This page covers our trip from the beginning, in Grand Rivers Kentucky departing 12/17/2017 - south to Mobile across Florida, and north to Oriental NC on 6/21/2018. The story continues in parts II and III

Still in Oriental, NC

6/21/2018

Back from Ellen's trip to TN and Jay's trip to Climax NC (grandkids), we found our boat still untouched by the mechanics. We arrived back on Saturday, and finally had the pumps pulled on Monday - 10 days after we tied up at the boat yard. But, it's a boat - it's what happens.

I did find a great little place to get so really fresh fish. Endurance Seafood is a guy that fishes in the morning and sells what he catches in the afternoon from his back yard on the water (Great View!). He sells whole fish, but he does monger as well. I got some red drum and soft shell crabs. We cooked it that night on the grill. It was so very delicious!

We also took a dingy trip over to a little beach I found while driving around looking for Endurance Seafood, which is set back from the road a bit without clear signage. It was a nice day on the beach, although the water was a bit rough for the dingy!

We also found a nice bar by the bridge. So, we had to bite the bullet and buy some bikes just so we can pedal our asses over to the bar!

Oriental isn't a bad spot to be "stuck" for a while. It's small, but very cool. Actually, the heat is bad right now, but I think it's bad all over the east.

The views from the boat are excellent here at Deaton Boat Yard. We are fortunate to have a nice spot at the end.

The "Little Fleet Library" is on the same road - I pass it every time I walk Holister. It's just a box of books on a pole in someone's yard.

Oriental, NC 6/6 - 6/8/2018

First thing leaving Snead's Ferry, we had to go through Camp Leugune. We timed the Onslow Brigde perfectly without really trying. Going through the base, we heard a lot of big booms of artillery, and you can see the various targets all over the place.

Next, you go through Morehead City - near Beaufort (bow-fort) NC before turning due north. More ships and some industy and then into a peaceful canal.

Lots of dolphins today, some playing in our wake again. Worked from fly bridge again.

Between Bogue sound and Newport River (on the way to Adams Creek) is this odd, random Chimney. I wonder how many times it's be photographed!

Then there was also this island for sale in Swansboro - our perfect sh^t shack on the water!

Oriental is fantastic. I called my old friend and former boss George. We also ran into locals that were shocked to know we knew him.

More small world moments. And then, our big plans to cut a day out of our float plan are shot to hell when our fuel leak got worse. Called to finally get a rebuild of the injectors done, and the guy at the boat yard has a neice on Riverside Drive in Lexington... where we used to live. AND THEN... Jay met another fellow looper on day 3 of his loop that graduated from the same high school as Jay.
We ad wonderful boat neighbors here from NJ with an AWESOME boat and stories and attitude. A storm blew through knocking power out, and after the rain, we all hung around on the seawall after dark.

The marina has a tiki bar a stones throw from the boat, a restaurant and pool as well. The town caters to boaters and you can get anything you need here. Kinda like Alices Restaurant!

6/5/2018 - Sneads Ferry, NC

After meeting a couple of other loopers and talking about Albermarle sound, we decided to knock a day off of our original float plan, taking us up to Swans Point Marina instead of someplace in Surf City. Ran into lots of ferry and shipping traffic around Wilmington. Had no probem getting under Wrightsville Beach Bridge. Easy crusing. Did a lot of work from fy bridge today! Swan Point is very old school fisherman's marina. Rough place, weathered tenants, helpful staff - that said, we probably will not go back if we don't have to. Sunset was very nice though!

6/3 & 6/4/2018 Southport, NC

We cast off before the whole crew woke so as to get through the "Rock Pile" before the Sunday traffic in the waterways. We went throught the "Captain Poo" swing bridge - aka Little River swing bridge. Here's a story about it

Cruising through Terry & Stacey's "home waters", we saw a dock made out of a boat, and their friends caught a shot of us going by.

We spent 2 nights in Southport Marina. Sunday afternoon we went to John's birthday party. Monday. Jay did some work on the dingy motor, which had a broken fuel uptake in the tank, did some shopping and such. Fixed the transom ladder step that was loose.

Terry and Stacey went to their house on Oak Island, and Jay and I had dinner at Fishy Fishy, which was a short walk away.

Small world moments: we met our backyard neighbors, that were from Breckenridge and did some Broncos talk.

6/2/2018

Waccamaw River to Myrtle Beach

Pawleys Island and Waccamaw were nice surprises!

We were not particularly looking forward to Myrtle Beach stop, but the cruise to there was excellent. Even though it was Saturday, and very busy - the section from Pawleys Island to the Socaste Bridge was a very nice change in scenery. Click on any image to scroll through the gallery below

Grand Dunes Marina was high class place. Fun was had with Sean's childhood buddies that now live in Myrtle (Chris and Alan) - We ate on board cooking lamb chops on the grill. A storm rolled in and we all had to run inside - never had 6 people in the salon before!

Eating at Buzz's Roost was a hoot. Our waitress, Fred, made the whole experience. She told us about raccoon dick bones! That, and the view. Food was OK - good stuffed mushrooms, which caused drama - first too cold, then Fred stole another tables order - mean while Stacey decided to just take them back to the boat so we told her when Fred came back to complain, jokingly, that they were too hot! Funny stuff - guess you had to be there. They did make for some good breakfast burritos! Stacey is a great Galley wench!

Georgetown, SC 6/1/2018

This is a place we should spend more time next time we come through. Great little historic town. Nice waterfront boardwalk along the quaint downtown. They had a free concert this night with a beer garden in the park. The marina was small, friendly, and just plain perfect. Groceries and beer could be closer. We ended up doing without more beer and waited for next stop

Theres our waitress, Fred, with Jay ; a shot of the center of the harbor walk, and 3 pics of the wildlife refuge barge bridge, Miss Ellie... They have a bow thruster of sorts that swings the barge over to allow cars to drive across the canal.

5/31/2018 - Charleston, SC

8 hour cruise to Charleston. I worked in Salon all day as I've been through these parts a few times. As I was working though, it got to a point where I was still seeing wide water of Coosaw river out the door, and thinking "We should be in Fielders Cut by now" - went outside, and sure enough, Jay missed the turn! Question was, could we cross the shallows by Otter Island and go in that way? Nah - falling tide, rather not chance it!

