Polite Compromise

Vessel Name: Compromise
Vessel Make/Model: Beneteau/Oceanis 41
Hailing Port: Houston Texas
Crew: Karen and Ron Anderson
About: Married for 44 years. Kids grown and gone. Decided we wanted another adventure (like raising kids wasn't enough) and brag about it. The commodore and I are off on another one of our adventures.
Extra: I was once told that the secret to a successful marriage is polite compromise. I'm still not sure what is so polite about it.
Home Page: Facebook
05 April 2019 | Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
26 January 2019 | Providencia, Colombia
17 October 2018 | Rio Dulce, MAR Marina
29 August 2018 | MAR Marina, Izabel, Guatemala
22 March 2018 | Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
13 December 2017 | Titusville, FL
28 November 2017 | Anchored just south of Brunswick, GA
08 August 2017 | Portsmouth, VA
19 July 2017 | Oriental, NC
20 April 2017 | Marathon City Marina - Boot Key Harbor
03 March 2017
09 June 2016 | Galveston, TX
01 June 2016 | Pensacola, FL
23 May 2016 | Moving from Key West to Dry Tortugas
16 May 2016 | Marathon City Marina, Boot Key - Marathon, FL
06 May 2016 | Hope Town Harbour, Elbow Cay, Bahamas
16 April 2016 | Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
09 April 2016 | Cherokee Point, Abacos, Bahamas
Recent Blog Posts
05 April 2019 | Shelter Bay Marina, Panama

Hello Panama

26 January 2019 | Providencia, Colombia

Another new stamp in my passport

It's time to move!! We left the Rio in late October, traveling for a while with Kemah friends, Tracie and Steve on "Saga Sea". Once we reached open water, they turned north to Belize and we went south to Honduras. The main areas of the Bay Islands of Honduras are Utilla, Roatan, Guanaja, and Cayos [...]

17 October 2018 | Rio Dulce, MAR Marina

Stuff Happens

There is really only one word to describe the Rio Dulce in August/September… HOT! It is the rainy season so you get wet at least once a day, but overall it is just miserably hot! No breeze to cool off with but you open the hatches anyway. Bugs are out and mosquitos are everywhere.

29 August 2018 | MAR Marina, Izabel, Guatemala

View from the Bow

Summer is racing past! It’s the end of August already and we are starting to make tentative plans for whatever comes next.

12 May 2018

Bienvenido a Rio Dulce Guatemala

We left Key West and motor sailed for three days, arriving in Isla Mujeres Mexico on April 14th. Trying to stay out of the Gulf Stream, we went south to get close to Cuba (about 10-20 miles offshore) and take advantage of a small counter-current. Once we passed Cuba and entered the Yucatan Straits, [...]

22 March 2018 | Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL

Good bye Bahamas

It has been a busy past few months! We left Titusville in early January and moved south, arriving in Fort Lauderdale on the 14th. We stayed just long enough to pick up mail, resupply the galley, take Ron to the dentist, and wait for that all important Weather Window. We pared up with another boat, [...]

Long and Winding Road

28 November 2017 | Anchored just south of Brunswick, GA
Karen/Evening and calm
Okay - it’s been awhile and I’ve been told by my DH to get with it and start updating this journal of our trip. We have been really busy since my last entry - lots of miles travelled! Too much really to put into one journal entry so you have my apologies up front.

We left Manteo in August and moved north with plans to make it as far as New York City before turning south again for the summer. I had wanted to sail past the Statue of Liberty and take a selfie of me and Lady Liberty from the bow of the boat - but this was not to be. Compromise developed more electrical problems. We managed to make it to Deltaville, VA, early (our planned stop for the month of September) navigating across the Chesapeake with limited electronics - no depth sounder or wind meter. It took some work, but Ron figured out the cause and was able to resolve it (fingers crossed)! He even fixed the antenna issues we were having with the TV - so now I get lots of channels and great reception…

Since it was now getting too late in the season to go to New York, we decided to just park the boat and take a quick land trip to Washington, DC. I rented a small car and we drove. After spending so much time on the boat, I was a little out of practice driving a car but we made it to the city without too much drama. We stayed in Bethesda, MD, taking the metro trains around Washington. We took walking tours around the Mall to see all the monuments, spent an afternoon going through Arlington National Cemetery, saw the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Busy weekend.

