We're on the downhill slide - not much time left here!

Our time here is quickly winding down.  We only have a few weeks left before we will be heading back to Florida.  It's been a short cruising season for us this year since we didn't get over here til after the first of February and we haven't gotten to spend nearly as much time in the places we like and with the people we enjoy so well.  But.....we always find time to meet new people and we've met many new friends this season!  We always love to hear their stories of where they've been and where they're going, as well as what they've done on their boats to manage energy, water consumption, and other things we all must deal with in one form or other.

We haven't done much for the last few weeks, but then we really don't do much the entire time we're down here.  But, I think that's the whole point!  We've done a little snorkeling, swimming, beach walking and scavenging, although we're not finding much worth picking up this year.  I think Kathi on s/v 'Makani' beat us to all the treasures!!  Especially the sea glass! 

We see these Rays often, some are really huge and some are the spotted kind



A school of Blue Tangs - picture is courtesy of s/v 'Scarmouche'
Ours don't ever seem to turn out right.



Beach time!

We spent the better part of a week in Hopetown because of the weather.  I think we finally were there long enough to see what a lot of cruisers like about it.  We're not ready to spend the entire season in there, but we really did enjoy our stay.  Once a month (usually on full moon evening) they have a 'dinghy drift'.  We've heard of this and even been part of a small one, with maybe 3 or 4 dinghies, but nothing of this size.  It was the coolest thing!!!  There were about 30 - 35 dinghies rafted together and the Hopetown harbour is not that big, and there were boats on moorings all over the place.  The idea is you bring your drinks and a snack, appetizer, etc. to share, dinghies are tied together, you pass food around until the plate, bowl, whatever, is empty and float around the anchorage, trying not to hit boats at anchor or moored, while you move from one boat to the other meeting and talking to other cruisers. Believe it or not, we did not hit another boat!!!  Bob from s/v 'Scaramouche' was in the middle and choreographed the entire event perfectly.  He'd point to someone on the outside of the drift and tell them to start their engine and steer a particular direction.  Incredible!

Hopetown Dinghy Drift

The people at Hopetown are pretty trusting!

At the moment Jeff is in Florida working for the week. He flew out Sunday morning and will be back Friday. The boat is in Green Turtle now, so to get to the airport in Treasure Cay, (which is on a different island), he had to take the Ferry across the Sea of Abaco. It's quite a different way of life down here. Lots of people live on one island and work on another, so they get back and forth by way of passenger ferry. They drop you off on the dock at the other end and if you're a regular traveler you might have a vehicle on the other side, or like most, you either walk or take a cab to your destination. Ferry's are part of everyday life here. And as one line in a Barefoot Man song says, 'you don't have to be gay to ride a ferry'!!

The bag is packed and Chloe doesn't want to get left behind!

Green Turtle Ferry

Speaking of phrases and sayings, here are a few we've picked up:

• If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot!
• A rum front came through - (meaning you may have had too much to drink last night)
• We are going to have a Chamber of Commerce day!!

We've been asked if we meet anybody famous or notorious while we're cruising and we always say no, we don't go to the places they go.  A couple of evenings ago I (cindy) had the occasion to have drinks and dinner with a number of other couples from other boats that I'd not met before - they all knew each other though.  I think they took pity on me since I was by myself. Lots of talking and swapping stories and sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the conversations since there are always several in a group like this.  But...............low and behold one of the guys is probably as famous or perhaps it's notorious as we'll run into.  He was one of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3.  What hoot he is!!  The first three movies were filmed in Grand Bahama and he got the part because most of the Hollywood people they brought with them got seasick and they needed more pirates and this guy happens to keep his boat at Grand Bahama.  It was interesting to listen to him talk about how they did certain scenes.  So, there is my encounter with 'famous' people!

It's the time of year when lots of the cruisers we've seen while here are heading back to the states, but we are also starting to see boats arrive that come over for spring and summer.  There is a crossing window back to Florida that opened yesterday and goes through Thursday (hopefully) and the chatter on the radio is endless.

A waterspout very near our anchorage several days ago at Manjack Cay
Picture courtesy of m/v 'Dual Dreams'

I am in a marina while Jeff is gone and it pretty much emptied out yesterday morning with everyone wanting to get back to Florida.  They have a pretty good deal here.  They call it Dock & Dine.  What that means is that you get credit in the restaurant & bar for the amount of your dockage every day, not including electric and water.  So if your dockage is $50 you have $50 to spend eating & drinking at their place.  Pretty sweet, if you watch what your spending.  The first night we went over by $30 and that's really what they count on.

til the next time........................

