Lots of rain yesterday along with current going one way and wind another resulted in us bailing early on our plan to make it as far as Beaufort SC. Everything was okay until after lunch when the wind changed and we started just pounding the waves. Thought to ride it out but when the galley cabinet door flew open for the third time and the balsamic vinegar finally escaped to crash to the floor and shatter the decision was made that enough was enough.
So we headed for an inlet off St Catherine’s Island and ducked into the ICW for calmer waters. The lesson learned was that it’s good to know your limits and it’s especially good when they are lower than that of the boat.
Thru it all Isabella slept on her bed below and didn’t make a peep. She also didn’t eat much but that’s because she’s a smart kitty!
We’re at Thunderbolt Marine this rainy morning getting the transmission oil changed as required because of the transmission rebuild. Heading to Beaufort to pick up a part and then on to Charleston for dinner and overnight.
Just like flying an airplane, when travelling by boat you need to be prepared for things to go wrong. Attitude is everything.
After a glorious day offshore on Saturday we decided to meander up the Intracoast Waterway Sunday to overnight in Daytona Beach and have dinner with friends. Upon leaving Monday morning the generator wouldn’t start and we couldn’t get the top off the strainer to see what had happened. Our initial thought was that we may have sucked up one of the many jellyfish we had seen along the way but we had no way to confirm this.
After calling around for a few hours we finally found a diesel mechanic that could guarantee arrival by end of day (as opposed to two weeks) so the question was “what do we do while waiting around “?
Enter the LISTS. What needs to be done on the boat? What needs to be purchased? Where is the nearest Enterprise rental car company?
A day of errands and laundry and this morning we were underway by 7am heading for another off shore run. Not only was the strainer clogged but the impeller had self destructed.
Oh, I’ve also learned the wonder of next day delivery to the next port for parts but that’s another story.
Heading for Fernandino Beach to overnight. A storm has caught up with us so we’re thinking all the freshwater from the sky will wash the saltwater off the boat. Sounds good, right?
After 18 years of living in the same house, sleeping in the same cubby, wishing she could get to the same chipmunks, our cat Isabella has started on a grand adventure. Since losing our other cat, Whitby, in December she hasn’t been doing well when left alone for more that a long day. So where we go she now goes.
Her first adventure was flying from our home in Springfield, Virginia to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up our new to us boat. American Airlines gets big kudos for friendliness and ease of bringing her on the plane in her carrier. She fit under the seat in front of me and was quiet thru the entire flight.
Certain precautions were made prior to flight. Anti nausea meds, carrier lined with doggie pee pads and a custom cover were great advice from our vet. Everything worked great except when on the ride to the airport she dug up the corner of the pee pad, and peed on her carrier and me because I had it on my lap trying to calm her. As Gary so often says, “no good deed goes unpunished”. So we arrived at the airport not as fresh as when we left the house. A quick trip to the “family” restroom so I could take her out of the carrier and change the pads and we were on our way. I also found a small Lysol spray after clearing security that helped with my pants and her carrier.
Once on the boat we set her up in the master stateroom with food, water and litter box. She promptly decided that the center stateroom with twin beds was more to her liking and curled up on one of the beds and went to sleep.
Isabella watching for dolphinsTough life!
Other than the first day underway on the boat when we hit big waves and got tossed around a bit she has done incredibly well. She still sleeps most of the day either in “her” stateroom or on our bed. When she’s up and around she comes up to the main area of the boat to help Gary with manning the helm or me in the kitchen.
She’s poked her nose out the open doors but we’ll wait until stationary to see how she does with the outside. Although she has her own life jacket she’s not super happy about wearing it. Maybe it’s not her color, who knows?
Departed the marina at Ft. Lauderdale Friday morning about 11am. After an uneventful trip down the river thru Port Everglades Channel to the Atlantic things got fun. There’s a term called “passing the bar” which is tough when the tides are going one way, the ebb tide another and the wind decides to add it’s two cents. The result was 10-12 ft waves. Now we have a big boat with stabilizers but it still was a thrill ride. I ended up sitting on the couch in the salon holding Isabella on my lap (who by the way was terrified) so she wouldn’t get thrown around. It didn’t last very long, only about 15-20 minutes but it was enough to persuade Isabella to spend the rest of the day on the floor at the foot of our bed. How do animals seem to know exactly where the center of the boat is for maximum stabilization?
Although Captain Jim and Gary fared well I was a little green around the edges for the rest of the day. Thank goodness we had decided to make it a short day and dropped anchor at Lakewood around 5 or 6pm.
Saturday started off early with a run just off the coast. We wanted to get as far as Port Canaveral that day which meant running about 6 miles off the coast at 10-12 knots. I got some time at the helm trying to avoid fishing boats which was fun and surprisingly easy. Gary has adapted as if he has been doing this his entire life. The seas were calm and the sun even came out after a rainy couple of days.
We were close enough to Port Canaveral to see the Space-X missile launch. More impressive than the launch was the return of the first stage of the rocket with accompanying sonic boom. It touched down like a feather. I think they’ve finally got the hang of it.
We anchored Saturday night on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) for an early start Sunday.
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It’s now Sunday about noon and we’re motoring up the ICW to get to Daytona for dinner with friends.
After two and a half days underway on the boat we’re decided that we love the boat, we love being on the boat and why in heck did we wait so long to do this?
While repairs are being done on the Laa-Dee-Dah, we’ve been spending the odd week here and there on board getting everything put away where we can hopefully find it and minor repairs that we are equipped to do.
