The adventures of MC30 "Deuce"

Thanksgiving Weekend & Baltimore Christmas Boat Parade

2011-12-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

With temperatures in the 60's, we decided to anchor out over Thanksgiving weekend.

This sunset was worth the effort.

The following weekend was the annual Baltimore Christmas Parade of Lights.

It's amazing this thing floats (there's a boat under there somewhere).

Even the commercial tugs got into the festivities.

Here's a quick movie primarily featuring the tugs:

The way home

2011-06-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

After leaving Fort Lauderdale, we stopped for one night in North Palm Beach and had a fantastic meal at The Ochna. The next morning we were on our way to Fort Pierce. Sadly, the trip is about over. All that's left is to tear down the canvas and antennas and load the boat on the trailer. The next thing we knew we were with the truckers again.

26 hours later, were were home. Until next year that is...

Fort Lauderdale

2011-06-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

After a few nights in Miami on our way back north, we decided to spend a few nights in Fort Lauderdale. Coming in the inlet from the ocean, we were taken aback by the size of this Carnival Cruise Ship.

Then we got our perspective on as we spotted one of the worlds largest cruise ships, the Oasis of the Seas (only her sister-ship is as large).

Later that evening, we got to watch her depart while we ate dinner.

Seeing her massive size, we decided to upgrade our boat later that night. We're waiting for the financing to come through on this one.

Islamorada

2011-06-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

We took one break from anchoring and got a slip in Islamorada. One night of people, beaches, and of course, a Tiki Bar.

Just be real careful coming in the channel. The water on either side is very, very "skinny". This is what it looks like on a weekday.

And this is what it looks like on a weekend. It's quite the party spot.

More Reefs - Conch, Hens & Chickens

2011-06-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

I think this was our last day of snorkeling. There is no lack of marine life in the Florida Keys, and Florida in general for that matter. I would say there's actually much more than what we've seen in the past in the Bahamas.

There are also spare parts laying around. Does anybody need an outboard engine lower case?

That was the only man-made item we saw at the reefs other than the moorings. Thankfully, that's not the part of the outboard that contains any oil or fuel, and life was taking over the thing anyway.

Mooring Balls

2011-06-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

As I was saying, each morning we'd haul up the anchor and head off to snorkel more reefs. For those not familiar with the area, Florida has carefully installed mooring balls at each reef in the park so that anchors do not destroy the coral.

Simply pull the boat us to a mooring and tie off.

Then you're free to snorkel or dive the reefs.

The rest of the trip - Key Largo still

2011-06-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for dropping out of society for a few weeks. But it was vacation after all and I was happy to be spending more time away from the computer instead of in front of it! We'll pick it back up with us still in the Florida Keys. We made Key Largo our "base of operations".

We stayed at anchor each night and snorkeled more reefs each day. The mornings were beautiful.

As were the evenings and nights.

Not only was the 6' of water we were anchored in quite inviting for swimming.

But it made locating the anchor and chain each morning very easy. Here we ended up over our anchor after the chain looped during the night as the boat moved.

Molasses Reef

2011-06-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Again, a long day of swimming so comments will follow. But here are today's pictures:

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary |

2011-06-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is a revised post. I was exhausted last night from all the snorkeling. We are anchoring at night and spending our days at different reefs in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Here's one of the areas. You're looking at the reef 15 feet below the surface:

Ah, the water feels nice!

We were at two reefs yesterday. Each had it's own security guard.

Key Largo

2011-06-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

We stopped and anchored off Key Largo last night.

Our first wildlife sighting; dolphins:

The next visitor, who is hard to see below the surface in this picture, was a sea turtle. This guy (or gal) was pretty big too. I've seen turtles in the Bahamas that were about 18", I'd estimate this one at least twice that size.

I can't believe I'm this cliche, and I promise it wasn't my intention, but I come to the Keys and what do I make for dinner? Cheeseburgers. Do I have to pay Jimmy Buffet royalties on them?

The Florida Keys

2011-06-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this trip has been a bit less exciting for some of you to read about compared to our others, but we've been relaxing and that's what vacation is supposed to be about, right? We've enjoyed the Miami area and were even able to meet up with some business-related friends of mine who live in the area. We're at the halfway point time-wise and have to make a decision. The weather is finally starting to behave like June in Florida instead of like March (while it's been near 100 in the Mid-Atlantic, it's only been in the mid 80's here with 50-60% humidity). The winds are calming and losing their northerly component (it's never a good idea to cross the Gulf Stream in a north wind). Since it will take another day or two for the Gulf Stream to settle, and the only destination in the Bahamas that would make sense time-wise is Bimini, we're going to head into the Florida Keys instead for some snorkeling. Hopefully we'll soon have plenty of underwater photos to post.

Key Biscayne

2011-06-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

We've been at Crandon Park Marina since yesterday. With a 25% BoatUS discount, it's around $44/night. That's not bad considering the location. We rented a car today and drove into Miami and through South Beach. We're hooking up with some people I work with remotely for dinner the next two nights. It will be nice to put some faces with names. A few more days and the winds will start to lay down and we'll be moving once again. At this point, destination is unknown.

In the mean time, it's a rough life, but somebody has to live it.

The only downside was the failure of our air conditioner water pump.

It's a good thing I carry a spare!

Thus the only inconvenience was about an hour without A/C and the effort to swap the pumps.

