Power Up. Countdown 2 days!

UPDATE: The Hoot now has power. She started up pretty easily.  No shore power tonight and we'll make sure she will start with just the battery bank and if so, we may get a little time away from the dock tomorrow.  

And it looks like the dinghy Ripple will be ready to roll soon.

Week 2 +

As we sit in the local McDonalds and reflect back on the blessings the last week or so have bestowed on us, none is any more striking to me than our chance encounter with a ladybug on April 3. There  we sat, deciding what to do with our deflated (intentionally) liferaft.  It happend so fast, she appeared so suddenly, we were both left open-mouthed, and neither of us could even think to snap a photo.  Yet, once again, when we least expect it, a ladybug appears out of nowhere and we know that Shirley, Chrissy's Mom, the  woman that I have only come to know through the deeds and actions of her "three little birds", is looking out for us, and telling us that everything is gonna be ok.

The night before, we had ran our dinghy aground and had to paddle her ashore, and not being able to get it re-started, had to pull her out of the water and come back the next day to get her.  Thus began a sting of ups and downs as we get close to being able to begin this journey (the sailing part).

We were left with dinghy-envy after ours was allowing water through the floorboard.  We considered another pre-owned one, but decided to keep what we have and do some repairs.  That's today's biggest project.

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To begin at the end, we are so optimistic that today is the day that our Perkins 4-108 Diesel will be going again and will show that it starts readily so we can start the coutdown to departure from Marathon.  

Much has been done on the boat since we got here some 19 days ago.  The following picture is of Steve, one of the riggers, installing a steaming light for us.  They also installed a masthead anchor light, a wind vane, a VHF antennae, along with replacing a couple of rigging connectors that were cracked.  They tighened the rigging a bit and it's as good as it's going to get until we get home.  Check.

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Our VHF Radio is now in great shape and connected to a masthead antennae.

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Our friends at Home Depot were helpful in getting one of our fawcets to stop leaking.   Chrissy figured this one out and this one is ship shape again.

We have replaced fan belts, O-rings, hose clamp, the alternator and now the fuel pump on the engine.

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After some minor issues with our stove, we were able to get fire going again. Chrissy was a happy camper when I texted this picture to her.

Let there be flame

NOT on our Christmas card list

Marathon Diesel was kind enough to come over on short notice and check out our engine.  It had been slow to start.....slow to start.   After spending a bit of time taking out some injectors, looking at them, taking one to their shop, bringing it back to the Hoot, she fired up for the last time.   As we found out later, Cesar, their technician, put the wrong bolt in the top of the injector, metric vs standard, stripped the bolt and the threads in the injector, and left us dead in the water.   They refused to accept any responsibility and when they came back to look at it, spent  a few minutes and walked off the job.  Such is the life of trying to work with boat repair people.  So, we've spent much of the last week trying to get the engine running again.



To remedy this, and any future injector problems, Chrissy and I decided to have all the injectors professionally rebuilt by a shop in Ft. Lauderdale.  After 2 trips there (3 hours each way), we now have 4 brand new injectors leaving us brimming with optimism.

Aren't those fuel injectors a sight to behold?

One of our new friends, Brett, has been working for 2 years to restore Seventh Wave.  She set sail for the first time in a long while a few days ago.  They were so excited.

Seventh Wave

We have enjoyed some spectacular sunsets, meeting some new friends and also some of the marine live from in and around our dock.   We've even had a few really nice date nights, on and off the boat. I have no doubt that we are only scratching the surface of what we will see ahead.

One of the spectacular sunsets we've seen

Small canal close to our dock

Date night Eric Stone Band  at Dockside

Other friends we met ...Bill, John, Tom and Meghan had us over to their marina for dinner.  We had a really nice time, great dinner, hot showers, and a boat in their marina describes it the best.

Nirvana

Our chart plotter left a lot to be desired.  We have upgraded that as well, and the new one is ready to set sail, with touch controls, and the most current charts for coastal USA.  

Old Chart Plotter

While we have had some ups and downs, nothing like this poor guy.  Everyone lived so it could have been much worse.   It took them a few days to get the plane steadied, towed near the shore, and recovered from the water.  We are thankful each day and appreciative of the many blessings that we have.