IT was a steamy day - hot, humid. Other than that the cruise was uneventful. Fought more current that we had favoring us. Wind kicked up in Stono River

We did not go all the way into Charleston. Best deal on a marina was just near Ellicut cut on Stono River. St James Yacht Harbor. SUPER nice marina. We actually made an offer on a boat here about a year ago. Obviously, we didn't end up with that boat :)

Terry and Stacey went to meet Nancy in town and they had dinner at Harold's Cabin - which is owned by Bill Murray. They really enjoyed it. They wanted us to come, but we were just too spent to go.

Jay and I stayed on the boat, fended for ourselves with some left overs and snacks and just relaxed. It was a nice chill after the week of preparing to be gone for a year!

Preparing for northerly Cruise

5/28 - 5/31 Port Royal Landing Marina - and leaving Beaufort

Fill the water tanks, clean up, get rid of more stuff at Sean's house (our old house) preparing for Sean's newly purchased house - and waiting for Terry and Stacey.

Float plan with the Lohrs is Charleston, Georgetown, Myrtle and then Southport NC

You can't see him, but Ron came out to wave at us.

Last Hoo-Rah in Beaufort SC for a while.

5/25 - 5/28 Memorial Day weekend

Finally! Prepping to head north - last week in Beaufort for a while

Now that the long wait for our water tanks is over, we needed to get them filled. We cruised back into Beaufort to tie up at Port Royal Landing Marina. Fun day with Sean, Mark and Meagen on the boat.

Gordon's dock had some power, but it was really just a rigged extension cord. We were able to stay on the boat a little to get out of Sean and Michelle's hair after invading their home for so long. But, without running water, it was not ideal. The setting was beautiful, worth the long walk. We actually have a longer walk here at Port Royal.

We are waiting on Terry and Stacey to arrive and then we are out of here Thursday. Terry and Stacey will be with us up to Oak Island NC. Planned stops are Charleston, Georgetown and Myrtle SC befor getting to Southport NC.

A few more images from Gordon's dock

Lexington NC

4/20 - 4/23

More shedding of possessions

One of the reasons we needed to take such a long pause in Beaufort was to go back to our house in NC on High Rock Lake and get it ready to really sell. We had some rough renters in the house, not to mention the house just has some age on it now. We officially have it listed!

Lexington had some nice surprises for us. The downtown area has a couple of new craft beer and wine places. We had a delicious dinner with live music. Our friends Mark and Maegen came with us, helped with some painting, and bought our pool table. Here it is re-felted and set up in its new home.

Getting some work done on the old house - before and after of basement - the new kitchen is almost done.

Above is a shot of the lake from the deck. It was a great place to raise the kids, but time to let it go now.

Coosaw Island 4/10/2018 - until...

We had our friend, Gordon, offer us to dock at his place while we had water tanks replaced, and attempted solar panel installation. Gordon's dock is a full 1/4 mile! It was pretty torn up from the last 2 hurricanes, but what a beautiful setting. On the left, you see the boat off in the distance - taken from the porch of the house we lived in for the previous 7 years. In the center is the boat at the dock taken from the Lucy Creek bridge next to Sams Point landing. And on the right is a view of the gazebo from the boat.

Beaufort SC 3/29 - 4/10 (or so)

You may or may not know that we lived in Beaufort for 7 years before getting on the boat. We rented a great place on 60 acres surrounded by salt marsh. Sean (our son) moved into the house that we left, which is nice because we still have access to it. Here's a few shots from there, as well as around Beaufort.

Above left: The view from the porch and a sun setting on the marsh. Above Right, the marsh again, with 91/2 on lucy creek heading to Gorgon's dock. Below that, a shot of the swing bridge over the Beaufort River take from the downtown waterfront park: Below , center, the house on Coosaw Island that we called home for 7 years. Left of that - Easter Sunday Gumbo! Yumm!

Boats at dock on Lucy Creek. You see these as you cross Sam's point bridge on the way from Lady's Island to Coosaw Island

The finished walkway between Plums and Queue going from Bay Street to the waterfront park

Looking across Beaufort river toward downtown from the remnants of the old bridge road

Back in Beaufort!

3/28 - Downtown for a week

Cruising through the old stomping grounds past Daufuski and Hilton Head was a treat. The weather was warming up, although the winds were still quite strong. We saw a good fire going west of Daufuski.

Crossing the broad was like a washing machine. We had a strong beam wind from the east and a strong current from the west and we were heading north! I was actually working from the salon, and on a phone call, or I would have taken video!

Going through Thunderboldt was a good feeling as well. It made us think about Nancy, Robin, Terry and Stacey as the last time we went through there was after the harrowing 8 foot seas on St Catherines' sound in the 26' deck boat! We were much drier this time!

And finally, it was great to be back in Luthers, and downtown Beaufort on a nice evening. We stayed there for a week at the marina because it was nice to be in town, but it was really too expensive this time of year.

In Route to Skidaway Island 3/27

The seagulls following us were crazy. I guess we were serving up some lunch for them.

After more days in Brunswick than planned

We had to wait out some wind and rain in Brunswick. Had a good crew of loopers there with us, so we did a couple of days of Docktails.

If the weather were nicer, we probably would have taken better advantage of the bikes and the town. We did go our for Carribean food that was excellent. We didn't take advantage of the free laundry, and we really should have! We also only had a little bit of the free PBR. The lounge was a long way away from our dock, and like I said, the weather wasn't really nice at all.

3/23 & 24: 2 hops to Brunswick GA

Oringally planned on stopping in Jacksonville when we left St Augustine, but we were motoring along so well, we went all the way to Amelia Island. Even then, secondary plans changed... Intensions were to stay at Fernandina Harbor Marina, where we stayed in 2012 on our ICW trip - but they had limited availability since the hurricanes. So, last minute turn to Amelia Island Marina

Amelia Island Marina was a short, but effective stay. They didn't mind our coming in after they closed and docking at a dock they were keeping empty, as they were about to rebuild it. We borrowed the courtesy car, got some groceries, and moved on to get to Brunswick GA. We saw the damage at Fernandina. As we passed through places we stayed on that trip 6 years ago, we noticed there was a sall airport on Jeckyl Island, and I had to snap a shot of the marina at which we stayed.

Here's something I never noticed before, and I'm not sure if it's only in St Mary's River, but where the channel markers changed to "red, right, return" for the ocean inlet, they actually put the ICW Yellow Sqare on the red marker, and yellow triangle on green marker. For those that don't know, the ICW usually has Green Square with yellow square, and Red triangle with yellow triangle. It was here that we crossed from FL to GA. Although, last time we saw dolphins jump vertically up in the air here.