Miami

2011-06-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

We are anchored just north of Miami. We were going to do the run to here "outside" in the ocean, but it wasn't all that nice out, so we took the ICW instead. Way too many bridges and "slow" zones. 6 hours on the water today was quite enough. I'm going to prep (un-pickle) the watermaker now and see if I'm awake a little later to post some pictured. If not, they'll be posted in the next day or so.

Oh, and we've got to watch these storms too.

Trying to hitch a ride...

2011-06-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

With unfavorable crossing conditions each day (it is not a good idea to try and cross the Gulf Stream when there are northerly winds as the water builds steep waves), we've been staying put in Palm Beach. However, if this cruise ship (Bahamas Celebration) is still in port tonight, I'm thinking about trying to sneak our boat in that open storage area and see if they'll give us a ride.

The forecast doesn't look promising any time soon, so we're going to hang out at Peanut Island today and head south tomorrow. Peanut Island isn't exactly a secluded Bahamian Cay, but it sure is easy to get to via dinghy.

West Palm Beach

2011-06-02T16:52:00.001-07:00

It's always a nice little Thursday night event at Sailfish Marina in West Palm. I always enjoy the vendors and the "grouper dog" sandwiches. Also pictured is just how clear the water is even on a cellphone camera. In Maryland we are lucky to see a foot down. Here, I can see all the way to the bottom which is 8-10 feet in this slip. Lots of fish too. We will hang here a few days waiting to see what the winds do over the weekend and if we can cross to the Bahamas or not.

Heading south on the ICW

2011-06-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

The weather is nicer here than back home, heat-wise. The trade off is the windy conditions. But all is calm on the ICW on our way to Palm Beach.

Fort Pierce, Florida

2011-05-30T13:48:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a trip. The truck and trailer did fine and traffic was quite light the entire way. We slept for 5 hours with the truckers and campers last night and finished the trip today. The boat is on the trailer awaiting launch tomorrow. Thus, we are at a hotel for the evening. The inlet our room overlooks is quite busy with holiday boat traffic, as well as a huge offshore storm that's coming in.

The annual trip starts, sort of...

2011-05-28T06:12:00.000-07:00

The good news: We're officially on vacation and starting our trip.

The bad news: We're stuck in Pasadena, MD for the moment.

Issue #1: On the way to the boat and to move the trailer yesterday, our truck had an issue. The engine cut out for a second at highway speed. When I pulled up the DTC on the computer, it pointed to a well known issue with a wiring harness that goes through the valve cover and connects to the injectors. It might just be a small issue, but it's very hard to diagnose when it's not chronic and only occurring every so often. Thus, the solution is to replace the entire system, which comes as a kit. But this was at 4pm on a Friday night. Thankfully, I've got friends and one of them is working on it this Saturday morning to get it back to us later today. A big "THANK YOU" to Scott and Jeff at Challenger Auto & Truck. As Jeff was giving me a ride back to the boat last night he asked: "how did you get Scott to come in on a Saturday?" The answer is simple: "He's a boater!".

Issue #2: The marina that was going to haul us out and load us on our trailer this morning is too backed up to handle us. However, they can do it at 8am tomorrow morning. Our original plan was to be on the road by late morning tomorrow anyway, so this is just a matter of juggling a few things.

A trip of this magnitude doesn't like to come off flawless I suppose. Heck, if this is the worst of it, I'll be thankful.

Update: It's 11am Saturday morning. The auto shop just called. They're finished and on their way to deliver my truck to me. AWESOME! Thanks again to Jeff and Scott.

Solar panel

2011-05-25T11:58:00.001-07:00

I think I forgot to post the new solar panel. It is a 230 watt panel with a maximum output of around 19 amps. This, along with 300 amp hours of batteries, should keep generator usage to a minimum I hope.

Finishing touches

2011-05-25T11:44:00.001-07:00

Today I added about an inch of extra insulation to the 3 sides of the icebox I can get to. Fortunately those are the same 3 sides the evaporator is now against, so that should help. I also double insulated the high and low-side lines to and from the compressor to the box. Then I finally finished the installation of a fresh water tank monitor as well as relocated and recessed the watermaker on/off switch. The only thing left is taking down all the canvas and actually getting to Florida.

Below is the watermaker switch and tank gauge. Both are locate just below the forward berth.

The new line locker

2011-05-19T13:43:00.001-07:00

I still have some finishing work to do but this is fully functional. Newer models have the option of a built-in cooler in this space, but we have enough refrigeration. Line storage, however, was scarce.

Mid-Atlantic February Boating

2011-02-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

It's near 70 outside, 75 in the cockpit, and 72 in the cabin. Granted, tomorrow there's a gale:

Saturday: WNW wind 17 to 22 kt increasing to 22 to 27 kt in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 48 kt. Sunny. Seas 1 ft building to 3 ft.

The plan is to spend 2 nights in downtown Baltimore at Inner Harbor East Marina. Dinner tonight at Roy's Restaurant (Hawaiian Fusion), our favorite restaurant. Tomorrow is a free day to get blown off the pier walk around. We'll head back Sunday when winds will be less than 15 knots, decreasing to light and variable.

Here's our empty slip via the boat-cam:

And here's a few shots from the trip downtown:

It was a great trip (especially for February!). Checking the temperature at our ski mountain shows 65, so boating was a better option!

Winter is here. But I'll still keep and eye on things.

