Virginia to Florida

After a comfortable night at Great Bridge, Virginia, we woke up the bridge tender at 5:50 am declaring we were here for the 6 am opening. He sleepily replied "Good morning capt, stand by we are opening in a few minutes". Down the canal we go, love the big searchlight for the ICW in the dark. Within an hour we see the beginning of daybreak, looks like a pretty day ahead. We run "down the sounds" stopping near Long Shoal River on the Pamlico just as the sun goes down. Beautiful calm night. Next am (Mon 27th) we again depart in the dark; easy here, no need for the light, just radar and the chart plotter. At around 13:00 we talk to Steve and Julie on Erban Renewal as we approach the Neuse. Originally, we were planning to stop in Adams Creek for the night then go offshore Tuesday for a run to Fernandina Beach, however looking at the longer term weather it looks like a wonderful window today right through to Friday the 31st. If we carry on now we will head out of Beaufort, NC Inlet in late afternoon. Let's go!  It is now 19:00, Thursday the 30th, and we are just south of Cape Canaveral.  Our  ETA in to Fort Pierce, Florida is about 2 am Friday just ahead of the weather moving in over the weekend. We have had great weather all the way, only 5-6 hours where we saw anything over 15 kts and 3' seas. Mostly 5-10 kts, 1-2 feet! Don't you love it when a plan works out even better than expected?

Great Bridge Virginia

Great weather, looking like a whole week of light winds 10-15kts, seas are forecast to be 3 feet or less, mostly 1-2'. I usually double the forecast, shoreline effects, currents and local winds all impact. so we are expecting 2-4', in the ocean the interval should be about 9 seconds, let's hope I am right and we will make a speedy passage to Florida. Tied up at the free dock between the lock and Great Bridge, Virginia.

You Tube

Thanks to those who suggested Y Tube, that was super easy.  You just might have to put up with their ads, guess somebody has to pay for it. Hope y'all enjoyed the clip.

Cheers,
K&S

A Taste of Cuba

Bummer

Looks like blogger and FB will not let us post video. We need to prove we own the material!  Go figure the guys in suits (legal) are really running the show. And they just cannot have any fun unless they are billing you.

New Adventure!

Well, yes, I have not forgotten to post more on our last adventure (soon as I figure out how to post a video) but we are about to start the next one. So follow along. When we looked for a boat this was the cruise we were planning as a starter. Test ourselves and our vessel at sea, then decide what we would want to do next.

We are at Spring Cove, Solomon's, MD on the Chesapeake. Scotty and Katie have been getting us ready for a 3+ year adventure to the "deep south" as Scotty calls it. That's very new for us but finally we have the freedom to really use the boat and go "down island". We got some great coaching from Paul & Karin on "Dream Weaver" and it boils down to "just do it".

We plan to leave early in the morning. Stand by, I just found the "post video" button! Fingers crossed!

Catch Up Time

OK, sorry followers. I got lazy, complacent etc. Blogging from my tablet is not that friendly, the APP has changed again, might get better. Cuba was an experience, I will post more on that. Following Cuba we did a quick trip to Abaco via Miami, Then an interesting trip north to the Chesapeake, off shore except for an 8 hour diversion to "sleep" in Wrightsville  due to storms and water spout warnings. Then back out around the cape to Hampton where we cleared back in from the Bahamas. Next stop Onancock,  where we "stumble" on the Woodards, "The Good Life".  Bang on the hull, yep they are up and away we all go into town for breakfast and a catch up. Following that we head to Pocomoke, visit our good friends Ray & Bonnie "Cracker Jack" and Arthur & Eloise. From Pocomoke we have a wonderful 2 week cruise to Solomon's. The boat gets hauled and stored, we go home.  Another story. Talk again soon.

Off again, Dry Tortugas then Cuba

Hi all, last post for a bit. Got the Alt replaced, changed engine oil etc. Have Ken & Carol on board. Tickets booked for Barcelona, taxes paid, OK anything else??

Dry Tortugas with Dream Weaver in the am, then Habana we hope later in the week.

Bumps In the Night

Crossing from Fort Myers Beach to Key West, the weather says leave this afternoon, pull an over night. All is well until at 4 am we pick something up in the prop and rudder, the boat is shaking, I am in the engine room. We radio Dream Weaver. It takes a while, crab pot? net? Dunno, eventually we are free and carry on.  As we approach Key West the alternator burns up, we had symptoms early on but now it is serious. We grab a mooring and shut down the main.

Florida West Coast

We leave Ft. Pierce, stop in Indian Town, Mark & Emily bring us tools and join us for Gumbo "sans garlic".

On to Moore Haven, we spend a few nights, work on the tender, wait for Dream Weaver, met the folks on the Manatee "Second Star". Did Mexican at the canteena. Good.

On to Sarasota with Dream Weaver, connect with Nick & Sheri at the Peruvian Place, great place, Sarasota, too bad the dockage is so expensive so we only stayed a few nights. Sorry Nick, we did anchor out, the water is too turbid to make water, yes we saw our anchor, once, barely. Better now in the keys but still running through filters, one per week. We are spoiled I know from our time in the Bahamas.

Other than that great cruising and we need to come back.