Nice beaches all over the ICW here - and even though we didn't see jumping dolphins, we saw many! And many baby dolphins! There's a fort out there at the mouth of St Marys, that you can barely see in this picture, but it's there. And, of course you cannot go through St Simon sound without seeing a ship. Follow that ship under the bridge to Brunswick Landing Marina for 24 x 7 free, cold PBR on tap!

Photos

Lots more from St Augustine 3/22/18

Rivers Edge Marina is a gem. I cannot say enough good things about it. But after docking there for 4 days, on the edge of St Augustine, where I had been aching to go explore, I was not about to leave there the next day without exploring. I had been working, so little time for exploring. I made sure I started early so that I could take an early afternoon off and go bike around the city. We had a glorious day. So glad we did it. Friday, underway, I still had to work, and it was a grueling day of work at that, but I did get to take a few shots of St Augustine as we left.

To any cruisers reading this - Active Captain does have good star ratings for Rivers Edge... We almost bypassed it because of the shallow water reports. We do only have 4 ft draft, but no problem what so ever. And it's SOOO worth timing a higher tide if you need to!

See Gallery picture of our new graphics. We no longer have to ask bridge and lock tenders to make way for Nana and Gaga! Or to ask marinas to reserve a dock for Nana and Gaga.

Flagler College HAS to be a great place to go to school. Seaside... laid back... this history vibe is inescapable. I anticipated that I would love thiis place and I was not disappointed! We WILL be bak here!

3/19 - 3/20 - Bonus material from St Augustine

After the great sunday cruise to St Augustine, we pulled into Rivers Edge Marina, unAnnounced, but with welcome arms. GREAT place. We had a nice early dinner on Hurricane Patty's deck, then a good shower and back to Hurricane Patty's for open mike night with some impressive talent with cover songs as well as originals. Even the bartender sang a few! Ceck out these videos.. Oh, and there's the video from the cruise of our reflection in the windows of the house on shore.

Note my first fru fru drink since the adventure began. Sign of warmth!

We decided to stay here for a bit - even just the marina feels good. Still haven't made it into town., other than the walk to the bank to get notory services. Saw a cool carwash (yes, that thing that looks like a steam ship is a carwash), and a good view of our boat across the water. Hopefully I'll be able to get done working tomorrow early enough to trek into historic St Augustine!

3/18/18 To St Augustine

Sunday was Another good cruising day

Started off going under this beautiful bridge. I've often thought that Bridge architecture of old was so much more ornate and artistic than they are now. This is still a concrete bridge but at least there's some artwork for boaters to see .

Crusing through flagler was beautiful. Both those with money and those without have some nice scenery in the ICW.

We got to pass through Hammock resort, which has a disney feel to it, and also passed by Marineland, that has swimming with dolphins. It was about there that the passage past the inlet was a little touch and go with shallow water, but the view was great! This one particular house on the ocean caught our eye.

There were a lot of nice boat beaches as well as people picnicing at more accessible places. There were also a ton of bikers waving at us as we were passing through close to the road. It was fun having them all wave at us. I think they thought we were taking their picture when I was taking shots of that house, LOL

And then... Daytona! 3/17/18 - St Patrick's Day AND Spring Break AND Bike Week

Big Day - both on and off water

too much to say here other that eplain that these are short videos from Main Street Daytona on St Patricks night at bike week. scroll through picture gallery for mor comments. .Oh and I was right, The trains were LOUD again in Titusville, and we STILL heard them in Daytona Marina, but they were at least about 3/4 mile away

3/16/2018 - Titusville, FL

Loos like we are in for another night of train noise. I think this is the closest yet.

Today was the day we pass through Cape Canaveral. Was a really nice day and I hated having to work, but managed to capture a couple of shots of all these nice little islands that would make great anchorages.

The day was a nice, uneventful cruise. Still just a tad bit on the cool side. Had to wear jackets in the morning, but warmed up nicely. Titusville was once inhabited by Ais Indians, but they disappeared in 1760 due to slave raids, disease and RUM! I got a kick out of that fact.

3/15/2018 Sebastian River Boat Yard

We were headed to Sebastian River State park, because I heard it's beautiful, and I thought I found a cheap dock through Dockwa. Even though both Dockwa and the marina confirmed our reservation which was made with our length, width and depth, we learned while underway, they could not take us. Dock Master Captain Tom hooked me up with his buddy across the river. Doug and Dianne at Sebastian River Marina were very accomodating and fun to work with.

We started noticing the TRAINS. Every night for the past 3 nights, seemed like we were right next to the train tracks, and MANY trains roared by. My brother in law would love it.

The view out of our salon door (well the whole starboard side) was a nice little beach, even if the road was right behind it. And it needs a little TLC I walked Hollister down there and there was a lot of trash. Not sure if that was from the road, or water.

Hollister had a good relaxing afternoon, and the next morning was another awesoe sunrise. All in all it was a good stay, even if it wasnt what we hoped for.

3/14 to Fort Pierce

Before I get into Fort Pierce, I have to clarify that we were TOWED from Riverwatch to Port salerno. We lost fuel prime on Cinnimon (name of our Starboard engine), and Summer (name of our port engine) broke the shift cable up to the fly bridge. Jay could have driven on 1 engine from inside helm, but we were dealing with tight spaces, and high winds, and you cant see a thing out the back from the inside helm. The jerk dock master (Jerk Master) wouldn't even let Jay take the 30 minutes to fix the upper helm controls do we could get out on our own power. But, Jay fixed the shift controller while we were being towed, and I worked from inside. We didn't see the water change from yucky Okachobee Canal brown to clear Florida coast aqua until we left.

There was a nice looking part in Port Salerno as we left as well. And the day was shaping up to be gorgeous.

We had a really fun evening in Fort Pierce with Chris and Peggy, friends of ours from Beaufort SC that moved to Fort Pierce. But we had so much fun, we forgot to take pictuers!!! I guess we'll have to catch up with them again - perhaps they can come north this summer!

We saw TONS of fish around the docks at Fort Pierce city marina. And beautiful sunrise as we got up to walk the dog and such.

Port Salerno, FL 3/12 & 13

Port Salerno was a great find. We must thank the jerk at Riverwatch than chased us away. This is actually what they call a DIY yard, but they also allow you to hire anyone to come work on your boat without a commission. Parts are available near by, and Bob, our mobile mechanic, drove Jay around to get parts and supplies. Bob's rate was very low as well, although I think he realize Jay probably didn't really need him, other that as someone to bounce around ideas, and to use his gas cans and priming system.

