Rocking and rolling and on to Sarasota

This pretty bird posed nicely for me (and let me get 2 feet away from him?her?)

We had a great evening with Arturo on Thursday. We gave him a tour of Blossom and the guys caught up on their adventures since having left their old jobs. We enjoyed a very good meal at the Crow’s Nest Restaurant. The stone crabs were delicious!

Yum!

Blossom docked at Crow’s Nest with her fender boards down

Thursday night the storm came through - it was a doozey. Blossom got a nice shower and most of the salt was washed away.  By the afternoon the sun was out and it was actually warm and sunny. We haven’t had many days like that since we got to Florida! There was a huge swell from the gulf so we had to put out our fender boards. We rocked and rolled all day and used every long fender we had on the fixed dock here.  We played with fenders and lines several times over the day making sure that we weren’t rubbing or banging the pilings. A guy from the marina said that we’ve had a crazy high tide today, maybe from the wind and swell as well.

View from the aft of Blossom, Venice Inlet

Martin and I went for a walk to enjoy the sun in the afternoon. Venice looks like a really nice small town. It seemed like everyone was out at the inlet, strolling or fishing.

Super high water breaking over the jetty

High tide flooding the path

Friday night we ate out again, this time more casually downstairs. It was crazy busy and we’re glad we went early. I also needed an early night as it looks like I’ve caught Martin’s cough/cold and we planned to head out in the morning.

Friday night was rough – I was awake for much of it. We had the strangest phenomenon occurring and it was driving me nuts. There was no wind and the water looked dead calm. But we were set in a rhythmic motion that continued for over 12 hours. We’d be (blissfully) still for about 20 seconds. Then a slight rock, rock, Rock, Rock, ROCK, ROCK, Rock, Rock, rock, rock, still. It took about 2-4 minutes to complete the cycle and at the peak we would slamming against the fender/pilon and it would even be hard to walk around the boat. By morning it had stopped but it caused a fitful night for both me and Martin.

Saturday was forecast to be a gorgeous day with another big wind/rain storm coming in early Sunday morning. We headed out at slack and planned to arrive on a rising tide in Sarasota. The entrance to Longboat Key Club Moorings isn’t terribly deep - 7 feet mlw (we draw about 6’8”). It was a gorgeous day. We passed by some beautiful scenery, requested 4 bridge openings and saw countless brown and white pelicans. The sun was shining, it was warm and we had all our doors open. A nice dewy morning meant I got my workout in by swabbing the decks as we went along and got to enjoy the view to boot. It was a pretty ideal cruising day.

The view along the way…

Sail boat races underway on a Saturday morning

Longboat Key Club Moorings is a new marina for us. It was recommended by Bob & Holly from Scamper who we met last spring in the Bahamas. They were good sports about us stalking them at Black Point to ask about their davit controller (ours broke and we were desperate to figure out what exactly was broken). So it’s very cool that we’re able to check out Longboat this year and hook up with them - they’ll be here for a few days this coming week and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with them.

And as I was typing this last paragraph, we had yet another serendipitous encounter (that seems to be the word for this month J Just as I writing this, we were approaching a bridge that is under repairs so only the eastern span can open.

Half a bridge opening (ultimately, the bridge farther north ended up calling this bridge tender on the phone to let him know we were trying to reach him!)

There’s a note on Active Captain that the water is extremely shallow there to the north as well. Martin was trying to raise the bridge tender on the radio but having no joy. It seems his radio was broken. Out of the VHF ether a voice was heard, “Blossom this is Scamper, try him on…”.  They were on the ICW heading south toward us! We passed by and I got a great photo:

Here they come!

Scamper and crew

They’re spending a couple days down in Venice and will be returning Monday. We’re looking forward to catching up with them Monday night!  

We arrived around 1pm on a low but rising tide and at the shallowest point saw .2' under the keel. The marina is gorgeous and huge! First things first, we put out our fender boards again. We're expecting up to 30k winds, severe gusting and thunderstorms and possible the threat of a tornado tonight.  (I put out an extra line or two as well.) Then we walked down to the ship’s store/marina office/pool/restaurant end, checked in, and met the very friendly staff. I think we're taking the rest of the day off, I'm hoping a nap will help kick this cold to the curb.

