,  Jack

 

 

She Said:

Departure for MTB was finally upon us.  We arrived in Ft. Myers around midnight, picked up our rental car, and checked into an airportS hotel for a quick night’s sleep.  We were up early the next morning and made the 50 mile trip to MTB, outside LaBelle, FL.  Enroute to LaBelle, we texted our friends Mike & Lori to see if they were in Ft. Myers.  We were delighted to find out they were, and we made plans to meet for drinks that night. 

 

We got to Glades Boat Yard and were pleased to find that MTB had been moved from the storage yard to the working yard, AND, most importantly, we had 50-AMP.  That meant we could live aboard MTB while she was being readied to go back in the water.  The only thing we didn’t have was heat/AC – no problem.  We checked out MTB (the inside was in better shape than we expected – the dehumidifier worked out great, but the outside was a disaster), we adjusted our shopping list, and headed back to Ft Myers.  We had a great visit with Mike & Lori before settling into three grueling days of getting MTB back in shape.

 

We spent a fortune at Wal-Mart stocking MTB with food, general supplies and tons of cleaning products.  While we were doing that, the bottom of MTB was being stripped and repainted.  I took the car into LaBelle to do laundry and more grocery shopping (I was so focused on stocking up for the Bahamas, I forgot to buy food for the next few days!) while Jack started on the outside of MTB.  This was our last day with the car, so we had dinner in LaBelle then caught a ride back to the boat yard (20 minutes away).  All of the lifting, cleaning and steps on MTB (along with the ladder we used to get on and off) took their toll on us, so we popped some Aleve and were off to bed early.

 

Climbing up and down that ladder got old really fast

We awoke the next morning to a record setting low of 42 degrees.  We turned the space heater on that morning and barely turned it off all day.  In addition to the low temps, the winds were gusting at 40 MPH.  I worked inside all day while Jack toughed it out outside – I don’t know how he did it.  The mechanic was on and off the boat all day checking out all the mechanical stuff – better to do it now than run into problems down the road, especially in the Bahamas.  It was another early night accompanied by more Aleve.

 

Our last day “on the hard” was just as busy as all the others.  Things were in pretty good order, so I was able to help Jack buff and wax the boat.  I was quickly comfortable back on MTB, but I haven’t quite gotten used to the compact space – I’m going to be a bruised mess until I remember to turn sideways when walking around.  Other than that, we are really looking forward to getting back on the water.

 

The day finally came to put MTB in the water.  The morning was busy, but uneventful.  As MTB was lowered into the water, I had to go on board to check for leaks – that was a bit unsettling, but everything was good.  We were now on our own!  We’re at the dock getting ready to leave and, I’m not kidding, Jack looked at the electronics and didn’t know how to turn them on.  This was not a reassuring moment.  We planned for a short day – we wanted to take it slow and get our sea legs back – and the LaBelle City Docks were only 10 miles away.  The city of LaBelle offers the docks for free, but there’s no dock assistance to catch our lines – this had us a bit nervous.  Fortunately, there were 3 boats docked when we arrived and they helped out.  Unfortunately, there was a catamaran in the only 20’ foot slip, so we had to make our first docking into a 15’ slip (we’re 13’9”), stern in and with an audience.  Jack backed us into that slip without touching a pylon.  It was amazing, especially after our rocky start!

 

Since we spent the last few nights in the middle of nowhere, we were excited to head into LaBelle for dinner.  We were surprised to find that Beef O’Brady’s, where we went to eat, closed at 9:00pm, so it was another early night.  The next night we met with Mike & Lori at Forrey Grill, a short walk from MTB, for a great pasta dinner.  We always had a great time with them and hope our cruising paths will cross later this season.

 

After three pleasant days in LaBelle, it was time to head east.  We had three locks and handled them like pros.  We spent the night at Martin & MaryAnn Roland’s Marina in Clewiston.  If you’re into bass fishing, you’re familiar with this place.  MaryAnn was the first woman to grace the cover of Field & Stream magazine back in the early 70s. Tim McGraw was here recently to kick-off a big bass fishing tournament.  For us, it was a fun karaoke night (we listened, didn’t sing) night at the tiki bar. 