The yard was also in a super cool place. There were art studios there, and a craft beer bar in the breezeway that served food from the Twisted Tuna restaurant (which was really just a couple of docks away). Had authentic NY pizza one night (no lie! IT was the real deal!) and delicious sushi the next. Again, the real deal. No gas station sushi here! And the fish was all fresh caught from local fisherman.

There were a lot of other cool places along the waterfront that we didn't have the chance to explore. But we did walk the block up to A1A and had a great breakfast at a sub shop - with NY native owners - go figure!

3/11 - St Lucie Canal to Stuart

Lae Oachobee is huge. We didnt get out into the middle because the route kept us close to the east shore, but we could tell, if you were out in the middle, you couldn't see land

Canal was narrow - and a picture i DONT have is the NYC ferry overtaking us and swamping us, but I bet this cow liked the surf action!

Leaving Clewiston Lock into the lake. With water levels even, the lock stays wide open and you just moto through

We got to Stuart and needed a place to pull over and fix the prime on our Starboard engine. Yes, we were fuel starved on one engine and moving on just one. Anyway, we boone docked in a condo complex dock that night, which we selected because it appeared to be next to a repair marina. In the AM, we attempted to move over to one of the marina slips, and got all sideways and stuff - and had to ask for the dockmaster. Well, we got stabilized, and then asked about the repairs. They said they can't do it, and we can't stay there, and we can't fix it ourselves. So, anyway, we saw a nice sunset, and then moved on to Port Salerno.

3/9 and 3/10 2018 - to Clewiston FL

We pulled out of Owl Cree at 3:30pm on 3/10 so that we could go stay at the Franklin Lock Campground for the night where we would have nice scenery and good water. We had to high tail it out though, because the lock closed at 4:30. We also skipped getting fuel.

Nice night there, with a good sunset. The next morning was beautiful as we motored east. There were some gorgeous hoMes on the Caloosahatchee river (Okachobee Canal). Ranching and Citrus growing must be profitable!

We also went through the first bridge that we had to request to be opened

As we made our way over to Roland Martin Marina in Clewiston, FL there were 2 More Locks, Ortona and Moore Haven. We had our first locking since leaving KY with other boats in the lock with us. The locks here are all just gravity fed by opening the doors slightly to let water in or out.

Then a night partying at Roland Martin with all the bass tournament fishermen It rained, but we were RIGHT next to the bar. Which was good until about 11pm, and they kept going till 2am. Thats our boat through the window at the bar. Roland Martin is an institution and I'm glad we stopped, but I think next time through, we'll stay in the peace of Moore Havein. We got as much sleep as we could and looked forward to getting to the east coast the next day. There is more bad weather on the way and we want to be sure we cross the lake before it arrives.

3/3 - 3/9 Last week in Owl Creek

Going Frugal - no more hotels or visitors - hanging in yard

Literally - HANGING in yard. Still on blocks. Waiting for final work to be done. Having to deal with no on board AC/heat - no flushing toilets, no showers, limited ability to do dishes. Conservation at it's finest!

Watching progress of ferry boat referbishing - the Zombie boat, Driving through the citrus orchards and ranches.

Who knew there were so many cattle and horse ranches - and that the air would be so thick with the scent of cirtus blossoms. Pretty enlightening! Driving along the banks of the Caloosahatchee river, we saw alternating Citrus groves and ranches

Fort Myers again 2/27 - 3/2

After our resposada in Appalachicola, we attempted to have Terry and Stacey Lohr join us for the Okachobee crossing. They flew down with optimism that the boat would be ready within a few days. Optimism didn't come to fruition, but we had a good time, none the less

We got to go to the little beaches off the highway - experience some down town Fort Meyers, take a dingy ride and hang out on the boat in nice weather in the boat yard. Jarred Lohr was here on a delivery, and we hung out with him for a bit - and got to take advantage of a good hotel room on his crazy accumulation of hotel points. Even though we had to sneak the dog into the hotel.

While in Owl Creek - we saw the "Zonbie boat" come in. Talked to the owner who purchased the boat for his 3 sons to learn the 4 generation business.

Fort Myers again 2/27 - 3/2

After our resposada in Appalachicola, we attempted to have Terry and Stacey Lohr join us for the Okachobee crossing. They flew down with optimism that the boat would be ready within a few days. Optimism didn't come to fruition, but we had a good time, none the less

We got to go to the little beaches off the highway - experience some down town Fort Meyers, take a dingy ride and hang out on the boat in nice weather in the boat yard. Jarred Lohr was here on a delivery, and we hung out with him for a bit - and got to take advantage of a good hotel room on his crazy accumulation of hotel points. Even though we had to sneak the dog into the hotel.

While in Owl Creek - we saw the "Zonbie boat" come in. Talked to the owner who purchased the boat for his 3 sons to learn the 4 generation business.

2/23 - 2/26

Liberty in Crystal River and Crooked Road

The view from the Belovary homeless shelter and yard came championship grounds of Leon County FL. That's the Ochockonee River in the distance, which sometimes comes up under the house. There is some interesting history of the river, which goes all the way up to Atlanta. The rapid, and poorly planned development of Atlanta has had tragic repurcussions on the river down stream.

Spring Break, Snobirds, and some really lovely people!

I just HAD to make this section pink background, because it is the perfect backdrop to the wakiness and whimsy that is the weekend we just had!

With Spring Break and high season for snowbirds, it drives hotel rates up so high that they are stupid expensive. It was very fortuitous that we reconnected with Pete and Kathy in Tallahassee, as we boldly asked them to take us in as refugees while the boat is out of the water, and they were not only gracious in doing so, but showed us the best time, and fed us delicious and nutritious food, and introduced us to many wonderful people.

A stop at Crackers Bar and Grill in Crystal River, and Pete's recommendation. We also got to experience Rural King store first hand in Crystal River. It's like Tractor Supply in Costco form.

And, the fun times in the outskirts of Tallahassee.

2/19 - 2/22: up to Owl Creek North Ft Myers - on the hard

Making our way from Royal Palm Marina into Fort Myers on Monday was busier than expected. Ellen was working while underway, but the boat got rocked pretty good with some mega yachts passing us at full speed. Between Jay concentrating in the busy waters and Ellen working, we didnt' get many pictures.

