Old Blog.........New Blog

Officially today this blog has become "old" and I will be posting only to the new blog.  I will keep this site up because it has the old postings on it, but I will not be adding to it anymore.


Click here for the new blog.


The new site may take a few weeks to tweek and get just right, but eventually it will be better than this one.

Picture Recap: FL Keys to Norfolk, VA

This is going backwards a bit, but I wanted to recap our trip from FL to VA. We sailed the whole way north, but we did stop a twice when the wind was out of the wrong direction.

Leaving the Keys

Hauled, Cleaned, Repaired, and Splashed

On the Rail

One of the main reasons for heading back here to Virginia instead of going straight to New England was because of the haul-out facility here. Since we are a catamaran not every boat yard with a travel lift can haul us because of our wide beam (23' 7").  Before we came up we checked around Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, but while there were many places to haul us, they also were a lot more expensive and often wouldn't let you do your own work. Some of the ones that did, were quite expensive compared to what we had experienced here last year.

Shake Down is Almost Over...Heading North

We've spent the last 2 months getting used to our boat and figuring out what things we'd like to change or upgrade. Our trip has basically taken us from Charleston, SC to Key West and now we're headed back north (to where, we aren't sure yet). The boat is only 9 years old but the previous owners lived aboard so some things have really gotten worn out. While I'm happy to say that most of our gear is in good shape, there are several things we need to upgrade, for example:  rip out the old carpet in the salon and replace with something else, replace or repair the galley sink and counters, finish repainting the interior, add solar panels, upgrade most or all lights to LEDs, get a new mainsail cover made, and look into adding a light air sail (screecher). Bill would also like a stainless frame for our cockpit awning, but that may have to wait. We also don't really like our refrigerator because it's huge and we only use about half of it which makes it pretty inefficient (and power hungry, hence the need for more solar panels), but that may also have to stay the way it is. I also have lots and lots of sewing projects to attend to - they seem to get put on the back-burner when there is school and cooking to do.

Bahia Honda Key

Bahia Honda Key is one of the only Florida Keys with a natural sand beach. Because there is no surf to speak of, there is not a natural way for sand to accumulate and form a beach. 

The Train Bridge with a section removed for boats

Not Feeling the Love

Cooper's Rendition of Marathon Harbor

If there was one place everyone we talked to about the keys said to go, it was Marathon. "We loved Marathon", "you gotta go to Marathon", "we stayed in Marathon a month", etc., etc., but we don't get it.  It's nice enough and I guess in full season (we are definitely off season now), there is a lot going on, kind of like the George Town (Bahamas) of the Keys. Two hundred plus moorings in the harbor, morning nets (where they talk about activities going on over the VHF), and pot lucks at night (everyone bring a dish!).  We stayed 2 nights, got much-needed showers, laundry done, and some more food (pricey but not too bad).  But, there's not much else to keep us here. We're not really the type that likes to gather with the other cruisers and definitely do not like to cook, I avoid cooking whenever possible (which can be troublesome too).  We have been looking mostly for nice beaches that we can take the boys to to feed their swimming addiction.  Unfortunately Marathon doesn't really have a beach area. You can dinghy over to one, but it's a bit of a ride and very tiny, so it gets full pretty quick; it's also full of sea grass, so it's not as nice as some others.
Anyway, 2 days later we are off to Bahia Honda Key where there is supposedly a nice beach. We'll let you know.

We Made it to the Keys

After being indecisive for months, we finally decided to head for the keys instead of the Bahamas for the next month. One of the main reasons was because we'd have to pay $300 to enter the Bahamas, and we expect to be there next fall; besides we've never been to the keys and may not be here again.  So, we're missing the Endeavor shuttle launch which is slated for the 16th, but if it gets scrubbed again, we can see it when we head north.  

Canaveral Lock

Scrubbed Launch....So Bummed

The Night Before the Launch; photo credit: NASA

The APU (Auxillary Power Unit 1) heaters failed, so the shuttle launch is scrubbed for today, literally less than 10 minutes before the crew was supposed to board. Oh well, hopefully we'll be close enough to see something when they reschedule.

Last Launch Day for Endeavor

Today is the last launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor, it's mission is to deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and a pallet loaded with spare parts to the International Space Station during a 14-day mission. The AMS is a cutting-edge physics experiment designed to look for anti-matter in the cosmos and perhaps unlock the mystery of what makes up most of the mass in the universe. The Endeavor shuttle will go to its final resting place at the California Science Center in Los Angeles after this mission. The Discovery had its last mission in March and is going to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum; the Atlantis shuttle will have a launch at the end of June and will stay at the Kennedy Space Center; and the Enterprise, the first orbiter built, will move from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

We made it to Titusville, although we had to take the ICW because the wind outside was completely against us. So, while we don't like to motor inside, it was the best way to get here and this was on our must-do list. We are anchored outside of the Titusville City Marina, which is basically across from the launch pad. We hear the crowds will be huge today, so we're glad we're on a boat and not having to deal with the traffic.

