PREPARATIONS--BAHAMAS 2013

Well, we've begun. Studying charts at home on the dining room table;  called Rusty Sitton to try to get together to pick his and Linda's brains and learn from their several experiences in the Exumas;  contacted all of the couples we met on our last trip to see what their plans are and see if we'll be able to link up with them somewhere along the way; making lists of the "stuff" we'll need and the "stuff" we can do without this time around and deciding what changes and additions we need to make to the boat. It's the latter that we're working on right now.
We left Houston for a couple of weeks on the boat in Punta Gorda. In the meantime, I had made arrangements with a local marine electrician to do a couple of changes to my electrical system:  we added a dedicated engine start battery and changed out my old batteries for 4 new golf cart batteries as my "house bank". I had him install a heavy duty on/off switch between the inverter/charger and the batteries so I could turn off the amperage draw to the charger when operating the A/C off of my Honda 2000 Generator. I was having problems getting the A/C to run because the charging system was taking away too much of the power and depriving the Honda of the amperage it needs to start up the A/C compressor. It seems to be working now but an occasional problem when the A/C cycles on and off--Oh well--I guess we'll just set it down to 60 degrees so it won't cycle on and off.. (I'm also checking a possible wiring issue that may be preventing it getting all the amperage it should be getting)

Our resident Osprey Couple

After a few days of getting the boat back together, sails on, canvas up---we were off for a 4 day shake down cruise. We left Thurs AM (10/23) and had a very nice light wind sail down to our favorite anchorage-Pelican Bay- off of Cayo Costa Island at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor. We got in around 3:00 and dropped the hook with only 4 or 5 other boats (including a 36 foot catamaran out of Galveston). We relaxed the rest of that afternoon and evening. The next morning we dinghied over to the island (Cayo Costa is a state park) caught the shuttle over to the other side/beach side/Gulf side of the island for a day of walking the beach, shelling and falling asleep in our new umbrella chairs. After this strenuous exercise we took the shuttle back to park hq and had an Eskimo Pie and dinghied back to the boat for sundowners and a quick motor, about an hour, out of the bay and down the Intra-coastal Waterway to an anchorage just off the waterway between Useppa island and Cabbage Key ( Reputed Home of the Cheeseburger in Paradise). Here we cleaned off the beach sand and sweat, dressed in our fanciest boat clothes and dinghied over to Cabbage Key for a fabulous, but pricey dinner. WE were joined by a group of semi-roudy guys and gals participating in a week-end fishing tournament--The Redneck Anglers. Actually they were a fairly civil group and didn't disturb our evening in the slightest. REALLY---The food here is great and the friendly service even better (BEST PART?--I got to watch about an hour of the Ryder Cup at the bar nursing, was it tru or tee martinis?--can't remember. A short dinghy ride back to the boat and we settled in for another comfortable night on the hook.

                                                      
The Redneck Anglers Fishing Tournament Shotgun Start Saturday Morning at 7 AM
                                       Cabbage Key in the Background

We awoke the next morning at dawn to watch the fishing tourney begin and then headed down the ditch towards Ft. Myers for our next stop. After anchoring for lunch off of St. James City (on the south end of Pine Island) we continued on through the "Miserable Mile" a narrow cut along the ditch where you encounter all kinds of pleasure craft, mostly power, mostly in a big hurry, mostly kicking up big wakes and eventually arrived at the mooring field at Ft. Myers Beach (a small estuary in between the island of Ft Myers Beach and the mainland, where you can rent an overnight mooring ball for $18.35 a night) around 3 in the afternoon. After securing the boat we dinghied in to the Matanzas Inn to pay our mooring fee. While the attendant was processing our paper work I enquired re the cost of a room at the Inn --just out of curiosity--and learning that it was ridiculously cheap I surprised Diane with the offer to stay in some A/C and a big bed for one night. Although the weather had been fairly comfortable we were sorry we hadn't brought our generator on the trip so we could get a bit of respite from the humidity at night. Needless to say, Diane jumped at the offer and we dinghied back to the boat to get a change of clothes and overnight stuff and then headed for the pool and our air conditioned room. It truly was a relief--glad we did it. We had a very enjoyable dinner at the Inn that night and a good night's sleep in a king sized bed--nice!