On our way up the Caloosahatchee river to get our prop fixed, something hit our prop pretty good. And the vibration since we left KY from the imbalance weakened things, so we lost the starboard shaft. We changed our plans to anchor in a canal in Cape Coral and motored up to Hancock Creek. We were too late to get into the marina, so we boondocked at some abandoned docks nearby.

In the morning, we made a few calls, and they told us to head up to Owl Creek Boat Works in Alva. When we got there, and turned into the creek, we were worried about being too big to get in there. Lo and behold, as we turned the last bend, we saw 100ft yachts there, old river boats, a tour boat with a 25ft beam. It was amazing.

Again, didn't get too many pictures from the cruise through Ft Myers and Cape Coral, but here's some shots from the boat yard, our boat out of the water. In Jack Sparrow voice "why is the rum gone?" and Jay FINALLY getting his fishing pole out! And no, that is not an inuendo.

2/18 - St Pete Beach outside to Venice / Englewood

As much as we wanted to stay at the Rowe house, and spend a day on the beach, and taking care of errands, the weather forecast was too good to stay put. It's Sunday, and the GICW would be busy, so the nice day and calm seas were our sign to take an outside route. It was a glorious day! We went out just north of Tampa bay inlet, and traveled to Venice Inlet.

As we came back to the GICW through the Venice inlet, it was extremely busy, and narrow. There was a nice sandbar with many partiers anchored and wading while the Crows nest bar and grill was an easy swim away if it were safe - but the traffic and current made that out of the question - although a dingy ride would be a piece of cake

There were interesting mural on the canal banks across from Fishermans' wharf marina (marker 4). The park lining the canal had 70yr old bicyclists passing us, The park looked really nice though.

At Royal Palm Marina in Englewood FL, we had some trouble with the wind, but a great Aussie guy gave Jay some coaching, and now he's eager to try the tricks again. They had live music as we pulled in. Later, they turned the side of their building into a 30foot by 20 foot projection TV.

An uber ride into town for some groceries, with our new columbian friends.

And then to bed.

Feb 17 - 18 Clearwater to St Pete

Clearwater was very nice and we enjoyed the lively Marina, but we wanted to get down toward Ft Meyers and also spend less. We stopped for the free dock at Mike and Leanne Rowe - former loopers. They are so cool, and nice and lovely and generous. We borrowed their bikes (which were AWESOME beach cruisers with fancy gears and stuff) while they went to a hockey game and caught the sunset - followed up by a great mexican dinner and a sample of a tequilla we never had before.

Great stop! But, again, had to keep moving - yet we woke up and intended to possibly leave before the Rowes were awake. Alas, they were already up, and we had a great morning chatting and drinking coffee .

It was about 10:30 am before we finally shoved off their dock.

Mind you, now it's Sunday, and we saw what the ICW looks like on the weekend, so we knew we would rather take the outside - Checked Marv's again for wave and wind, and we are good to go!

Feb 15 - We get to leave!!!! Arrive Feb 16 in Clearwater

Here's the whole deal on crossing from Carrabelle to the west coast of FL - you want light winds, from the south or south east. Otherwise, the wind may be pushing all the water out of the "Big Bend" and your shallow ports will not have water. You want waves under 2 feet, preferable under 1 foot. You would REALLY like clear skies and a full moon (if doing a night crossing), but that's really asking too much. And, you want to make sure that the tide is not too low, and rising when you arrive on the other side. You need to check these factors both at bouys from your departure time and location, and your arrival time and location. You have to decide if you want to go 170 miles to Tarpon Springs or Clearwater, or the shorter hops to Steinhatchee, to Cedar Key to Tarpon/Clearwater. You have to calculate the speed you want to go and decide if you can do a daylight crossing, or a night crossing.

We have Eddy Johnson's weather wag on the AGLCA website giving his recommendations, and Marv's Weather service to do all the readings yourself.

After being delayed 3 weeks in Carrabelle, we decided to take an overnight crossing (20 hours) to Clearwater. There was fog, but you couldn't ask for better seas. We buddied with 2 other boats - "Time Out" and "Second Wave". Captain Dan in "Time Out" had done this a few times before, so we had confidence in him, and Second Wave had all the fancy electronics.

Once out in the Gulf, the water was icy blue in color in our wake.

We had the old boat that ended up having mechanical problems IN THE FRIDDING MIDDLE of the route - we couldn't have been any further from any shore when our steering went out. Jay fixed it in 5 minutes, but it was scary. While we were dead in the water though, I could hear dolphins breathing all around us. Couldn't see much in the fog though, but I did make one out right next to the boat.

Once we had steering, it took a few minutes for the GPS to settle down. It just showed us spinning around. Took us a few more scary minutes to get back on course and catch up with "Time Out" and "Second Wave" - We were awarded with warm sunny weather on the other side.

We tied up at Clearwater Beach Marina with "Time Out" and then took showers, did laundry, but not after getting Hollister off the boat for a long walk. She again, held it all in for 20 hours - we couldn't get her to use the potty pad. There's a few shots from the marina that night as well.

Jan 28 - Feb 14 - STILL in Carrabelle

We spent almost a full month in Carrabelle waiting for good conditions to make the gulf crossing. The stay included Ellen having to go back to Bluffton for an IT summit for eviCore, Which was one of the reasons we were there so long. While I was gone, a group crossed on Jan 31 - Jay waited for me to get back.

With the rental car, I got to drive around a bit and visited Carrabelle Beach and St George Island.

While in SC, got these pictures of the super blue blood moon from the old rental, that Sean now lives in.

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It's hard to get anywhere in Carrabelle when you live on a boat. We bicycled around town but getting to the airport to get a rental car was a logistics problem. I found an 80$ shuttle to pick up the car, which was only 149$ for a week. Then I arranged to have Pete and Scott pick me up when I returned the car, and then they played a round of golf with Jay

A few shots of around town - taken while riding a marina bicycle to walk Hollister and get her some exercise. The fishing pier with instructions on what to do if you accidentally catch a turtle, a lot for sale with a dock, and the fog on the river.

Finally!

We finally get some good weather to use our grill and eat dinner on the sun deck. THIS is what we had in mind!

Captains Lounge

The moorings marina has a nice facility to hang out - pool table, card table, big TV, couches. Too bad there's no other boat here to lounge with!

Clean up time

Jan 22 - Jan 27 Carrabelle FL

Nothing to fix, but Jay still needs to earn his keep. Swap he decks!, and ths gunnels, and the hull, and....