I’m really excited about exploring the marina. It’s actually a resort with multiple restaurants, a swimming pool, tennis courts, gym, a spa. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun! There are bike trails too. And we can bike down to Mote Aquarium and St. Armands Circle with amazing shops and restaurants (or take a free shuttle if it’s raining). And to top it all off we have family in town. Martin’s cousin Penny lives on Longboat Key and cousin Brenda & Syd snowbird in Sarasota every winter. We’re very much looking forward to getting together with them! As an added bonus, my Dad and step-Mom are coming to visit for a few days as well. They winter in Cocoa Beach so it’s a fairly short trip for them to come over and see us.

So here we are, very much looking forward to the fabulous 2 weeks ahead of us! 

Boat Business:

• Bilge. We have dripless shafts on both engines so we have a “dry bilge” - there should never be any water down there. We’ve notice small amounts of salt water coming into the bilge. It’s not enough to set off the bilge pump and we weren’t sure if it was just splashing around from having burped the shaft seals. However, Martin dried out the bilge yesterday and I found a trickle of salt water once again in the forward bilge, and a slight amount in the aft bilge (which the forward drains into).  It’s not the main or wing engine shafts that we can see so we’ll have to go exploring this weekend.

LaBelle to Venice

A lovely sunset at River Forest

Our last few days at River Forest went well. We had a fabulous time on Friday when our friends Larissa, Ender and Benjamin came to visit. We hadn’t seen them in a few years and we loved catching up and getting to know Benjamin who is an amazing boy and who was thoroughly enthralled with Blossom J

A very happy little captain!

On Saturday we returned the rental car and Rick & Michelle graciously offered to give us a lift back to Blossom. They know these waters well so they gave us some tips and advice on our upcoming trip north. With their info and our past track from a year ago (St. Pete’s to Ft. Myers and through Lake Okeechobee) we hope to have no trouble navigating the skinny waters up to St. Pete’s.

Blossom on the Caloosahatchee River, February 2015 (photo from Gary & Diane)

On Sunday we had a visit with Gary & Diane who introduced themselves while we were at River Forest. They’ve been reading our blog for a while now (found through our friends, Sean & Louise’s blog). We were happy to meet them and give them a tour of Blossom. They’re a really nice couple and they’re looking to get a boat to keep in Florida. We hope we’ll meet up again on the water one day!

We had planned a four day itinerary to get us back into the groove and use most of our systems on our way to St. Pete's. We’d start at Calusa Jacks, then anchor off St. James Island, a new anchorage for us. From there we’d head to Cabbage Key to anchor where we did back almost a year ago. Then a new stop, at the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice for our fourth night, and hoped to arrive in Sarasota on Friday where we’ll be staying at Longboat Key Club Moorings.

Blossom en route to Calusa Jacks 2016 (photo thanks to Gary & Diane)

Monday morning we were ready to head out. The weather has turned cold again (by Florida standards) so it was a chilly departure. We took the opportunity to pump out and headed west. It’s a relatively short run of about 32 miles including 2 locks and 3 bridges. We figured that would be a good first day out after our 4-month break.  It was a great cruise and everything ran smoothly. We had lots of people watching us as we passed through the two locks. It made me happy we’d done it a few times before so I looked like I knew what I was doing J The only unfortunate turn was that one of our wireless headsets (aka “marriage savers”) has died. We managed to exit the marina, pass through 2 locks and dock without them and without yelling at each other – how cool is that?! Upon further inspection it looks like one of them is transmitting but not receiving. So we can use them, Martin talking when we anchor (he’s at the bow calling the shots while I drive) and me talking when we dock (giving him details on the boats position, etc.) We’ll order new headsets in Sarasota.

