Tuesday, December 29, 2009

On a Ball in Vero Beach




We broke out of Cape Canaveral early this morning to head south. It was quite cold- 40 degrees. Burrrrrr.


Despite the auspicious look of the docks, we found the marina to be just right for a short stay. We met a couple of great folks. Chuck on an Endeavour 38 and Joe on a great Morgan 46. Joe invited us over for sundowners and showed us around his boat. It was amazingly spacious and he had done some great work in it. He was most proud of the new 110hp Yanmar that he put in last year. Joe will be breaking away from the dock next year, he says. Chuck promised to kick him off the dock if he doesn't go voluntarily. We had a great time last night and hope to run into them again.




So we got up early and made it out of the slip and around to the fuel dock without issue. 38 gallons of diesel and we were underway to get through the bascule bridge at 9am. We put the throttle down and ran around 7 knots the all day. I felt like I was being too hard on the iron gennie, but she again performed well. We didn't expect to make it to Vero Beach and were having difficulties coming up with a good plan on where to park it for the night if we weren't going to make it. The stretch from about 10 miles S of Melbourne to Vero doesn't offer much in the way of anchorages- the ICW is narrow and requires constant attention. There is little or no deep water off the dredged channel. But with about 15 knots of North wind and some southbound current(pushed by the wind), we made good distance and pulled into Vero Beach Municipal Marina and morring field.


We rounded the corner into the mooring field, and the first boat we saw was our friends from Sail Harbor in Savannah, Bob and Magan on Destination which was a nice surprise. We had lost contact with them when they took off the week before we did.




So we found our mooring ball and I nosed the boat up to it. Carryn reached down with the boat hood and snagged the painter(a floating line about 15' that is attached to the ball). She pulled it up and cleated it off at the bow. She looked like an old pro. And this was our first time to take up a mooring. We were high fiving each other for the job well done.




While we still had daylight, we got the motor on the dingy and jumped in to take a spin around and get bella to shore to get some grass under her feet. As we motored through the mooring field, we ran across our friends we met in St Augustine, Paul and Ela, on Southern Bella. We stopped and chatted, and

found out they just arrived today as well. Paul was in deep s#!t, having a problem with their head. Not fun. Been there, done that, and now follow some very strict rules as it relates to the head. If it didn't g in your mouth, through your stomach and exit below the waist(front or back)- thenit doesn't go in the head. No toilet paper and especially no baby wipes(the culprit last time I had to disassemble the head and all the hoses. We have a small trash can for tp. Don't be intimidated, it works fine. The mexicans have been doing it that way forever. Just go in any public restroom in a deeply hispanic area, and you will see the trashcans in the stalls. They don't flush tp, and neither do we on SolMate. Well, I've digressed.


So we finished making the rounds through the anchorage, chatting up our buddy boats, and went to the marina office to check in. $14 a day and you get full marina privelages- dingy dock, showers, laundry, etc. A decent deal.


We got back to the boat, starving. So tonight was Stir Fry. And it was awesome.


Hope you had as good of a day. We'd love to hear from you. Just post us a comment or give us a call.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

