Georgetown, Great Exuma

Georgetown, Great Exuma
There is a Paradise!!!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

June 26th

Seems there is a rumor going around that we are on the move. I wish!! We are still in Green Cove Springs trying to get the engine working properly. Seems that the diesel fuel in the tanks is no good. Been sitting too long, so it has no octane. We couldn’t get anyone to come pump it out until Monday, so here we sit.

Monday morning the boat will get its colonoscopy first thing, the tanks will be cleaned, and then we will slowly add new fuel. There is no fuel dock at this marina, or very many others, for some reason. So, we have to bring it in until we have enough to get us to the nearest fuel dock.

In the meantime, Dave had a rigger come and take a look. He thought things looked pretty good, we just need to replace a few more halyards. So we made another trip to Sailors’ Exchange in St. Augustine.

On the way, Dave and I did something I never thought we’d do!!! We stopped at the outlet mall and we each bought a pair of Crocs. You see, we were tired of the tops of our feet getting burned, so these seemed like a reasonable, and inexpensive solution. I’ll let you know how we do with them. They feel so big and clumsy, but they are cushy, and maybe our feet won’t get quite as dirty as they do with flip-flops. The dirt, dust and grime in this boatyard, have made the bottom of my feet permanently dirty.

Our friend San Francisco Dave left for home on Thursday, but no without a little drama first. Dream Ketcher Dave went over to help SF Dave put a net covering on his boat, before it was moved to the long term storage yard. When it was time for the big move, SF Dave couldn’t find the keys to the rental car anywhere!! Unfortunately, the car was in the way of the lift, so things came to a screeching halt. The hunt was on!!!! Everyone was looking for the keys. SF Dave decided that they must have fallen out of his pocket, so they could be anywhere. We searched high, we searched low, and everywhere in between. DK Dave thought they may have fallen in the trunk of the car, so he looked down in the well where the spare tire is kept. There was a plastic bag there with the car manual, and…a spare set of keys!!! Boy, was he a hero! After the crisis had passed, and the boat was in the storage yard, he found the keys when they dropped from the net they had put on the boat.

We went back to the Italian restaurant we are so fond of tonight, and had a stuffed pizza. It was great!! We have enough left for another meal! They are closing for a weeks vacation, so I guess it will be the last time that we go there. We have plans to have dinner on Monday night with Jennifer and John, who we took to Whitey’s Fish Camp about 2 weeks ago. Jennifer works at Rayonier’s corporate office in Jacksonville, and they own a catamaran.

We are having fun watching the progress of the Tropical Depression in the Carribean. Our XM Weather looks just like the Doppler Radar you see on the evening weather report on tv. And speaking of weather, we are back to the nightly thunder and lightning storms. I think it’s God’s way of cleansing the earth of all the filth he sees. That rain really comes down hard!!

The pod is nearly empty, thank goodness!! Just a few more boxes of miscellaneous stuff left, including the outboard motor, and the other bicycle. No room for golf clubs! Good thing they are in storage at home. We thought long and hard about bringing them, but decided against it. Austin was so disappointed! We decided that if we wanted to play, we would just rent clubs. I don’t think Dave has played since Matt’s bachelor party, a year ago, and I haven’t played since before my two knee replacements in 2008. Haven’t gotten to see if the new knees will work better for my golf game.

I better get this posted before it is not the 26th anymore. The hours just seem to go by so quickly! I do want to thank everyone for their prayers for my friend Kathy. It worked!!! After 17 days, and 3 hospitals, they finally were able to stop her internal bleeding, and she has gone home, and is feeling much better.

I will write again after we are under way, unless something else pops up to postpone our departure.

Love & Hugs,

The Admiral

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

June 21st

Another week has flown by, so I guess I better let you in on what’s been happening. We thought we would be leaving today, but alas, it is not to be. We are having engine issues. We think it could be bad fuel, since we have no idea how long the diesel fuel has been in the tanks. Our mechanic will be back in the morning to see what can be done!

In the meantime, Dave has been busy taking several trips up the mast. He put on a new light at the top of the main mast and replaced the lights on the spreaders. He also installed a new radar dome on the mizzen mast, and installed the new wind generator. Thank God Phil came over to help crank him up the masts, which meant I got more time to play with Roxy. Found out her favorite toy to play with is an empty water bottle. She chews and chews on it, ‘til she puts a hole in it, then she chews it flat. It makes the weirdest sound! The first time she did this, Dave was up on top of the mast and thought the rigging was falling apart!