We arrived around 2, settled in and chatted with Joe, the owner. Later in the afternoon the sun actually came out (yay!) and we walked into town to the Winn Dixie. (Though Martin’s eye has healed up, he now has a cough so we needed to get some Dayquil, he can’t seem to catch a break!) Joe is the nicest guy and he gave us a dozen fresh eggs - awesome!  We also enjoyed meeting his new goat, Johnny John, what a cutie! Note to mariners, they’ll have goat milk soap for sale in the near future J

Joe & Johnny John

Sunset at Calusa Jacks

They kept the holiday lights on for us J

Tuesday we had a leisurely morning and left the dock around 10:30. The trip through Ft. Myers and the “miserable mile” was uneventful. I’m happy we went through on a cold week day, it was much less crazy than it would have been on a sunny Saturday. We had our first (of several) dolphin sightings and one manatee sighting. We anchored on the south side of Pine Island, an anchorage that Rick & Michelle told us about). It was a great anchorage, well protected from the north wind. There were lots of crab pots so we stayed out a bit and were very comfortable. There’s a lot of traffic passing by – we’d put our floppers out if we were staying for any length of time.

Sun downers on the fly bridge off St. James (wearing our snoozies, it was cold!)

Wednesday was Martin’s birthday! And so begins another 10 months when I can call him old man, til I catch up with him again. It was a short day with a quick hop north to anchor off Cabbage Key. We anchored right where we had a couple of years ago.  We had 3 dolphins playing on our bow for about 10 minutes at one point. It was awesome! I clap and talk to them, hoping to keep them there longer. I’m going to say it works… You can see them turn sideways and look at you so they certainly know you’re there. (Whether or not they stay longer to see me perform like a circus animal we’ll never know.)

Thursday we had to keep to a schedule. We’d read that there could be strong current at Crow’s Nest so we planned to arrive close to slack in the afternoon.  We calculated that it would be about a 5-6 hour day. We consulted with Rick & Michelle who are a day ahead of us and docked at Crow’s Nest last night. We figured we’d also run on the outside. This way, we’d have pretty much tested everything on our way up – shallows, outside, anchoring, docking. (And we avoided 5 bridges – nice!) The first part of our season is going to be fairly sedentary as we enjoy exploring Sarasota and St. Pete’s so we want to exercise her when we have the chance. The second half, we’ll be on the move in the Bahamas and East Coast.

We had an uneventful trip up to Venice. It was a little lumpy at first but calmed down as we got closer to land and the winds clocked to the east. Venice is a happening inlet with people walking the pier, fishing, dolphin’s playing and a coast guard boat pulling people over! We tied up close to a sailboat and I put out 3 spring lines. There’s a gale warning out for tonight and tomorrow and I don’t want us to smoosh them between us and the rock jetty behind them!

This evening we’re going to eat at the restaurant at Crow’s Nest to formally celebrate Martin’s birthday. Martin’s friend Arturo, another ex-Googler, happened to be in Florida this week and was close by (another serendipitous rendezvous!) so he’s coming up to join us for dinner.

Our original plan was to go straight on to Sarasota and arrive on Friday. But we changed our minds today. We’re expecting a bruiser of a storm to come through tonight and tomorrow with gale force wind warnings. Pleasure boating does not mean intentionally heading out into to 30+ knot winds, torrential rain and lightning while navigating a skinny, shallow channel – all when we’re not on a schedule. We’ll sit warm and cozy at Crow’s Nest and head out on Saturday when the winds are down and the sun decides to make a (brief) visit. When I called the marina to tell them we’d be a day late the woman I spoke with sounded relieved. I don’t think they want boats coming in and trying to dock in that wind!

It feels great to be settled back on Blossom. We’re slowing adjusting back to our boat routine. That means meeting lots of interesting people, exploring new places, enjoying amazing views, troubleshooting various noises, beeps and bumps in the night, cocktails on the fly bridge, limited and/or slow internet, doing a lot of cleaning and for me, cooking. I don’t know why I like to cook more when we’re on the boat but I’ve been having fun. This week I’ve made Thai Basil Chicken, Hoisin Pork and Lemongrass Tofu for Martin’s birthday. (I have a thing for Thai/Asian food, obviously.) If I can figure out how to post a link to recipes I’ll do that!