On the Move- looking for warmer weather

We left St Augustine on Saturday morning after we found out that our friends John and Kathy on Miss Alice weren't able to get out of Savannah for a Sunday arrival in St Augustine. The weather wasn't getting warmer, so we backed out of the slip around 930am and headed south. Seems it was a popular plan, as our new friends on Las Sirenas and Southern Bella were both pullin out at the same time. The plan was to get to Daytona and maybe spend a day there.
We got a bit behind because I don't like overworking the engine. I usually run our Yanmar 4cyl, 50hp diesel at around 1800rpms which sounds like a comfortable engine speed and gives us about 5.2 knots. I started wondering why we were always getting passed or left behind, so I pulled out the technical manual and looked at the power curve charts. According to the manual, the engine is actually rated for continuous duty at 3400rpms and the real power curve doesn't start until about 2000 rpms. So with some apprehension, I have pushed the throttle up to about 2200rpms which gets us to almost 6 knots. I don't know why I am compelled to be so conservative, but I feel like if I don't work the girl too hard, she will be there when I really need her. Enough gearhead chat, for now.
So we got into Daytona at dusk, and the last bascule bridge we needed to get through was on restrictions, so we had to do circles just north of it, waiting until 540pm for the next opening. The anchorage was just south of it but by the time we were through, darkness had set in. That adds an entirely new aspect to the equation. We tried to take a shortcut across a sandbar to enter the anchorage, but Solmate would have none of it. She drug her keel across the bottom, and convinced us we needed to take the longer way around to enter the anchorage from the south. So we U'eeed around and zipped down the additional quarter mile and hooked up into the anchorage. Fortunately, the anchorage wasn't crowded and the wind and current were both N to S, so we glided to a stop, dropped the hook, payed out 50' of chain and let the boat fall back on the 35# Bruce claw anchor and take a good set. We were below cooking tacos and mex rice withing minutes.
After dinner, we took Bella for a nighttime dingy ride over to the shore. We landed in a pretty high end harbor, surrounded by beautiful 50-80 foot yachts. We were in our foulies, with life jackets and Bella with hers on. I certainly felt like interlopers but Bella didn't mind, she found a good patch of grass and soiled it(yes we always pick up after her). It was a nice little jaunt in, but it still amazes us how much effort it takes to accomplish such a small little errand. Gathering all the gear(life jackets, radio, flashlights, dingy lights, etc), getting the outboard lowered down and mounted onto the dingy, getting everyone in without fallin in, and getting underway is a 20minute ordeal. In the time it takes to go 500yards to shore, you could have jumped into your car, gone to the QT, bought snacks and beer, and made it back home. It's just crazy. But we have plenty of time!!

We decided not to piddle around Daytona today, so we weighed anchor around 930am and headed south. With such a late start, we know we wouldn't be able to get to Cape Canaveral, but figured we'd get to Titusville. And we did. After another solid day of motoring south on the ICW, we pulled through the always up(except when there is a train actually coming) railroad bridge, and we passed through our first Swing bridge(swing bridges don't raise up, they actually pivot in the center and turn 90 degrees to allow passage on either side). It was pretty cool. they are currently building a tall fixed bridge to replace it, and Carryn and I both wondered if the bridge operator know he was going to soon be unemployed. Kind of sad, huh?

So we got through the swing bridge around 5pm, and turned west out of the channel to drop the hook. We found 8-10' of water just a quarter mile south and west of the swing bridge, and as such, we are fairly protected from the N wind(I can't understand why so many boats were anchored north of the highway/bridge, totally exposed to the north with a fetch of more than a mile of open water. If the wind pipes up, they are going to have a bumpy night)
Tonight we cooked our Chicken-n-Wine recipe with rice and brussels. It was tasty.
Tomorrow, we are going to continue south to Canaveral and treat ourselves to a marina. We got a hot tip from Terry and Deb on Island Time that the marina is offering a special rate of 60 cents a foot(per night), so we will get another day/night of water, electricity, and laundry(don't need it since we have been wearing pretty much the same clothes for the last few days). Our plan is to visit the Kennedy Space Center and so a little sightseeing.

We are fortunate to be able to pirate an Internet connection, so I should be able to post this tonight as I am writing it. Seems like we are building a bit of a readership out there. Good- puts more pressure on me to keep regular postings. We love to get comments, so please- click on the comments link and send us a note. Ask us some questions, etc.

On the move

We left St Augustine on Saturday morning after we found out that our friends John and Kathy on Miss Alice weren't able to get out of Savannah for a Sunday arrival in St Augustine. The weather wasn't getting warmer, so we backed out of the slip around 930am and headed south. Seems it was a popular plan, as our new friends on Las Sirenas and Southern Bella were both pullin out at the same time. The plan was to get to Daytona and maybe spend a day there.

We got a bit behind because I don't like overworking the engine. I usually run our Yanmar 4cyl, 50hp diesel at around 1800rpms which sounds like a comfotable engine speed and gives us about 5.2 knots. I started wondering why we were always getting passed or left behind, so I pulled out the technical manual and looked at the power curve charts. According to the manual, the engine is actually rated for continuous duty at 3400rpms and the real power curve doesn't start until about 2000 rpms. So with some apprehension, I have pushed the throttle up to about 2200rpms which gets us to almost 6 knots. I don't know why I am compelled to be so conservative, but I feel like if I don't work the girl too hard, she will be there when I really need her. Enough gearhead chat, for now.

