Nearing the end of Sarasota stay

Tuesday, January 27-

Well, all good things must come to an end...so's you can move on to all the rest of the good things.  ;-)
Today we started planning routes, anchorages, and our departure from Marina Jack and Sarasota.  The stay has been shorter than we planned...but we've crammed in a lot!

Last Wednesday we had a beautiful day on our hands and decided to walk across the Ringling Causeway to St. Armands Circle and lunch at the Columbia.  Sitting outside with our meal complete (right down to the almond cake with fresh strawberries and zabayon sauce), we decided this was well worth the trip.  (We took the bus back!)  ;-)

That evening I walked to the Art Center for a session on CV's and artist statements.  The class was small, 4 people total, but we had an interesting discussion.

Thursday evening we walked down to Anne and Jim's condo for wine and conversation.  We loved their location and the condo!  We invited them to come to the boat for lunch on Saturday so they could acquaint themselves with a trawler.  They are sailboaters...and we're hoping to pick up some storage ideas while they are here.  ;-)

Friday brought up winds gusting up to 40 mph!!  Yee-ow!  That and a negative tide that cropped up a couple of times this month have kept Wayne busy adjusting lines on our fixed, concrete dock.

Saturday we walked around town in the afternoon and checked out some places we hadn't seen before like Burns Court.  Loved the small shops and the architecture...

Sunday morning we had a visit from Bob and Jace.  Jace visited Segue back in 2008 when we did the first Loop trip and thrilled us all by demonstrating his ability to start the engine while we were in a slip...and the boat was in gear.  I threatened to tie his hands behind his back this time! ;-)  Jace is growing up fast...and excelling in school and on a competitive swim team.





Sunday afternoon we caught the bus to Siesta Key and lunched at S.K.O.B. (Siesta Key Oyster Bar) outside on the deck.

This week we've been planning and preparing for our trip down to Ft. Myers Beach.  We did take time to go to Bob's for lunch with him and Shirley on Tuesday (spaghetti carbonara, fresh green salad from his earth boxes, homemade whole wheat French bread, and homemade biscotti and coffee!!).  We returned the favor today and had them out on the boat for a taste of crockpot bean soup...and the boating life.  ;-)

We leave tomorrow morning after fueling up here at Marina Jack ($2.99/gal. diesel is a welcome change from our 2008 trip!).  Depending on the traffic and slow zones, we'll get to FMB either Saturday or Sunday.  I'll leave you with a few other pictures from our stay here and walk-arounds...

The Selby Public Library of the Sarasota County Library System has a distinct architectural design and is located right downtown.  Their friends group has a bookstore for used book sales...and, of course, I found something to buy even though I've tried to do all e-books on the boat.

The beautiful Sarasota Bay setting with walking/biking trail alongside...

Marina Jacks, Sarasota

Tuesday, January 20 -

Well, we're back in Sarasota after a short, but good, visit to Wake Forest, Knoxville, and Athens.

We left on New Years Day, picking up our 2-week rental at the Sarasota airport.  Stopped for the night in Georgia and got to Wake Forest around 3 PM on the 2nd.  [Had some problems with getting the rental car: booked with Payless through AARP but ended up dropping that one and going with Avis.  Bottom line, we didn't leave until around noon on the 1st.  Lesson learned!  Also, re: rental car, we found a pick up on the 1st MUCH cheaper for the total rental than to rent on the 31st of December.  ;-)]

Spent Friday-Sunday with Dave, Heather, and boys.

Saturday morning on the couch

Marbles Kids' Museum

Look at that colorful tower!

Fantastic clear disk creation!

Wayne's birthday cake....Got it?

Master of disguise

Left on Monday morning to pick up Lucy (always keep her at a kennel when the boys are around because she's been known to bite) and drove to Abingdon for a brief lunch visit with Nadine and Amy.  (Jerry had to work and we sure missed seeing him!)  After lunch we proceeded to Knoxville and got home in time to turn on the water in the daylight.  ;-)

The rest of our week there was spent visiting our doctors, friends, and Mamaw Prichard in Athens.  We left Knoxville on Tuesday, January 13, driving to Gainesville, FL, where we spent the night.  Two weeks and 2200 miles on the odometer, we finally made it back to Marina Jack on the 14th and are settling in again to our water home.

First call went out to our friend, Bob.   He left later in the week for a visit with his son and left us his car for the weekend.  Woo-who!  Thank you, Bob!