 

We were up early the next morning to make the 30+ mile trek across Lake Okeechobee (the 2^nd largest fresh water lake entirely in the U.S.).  We ran our twin-diesels at 2000 RMPs/16MPH for 30 minutes.  We typically travel at a much slower speed for fuel economy reasons, but our plan is to make a quick crossing from FL to the Bahamas so we wanted to make sure MTB was up for the task.  Thumbs up!!  We ended the day at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart.  We stayed here last year and it’s always nice to come into a familiar marina.

 

Back in familiar territory - Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart

 

 

We stayed on a mooring ball here last year and decided to do the same.  It was like riding a bike and we picked up the mooring ball on the first try.  We remembered there was a nice restaurant/bar on site, Sailor’s Return, so headed up for happy hour before having dinner on MTB.  We used the marina bikes to run errands on Saturday, and then Jack settled in for college football.  It was drizzling as we walked to Duffy’s Sports Bar for dinner and it didn’t stop raining all night.  Jack watched the Ohio State game at Sailor’s Return and I hung out at the marina’s lounge.  There was a break in the rain so we dinghied back to MTB and Jack watched the end of the game aboard. 

 

Great sunset at Sunset Bay Marina, Stuarat

Our Seattle sailing friend, Tim, arrived on Monday – we are hoping to make the crossing to the Bahamas with Tim.  Checking numerous weather sites and talking with other boaters it looked like we might have a couple options in the next week.  On Wednesday I got up at 6:30am to listen to the forecast of Chris Parker (a weather guru for the Caribbean) – he said our best bet looked like Thursday or Sunday.  We decided to try for the Thursday crossing, so we quickly got MTB ready to go and we headed to the Lake Worth Inlet where we anchored for the night.  We’re going to bed early tonight hoping to depart tomorrow.  Will keep you posted on our progress.

 

SUMMER RECAP

We Said:

 

We’re back!!!!!  I know we said that we were going to send out some updates this summer, but obviously we didn’t.  It was a crazy, busy, fun summer with lots of activities. Here’s a short recap of our time off MTB.  WARNING . . . it sounds like an early Christmas letter, but the pictures are fun.

 

We spent the month of June in Naples, FL.  Thanks to Jack’s brother and our friends Ken & Debi for making their Naples homes available to us.  We decided to drive to South Beach Miami for a day since we didn’t stop there while on MTB.  We also spent time with friends Dale & Clara in Bonita Springs.  Jack and Dale golfed while Clara and I relaxed – beach, lunch & paddleboards.  Naples made our list of favorite places while on MTB and we enjoyed it just as much this time around.

My first experience paddleboarding.  I did OK, if I do say so myself.

Lifeguard stand on South Beach - Miami

July was spent in Columbus, OH (10day) and on a European Cruise (17 days).  We had a great time visiting Jack’s family in Columbus.  Between Jack’s mom, his 3 brothers/sisters-in-law, 6 nephews/niece and 8 great nephews/nieces you can only imagine how busy we were and how much fun we had.   

Jack with his nephew Kevin and brothers Jerry, Terry and Jim outside Papa Boo's 4th of July weekend

Then we were off to meet my parents, brother/sister-in-law, and sister/niece in Venice, Italy for 3 days before hopping on a 2 week cruise to Greece, Turkey and Italy.  We saw great sights, ate way too much and had a lot of fun.

 

St Mark's Square, Venice during flooding

Her I am with my niece Hailey on a gondola ride in Venice

Beautiful Venetian Canal
 

Venice - you've got to love this place!

Santorini - the whitewashed building make it look like a snow topped mountain

Jack riding the donkey up to the top of Santorini.  We laughed so hard that day!

Santorini - We finally made it to the top

The famous public bathroom at the ruins of Kusadasi, Turkey

Kusadasi, Turkey



Inside the Blue Mosque, Istanbul



Istanbul - torrential rains, bad for sightseeing



Mykonos - Jack's favorite port

I was on the cruise ship's version of "Top Chef."  Unfortunately, I was eliminated early, but it was still fun



Malta - built right on the water's edge

Hustling, bustling Sicily.  This is the fish market

We finally made it back to Phoenix in August.  We rented a furnished condo for the month and it worked out really well.  Thanks to all our friends who hosted us, listened to our stories, and made us feel welcomed and missed.  Special thanks to Gary & Kathy who made the supreme sacrifice and let us stay with them on and off while we were in town. 