So we got into Daytona at dusk, and the last bascule bridge we needed to get through was on restrictions, so we had to do circles just north of it, waiting until 540pm for the next opening. The anchorage was just south of it but by the time we were through, darkness had set in. That adds an entirely new aspect to the equation. We tried to take a shortcut across a sandbar to enter the anchorage, but Solmate would have none of it. She drug her keel across the bottom, and convinced us we needed to take the longer way around to enter the anchorage from the south. So we U'eeed around and zipped down the additional quarter mile and hooked up into the anchorage. Fortunately, the anchorage wasn't crowded and the wind and current were both N to S, so we glided to a stop, dropped the hook, payed out 50' of chain and let the boat fall back on the 35# Bruce claw anchor and take a good set. We were below cooking tacos and mex rice withing minutes.

After dinner, we took Bella for a nighttime dingy ride over to the shore. We landed in a pretty high end harbor, surrounded by beautiful 50-80 foot yachts. We were in our foulies, with life jackets and Bella with hers on. I certainly felt like interlopers but Bella didn't mind, she found a good patch of grass and soiled it(yes we always pick up after her). It was a nice little jaunt in, but it still amazes us how much effort it takes to accomplish such a small little errand. Gathering all the gear(lifejackets, radio, flashlights, dingy lights, etc), getting the outboard lowered down and mounted onto the dingy, getting everyone in without fallin in, and getting underway is a 20minute ordeal. In the time it takes to go 500yards to shore, you could have jumped into your car, gone to the QT, bought snacks and beer, and made it back home. It's just crazy. But we have plenty of time!!



So this morning, we deci

Friday, December 25, 2009

Mass at Cathedral Basilica St Augustine

A beautiful Mass in Cathedral Basilica St. Augustine-

Carryn and I had full intentions of attending midnight mass but turns out that taking a nap at 9pm was not the smartest thing. Bella woke us up at 1145pm, telling us she was thirsty by looking into a dry water bowl(that's another story). So as they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", we didn't make it to midnight mass. I was heartbroken, as this was to be the highlight of our stop here, like it was last year. Instead, we got up this morning and made it to the 11am service. It was absolutely beautiful. There are few things that will wet my eyes, but a Christmas mass in such a beautiful church will do it for sure. Carryn wanted to light a candle for Marilyn, so I gave her $20 to put in the box. She was up there for a while, and when she returned, she proceeded to tell me that it was a bargain- the requested donation was only $2 to light a small candle. So just like a kid at a fireworks stand, Carryn decided to get her money's worth and thought of all the people in our lives who we hope will be blessed with the good Lord's guidance. I won't list them here, but if you're reading this, you were probably on the list.





So...why was Bella so thirsty?? Well yesterday, Carryn decided she wanted to make a batch of her family recipe stuffing. So we got on the bikes(pulling Bella in the Burley trailer) and headed out in search of a market. It was a nice ride and we found Stewarts market, a cute little family grocer with great veggie selection (they even grew their own hydroponic lettuce). She picked up the requisite loaf of white bread and celery, along with a few other goodies. She was really looking forward to stuffing on Christmas Day. Well, Bella had a different agenda. While we fell asleep, sometime between 9p and 1145p, she decided she wanted to stuff her face with some good fresh white bread. In true burglar fashion, she quietly pulled the bread off the back of the counter, careful not to disturb anything stacked in front of it, and had her way with it. She must have filled up, because she left about 6 slices for us. What a baaaaaddddd girl. Carryn was really pissed. No homemade stuffing for her, since all the markets are closed today.

So today's menu will be: pork tenderloin, mashed potato's, green beans and BOXED STUFFING.