We love the boat and look forward to living on her full time. Marina life has been interesting on several levels. I’m sure it’s different from marina to marina much like life in a land based home is different neighborhood to neighborhood.
Some observations on the Ft. Lauderdale marina where we are currently berthed. It’s quiet during the week with more people working on boats than actually using them (no-not just our boat although we do seem to have the most workmen at any one time). Weekends get a little more traffic but not much.
There is a boat a few slips away from ours with the name Hooter Patrol III. Makes you wonder what happened to Hooter Patrol I and II. Sunk by liberal women, jealous girlfriends or ex-wives? I’ve only ever seen guys on the boat, on the far side of middle age, drinking beer. Must be a club.
And then there’s the floating tiki bar. I kid you not. A motorized tiki bar that will come in, pick up a group of people and then head out only to return a few hours later and the group leaves. We first noticed it one evening while on the flybridge having wine. I only saw the top of it go by at first and thought perhaps I’d had a little too much wine. Silly me!
Renaming a boat can be a dicey proposition. Legend has it that Poseidon and the Four Winds can really cause trouble if you’ve not paid proper homage to them and begged for their blessings. There are tales of boats going up in flames or plunging to the bottom of the sea simply because the owners changed the name and ignored the Gods.
Now Gary and I are not what you would call superstitious but since we were going to be living on this boat full time we decided that a little precaution was in order. I did my homework online and checked out the myriad ways this could be accomplished and found what would work for us.
First, we removed all items on board that had the original name on them. This is critical as you need to expunge the original name from the records and recollection of “the deep”. The original name was then placed on a piece of paper which was dropped overboard with copious amounts of champagne and a verbal request was made for the name to cease to be an entity in Poseidon’s kingdom.
More champagne was then poured on the sea while requesting that the new name be entered on the records and recollection of the deep to ensure safe and rapid passage for the Laa-Dee-Dah throughout her journeys.
After that, champagne was flung in all four directions and each of the four winds were implored, by name, to grant the benefits and pleasures of their bounty.
Now you need to understand that the requests were very flowery and Gary did a fine job of reading them in a wonderful stage voice while I poured the champagne. I’m sure if anyone was watching they enjoyed the show. We weren’t quiet about it and there was a restaurant directly across from our dock.
Years ago when we were flying back from Key West in the single engine airplane we decided to stop in Brunswick, Georgia for lunch and to take a look at St Simon’s Island as we’d never been there. We borrowed a loaner car at the General Aviation side of the airport and had a lovely time exploring for a few hours.
When we returned to the airport it took Gary about five minutes before he informed me we were stuck for the night as the weather had turned unfriendly. We couldn’t even get as far as Wilmington, NC to see the kids. So, I did what I always did in these situations- approached the woman behind the desk with a request for a rental car and a hotel for the night.
Now you have to understand that we were in Georgia and the woman was about eighty years old with a white beehive hairdo. In a thoroughly southern accent she told me “there’s ah Read Roooof Inn about ah mile or so away.” Now nothing against Red Roof Inns but in these situations we’ve always tried to turn the delay into an adventure. So I asked for a rental car and thought we’d take our chances on finding a different place to stay.
At the main terminal while getting the rental car the clerk, when asked, suggested we check with The King & Prince Resort out on the beach. It’s a highly rated resort with a great restaurant and sounded like what we were looking for. Normally there was a two night minimum but they had several cancellations (probably due to the weather) and were willing to give us a room for the one night. We drove out, had a wonderful dinner and stayed in a beautiful room overlooking the water.
The next day upon returning to the General Aviation side of the airport I encountered the same eighty year old lady with the beehive hairdo. While I was signing the fuel charge she asked me where we had ended up the night before. When told that we stayed at the King & Prince her response was “well laaaa-diiii-daaaah!” We laughed all the way home.
Years later when faced with naming our new to us boat I remembered that story. It’s a good sized boat unless you’re in Florida and since the phrase is “an interjection indicating that one is impressed…usually used sarcastically” it seemed somehow appropriate. We changed the spelling a little to accommodate Gary’s requirement for symmetry.
We were the normal aging baby boomer couple anticipating retirement and not sure what to do with it. We had always anticipated staying in our house that we had lovingly renovated and decorated “just so” forever. That was until over the course of several years we moved three of our parents into retirement facilities. We watched them blossom in the new surroundings getting not only the care they needed but improved interaction with others which surprisingly made them more lively and aware of the world at large. This started us thinking (which always produces surprising results).
Years earlier we had investigated buying a 65’ motor yacht, or trawler, but quickly decided that having that and the house were counter productive so we let that dream go. Until that is, we started thinking hard about retirement and what we wanted that to look like. Re-enter the Boat with a capital B.
The short story is that we are now in the process of selling everything except some momentos and knickknacks. Business, cars, house, furniture, I do mean everything. We’ve bought a 64’ Grand Banks Aluetian which I like to call our 1800 sq. ft. floating condo. We’re getting ready to pack up the cat and move full time to the boat.
The idea is to stay in Northern Virginia from April thru September each year to see family and keep in touch with friends and then spend the rest of the year travelling south where it’s warm.
It’s been an interesting experience so far and to keep track of where we’ve been and to let friends and family know where we are I’ve decided to start this blog, Travels with the LaaDeeDah. That’s the name of our boat and of course there’s a story about the name. There always is.