 

In September we hit the road.  In one month we traveled 3200 miles – the same distance it took us one year to do on MTB.  We started in Vegas where we house/dog sat for my parents, golfed with my sister, and took my almost-16-year-old niece “student driving.”  Jack had her out driving for about 2 hours one day – what a trooper!  Then we were off to Seattle (a favorite spot of mine) with an overnight stop in Boise (it’s a great little city).  In Seattle Tim & Pam were great hosts – kayaking, golf, wine tasting, sailing, fabulous food and camaraderie.  We took a side trip to Vancouver, BC where we pedaled around Stanley Park.  From Seattle we headed to the wine country of Paso Robles, CA and friends Lance & Amy.  We met lots of their friends at a paella party that they hosted on our first night in town.  Instead of the doing a typical wine tasting, we brought our own picnic lunch to the winery, bought a bottle of their local wine and enjoyed the beautiful views of the vineyards while listening to live music.  It was delightful we did it a few times!  We had such a good time it was hard to leave, but our Phoenix condo awaited our return.

 

Mt. Rainier from our sunset sail - Seattle

 

Here I am alongside Tim & Pam's "floating house" heading out in the Kayak

Vancouver, BC skyline

Picturesque Cambria, CA

Our final month in Phoenix was filled with annual doctor appointments, planning for the Bahamas, and general administrative stuff.  We did set aside time to travel to Rocky Point.  Twelve of us from Phoenix met up down there and, as always, it was a great time.  Being on the water got us ready for the flight back to MTB.

 

Shrimp boats were out in full force while in Rocky Point.  We had a lot of shrimp on MTB, but you can't beat the ones from Rocky Point.

 

All and all – it was a great summer and a nice break from MTB.  We went from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico.  It’s amazing, but I don’t think we saw a 110 degree day in either of the last two summers!   We’re looking forward to getting back on MTB and finishing up our vagabond, life-on-the-water, two year adventure. 

We will start publishing our blog again about every 10-14 days.  Wish us luck!!

 

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

We Said:

Some of the most frequently asked questions we’ve been asked over the past year are:

 

What was your favorite place?

 

That’s really hard.  We traveled to 72 cities (not counting remote anchorages) and there was something to like about all of them.  We sat down with the list of 72 cities and each of us picked out our top 15.  Below are the 13 cities that made both of our lists - in chronological order.  (There were no criteria for a “favorite.”)  

• Scituate, MA – Our first destination after leaving Boston.  We were on our own and on the ball.  Everything was within an easy walk.
• Martha’s Vineyard, MA – The island had so much to offer – sightseeing, shopping, dining, scenery, beaches. 
• Block Island, RI - A big, fun campground!  The anchorage was a fair distance from the town and provisioning, but a great relaxing destination.
• Annapolis, MD – We stayed here for a month and could have stayed longer.  Lots of stuff within walking distance and good bus service.
• St. Michaels, MD – Our first destination after sitting still for a month.  The quintessential Chesapeake town.  
• Charleston, SC – It’s Charleston – do I need to say more?  We came for one week and stayed for one month.  Great marina location.
• Beaufort, SC - We actually anchored here.  The town was so cute and the people so friendly. 
• St. Augustine, FL – There’s so much history here!  The town is really cute and convenient.
• Vero Beach, FL – Our first “tropical” destination.  Everything is convenient, easy to get around, nice beach – it’s got it all.
• Marathon, FL – It’s all about relaxation and laid-back living.  An easy dinghy ride to the beach, pool and bars.  Stayed here 7 weeks!
• Key West, FL – A great vacation destination – food, fun, party!
• Naples, FL – I’m sure family and friends factored into this choice.  Easy walk to restaurants, shopping, bars and beach.
• St. Petersburg, FL – This place has it all – concerts, festivals, theatre, baseball, shopping, restaurants, and on and on and on . . .  

What was your favorite part of the trip? 