Mindy & Carl's Visit

They hated to leave, but the real world was calling them back.  We had a great time and got them to places they didn't get to see last trip.  A week seems like a long time, but it passes by pretty fast!

Mindy & Carl flew in early Saturday morning of the Barefoot Man Weekend.  We took a long walk on the 'world famous' Treasure Cay beach, got them a frozen 'beverage' and then hotfooted it over to Guana Cay to see if we could shoehorn our way into the anchorage.  It wasn't soooo bad................ a number of boats left before we got there.  I guess they'd had enough barefootin'.  There were only about 35 - 40 boats left in the anchorage.  We had a date with 'The Barefoot Man' at 6:30 for dinner, drinkin' & dancin' (@ Nipper's) - which we did plenty of!!! 

Dancin' to Sea -n- B band



Nipper's

 A couple of posts ago I told you about the walk to Nipper's.  We walk everywhere we go down here, at least once we take a ride in the dinghy to shore, which can be quite a ways sometimes............. so we don't think too much about how far things are, within reason.  We walk to the grocery store and lug our groceries back the same way.  It's just part of the cruising life.  So, Mindy & Carl get out of the dinghy at Guana and we start the trip to Nipper's from there.  We got about half way to Nipper's and we started hearing commentary like 'how much farther is it??', 'are we almost there??'.  We did make it and we didn't have to drag them, at least not too far.  But, they were parched when we got there!!!  Had a great meal, and the concert was great!  The Saturday night concert is not a free one like Friday's concert, so not near as many people.  I think Mindy & Carl felt it was worth the trip to see this.  Went back in again on Sunday to do an afternoon of Grabber's and Nipper's.  Brown Tip was at Grabber's doing Rake & Scrape and The Sea n B band was at Nipper's.

Another gathering w/ friends from s/v 'Gail Force' and s/v 'Sojourner'

Let's see...................where did we go next?  Hopetown, Tahiti Beach, Lubbers Quarters and Man o War.

@ Hopetown

Relaxing & rehydrating @ Abaco Inn after a long walk on the beach

Man O War path

Carl got in quite a bit of fishing while he was here, but the only thing big enough to keep was a Cero Mackerel, which we had for dinner along with the Mahi Mahi that I caught on the way across the gulf stream and had been saving in the freezer.  The fish was excellent!!!!  I want more!  Carl caught numerous barracudas, but we weren't feeling that daring, even though they were small.

Carl's Cero Mackerel - we got two good sized filets from it!

We did some beach walking, although didn't find many shells or very much sea glass.  Mindy decided she could relax quite well in the hammock we have on the front of the boat.

Curly Tail Lizard -- they are everywhere!!!!!

Does she look relaxed?

And then it was time to go into the dreaded Marsh Harbour to meet their taxi to the airport.

Last night in the Abacos @ Curly Tails, appropriately named for the curly tail lizards that are everywhere!

Just after sunset in Marsh Harbour

And the Wind, She did blow, and blow and blow!!

We had about a week of high winds. Took refuge in Marsh Harbour. We actually got there before the winds piped up and got a good spot. For the second time this season, another boat came in late and anchored too close. Needless to say, it was not pleasant dealing with the other boat owner ---- he knew it all and wouldn't listen until almost too late. Justice was done however; he later ran aground and thinking it was low tide when in fact was high tide, did not take appropriate action. Angels watch over these folks; a power boat came to his rescue.

After the blow we eased over to Man-O-War Cay and hooked up with Mike and Harriet of m/v Dual Dreams. We first met Mike and Harriet four years ago on our first cruise to the Abacos. In the summer of 2010, Dual Dreams visited  Chattanooga by water -- we met them on the waterfront downtown and also at  Island Cove Marina. Unfortunately, Island Cove Marina was damaged by the same storm that recently drove the high winds here in the Bahamas. We walked the Atlantic beach on Man-o-War with Mike, Harriet, and their new puppy Bama Belle -- later had lunch with them at Dock and Dine Restuarant on the Man-O-War harbour.     

Mike, Harriet & Bama Belle of
m/v Dual Dreams

At Marsh Harbour and then at Man-O-War, we met Tom and Jan on m/v Laughter. We rafted the dinghys up at low tide and enjoyed the afternoon.

