Down the St. Lucie to Stuart

Hello Again!

Travelling down the St. Lucie is always fun... more fun when the autohelm is installed and working... but fun even when you have to steer. Lots to look at and cool to see how it changes from rural to urban, from $ to $$$$.

Captain Chaos at the helm

Country living along the St. Luci

Home with a skiff

Watching for alligators

One of many interesting marine machines

One of many, many bridges. Taller than our mast!

Coming up on the lock

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Dropping 13 feet.

Modest patio with mosquito netting.

Nice little trailer part.

Poor Murphy. We mentioned that he is showing his age. One patch is working fine. The other didn't last and I tried it again today we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime we are having conversations with yacht brokers and cleaning up; throwing away all the junk we've accumulated over the past 15 years. It is looking better with every trip, carting treasures of the bilge from Blue Pearl to the free table at the marina. I'm harbouring a fantasy that we'll get it looking so great that we'll decide to keep it for another 15 years.

Take care!

Winter in Florida

Hello Friends and Family,

We hauled Blue Pearl here at Indiantown Marina in Florida last April after a legendary transit from Antigua. Just arrived back here on Monday, January 8 after a nasty journey from Abbotsford. A long time for a boat to sit in the elements. 

Our plan is to escape the gnarly January/February weather at home and enjoy the brilliant, warm Florida weather. Hah! I shouldn't complain since temperatures at home have broken the bottom out of thermometer bulbs. But it's not that nice here either. It's cold. And it's rainy. When we wake up in the morning we are cold and damp. Sometimes it gets a little warm, but not often. That's going to change, right?

Glorious sunny Florida day

We have some cleanup and a couple of glitchy things to fix after last year's 1400 mile trip so we've been sitting alongside in the Marina putting up canvas, clearing up and waiting for parts and service. Local tasks include new topping lift shackle, jib halyard snarl, reefing line snarl and auto helm repair. We had dropped off our autohelm unit to have some minor repair work done last April. Last week the mechanic dropped it off and said he couldn't fix it. Nine months to discover that! So there's that.

Stripped threads. Should be a simple fix, right?

A young guy came in as crew on a boat on Sunday. Chatted about fixing boats. Conversation moved to climbing masts and presto... our topping lift shackle and jib halyard snarl were fixed. In exchange, we gave him a lift into Stuart to rendezvous with his rental car. I'm waiting for all the other problems to disappear as easily.

Murphy the dinghy is showing his age. One inflatable chamber is flat as a pancake. I've done 2 patching sessions. Will check result in the morning. Hoping to get at least one more season out of old Murph'.

Good Old Murphy

Hoping to leave in a couple of days to secure a mooring ball in Stuart at the Sunset Bay Marina. Maybe a month? Our plan is to enjoy some respite from the winter weather at home and do some maintenance on the teak. Maybe tidy the old girl up (speaking of Blue Pearl, of course) for a possible sale!!!

We'll see.

Hope you are all well!

Thanks for following along.