2010-12-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

While we've been dealing with some very cold temperatures for a while, we just had our first snow (thankfully, only a few inches). The boat is just about ready for winter as I just need to put the braces up for the enclosure, which I'll do over the next few days. While I've had temperature sensors running for the past few years, this year I've added a real-time webcam. Here are some screen shots:

Temp Sensors:

Daytime with the webcam:

I also installed some lighting so I could see the boat at night:

Hopefully, the dusting of snow will melt off before I have to board her!

Here's the enclosure I put together for the camera. It was a rush job, but it should do the trick.

Here's the whole setup: Camera to the left, lights in the middle, and below the lights is the box with all the electrical and the access point.

Another angle:

Another November Weekend

2010-11-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

More mild temperatures and light winds.

How can one resist a chance to extend the season yet another weekend?

This time a short trip from our slip to downtown Baltimore for the night.

Will we be able to make it out again in December?

12/4/10 is the annual Baltimore Boat Parade of Lights.

Only time will tell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November Boating

2010-11-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad we don't throw in the towel and winterize like most other boaters in Maryland. Otherwise, we would have missed this past weekend. This is the flattest I've seen the bay all year.

Leaving Kent Island

Chesapeake Bay Bridge (from about 6 or so miles)

Fall Boating on the Chesapeake

2010-10-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Granted, I'm thinking forward to next spring when we'll head back across "the stream" (Exumas this time?), but this time of year really makes for some fantastic boating on the Chesapeake. This past weekend we thought we'd get another overnight anchor in and were treated to a great sunrise.

Looking to the west the moon was still visible.

And then, of course, there's the leaves.

I don't mind a late start to the ski season. There's plenty of time for that in January and February.

The way home.

2010-05-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since we posted as we've been pretty busy. We're in Fort Pierce, Florida now. The boat gets loaded on the upgraded trailer (we went from 2 axles to 3) tomorrow at 1pm EDT. We had a wonderful send off from Green Turtle by "Oreo, the 3 legged dog" as well as a great day at the beach.

It appears it's his beach, ALL of it!

We then spent a night at Great Sale at anchor. The first calm night there in our last 3 stops. I was looking forward to the fantastic view of the stars, but it was a full moon, so I couldn't see a darn thing! But the Sunrise was nice.

We then had the idea to try to head directly home via Memory Rock. All was well until we left the bank and were met with HUGE swells. We turned around and went 20 miles to Old Bahama Bay at West End. Storms were all over the place by then, and the holding for anchoring in that area is poor. We wanted a slip. It was Memorial Day weekend and there was a 4 night minimum. Thankfully, the dock hand working the fuel dock remembered us from previous trips and took pity. They were booked full (I've never seen the place full before), but had a cancellation for a 60' slip. So they put us and our 30' boat in it along with a 29' boat. Hey, what works, works. And the folks on the other boat were very darn nice.

The weather forecast called for 2-foot sees with a slight SE swell, so we took off the next morning (Sunday, 5/30). Why do weather people lie so much? There was certainly a 2-foot chop, but that was on top of a good 4-foot swell! It was 4 hours of UP, and DOWN, UP, and DOWN. 10 knots up, 20 knots down. But the boat did well. We never pounded and we passed some much larger boats. I have no complaints on the ride except it's always annoying to go "uphill" in a boat! As we approached Florida at St. Lucie Inlet, I was wondering where all the holiday traffic was. There were no boats anywhere. Then I got it; it was too rough to boat! Oh well, when the ICW has chop, and you're happy to be in it, life is good!

We'll try and post some more in the next few days, but tomorrow starts the trip home and the very LONG drive. So please excuse us if it takes a while.

Staging for the trip home.

2010-05-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

We're probably going to spend a 3rd night in Green Turtle at Leeward Yacht Club. The staff here is quite nice, and it's a good location. And heck, for $.90/ft, I'm enjoying the a/c over anchoring! Tomorrow we'll head out with 3/4 tank of fuel. We'll stop at Spanish Cay to top off and get some lunch. Then we'll keep going to for a night at Great Sale Cay. The crossing day appears to be Sunday at this point. We might leave directly from Great Sale or anchor just outside of Old Bahama Bay marina (I'm not going to pay their inflated Memorial Day rates and eat the 4-night minimum) and make the cross on Sunday.

As promised, here's a video of the Don't Rock Passage. I wish the camera could do a better job of picking up the swells, but 2D just can't capture 3D images. However, you can tell the boat was running well through it, especially the little breaking swell we hit at around 1:18 into the movie.

The Don't Rock Passage

2010-05-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

There was no report from The Whale on Cruiser's Net today:

Whale Cay Passage: [No Report]
North MOW: per Susan at 808am at Penrod Point reports 3-5ft roll / 1ft chop / sloppy

But Man-O-War sounded interesting. We took a shot through the Don't Rock.

Purple are routes I plotted over the years. Green are actual tracks from previous passages. White is today's track.

The water got VERY skinny at times between the rollers. The depth sounder couldn't even get a reading, but I could sure see the sand below. And then came the breakers.

See how close that sand bottom was? Yikes! It's a good thing we've got a shallow-draft boat.

At least we weren't out in the Whale Passage like this sail boat:

For those that haven't been through here, the white water on the left is breaking against a reef. It had to be rough out there.

I'll work on a movie tonight from some video I shot and see what I can edit together. It's hard to steer with one hand and take a movie with the other under such conditions (but it was fun :-)

Snorkel in the day, light the lighthouse at night

2010-05-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, a busy day. I'm not even sure where to start. We decided to pay the professionals (Froggies Out Island Adventures) to take us out to some reefs to snorkel. Wow, was that a good decision.