After several days at Man O War Cay and having had quite a nice time there, we moved on to Elbow Cay where we met up with Rick & Linda on s/v 'Sojourner', Lynn & Beth on s/v 'Coyote', Bob & Lorraine on s/v 'Scarmouche', Jerry on s/v 'Free Spirit' and Alan & Geri of s/v 'Civil Twilight'.  Although Civil Twilight only cruises every other year (because they take their boat back to Maine and God knows it's a long way up there), they were aboard 'Free Spirit as guests.  Had a great time with everyone.

This weekend is Barefoot Man weekend on Guana Cay.  Today was the first concert, which we opted out on.  Barefoot Man is the Bahamian version of Jimmy Buffett.  Wild time to be had by all!!  Nipper's Bar hosts this weekend event.  We are picking up my sister Mindy and Jeff's brother Carl, early tomorrow morning in Treasure Cay and will head over to Guana for the evening concert, along with Rake & Scrape, by Brown Tip & the Boys @ Grabber's.  Then we will do what's know as 'The Abaco Shuffle', where you move practically everyday to a new location, so you can show off the Abacos to your guests and make sure they see as much as they can.  That is provided the weather and wind cooperates, which is always iffy.

The view from the front of our boat @ Man O War Cay -
That little piece of land is the only thing between us and the great
Atlantic Ocean - at high tide we can se the spray from the
waves breaking over it!

Ok - you are up to date now.  No complaining.

Catching up with old friends!

Well.....here it is the last day of February and I've not kept you in the know!! Shame, shame on me!!

We've just been enjoying the sunshine and warmth, as well as catching up with friends we haven't seen since last year. We spent 10 days being lazy in Treasure Cay and never picked our anchor up - just enjoyed the sea turtles and dolphins swimming around the boat, as well as walking the gorgeous beach.

 Actually, a couple of nights before we left there was a dolphin that came in and 'played' with a fish. He could have caught it so easily, but just chased it around the boat in front of us for the longest time - over, under, around, and on and on and on! We don't know if he ever decided on that one for dinner or just moved on, but he did entertain us for quite awhile. We did finally decide it was time to move on and leave Treasure Cay, but only because someone came in and anchored on top of us. They just didn't get it!! One of us was gonna have to move and it was pretty obvious they felt they were in the right, although for the life of me I didn't understand that.

So..... we moved on to Guana Cay, which is not too far - approximately 9 miles - but, it was blowing 23 - 29 mph, and right on the nose!! We just bashed through and arrived with a very salt crusted boat - yuk! Had a couple of very enjoyable days there, as well as two evenings with Jerry from 'Free Spirit', Bill from 'Skylark', and Gayle & John from 'Siren's Call'. What a crazy group!!! And what a lot of good food we seemed to be able to put together for the evening. When we visit Guana Cay we anchor in Fisher's Bay and it is a long dinghy ride to the beach to 'Grabber's', where we must stop to quench our thirst before setting off on the trek to 'Nipper's'.

 On the walk we have to pass the Guana Cay Cemetery, where the people that don't make it to Nipper's are buried. After that we must crawl up the hill and on the way try to stay clear of the 'Poisionwood Trees' on the way, as they are way worse than poision ivy (so we've been told).

But......it's so worth it to make the trek! Whata place!! And whata view!!!
What a crowd Nipper's draws! AND the music is great as well! It was Sunday when we finally got there and Sunday is the Pig Roast!! I know --- you're thinking pig in the ground, apple in the pig's mouth, the whole thing - not happening! That's what we thought the first time we ever went too. It's just pork pig BBQ in a pan, with & without the sauce, along with all kinds of fixin's - Bahamian mac & cheese, coleslaw that is a cross with chow-chow, potato salad, corn, peas 'n rice, fruit & cake. But it was good! But it ought to be for $20/person! Plus $30 for drinks!! Paradise ain't cheap! After several hours at Nipper's and being fully fed & hydrated, we decided we needed to make our way back in the direction of the anchorage ..........

so we roll down the hill, being ever so careful to again stay clear of the poisionwood and continue on til we get sidetracked at 'Milo's Produce & Shell Jewelry stand, where we purchase 3 tomatoes for $4.

