Going Home

Vessel Name: 38 South
Vessel Make/Model: Lagoon 380
Hailing Port: Melbourne, Australia
Crew: Meryn & Rick Cooper
About:
We are cruising our way home to Australia and started in 2015. we have been exploring the Eastern Caribbean on the way north through to Jacksonville Fl and to and from the Bahamas. Our last trip was West Palm Beach to Panama via Cuba and Jamaica arriving April 2024 in Linton Bay. [...]
Extra: The final destination is Melbourne Australia, via TBA.......
06 February 2024 | West End, Bahamas
29 March 2023 | Saint Augustine Marine Center
22 July 2019 | Melbourne Australia/St Augustine Florida
13 October 2017
10 April 2017 | Green Cove Springs
08 April 2017 | Reynolds Park Yacht Center - Green Cove Springs
06 April 2017 | Reynolds Park Yacht Center - Green Cove Springs
31 March 2017 | Port St Lucie via West Palm Beach
27 March 2017 | Alice Town, Bimini
21 March 2017 | Allens Cay to Nassau across the Bahama Bank
20 March 2017 | Shroud Cay to Allens Cay via Highbourne Cay
19 March 2017 | Warderick Wells Cay – Boo Boo Hill walking tour and then to Shroud Cay
18 March 2017 | Thunderball Grotto, Pig Beach then to Warderick Wells Cay
17 March 2017 | Staniel Cay via Bitter Guana Cay
16 March 2017 | Lee Stocking Island to Little Bay, Great Guana Cay
15 March 2017 | Georgetown to The Caribbean Marine Research Centre, Lee Stocking Island.
13 March 2017 | South Point Long Island to Georgetown, Exuma via Nuevitas Rocks
09 March 2017 | Aklin Island to Gordons Beach, Long Island
08 March 2017 | Mayaguana to Attwood Harbour, Aklins Island
Recent Blog Posts
06 February 2024 | West End, Bahamas

Its not all Palm trees and Margueritas

we are anchored in a small abandoned canal development near West End, Bahamas. The weather is not conducive to crossing the gulf stream to West Palm Beach, winds are expected to top 40 knots from the north today and not settle until later in the week. we chose to seek shelter in this anchorage which [...]

29 March 2023 | Saint Augustine Marine Center

Two weeks back on the boat

Well we arrived back to 38 South exactly 2 weeks ago and have been fully engrossed in cleaning and upgrades since then. It took at least 2 days to have the boat clean and aired out enough to live comfortably and from that point on it has been a matter of listing jobs in order of priority. There has [...]

22 July 2019 | Melbourne Australia/St Augustine Florida

It can't be that long between posts

I cannot believe it has been so long since the last post. We have had some highs and lows since we parked at Green Cove Springs in 2017.

13 October 2017

Maintenance Time

Just an update on the status of 38 South. September was an interesting month with Hurricane Irma's path to be right across the top of the boat. It meant a quickly assembled trip across to further strip and secure her for the pending bad weather. As it turned out it was a glancing blow and we received [...]

10 April 2017 | Green Cove Springs

Out of the Water

Well we are now on dry land. This morning the mast was removed and the boat lifted from the water. we have now been placed in our "spot" until we return. we have been continuing the preparations to leave. The motors have been run on fresh water to flush the salt water from the heat exchangers and [...]

08 April 2017 | Reynolds Park Yacht Center - Green Cove Springs

Packing up takes time

Well the packing up seems so huge. there is so much to do. we have been getting organised with bags and such and will probably leave most of our stuff on the boat, clothes and the like. there only seems to be the souvenirs and my dive gear that has to come home. Our suitcases are like the russian [...]