After missing groups crossing to FL West coast (various points, Steinhatchee, Cedar Key, Tarpon Springs, clearwater), Just hanging around the marina

Jan 21 - Jan 22 - Carrabelle, FL

Video coming soon -

What an absolute blast! Meeting up with Pete and Kathy from the old "End of the road gang" on High Rock Lake. Thank you Terry and Stacey for the introduction 30 years ago.

If you haven't figured it out, Pete and Kathy and their buddy Scott (our buddy now, too) met us in Carrabelle. We hung out on the boat for a few minutes, and then went over to Pirates Cove for some heavy h'orv derves and cockails. Was a really nice day in port after a short, 4 hour cruise from Apalachicola... maybe a little chilly, but sunshine.

A bit of shoaling at the St George Island bridge, but it was well marked and we navigated it without trouble.

Appalachicola - Scipio Creek

IT was a fun night in Appalachicola. Scipio Creek marina owner, Trey, was a great guy to meet. He told us about the work he's been doing to the marina. He is from Brunswick GA, so we got to talk about our GA intracoastal waterway adventures. He even drove us into town and showed us all the good places that the locals go.

We got out of Trey's truck at the Oyster City Brewery and Owl Cafe. Great duck fries at Owl City. We really wanted some Oysters, so at Trey's recommendation we walked over to the "Hole in the Wall," but they were closing... at 7:30! We ended up in the tourist place, "Boss Oyster," to have some oysters. They were still good, even though it wasn't where the locals usually go. Later, we realized we really wanted to go to either "The Station" or "Up the Creek".

Then it was time to get back to the marina. We went to "Tamara's Cafe", as it was one of the only places still open at the crazy late hour of 9pm on Saturday night! Tiffany, one of the bar tenders, offered us a ride back to the marina. Her co-workers were joking with us about how she may disappear after taking strangers in her car. IT was all really fun. She even took us to the Honey Dew to get some liquor!

Jan 20 - Appalachicola run

Another sunrise on the water, underway. Leaving St Andrews, we had more wide and beautiful water - and praise to Neptune, calm! We knew we had a lot of canal water to go before getting to Appalachicola. The swamp areas and barren shores were stunning.

We passed by our quintessial "shit shack on the water" that we always talk about being our dream home - and seemingly fortgotten places. Bayou homes and natural scenes.

We are still behind schedule, and a bit cold - we are starting to realize that we better enjoy this. Although it's not exactly what we expected, it's more than we could ever expect! No one sees this stuff from a car window! Many photos - enjoy the gallery.

Jan 19 - Panama City Pass

Sunny Saturday!

This was a great day. Getting into the canal route was warm, sunnty and calm. Once we got out into West Bay, we still had very smooth waters, but knew we had to make sure to follow the channel markers. The water was big and wide and BEAUTIFUL!!

The canal was warm and very beautiful. I finally got to enjoy the fly bridge all day - warm, and I didn't have to work!!

And DOLPHINS! Soo many! At one time we had 4 on each side playing in the wake. Finally got this video, although it's not as great as the 4 wide session. Dolphins must be camera shy, because it seemed like they took off as soon as you try to video them.

St Andrews marina was in a nice area of Panama City. The Florida fish and wildlife had a bse right there in the marina. They were conducting some training there on the picnic tables as we pulled up. It was interesting to see the instructor walk over to us as we fueled up to make sure we didn't have anything illegal going on all by a glance.

The historic neighboorhood was great. We got an Uber driver to take us into town to get a new phone for Jay, and he was telling us that although the Panama City Marina may have a bit nicer (By a hair) amenities on sight, the neighborhood was much nicer where we were. And, I did get to take Hollister on some nice walks, and there were interesting dock side, off the boat, seafood offerings (both cook yourself and prepared to eat dockside) where we were. Just not much grass!!

But the town was quaint, plenty to do and eat... We had another great asian mean (Thai) - starting to think asian cuisine is my favorite!

All in all, this was a great stretch, sunrise to sunset - and everything in between - and landing in a place that suited our needs for the night.

Jan 18 Perdido to Fort Walton

Photos

The GICW started showing us what you would expect in Florida. Beautiful white sandy shore lines, clear waters, Navy bases, lots and lots of dolphins, and it started warming up a little bit. Still colder than what we were looking for. We did NOT buy a boat and go to florida to wear heavy clothes and shoes and socks! Yet, here we are. We stayed at the Free dock in Fort Walton, which is a great location. Had delicious Crawfish Nachos at The Boardroom Pub and Grub!

Jan 16 - 17

Perdido Key

Leaving Dog River to cross Mobile Bay, we were treated to another beautiful sunrise. We left the Dog River bridge behind us. Eddie at Dog River gave us the scoop on crossing the bay without having to stay in the channel. We followed his advice even though our depth finder was still acting up.

We finally got to the GICW. The water was beautiful, even if we were still in frigid temperatures. We started seeing dolphins. At one point, I was up on the fly bridge with Jay and I kept hearing a slapping noise down below. It finally dawned on me that we had a dolphin in our wake and it was having a ton of fun!

We got to Holiday Harbor marina, and the weather was starting to turn bad (it was cold all along but a storm was brewing) - we were treated to a wonderful view from our boat window. Looks tropical and inviting, but don't be fooled - it was still freezing outside! Here you see the same view in morning and sunset.

We ate at the Sunset Grille and talked with a great old retired Army gentleman and traded stories about service experiences and fun facts about military acadamies.

Jan 14 - 15 Mobile

Another shot of Dog River. Had a good dinner across the river at Grand Mariner. They also have slips, and we would have stayed there if they had fuel and wifi... also didn't have showers and laundry, but neither did Dog River marina when we were there. They had the water turned off due to the cold.

As I was walking Hollister while Jay was in the mall shopping for shoes (heehee), found these Tesla charging stations. I know they are all over the place now, but the caught my attention.

There was some business to take care of, so we had to stay in Mobile for a couple of days. Dog River Marina was in a very nautical nook off of Mobile Bay. The people in the marina were very helpful. After Jay fixed the port shaft at the fuel dock, we pulled over to our spot on the transient dock for a couple of days.

We were able to get into town to ship a package and get something notarized, and Jay got his new tennis shoes (because of the mud incident). Paid a laundry service 17$ to do our laundry while we drove around - best idea we had in a while! Stopped at Fuji San for some delicious Tom Ka soup and sushi!