We eventually make it to Grabber's, where we need more hydration before we can make it to the beach and the dinghy and then onto the boat, where we rested for a while before getting back together with Jerry, Bill, Gayle & John, for more sustenance and nourishment, as well as more laughs! Back to 'Salty Dog' for a well deserved night of sleep! The dog's were absolutely worn out!!! Now you know what our days consist of. This is a hard life that we are living here - don't ever question that! It's ok though - we think we can make it a few more months. I guess it depends on how many more 'treks' we have to make to Nipper's. 

We had a restful day today and sailed down to 'Tahiti Beach'. Don't you love the name? We are the only boat here. There are several other sailboats within site, but nobody else right here. Tahiti Beach is really only attractive at low tide - otherwise it's just a little piece of land sticking out in the water, but at low tide there is all kinds of sand and 'island' to roam - kinda like Dissappearing Island in NSB. The pups had a wonderful time running all over the place. We'll probably stay here for a couple of days or until the wind shifts again and makes it uncomfortable to be here. I guess we'll have to make another decision about where to go then. All these decisions ......

Salty Dog's Dogs are Surely Salty!!

The long wait is over!!!  We've finally crossed over 'to the other side'!  We had a crappy crossing, as usual, but we're no worse for the wear.  We left Government Cut in Miami @ 5am and got anchored at Great Sale Cay @ midnight thirty - long day!!  Then on to Manjack Cay the following day when our engine turned over 5000 hours (we both knocked on wood that the 32 year old Perkins will keep on keepin' on - stills runs great). Finally into Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay on Friday morning, which is where we will sit until Tuesday when the wind slacks off and goes to a more favorable direction, at which time we'll move back to Manjack Cay.  When we went ashore to pay for our mooring ball (@Donnie's Boat Rentals), Donnie asked if we wanted our tomatoes now or later.  What?!  Didn't know we got tomatoes with that!!  He went up to the house and picked them and brought them back down to us - wow, what a treat!

We took the pups on a beach walk yesterday afternoon and I believe I heard both of them say, at least once, that it was worth 2 days of rough riding to get on the beach.  Man-O-Man did they get sandy and salty!!  They're deck dogs now! Bad news for them - today is not a beach day - the wind is blowing 22knots (25+ mph) and chilly.  And it's going to feel like winter here for the next couple days - only 64* for a high.  Salty Dog is sailing all over the harbour with these winds, but so are all the other boats, and as long as we all swing together we'll be fine.

We're looking forward to meeting up some of our cruising friends from years past and have already run into several.  They are our family down here and we are theirs - a nice feeling. But not for a week or two since we are staying North of the Whale to take in Manjack.

We will endeavor to meet expectations on the blogging front, but don't keep your hopes up too high - you know from last year that we are 'slackers'.

Beyond NSB



Met this guy on our way out of Ft. Lauderdale.
English Rose in front of us.



We finally managed to pull ourselves away from New Smyrna Beach on January 19.  Headed down to Palm Beach for our exit to the Abacos on Monday, but that weather window deteriorated faster than it appeared!  We had a good trip down to Palm Beach, although we had to fight our way through the weekend idiots on the waterway between Vero Beach and Palm Beach.  Shortly after anchoring in Palm Beach 'English Rose' pulled in.  We met Bob & Janet four years ago and saw them again last year.  They are such a delightful couple to spend time with.  Janet is from England and has that beautiful english accent that I could listen to forever - they have been cruising for about 7 years.  Bob is very sensible and like Jeff, does all his own work on their boat and he and Jeff have lots to talk about.  Bob and Janet are planning to go the Exumas and were planning to leave on the day we were leaving for the Abacos, so were stuck in Palm Beach as well.  The four of us decided to head down the inside passage and slug through 22 draw bridges to get to Ft. Lauderdale and then went outside to get to Miami.  I thought Palm Beach was the land of the rich and famous, but it only gets richer and famouser the farther south you go!!!  The whole way to Ft. Lauderdale I was oohing and aahing over houses and boats.  The trip on the outside to Miami was pretty bumpy - things came out of their place that have never moved before - books jumped out of the bookcase behind our bed and food jumped out of closed cabinets!  We surfed through the inlet to Miami with opposing tide.  WOW! What a ride!!

