Trawler Fest and a New Anchor

We went to Lake Park Florida to attend the Passage Maker Trawler Fest last week. We saw old friends like Curtis and Gill Stokes (the boat broker and his wife who helped us find Ithaka.) Curtis is the World's Best Boat Broker. The two of them are the nicest people you will ever meet, really! We attended Captain's Chris and Alyse Caldwell's session "Routes of the Florida Keys. 

At the Trawler Fest, we ran into our slip neighbors from Harbor Isle Marina in Ft. Pierce, Jeff and Grace Bishop from Sea Glide. 

These folks are so nice and so giving. They spent generous amounts of their time tutoring us on the use of Active Captain and Garmin Blue Charts. 

We attended a session by George and Pat Hospodar. Authors of the following book. 

An excellent presentation, which included guest speaker Ken McDonald, Director of Marina Operations in Ontario, Canada. 

While I attend some presentations, Jack went to have lunch with Mark Mizell, a helicopter buddy from one of Jack's past lives as a career Marine. 

They say woman are shoppers, but at boat shows, men spend the big bucks. We are the proud owners of a shiny new anchor. A 46 lb. Ultra Anchor that set Jack back $ 1,960. Yeeee Gads!!!!

Jack spent all day yesterday installing this new beauty. She should keep us safe and tight to the sea floor, when we anchor out. Which could be as much as 25% of the time. 

Of course, once you buy a shiny new anchor, it has to be installed. That involves two people. One stationed in the anchor locker. 

I think I drew the short straw this time. 

Evidence that we are working hard to ready the boat to leave on our big adventure on March 15th. This is pleasure boating, right ??? Still loving it!!!

The Long Awaited February 2014 Post

Today is Monday, February 24th. My blog posts are way behind schedule. I would love to post every day, but that is not a realistic goal. Once a week is more likely, but as you can see I am not meeting that goal. Blogging is the last item on my to do list every day and every day it moves to the next days list. Jack and I are loving this life, but it keeps us both very busy each day. Lots to learn and do each day.  The major complication with regular blog posts will be access to WIFI. I finally found a free WIFI connection at the Laundromat up the road from our Marina. I am currently sitting at a little blue table in the corner of the laundromat typing the draft of this post. I would take a selfie and show you, but the boating life is not conducive to good grooming. :-)

My first attempt at drafting a post was on Saturday, February 15th. Until the 15th, I was too busy and too tired to work on the blog.

Living on a boat is great fun. We stay busy, running errands (Walmart, Radio Shack, Public's, West Marine, Dollar Store, Laundry, etc.) and checking items off of our TO DO list. Most days consist of three to five items off the lists and six to ten new items added to the list.

I guess I should start back on January 30th. The pile of items bound for Florida, looked like this.

On Saturday, February 1st the car was loaded and we crossed the bridge out of Indiana into Kentucky.

The car looked like this. 

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 2nd we arrived in Ft Pierce and had dinner at Chuck's Seafood Restaurant located across the street from Harbour Isle Marina, where Ithaka is docked. We stayed in a hotel, watched the Super Bowl, and decided to unload the car the next day.

Below are pictures of Jack measuring the distance of the car from the ground, right before we unpacked it. According to Jack's measurements, unloading the car caused it to rise 3".

We sadly discovered our favorite restaurant "The Ramp Raw Bar" went out of business shortly before our return. We have been restaurant hopping looking for a new favorite place. Great seafood everywhere we go.

We had Ithaka's hull cleaned on feb. 6 by Brian the diver. Lots of barnacles, algae, and scum like to grow on the bottom of your boat, when it sits still in the water for any length of time. 

Jack and I spend much of our time cleaning, provisioning, and tweaking minor boat repairs and upgrades. Here are some shots of busy boy Jack hard at work.

We do take breaks for an occasional movie and Valentine's Day Celebration.

I ask Jack to give me some docking training, before my formal training on the 18th with Captain Chris. So, the pictures below were taken one very foggy morning in the marina. We never went out into the intra coastal waterway that day. Just back and forth in the marina. 

On Tuesday February 18th, Captain Chris Caldwell of Captain Chris Yacht Services spent the day on Ithaka training me to dock (while Jack worked the lines) and working with Jack in the engine room.

Captain Chris had some additional training in mind for us. He suggested we take Ithaka out into the Ocean to get a feel for the portion of the "Loop" that will take us outside the Intra-coastal waterway into the ocean near New Jersey and then again when we cross the Gulf of Mexico. Since half of the training day was to be about me practicing docking, Captain Chris had me pilot Ithaka into ocean and Jack worked the lines. So, out the inlet we went and I had the joy filled experience of piloting Ithaka at 25 mph in the open sea. This is a very fast speed for a trawler. They usually travel at between 8-12 mph.

YAH HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
It was like I was a child again in the back seat of the family car with mom and dad. We were on our way to my grandparents house for Sunday dinner. To get grandma's, we traveled on hilly two lane country roads in Ohio. Sometimes dad would "put the pedal to the metal" on those rolling hills and as we crested the top of each hill (no seat belts) my throat would drop into my tummy. I had this same feeling on the first few sea waves.

This is how far out in the ocean we went. 

Jack also took a turn at ocean training. 

Wednesday, February 19th - We had dinner in Ft. Pierce at Cobb's Landing and walked the Marina Dock looking at boats (that's what boat people do for fun). We stopped to watch a fisherman clean his catch of the day.

Friday, February 21st - While having lunch, we watched as a boat load of folks docked at a fishing pier outside the restaurant. They came to have lunch. Unfortunately, they interrupted the fisherman who were fishing off the pier. The fisherman were not so happy to see the boaters.