How NOT to land your airplane

Chrissy enjoying some time in the Captain's chair

Yesterday was a really good day.  Our friend DJ helped us get the final injector installed.  We also got the new chart plotter connected.  We saw some wonderful marine life, the resident manatee, a spotted eagle ray, one of the many iguanas around the dock area along with the many large sea birds that we see constantly.   We celebrated with a date night at Dockside.

Today, we are hoping that our engine starts and the countdown to leaving this dock will officially start.   Cross your fingers for us.  We will let you know.

As is the mother, so is her daughter...

I saw this quote earlier this year and it struck a deep chord in me.   "As is the mother, so is the daughter".  So many blessings have come to me this past year... I just finished up two huge work contracts that I was awarded based upon my own merits - I felt very proud and know Mom was with me feeling proud too.  I had an abundance of family visitors and relished making memories with each of them at our beach home.   Everyone knew that Mom's house - actually Mom herself - was a haven for friends, family and good times.  It has been good for my soul to share my home and offer hospitality "like Shirley did".  

I feel her spirit inside me. 

If you are reading our blog you already know that John and I just bought a sailboat after a long  exhausting

search.  During this search on one disappointing day we came across an old boat that lifted my spirits and I knew it was mom's subtle way of sending me her message that Every little things gonna be all right.  So, we continued our boat search for another nine months until we settled on The Hoot.  

I guess the biggest blessing is knowing that she is always with me in my heart and spirit. That she left me with the self confidence to be adventurous, happy and loving every aspect of life just the way I know Mom did and honestly, so is the daughter...

Am I excited about the upcoming adventure with John on The Hoot? Yes, without a doubt. Do I know we will have some difficulties at times? Yes, without a doubt. But I also know Mom would say "Go for it! Every little things gonna be all right." And so it is. 

Love you Mom. 

First Week

A week ago Tuesday, Chrissy and I started out on this journey to pick up our sailboat, Hoot Mon, not knowing exactly what lay ahead.  What we left home with was Faith, Hope and Love. And wow, what an amazing week it has been.  Every day filled with new mysteries, new learning, new challenges, new accomplishments. On a boat, it seems that the simplest of things can give you joy and happiness.

Leaving home at 4 am to catch our flights we were so excited to get going.  Delta was good to us and not only got us ON our flights we hoped to be on, but also put us in First Class on both legs of our flights.  Woo hoo! Things were starting off really good.

We quickly made our way from Key West to Marathon, about an hour, had a late lunch and headed to the boat yard to get the Hoot, as she's become affectionately referred to pending name change (possibly around the same time Ms Agnew changes her name as well).  The boat yard wasn't quite ready to "splash" her, so off we went to pick up some basics to start equipping her with the necessities of living aboard for a month or so.  Back at the boat yard, we waited for a while longer and finally around 17:30 the time comes to get in the water.  

By the time she was in the water, it was ….you guessed it….Happy Hour.  And while we weren’t fully equipped, we had picked up beer and wine and had a wonderfully amazing time as the sun set and the skeeters and no-see-ums sized us up.  

The next day our boxes arrived that we've had shipped from home. Chrissy was excited to have her favorite salsa.

As I mentioned earlier, the no-see-ums are having their way with one of us.  Evidently Chrissy is too sweet for them to bother. Me on the other hand, must be a delicacy for them because they can’t seem to get enough.  Each day we have learned additional remedies to deal with keeping the no-see-ums away.  We’ve used everything from mosquito spray, mosquito spray with deet, OFF coils, Avon Skin-So-Soft believe it or not, and yesterday, we came up with the Therma-Cell.   Dealing with the itch after they viciously attack you is challenging as well.  So far, the skin-so-soft is helping but the best seems to be Benedryl Allergy.  Any ideas, please send them along.  

Our main focus  this past week  has been getting the boat into cruising shape.  While there have been some ups and down as we settled into the boat, being on the water has been a great feeling.  We started going through all the storage spaces on the boat to see what all was left on board, what junk needed to go away, and what might be useful.  We’re almost done with that.  And along with daily trips to get more supplies, she is almost set up inside.  West Marine (previously chronicled in Chrissy’s Boat Units blog post), Home Depot, Publix, a local package store, Napa and Advance Auto Parts have become our “go-to” places.  Along with Mickey D's for the free wifi.

