Author Archives: Laurie

Greetings from Fort Myers, Beach, FL!

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Our first trip away from the dock in Punta Gorda has been great.  We’ve spent the last week in Fort Myers with family: first my father and 91-year-old Grandmother, then my mother.  It’s been a real treat to share with them our new home.

Getting here, we spent two, easy, beautiful days coming south to Ft. Myers.

Our first night out was amazing:  we anchored easily in Pelican Bay off of Cayo Costa State Park and were greeted by dolphins upon our arrival.  Just before the sun went down, we dinghy’d over to a small spit of beach and Kemah got his first taste of this side of the Gulf – literally he bit the water and immediately recoiled from the salt, rather than fresh, water and then shortly-thereafter had his first case of salt-water-scoots.  Aww, well, he’ll learn soon enough.  That night we were treated to a beautiful sunset on the water, the first of many dinner theater experiences I’m sure we’ll have.

Sunset at Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa State Park, FL

The next morning was a easy motor down the ICW past Cabbage Key, where Jimmy Buffet wrote his famous ballad, Cheeseburger and Paradise.  I hear the Dollar Bill Bar is a great place to stop for a burger but we motored on to Ft. Myers as we were eager to get our first mooring ball at the Matanzas Mooring Field (all the while googling “catching a mooring ball” on our smart phones – ha!).

Well, it seems our googling paid off as our first attempt was an all-too-easy success and here we’ve sat on ball 35 for the past week.

In the mean time, we loved the opportunity to visit with family, take in the local sights and take advantage of their rental car to run a bunch of errands.  In the past week, we’ve run a ton of errands to outfit the boat and we sold our truck (finally!) giving us our cruising kitty for this season as well as the mental real estate to move south without anything lingering behind us – it’s such a relief.

Additionally, had a wonderful time touring the area, sampling sunsets, a day trip to Sanibel Island, an airboat and alligator tour of the Everglades and just generally “hanging” with the ‘rents.

Here’s a little sampling of some fun times we’ve had here in Ft. Myers:

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And, a ‘lil sumthin’ sumthin’ from my Grandmother Virgina, who treated us with this song on our alligator experience:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAdp1DBLPk&feature=youtu.be]

And, just for fun, and in case you missed the video of her 90th birthday party fun, click here for another amazing video of my Grandmother Virginia, the Great:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QJhByxOGzc]

 

Finally, yesterday, we stripped off the old lettering on the boat, performed some rituals to appease Poseidon and the Gods of the Winds and blessed the boat with a generous amount of champagne, a Texas flag its new name and home port:  “Mother Jones” from Austin, TX.  Aww, home sweet home.

(pics to come soon . . .)

Currently, we’re deciding whether to push on down the bay today (turns out that generous dose of champagne makes the Mother Jones crew a little slow today . . .) or stay for the Matanzas Mooring Field Oyster Party Meet & Greet and head out tomorrow.  So, in short, stay tuned and we’ll let you know – when we do – when and where we’re headed next.

All the best,

Laurie, Damon and Mr. Kemah

Ps.  Also, of note in the past week is the arrival of two new babies to a couple of dear friends.  Congratulations to Dana and Jason on the arrival of their daughter, Ruby, and to Mike and Kate, on the arrival of Cole, their son.  It’s times like this that weigh heavy on our hearts for not being “home”.  But, in times like these we tend to lift our spirits by remembering we are lucky to have such a wonderful community of family and friends to miss.

Pps.  I was remiss to post other photos of our journey to Florida.  So, if you’re so inclined (and not on Facebook), you can view the full album here.

Paypal plugin is up!

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You know, just in case you think we might starve . . .

Given that our truck sale went on a little longer and for a lot less than we thought, I thought I’d use my time at the library this afternoon to do something productive (after checking out Ricky Gervais’ cheeky performance at the GG, of course).

Low and behold! Looky-look who figured out how to put a Paypal button on our ‘lil blog: muah!

Isn’t she purty?  I added my handy-work permanently on the sidebar, too!   Fancy, huh!?!

 

And, in related news, if you’ve never gotten us a birthday/wedding/festivus present, feel free to help us test out the new button 😉

We’d be ever-so-grateful and might even send you an appropriate gift (whadya think that might be?  an embarrassing photo?  a postcard? our ever-lasting devotion?  bragging rights for being our #1 fan?  hmm, you let me know what you think is fair, willya?).

Finally, “happy trails and fair winds” to us – we’re taking a fire-sale deal for the truck and hope to be out on the water tomorrow!

xoxo,

L, D and Mr. K

ps. If you want one of these on your ‘lil blog, don’t bother with a plugin, it’s super-easy without one! Just follow this link.

