The weather window looks good and we're ready to jump! We left Boca Chita Naval Air Station and our beloved happy hour/laundry day early this morning. We received the royal sendoff of the conch shells. The night before, the warm weather brought out the cruisers at the marina in full fun force and we finally had an opportunity to meet some of the really cool people at the marina. We swapped stories and information with Captain Mike and First Mate Len on board Jack of Hearts and Captain Ron on Last Dance. (Ron, had a few minutes to start reading your book, Sailing With Carol today. Wow, such a wonderful sailing love story. Definately on a Nicholas Sparks level except that yours is the true story of your love!) (If you're curious fellow bloggers, the book is available on Amozon.com.)
So we motor-sailed and dodged rain showers and lobster bouys on our way up the coast to a port near enough to jump off to Bimini. Tonight finds us tied up to the fuel dock at Pancho's Marina in Marathon. After filling our tanks they offered us the fuel dock for the night without charge! And, with a 25 gallon fuel purchase you get all the ice you need and chum for free....the ice was nice, passed on the chum!
Mike and Len dropped by and we compared notes on jumping off. They had tried to anchor in Bahia Honda only to find that they coundn't set the anchor "with a hammer!" We'llmake note of that in our log.
So now i t's off to bed because tomorrow night we'll be doing watches and need a good night's rest to start with. And, maybe tomorrow I will get some pictures downloaded.
Always happy to hear that someone out there is reading about out adventure, at tlong last.
Smooth seas to all,
CC
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Hooray! The weather has finally started to warm up, now I can wash the sweatpants I've had on for a week!
Returned to Key West today from our shakedown cruise to the Marquesas and Dry Tortuga. The wind and waves were more than predicted, but for my first "out-of-sight-of-land" trip everything went well. The catamaran has a much different feel than does our monohull. Having two hulls gives the enterior a huge amount of space, but it sounds real spooky when a wave crashes up under the salon. I finally got tired of feeling queasy and applied a motion sickness patch and have been fine ever since. We are going to reprovision tomorrow and then head up the coast until we get a good weather forcast for jumping over to Bimini. We were laughing this evening as Terry, Harriet and I were inventorying and planning meals for 21 days...this is a lot of work, this cruising lifestyle!
We hooked up with Barrie in the Dry Tortugas and he helped Harriet and Bill get going on the SSB. So we know it can send and receive, but still much to figure out.
Looking forward to meeting fellow bloggers, so if you see a 40 foot catamaran named Miss Piggy headed your way, give a shout.
Smooth seas,
CC
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03/03/2010, Key West
Thanks Colin for the information, unfortunately, we're not up and running yet. If anyone else has any info on an ICOM-M710 single side band that might help us get tuned in, sure would appreciate it.
Otherwise, all is well here as we wait for a weather window to go to the Dry Tortugas. Seas are supposed to settle down today from 10-12 feet to 2-4; more to our liking. Today Harriett and I are going to sew a cover for the spare dinghy, take a nap and then dinghy over to the Naval Air Station to do laundry and happy hour. Life is good and getting better!
CC
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03/02/2010, Key West
Can anyone help us figure out how to use our single sideband radio ICOM710? It came with the boat and the instruction manual is impossible!
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02/21/2010
Sailing on a warm breeze on beautiful crystal clear aqua waters is just what we needed, and here we are! The first two days were a little chilly (cold) but still warmer than home and then yesterday we started to feel the tropical sun. The skies cleared, the breeze was just enough and the company was fine.
We spent last night at Poncho's Marina in Marathon where we fueled up, empied out and left this morning after a quick taxi ride to Publix for a couple of supplies.
We just passed under 7 Mile Bridge and are on our way up around Long Key to anchor tonight. We need to be back in Miami Wednesday to start the second phase of this trip; helping Bill and Harriett on Miss Piggy bring her back north from Key West.
It's been so nice to be back on the water and Bruce has been a great host and Captain.
I hear it's warmed up a little at home. The live cam shows only a little snow left on our Zephyr in Baltimore. Hope it's all gone by the time we get home.
I talked to Betty yesterday and Spike, our golden retriever, is getting along just fine. She is his groomer and he just loves her. We're so foutunate to have her to look after him while we're away. I woulod have stayed home before I would have left him in a kennel because, despite the name, he's really a tender spirit.
It's time to hand some rags, better go topside and offer a hand.
CC
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02/21/2010
Sailing on a warm breeze on beautiful crystal clear aqua waters is just what we needed, and here we are! The first two days were a little chilly (cold) but still warmer than home and then yesterday we started to feel the tropical sun. The skies cleared, the breeze was just enough and the company was fine.
We spent last night at Poncho's Marina in Marathon where we fueled up, empied out and left this morning after a quick taxi ride to Publix for a couple of supplies.