Thank God we had the shorty wetsuits with us. As hot as it's been here it gets darn cold in 78 degree water after a while.

Then, after dinner, we took up some new friend's offer for a private tour of the lighthouse lighting (thanks Greg and Sandy!). Franklin has been at it for 37 years! Remember, this is a totally manual light. He has to get up every 2 hours to crank it so it keeps running. Ouch!

Check out the archives from 2008 for the typical shots. These below are from the "keep out" area.

Back down below to get the thing going.

That's the crank to the right.

And there's Franklin doin' the cranking.

The walk down isn't lit...this is not OSHA approved!

The end result.

Wait! There's a movie!

Hope Town

2010-05-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, quite a bit of construction going on at Hope Town Marina (we heard that Rudy sold a number of months ago, and I would say that seeing is confirming). The place is going to at least double in size. Sadly, though, there's even less boats here this year than last year. It seems each year the tourism falls. I guess the economy is showing it's ugly head.

We had a great meal at Cap't Jack's with some new cruising friends, Rick and Sally from Denver, CO. They've also got a power cat. Heck, this harbor is full of catamarans. Why they're not more popular state-side I don't quite know. Anyway, here was the sunset from Cap't Jack's deck:

Treasure Cay - We're not all about resorts, but this is our favorite.

2010-05-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've got some issues connecting to WiFi hotspots for some reason, so I haven't posted much lately. But the Verizon phone is working pretty darn well and I'm going to post a little bit from our favorite Bahamas Resort; Treasure Cay. We might head to Hope Town tomorrow, or we might stay here another day. Either does enough for me at the moment! Enjoy just a few pictures since my bandwidth is a bit low right now:

I've got a movie of this that shows a lot more fish, but these little guys are over the place here.

A full day in Green Turtle

2010-05-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

Before I go on about today, last night we had a treat. There's a fishing tournament here. It seems they were doing pretty well as I asked to buy some Mahi from one of the gentleman and he gave me this sucker for free.

Today we rented a Club Car (that's a gasoline powered golf card) and took a 4 hour joy ride.

Time to stop for a Goombay Smash

Green Turtle

2010-05-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a change to be back in a marina again. We're at Green Turtle Club.

It will be nice for a couple of nights to be plugged in. We'll check the weather and see what chance we have of making it through the hub via Don't Rock Passage. One boat just bottomed there in some troughs between swells and did a number on their props. But at less than 2 feet of draft, I think we'll be fine.

Day 4

2010-05-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

This will probably be our last day in Allans-Pensacola. It's actually rather hard to leave.

Here's something left over from the old tracking station:

And here's some more shots from the Atlantic side:

Getting there is half the fun:

Allans-Pensacola - Day 3

2010-05-11T06:43:00.000-07:00

It's not as bad as it sounds. We're going to have some breakfast shortly and then dinghy in to shore for the walk across to the Atlantic beach (watch out for that poison wood tree!). I'll take the camera and see what we can share later today. In the mean time, I think we'll be staying put. I don't leave a sheltered place when a yacht TOWING a boat almost as large as mine stays.

This guy has a smaller boat too, but it's tied up on the other side.

Allans-Pensacola

2010-05-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Taking weather into consideration, we decided to leave the Exumas for another year. If we'd have started on our way there, we'd most likely be stuck in Nassau for the majority of this week. I'm sure Atlantis is fantastic, but it's not the kind of place to take a 30' boat. So we left Port Lucaya, went through the Lucayan Water Way, anchored for the night at Great Sale, and are now anchored for a few nights at Allans-Pensacola. I think we'll inflate the dinghy today and explore a bit. Perhaps take some chairs over to the Atlantic side for some beach time. There's more marine life here than I remember from past trips; lots of rays and even a turtle or two (camera shy though). And then there's the water spouts...

But then the sun came back out.

Port Lucaya

2010-05-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Port Lucaya. I'm editing this post as the original came out too negative. This is a really nice place. We were just docked behind the type of people I don't usually want to be around. However, the shopping and the nightlife was unlike anything we've seen in the Bahamas before (very resort-like).

We only spent one night as we had made our decision to head north to the Abacos instead of south to the Exumas (it's a weather thing).

The Lucayan Water Way was interesting.

Hmmm. Let's build a big condo building that doesn't have any beach access. Do you think they'll sell?

It rather reminded me of Beirut. However, the Sea of Abaco sure was nice and calm. That made for a nice 70+ mile trip for the day.

2010 - Back to the Bahamas again?

2010-05-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

We're in Florida. Our trip hauling the boat south on I-95 started off very well. For the first time in the 3 years we've done this trip, there were no traffic or storm issues in DC or Richmond. We got to NC and were way ahead of schedule. So we thought we'd pull of in SC around 11pm and sleep for a few hours. We got up at 3am refreshed and ready to finish the haul. But then, I did my safety check. Oh, nooooo; One of the hubs on our trailer was completely destroyed. Obviously, we picked the right tow vehicle (2001 Ford Excursion 7.3L Diesel) as I didn't even notice it driving-wise. I called Boat/US Trailer Club and they had a service tech to us within an hour. However, it took him nearly 3 hours to fix the problem, which was better than it could have been since I had a spare hub. Otherwise, it would have taken until a local store opened to drive and buy one and then install it. I won't get into the part where the spare hub I had didn't have a disk brake on it and I had the guy install it anyway (hey, it's an Excursion, it weighs more than the boat and the trailer!).