Boat Business: First a shout out for some of the service providers we encountered.

• River Forest, Moorehead, FL. What a top notch facility. We can’t say enough about how pleased we were with our experience. The facility and the folks who run and work it are amazing. We will leave Blossom there again if we leave her back in FL in the future. The owner of the yard came by on his new (and lovely) boat so we were pleased to be able to tell him personally of our experience.
• April Beaver. April lives nearby and takes care of the interiors of several boats at the yard. April’s a “doer”, I don’t think she ever rests. We highly recommend her if you’d like someone to help clean your boat, prep it for storage or keep an eye on the interior while you’re away.
• Scottie’s Canvas. Based out of Ft. Myers, these guys did a great job on our cockpit canvas. I’ll take better pics when we’ve washed the bugs off (damn those love bugs). We gave a general idea of what we wanted and they designed a great looking, highly functional canvas. Again, highly recommend.
• Our overall experience at River Forest, Moorehead City was fantastic in every way.

Maintenance and work done:

• We had the guys at RF put sling markers on Blossom.
• More systems checked out including windlass, electronics a/c and the 20k gen.
• To address:
• I noticed a small hydraulic leak coming from the port stabilizer on Wednesday. My nose knows when a leak is to be found! It looks minor and we have already planned for Steve, from ABT, to come out and perform a service while we’re in St. Pete’s so we’ll add that to the service order.
• 9k Gen. This little genny had given us a hard time from the get go and it's still being a pita. We got an overheat error after running it for about 45 minutes at anchor. We're calling in the big guns to take a look at it next. We need to have it working as it should before we head east to the Bahamas this spring.

Cruising Season 2016 Begins!

Happy New Year!

And we’re back on Blossom and back to blogging! We’ve just spent what had to be the quickest four months ever, back in the Bay Area. We had a really wonderful time though it sped by far too quickly. It seemed that we were just settling into a groove and getting caught up with our friends when suddenly it was time to head back to Florida. Highlights of our time home included catching up with good friends and family, track dates for Martin, quilt festivals for me and wine tasting in Livermore, Napa & Sonoma. We rearranged our downstairs and put in hard wood floors upstairs. We were visited by some of my fabulous high school friends and my Mom came to celebrate the holidays with us. Then suddenly it was New Year’s Eve and we were on a flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Talk about a whirlwind visit!

Even though we were feeling a bit sad that our time in CA was over so quickly, we were also feeling very excited to get back to Blossom. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and drove over to Ft. Myers on New Year’s Eve. We celebrated New Year’s by sleeping through it (party animals that we are) and then drove over to River Forest first thing New Year’s Day.

Blossom on the hard sporting her new cockpit canvas

Blossom was certainly well cared for and maintained while we were away. She was washed, waxed and got fresh bottom paint and zincs just before our return.  April checked in every couple of weeks to make sure there were no mold or mildew issues. The only grime we need to clean up is the soot from the burning sugar fields that plagues southern Florida in the winter. Anything left on the boat deck is well-sooted so our outdoor table and chair covers need a bit of cleaning up. We were also pleased to see that our new canvas was installed in the cockpit (recently enough that it isn't covered in soot!) Bert, from Scotties Canvas in Ft. Myers, did a great job. The aft deck is going to be a much more comfortable, shady space, especially when we’re at anchor in the Exumas this year!

We spent the weekend putting the boat back together, testing the systems we could while on the hard, and doing some provisioning. We left her looking pretty disheveled in August, with all the lockers propped open and mattresses raised up on crates.

Master stateroom

Salon in disarray

Lining the boat around

First thing Monday morning we splashed the boat and lined her over to the wall. She’s a big girl to haul around with ropes but the team here made it look easy. We wanted some time to remove the plastic covering the vents, check thru-hulls, etc., before starting up the engines. Everything looked great and was running smoothly so we moved over to the floating dock later that day.