If you're in Mobile and have a hankerig for sushi or asian food, find this place. It's off the chain! Doesn't look like much, but sure is good, and people are wonderful - google them , or check their website out!

https://www.fujisanmobile.com/

Jan 12 - 13 - Bobby's Fish Camp to Mobile

The excitement for this leg came early. The Coffeeville lock, the last lock on the water way would prove to be the most challenging, as we had to enter and tie up on 1 motor. As we stopped just minutes after leaving the dock at Bobby's to tie up the dingy, the port transmission stopped responding. But, we had to get into the lock as they were waiting on us. We ended up running the pulpit rail against the dock wall.

When we got through, Jay went into the engine room to see what was wrong. Next thing I heard was "Oh F^@K! Kill the Engine!" - The shaft had separated from the engine and was heading out the back of the boat. Fear of losing the shaft, and fear of the resulting 2 inch hole it would leave in the back of the boat, Jay had to use some zip ties to secure it until we got to mobile. Problem is, though, that we had 2 days to get there, as it was too long of a day to get into Mobile.

We anchored on the Tensaw river conjunction, but passed the only sandy spot on shore, so there was the mud bath that came with getting to dog to shore for relief. Quiet night, and got up at 5:30 and took off or Mobile before daylight. We were hoping to get to Dog River with enough time to fix the shaft at the fuel dock before getting to our tie up spot for the night.

Mobile river is quite industrialize at the mouth. The Navy presence was impressive. There were several new ships coming out of the ship yards. The bay was rough, windy, cold, and our depth finder kept telling us we were in 2 feet of water!

We got to the dock and were greeted by 4 old salts helping us tie up on 1 screw. They drove Jay into town to get some bolts and all thread (their on site store was closed) . You see the before and after of the shaft incident!

Jan 11, 2018 Demopolis - Silas AL

The weather got ugly again for a little while, but Hollister was getting more an more comfortable out front. She still makes me nervous, and I don't let her out there in rough water.

It was about here that we decided to just go all the way to Bobby's fish camp, even if it meant boating in the dark. The fog came and went. There were some "mountains" starting to be in the scenery, but it was too dark to get a good picture.

We didn't pass a single boat or barge all day, but of course, on a bend, in the dark and fog, we saw the first barge of the day. It was a harrowing pass, and we figured out to dim the lowrance and turn off all but the running lights and that made it easier to see the banks of the river.

We got to Bobby's about 7pm, raining, foggy. Tied up and ate some catfish!

Demopolis dam is beautiful. We missed the opportunity to get a picture from the top, so here's one I did not take personally. It's free flowing without any structures above the spillway. They say about 3 boats a year go over the dam. The picture from when we exited the lock shows the natural waterfalls below the dam. We were now in a part of the river where the current was helping us save fuel.

IWe stayed at Bobby's an extra night, looking forward to more catfish. But, I ended up doing a reset on my PDQ wifi booster. I am a support person's worst nightmare because I just start trying things without knowing what I'm doing. The support tech was very persistent in attempting to fix it remotely, but we ended up having to pack it up so that we could ship it back to them from Mobile.

Bobby's has a sign that says 'Frog parking only, all others will be Toad' :)

Demopolis AL

Jan 6 2018

We took the dingy into shore again for Hollister and our morning constitution in the park facilities. From ashore, caught a great shot of the boat in the sunrise.

The run from Sumter to Demopolis was beautiful. We saw some interesting views of the sun coming up over the lock, calm waters, and the white cliffs a couple of hours out,

Our first night in Demopolis we went out to "Batter Up" - which was OK, nothing to brag about and I certainly won't tell anyone not to miss it, but we found some of Tom Brady's footballs there!

Otherwise, Jan 6th was just a day of beauty. Again - still cold, but calm winds and no precipitation.

Arrived at King Fisher Bay marina, fueld up, and checked into our slip. Facilities are nice, but the first time we hit a marina on this trip with so many rules to follow.

Dec 26 -27 2017 Fulton MS

Leaving Aqua Yacht in Iuka MS to go to Midway Marina. ITs still only 36 f, but we think it's GREAT compared to sucky weather so far. We see a deer swim across the canal right in front of us. But then, the Lowrance runs out of charts! Good thing we are in a Canal!

We have 4 locks to go through before Midway. At the first one, Whitton Lock on Bay Springs Lake, we get delayed 3 hours while Larry, Darrell and his other brother Darrell do some "maintenance". We watch as the 3 of them walk back and forth. We think we might end having to stay at the Bay Springs Marina even though it's closed. But, finally they get us through.

Turns out Larry, is actually Jamie, the Lock master. I wish I got a picture, but he looks just like this guy. In his hulihee beard, he comes to talk to us as we plummet down to the bottom of the lock. Pretty funny looking up at him as we yell to converse as we get further and further down. We drop 84 feet in 12 minutes!

We get through the next 3 locks easily, as they are all waiting for us. The last one we got scolded because we untied before the horn blew. The lockmaster still ended up being helpful when we couldn't get the Marina on the VHF.

Still, that gets us into the Midway Marina after dark. Remember, our lowrance is not working, and then our spot light goes out. They talked us in, and we woke the next morning to see the stump field out of our port window that we had to navigate past.

Midway is a nice stay, but cold. We stay 2 nights. Do laundry, use their nice showers, shop in Fulton, eat at a Mexican restaurant with a B from the health department (bad service too, lousy bar, no top shelf margaritas!). But, the marina has a BEER CAVE!

Jan 5, 2018 to Demopolis AL

Leaving out of Columbus, we knew we were going to have to anchor somewhere between there and Demopolis. Several barges today. Icecycles on the banks and a random phone booth on the bluff.

Made it to Sumter Recreation Area. The depth finder still goes on the blink in water less than 11 feet, so it was a little scarey. But, all the reviews state there's plenty of water there. Anchor caught on first try, and we dingied Hollister over to the boat ramp. Still frigging freezing! Which was made us nervous getting in and out of the dingy and hand the dog up and own on the swim platform.

We got AT&T 3G through the wirie so we had TV and internet. Our phones worked through roaming. It was a pretty quiet and peacefull night. Jay crawled around in the engine room some more.

The park was nice. Would be great in warm weather. Beautiful sunrise the next day... AGAIN!

More in Columbus

Stayed through Jan 4, 2018

Between paralyzing cold, New Years' holiday and waiting for my WiriePro, we were in Columbus for a while. We did enjoy the town, ate at Huck's place and met a few locals. New Years Eve we ate with Mike and Joanne at Harvey's. Both have great steaks and cajun / creole food. Another day we went into the thrift store and bought a heavy sweatshirt, and a rain coat.