We continued on for about 400 miles until I looked back and noticed that the caliper on that hub had fallen off. We were in a construction zone with no shoulder. I just kept driving and didn't say a word to Kristen. Again, I knew the truck would handle the load fine, and I didn't see any sparks, so pulling off onto sand was not an option. We then hit a 5-mile backup just outside of Fort Pierce and missed our 3pm off-load at Cracker Boy Boat Works. They kindly put the boat in guarded storage for the night and we got a hotel room (thanks Cindy!). We launched at 9am the next day (Tuesday, 5/4) and then dragged the ailing trailer to Vero Beach to be repaired (er, upgraded from a tandem to a triple axle) at Float On. Got a slip at Harbortown Marina and are now, off to the marina's restaurant, Harbor Cove, for Cinco De Mayo. We'll head out the inlet tomorrow and decide once we're out if we'll head to Palm Beach or just cross the stream to West End.

December - Record Snowfall

2009-12-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

I believe we set a new record in Maryland for the greatest 1-day snowfall in the month of December. Whatever. All I know if that after dealing with almost 2 feet of the stuff at the house all weekend, it was off to the office to do it all over again Monday morning. And then to the boat to do it yet again Monday afternoon. The snow was on Saturday, 12/19/09. On Sunday 12/20, a friend went to check on the boats and sent me these some shots of the docks and my boat (thanks Tommy):

Somebody, at least, got part of the pier open.

But my finger pier is going to take some work.

It's a good thing I've got braces under the enclosure for support.

I am so not looking forward to this.

There wasn't much I could do on Sunday. I had a bad feeling when I pulled up the the entrance at the club/marina of how things were going to look.

Here's what the bow looked like on Monday after I got the finger pier cleared enough to walk on.

From what I gather, the wind was blowing the snow from behind the boat. Thus the enclosure acted as a vacuum to build the snow up on the bow.

After about 2 hours worth of work, we're back to normal with no damage done.

Oh well, such is winter. At least it'll be a decent ski season. Merry Christmas everyone!

November Boating

2009-11-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Life is good in MD when you can take the boat out in November. It's 67f in the cockpit right now (and we've got it open). We're in downtown Baltimore for the evening as we've got tickets to the Ravens game tomorrow. We were going to spend two nights (head home on Monday), but the weather isn't looking very nice. Thus, we'll probably try and beat the sunset home on Sunday after the game ("overtime" anybody?). Here's a few of shots. It was a very nice ride.

We left just after dark and followed this guy for a while.

Click for You Tube video.

Fall Projects

2009-10-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

We ended up getting our original props reconditioned to the tune of around $50 each. It seems that for this particular MC30 and Honda 50hp outboards, 11-1/4" by 13-pitch seem to be the best match. I've got some composite ProPulse props as spares, but might lay out $120 for a new Honda matching prop before the next big cruise. A big thanks to the nice folks at Piranha Propellers for their help even though we didn't end up buying anything from them...this time around.

Back to the subject of this post. One of my many Fall projects has been nearly completed: replacing our Type I MSD (Marine Sanitation Device). We've had an Electro Scan (formerly known as the Lectra/San) installed for years, but have had issues. It appears our home waters have something in them that makes us go through electrode packs ($250 each) about every 12-18 months (these normally last 5-8 years). There's also the annoyance of having to carry 40lbs bags of salt when boating anywhere but in true ocean salinity waters. Thus, I just removed the Electro Scan (formerly known as the Lectra/San) and replaced it with a Purasan, from the same company. The Purasan doesn't have electrodes and doesn't sanitize by using a large amount of 12v DC power to convert salt to chlorine. Instead, the unit uses less than 5 amps and a cartridge containing sanitizing tablets to perform the same function. Thus, much less maintenance, no salt to carry, much less draw on the batteries, and as a bonus, removal of the salt feed tank actually brought the waterline up by a good inch!

On to the next task: removing the vinyl "stripes" around the cabin ports...

Oh, does anybody want to buy a used Electro Scan system?

Summer 2009 - Back on the Chesapeake Bay

2009-06-09T18:24:00.001-07:00

After about a week out of the water, Deuce has a fresh coat of bottom paint and is back in her slip at Maryland Yacht Club. We survived the Abacos pretty well. The only repairs needed were a new air conditioner water pump (thankfully it gave out on our final night) and I've still got to get the refrigerator running (again, thankfully we had a back up). Minor stuff considering all the things that can go wrong on a boat. The next project will be playing with some different prop sizes. We had been using composite 4-blade props for the past few years with mixed results. Cruise speeds were down to 15-16 and I was getting tired of replacing blades when they broke. Early in May, at our first night at anchor at Great Sale Cay, I put the original 3-blade Honda props back on. Surprisingly we got back up to 17+ knots at about 4,900rpm. After a few calls to some dealers and Honda directly I've found I should get my WOT (wide open throttle) up closer to 6,000rpm and Honda approves extended cruise speeds anywhere below this redline. So I dropped from 13 pitch to 12 and will see what happens this weekend. It looks like we'll join our club on a short cruise to Langford Bay near Rock Hall, MD.

It's a real let-down to have a vacation end, but at least when we get home we've got the entire Chesapeake to cruise all Summer and well into the Fall. If I couldn't come home to that I think I'd have to go on some sort of anti-depressant medication!