At dawn on Sunday we dinghied back out to A/L detached from the mooring ball and headed out the channel for our off-shore return trip to Burnt Store. This was to be a long day as you have to head several miles south and west before you can turn north toward Gasparilla Pass in order to avoid the huge shallows that extend several miles out into the Gulf along most of Captiva and Sanibel Islands. Hoping for some good (finally) sailing winds we were only slightly disappointed. We had some good wind but not enough to get us home before dark, so we motor sailed most of the way. With the engine running quietly at low RPM's it was actually quite a pleasant sail bringing us to Gasparilla Pass at around 3PM. From there we had a beautiful (engineless) sail back up Charlotte Harbor to home, arriving at our slip around 5:30--Jimmy Buffet on the radio; an early "boat drink": 1/4 Myers Dark Rum, 1/4 Coconut Rum; 1/4 orange juice and 1/4 pineapple juice, the sound of the water rushing past our hull and a few dolphins surfacing to check us out.
We had hoped to be able to fit in another excursion later in our stay--possibly heading north up the waterway toward Sarasota and visiting some of the pretty anchorages along the way but the weather turned hot and unbearably humid. While Houston was enjoying weather in the 60's and 70's we had high 80's and low 90's with humidity at around 200%---heat index of over 100--with occasional thunderstorms. All of this brought out the N0-See-Ums in hordes. Linda Sitton of "See Yawl Later" writes at length about these devilish little bugs and her particularly uncomfortable reaction to their stings---Now we  know of what she speaks. While I feel the sting, I don't react in any way. Diane gets small mosquito-like welts that itch horribly. By the time we decided to leave a couple days earlier than planned she was covered with hundreds of itchy  welts--legs, arms, neck---there doesn't seem to be an effective preventive--we tried them all. The bigger problem is that they get into the cabin of the boat and hang around for days---so they're even active while we sleep. They also seem to get into the material on deck--cushions, sheet bags, bimini canvas---so they're alays with you, no matter the time of day. It just got terribly uncomfortable for Diane so we left. (But not before taking a one day car trip up to Sarasota visiting the the barrier islands along the way--Casey Key, Siesta Key, etc.--very nice--very prettty--big homes and mansions--a very interesting part of the west coast of Florida. This area doesn't get the publicity that Captiva and Sanibel get but it is every bit as nice and far less crowded with tourists. And--Siesta Key does have the most beautiful white sand beach I've ever seen.)

In summary---pick your weather very carefully if visiting this area in late summer or early Fall---best to wait until they get their first cold snap so you can avoid the humidity and the bugs (I had been down to do some work on the boat in August and it wasn't nearly as bad as what we encountered here in late Sept/early Oct.
We got a lot done on the boat--we're ready to take off in February. Assisted Living still pleases and surprises us no end and we are extremely excited about our upcoming adventure.
But for now---back to a couple of months of work at the law office--more chart study--making moving plans and all the necessary arrangements. I'll need to update my Coast Guard registration for the boat, renew our boat insurance, register our VHF radio MMIS number, renew SPOT and a bunch of other technical stuff--but stuff I love to do. But, most importantly, I must begin work on my golf game.
 Early November I will travel to New Mexico for the annual "Dormer Cup". Diane and I have been close friends with Ed and Teresa Dormer for decades and have essentially adopted their two boys, Doug and Jonathon, as they have adopted our two kids--we travel together, and have been mostly inseparable for years. Several years ago Jon was married in Las Vegas and, naturally, a golf outing was part of the festivities. Doug and Jon decided to carry on the tradition on an annual basis, and so every fall we all get together (between 16 and 20 guys depending on who can fit it in) for a 3 day tournament. We've been going to an Indian Reservation in Miss. for the last several years but for various reasons we've switched it to a similar venue--golf course, hotel, casino-- in Santa Fe N.M. this year. These guys are good golfers----me -- not so much any more , so I've got some work to do on my game before I take these young "gentlemen" on. Anyway--It's a great, fun time with a truly great group of young (and a couple old) men, and we all look forward to it every year.  FOUR !!!!!!

WHY WE SAIL

Need I say more?

The New Journey Begins

Here's where we've been living since January 2012. (Top-Entry) (Bottom-view of downtown Houston from our 16th floor deck)

When we returned to Houston in May of 2011 we had every intention of going back to the Bahamas that following winter. But, as so often happens, fate had a little different idea of what we were going to do for the next year and a half. After spending the summer living and working at our home in Colorado we returned to Kingwood toward the end of September and shortly after our arrival received a very serious offer to buy our Kingwood home of over 20 years. Having had the place on the market for over 5 years with never a valid offer, we were ecstatic. The buyers insisted that we close on or before November 15 even though that gave us less than 30 days after the final contract was signed. Despite our recognition of what a physical challenge this was going to be we kept "our eye on the prize". I won't detail the incredibly rough road we trod toward closing but we did it! After spending every waking hour packing, discarding, fixing up and moving "stuff" to our large storage room on the SECOND FLOOR of our office building in Humble ( I estimate around 400 trips up and down 18 steps ---I did lose about 20 pounds but injured my knee (now fully resolved) in the process) we did succeed to close--although the entire issue was in doubt up to the last day (NOT a pleasant experience)---on November 15th.