The weather yesterday afternoon was crazy, we had strong winds, heavy rain and hail!  Today is a bit better but still, intermittent rain, windy, and low cloud cover. I hope it clears up so we can get some good pictures!

It's National Park Week, so....

...you can visit any national park this week for free! We went to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, which is the fort that we see from our boat.  It was started in 1672 and is one of the oldest standing structures in North America. It has served six different flags, survived hurricanes, and withstood bombardments and sieges.  

Outside the Castillo de San Marcos

A Man With a Mission

We decided to stay on a mooring in St. Augustine harbor for a week. You can anchor here but they have seriously reduced the size of the anchorage area with the new moorings. Many people (boaters) are pretty angry about that, they feel that they have the right to anchor anywhere for free.  While I agree with that,  this area is very close to the inlet and has very strong currents, so being on a mooring will prevent a lot of boats from swinging or dragging into each other. So we decided to pick up a mooring which also allows us to use all the marina services (it cost $20 per night or 7 nights for the price of 6), although you can pay $10 per day for the same services if you are anchored.  

After our first night, as we were getting school going and checking things out on deck, we happened to meet a kayaker paddling through the mooring field. He stopped to ask a couple of questions and then he ended up coming on board for a while and talking with us. 

Jason the Kayaker

Spending Time in St. Augustine

We decided to stay in St. Augustine for a week. Our short term plans are to be in Cape Canaveral for the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavor, which is currently scheduled for April 29th; there are only 2 more launches to go and we are hoping to watch one from the boat!

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés

While we are in St. Augustine we are planning to take in some historical tours and some fun stuff too. We've walked around the town a bit and scoped out where the ice cream shops are, so we'll tone down the homeschool this week while we try to absorb some local history.

Charleston to St. Augustine

by Bill
Well, we left Charleston in the morning with the outgoing tide.  It had been a weekend of celebrating the 150th year since the initial battle of that terrible historical event known as the Civil War. That initial battle happened in Charleston, more specifically at fort Sumter. Several re-enactments have taking place with cannons firing daily. Luckily none fired at us as we passed the fort.

It was a great sail leaving the harbor and inlet. The forecast and grib files indicated the weather should be good for our initial leg south to Florida. We were hoping to make it to at least Fernandina or if speeds were good, maybe St Augustine with only one night at sea. This shouldn’t bee too much trouble if we can sail the rhumb line which would take us over thirty miles offshore but still inside the Gulf Stream. 

Things were going well and Tribe was sailing along very comfortably at 7 to 8 kts with winds out of the southwest. As night began to set in the winds shifted further south and more on our nose causing our course to go further offshore – this actually added miles and time.  Later in the night the winds increase but also moved to the south east. All said, it caused us to make a decision to either point to Fernandina, with an arrival past sunset, or continue south for St. Augustine or Ponce de León. With the winds and seas building from the SE, not a good direction for entering Ponce de León, we decided to sail to St. Augustine. This meant arriving in the wee hours of the morning  so we would have to “heave to” offshore and enter in the morning. So we did.

In the morning we were lying about 12 miles offshore with winds and seas out of the SE.  It was an easy run into St. Augustine but the entrance was a real washing machine (to use one of Cole’s surfing terms), but we made it in without issue. We then looked for a place to anchor and clean up from the past two nights at sea.

Two Birds, Two Sharks, One Sea Turtle, and Many Dolphins....

We left Charleston early on Wednesday with light winds out of the west. We knew we'd only have a couple of days of favorable winds before they turned more southerly.  We didn't have a specific destination, but we're trying to get to an area in Florida where we have a straight shot over to the west coast, near Tampa, so we can arrange to pick up some things we left with Bill's parents over there. So, we left with no real destination in mind, only to head in when the winds turn against us. 

The boat sailed well; we are still learning about her and trying different things with the sails. We don't have a roller furler so if we want to reduce sail we can either reef our genoa (the largest sail) or put on our smaller jib.  We did end up using the jib with a reefed main over night because we wanted to slow the boat down (~5 kts) while there was only one person on watch. 