We just passed under 7 Mile Bridge and are on our way up around Long Key to anchor tonight. We need to be back in Miami Wednesday to start the second phase of this trip; helping Bill and Harriett on Miss Piggy bring her back north from Key West.
It's been so nice to be back on the water and Bruce has been a great host and Captain.
I hear it's warmed up a little at home. The live cam shows only a little snow left on our Zephyr in Baltimore. Hope it's all gone by the time we get home.
I talked to Betty yesterday and Spike, our golden retriever, is getting along just fine. She is his groomer and he just loves her. We're so foutunate to have her to look after him while we're away. I woulod have stayed home before I would have left him in a kennel because, despite the name, he's really a tender spirit.
It's time to hand some rags, better go topside and offer a hand.
CC
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02/14/2010, PA
Today we shoveled the snow off the porch and sidewalk for the last time for a while! We've had enough all ready.
"Fun ticket's in our pocket..." tomorrow this time we'll be onboard Leapin Groundhog in Miami (The clever name is a combination of the owner's birthdays - Feb 2 and 30th.) We're going to mosey around the keys for a week or so and then move on to Key West to help other friends start their catamaran's journey north...slowly..being careful to keep the butter soft. We're not coming back until the robins are nesting! Save room for us!
CC
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01/22/2010, Kona, HI
Aloha,
We've escaped! Would have loved to be able to say we sailed to Kona, HI, but airbus is a whole lot faster. So, so nice to be warm. We're staying at the Hilton Wiakola King's Village...no marina, but we checked out the local one in Kilo. There's a lot of sailboats there, but haven't seen many out on the water. Plenty of swimming, sun, snorkling, fun with our buddy Ed. Drove around the island today and stood on the edge of huge valcones..luckily just steaming, not erupting! Hopefully the snow will be gone when we get home...ha, ha, ha!
Mahalo,
CC
PS Just checked the forecast for tomorrow AT HOME:
Periods of snow...sleet and freezing rain. Snow and sleet accumulation around an inch. Additional ice accumulation up to one tenth of an inch. Near steady temperature in the upper 20s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Friday
Snow...sleet with a chance of freezing rain in the morning...then a slight chance of snow in the afternoon. Total snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches....with locally up to 3 inches on the ridges. Additional ice accumulation around a trace. Highs in the mid 30s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
No chance of it being melted by Sunday. Well, have another warm trip planned for Feb. and March. This time sailing. More on that later.
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01/04/2010, Elton
I built a snowman Saturday and the by Sunday morning he was listing. Trying to decide if he is catching snowflakes on his tongue, star gazing or singing "Swanee." I don't know what's keeping him from falling over completely. I plowed the driveway and sidewalks today, about 8 more inches since Saturday. Temperature yesterday was 5 degrees with howling winds. Too nasty even for this old gal's bones to enjoy cross country skiing! Escape is in the plans...going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and then mid February heading to Miami and Key West to do some sailing for a month or so, yippee! Hopefully by then it will start warming up a little here, and we can once again start thinking about floating on the gentle breezes of the Chesapeake! Zephyr is tucked into her slip under her cover until then.
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11/15/2009
Zephyr is, sadly, almost tucked into bed for the winter. We have all the water systems filled with RV antifreeze, the lockers are emptied, fuel is topped off and the oil is changed. We have the dodger and bimini to take down as well as two sails left to remove and take to Annapolis for their annual check-up and storage. Finally we'll put on the winter cover and she'll be set. We are hoping for a nice weather window next week to attend to these chores then hurry home to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family.
In anticipation of fine sailing next year, we've ordered a new dodger for her that will be ready in the spring. The one we have is starting to show irrepairable wear and doesn't have an opening windshield which lets it get pretty warm in the summer. So, something more to look forward to.
We've had her out several times since the last blog and we haven't had any more trouble with the alternator brace. However, we're still not happy with the new instrument panel we had installed last spring. One gauge, the oil pressure, isn't working and the blower switch was cut off and left to dangle behind the panel. Seems like you should get a little more for 5 boat units! We won't be returning to that particular boat yard even though it is where we purchased the boat and the marina which had serviced her since she was new. Terry has lined up someone to look at the problem over the winter. Hopefully, we'll get it resolved without shelling out another tiller and a mast.
I have found yet another reason to go sailing. Coming home after dark a few days ago a 6 point buck and I crossed paths. I suppose he got the worst of the meeting, he didn't survive, but my car didn't didn't do too well either: almost 10 boat units of damage and three weeks in the shop. I thank God I wasn't injured, but was certainly frightend half to death. He hit the front left headlight and left side of my medium sized SUV setting off the side airbags. The noise and cold were so shocking, I thought the deer had come through the window! Just think, I could have been snugly anchored in a peaceful cove! Hopefully we can miss rutting season next year and be headed south by this time.
CC
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