The waiting game

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Hey-o!

Here we sit in Punta Gorda.  Still.  Yep.

For those not familiar with Punta Gorda, you can definitely see it all in the 2.5 weeks we’ve been here.

We’re all ready to head south (we decided to go around the tip of Florida rather than through Okeechobee) but we are just waiting to sell our last big item: the truck.

We’ve tried a whole bunch of different things from Ebaying to Craigslisting to Carmaxing to canvassing the VFW Farmer’s Market but still we wait.

In the mean time, we’re just making curtains, making food and being patient. I’ll let you know when we embark south, which will hopefully be soon!

Best,

Laurie, Damon and Mr. K

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Home, sweet, home

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Hey everybody!

Well, we did it.  We moved aboard.  Pfew!

Now, to get a hang of the whole “living aboard” and actually sailing our vessel “stuff” . . .

We arrived just before New Year’s and we glad to have a few days before this momentous occasion to get unpacked.

First, we needed to get Kemah adjusted and he did not like his first night on the boat.  But, as the nights have wore on, he’s adjusted well to the boat – still no #2 on board, though . . .

We, however, have definitely adjusted.  We spent a couple of days getting it all moved in, packing it up to go back to Texas or sending it off to Goodwill.  We are surely enjoying the transition although we have definitely had our “what is this, how does it work and what the #@% did we do???” moments.

Currently, we’re in Punta Gorda (the west coast 30 miles north of Ft. Myers) on a dock of the gentleman we bought the boat from – isn’t that nice?  (Thanks, Bob!)  Our loose plan is to head out next week to the east coast through “the ditch” to Lake Okeechobee, hit the ICW headed south and then anchor somewhere between Ft. Lauderdale and Key Largo while we wait for a weather window to the Bahamas.

Of course, we have more than a few things to do before leaving next week mainly including provisioning the boat with tools and sustenance (go ahead, you shop for everything you eat and drink in 3 months!), shaking her down on a couple of overnight sails and otherwise “getting ready”.

Here are a few photos from the first couple of days on the boat:

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And, here’s a fun little video walking through our new home.

Happy New Year, y’all!

love,

L, D & Mr. K

 

Florida, at last!

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Pfew!  We have arrived.  Well, we arrived a couple of days ago and have been having such a great time that we’re now just posting an update.

On the way from Texas, we stopped at a great place in Mobile – which I think was the only great place in Mobile . . .

Then, we were up early and on the road to Panama City, Florida where we met up with Dawn and Tom, who we actually met in Panama City, Panama almost a year ago – small world, eh?  I can’t believe the last time we saw these two was when we helped them transit the Canal on Valentine’s Day!   In case you missed that story, you can catch up on it from our last blog here (migrating those posts over soon . . .).

After two days in Panama City, great times with Dawn and Tom, and a wonderful meal at Sweet Racks (run, don’t walk to this place if you’re in town) we were so eager to move South towards Mother Jones.

But, we do have two stops to make before we meet up with her tomorrow evening:

  1. Here we sit in Homosassa Springs to see the manatees!  Pics to come once we see them tomorrow . . .
  2. Pick up a mattress for the port cabin from a generous Gem owner in Cocoa Beach (why, yes, that is on the other side of the state  . . .)

Anywho, we’re just hear in the “Bella Oasis” motor inn, soaking in cable and ice before we move aboard tomorrow night.  Talk soon friends and thanks for reading!

L&D

 

Headed out tomorrow!

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Hi all!

I have so much to say, but mainly “thanks” comes to mind.  So many folks have made our home such a hard place to leave – how blessed we are to have a great place to miss.   Thank you all for making such an impact on our lives, saying you’ll come for a visit and for believing in us when we said “yeah, you know, we’re gonna live on a boat”.

We leave tomorrow a.m. and will be updating y’all as we get on down the road, literally and figuratively, of course.

For those who are interested, here’s our general plan for our land travel to the boat:  Austin->Houston for Christmas with D’s Aunts->Mobile, AL->Panama City, FL area for exploring and hanging with friends->Crystal River, FL (manatees, what, what!?!)->Punta Gorda (boat time!) by New Year’s.

Once we get to the boat, we have a lot of packing, re-packing, provisioning and learning-to-sail to do.  Once all of that is “completed” we aim to traverse the Okeechobee canal in mid-January to meet up with my Dad, Mom and kick-ass 91-year old Grandmother for a quick visit and boat blessing.  Then, it’s on to our first major sail:  crossing the Gulf Stream (you’ve seen Finding Nemo, right?) to Bimini, The Bahamas.     Oh, The Bahamas . . .