Thursday - May 28, 2009

2009-05-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Time to head for home. We'll be loading the boat on the trailer at 9am tomorrow. After getting things settled (bimini removed, radar lowered, etc), I expect to be out of Fort Pierce around 11 am or so. That'll put us back home around mid-day Saturday. Then it'll be back to the house for a much-needed shower and probably falling asleep watching TV on the sofa. Pathetic? Yes. But after spending a month on the boat, 20 days of which in the Bahamas, we've got to have something small to look forward to before we head back to work on Monday morning. That's not going to be much fun at all. I hope that lottery ticket I bought before we left won.

Wednesday - May 27, 2009

2009-05-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

We made it back to the USA with a good bit of luck today. What a nasty bit of storms blowing up in the Gulf Stream each day. It's truly nasty out there! Here's the current radar out of Miami. See all the storms over the Abacos?

Those were in the Gulf Stream most of the day. And as the pattern has been, those storms over Florida will end up crossing the stream too. Our friends, Bob and Karen, don't have a deadline to get home, so on their slower trawler they decided to stay at Old Bahama Bay in West End. The place was only about 30% full last night, but they just e-mailed to say the place is packed. The slower boats are all coming in as anchoring overnight at the outer Cays is getting to be quite uncomfortable. We might only do 17 knots, but that was good enough today to leave at 7:30am and make it into St. Lucie Inlet at 11:30. The storms blew up just as we got in.

We just got into the inlet as this one let some rain loose.

And then they really blew up. This was over the inlet just as we got into the ICW:

And that was at Noon! Glad we didn't wait to leave any longer (partially due to Kristen beating me up to get out of bed this morning!)

Tomorrow we'll take a cab ride 12 miles to Vero Beach, FL to get our truck and trailer. Sheesh, I have to drive on an actual road again???

Tuesday May 26, 2009

2009-05-26T14:49:00.001-07:00

Did the month really go by this quickly? We're back at Old Bahama Bay at West End waiting to make our crossing back to the USA. We had to wait out some very large thunderstorms today after our arrival from Great Sale, so we'll give it a shot in the morning and see if we make it to Florida. Then it's time to run around and get the boat on the trailer to come home.

But enough of that. Here's some of what we saw in the water today at Old Bahama Bay. It's actually pretty amazing the marine life they have within 3 feet of their shore (really).

I don't think we'll see anything like this in the Chesapeake the rest of this year. Dang.

Monday May 25, 2009

2009-05-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

We made a run from Treasure Cay to Great Sale Cay today. Flat water, wonderful ride. Then, the snorkeling:

I better check on the anchor. One never knows what the night might bring.

We better have the anchor in. Here's the storms we were seeing on the horizon:

I had the underwater camera with me and caught Kristen on the bow with this shot (probably one of the better/more interesting shots I've ever taken in my life):

Friday May 22, 2009

2009-05-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

We're still at Treasure Cay. Patty says to stay put, so that's just what we're doing. But to be honest, in this weather, we've got no other destinations anyway. We'll hope for some sun today so we can get back to the beach. I'll see if also can't get our one refrigerator fixed (it's been giving us problems and I finally shut it down a few days ago). Thankfully, we've got the chest freezer and it's small refrigeration compartment that we're managing pretty well with. Here was last night's dinner. As you can see, we're really roughing it.

The Morons (er..."Moorings")

2009-05-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

We're still at Treasure Cay. A very nice place to stay in good or bad weather, and a very decent staff. But I do have to vent a bit. If there's a name on a boat one should avoid, it's anything from a charter company. One big-name charter company here seems to attract, well, less than desirable clientele. I'm going to firmly state that we have met some lovely cruising couples from the US, Canada, and Europe on their own boats, but it would appear these are not the same sort of people who charter. We just had to complain about such a charter boat that tied up at the end of the dock near us last night running their generator all evening (noise and Carbon Monoxide risks). They left this same marina a day before, and then came back right after the office closed. We were just about to go for a swim, when, after their horrible attempt at docking, they decided to "bathe" in the pool. Today, after speaking with the marina staff, I found out they claimed they "just tied up this morning" ("this morning" being the morning AFTER they arrived). LIARS!!! People in the Bahamas actually work for a living. Those from countries where their governments provide "everything" (except a good vacation/holiday spot, obviously) should keep that in mind. When you travel, please be respectful of the locals. Here in the Bahamas, they're really quite nice.

"Ugly Americans?" Are you kidding me? People can be quite "ugly" from anywhere.

May 18-19 - Treasure Cay

2009-05-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Current location: (click here)

We heard chatter on Cruisers Net about bad weather coming, so what better place to be stuck than a resort? The prices at Treasure Cay for dockage aren't that bad here considering (about $75/day including water & power). Not that we plan to stay here for long, but it's laundry time again, and this is a protected harbor. On day one, the weather wasn't too darn shabby...

It's tough roughing it in paradise, but we're trying our best to manage.

Day number 2, however, was a bit of a different story. The good news is, I've got time to catch up on this Blog. The bad news is a nice little gale has set up over Abaco. Oh well, they need rain and we're getting a free wash-down. For those that have been here, this is the view from the marina at Treasure Cay out to the mooring basin. I'm not sure we'll have any wax left on the boat (it's only about 1/8 mile to the basin)!

This is my lower half after adjusting some lines. Those shorts aren't supposed to be two colors!

Ah, but wait, it clears up in time to grill dinner!