We've never been to Miami before and were excited to see what everyone talks about.  Miami harbour was obviously dredged and perfectly shaped islands were made and built on years ago when that was allowed - very interesting.  There is a road with little bridged connecting all these islands.  We are anchored with 'English Rose' between Palm Island and Hibiscus Island.  We are the only two boats anchored in here and it is very protected, at least so far.  But, we are definately fishes in a bowl here!  The first afternoon we were here we went over to Monument Island to meet up with some other cruisers we had met in previous years, Jesse & Ginny on 'Wind Dust', and Mike & Barb on 'Goose Bumps', as well as some other cruisers we hadn't met before.  There are many places to anchor in this area and boats everywhere, but Monument Island is pretty much in the middle of the area.

Bob & Janet took us ashore yesterday to see South Beach and the surrounding area, as they've been here many times before and are old hat at finding the hot spots.  Sad to say, we were unimpressed with South Beach itself - not as pretty a beach as we expected at all, especially since it is such a famous beach.  The road that runs along the beach is totally consumed with restaurants/bars/hotels.  I've never seen so many restaurants!!!  And you must walk through each one as the sidewalk runs right through them.  And every one has at least one or two people hussling you to stop for drinks, lunch or breakfast.  Unbelievable!  We did stop at one for lunch and promptly left when we found out the 'happy hour' 2 for 1drinks were going to cost us $12 each.  They flash you cards showing $9 and $10 for lunch, but don't tell you how high the drinks are.  We ate at a place on Lincoln Ave, which is an area leading up to South Beach that is closed off to traffic and just one store and restaurant after the other.  Quite interesting.  In the middle of what at one time was the street, there was a raised beautiful grassy area and Quaker parakeets would fly down out of the palm trees to pick up tidbits that passersby would throw out there.


Quaker Parakeets



Chart of the Miami area - see the perfectly shaped islands?!



The video below is us coming into Miami.

Till next time!!

Happy New Year!!

I know, I know, I’m a really bad blogger!!! I haven’t posted a single thing since we left home Nov. 20th and I’m not going to try and fool you into thinking I’ll do better in 2012 because you wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Some of the boats in our marina dressed up for Christmas



Salty Dog



Downtown New Smyrna Beach

We are in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where we left the boat for the summer. We do so love it here! The Christmas decorations were beautiful, on the water as well as downtown.

Waiting for the Christmas Parade to start - can you tell it was a chilly day?

Jeff finished the watermaker for the boat – yippee!!! We are really excited to try it out, but have to wait until we are in a place where we can see the bottom – you’re not supposed to use it in dirty water. The basic principle of a watermaker is that it takes clean salt water and takes the salt out and cleans it up and makes fresh water – it works by reverse osmosis. We should be able to make about 16 gallons an hour when the generator is running and that is most mornings for about one hour to top off the charge on our batteries. Since we use about 12 gallons a day we will have a few extra gallons a day to spare. And when you have to carry your water with you on the boat you learn to be very frugal with it.  Here in the USA it's not a big deal to fill your water tanks when you stop to get diesel fuel - it's free, BUT in the Bahamas it is anywhere from 20 - 50 cents a gallon! Think about how often you turn the faucet on at home and how long you leave it on and the amount of water that is coming out each time. Do you think you use more than 6 gallons per person? That includes showering every day and washing dishes. I bet I wash my hands a dozen times a day under a trickle of water, but then everything is done under a trickle!!

On a humorous note – we brought our RV down here to stay in for the first few weeks since we had some projects going on that made it hard to get around inside the boat. We parked the RV at a campground 3 miles from the marina, which was quite convenient. We had extremely hard rain all evening and night one particular day while we were staying there and when we woke the following morning and looked out the windows we thought we were on the boat! We were totally surrounded by water - some places were 8 inches deep. We were storing our empty gas jugs (for the dinghy) under the RV. They were floating all over the campground. Luckily the campground has pumps that are set up to drain the water away pretty quick, so by the end of the day we didn’t have to wade to the door.


This was after the water had receded some.

We drove back to Alabama to spend Christmas with Brian, Melanie, Kate & John. I am so glad we went!! We so enjoyed watching their excitement. And when we arrived we learned that Santa now sends an Elf to each house with children. The elf sits on a shelf (or somewhere else) and he/she watches the children for Santa by day and flies to the North Pole at night to report in, then back to the childrens houses before morning. But not before he gets into some kind of mischief at the house. And he always seems to be in a different place each morning. It is quite magical! And the mischief Kate & John’s elf got into was funny. One night he rolled the Christmas tree in toilet paper and was sitting in the tree; another night he dressed up in Kate’s Barbie clothes and was found in the bathroom reading a book to three of her Barbies. I guess the elf must have reported that Kate & John were pretty good, because they sure did haul in the presents on Christmas!!! I’ve never seen anything like it! They sure did enjoy themselves. As did the rest of us just watching them.