After one of the trips up the mast, we took Phil and Roxy to IHOP for breakfast. Roxy was so well behaved. She just laid down under one side of the table, and waited patiently for scraps to come her way. She got a lot of attention from the waitresses and other patrons in the restaurant. Roxy is also the only dog I know that can hold her licker. She does not lick anybody. She will sniff you, but she will not lick you!

This has been a rather wet week. Every afternoon the clouds roll in and we have a thunder and lightning storm for about 45 minutes. Boy! Does it rain. It just pours. We’ve found a few minor leaks that we didn’t know we had. Each day got up to the high 90’s before the storm hit. The next few days are supposed to be in the lower 90’s. That should help!!

We found a fantastic Italian restaurant right here in Green Cove Springs. The first time we ate there, we shared a great pizza. The second time we shared a dish of Pasta Carbonara. Mmmmmmm! And we took a friend, San Francisco Dave. (You wouldn’t believe how many Daves there are at this marina, so everyone has a nickname) SF Dave has been sailing in the areas we hope to go to this year, so he shared his knowledge with us of places we must see, and things to do, etc. It made me want to go to the Bahamas right now!! But hurricane season is not the time to go, so we’ll wait. We have so much to look forward to!

June 23rd

Sorry, got side tracked! We had an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday. The temp was in the low 90’s and we had blue skies all day. No thunder showers!! There was also a nice breeze over the water to help cool things down.
Found out we have more engine issues. Definitely bad fuel, so we will get the tanks pumped out, all 150 gallons! Then they will clean the tanks so we can refill them. They can’t do it ‘til Monday, soooooo, we’re here until at least Tuesday. Since our Outboard engine won’t be here until Thursday, it’s all good. Better to get all the bugs worked out, before heading out!

My apologies to my friend Kathy. She was a little upset with me for writing about her medical issues. However, after more than 2 weeks in the hospital, she needs all the prayers she can get. It sounds like a classic episode of “House”. So, keep praying for a happy ending!!

Just got a picture of Matt and Jacinda’s new house. Very Nice!! They are scheduled to move in on July 28th. They also just found out that they may qualify for the first time home buyers $8,000.00 credit after all. WooHoo!! Now when we go home to Olympia, we’ll have a guest room to stay in. And, with a built in grandson to spoil.

Saw my first turtles here in the marina. They swim along with just their little heads sticking out of the water, so you see these little bobbers. We have not seen any tar in the water (we’re too far North), but there is tons of algae. This river is disgustingly filthy green!!!

I think we’ll make another trip out to St. Augustine today, to pick up a few more items at the Sailor’s Exchange. Takes about 25 minutes to get there. We might have to make a trip to the Gelato stand. Mmmmm! More Rum Raisin!!!

Well, better get this posted to the blog while I can. Wish I had more exciting info to post!! It will get better after we are under way. Until then…

Love & Hugs,

The Admiral

Monday, June 14, 2010

June 13th, 2010

Steve’s Birthday!!! I just had a long conversation with my brother who is up fishing in Alaska with my cousin Brian. What a great birthday present. His trip up to Juneau is becoming a yearly event! His wife, Michele, and son, Jon, will join him at the end of this week, for 2 more fun packed weeks.

Meanwhile, all the way across the United States, we are still in the great state of Florida. And….we’re finally in the water!! We splashed down on Friday, 6-11-10, at 11:00 am. Before we did, I put my artistic talents to work and painted an anchor, “MOM”, and the date, on the hull of the boat. An anchor to represent the hopes and dreams of our upcoming journey, and Mom and the date, for my mother, Bernice, who died on 6-11-99. I really felt the presence of my Mom and my Dad, Lyle, the best captain I’ve ever known. Almost all of my boating skills, I learned from him.

June 14th

Oh, what a beautiful morning!!! Oh, what a beautiful day! (can you hear me singing???) The sun is still climbing into the sky, getting hotter by the minute, but there is a balmy breeze on the water that feels awesome. I’m sitting in the cockpit, under the bimini, soaking up the delicious moment, and sharing it with you.

