Merry Christmas from the New River. In the heart of downtown, very cosmo, great place to ride our folding bikes. All repairs finally completed and we left Beaufort last week and motored 350 mn. to W. Palm. where we replaced a water pump and got the water maker running. Tried the outside run to here but it was rough and we did not like a shroud the seemed too loose. Back in, tighten shroud and then did the intercoastal and the 21 bridges between W. Palm and Lauderdale. It did take longer (9 hrs) but the good news was we got to do the last leg at night and saw the best Christmas decorations along the water. Rosti the dog is a hit squished into the little basket on front of my folding bike. Bought some smaller fishin poles for the inland fishing and got Lisa picked out a nice strap on rod holder to fight the big ones. We had a hard time last year reeling with big fish on.
Merry Christmas too all.

Comments [6] | | More

We're here at Dataw Island Marina, about 6 miles from Beaufort SC. which is about halfway between Charleston and Savannah, two great cities. Plans to visit family and friends in Fla. for Thanksgiving never materialized as there was just too much happening onboard..as in overseeing the repair and replacement of just about every electrical component that were fried by a lightning strike. It looks like red, black and blue spaghetti in here. Wires everywhere. Hope to be outta here soon and sailing south.
An offshore run to West Palm is the plan. From there we can visit and provision for an extended cruise in the Bahamas.
Lisa has Siyasinana decked out for Christmas with led lights, wreaths, ribbons and Frosty on the bow. Dog Rosti has a killer Santa suit w/hat. Ho Ho Ho. We did not win first place in the chili cook off last night but Lisa did win "best participation" for her efforts during a Christmas song. A lotta very cute hopping and other complicated dance moves were required.
Had the mast taken off by crane 2 days ago (all the wires inside are fried).
Patched the dingy and finally got it started. I pulled on the cord for a long while until Lisa pointed out that I had the gas line in backwards....again. Hey, I'm not certified mechanic.
Spent today trying to figure out why the watermaker pump is cutting out and why the port side toilet back still fills with water even though we just put in a back flow device. The watermaker rocks though. It was making 30 gallons of fresh water per hour from salt water...amazing.
I think tomorrow I'll wash my sox. They tried running away without me. Rosti is passed out upside down on my lap snoring like a truck driver. Christmas is coming soon. We're gonna miss the kids, sad about that... but we'll have each other and that'll be great.
Anxious to cast off. cheers

Comments [3] | | More

We are back in Beaufort to get Siyasinana ready to cruise for the winter. She took a direct hit of lightning this summer during a freak storm that came out of nowhere and was over in 10 minutes. We rushed down to SC the day after Labor Day to move the boat away from the dock because a hurricane was expected to hit the area. Well the hurricane (Hanna) was a non event in this area and we road her out anchored up a local creek. The scariest part of the whole thing was when the Coast Guard stopped by just before dusk. They asked if we were staying on the boat during the storm. "Why of course we are" we responded. They went on to say "Well then we will need your contact numbers and your NEXT OF KIN". So we gave then the information and proceeded to check and re-check our flares, lifejackets, radios, etc.
While we were preparing to head up the creek we discovered our antenna laying on the bimini roof all charred with burn marks all around it. Up until then we were wondering why most of our electronics were not working. That explained everything. There was no way to get it all fixed and get away from the dock before the storm, so we did the best we could and rode out the storm blind. We had no depth sounder, no radar, no anchor alarm, no radios, no way to charge our batteries, etc. Luckily for us the storm passed to our north and we had no problems.
So now we wait for the electricians to start the work. They are supposed to be here on Monday and they say we will make it to the Bahamas by Christmas. Please keep your fingers crossed. It's not real warm here and we have been using our heater everyday. We are very fortunate that the heat still works. Our fridge and freezer were working too, but now have decided to stop. I guess they were also affected by the jolt of electricity that tore through the boat. Yesterday the fridge was not working, but the freezer was working so well I had to use a chisel to scoop the ice cream we had for dessert. Today I was preparing the left over pecan pie and ice cream and the ice cream was soup. It was still very yummy. Oh the joys of owning a boat. Until next time Happy Thanksgiving.

Comments [0] | | More