So, since we got out of mass at 12p, we had to get back to the boat and clear out of the marina. Kind of a bummer since the weather today is crappy, it isn't supposed to get nice until this evening. Also, we have met some nice folks in the marina and it is always tough leaving people you have just befriended. Regardless, we have only budgeted for 3-4 marina nights per month, and since this is a pretty nice anchorage, we will stick with our plan of only 1 night here. As we are readying the boat (filling water tanks, washing off the deck, tying things down, etc) the dockmaster came over and asked if we were wanting to pay for another night, or are we leaving. A polite way to say that we were late checking out. So I assured him we were hustling to get going and would be underway soon. About 30 minutes later, he came back. I thought he was upping the pressure to leave, but he says they got a call from someone about paying for another night and he passed me a post-it note with a name and number. Again, because I was so concerned about not pushing our checkout time, I said thanks for taking the call and that we would be off the docks shortly. He looked at me kind of odd and strolled off. Scott from Las Sirenas, had been standing there the entire time and realized I misunderstood the dockmaster, and explained what he meant.....
So Santa DID come to SolMate this year-
Seems that Carryn's sisters Lynn, Lisa and her dad, Pete conspired to make sure we had a good Christmas Day, by calling to the St Augustine Municipal Marina and buying us another night in the slip. It was a real treat, because just as we were figuring all this out, the weather got ugly and it began to rain. So what a treat, to get to stay another night, tied up, unlimited water, electricity and a few new friends around to share it with.


Though we wished to spend the holidays with our family and friends, please know how much we love and appreciate all the well wishes.

We wish each and everyone a Merry Christmas, God Bless-

Brandon, Carryn and Bella (our bread pirate)

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Good Morning, St. Augustine!

Good morning St. Augustine!
We awoke to a beautiful view out our aft portlight(which is just above our "headboard" of the bed).

The town was alive with lights and sounds last night and we could hear the revelers into the night. This morning, the sunrise baked the town in a warm glow and the early birds were carrying out their morning rituals- jogging, strolling, picking up their morinng java... Bella peered out the port, "lookin' at the peoples" as we like to encourage her. After rolling around in bed, loving on Bella for our "Guud Mernin' " routine, we got up for a little breakfast and to mill around on deck.



Bella had other plans.... Seemed she needed to relieve herself. As you may or may not know, we have been concerned about her not wanting to potty on the boat, and therefore holding it until we dingy ashore(which could be days). In the marinas, she never had an issue pottying on the dock. She took a liking to going on peoples docklines and hoses, so I simulate the conditions on the bow of the boat by scattering a few old ropes around. She has pee'd on deck, but never poop'd. So this morning, she trotted up and took a good pee on the bow- to which I rewarded her with a treat and much praise. She must have figured it out, and promptly went up and danced around in circles, squatted and POOP'D!! We were so proud (and relieved that she finally got over that hurdle). Another treat and praise, and Carryn can now relax to the knowledge that Bella isn't going to explode with poop if we don't get to shore. I know this may be more info than you want, but this was a big deal for us. (I even took a picture of it to commemorate the event, but thought it would turn many readers off- feel free to post a comment if you just MUST see it).


As for other topics, anchoring in a tight anchorage with strong winds and currents will certainly test ones nerves. Last night, when we dropped the hook, I was confident we had good holding, but we were nestled in between several boats, one of which was on a mooring (shorter scope, so smaller swing radius than all the boats around her). The wind and current had SolMate dancing around her anchor, doing pirouettes, and only occasionally stretching out the chain and pulling in the same orientation as the other boats. Seems that boats with different keel profiles(being affected by the currents) and different hull profiles(affected by windage) cause them to act differently on anchor when the wind and current oppose each other. Several times I went out to find us shifted into different juxtapositions, sometimes coming pretty close to the moored trawler. After confirming by sight and on the chartplotter that we weren't dragging anchor, I concluded that there was little risk of swinging into anybody. I convinced myself to settle down for a long winter's nap(yes, I was in bed at 9p). All was well this morning, so I am learning the ins and outs of how she acts on anchor. I'm sure there will be many more lessons to learn, and many more blogs to post on the subject.

Today we will explore the town and try to find the Sailor's exchange(a marine junkyard/consignment store with lots of good used stuff). We will move to the marina for our one night of marina bliss(good power and unlimited water) so we can attend church tonight. We will attend midnight mass at the Basilica St Augustine. It is a beautiful church. Last year the Bishop gave mass. Pretty awesome.

