New Blog!

We have a NEW BLOG! The new blog details our first solo trip down the ICW, acrossFlorida to the Gulf of Mexico and out to the Dry Tortugas and the Keys.

I hope you can join us for some or all of the adventure.. and be sure to check out our new Blogging site "www.SailLogs.com" - a blogging website just for boaters and cruisers!

Thank you........

Thank you to those that were following us during our trip :)

We are now starting our boat blog........ follow us @ http://svsanuk.wordpress.com/ .. it may take awhile :)

Home....

We are finally home...... got into Md. Sunday morning at around 2am. Slept on the boat. Then did the 4 hr drive home Sunday late afternoon. It's mid 50's to low 60's here by day. But at night.... it's flipping cold!!!! Headed back to Md. Wednesday I believe, to wrap up some unfinished boat projects. Then home in Pa. for the last winter...........

On the way home..........

Woke up, ate breakfast, checked out. Said our good-bye's to Capt. Ron and hit MCarthey Park. We experienced a Florida flash rain and when the sun came back out, so we hit Jupiter Beach.... A farewell float in the beautiful and calm sea. Sigh.....

We returned the rent-a-car, had a bye-bye beer, and hopped on a (30min late) flight from West Palm to Charlotte, NC. We are currently in Charlotte, NC. In the airport. With a 2hr delay... crap. We wont get to the boat now until 2am, maybe later. Gotta love airports. If we escape swine flu tonight we will be happy.

Juno Beach..

Still in Palm Beach.... it's still nice out. Headed back down to Juno Beach today. Pictures and frolicking in the ocean......... warm breezes and swaying palm trees. Oh, and corona :) I'll do my reflecting on our trip when I get home. Right now I just want to enjoy being here.... I'll post picures later. Chow

What worked.. and what didn't.

THE END.

We are finally at the end of our trip. This is our current location, next to Tiger Woods' boat:

Palm Beach, Fl

We arrived sometime around 11:30 this morning. Internet and phone reception was perfect the entire way.

So now would be a good time to go over the last topic:

What worked.. and what didn't.

The Verizon internet card USB760 with optional external antenna - I was very impressed by the coverage, and quality of the service from Verizon. Very few times was I unable to connect with the card alone, and serval of those times I was able to plug the antenna in and connect again. Only twice was I completely out of service; and then only for a couple of hours.

The iPhone - great to have for tide carts, and that amazing app that Tom introduced me to: Navionics. Navionics is a chartplotter app and covers all of the eastern coast including the ICW - all for $10! It also has tide AND currents built in! It is not a fully featured chart plotter and I would not trade my Garmin for it.. but it came in handy several times on this trip.

However, the reception was crap until we hit Florida. And there were points when I could be on the internet with Verizon but not talk on the phone with AT&T.

Cruising Guides & Flip Chart - I will not do this trip again without a couple good cruising guides and the flip chart. The flip chart, which has each leg in order - page after page on a spiral binder - was REALLY nice. We only had a guide for Georgia and while we were there it helped immensely. I purchased it as an after-thought in SC.. I wish we had gotten guides sooner.

I recommend the Doziers guides:

I also recommend you also consult the Doziers website:

http://www.waterwayguide.com/navupdate.php?area=1

and click on the area you are traveling on the left. It seems to be very up to date.

Garmin NUVI GPS with touch screen - Ron has a new Nuvi touch screen. I do not recommend this gps.. the touch screen is terrible and doesn't work well in this environment. I really missed my old reliable Garmin 182C on this trip. I have a nuvi for the car - so I am not totally against these.. just against them for use in a boat.

6 foot draft - Bad, bad, bad. If that is what you have, try to go around Georgia. Buy cruising charts. Get local knowledge whenever you can.

Seatow - Great, especially if your draft is 6 feet. I use BoatUS Tow.

Boat Preparedness - I was very concerned with this topic when this trip began. When I did my trip from MA to MD I spent many hours and thousands of dollars on safety and gear. I don't think anyone has spent a minute or a dollar on Ron's boat. We spent the trip battling fuel leaks and water leaks.. I didn't know where the life jackets were, if there were any at all. There wasn't a dingy, let alone a life raft. Ron seldom had the radio on, or on channel 16 - I'm pretty sure there wasn't a spare handheld. What I learned from this is basically: if it floats, and steers, it can make it down the ICW. Some of the other boats we passed looked like they barely even met that criterion.