Oh yeah---I forgot to mention that we had no place to live, so part of our time was spent exploring possibilities. For some time we had toyed with the idea of moving "down town" and had even put a contract on a place near down town Houston several years earlier (when we thought we had a contract on the Kingwood home---turned out the "buyer" was a total nut case) Sooo--we headed for down town and started looking at homes for sale and rent.

We had easily decided that we wanted to do something different than remaining in Kingwood where we had lived for almost 40 years---we love the community, our friends, our church---but we knew we wanted to do something different. Soooo---Down town we went, in search of a new life. We decided to explore the down town scene--the theater, concerts, restaurants, parks, museums--for a year and then see where we were. One of the first places we stopped (we were just driving by and noticed an "Open House" sign in front) was The Royalton, high rise. We were mostly just curious but once inside we were sold. We had thought we would try to find one of the many 3 story town homes that have been built here over the last 10 years but once we saw the high rise way of life we quickly changed our minds. We did continue to investigate other possibilities but eventually decided to rent, for a year, a nice (small) 2 bedroom on the 16th floor. It's in the Northeast corner with a great view of the downtown skyline (or approximately the 1/2 that isn't blocked by the office building next door). It's right on Buffalo Bayou and the park area that surrounds it.
The building has all the amenities we could ever want or need and ---the best part---I don't have to maintain them! They even clean the 2 gas grills in our "back yard" that we use frequently--they're always spotless---huge gym, nice pool, party room and a couple of inexpensive but nice hotel rooms for guests. (As there is a coffee and soft drink bar on the 1st floor, we haven't made a pot of coffee since we moved in.)
We have enjoyed every minute of our downtown experience (is it down town or downtown???)and have taken full advantage of all the things we came for.
One of the first things I did once we knew where we were going to live was to call my old partners at Miller, Scamardi and Carrabba (office exactly 6 minutes away) to see if they had an extra office to rent ---I would need a place to escape to---Not only did they have an office for me but I ended up becoming "Of Counsel" to the firm and have been extremely busy helping them work up some of their cases. It just worked out perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased with the situation and especially the camaraderie that I had missed for the last 7 years officing out of my home and at our building in Humble. So, we have  enjoyed this new experience beyond words (and have even been able to work on increasing the cruising kitty a bit)--BUT -- it's time to move on---and that takes me to the title of this post---The New Journey:

The new journey begins this coming February when we set sail for the Bahamas, and particularly, the Exumas, once again. Actually, I'll be leaving the law firm (again) just prior to Christmas, then on to Kris and Paul's in Colorado Springs for Christmas, then return and prepare to move  (again) out of the condo--put all the furniture (again) in storage and head on over to Florida, to the boat, where we will prepare and provision for a Feb 1 departure for the Fla. Keys, and then over to the Bahamas. We plan to be gone for several months-after which we will move into our town home in Colorado for the summer. After that?? Who knows?! We'll know by the end of this next trip whether we'll keep the boat, in Fla? or bring it back to Houston? Hopefully we will have decided by then where we want to "settle down" and can make more definite plans. We've thought about selling Assisted Living and just chartering more frequently on a larger boat that can more readily accomodate friends and family guests/crew and that doesn't involve the maintenance/insurance/storm worries/berthing that is involved in boat ownership. It would be a tough decision and we've put it off to see how we feel after this next cruise. We have truly come to love our little sloop.
So---that's the plan. And hopefully our health, the weather and the uncertainties in this crazy world will allow us to continue to pursue our dream/s. We hope you'll follow along with us by visiting this site as we prepare and embark. Remember to visit the SPOT link at the top of the page so you can see exactly where we are at any given time, superimposed over a Google Earth map. (There's nothing there right now but it will become active again when we depart). You can also "Join" this site by clicking on the box up in the same area on the page.Life is Good!!