In September, we watched Hurricane Harvey wreak damage in Houston, and then we watched Hurricane Irma roll over Florida and come up the east coast. It’s really hard to see this on TV and know that your friends and family are struggling, that places you love are being damaged. We stay in touch the best we can - and our hearts and thoughts were with all of you. Hope everyone was able to stay safe and come through the storms okay.

We were supposed to be in Houston then, but the airports closed briefly and travel plans had to change. The second week of September we flew directly to Fairbanks, AK, to meet our daughter and her family for our Alaskan cruise.

Alaskan cruises are great - but the only way I could talk “Captain Ron” into going was to promise him that we would be taking the train to Denali. Turns out old Salty really loves trains!! Our first night was in Fairbanks, from there we took the motor coach to the Denali Wilderness Lodge. The clouds cleared and we could actually see Mt. McKinley. During the night, we saw a little of the aurora borealis, but we were right on the edge of visibility, so I couldn’t get any good photos of the green lights… The next day, we rode the train to Talkeetna - and it was fabulous! We stayed at the Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge - toured Husky Homestead, home of Iditerod champions and played with PUPPIES!! After leaving McKinley, we were bused to Whittier and boarded our cruise ship, the Star Princess. Beautiful trip: saw Glacier Bay, Skagway, took a helicopter tour and walked on a glacier with Jenny, in Juneau we went whale watching, in Ketchikan we hiked and ate crab. It was a great trip. The cruise ended in Vancouver, Canada, where we were met by my sister, Debbie, and her family. Ron and I stayed on for a few extra days - catching up with family, seeing the city, and touring University of British Colombia campus where our nieces attend classes. It’s always hard to say goodbye since we never know when we’ll see each other again. What a lovely visit and I am so very thankful that I was able to spend time with everyone. (love my UBC sweatshirt!!)

Ron returned to VA, and I took a quick trip down to San Diego for a couple of weeks of kids and G-babies. He resupplied the boat and as soon as I returned, we took off for Washington, DC (again). We had read about a marina in the Potomac where you take a mooring ball a couple of blocks away from of the National Mall. So we went! Very nice place - and we could even see the Washington Monument in the distance. The 42nd Annual Marine Corps Marathon was happening that weekend and we had excellent viewing from the bow. For this visit, we went to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (which was excellent!), took tours of Ford’s Theater and the International Spy Museum, and had dinner at the Fisherman’s Wharf. We left the next day and sailed to Mt. Vernon and anchored for a quiet evening. It was a short dinghy ride to shore, so we joined the tourists and walked around the historic site of George and Martha Washington’s home.

Continuing south on the Intercoastal Waterway, we decided to take an alternate route through the Great Dismal Swamp. George Washington had surveyed the land, had helped in it’s construction, making it the oldest man-made canal in the US. The canal has been closed for the last year and a half while the Army Corps of Engineers had worked on it and it had just reopened that weekend. Ron was a bit worried about water depth and tree canopies but I talked him into it. At the very first canal lock (the Dismal Swamp has two locks), the lock master staged three boats together in order of their speed. Locks are very interesting if you ever get the chance to go through one. When you enter, the gates at one end are closed. You tie off to one side (I act as rope handler to adjust the ropes and keep the boat in a steady position while the water goes up or down), they close the gates behind you and begin either filling the lock with water or lowering the water depending on which direction you are moving, then they open the gates in front of you and you motor on through at the new water depth. The Dismal canal is narrow so there would be no overtaking and we would be following each other for the two days it would take to pass through. We were in between Carl & Melissa “Bay Breezing”, and Dave & Sue “Believe”. We didn’t know it at the time but our three boats would continue buddy sailing together over the next couple of weeks - rafting up, sharing dinners, drinks, and dominoes! The canal was thick with duck weed, and fall colors were in the trees. Yes - we did drag our keel a few times, and we did rake some leaves from the trees with our shrouds - but it was beautiful.