Sorry I’ve been so delinquent in writing. We’ve been so busy, and time passes by so quickly that I just can’t seem to find the time or energy. Yesterday was 99 degrees, and with a little humidity, feels like 103. Dave went up the mizzen mast at dawn again and disassembled the old wind generator, dropping it slowly onto the deck. We put on a brand new halyard line to raise him up. When I cranked him up on Friday, I noticed that the old line was frayed in half in about 6 places. Thankfully he made it up and down with no problem, but I hate to think of the possibilities.

Saturday we drove over to St. Augustine to a discount marine store and bought new lines for the boat, at half the price of West Marine. It was blazing hot, so we decided to go into the old part of the historic city and have lunch on the bank of the Intercoastal waterway (ICW). This is the route that we will use to go North to Chesapeake Bay. Soon, very soon, I hope. We had just finished lunch and were heading to the car, when Dave said, “Isn’t there a gelato stand nearby???”. Oh my God, was it ever delicious. They even had a new flavor for Dave to try, Toblerone! He was in heaven.

In spite of the almost daily amount of DQ blizzards and now gelato, we are both losing weight. Our new lifestyle must be agreeing with us. I hope this trend continues. We are also getting quite tanned, but believe me, it’s not from laying out. Just the small snippets of time that you go from shade to shade or car to air conditioned store or restaurant, is enough to get to your skin.
The breeze is getting stronger. Feels marvelous!! Oh, I almost forgot! I saw my first manatee on Friday as the boat was getting settled in the water. It came right up near the bulkhead and flipped around like a swimmer does when he comes to the wall at the end of the pool. They are huge!!! The water in the marina is not very deep, so I was very surprised that manatees would swim there.

In spite of all the work we’ve been doing, I have gotten Dave to take a few breaks during the extremely hot parts of the days. A few weeks ago, we went to the theatre and saw “Sex and the City 2”. Believe it or not, the afternoon movie was only $5.00 a head. After the first 20 minutes, the power in the theatre went out. After a half hour of waiting, they finally evacuated the place and gave everyone a free pass to come at another time. Cool!! Even better, we were just walking out the door when the power came back. They said we could go back in, and the movie would start right back where it cut off. Super cool! The movie was okay. It was fun to see the characters again and spend time with them, but the story line was a little outrageous.

Yesterday we went up North to buy an outboard motor for our dinghy, but forgot that it was Sunday and the store closed at 3:00pm. It was exactly 3:00 pm. So instead, we decided to use our free movie passes. We were a little early, so we killed some time walking the air conditioned mall. The only money we spent was on a pretzel for Dave and a Baskin Robbins’ ice cream cone for me. I chose Nutty Coconut and Rum Raisin. Should have had just Rum Raisin. It was soooooo good! Then we went to see “Killers” with Katherine Heigel and Ashton Kucher. I had really low expectations, but it was a lot of fun. Very funny! It didn’t hurt that Tom Selleck was also in it, and I love Tom Selleck! Haven’t heard Dave laugh that hard since our days of watching “Two and a Half Men” every night. It felt good!

I’m still having fun getting my dog fix from Roxy. She’s the self trained service dog of our new friend Phil. He had a motorcycle accident a few years ago, and lost his right leg. He gets around in a wheelchair with Roxy in a harness pulling him along. She loves it!! They were clocked once by a county sheriff going 28mph in a posted 25 zone. In more confined areas, she puts her head under the seat and pushes him from behind. Quite amazing!! Since I’ve been giving her daily treats, like cheese and milk bones, she gets very excited whenever she spies me, and races to greet me! So Phil always knows when I’m approaching because Roxy goes nuts. I was given the task of dogsitting Roxy while Phil cranked Dave up the Main mast. While Phil left his wheelchair and climbed onto the boat, I was told to take Roxy for a walk down the pier. Every few steps she would turn around to make sure she could still see Phil. Once we were out of sight, she turned and dug in her heels to speed back to Phil’s side. She is so loyal. He had to leave her once to have some surgery done on his leg, and since then, she is afraid he will leave her again. She is also the only Lab I’ve ever known that hates the water. When she was a pup, the family she lived with had two boys that took great joy in squirting her and harassing her with a hose, so no water for her! Phil rescued her from those two brats, which is why she is so loyal to him. And ironically, she now lives in a boat, on the water. She can swim, but she does not do so voluntarily.