For now, it is such a beautiful day, I hate to spend it on the laptop. So, until next time.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

BonVoyage Land-Lubbers!






The SVSolmate has officially left port as of December 20th and is heading SOUTH! Our first night at anchor was in Cattle Pen Creek along the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW). We awoke to dolphins swimming around the boat the next morning, no coffee needed to put a smile on our face.

Our second night we anchored in St Simons near Golden Isles Marina and saw a grand sunset (still freezing our booties off at night slept in all of my clothes).
On our third day we entered the sunshine state of Florida!!! Getting a little warmer and now only sleeping in a t-shirt we spent the night at anchor just south of the Amelia River.

Today is the fourth day at sea. We just arrived in St Augustine, FL just in time for Christmas. Loaded up the dinghy and headed into town to let Bella do her business and get off of the boat for a spell. The anchorage is a little bumpy but we still plan to cook steak, home fries and broccoli (my favorites). We are learning that closing up the boat and preparing for a dinghy departure is much more cumbersome than locking up a house. Got to remember so many things to bring with you, as well as safety items, locking the boat with all the gear on top etc..., and hoping for smooth waters so you don't get soaked. Oh, most key thing to remember is to bring the dinghy oars in the event your engine stalls (yes this did happen).

However, so far our journey has been great the boat is running perfectly, no complaints. We plan to stay here and celebrate Christmas. Our only wish is that all the special people in our lives also have a wonderful holiday we miss each and everyone.

Love
Brandon, Carryn and Belly-Boo

BonVoyage Land-Lubbers!

The SVSolmate has officially left port Decemeber

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Provisioning Complete!



We are getting closer and closer to being "ready" to shove off Sunday, Decemeber 20th planning to get to St. Augustine for Christmas. What a crazy few weeks this has been. We sold, paked and moved out of our home into a couple of PODS last Friday. Working like nuts now to provision up for our trip to the Bahamas.




In the marina, we have wonderful cruiser friends who give us a ton of advice for storage ideas, food lists and chart knowledge. I learned that a case of beer cost $40 bucks in the Bahamas!!! So we are going to create a new layer on top of the floor full of beer (I hope).
Just wanted to post a couple of pictures over the past few days. Keep us in your prayers. We truly will miss our family and friends.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2010!

Carryn, Brandon and Bella

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thanks-Giving Day !

The search for storage space has begun and Brandon has done a fantastic job! My HERO! The whole entire v-berth has been built up about 8" and so the whole bed has become storage space. As well as, a new cabinet also located in front v-berth.

Provisioning has been on-going as it is just too much to think about in one shopping visit. We were scheduled to leave Nov. 28th but just received a contract on our home in Marietta, set to close on Dec. 14th so we will delay shoving off for a few more weeks.

In the interim, we had a wonderful couple of weeks. Our friends Joan and Byrd gave us a beautiful and fun bon voyage party full of well wishes (psyche we are still here). We also visited my sister and her circus of a family in Athens, GA (which is always so much fun!). Then we celebrated turkey day with our boating friends in Wilmington Island, GA, thanks Ted and Noreen for the wonderful food and friendship!

So despite not officially "leaving" we have had many blessings with good friends and family to wish us well and big luck. We truly have God's favor and feel it each and every day!

Love to all! We hope each of you also had a wonderful turkey day.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Making progress


I will quit apologizing for the infrequency of our blog entries.

We have been busy, and making good progress. We did well with our garage sale, so had a few bucks to show for all the useless crap we got rid of. Have been at the boat quite a bit, getting the last big things installed.
Finished the SSB(single sideband radio) and the solar panels. Had to move the wind generator, so had a new pole mount fabricated for it. Got it back from the welder today and have been working on it in between the rainfalls.
Next is to fire up the carpentry skills to build some shelves and storage lockers.
Look forward to finishing the projects so we can get moving. If the weather doesn't slow us down too much, I hope to be done this week. Then we have to provision and store everything.
And then get going!!!

We'll post some pics in the next blog.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Today is the first day.....

