Monday, January 31, 2011

November 2010-January 2011

Today is January 31st and we were on the boat all of November until December 6th and since January 15th. I will try to do a little catch-up for the last two months and then try to be current in the future.

We worked and lived in the St. Marys Services Boat yard until the day after Thanksgiving when we put her in the water on the North River and travelled the seven or so miles to St. Marys where we docked her until January 26th. We are now in Vero Beach in Central Florida along the ICW (intra coastal waterway).

Projects this year included:
  1. Roller Furling Boom by Schrader installed by Mack Sails
  2. Lavac Electric Toilet
  3. New Standing Rigging (the stainless steel wire that holds up the mast)
  4. New mainsail made by Mack sails
  5. Bottom paint
  6. New Anchor/tri-color on the mast top
  7. Internal routing of the halyards to reduce slapping at anchor
  8. LED lighting in main cabin

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in St. Marys. The town provides the turkeys and ham. The cruisers provide the side dishes. This year about 300 people enjoyed the meal and the happy hours each day of the week prior to the turkey fest. There were about 80 boats in the harbor.

On the Sunay prior to Thanksgiving Ann organized a spaghetti feed for the boatyard and any boaters and friends who made the trip up for it. It was wonderful except for the gnats which are ever present when the weather is pleasant.

On December 6th we were off to visit Ed's mother in Tubac, Arizona for one week. She lives alone on 17 acres 1000 feet above the valley floor. The weather was great and we enjoyed helping around the house and property. This year we spread gravel using a Bobcat front loader which was great fun for both Ann and Ed.

We returned to our home in Oregon December 13th for a month with our family. Of course we had to have a tree and houseful of decorations but it was all worth it as we saw three of our four children. Our oldest lives in Boston and was entertaining her future mother-inlaw. While at home we accomplished some needed wedding planning by choosing a date and venue with our daughter's input of course.

We returned to the boat on January 15th for 10 and 1/2 days of boat work and trip preparation before leaving St. Marys on Wednesday afternoon for the trip south. As usual we overnighted, this time going in at the Ponce De Leon inlet south of Daytona and spending two nights in the Titusville City Marina. There we recovered and spent a day with our friends Sue and Bob who live in Massachusets.

The first night on the ICW we spent anchored behind a small island. I suppose it was in Titusville that I first noticed the start of the pain that signals the need for a root canal. Last year I had two root canals in Florida. So today I called endodontists in Vero Beach and had a root canal. Yahoo! Hopefully, that will be it for this year. I have a return appointment for Thursday to remove the temporary cap, antibiotic and install the filler and new cap.

What is next? We haven't decided yet but southern Florida is definitely on the map. Maybe we will attend the Miami boat show.