One of my chores that I actually look forward to is doing the laundry. The building here that houses the machines is air conditioned, and is a wonderful respite from the heat. I usually put the wash in and then sit and read for the time it takes to do its’ thing, about 30 minutes. Then I load the dryer and go do something else for 60 minutes. Yesterday, when I went back to fold the laundry, there were 3 men in the room just shooting the breeze in the air conditioning! They are no dummies!

Well, I should probably wrap this up. The breeze is starting to die and the sun is getting hotter. Before I do, I have a special request. My friend Kathy is in the hospital in Longview having a tough time. She has a blood vessel that is causing internal bleeding at an alarming rate, and it is too risky to operate due to its location. The doctors are hoping that it will heal itself given time, but she has already been there for a week and she is receiving 1-2 units of blood daily. Please keep her in your prayers. Kathy and I worked together in Longview for 19 years, and kept each other sane (I think). I am having separation anxiety!

Hope all is well with each of you. Thank you for reading this blog. It is so much easier than sending mass emails, although I may have to start doing both. Some people just seem unwilling to pull up a blog page!

Love and Hugs,
The Admiral

Saturday, June 12, 2010

June 6th to 12th

Blog Update June 6 to June 12

SPLASH DOWN, yes Dream Ketcher is finally in the water. Now that that is out of the way I will bring you up to date on what has been happening.

Wow can that possibly be right, it is the 12th of June already. Where has the time gone.

Progress seems to be so slow now yet I can’t think of any time that I have been goofing off except fot he trip to Charleston Memorial day weekend.
So here is the current status of our preparation.

Rick, the mechanic that is helping me with the heavy lifting, claims that ours is the coolest engine room he has ever been in. One of the P.O.’s installed 2 fluorescent lights and a big fan so the you have lots of light and a fan to keep you cool.

Engine alignment
As it turns out I had the engine/shaft alignment really close. We just fiddled with it a little and it is good enough until she sits in the water for a couple of days and settles on her lines.

I got the new cutting board mostly finished. Million thanks to Don B for the Maple 1”x1” boards. I used alternating Maple and Teak. Boy does it look nice. I will post a pic tomorrow. Thanks Don B. I just have a little finish sanding remaining and then it is on with the coconut oil. Turns out that coconut oil is one of the few food based oils that won’t go rancid, at least according to the web site I found.

Exhaust Manifold finally came off and with a little help from PB Blaster, Liquid wrench and of course a generous dose of Marine Pal. It is back on now and no signs of any leaking so far.

Wrestling with the XM satellite weather and the garmin chart plotter.

As I mentioned in the last post, I had hooked up all of the gps stuff, well most of it anyway. The cool part of the satellite weather is that it will display right on the chart plotter. I will be able to see approaching weather systems, their severity and speed. We can also check sea state (wave and swell heights and directions) and wind strength and direction. Should be a great supplement to the NOAA weather forecast that I can download to the computer and view there. Well after checking all the connections, I don’t know how many times, I got a message that told me how old the updates were, (ranged from 3 to 10 minutes) but I got no graphic data on the screen. Well three Different calls to XM, a lengthy consult with the Garmin expert at the main West Marine and still no luck. I was mentioning my problems to the manager of the local W.M. and he gave me the vendor tech support number. Great and I got right thru to a very patient techy guy. Oh, did I mention that he was very patient, a critical characteristic when I am working on computers (Neris will confirm this as well). Well after an hour on the phone we (the technician and I , if you believe that then I have some beach front in Nevada for ya)
Came to the conclusion that there was a problem that we couldn’t fix. He checked out his technical notes and sure enough there were numerous reports of the same problems. So now we just wait for Garmin to call us and send us the fixed software. Everything is working now except for the audio from the XM satellite. I have gotten several different opinions on the problem, but that can wait. I really wanted the audio so we can listen to husky games this fall.



The new toilet is in the forward head, same as I installed in the aft head. Locking type Jabsco.