• For Pat it was the trip itself - everything we learned, all the people we met, working as a team, stepping outside our comfort zone and experiencing new places.  The single event would be after a year on the water, finally having a dolphin swim and jump in our wake.
• For Jack it was the marina life – meeting and talking to boat people, dingying to waterfront tiki bars, the beaches and dolphins.  

What was your worst experience?

• For Jack keeping the boat running was a challenge – maintenance issues, docking the boat (especially in the wind), and weather.
• For Pat the biggest issues were weather related – studying weather, planning trips around the weather, getting stuck in a Provincetown storm, and the horrific night in a Charleston storm.   There’s also a whole “lack-of-contribution” thing that’s hard to explain. 

Did you stay on budget? 

Overall, yes.  It’s amazing how well we did based on our lack of experience.  We did a lot of reading and talked with a lot of people and it really paid off.

• Fuel:  We planned on 3000 miles, 1.5 MPH, and $4.50 per gallon.  We traveled 2895 miles, averaged just under 2 MPH, and spent around $4.00 per gallon.  Overall, we were 25-30% under budget.
• Marinas: We were less than 5% over budget.  We stayed on-the-ball/anchored approximately 100 nights, in transient marina slips approximately 100 nights and in monthly slips approximately 150 nights.  Monthly rates and ball/anchoring is the key to managing the budget.  Transient marina stays, although a necessity, are a definite budget buster.
• Repairs/Maintenance:  We were about 10% over budget – not bad, considering we weren’t able to do much of our own work.      

Would you do it again? 

Without a doubt.  We’ve signed up for another year!

 

We’re enjoying life on land.  We visited MTB yesterday and she’s surviving just fine without us (cooler and dryer inside than we expected). 

 

Hope to see you all soon!

 

Pat & Jack

 

 

MOORE HAVEN - GOING "ON THE HARD"

He Said:  Not exactly a TGIF.  I ended my last blog with us hanging Thursday nite the 29^th of May at the RV Park next to Glades Boat Yard.  Due to the location of where we were located we spent the nite having a few drinks and dinner on the boat.  I mentioned that there is absolutely nothing anywhere near the boat yard.

The following morning we moved the boat to Glades for our pull out appointment at about 11AM on the 30^th.  The cruise was maybe 10 minutes to the dock where we easily pulled the boat along side of a long pier for our final few minutes on MTB.  Our job now is pretty much over, with the dockdudes taking over from here.  They pulled the boat along side of the dock and turned the corner into the fairly tight slip.  We both kind of helped while they lined MTB up to yank her out of the water. With our water, fuel, and stuff I am guessing we weighed near 32,000 lbs.  I know we are 28,000 when empty, so I am really taking a stab at it.

MTB in her home for the next 5 months.  Everything below the gold line is typically underwater

By now it is early afternoon and we had a 3PM pick up time to leave the yard and get to Ft. Myers Airport to pick up our rental car. This left us 2-3 hours to get our STUFF off of the boat and get MTB closed up for the following 5 months.  Once you are out of the water with no power, the boat heats up like a mother.  By the time we closed everything up, got our stuff off the boat, and everything else done we were pushing our 3PM pick up.

The boat yard promised us 50 Amp and it was not available - not good.  We bought a dehumidifier and it was very important in the rainy, damp, humid Florida weather that we try to keep the inside somewhat dried out.  At the end of the day, they found us a long extension cord so at least we could run our dehumidifier.

Unloading the boat takes on a whole new ballgame, not only about 150 degrees inside but we had to get a large ladder to get in and out of the boat.  The heavy suitcases and climbing up and down long ladders in big heat was no flipping fun.  We did make it and had almost enough time to dry ourselves off.  Of course, with no electric and no water, it was no good!

Our trip to the rental car went ok.  Our driver dude was about my age and a know-it-all.  As soon as we entered his ride he asked where we were from.  When I said Phoenix, he said, “what a hell hole that is.”  I said, “so 3 or 4 million people are all crazy I guess.”  Not a big deal.  We started our 30 mile drive to Naples.  Of course, after arriving in Naples at about 6 that evening we headed over to the local pub for cold drinks and food.  How about this for an excuse?  We had no food or drinks in the condo, and it was the right thing to do.  There you go.