And...our friends the Alexanders and Pearces were here for the week so we had fun running around with them!  Thursday Ralph and Kay picked us up and we all met Rob and Jane for lunch at the Dry Dock Restaurant on Long Boat Key.  Rob and Jane were participating in an art and antique show here and had set up their booth earlier that morning.  After lunch we spent a wonderful afternoon talking and laughing at their Gulf-side condo.

Rob and Jane gave all of us passes to the show so on Friday we converged there for a look-see.  After the show ended for the day we walked to downtown Sarasota for supper.  We had our sights set on the
Pho Cali Vietnamese Noodle House, which had been talked about at the art/antique show by vendors.  Unfortunately for us, others had heard of the restaurant's appeal and the small place was packed...and  with people waiting outside.  We decided, instead, to eat at Barnacle Bill's downtown.  It, too, was hopping on that Friday night, so we spent some time in the bar before being seated.  We were met with a great menu boasting a variety of fresh fish and preparations.  We enjoyed our meal...and our company.  Edys Ice Cream on the way back to the marina made our evening complete.

On Saturday Ralph and Kay came over to the boat for a light lunch, then Ralph and Wayne went out in the dinghy for a tour of the nearby waters.





Kay and I headed for Art and Frame of Sarasota where we mined through their great collection of art supplies.  We both went in with shopping lists...and came out with that and more!

We're so glad our crazy boating schedule finally pulled together so we could be here in Sarasota while  our friends were here!

The past couple of days we've run around taking care of errands while we have Bob's car.  We ate at Pop's Sunset Restaurant down in Nokomis for "old times sake." (We were in Nokomis last February and went to Pop's several times.)  Pop's is right on the ICW near Albee Bridge so there's always water traffic to ogle as you eat.

We'll pick Bob up at the airport this afternoon and look forward to spending some quality time with him and Shirley.  ;-)

More on the Crossing

January 20, 2015 - I was thinking more about the Gulf crossing and thought of a few more details I'd like to chronicle in this journal.  Before we left Carrabelle, we downloaded a form for a float plan from the Coast Guard Auxiliary website.  We filled it out and sent it to a friend and a relative.  If we hadn't contacted them by a certain time on that Sunday we were due to arrive in Clearwater, they would have started a series of actions ... 1) calling us 2) calling 911 to notify the Coast Guard.

The end of the crossing was infinitely better than the beginning.  We had smooth waters for the majority of the trip...and a beautiful sunrise as we neared the end.  In the distance you can see our buddy boat, Vivens Aqua.

Crossing is done!

Monday, December 29 - Well, we are happy to say we have crossed the Gulf and are in Clearwater, FL this evening.

We left Carrabelle, FL, C-Quarters Marina at 1 PM on Saturday, December 27 and were docking our boat at the Clearwater Harbor Marina by 10:35 AM on Sunday, December 28.

It wasn't without issues...wallering around in sloshy waves for about 6 or 7 hours...but the majority of the trip was smooth.  It wasn't a scary ride, just a very uncomfortable ride.  And it seemed the water was being pushed from a couple of directions.  Trouble was...I obviously hadn't taken enough motion sickness medication and turned green.  Wayne ended up doing the majority of the piloting by necessity.  He ended up staying awake the whole 21+ hours.  I napped a couple of times on the bench near the upstairs helm, finally "recovering" about half way through the trip.

We had to negotiate several boat passings during the trip, which was interesting.  And we enjoyed the company of our "buddies" on Vivens Aqua.

We are glad to have it behind us since the longer in the winter we waited, the fewer windows for crossing we would have.  Now we know we will be moored at Marina Jack's in Sarasota by January 1.

Tomorrow we start the two day trip down to Sarasota, stopping in the evening at an anchorage off the Tampa Bay.  I'll be back to the blog when we return in mid-January.  Meanwhile, have a safe and happy New Years celebration and see you in 2015!

Greetings from St. Andrews Marina, Panama City, FL

Tuesday, December 23-

This webcam snapshot shows us alongside the transient dock.  We're about midway in the picture and in the lower half...with lights on in the salon.

We traveled yesterday from Joe's Bayou across the Chocktawhatchee Bay.  It was a little "rolly" for about an hour, but turned into a descent travel day, in spite of the occasional shower.  The weather looks stormy today...and lousy through Christmas Day.  We're hoping Friday might bring an opportunity to move on.

Meanwhile, a photo journey over the past couple of days traveling.


Flurries in the Gulf???  No, just the white Gulf sands...




A look at the weather yesterday morning as we left the Destin area.




Later in the day yesterday when we saw clearing in the distance.