Just Catching Up

Well folks, it's been about 1 year to the day since my last post and a lot has changed in our lives and in our plans for the future of "D & D's Sailing Adventures. But, first a little bit of catching up is warranted:
In my last post we left off at the Little Shark River on our trek back to Burnt Store Marina on Charlotte Harbor. We had planned to repeat in reverse, our trip down by stopping at the inlet to Everglades City for the night, then on to home with a brief stop-over in Naples. Our night on the hook in Little Shark was mostly uneventful. It was a beautiful evening with a gorgeous sunset, but we had our first serious encounter with the dreaded "no-see-ums". Actually, I saw them---they were everywhere. We retreated to the relative protection of our cabin with screens up (which seemed to do the trick, except that a number of the little buggers had already found the boat's interior and were awaiting our arrival.) The worst part, however, was the next morning. Those that had arrived, uninvited I must add, decided to hang around on the boat with us most of the next day--in the cockpit---How they managed to stay with us despite the breeze is unknown, but stay they did. They continued to fly into my eyes and bedevil us with their little pin-prick bites most of the day even while underway. As I said--this was truly our first encounter with these pests and we found all the stories about them to be quite true---they are ANNOYING!!!
We weighed anchor early AM and found that we made such good time motorsailing
in fairly benign conditions that we passed up on Everglades City and sailed straight to Naples, arriving about 2 hours before dark. Unfortunately we arrived at the mouth of Gordon Pass, the waterway into the Naples area, against a very strong out-going current that was seeking low tide. Being aware that the waters in this area are quite shallow, especially at low tide, we were very anxious as we wound our way through this very tricky, curvy channel. Fortunately we were able to follow a slightly larger boat in and took some comfort that he drew probably more water than we did. The current against us was unreal but we were able to power through it and made the first available left turn into a residential area around a dredged canal system into a fairly large lake- like body of water surrounded by multi- million dollar homes. We dropped anchor near another boat and settled in for the night--barbecued chicken in the cockpit--as we sipped our boat drinks, watched another beautiful sunset and relaxed after a very long day at sea. What a contrast--last night on the litle Shark with nothing but water, trees and stars (oh yeah--and no-see-ums). Tonight, surrounded by oppulance with a remarkable absence of bugs---of any kind. We concluded that the City of Naples has successfully figured out how to completely eliminate all flying insects---a tourist thing--We just wish that they'd share their secret with the rest of Florida (Who knows what kinds of toxic chemicals in the air we were breathing). It was a another magical evening. After boat drinks and a bottle of really good red wine even Diane gathered the nerve to shower on deck in full view of all the mansions around us (It was dark and we had determined that most of the homes were empty). We did feeel a bit conspicuous anchored in this location as we had heard many stories about inhospitable land owners claiming ownership of the navigable waters off their shores and shooing away boaters. But we had no problem and spent a cool comfortable, bug free evening on the hook.
The next day was completely unremarkable as, once again, we motorsailed (most of the way) back north in the direction of Carlotte Harbor. We had expected to only get as far as Ft Myers beach but, again, made such good time that we were able to make it all the way back to Burnt Store Marina, arriving around 6 PM to a welcome from our good friends, the Kiefers--Chuck and Nancy --and our next boat neighbor, Pete Kellum. We spent the next few days cleaning the boat, renting a car and getting things in order for our return to the hum drum life "on the hard".
We arrived back in Kingwood around the first of May and resumed normalcy (after repairing a cracked water main that our "professional" plumber forgot to drain when we winterized the house back in December, and cleaned the slimy, nasty, green algae from our neglected pool.) Fortunately, the house, overall was in great shape and we found our transition back to suburban life fairly smoothe.
So, here we are ---a year later and many, many changes have occurred in our lives, which, I'm sure, most of you know about but which will be addressed in my next posting.
I think Diane summed up our 5 month Odyssey fairly well in her last post. This trip was everything and more than I expected it to be---all in a very good and positive way. We had some fabulous sailing, met terrific people, learned a lot about our boat and, especially, ourselves, visited some incredibly beautiful places, thrived in the beauty and solitude and quiet of many anchorages--learned how to "conch", learned that one can successfully navigate unfamiliar waters even without a properly functioning chart plotter and auto-helm, and perhaps most importantly, we learned that the men, ages 45 to 65, of southeast Florida very generously and selflessly enjoy taking their darker skinned, incredibly beautiful, younger nieces out on their great big boats for a day's fun on the water--and that the nieces enjoy hanging off the bow like a figurehead so all the world can also, like their loving uncles, appreciate their qualities.
Seriously, I know when I'm sitting around the halls of the real "Assisted Living" Center many, I hope, years from now, I'll still be reminiscing about this incredible journey. It is quite easy to conclude that it, in every way, exceeded my wildest expectations and I can't wait to do it again!