Aussies leave
Farwell to our Australian friends was an evening toast to their safe travels. Eduardo’s hand delivered Chilean Wine was the wine of choice to toast their safe travels, fairwinds and following seas. Since we are from Washington, I felt it appropriate to give them a bottle of Chateau San Michele Reisling to be consumed whenever it was properly chilled and the entrĂ©e appropriate for a fine reisling of this quality. (UGHHHH). And the third bottle was my last bottle from that renowned winery in Sonoma California, next to Cousin Garys home in Sebastapol. This gift to the Aussies came with very specific instructions. They were to use this wonderful Northern California Merlot for the sacrificial toast and blessing to King Neptune as they cross the equator on their way home to Australia. I need to find a digital copy of the story of Stu. You see the Aussies had not quite caught on to the name of the wine, Stu Pedasso . I can’t wait to hear from them when they know the whole story behind Stu and his sister wine, Rayjene Beach. In spite of the tongue in cheek approach to the labeling, it is really pretty good wine. And certainly brings a smile to many faces.


Jennifer from R HQ, and her husband John, came by for a visit and dinner out at Whitey’s Fish Camp. This is one hopppin’ place. John told us that this is the place to come tie up your boat early in the afternoon and then sit back and watch as the locals, with less than optimal docking skills, try to get into their favorite seafood restaurant. Sounds like the entertainment value is logarithmically relative to the alcohol content of the participants..

I decided to check out the spinnaker pole. The pole car topping lift line was really falling apart. I was amazed that it was actually holding up the pole. Turns out the pin on the outboard end of the pole was frozen, corroded solidly to the end fitting. Well that’s ok I said, a little Marine Pal and that should loosen things up. No luck, well how about a drift punch from the end of the fitting. The hole that the stainless steel pin fits in goes all the way through the end fitting. Well I pounded on that thing pretty agressively, still no luck. Ok, take the 3 ss screws out of the end and twist the end off. Ya Right. Well I got one of the screws out and whoosh. That water squirted out the screw hole 30 feet into the road. Pretty darn entertaining. The pole was full of water. So more pounding with the punch, and still no luck. OK time for drastic measures. Out came the grinder and the hose. Didn’t want to burn any holes in the deck, sails or lines, so I had Patti play fireman at the ready. Gave the whole mast area a good soaking and on with the grinder. Boy was that ever fun. I haven’t used a grinder on stainless before. Gotta get me one of them now. I guess the porch crowd found our little project rather entertaining. Me standing there with an electric grinder and Patti squirting me with the hose. Well she wasn’t exactly squirting me, at least I didn’t think so, the water never got on the grinder, I made sure of that. So the pin is cut out enough to get the outboard end of the pole off the mast. Now time for the inboard end. It was fitted with a really nice quick release socket and pin./ Pull the release and the pin separates from the fitting and you are holding the pole in your hands. Ya, well in a perfect world maybe. Out came the Marine Pal, and a little bit of another anti corrosive and guess what, it actually came apart. OK the inboard end was ready to use, after a generous application of Lanacote to prevent future corrosion.

Now for the outboard end, you remember the end that I cut the pin on. So now, how does the end come off. Can I salvage this piece of over- priced hardware? $ 375 was not in the cards, I hope. Well, Dennis the yard guy, who has a Whitby just like ours, said he had 2 spinnaker poles but he only needed one end. Great I got a new end for the pole. Now for the fun part. How do I get the ends off of both poles so I can put the good one on my pole.

MORE FUN So I tried several different approaches to driving the end off of the pole. Dennis came by on his way to lunch and gave it a try, and said, “ I’ll check back after lunch,” and off he went. Well an hour later he came back, looked at my total lack of anything resembling progress, looked at me and got the little kid’s,Tim the tool man Taylor, glint in his eyes and said, “ARE WE READY FOR DRASTIC MEASURES.” I knew that “ARGH, ARGH MORE POWER LOOK” and replied oh ya. So out came the grinder and after looking at the issues with cutting 6” off of the end of a 15’ Aluminum pole that is 3” in diameter, and getting anything resembling a straight cut, he looked at me and said, you know I have a cut-off saw. Oh Boy even more fun!!!!!!!!!!.

Well the end came off as an after thought, with a straight cut I might add, almost anticlimactic to the actual cutting of the pole. The new end went on without any real difficulties, I know boring, but still one more thing accomplished.