Entering the straight section between Chocktawhatchee Bay and West Bay.




Cutest!! Dolphin playing alongside the boat as we entered the West Bay just outside Panama City...

Historic St. Andrews street scene.




The sailboat, Irish Mist, just down the dock from us.  They won 1st prize in the Parade of Lights here in Panama City a couple of weekends ago.  Last night they took a spin around the bay with lights ablaze and Christmas carols singing out.  They're going to do the same on Christmas Eve.  It's a beautifully done light job!




And...a few "mood shots" from last night in the marina.  We're right across from some commercial fishing vessels.

Video of the generator being removed

I've posted the video to YouTube.  Mark is on the back deck and Gary is operating the forklift.

Bye, bye Pensacola

Sunday, December 21 -

At 10:30 Friday morning we got off the boat so Mark and the guys who help him at the marina could get the boat in position for removing the generator.  It hasn't rained in Pensacola for a long, long time.  That morning it poured..but only for a little while.  It ended up staying cloudy but dry until late in the day, allowing the forklift portion of the installation to be handled without everyone getting soaked.

We made a video of the forklift procedure removing the generator and I hope to have it posted on YouTube soon.  What was amazing to me about the whole thing is that the boat was floating out in the haul-out bay.  It was held in position by people standing on each side dock holding lines attached to the bow and the stern.  Thankfully the winds were mild, because anything more could have made for some dicey times.  The team that worked with Mark has had a lot of experience working together doing just this very operation.  It was like watching a conductor at work to see Mark guiding the process.  Bottom line:  not a mark was made on the boat.  Not a drop of oil or fuel.  Nada.

Here's the forklift set up and ready to go.  Gary would take the driver's seat soon.




Wayne, checking out the new generator as it sat in the dry storage area.



Wayne peeking in the boat window when Mark and the crew were getting the old generator ready to be lifted out.




And, finally, two happy boat owners when the old generator had successfully been removed.



At 3:30 Friday afternoon they announced the new generator had been bolted down and the crew left leaving Mark to complete the install.  Mark said it would go quickly from this point on.

Six hours later... he turned the boat back over to us, still not quite finished.  He said there were just a lot of things he had to do to customize the fit.  At one point Wayne went down to tell him not to worry about trying to get the install done in time for us to leave.  We wanted him to take all the time he needed.  We'd go to a hotel that evening and wait until tomorrow.  But...Mark kept going until he just needed to quit.  Mark, Wayne, Lucy, and I were exhausted.

Wayne and I had set up camp in the marina office area where the laundry room and restrooms are located.  We pulled a couple of chairs from the bathroom/shower area, got our dog from her crate on the boat, a.k.a., "doggie prison," ordered takeout from the Oar House, and passed away the time from about 5:30 until Mark came in to tell us he was quitting for the night.



There was a bulletin board in front of us and we pretty much memorized the notices on there by the time we left.  There were a lot of warnings and guidelines for dealing with the red lionfish, a predator fish that is threatening other species in the area.  Apparently they are very tasty...so one memo encouraged consumers to request red lionfish when at local restaurants.  *Note to self*

This is a photo of the red lionfish one diver caught in one afternoon off a local wreck.  He said there were about 500 more down there.



The next morning Mark was back at work by 9:30 and spent three hours finishing the installation and then giving Wayne detailed information about the use and care of the unit.  Given the delays in shipment, Phasor obviously was very concerned about customer satisfaction (for us, yes, and especially for Mark).   Not only did they wave the shipping charges, but we received a unit with a higher output, 8 kw instead of 6.5 kw, and an industrial rating, meaning it is has the capability to run non-stop.

We can't say enough about Mark Hyma.  We count ourselves lucky to have found him...and doubly lucky to have had him take on our project.  He has an innate sense of what to do technically and the aptitude to absorb and recall volumes of information.  Mark has a working relationship with Bahia Mar Marina. He takes care of their equipment and in exchange he can use the marina's staff and resources at no cost.  For us that meant that the marina's part in Friday's experience (including the forklift and staff) was covered by Mark.  When you see the video, you will know that this whole team, Mark and the marina staff, is first rate!

We spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up the boat and a bit more laundry.  We ordered pizza from Papa Johns...and watched the local boat parade!

 Our last night in Pensacola....

This morning we left Pensacola and traveled to an anchorage called Joe's Bayou near Destin, FL.  We've finished supper and are watching the couple of TV channels we can acquire with our antenna ;-).  Tomorrow we plan to go on to Panama City, weather permitting.