Here's a little video of the rain. The mooring basin is to the starboard (right) side of the boat (where most of the video is taken). I'm in red on the bow adjusting lines.

May 17, 2009

2009-05-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ma7 17, 2009 - After another day and night on a mooring in Hope Town...

Oh, and GO RAVENS! (for those Baltimore fans out there):

We decided it was time to try something a little different and get yet another mooring in Great
Guana (that watermaker sure does come in handy at times!). We spent the day at the Nipper's Pig Roast.

I have to admit, I didn't see or have any pork (I'm not sure what the deal is with that) but the views sure are pretty.

Unlike the rest of the crowd, we were back on the boat and ready for bed near sunset.

Next, we're off to tuck in for a few days of bad weather.

May 14-16, 2009

2009-05-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

It's hard to say enough about Hope Town. We haven't moved from here as we haven't felt inclined to. You be the judge.

I did bring my work with me, but getting e-mail on a beach like this rather makes it worth it.

We did decide to grab some lunch today.
Here's the view:

And our guest under the table:

After picking up some conch salad, we headed back out to a mooring for the next few nights.

Catamarans are rather common here, unlike at home.

May 12, 2009

2009-05-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

We're in Hope Town for a few days. The first night (last night) we spent on a mooring, but we might get a slip as the prices here aren't bad and we really need to do some laundry. I've got to call in about that now so I'll either edit this post or add with another later today. In the mean time...

The infamous Don't Rock Passage was quite calm this trip. Depths seem to be greater than before as I had at least 6 feet going through.

We inflated the Dinghy (thanks David!) and took a ride into town for a light snack. While walking around we found a small seafood place in a nice couple's backyard.

I ended up dropping $40 on some Stone Crab. Wow. Maryland Blue Crab, uh, I don't think I'm in love with you any more!

May 11, 2009

2009-05-12T04:57:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Green Turtle today, rented a golf cart and drove into New Plymouth twice.

Once by the ocean road.

And once by the main road.

We had an absolute blast. The beaches and ocean views are incredible at Green Turtle.

Truly a place to remember.

The middle cart brings a new meaning to the phrase "ghetto blaster".

We saw this wild chicken and her chicks on the way back to the boat.

When we got back to the marina, the Bahamian police pulled in with their new toy.

.

May 10, 2009

2009-05-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

We departed Great Sale Cay after a bumpy night at anchor and headed for Allens-Pensacola Cay
However, the conditions were so great (and after a prop change, the boat running so well):

we decided to keep going and ended up on Green Turtle Cay.

We expect to stay here for a few days at Green Turtle Club. Heck, I need to get my land-legs back anyway!

May 9, 2009

2009-05-10T04:58:00.000-07:00

We traveled from West End to Great Sale Cay today. For Drew and Katie I'll give a quick update about this anchorage:

- We counted 8 boats total, including us (down from last year)
- The winds really picked up last night to the point of waking us up, but the new 23# Delta anchor did it's job wonderfully.
- I'm posting this via my Verizon data account. For $20 additional for the month, I can roam data on BATELCO. Believe it or not, there's signal here at Great Sale. It's not high-speed, but anything is better than nothing (and 9k via the sat phone is just about as close to nothing as there is!)

The trip was quite smooth.

The birds here (and that's about all there is here) are friendly (or more likely hungry).

It was a lovely evening, until around midnight when the winds started. Nothing like a 2-3 chop in an anchorage when you're trying to sleep.

May 8, 2009 - West End, Bahamas

2009-05-08T15:58:00.001-07:00

We made it. It was still bumpy today for some reason, but better than yesterday. The bumps went away in the gulf stream to a point. I suppose due to the southerly component in the winds. Regardless, we're here!

The crossing:

Goodbye Palm Beach (sorry, the camera freaked out and we couldn't get a shot until half way across).

Here's the water color in the gulf stream:

And here's what it looks like closer to West End:

After 4 hours, we're here!

We saw a few others coming and going today, including this nice PDQ 34 (who we beat quite easily I might add :-)

(that's a USCG cutter behind them, so we felt pretty safe if something did happen)

The beach at Old Bahama Bay is quite nice:

This storm tried to build, but it just couldn't quite do it.

And of course, there's the water clarity the Bahamas are famous for:

Update: We just ate dinner with the crew of the sport fisher next to us. The boat owner is part owner of Palm Beach Yacht Club. Very nice people. They had too much salad from the club and offered us some. WOW! Cajun Mahi salad! Yummy!

We'll try for Great Sale tomorrow (along with our new friends on a huge Lagoon sail cat).

May 7, 2009 - Palm Beach, FL

2009-05-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

We left the dock at Pirate's Cove Marina in Stuart, FL at 8am looking forward to the wonderful weather forecast for a crossing to West End, Bahamas. We had to say "goodbye" the GIGANTIC sport fisher we were docked next to, "Boomer":

Why do weather people enjoy lying so much? It was MAJOR bumpy out there. Sure, we could handle it, but not for 5 hours straight. We're not in a rush, so we decided to head back inland and take the ICW south to Palm Beach. This will allow another try tomorrow morning, but it should be more of a 3.5 hour trip than 5.

The ICW, what an interesting waterway. We hadn't charted this, but knew the ICW was well marked. Can I say that again? Unless you're blind, the ICW is pretty darn easy (at least in Florida). Just stay between the red and green things!

Although, watch out for the manatee signs. You've got to slow down and speed up depending on what they say.