We finally got in the water on Friday. Now it will be a real busy time getting all the stuff done. I am hoping to get most of the big things done before they ask us to move to a mooring, then we can just leave and head north. I went up the mizzen on the mast mate webbing steps that fit on the sail track on Friday to measure for some wiring runs. Saturday, Phil cranked me up the main mast at 0630 so I could get at all the lights. The tricolor on the masthead literally crumbled in my hands, leaving three very nice stainless steel machine screws corroded into the light bracket. Ended up twisting them off, as they were so stuck in the fixture.

Tues and Wed the weather was very nice at the yard, hardly knew it was Florida. Thursday it really heated up and today it was hot.

We splashed on Friday 6-11-2010. No leaks yet. There were a couple of drips but we quickly fixed those. Now we are actually sitting in the water at the pier, a boat at last.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Admirals june 1st edition

Now that we’re retired, time really seems to fly! Seems like I just wrote an update, yet here I am again. It’s those emails I’ve been writing in between, that are fouling me up. But I will not stop writing. I love to get emails with news from home. But, if I don’t write any emails, I won’t get any in return!!
The weather here just keeps getting hotter and hotter. It will be sunny all day long, then around dusk a thunderstorm will roll through. Last night the thunder and lightning started up, and boy was it loud. Then the rain . And of course the humidity was at an all time high! But, it has produced some fabulous sunsets.
My whole philosophy on when is the best time to take a shower, has turned completely around. I was getting up every morning and taking a shower to start the day. Within an hour, I was ready for another shower! Now, I shower late at night, before bed. That way, I sleep feeling cool and clean, and stay that way after I wake up, for a couple of hours anyway. Sweat has become a fact of life. The girls I used to work with all know how much I hate being hot and sweaty. It’s like one really long hot flash!!! I live for air conditioning, fans, and shade.
The mosquito count is getting lower. Thank God for Avon’s Skin-So-Soft! I went on line and stocked up. It just so happens that it was on sale for half price.(that rarely happens to me!) On the other hand, the right one to be exact, I now have a spider bite. My hand is swollen up like a balloon (makes it hard to type). I went to the local urgent care clinic this morning. They prescribed 2 antibiotics and an antihistamine. So, off I went to Publix pharmacy, where I got both antibiotics for FREE (they believe in helping people get well!!). I’m trying to be patient, waiting for my hand to deflate.
Boy! This is sounding a bit depressing. I really am glad to be here, but I cannot wait for the boat to go back in the water. Dave is working very hard with all of his installations. He is being very careful not to lift anything, at least while I’m around.
One of my new jobs is to be the iceman. At least every other day, I must go get ice for the refrigerator. It comes in 16 lb. bags. Dave ties a line to each bag, and I haul it up on deck.
Another new job is keeping the local Lab, “Roxy”, supplied with treats. I am her new best friend! Like all the Labs I grew up with, she LOVES cheese. I’m not sure she realizes that she is my treat!
Speaking of treats, Dave and I had an awesome time meeting up with Austin and Cindy over the holiday weekend. Nice to see them looking so relaxed and happy! The trip up to Charleston, South Carolina was about 4 and a half hours. We decided that we would be better off driving a more reliable car than the old Nissan Sentra we are currently using. So, we went to the airport and rented a Toyota Prius. 50 miles per gallon made the decision a wise one. It was very comfortable and very quiet! It was kind of like driving a golf cart on steroids.
In addition to the good company, we also ate some outstanding food! Friday night, Cindy and I shared a bucket of snow crab. So sweet and tender. We ate and ate, and still could not eat it all. But the best meal was at a BBQ place called “Sticky Fingers”. I had some of the best ribs ever!! AND, they had a sweet potato casserole that was to die for!!!!! It was fun to watch Austin so enjoy that meal!!
The fun part of the trip to Fort Sumter was the boat ride. I couldn’t get enough of the salt air!! AND, I saw my first dolphins!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I really want to get the boat into the water and get sailing.
Before we knew it, it was time to say good bye. Boy, was that tough! However, knowing we will be seeing them later this summer up in the Chesapeake, made it a little easier. Plus, Matt, Jacinda and James will be there also!!
Hope all is well with all of you. I keep trying to send some sun your way. We could sure use a little less. Some temps in the high 70’s or low 80’s would be just great. Hopefully, once we set sail my blog entries will be a little more interesting. Until then…..
Love & Hugs,
Patti