Saturday, February 22nd - Captain's Chris and Alyse Caldwell invited us to a raft up with the Vero Beach Power Squadron at Faber Cove in Ft. Pierce. Captain Chris arrived first and anchored their Sandy Hook. We arrived second and tied up Ithaka on Sandy Hook's Starboard Side. Six more boats joined us. They alternated tying up on either side of Sandy Hook and Ithaka from largest to smallest with fenders between each boat. The only anchored boat was Sandy Hook. Once everyone arrived and was securely tied, folks walked back and forth across the boats visiting and eating the finger food each boat owner provided.

Sunday, February 23rd - Day of REST. Time to be thankful for our many blessings.

It's now Saturday March 1st, so the February blog is being posted tonight ready or not!!!

New Years Eve 2014

TIME TO MOVE SOME ITEMS ONTO ITHAKA

On December 31st we loaded the car...

and  drove from home to Tifton Georgia. We had our New Year's Eve dinner at the Olive Garden and went to the hotel for a good night's sleep. No dropping crystal ball for us. We observed the "Loopers Midnight"(9pm). Early to bed and early to rise...that is a boaters life.

The celebrating will come tomorrow in Florida at Chris and Alyse Caldwell's home. They are the Captains' who taught us almost everything we know about trawling. They were gracious enough to invite us to their home for a New Years Day Celebration. Great food, new friends, and radio controlled boats on the lake behind their house.

After the party, we drove to Harbor Isle Marina and unloaded provisions onto ITHAKA in the pouring down rain. This time the Captain got drenched ( I'm getting smarter).

Thursday, January 2nd I stowed away provisions while Jack checked on things in the engine room.

Friday, January 3rd we started home. We drove to Green Cove Spring to set up our mail service and for Jack to complete the paperwork for a Florida Drivers License and Florida Residency.

It is about a 15 hour drive from home to the boat. Hope we don't have to make that trip too often by car.

Time To Take ITHAKA Out of Storage

It is time to bring ITHAKA out of the hurricane protected shelter.

Monday November 18th Jack and I flew to Orlando, rented a car, and drove to Ft. Pierce to find slip # 23 at Harbor Isle Marina. ITHAKA will call this slip home from November 22nd, until sometime late in February or early March. If you are looking for us, slip #23 is located just before the piers spit off into a Y at the marina. After locating slip #23, we went to the marina office to look at the new rug for the sun-deck (thanks bob for the heads up on sun-deck maintenance and time management).

Love that new rug!!!

Next, we drove on to River Forest Yacht Center (excellent facility-highly recommend-great staff-great service) to reunite with ITHAKA (Oh, Happy Day!).

Tuesday (19th) and Wednesday (20th) we took care of business. We worked around the boat and did some shopping.

Thursday, November 21 - We had hoped to move the boat today (alone), but weather did not permit. Instead we went to dinner at the Pig and Cow  Restaurant (never been to one before) and went to see the St. Lucie Locke on the Okeechobee River.

Friday, Nov. 22nd (partly cloudy, 30% chance of rain, winds 5-10 miles per hour , moderate choppy.

We moved the boat from River Forest Yacht Center to Harbour Isle Marina in Ft. Pierce, Florida. I worked the lines. Jack piloted the boat. As I am working the lines, the sky opened and buckets of rain poured out. This increased my motivation to acquire that fly bridge job. Before leaving RFYC Jack put 80 gallons of fuel @$3.65 a gallon into Ithaka. Our baby eats a lot, but we love, love, love, her.

Saturday, November 23rd - I am sitting on the sun-deck drinking coffee at 7am. ITHAKA gently sways back and forth in Slip # 23. LIFE IS SWEET!!!

Our Second Week on ITHAKA

Jack and I returned to Fort Pierce, Florida to move ITHAKA to Stuart, Florida for hurricane season. When we arrived, her new name was on her stern and the sideboards were being attached.

Picking the name for a boat is very much like picking the name for a baby. Once the name is selected, the tough job of selecting the font style, the letter color, shading and accents begins. At least with a baby, God makes the tough design decisions.

Five weeks ago, when we left the boat, Jack gave Dave (a guy who can repair almost anything on a boat) a list of TO DO's from the boat survey. The list was long and varied. Happily, Dave completed everything on the list. Great job Dave!!

It looks like we might have rain all week. We hoped for better weather. But, just being on ITHAKA, rain or shine, is quality time filled with joy.

Tomorrow, we move the boat to River Forest Yacht Center in Stuart, Florida. She will be in a hurricane protected building from June to November. Taking ITHAKA out of the water was a good decision. This years hurricane season is predicted to be a bad one.

Chris Caldwell from Captain Chris Yacht Service was hired to ride along on the move. His title was coach and crisis intervention manager. Jack and I were tempted to move the boat alone. After much thought and discussion, we decided to err on the side of caution.Thinking about our long term goal of completing the "Great Loop", we decided this goal should be factored into our decision to hire Chris to train and oversee the trip. So "Captain Coach" was part of the crew and ITHAKA arrived at the haul out without incident.

Jack piloted the boat into the sling and kept a watchful eye, as they hauled ITHAKA.

A boat that sits for five plus weeks in salt water picks up a lot of sea creatures. So, a good bottom cleaning and painting is scheduled.

After the haul out, Jack and I headed off to see some Florida sites. We took an airboat ride in the Everglades

Then on to Fort Meyers to visit the Thomas Edison and Firestone Homes.

This will be my last post until November, when ITHAKA returns to the water.