Not waiting until November - We had the waterway basically to ourselves until Florida. That was very nice - no fighting for space at marina's, and not being waked repeatedly. However, the weather was very unstable the entire trip. I think next time we do this we'll leave at the same time to avoid the crowds, go slower, and once I hit SC, wait until a weather window opens and run outside. After SC going inside gets really old, really fast.

Privacy - No privacy for 21 days. Bad, bad, bad. If I ever do this trip with guests or as a guest it will be in a boat with at least one private stateroom!

As I think of more things, I'll add them. In the meanwhile, why don't you checkout our boat blog: http://svsanuk.wordpress.com/ and see if we have posted anything yet :D

Palm Beach......

We are on land... I am sitting in a hotel (in Palm Beach) as I am writing this. Ron is back on his mooring and glad to be home. After Chris snagged a rental car , we stopped and had lunch at "Duffy's" with Ron. Dropped him back off and found a room nearby. Oh , then we took a nice two hour nap.

We are in Florida until Sunday..... nice. So swimming and beach's will be done.
Life is good.

We will in the next few days reflect on the last 21 days and blog our thoughts on what worked well and what didn't. That will be Chris's area mostly.

Headed for a bath and some drinks..... cheers. :)

Made it................

We didn't make it to North Palm last night (we couldn't make all the bridges) so we anchored out again, I made some Thai chicken and Mexican rice. It was international night here on Skylark... :) Gatorade and Tangeray for cocktails.... and some Mexican Train. Hey, were running low on provisions... :p

This morning we all slept in until 8-8:30am. I made coffee, bacon, french toast, and eggs. Happy bellies mean happy men. I have to make this short, sooooooooooooo

We are just passing Jupiter and its beautiful... water is a turquoise color and the sun is out, and it's WARM. wooooooooooooo-hooooooooooo!

15 miles to go..

We are 15 miles from the end of our trip and Tracy is making dinner while the sun sets on our little anchorage. We are currently here. I really thought we would be able to make it to the end tonight, but we were just a little too late to be safe. Tomorrow morning we will sail into Ron's home at Lake Worth, about 10AM.

Florida has phone and wireless internet covered.. there is nothing to say on that front. I didn't use the external antenna on the usb card at all today and had 2-3 bars all the time. Phone service was even better.

Almost there......

It is Tuesday morning, and thank god it finally has gotten warmer. We are on our way to North Palm Beach today. We should make it there around dinner time. (fingers crossed) Yesterday was an uneventful day really. We motored all day, it was windy and cold again. I made coffee and meals and went out for about an hour or so at the helm in the early afternoon. I mostly stayed inside the cabin for the past two days. Chris was at the helm all of Sunday, and Ron did the brunt of yesterday. Ron's excited that he is so close to home, he was up before the birds and ready to haul ass.

I'm glad we stayed to finish the trip. I'm not sure if we are going to run straight home or relax for a day or so and then head back... it's up in the air. It would be nice to just get a hotel and visit the beach, ride a bike, get some sun... you know.. the Florida thing. It's going to be 80 degrees today, maybe more. All I know is I'm going to swim SOMEWHERE before I go back north.

Yesterdays highlight for me was dolphins, they were playing alongside the boat. I was whistling and drumming on the side of the hull and they stayed around awhile, (Chris of course thinks I'm a weirdo.) but I don't care, I think they liked it.

Today is just a race to Palm Beach, Ron's at the helm now with his GPS, charts and his goggles... focused and determined to get home. I think I speak for all of us when I say... it's been fun but it needs to end...lol. We have been on the water for 20days. Yes, for short periods we stop and get off but due to the fact we never had the chance to go offshore made this trip seem long.... very long.

Last night the guys picked an anchorage, I was hoping for a marina. I had a little naggy headache all day and just wanted to relax and be able to take a shower. Nope. We stayed out. The winds where 15-20 and the chop was not fun. (the boys seem to enjoy the see-saw motion) It sucks to cook or eat when the boats bouncing... but oh well. We were in a sound, hiding behind this tiny little Island, followed by another tiny island. I tossed and turned all night... it was windy and bumpy but I wasn't worried because Ron has a magic anchor. I just couldn't sleep.

Chris is working and hasn't had a real problem working this whole trip. So its good that he knows now what to expect next year. We will take our time and spend days in cute little towns next time. Start early and enjoy a slow southerly float. :)

I'm going to nap... I'll drop a line tonight.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz