2018 CRUISE - Week 3

Week 3

January 19 - 26, 2018 

Entertainment - the big event was the Eagles NFC Championship game against the Vikings. They dominated with  38-7 win. Foles and Pederson were brilliant!

We got the Pyle Projector working (it wasn’t hard to do) and enjoyed watching Netflix shows on a six  foot screen. The sound is acceptable making it a great addition to living aboard. Anna Marie hangs a sheet across the back for our screen. 

After watching the Post (Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks) at the Tropic, we stopped off at the Key West Margaritaville for Volcano Nachos. They were great and we couldn’t finish them!

We always enjoy the view and a cool breeze at the point. 

Work - the Portland Pudgy was dragged out of the truck and splashed. I rowed over to the mothership and tied her off. A few days later, we dragged it up the  ramp and chained it off to the side.

I installed a “cutting board” table in the bow cockpit to help with grilling chores. I made a unique leg for support to hold the table up. Self-supporting hinges would have been difficult if not impossible given the angles involved. It’s working out well.

The truck developed a brake problem. While investigating, we noticed that the right front tire was bad. We took it to Marathon Tire and Lube. We ended up with front brakes and four new tires. 

Friends and Acquaintances - Kevin and Sandy (Coastal Karma) showed up unexpectedly. They’re renting a room in Blackfin for 11 days. We enjoyed several Happy Hours with them and our other dock mates.

Weather -  there were a couple hot days, but it was generally cool with highs in the low 70s and lows in the mid to upper 60s and very windy. There was no need for the heater this week.

Volcano Nachos at Key West Margaritaville

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

New front brakes and tires for the F250

Enjoying the view and cool breeze at the Point.

2018 CRUISE - Week 2

Week 2

January 13 - 18, 2018

Entertainment - The entertainment scene is picking up. A national tour of Chicago performed at the Tennessee Ford Theater at the Florida Keys Community College on Stock Island and we had tickets. The play had some different elements and no sets to speak of, but the actors were outstanding. Their voices were superb.

Still on the entertainment scene, we watched back-up QB Nick Foles and the Eagles beat the Vikings 38 - 7 for the NFC Championship. The Eagles will play the Patriots in Super Bowl LII in two weeks.

We took a trip to Key West to have some Royal Reds at the Conch Republic. Delicious as usual.

The Weather - it’s been cold and windy all week. The strong north winds have caused a great “Sargasso Sea” from our slip all the way to the ramp, three slips away.

Sick Bay - Anna Marie had a cold or, perhaps the flu. She lazed around and stayed aboard most of the day. Thank goodness for her it only lasted one day. The "sickness" has been visiting folks up and down the dock. Most have been down for a day or two and Jan has had it twice already. She seems to have had it the worst.  

Work and Pleasure - During our drive to Marathon, we stopped at the FloatOn Boat Trailer factory in Vero Beach. They suggested that the V Stop needed “tweaking.” This week, we dropped the trailer piece off at Unique Marine in Tavernier. There was a bit of a snafu. The folks in the service department didn’t know anything about it. The arrangement was made by Tamara (FloatOn) and Todd (Owner of Unique Marine). It took a couple of phone calls, but we got the situation resolved. 

On the way home, we stopped off at the World Wide Sportsman to do some shopping. I took these two photos for Josh who has a friend named Pilar. This replica of Ernest Hemingway’s boat, the Pilar, is a fixture at the store.

A replica of Ernest Hemingway's boat, the Pilar on display at the Worldwide Sportsman.

A replica of Ernest Hemingway's boat, the Pilar on display at the Worldwide Sportsman.

2018 Cruise - Week 1

Week 1

January 6 - 12, 2018

Work Stuff - Well, it’s warmer here than it is in N.J., but it is definitely not tropical! Still, it is nice to be wearing a sweater rather than a parka. The weather at home is below 10° during the day.

Our immediate tasks revolved around getting the boat clean and livable. We removed road grime and salt, plenty of salt, having driven salted roads for three days.

Once that was done, we stripped and then waxed the hull. It took us three days to make the boat presentable and, just before sunset on  Monday, January 8, we launched SUNSHINE and secured her in Slip 4.

We still have the forward and aft cockpits to clean, but we’ll do that at a leisurely pace.

Fun Stuff - Attended a showing of Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the Community Theater. At the Tropic in Key West, we saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. We really enjoyed it.

If you count dining out as fun (who doesn’t?) we hit several of our fav’s: the Hurricane, Burdines, Island Fish Company, Sparkys, the Marathon Grille and the Cafe in Key West.

