From us, to you... we wish you much joy and prosperity in 2023.



As I read the last posts of the year from my friends/tribe, I know that it has been a tough slog for many, and I see so many wishes for a better year to come. For us, it was a stressful year. A few, if I'm being honest. Which is a top reason why we changed course. And now we are lapping up the downtime: time spent identifying constellations and stars, time staring into the sunrise or sunset, time enjoying nature, and of course, time fixing shit. (More on that below!).

December 25th

Happy Christmas! Our shakedown cruise to the Keys has already proven fruitful in that we've had trouble with at least two systems. The purpose of the shakedown cruise is to test all your systems. It's always preferable to have shit go wrong when you're close to parts and help!



First, it was the generator. When it's cloudy, the solar panels can't charge our lithium batteries properly, so we use the genset to provide that extra charge while we're at anchor. We had it running for a few hours this morning when it crapped out. Jann thinks that it's the water pump, as it shut down due to excessive heat.



Then we were relaxing in the salon when I heard a pop, followed by the sound of water rushing and the water pump coming on. We had heard the pump come on for a second intermittently over the past week, but I guess we weren't too concerned. Ha! I jumped up to turn the water pump switch off at the panel, and we started looking for the leak. We checked the head on the starboard side because that's closest to where I sat. Nothing. No water to observe. Then we checked behind the settee where I was seated and Jann saw that the leak was due to a loose hose clamp on the main water line from the two tanks on the bow. He tightened it and we waited to hear if it would leak again. It did. But just a little, so he took it off and got a second clamp on it. That held and no more sound of the pump going on without any source turned on. Yay!

The genset will have to wait until tomorrow. We have a referral to a good mechanic nearby, and Jann will call him in the morning and hope that he hasn't taken the week off.

Cruising is always an adventure, and some boats are complicated. I'm thankful that Jann is a great mechanic and electrician. He's just not as nimble as he once was, and so we will need help from a contortionist-mechanic (or smaller person!), to get into those hard-to-reach places.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping us warm (inside at least), with hot elixirs, hot miso soup, and homemade beef chili. The forecast says that it will warm up a little tomorrow and more on Tuesday. Buuurrr.


Tuesday, December 27

The Sun broke out today and it warmed up. I am a sun worshipper for my entire life. I admit, it was hard to stay inside the boat for the past few days, while it stormed outside. It was so cold, relatively speaking. I know that many of you had to deal with extreme cold with this last storm, but when those Arctic fronts make it all the way down to the Keys, well it's tough. But today I got to warm myself in the sun after a hot shower before we pulled up the anchor and headed back to Sexton Cove, where friend George offered up his dock. And just as we docked we got the call from the mechanic that he had a cancellation and will be here tomorrow morning! Awesome! It's not easy getting a mechanic to come to your boat on short notice, not to mention during the Holidays. We are so fortunate. After we got plugged into shore power (YES!), we started up the BBQ and Jann grilled us a couple of rib eyes and some zucchini and squash. Now well-sated with dinner and a couple of sundowners, we are warm and cozy in the salon.



I am also fortunate to have such an incredible partner with amazing boat-handling skills. It was far from easy to get Sweet Escape into this spot on the canal behind Georges' and Mary K's house. He had to do a 360 and back out of a side canal, before putting the boat in front of their catamaran. He docked our Leopard sideways! Truly impressive! George and his nephew helped with lines and we were all set in minutes. How fortunate that there are virtually no tides or waves in here. We will sleep like babes tonight!


December 30th

We needed to leave the dock for friends that are here visiting George and Mary K, so we headed back into Sexton Cove. But first, we took a long-ass dinghy ride to the Napa Auto Parts store, crossing three bays and going through 2 cuts in the mangroves. We were definitely the smallest vessel transiting. Most locals use the Intracoastal as a super highway and some of these vessels have way too much power. I mean 4 250s? On a 40' Sportfisher? Really? I was taking a video of our slow and quiet ride (which you can see on my FB page) when one of those came whizzing by. Most everyone else who throws a wake slowed down, but not this A-hole. He almost swamped us, but Jann slowed us down and turned us into the waves. What did he do as he flew by? He threw his arms up in a "Hey, you get what you get," as he sped by us. I yelled some not-so-nice words and managed to get my phone focused back on him to watch him speed off. Jann was drenched in salt water and not too happy about it. We've heard it from sailing friends and we've seen it far too many times, people with fast boats are downright disrespectful. It's pretty much the same for those with fast cars if any time spent driving on I-95 is case in point. Would it be that hard to slow down just for 5 minutes? Geez!



Okay, enough of my rant. We got back to Georges' just as they returned from their New Year's family cruise. George helped us with the lines and we headed out into the Cove. Once again, we were the only boat anchored. Saturday evening, we were rocked softly by all the recreational boaters: jet skis, water skiers, and other small craft. Lovely.

New Year's Eve

The winds have died and it was time to roll up all of our enclosures around the cockpit. We spent some time on chores and took apart one of the hatch shade units to remove a failed shade and look for a part number so that we could order a replacement. No luck with the part #, but we did manage to superglue little pieces of the plastic that had cracked. There's always something to fix on a boat!

The decision was made to stay put in our little cove, instead of anchoring in the next bay where the parties and possibly fireworks would be too noisy. I'm glad we stayed. We had fireworks on opposite shores and could actually see them simultaneously when the boat was turned just right! They started at about 7 and went on until after midnight. Jann fired up the grill and I put on some fun music and prepared Teriyaki chicken legs and herbed squash while dancing in the galley. We relish these moments, almost as much as time spent among friends and fellow cruisers.


And it's our 11th Wedding Anniversary! Though we met (and were together since) in 1998, we didn't "tie the knot" until 2012, in Vegas with a Drive-Thru Wedding at the Chapel of Love! So we have two Anniversaries to celebrate!

I'll leave you with some wisdom from Mexico and wish you and yours a fabulous New Year!