But, for now, we still have a lot of packing to do (how many jars of Salsa Verde and Tito’s can I fit in the truck???) . . . so, until we meet again my friends, adios and we’ll see ya back here soon.

love, love, love,

L&D

Transiting the Panama Canal

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Transiting the Panama Canal was truly an amazing experience.  How appropriate, that the 2nd leg of our journey, we got to see Amazing follow us.

D and I through the Miraflores Locks
Damon and I really wanted to transit the Panama Canal.  And, there are several ways to do this involving lots of money.  We did not want to do it that way.  So, off we went to become line-handlers.  Line-handlers, as you might surmise, handle lines (aka ropes to you land-lubbers) that are attached to boats, which help a boat safely transit the Canal.    
Why is this needed and how does it work?  Well, you can imagine that transiting the Canal is kinda a big deal.  It is.  You want it to go right, ie, you want the boat to go through the Canal without hitting the sides or other boats that are in the locks with you.  Add 267 MILLION gallons of swishing, swirling water for EACH LOCK and you can see why you might want some safety measures in place.  Here come the lines.  
If you imagine a boat as a sheet that’s blowing in the wind and you want it under control, you’d want a rope (line) on each corner, attached to something which keeps it taught.  That’s basically the idea for getting ships through the Canal: the lines help guide the boats through the middle of the Canal.  Small boats like sail boats have people attached to each end of those lines.  Big boats like tankers have machines (lovingly called mules) attached to those lines.  
Mules

Mule

Well, through a series of posting signs at a couple of yacht clubs, pouring over internet postings and the good ‘ole fashioned hanging at the local sailor bar, we found a boat and they invited us to crew with them.
Santorini is a ’48 foot Ketch and a beautiful boat – in fact, it was a show model and even had a washing machine and china cupboard on board!  Captain Tom and First Mate/Galley Queen Dawn were wonderful hosts as well as their crew, Canaan – from Georgetown!
Capt. Tom and Dawn with the San Pedro locks in the back

Canaan at the bow at San Pedro Locks

The first night at anchor on the Pacific side, we got to know each other a bit and talked about what to expect.  We hoped to tie up to a tug boat which means you basically glide through with them in the locks so it’s super-easy.  Then, the next morning, we set off to transit the Canal!
When you transit, you are boarded by an Advisor who works for the Panama Canal Transit Authority and they guide you through the process.  Pfew!  Our Advisor was really great: calm, nice and knowledgeable.
Here we are underway passing under the Bridge of the Americas!
The mast of the Santorini and the Bridge of the Americas

Approaching the Miraflores Locks, first set of locks on the Pacific side, I was once again blown away by the sheer magnitude of the Canal, the volume of traffic and containers that pass through daily and everything that is required to make THAT happen. 

Check out the size of these cranes, which move the containers of the tankers!  

 
The tugs, which push the tankers around!  And, the City in the background.
WOW!
Headed into the Miraflores Locks it’s surreal to look up at the Visitor’s Center and all the tourists watching you go through.  To think we were “them” just a few days earlier!
Miraflores Visitor’s Center – we were one of those tine on-lookers just last week!
Passing through the locks is a cool experience with the water raising or lowering your boat along with the others.  Rising tides do life all boats!  
You do have to stay on your toes a bit, though when the locks open as there is likely to be a shift in the boat because of the shifting water – remember 237 MILLION gallons are at play!
Once through the first set of locks, we entered Gatun Lake and passed under the Culebra Cut – a 7 mile cut through the mountains – impressive!
The Culebra Cut

Because sailboats generally are much slower than tankers or cruise ships, it usually takes 2 days to transit the Canal.  This means a night on the Lake moored on the biggest mooring ball any of us have ever seen.  Look at the size of that sucker!

A mooring ball so big you can dance on it!
In the morning, it was time again to pass through the Locks and this time we’d finally be in the Caribbean.  We lucked out being in front of a HUGE tanker named “Amazing” – quite appropriate, don’tcha think?
Notice the mules pulling Amazing and notice how little room she has between her and the locks.
All in all, it was a truly Amazing experience – yes, I did that on purpose.  Phrases like “the 8th wonder of the world”, “they don’t build things like the used to”, etc do tend to fall out of your mouth during journeys like this and they did.
If you have further questions about this trip or the Canal, just ask!

The end