Renewing Acquaintances - The liveaboards we met last year are all here. Barry, the manager of the facility, is living in the upstairs room. His boat sunk and his RV was destroyed by Hurricane Irma. Denny and Sandy on Bay Coaster returned from Charlotte Harbor in the fall. Their boat sustained minor damage. Pat and Joanne, aboard Tackin’ It Easy, an Endeavour Cat, and their dog Honey Belle also sustained minor damage. Sadly, Tuck,their other canine family member has passed. Captain John Michael who lives on his charter boat Cool Change, is new here. Allan and Shelly, who stayed aboard Indiana Keez with David and Marsha last year, are here with their own boat this year. It’s a 30’ Bayliner Cierra. David and Marsha arrived a couple days after we did. They cleaned up their boat quickly and launched it the day after their arrival. Tim and Jan aboard Lamb Chop are here. They left their boat in Charlotte Harbor for the summer. John and Susan aboard Nuclear Fishin' arrived a few days after us. They spent a couple days in one of the motel rooms while working on their boat which was stored at the Marathon Boatyard for the season. Luckily, it sustained only minor damage during Hurricane Irma. Newbies and slip neighbors Dale and Sandy aboard Sweet Dreams, a Sam Devline designed Surf Scooter that Dale took seven years to build are here for the month of January. They're hoping the weather is warmer here than at their home in Wiki Wachee.

The Weather - During our first week, we had a partial day of rain.we had a good mix of sun and clouds and the high temps were in the mid to low 70’s. The lows were in the 60’s. The winds were mostly northerlies and generally less than 15 knots.

SUNSHINE awaiting future adventures in the Florida Keys

SUNSHINE lis looking spiffy in her slip at Blackfin

2018 CRUISE - The Drive

The Drive

Day 1, Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - started later than I would have liked. After last minute instructions for Geoffrey, who is staying at Red while he works at Shop Rite, and some last minute packing, we were finally underway at 1000 hours.

Our plan to stop at a motel on the eastern shore of VA at around 1700 hours was foiled by information we received from the host at the VA Visitors’ Center. An impending blizzard would probably close the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Were we to stay on the eastern shore, we might be there for several days. That information kept us trucking, towing SUNSHINE through Norfolk during rush hour. We managed to kill some time that allowed us to hit Norfolk after the worst of the rush hour traffic.

We found a Red Roof Inn in Emporia after ten hours of driving. That’s two hours longer than it should have taken.

We awoke to two or three inches of snow, but being that it was a coastal storm, the easter shore got three or four times as much and, yes, the bridge tunnel was closed!

Home to Emporia, VA 410 miles - 10 hours

Day 2, Thursday, January 4, 2018 - We delayed our departure until 1000 hoping I95 would be cleared of the white powder. Sure enough, the VADOT did a nice job and we breezed along at 55 mph for ten miles. North Carolina DOT must take over at the border and I95 apparently wasn’t a priority. One lane was reasonably clear, the other wasn’t even touched! We managed to keep going for hours, anticipating that at any moment a traffic stoppage would happen.

When we finally saw one, we took the exit, hoping to stop for diesel fuel. The lone filling station was overflowing with vehicles whose drivers had the same idea. We weren't desperate for fuel, so my copilot plotted an alternate route back to I95. About ten miles later, we rejoined the highway, having skirted around the stoppage. 

We continued on, with thoughts that we might just make it to our day 2 destination, Crooked River State Park in GA. Our luck ran out well before the GA border however and rather that sit in stop and go traffic for hours, we got off the interstate in Walterboro, SC. We reserved a hotel room in the local Ramada while driving. That turned out to be a good move as there were ten people in line behind Anna Marie. Shortly, the hotel was sold out, as were the rest of the hotels in town. Since it was dinner time, we would find a nice facility for a leisurely meal. That did’t happen because all the restaurant in town were closed because of the cold! Only the Waffle House was open but they were only serving hamburgers. We had crackers for dinner.

Emporia, VA to Walterboro, SC 340 miles - 6 1/2 hours

Day 3, Friday, January 5, 2018 - Walterboro, SC is about is about 70 miles north of Savanah, GA. Even this far south, we woke up to a Black Ice Advisory. We didn’t’t leave the motel until 0930 to give the ice a chance to melt. In short order, we were on I95. It was clear with no black ice at all. 

We made it all the way to Phipps County Park in Stuart, FL without any problem or slow down. We even tried a different way through Jacksonville. The I295 beltway east bypasses the city completely and, while it might add an extra mile or two, it was a much less stressful drive. This will be our “go to” route from now on.

Walterboro, SC to Stuart, FL 450 miles - 8 hours

Day 4, Saturday, January 6, 2018 - Today promised to be easy and it was. Our only delay was self-inflicted. We exited I95 at Vero Beach and pulled into the FloatOn Trailer Factory. We wanted them to evaluate the “fit of the boat to the trailer.” Tim checked it out and offered that the “V-Stop” could be tweaked. We made arrangements to have their driver pick it up at Unique Marine in Tavernier. After they tweak it, a driver will drop it back in Tavernier where we will pick it up.

We pulled in to Blackfin at about 1100 hours on Saturday, January 6, 2018.

Stuart, FL to Marathon, Fl  215 Miles - 4 hours 

Total - Home to Marathon - 1415 miles - 28 1/2 hours

Geoffrey took this picture of the snow we were missing. It is his view from the front deck of the Red Shack.

North Carolina only cleared one lane of I-95.