However, there are no manatee to be seen!!! What's this about? Oh, wait, the slow "manatee" zones seem to always be near the very expensive homes. Go figure!

Thus, we ended up in Palm Beach. Which is here, according to our SPOT.

I called Palm Beach Yacht Club, thinking we might get close to the $.50/foot we paid in Vero Beach, but their rate is $2.25/foot. I wasn't feeling the love at that point, so we circled Peanut Island and decided to try Sailfish Marina, whom we'd heard about in the past. Then I checked in and got charge $3/ft! What the heck was I thinking? Oh, wait, Thursday nights are special here, it's a huge party with food and crafts!

Not bad, not bad at all. We made new friends and had a great dinner of conch fritters and grouper dogs. Yes, that was interesting!

We'll check the weather tomorrow morning and see if we can yet again try and get across the gulf stream. Stay tuned!

2009-05-06T20:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I've been a bit behind on this trip with location links. We just got to Stuart, FL (one of our favorite places), and here's a pretty darn good shot of where we actually are:

Stuart, FL - Pirate's Cove Marina

We had a great trip down the ICW from Vero Beach to Stuart.

We had two little "interesting" occurrences:

1- We've barely out of Very Beach when a police boat pulls up next to us. To be honest, I have no idea at this point where the 6mph zones are with all this "Manatee" stuff, so I've just kept it slow to this point. So the cops come up, and me being me, I ask them right away what the heck I should be doing. "Easy enough" they say, and I learn it's all spelled out in great detail on the signs (the signs you blow by at 20 or so MPH...hmm...good idea there!) but they're on a Public Service Promotional mission and they want Kristen to pose drinking a non-alcoholic beverage. She goes below to get a fresh water (it was 10am for heck sake!!!!) and we end up going through posing about 4-5 times before they get tired of us and take off toward other confused boaters. For all we know, Kristen is going to be on every billboard in the state of Florida for "how not to drink water while you're trying to boat in unfamiliar areas!"

A little later we were surprised after we passed a lovely green trawler/tug and started to hear "MC30 headed South, MC30 headed South" on the VHF radio. Once I replied, I was informed that this lovely boat is from Baltimore and met us at Maryland Yacht Club a few years back. Wow, what a small world! Dang, can't we hide anywhere??? Well, I guess that's what you get with a boat like ours that there's only 50-some of in the world.

2 hours after leaving Vero Beach, we arrived in Stuart. We met up with my BoaterED.com friends, Mark and Judy for dinner. Pirate's Cove marina is the place for good food, a nice pool, many million dollar sport fishers, and some good friends. Thanks yet again to the staff here.

The weather is looking good....might we cross tomorrow to the Bahamas??? Stay tuned!

May 5, 2009

2009-05-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

We slept in today, until 9am (is that really sleeping in???). Then we the boat put back together (mainly the canvas and the cockpit). Met some wonderful Florida cruisers who were quite interested in our plans. We wish them the best. Later that day we took John's advice (the dockmaster at Vero Beach Yacht Club) and walked the 3 blocks to Riverside Restaurant. Wow, what a meal, and what a nice view!

After 2 nice days in Vero Beach, Fl, we've decided it's time to head South for a better crossing point.

May 4, 2009

2009-05-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

At this point we're starting to feel like truck drivers on I-95! (for those of you not in the States, this is the major North-South road on the East Coast of the US). Heck, here's where we stop for breaks at "Flying J's" truck stops.

Oh, and then let's remind us all what our little 30' boat looks like behind the largest(???) SUV ever built (the Ford Excursion).

Vero Beach, FL is a very nice city. Nice people, nice sites to see, great food, and great location. However, not quite the boat ramps we needed. We're standing in the parking lot at the ramp looking at the boat, looking at the ramp, at the boat, at the ramp....dang!...the boat is longer than the ramp! Thankfully, the good folks from Complete Marine Services in Vero Beach were working on another boat and offered their help and their (priceless) local knowledge. With their help, we got the boat launched. We then boated up the ICW (for the first time in our lives) to Vero Beach Yacht Club where the nice folks allowed us to stay two nights.

We also walked about 7 blocks back to get the truck and trailer and dropped the trailer of 8 miles out of town to the manufacturer Foat-On Trailers for some modifications and repairs (thanks "Q"!). Then, finally time for BED!

May 3, 2009

2009-05-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Fairview Marina to hook the boat & trailer to the truck.

The trick this year was to keep the batteries on the boat charged while driving 24 hours to Florida. Let's just say I'm still working on it!

I've got yet another idea to try for the way home. But enough of that. It was pouring rain.

Thankfully, most of what I had to do for the battery idea was under the boat, which kept the rain off me. About 90 minutes later, we were under way. We got through Washington, DC without their normal hideous traffic issues (even on a weekend) only to get into bumper-to-bumper traffic in Northern Virginia. Oh well, it has to happen at some point. After VA, traffic flowed pretty well. We drove straight to South Carolina were we finally stopped for a 3 hour nap.

2009 - Florida and...Abacos/Bahamas???

2009-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2009

We took the boat "next door" from Maryland Yacht Club to Fairview Marina to have their travel lift load the boat on our trailer. There really aren't that many good boat ramps in our section of Maryland, so for the convenience sake, it was worth it. We took the canvas down and moved everything out of the cockpit into the truck. Then we headed home to drop the cat (Dizzy) off to Jenn and Joe (Kristen's sister and our brother-n-law) and spend one last night at the house.