Clearly we have neglected the blog. Almost surprised it is still on the web. We have a lot to catch you up on, so we will have to figure out how to do so without just doing on big core dump. Instead, I will try to dole it out over the next month or so. We are still in the middle of some of the changes, so it is difficult to discuss/publicize what is going on. Before long, hopefully we will have caught you up on the recent developments, and share our future plans with you.
We are also wrestling with whether to make this blog or our facebook page our primary means of communicating. We'll figure it out. It is good to have friends that are interested.

So.......what is the deal-e-o??

Much has changed in the past month- it seems as though the good lord is telling us to quit procrastinating and get on with our dreams and aspirations.

So we have ratcheted up the pace on getting the boat ready, the house is on the market, and we are having the mother of all garage sales this weekend. Hope to unload a lot of crap, and end up with a few bucks to show for it. Went through the kitchen today to purge cabinets and drawers. We took a "3 box approach." We had a small box for things that would go to the boat, a medium size box for things that we would send to storage, and a large box that would be carried to the garage and staged for the yard sale. It was interesting. I love getting rid of crap. I used to be a hoarder, but have done a 180. Carryn has never been a hoarder, but is a bit more clingy to some of the things. It's amazing the junk you keep around but never use. It feels good to toss it, better to actually merchandise it and get someone else to buy it from you.

We also cleaned out the pantry. We figured we would donlate a large box of foodstuffs to the food bank. Upon going through the canned and dry goods, it was clear that we haven't purged old food in a long time. We found canned stuff that expired in 2001!! That means it was expired when we lived in Houston, the packers packed it and moved it to Atlanta for us, we unpacked it and put it in the pantry, and then let it sit for another 5 years. Amazing. One of the 2001 cans was a can of Broccoli &Cheese soup. I figured we could scratch out the "BROC" and replace it with "E-". (E-Coli & Cheese) Nice, huh? In the end, there was very little to donate but much to throw out.

Well, we have our work cut out for us tomorrow morning. Have only a few hours to get everything moved out into the driveway, set up and priced before the rabid yard-sale-shoppers descend upon us. Hope the weather turns nice for us. Wish us luck. Papa needs a brand new life raft.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Happy St Patricks Day


Happy St Patricks Day!
Well, really, Happy St Pat’s weekend. As you likely know, Olivia is spending the weekend with us. Carryn picked her up Wednesday and we have really been having a great week.

We got down to the boat on Friday evening, in time for a little birthday celebration. Turns out, one of our boat neighbors was also a March 13th baby and another on March 17th. So we joined the party, hopped from boat to boat and had a great time.

This morning we rolled out and got the dinghy in the water and ready to go. Olivia has been itching to try out her new Barbie Fishing Pole that we got her.







So we took off out into the Wilmington River and found ourselves in the middle of a laser/sunfish races. We watched the little boats skitter around the course and Olivia “fished”.
Then a great tragedy struck: Olivia was casting her new rod and let go of the whole thing. It hit the water and sunk like a rock. We didn’t even get a chance to grab for it. As you can imagine, Olivia was devastated and just couldn’t understand her misfortune.
After wiping away the tears, we headed back in to get some lunch and get ready for the St Pats Parade on Tybee Island.

Having gone to the Tybee Mardi Gras parade a few weeks ago, we were a little skeptical. But we were pleasantly surprised. The parade was great. Olivia and Bella got to see lots of floats, goofy people and collected beads. Both got “citations” from the Keystone Cops. The highlight of the parade was the Budweiser Clydesdales.

We ended the day with dinner at Huck-a-Poos, a local bar and grill. It’s one of our favorites because the welcome dogs. Bella gets to sit at the table with us, inside or out. It is great, and she really loves all the attention.
Hope you like the pictures. Take care and talk to you soon.





Friday, March 6, 2009

I must admit that we have neglected our blog. Please forgive us, dear reader(if we have any readers left). As you can see, the last entry was merely a placholder for us to document our wonderful Christmas break, but it is still unfilled. Carryn is on me every evening because I enjoy so much reading other cruisers' blog sites, but never update our own. I promise to do better.


So what are we up to these days? Well, the weather in Atlanta has been tough. Certainly o