I know I’m biased but dang, she’s a good looking boat!

We had a really pleasant stay in Ft. Myers and got to know the town a little bit better this time. We also had the pleasure of meeting new Nordhavn owners, Rick & Michelle. They hosted us aboard their beautiful boat and we had a fabulous evening with them. I can never say enough about how wonderful the boating community is and what a great time we have with the folks that we meet! We were thrilled to then be able to reciprocate and have them over to Blossom for another fun evening on Tuesday.

Martin waiting for the doctor

On Wednesday we had a bit of a setback occur. Martin was stowing the dehumidifier in the basement and I was handing it down to him. The hose snapped back as it passed through the hatch and managed to smack him directly in his right – open - eye. He was in a lot of pain so I took a look, and freaked out a little bit (what a shock, right?) He had a little flap of skin loose in the middle of his eye. Yup, not fun at all. Luckily there’s an ophthalmologist in LaBelle (it’s a very tiny town) and they saw us right away. We were very relieved to hear that though a chunk of tissue was missing from his cornea, the doctor thinks it will heal very quickly with no lasting ill effects and that even 24 hours from now he should have much less pain and better sight. He can't see much of anything through that eye now and once the shock wore off he was pretty uncomfortable. So the plan is 24 hours of bedrest and antibiotic eye drops and a follow up appointment tomorrow.

Because of the accident, we had to cancel visiting with some friends of ours this afternoon. They’re visiting Florida this week from Wisconsin and just happen to be on vacation close by - talk about serendipity! Martin needed to sleep and not use his eyes so we've rescheduled and are looking forward to seeing them on Friday.

Needless to say, we’re going to delay our departure and are thinking about leaving on Monday rather than this Friday so we can make sure Martin is healing well and take our time getting the boat ready. Our goal for January is to head west and then north. We have family in Sarasota who we hope to see and then the plan is to spend some time in St. Pete’s. We really enjoyed St. Pete’s last January and have been looking forward to returning ever since!  

It feels good to be back in Florida now that the weather is a bit less hot and humid. (We’re having a cold spell here right now). Though there are reminders of the tropical state we’re in:

"Palmetto Bug" aka Extremely Large Roach

Yes, that’s my thumb, that sucker was big, and thankfully dead (and not on Blossom!)

“Love Bugs”

These are called “love bugs” for obvious reasons. While arguably the happiest critters on planet as they seem to be in this state all the time…I do wish they could find a hidey hole to enjoy themselves in rather than flying all over the place and covering our boat. They smoosh easily and aren’t easy to clean up due to some strange body chemistry that is corrosive. It was “invasion of the love bugs” yesterday and Blossom looked like a boat with a severe rash, covered by millions of the active little bugs.

So we’re back, happy (notwithstanding the eye injury) and very excited to begin our 2016 cruising aboard Blossom!

Boat Business: What we’ve accomplished thus far:

•          Run the engines – all okay
•          Checked the black and gray water systems – all okay
•          Put the interior of the boat back together
•          Provisioned and stowed everything so we have the necessities aboard
•          An initial wash (though River Forest had washed her, we had two days of rain and 50 gazillion love bugs on the boat so she needed a bath)
•          Scrubbed the table cover. Though not like new, it’s much better
•          Done at least 6 loads of laundry
•          Stowed our wine which arrived from CA today - woo hoo!

Things needing attention:

•      Starboard Thruster. Steve from ABT came out to take a look at our starboard stabilizer. We noticed a slight leak on our way over from Key West last August. He thinks he’s found the problem and that it’s fixed. I can’t provide details today because Martin is out of action and not available to proof this post and I wasn't paying close enough attention. We also have a worn bearing so we’ll have a service done in St. Pete’s when we get there.
•      Our salon audio station won't play the satellite radio. But we can attach external devices and play music so it's no big deal. Mart’s sure it’s something simple, we just need to figure it out.

To do list:

•         Test the electronics
•         Check the davit, windless and dinghy
•         Put our kayaks and fender boards back on the boat deck
•         Give her a proper scrubbing