All good things must come to an end....

 I haven't posted anything in a long time.....because there really hasn't been anything to post.  In the past few months I"ve lived in Puerto Vallarta for 3 weeks and then Istanbul for 3 weeks.  Loved both visits but it confirmed for me that I don't want to live overseas and I don't want to live on a boat.  Coronavirus has ruined cruising for me for the forseeable future and really, Florida and the Caribbean are just too hot.  

So, I'm posting my last blog on this topic...the boat is going on the market to be sold and my sailing days are probably over.  

But NO WORRIES!!!  I'll soon be starting a new blog on my new adventure (did you really think I didn't have an exciting new adventure in mind?????) STAY TUNED!

Thinking about a vacation...off the boat.

Ok, so my month in Titusville is nearing an end...my new dodger will be ready this weekend and my new lifelines will be finished tomorrow.  The best piece of news I have is that I figured out how the custom lazy jacks that used to be on this boat worked and I bought new shock cords and installed them myself and they work great!

But....I have news.  I am thinking about leaving my boat here in Titusville and going on vacation for a month or two.  The reasons for considering this now are:

1.  I have been on this boat for 10 months without a break.  

2.  It's HOT and the humidity is killing me.  

3.  Hurricane season is just around the corner.  I've called every boatyard in South Florida (and 2 in the Bahamas) to prebook a hurricane haulout if needed and everyone is booked.  As it so happens I am already at one of the best Marinas in Florida for hurricane protection (in boating terms a "hurricane hole".). It's fairly cheap here and they do a good job of watching the docks.  I won't haulout, but my slip is in a great spot and I can come and go as I please (no liveaboard fee).

4. When I come back in September I can work my way to key west....then when hurricane season ends work my way to Grenada.

So...now I just need to decide where to go!

June in Titusville

The rocket launch was great.  So glad that I got to see one in person.  It's a great time to be in a boat ready to escape looting idiots, Antifa crazies and "defund the police" airheads.  I encourage all Americans with a brain to buy a cheap boat and be prepared to escape.

I'm in Titusville to do the following:

1.  Purchase a dinghy and electric trolling motor and safety equipment (done!).

2.  Have a dodger made ($1,800 expense)

3.  Have rigging inspected, lifelines replaced and lazy jacks installed. (In progress).

4. General boat cleaning and a bit of maintenance  and prepare boat for sailing.

It turns out that the lines I thought were for a Spinnaker sail were actually lazy jack lines and I had EZ Jacks (went out of biz a few years ago).  So I need to replace the old shock cords and keep the design or buy Harken lazy Jacks and update the design.  I'll be figuring that out today.  Not expensive. 

After all of this upgrading the boat will end when I leave Titusville. This is it.  

The carribean and key West are now semi opened.....they are calling me.

Southward......Drenched and 0 visibility in Daytona Beach

The first half of today's adventure was uneventful, but then the rains came....huge deluge of bullet rain that actually hurt and caused all kinds of issues, including:

0 visibility - I couldn't see markers or if a boat was coming my way.

The bullet rain kept hitting my navionics on my phone, the phone assumed i touched it and it kept taking me to garbage apps at crucial moments of the trip.

I realize that I need to buy  a dodger after all.  I also need prescription sports glasses like handball players wear.  

A new Bimini is a consideration.  If I am going to do this indefinitely as planned, it's time to Bring On Another Thousand.

But I must admit I am proud of myself for just slowing down and waiting out the storm which blew through in about 40 minutes.  I just stayed at the edge of the channel and my new navionics chip in my Simrad Chartplotter worked great....really, I didn't need the app on my phone.

As the storm passed I saw 2 large sailboats both with TowBoatUS boats....the deluge had frightened them so much they called to be towed to shelter. PUSSIES!! Get a Cape Dory and Deal with it!!

I'm in Port Orange for 2 days, then New Smyrna then Titusville.  I'm going to have Riggers come look at the rigging on my boat in Titusville.  

Sailing waters are just around the corner.....till next time.

P.S. I was standing on my boat to film the NASA launch today at Cape Canaveral...it was cancelled due to the above referenced weather.  But - good news! on Saturday I'll have a front row seat when they try it again.

This month was more solar panels, aircon and new anchor and chain.

So I've been hanging out in Palm Coast Florida this past month.  I was going to leave this weekend for "THE BIG MEGA FINAL PUSH" but I didn't want to deal with the insanity on Memorial Day Weekend in Daytona Beach so I'm hanging out a few more days here.  I have new boat toys!!

My new Mantis M1 Anchor 

My new refrigerator...runs off of DC power

Air con!

I also added 15 more ft. of chain to the anchor rode.

I have refrigeration! (and led lights)

So my new boat fridge came today.  It has a cover which is what you see here.  It fits (barely) into the space where my old alcohol stove used to be.  It's a 50 liter Iceco fridge.  I will never be able to get it out of there so if the boat goes so does the fridge.

The cool thing is that it works great, and my 170 watt solar panel easily powers it (requires 3 amps - 36 watts).  We will see how it does at night. 

My other project today was changing out the old bulbs for led bulbs (less power required).

All of these changes are leading to going totally solar and minimizing my dependence on marinas.  I've got 2 more solar panels coming, which I am going to use as my Bimini.  Stay tuned for more boat projects.

An eventful day....

I was supposed to have my boat hauled out and power washed today and then leave to go south.  But Camachee Cove Boatyard is one of those places where big boats that have high dollar service needs always get priority and little sailboat owners get lied to and ignored.  Who knew that the worst thing about buying an older smaller boat would be finding anyone to work on it?

Anyway, I left.  So after getting screwed by Camachee Cove Boatyard and price gouged by the Camachee Cove Marina....Navionics (an app I trust and love) had a hiccup and told me to turn right and crash into a bridge, then crash into an area full of anchored boats.  I went my way and survived...even made it through the famous "Bridge of Lions" without having to slow down.  Reported it to Navionics:

Should be:

Saint Augustine is a cool town with tons of older sailboats dropping anchor just about everywhere.  The million dollar fishing trawlers fill the marinas...boats like mine drop anchor.  I'm ok with this....once I get a dinghy and electric motor and a heavier anchor.

Just south of St.Augie is where the water starts to look like Florida....aqua colored and clear with nice beaches everywhere.  

I did get to see the Coast Guard arrest/move an idiot who had dropped anchor in the middle of the icw channel.  Kudos!

The beaches have opened up for specific times of the day and only for walking or exercising...but I saw boatloads of people young and old flying down the river in their boats...not sure why Florida doesn't just open everything...it's never really been closed.

Love the marina I am at now....half the cost of Camachee and a nicer place with Beach access and walking trails.  I'm going to make some plans here about where I am headed, why I am headed there and what I need to buy.....I think there is a dinghy in my future!  Until next time....