Blossom is out of hibernation!

Blossom at the dock at Pleasure Cove Marina

It’s been 8 months since we (quickly) put Blossom up in storage at Pleasure Cove Marina. We were anxiously awaiting Hurricane Irma’s exit so we could get back south to check on our new-to-us 94-year old home and wait out the rest of our first storm season as Floridians...

Blossom in her corner of the shed with Martin on the bow

It was a long ride down to the water

We have splash-down!

Well the winter flew by in a whirl wind of friends, golf, pickle ball, parties, guests, renovations and general awesomeness (we love our new home and home town!) We also spent some time deciding what to do with this year’s cruising season and came to the decision that we should focus on our land home this summer. We’ve bitten off a big project and are making good progress but there are many (many, many) decisions to be made, it makes sense to focus in and hunker down and get her done.  Once we have our house squared away we’ll be able to return to warm season adventures on Blossom. In the meantime, we'll be able to explore the west coast of Florida a bit and keep up on maintenance issues... With that priority set, the decision was made to bring Blossom south to St Pete this summer. We were thrilled to learn that the St Pete Municipal Marina has a slip for us and that we’ll be able to keep Blossom close by (walkable) to home.  

So here we are, afloat again in Maryland, heading south. We’ve enlisted the help of our friend and former training captain, Captain Jim Mobley, to assist with the trip. We’d like to get back to St Pete by the end of the month (weather and boat spirits willing…). That means we won’t be stopping to smell the roses much but will try to push through to make good time.  

Returning to Blossom felt like coming home and in my anthropomorphic imagination, I could feel how happy Blossom was to be back afloat with family aboard. Pleasure Cove is in a beautiful location, tucked way up a river in the Chesapeake. There are dozens of swallows living under the docks who chatter happily all day and zoom around the boats (and through the cockpit). There’s a resident osprey and several turkey buzzards lazing around the area.

We splashed Blossom last Tuesday and were pleased to find that she was fit and happy. We had a few minor issues to deal with (see Boat Business below) but nothing out of the ordinary. The week was spent provisioning, cleaning, checking systems, prepping and getting into boat-mode while enjoying the gorgeous Chesapeake surroundings.

Martin and Jim played with the drone and got some nice photos and video!

I got to play too 😊 I ran off for a long weekend to attend a reunion in Chicago – and was able to see Hamilton! (A must-see for sure – what an amazing show!!)

This morning we headed out at mid-tide rising and began our trek south. It’s a beautiful sunny, cool day on the water. There seems to be an osprey on every marker pole and it’s pretty darn ideal. The idea is to run down the inside to Beaufort, NC and then make the rest of the trip off shore.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks. With Jim on board, there’s less pressure for me to drive on the inside and more time to cook so I have several new recipes queued up for the trip.  It’ll be nice to be off shore, and off line for a while as well. Forced detachment and the calm that accompanies it will be welcome 😊

Boat Business: Blossom seems to have fared well in her heated winter shed. We had relatively few hiccups returning to the boat (so far, don’t mean to jinx ourselves!) Keeping her warm and dry under cover was definitely a good idea.

• We returned to a shiny, gorgeous boat. Gary and his team did an amazing job and she couldn’t have looked better when we got here.
• Once in the water Gary’s team did a half-day deep clean to get the (amazing amount of) dust cleaned out of the interior.
• Two days of open windows then coated the entire inside of the boat in yellow pollen so she got yet another half day wipe down :/
• Replacing engine coolant. We seem to have leaked about 5 gallons of engine coolant over the winter. We think a loose hose clamp was the culprit. Martin tightened it up, added coolant and she seems to be running fine.
• Once in the water, and still in slings, we check the bilge. We found 3 areas of very minor water ingress – the HVAC raw water intake strainer, wing engine raw water intake strainer and one of the through hulls to the keel cooler for the main engine. All tightened up and taken care of.
• Systems checks: All passed with just a couple of (media) exceptions that we can address in Florida.

o   One Direct TV box died

o   The salon radio is silent