We got the wirie installed and it was working pretty well. Watched the Broncos last game of the season. Hollister started feeling comfortable laying out on the boat, even though it was still so cold.

By the time we left, the water in the marina had a layer of ice, and the temps were still going to stay under freezing, so the ice was just going to get thicker. We decided we needed to get out of there. Broke out of the ice and moved on down the waterway.

We did have to wait for the lock once we got out of the marina.

IPlenty of good places in Columbus. Downtown area is quaint and old-timey. Outskirts have your larger town offerings like Walmart, and some strip mall type offerings.

Dec 28 Columbus MS

From Midway to Columbus - Still cold, but have to move on. 4 locks today, Fulton, Wilkins, Amory and Aberdeen. The Columbus marina is behind the long wall of the Stennis lock and as you pull in it looks like you're going to go into the dam. Once around the bollard, you see it's all good.

On one of the lock bollards, we saw a great message. I'm not surprised that the boating community would have this sentiment! This was the Aberdeen lock, I believe.

The lakes formed by the dams are beautiful. Great fishing, or so we assume. They are very undeveloped and full of natural highlights

We saw "Seabatical" when we pulled in. Peg Leg Mike beat us here! It was great to see him and meet his wife.

We had a few fellow transients come in - Sally Anna, the de-masted sail boat, a Viking that came and went after 1 night, the Carver, who ended up giving up and leaving their boat for a month and taking off by car, and Seabatical of course.

The temperatures were very low, and the water ended up freezing. The Bathrooms were without water for a couple of days.

December 23 - 26, 2017

Aqua Yach - Iuka MS

Beautiful rainbow on Christmas Eve. We got to go into Savannah, TN this day and get new provisions... Jay tried to get pieces/parts to make 30 amp extension cords, but then we thought better about it.

Our Christmas Eve dinner at Freddy T's in Iuka, MS. Games and bar downstairs, food and view with outdoor seating up stairs. It was cold so garage doors kep it enclosed. But, it was nice to have a place open in such a remote place on Christmas Eve

Sunrise on Christmas Day. The best gift (other than the boat and adventure) we could get given the secluded location and lack of people to celebrate with. freddyts.com/

Hunkered down for the Holidays, figuring we wanted to get and stay somewhere before stuff was closed for the holidays, we spent a few days at Aqua Yacht in Iuka, MS. Spending our first Christmas away from kids and other family, we got our own special gifts of rainbows on Christmas Eve and a couple of incredible sun rises on Christmas Day, and "Boxing Day".

While at Aqua Yacht, Charlie and Robin came to visit us. Charlie had been giving me fantastic information about looping via email. Was really nice to meet them.

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Nine and a Half (actually, legally we are still "Nana and Gaga", until coast guard application comes through) at the transient dock at the tail end of a fabulous sunrise

Dec 21-22, 2017 TN River

Cruised our of Pebble Isle around 11am. Again, not what we expected. But after meeting "Peg Leg Mike" as we were about to leave - He's another late looper that didn't expect to be in Pebble Isle in December, exchanging contact information, we got out in pretty much the same weather we had on the 19th out of Grand Rivers.

The stretch to Mermaid Marina started to see narrower waters. Kentucky Lake was wide, and the channel was sometimes wide, somtimes narrow. South of Pebble Isle, the water was not so wide, but the channel pretty much went from shoreline to shoreline. Not ALL the time, but you get the idea. We started seeing some barges as well.

Stopping at Mermaid Marina, a spot in a little turn off, was almost a miss. Nearly passed it. It being off season, it was empty, but looked like it could be a hoot. They were also effectively closed for the holidays. The owner helped us dock and settle in, and opened up the bar/restaurant just for us to have fe
Heading against the current in the Tennesee took it's toll. Slowed us down and burnt some fuel as we were heading into our first lock of the trip. We've locked through the Cooper River lock in and out of Lake Moultry, but this was our first lock of the loop at Pickwick Dam. Getting lifted into Pickwick Lake.

We were drowned rats going up. And a completely foreign experience for Hollister!
w beers while he made us a pizza. He told us about their Christmas party, and some of their summer events. Great visit!

Successfully had an early morning departure from there!

Heading against the current in the Tennesee took it's toll. Slowed us down and burnt some fuel as we were heading into our first lock of the trip. We've locked through the Cooper River lock in and out of Lake Moultry, but this was our first lock of the loop at Pickwick Dam. Getting lifted into Pickwick Lake.

We were drowned rats going up. And a completely foreign experience for Hollister!

It again was getting dark, so we pulled over into the state park for the night. They were about to close, but got us in just in the nick of time. BUT, our power cords were not long enough to reach the power pedastal, so we ended up running the generator. Oh well! We were out of the rain!

Pickwick Lake - highest elevation on Tenn-Tom- Downhill from here. 12 locks to go to get to gulf!

Dec 19, 2017 Grand Rivers KY

All that preparation! (heavy sarcasm) - compared to most, our departure was quite spontaneous. The fact that we took off only 18 days after buying the boat, from a port from which we never considered starting, in an area of the country with unseasonable weather, we really didn't "plan" much. We made sure the boat was sound, we had some "stuff", and we took off. We had too much "stuff" really.

The morning of Dec 19, in Grand Rivers KY was not that awful, but the weather turned bad pretty quickly. Our intention was to make it to a place called Cuba Landing. We fell 30 miles short, and made it only 70 miles to Pebble Isle marina in New Johnsonville, TN.

As the weather was declining, and the light was fading fast, we realized how unprepared we were. I started looking for other marinas on Lake Kentucky for us to dock for the night. I was getting no answers, or responses that they don't accommodate boats our size. There was a little bit of worry that we were not going to find a place to stay. We pulled into Pebble Isle with great relief! It was our first time handling the boat into a bit of a tricky canal, but pulled it off like veterans!

We stayed a full day there as it was another cold and rainy day. So, not only were we 30 miles short of our target, but we were delayed a full day, plus a few hours the next day. That's right, as we were about to depart, Jay found ANOTHER fuel leak. He already fixed one in Green Turtle Bay before departing, but now there was a fuel line leaking. The guys at Pebble Isle tried their best to help, but there were no parts to be found.

Jay had the idea to get a rubber hose and fit it over the leaky fuel line (non pressurized) using some heat and persistence to get the fittings from the leaky line over the rubber encasing. They still charged us, but Jay actually gave them some lessons! Anyway, 3 hours late - we departed for points further south.