We will spend the first 2 weeks of June at my brother Jim’s condo and the next 2 weeks at Pat’s good friends’ condo in the north side of Naples.  After that we will be flying to Columbus for 8 days to visit my family then on July 9 heading for our European cruise with Pat’s family.  Then in late July, believe it or not, we will be heading to Phoenix for a few months.  In November, we will head back to Florida.  Our plans are to spend time on the gulf side of Florida, the Keys, and the Bahamas then probably call it a day.  This would bring us to about our 2 year anniversary of boat life.  Probably time to get back to normal, whatever that is!!  We have 1 more blog to send out kind of wrapping up our 1 year and 1 week adventure - oh what a ride.

Take care, and we will keep you posted.  Jack

 

She Said:   The day has finally come for us to pull MTB out of the water.  It’s been such a fun, adventure filled year I hate to see it come to an end.  BUT, I’m really looking forward to some time on land.   

The dock master met us at 10:30am and held our lines as the wind literally blew out of the slip.  We took a short 10 minute ride down the river to The Glades Boat Storage Yard, pulled up to the dock and waited for our time to be pulled out of the water.  I went up to register and when I came back MTB was already lined up with the sling and slowly being lifted out of the water.  My phone and camera were on the boat so I couldn’t get a picture.  Basically, there were 4 straps attached to the hoist/lift.  The hoist/lift  (picture below - the blue machine) straddled a boat slip (sort of like a car driving over an oil changing pit) with the straps underwater.  MTB was on top of those straps and the hoist/lift slowly lifted the boat out of the water.   

This is the first time since April that MTB has been out of the water.  We had divers look at her bottom 3 times and every time we were told it looked good (not a lot of slimy growth or barnacles) so we were really curious to see what it looked like.  We were surprised at how good it looked – it’s amazing that she was in the water that long and had so little growth.  They power washed the bottom for about a half hour and got just about everything off.  There were a few places where the bottom paint had worn thin and that was where some barnacles attached.  All and all – the bottom is in excellent shape.  We will repaint the bottom this fall before we put MTB back into the water. 

The guys drove MTB to her parking place in this huge boat yard.  This is when the day took an ugly turn.  We reserved a spot with 50-amp power so we could run a small fridge and a dehumidifier while we were gone.  The spot they put us in had power, but not 50-amp.  I spent the next two hours looking for a way to adapt/convert our 50-amp plug down to 110 outlet.  We had so many ideas – all of which would work – but we didn’t have the right parts to make it work.  In the end, we settled on running just the dehumidifier using an extension cord direct to the 110 outlet.  Not exactly what we hoped for, but certainly a viable solution. 

By now, we had only 1.5 hours to finish closing down MTB.  Everything was packed (except for the stuff in the fridge), but we had to disconnect the batteries, close off all the thru hulls (the spots along the gold line), bring everything we could from the outside to the inside, and cover up everything that was left outside.  The storage yard didn’t have a pump-out facility, so we pumped out before leaving Ft. Myers (this meant we’ve been without a toilet for two days).  We were doing all of this without A/C in 90 degree, 90% humidity and no windows.  It was absolutely awful. 

Now we had to get our stuff off the boat.  We were basically on the second floor of a building with only a ladder to get up and down.  And our “stuff” was more than a couple of suitcases.  We are going to be away from MTB for 5 months, so we had a lot.  AND we had all the food stuff that we couldn’t leave on the boat.  Since we would be spending the next month in Naples we knew we would be cooking so we didn’t worry about using everything up before getting off the boat.  We had more than we thought we had.   

By the time the car service picked us up we were hot, sweaty and exhausted.  We hadn’t had anything to eat since dinner the night before.  We had about an hour drive to our car rental and then another 45 minutes to our condo.  I got nauseous riding in the back seat of the car.  I can’t remember the last time I was in a car going 60+ MPH with other cars rushing by - for the last year I’d been traveling 9 MPH often with no other vehicle around.  It was a long, hot, awful day – definitely in the top 5 of the past year. 

For the next several months while we are off the boat, we occasionally post some updates.  Within the next few days, we will post our top 10 destinations and some facts about our year on the boat.  We will also post pictures and adventures from our two week European cruise later this summer.  Thanks for everyone who has read and commented on our blog.  We really appreciate it and look forward to seeing our friends and family this summer.