That’s what had been so great about this long float. You’re always making new friends and meeting up with old ones. We had noticed on Facebook that old friends (Deb and Moray from Kemah on Sol Purpose) were in New Bern, NC, at Wayfarer’s Cove so we decided to stop for a visit. We stayed for a few days to visit, resupply, and catch up on laundry. They had hired a car and were busy working on their boat - but they took time off to take us into town for dinner, take me grocery shopping, and we all had a great night out at Dueling Pianos. Too much fun - the piano players decided that Ron looked like actor Peter Graves from the original Mission Impossible series. So, whenever Ron stood up to get drinks or whatever, the pianos would break into the Mission Impossible theme song. Ha!! We had such a nice time - and I miss you guys!

We caught back up with Bay Breezin’ and motored with them as far as Charleston, SC. Ron decided we needed to speed up a bit in order to make it to Savannah, GA, by Thanksgiving, so we went offshore for an overnight sail. It was rougher than the weather people had predicted - and I’ll admit to being nervous since we had been doing mostly ICW motoring the past couple of months - so let’s just say the trip was “sporty”. Wind gusts to 20 miles per hour and rolly seas, no moon, and commercial traffic. I heard the main sail tear while we were reefing so I knew we would have to have some repairs done. We were both pretty tired when we arrived the next morning and took a space at Isle of Hope Marina to settle in for a week.

Savannah is a beautiful city with wonderful people! Remember that part where I said you meet up with old friends along the way? The couple we had sailed to Cuba with in April (Ann & Mike) were driving through Georgia on their way to visit family. They saw on Facebook that we were in Savannah so they stopped to spend the day with us - how great was that?!

Thanksgiving is why we went to Savannah, to spend the holiday with Ron’s nephew and his family - Chris, Melissa, and Xander. We had a wonderful time - great food, games, and fun. Next, we met up with an old friend from my work days - Cathy, and her husband Rick. They took us to Jekyll Island for the Merry Shrimpmas Festival where I finally got to try shrimp and grits… and I thought they were really, really good (sorry Brian/Jenny but I like grits!). All of you were so generous with your time, hospitality, vehicles, and so much more. Thank you so much! We had a wonderful time and we will be coming back!!

The main sail was repaired in record time (thanks to Walter Suter/Sailors Nautical Services) and we left Savannah yesterday. Our next big planned stop is Cape Canaveral, FL. NASA has a launch scheduled on December 4th and we want to be anchored somewhere on the Banana River so that we can watch it take off. That’s a week from now so we are again on our way south.

We will be heading to the Bahamas after a bit. From there we hope to move on to the Virgin Islands, but who knows. I’ll try to do a better job of keeping this updated. It helps if I know people actually read it - so please leave comments!! Bye for now. Karen.
Comments
Compromise's Photos - Main
7 Photos
Created 4 March 2016
Deadline run from Sanibel to Marathon via the Florida Bay. Crab pots and all.
11 Photos
Created 21 December 2015
some pic of offshore sunsets and sunrises.
5 Photos
Created 3 December 2015
Sights as we travel along the ditch (GIWW)
19 Photos
Created 17 November 2015
8 Photos
Created 17 November 2015
Photos, Nov 8-11.
11 Photos
Created 11 November 2015
TRip from Galveston to Marathon
5 Photos
Created 9 November 2015
Pictures of sailing in and around the Texas Coast and ICW. Just havin' fun.
14 Photos
Created 6 October 2015

About & Links

SailBlogs Groups