Our Second Bird

It was a mostly uneventful trip, but we did have some visitors worth mentioning.  Twice during the first day we had a bird fly into our salon! The first one was in and out fairly quick, but the second one took a few minutes to coax out; it tried to get out the windows (that were closed) and flew down into one of the aft cabins, but finally flew up and out an open hatch, thankfully unhurt. We also saw two sharks!  The first one was a hammerhead (you could see his head through the waves) which was swimming near our fishing line, so we brought in the lines we had out. The second one we could only see his fin, which was dark grey or black, but you could tell it was a shark by the dorsal fin and tail. We also saw dolphins throughout the day, but there wasn't enough of a bow wave for them to swim in, so they were off to the side a little, but they are always fun to see. And lastly, and most fun of all, a large sea turtle!  He was swimming near the surface about a twenty five yards from the boat. It was a few miles outside of St. Augustine inlet. We hoped he would come by our boat, but he headed out to sea.

Kumbaya.......Come By Here

Approach to Boone Hall

As many people know, it's the 150th anniversary of the Civil War on April 12. Being in Charleston there is a lot of historical activities going on.
You can go broke trying going to all the different houses, plantation, prisons ,etc. that abound here.  We've been here for several months and decided to go to Boone Hall Plantation which is only a few miles from where we are docked.  

Exodus from Charleston

Well, we are one of the last of the wintering boats here in Charleston. Our friends are leaving one by one as we try to finish projects and get ourselves out of here.  Now that Bill is on leave from work we don't have incoming funds to stay at a marina for very long. We hope to finish up and be out of here by the end of next week. We are headed south (while everyone else is headed north), destination will be the Bahamas or the Florida Keys. We are still waiting for Cooper's passport which is taking longer than usual to process.

Homeschool Kids

The other kid-boat here in Charleston with us, Inconceivable, left Saturday. Sabastian and Paisley were just about the boys' ages and were great playmates for the months we were both here.  But, now they are on their way north to begin the Great Loop, a trip that will take them (basically) up the Hudson, through the Erie Canal, the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.  While we have been here, we were lucky enough to join a homeschool group that had different activities going on in the area, including a chess club and book club.  Usually we don't stay in one place long enough to get involved like that, but since we were here for 4 months (yikes!), it has been very helpful to have a little routine to get into and other kids to play with. The marina is also walking distance from the library so that is a big plus.  

A Swedish Training Bark Visits

The navy destroyer left us after a few days, and then a 50m Swedish training vessel docked in our marina. They were offering tours of their ship (above deck) so we took the boys over to have a look around. The vessel name is Gunilla and is from the island of Öckerö on the west coast of Sweden, you can read more about the ship and its program here.  It is a training vessel and had students on board that had left Santa Domingo 11 days before.  In Sweden, after you have mandatory school (until age 16), you go to gymnasium(gymnasieskola) for 3 years.  All of the 44 students on

 

Gunilla Approaching her Dock

board were 2nd year gymnasium students so they were about 18 years old.  The boat has 11 crew members, but the students have to help with all aspects of the ship; navigation, cooking, cleaning, line handling, sail handling, etc. . The boat is staying in Charleston for 6 days then they are off to Bermuda, the Azores and finally to Belgium where the first year students will get on and the second year students fly home.  We were led on a tour of the ship by one of the students, Samuel. All of the students speak English well and were very friendly and polite. We felt privileged to be allowed on board. 

Out With the Freighters in With the Destroyer

Normally we have car freighters and cruise ships coming and going at the docks next to us.  It's pretty cool to watch them and see how the tugs push them around and up to the docks. They're too big to maneuver in those close quarters without (usually) two tug boats to help guide them into the right position.  They are just so incredibly massive and they come so close that it looks like they're going to crash into the docks.  I definitely would not want to be that close to one if I was in my boat. Their props are very deep and they cause a lot of suction behind them. They also could run a little sailboat over without even knowing they hit anything.

Car Freighter Heading up the River

One Year Older.....Cole turns 11 !

...and gets a surfboard for his birthday (March 2). We took the boys to the gulf side of Florida to visit their grandparents and to give the board a better tryout; it's still a little cold in the water in Charleston. There wasn't much surf going on the first day, but what he needed was to learn to balance and stand on the board, and that he did! Next time we'll get all this action on film!  Cole has always had a knack for picking up sports that require balancing (scooter, biking, skateboard), so it was no surprise to us that he took to surfing so easily. 

Coming out for a break

Still Hanging out in Charleston

Heading to the beach near Fort Moultrie

It's warming up here now and we've been able to turn off the heaters (at least during the day) and open the hatches.  It feels good to have some warm wind blowing in  at last! The motivation level to get things done is greatly improving. We've been trying to decide whether to head south soon so we can be in a warmer place and be able to work on the boat better, or to stay here where we have a car and access to a lot of cool things to see and do.  A couple other pluses to being here is the active homeschool group that has allowed us to meet new friends/kids and participate in some fun activities.