Each day we get  more stuff working and sorted out.  The stove and the on deck grill were biggies since they gave us our first hot meals aboard. It took a day for us to get the dinghy all put back together and inflated and the engine on it, but it was great to be able to leave the dock and be on the water…at least a little.  And we had a good sunset as well.  Followed that up with our first meal on the grill—chicken—and Chrissy made some mac and cheese on the stove.  Simple pleasures.   

The Coast Guard is your friend with all the timely information they give you for on-water alerts and also for weather alerts. 

We have had a couple of storms since we got here.  The first one was the first night, and the boat rocked and creaked and was continually pushed into the dock and boat pillows.   By the time we rode out our second storm, we had better VHF radios to be able to hear the Coast Guard alerts.  In some ways that made it seem more intense with the continual CG alerts, but then again, we learned that when they say a storm is coming, take cover. 

We met a nice Canadian couple, Mike and Wendy.  They were pulling their boat out of the water to return home for a while.  In a few days, we learned so much from them.  They are very seasoned cruisers and really good people.  They had been on their boat for almost a year straight.  Chrissy and I asked a lot of questions and they were a wealth of information.  Boaters all share info and help so readily. And we really appreciated the bon voyage gift.  Hope we get to use it soon.

Yesterday afternoon, the riggers came by to do some much needed repairs, and add some safety lights.  We had a diesel mechanic here as well so we'll have a better idea how things work.  An electrician will come tomorrow and then hopefully we’ll be able to take her off the dock. 

As we move into our second week here,  the excitement is building for that first trip away from the dock in The Hoot, much like the excitement we had building up to the trip.  We have what we began with, Faith in our goal, Hope that we will soon be at sea, and Love for each other. 

Boat Units...

John and I made our first shopping trip to the mega-mart of boating - West Marine.  We needed some new life vests, a pair of hand held VHF radios, anchor rode, a new boat hook and cooler for the boat. We spent a couple of hours looking up and down every aisle until our buggy was filled to the top with all the goodies we had selected for The Hoot.  As we were checking out, the elderly Aussie accented clerk chatted with John about our new boat purchase.  After ringing up the last item and throwing in a "free" t-shirt to seal the deal he announced  our total bill to us "Just barely over one boat unit!"  

We've quickly come to learn that a "boat unit" is $1000.

Today we have lots to do.  We are flushing out the water tanks. Inventorying the back lazerrette - it's filled with who knows what.  We also have some small repair work to do on Ripple, our sad little dinghy that doesn't want to hold air. And if we get all of that done we'll start on tomorrow's list or... have happy hour!  I think I know what I'm leaning towards. ;-)

The Adventure Begins

After months and months of searching, we finally found her! Our new "home away from home" is an Irwin 37' Center Cockpit Ketch.  Her name is currently the "Hoot Mon", which I thought was some kind of Jamaican term for having fun, but I'm told it is the Scottish way to say hello.  The Hoot (as we call her) is currently waiting for us in Marathon Fl.  The town of Marathon is located on one of the middle keys where we will spend a week or so getting her shipshape, sort out a few maintenance issues and provision for the journey back to Panama City Beach.   Once we get her back home, we'll do the fancy-schmancy ceremony to rename her to s/v Sunshine Daydream.


John and I are beyond excited about our upcoming adventure.  These few days leading up to our journey have been a blur of activity... getting packed, making arrangements for lawn care and for the house to be closed up for a month.  We've shipped boxes of things we think we will need once we arrive.  I've made lists after lists of things to do, to buy, to pack, to sort out.  John has been hard at work on mapping out our route, studying charts, reading up on destinations.

We decided that we would make an attempt at blogging about our trip so that our family and friends could keep up with our shenanigans!  Both Capt'n Jack (aka John) and I will be contributing and will upload new entries into our blog when we have access to wifi.  I'm sure we'll have posts on Facebook too (addicts that we are) and we should have cellular service most of the time (we hope!).

For now, we are ready to cast off the lines and make memories...