Packing up takes time

08 April 2017 | Reynolds Park Yacht Center - Green Cove Springs
Rick
Well the packing up seems so huge. there is so much to do. we have been getting organised with bags and such and will probably leave most of our stuff on the boat, clothes and the like. there only seems to be the souvenirs and my dive gear that has to come home. Our suitcases are like the russian dolls. all the stuff is in a small suitcase that is inside another suitcase to cut down on our bags. we have hired a car which is making it easy to get around and pick up things, like a trip into St Augustine to West Marine for a new nav light bulb and some fogging oil for the outboard motor. The sails came down and the boom off the day before we got here and they are packed away. Todays task was to prep the outboard motor for storage. we did not have a bin big enough to put the motor in to run some fresh water through it so we used the next best thing. that was the laundry hamper. problem was it had holes all the around it. a couple of large garbage bags later and it was now waterproof if not a little "bulging" places. the motor was washed down and fogging oil sprayed into the carby at mid revs which will coat the internals for storage. that only left the spark plugs to come out and a liberal amount sprayed directly into the bore. replace the plugs and a light spray over everthing under the lid and all was done. the motor is now stored in the front cabin. that left the dinghy to deal with. this was hoisted on a halyard onto the foredeck and given a little TLC with a some suds and a brush. with it sparkling we deflated it and lashed it onto the front beam updside down and secured. we will move over to the travel lift tomorrow (Sunday) and finish the cleaning and packing there. On Monday the mast will be lifted off and eventually stored under the boat for the time we are here. that will be convenient as I need to replace the deck light about half way up and also a sheave at the top, there is something loose in there and slaps the inside of the mast when it is windy so we need to investigate that as well.. Much easier working at waist height that swinging from the top of the mast. Once the boat is on dry land I can remove the props and store them in the boat as they are quite valuable and prone to theft. We have water in the oil in both Saildrives, when the oil seals were changed at St Kitts there were problems with the surfaces the seals ran on and we expected that they would leak. the surfaces have wear marks in them so they will come with me back to Oz to be rebuilt and will be refitted on our return. Both motors will be having some work done or may even be replaced if I win lotto..... lol
we have 3 more days then a road trip to Miami to catch up with some people before flying back to Oz to start planning the next trip.
Comments
38 South's Photos - Main
In the yard for maintenance and upgrades
5 Photos
Created 29 March 2023
13 Photos
Created 10 April 2017
13 Photos
Created 7 April 2017
12 Photos
Created 6 April 2017
9 Photos
Created 31 March 2017
5 Photos
Created 27 March 2017
8 Photos
Created 20 March 2017
Thunderball Grotto, Pig Beach and Iguanas
24 Photos
Created 20 March 2017
Piano and Mermaid
8 Photos
Created 16 March 2017
9 Photos
Created 15 March 2017
Soufriere hills volcano, Plymouth, Little Bay
No Photos
Created 25 December 2015
Basseterre/ Marina Rivere Sans/Point-a-Pitre/Deshaies
8 Photos
Created 25 December 2015
Portsmouth
3 Photos
Created 25 December 2015
The Pitons and Rodney Bay
4 Photos
Created 25 December 2015
Fort De France and Saint Pierre
6 Photos
Created 25 December 2015
Blue Lagoon
4 Photos
Created 1 December 2015
Admiralty Bay, A fantastic place, probably our favourite so far. And found a coffee to rival Melbourne
3 Photos
Created 30 November 2015
Overnight Anchorage and some snorkeling. A marine park so fees applied. Barbecue Lobster on the beach for dinner if you wish
3 Photos
Created 30 November 2015
We have now left Grenada at Tyrrel Bay and have checked into St Vincent and the Grenadines at Union Island.
6 Photos
Created 30 November 2015
Anchored on the western side of Ronde Island just west of Kickem Jenny subsea volcano. There is an exclusion zone around the Volcano in place.
4 Photos
Created 30 November 2015
Sitting on the "Hard" while doing some necessary maintenance before commecing the trip
2 Photos
Created 9 November 2015
On the pick and hauled for the season
5 Photos
Created 14 October 2015

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