The New Year is here and we need to get ourselves in gear, finish up some small projects, and get moving farther south. The weather here has been wonderful. It is New Year’s Day and we took a dinghy ride in bathing suits! We have tried to enjoy every bit of it because we know it’s going to get really cold tomorrow night – 34* with a high of 50* on Tuesday - bbbrrrrrrrrr!! But it will be back in the low 70’s by the end of the week. The cold comes and goes.  Since the marina we’re in is right on the ICW we get to watch the parade of boats heading south. We thought we would be the very last one heading out, but I guess not.



She was instructed to stand guard while I went to get the next load!



HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!  May 2012 be a wonderful year!

The Sun She Is Arisin'! On another cruisin season that is!

The hummingbirds left and the canada geese have arrived.  We need to follow the birds and head 'souther'!  Since we live in the south it doesn't make sense to say we will head south, so 'souther' it is!!  We are down to12 days and counting.  Our housesitters will show up next week and then we're gone! 

It's hard to believe it is time to go again - the summer flew by and we didn't get much accomplished that's for sure.  Jeff has worked all summer and is feeling the pressure of what needs to be done before we leave.  His biggest project is building a new watermaker for the boat.  The parts and pieces are piling up in the garage, with UPS and FEDX making daily deliveries to us for that project as well as others.  He could've purchased a watermaker already assembled and ready to install, but he decided he wanted to build it himself.  Besides being less expensive, I think he just wanted the challenge.  Looks like he got his wish!

And so, another cruising season is about to begin.  We are looking forward to meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new ones this season.  Follow along with us as we get underway.

The Sun has set on another cruising season

Well....................... we're back home in Tennessee and I feel like we've just moved!!  What with all the packing up, loading, driving, unloading, unpacking  ..............   we have waaaaaayyyyy too much 'stuff' ..........everywhere!!!!!  It's time to start sifting through it all and thinning it out.  We lived without alot of this 'stuff' for the last 8 months, surely we can live without some of it forever!!!!  It is good to be home though - life is easier here in many ways.  Neither of us is counting the amps we use or the water either, which equates to not running into walls in the dark and being able to take a shower without having to worry whether all the soap and shampoo are rinsed off.  You laugh, but try walking around your house without lights at night or better yet with a miner's lamp on your forehead and then try taking a shower like this:

• Get under the showerhead and turn the water on without letting it heat up and only turn on a little bit and just let it run long enough to get you semi-wet.
• Turn off water.
• Lather up you and all your parts, as well as your head.
• Turn on the water just enough so that you can quickly rinse you, your parts, and your head - don't take too long cause the water tank is not very big and if you take too long you won't have water for other things like brushing your teeth, making coffee, washing dishes tomorrow, shower tomorrow, the next day and the next day.  Get the picture??!!  You'll get used to it!

The pups are adjusting as well as we are - there are plenty of squirrels and lizards to chase to keep them busy and as long as we are close by they are quite happy.  They still let us know when it is 4:00, which is a good thing cause we may miss happy hour otherwise ........... not likely though. 

We had Kate and John (the grandkids) with us last week and had a great time!  It was so good to hold them and snuggle up with them again.  I've missed them and they are growing up so fast!

This will more than likely be our last post til next fall since we have no current plans to go anywhere til then.  We do plan to cruise again next winter/spring and would like to go further south in the Bahamas........we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed the trip this season!!

Time to head back to Tennessee

Wellllllllll...................the time has come to head back home to Tennessee.

We got the boat back in the water last Friday evening and made the trip back to our slip in New Smyrna Beach on Saturday.  We were even able to back it in, thanks to our new bow thruster - YEAH!!!!!!!!!  We love our new addition!!!  Why didn't we part with that money before??!!  It was pretty scary watching that big hole being drilled through the bottom of the boat, but the installation was very professional and smooth going - only took 2 1/2 days .  We can't say enough positive things about FloridaBowThruster.com and our experience with them.

Cutting the hole for the thruster



The finished thing!!!!


We are in the process of off-loading 'stuff' from the boat to the camper and will start home next Sunday. 

Can't wait to see Kate and John!!!!!!!!!