We are in Lake Worth

We are in Lake Worth and will head out in the morning for the Bahamas. Keep an eye out on the "spot" in the morning for about twenty-four hours to see our crossing. If we start to head too far north you might want to do us a favor and call the Coast Guard after a day or so :). My worst fear is always the Cargo ships, because at night they are so much harder to tell how close they are. There are always a few of them showing up on our AIS and Radar at any time.

We are heading to Great Harbour Cay in the Berries and have decided to do some exploring there since we only stayed there last year while the engine was being repaired. GHC Marina is a great place to check in and if you look around there is a lot to do but you really need to explore and ask where to go to see the really cool stuff.

After that we may head back to Florida to do some cruising in the southern part of the state.
We really don't know and don't care this year so it will be exciting just to see where we end up.

Happy New Years to all and will write when we get to GHC.

Merry Christmas to all

This is the Ireland Clan-Jon grow up with them.

We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope your day is as wonderful as ours.

Christmas Eve @ Kevin and Chris's place in Jensen Beach

Bud and Jill in Vero Beach on S/V Earendil

We are still in Stuart making our plans for the crossing. The weather looks promising for this week so we will probably meet up with Jill and Bud (our friends that we met in New York at the marina a few years ago) in Lake Worth and head across to the Bahamas. We will try to get there by New Years Eve since we have already made plans with Jeff and Lana to bring in the New Year's cheer at the house.






We have been having so much fun here in Stuart with all our friends that it almost seems as I should just live here all winter. The weather has been in the 80s almost every day so that is a plus too.

Booze run

Mick & Sue from England, they sail in Turkey during the summer

Mike working on the new canvas

One of the biggest reasons we stayed here for so long was Jon had to order all the parts for the engine also we had to wait for the canvas to be fitted and then there was  the autopilot that had to be replaced.

Another issue that had to be addressed was a few spots that showed up on my scalp and nose a few months back that would not heal. We figured this was a perfect place to see a skin specialist and deal with it. I was a little nervous about going but knew this could not wait since I have had issues before and
things can turn to cancer really fast. I talked to a few people here that told me about a huge medical place right here a few blocks away that were great to deal with and had specialist for all types of skin problems, so I called and they got me in that day. Anyhow all is well, they froze the areas and said have a good time in the Bahamas see you on the way back for a check-up. The part that floors me every time we go to a doctor for our check-ups or dentist appointments is that when we were running our business in New York our insurance was 13500. a year which was three years ago, lord only knows what it would be now. On our way out we cancelled it and put a large amount away for self insuring ourselves while out here, whenever we go to the doctors we let them know we don't have insurance and are willing to pay cash and our bills so far have been less than any of our co-pays were back in New York. Just for the record this total bill was $43.50 cash.      

another day at the store

Now we're waiting

Well it seems like I've lived this before. Westerbeke has the hoses, and they were ordered on Friday. However, because they are closed for the next 2 weeks nobody got any orders out on Friday because they might have been parting. So no hoses till next year. Thinking and discussing this with other people I inserted a small piece of PVC into the hose that we were worried about. Nice tight fit, installed it on the engine and put all new VERY flexible hoses up to it. I think this was the real problem, that the hose coupled to it was not able to bend and passed the required bend onto the softer hose kinking it. Again the engine is running fine holding it's temp very nicely and pumping tons of water. So we'll run it for quite a while and keep checking the impeller. Looks like a nor'easter is making for lots of wind so we will probably be here for Christmas, which is fine. We have several places that we've been invited to and it's not snowing here.
Dick and Ann on Grey Hound pulled in on Monday and we think they are here for a while too. Not too many people are leaving and lots of boats have been just left here for the holidays, But at least it''s not snowing. Oh I said that already.

A Lazy Saturday

The new canvas and top are in looking great. We've met may people that we've spent time with last year and the year before.  The Auto Pilot is in and needs to have it's sea trial done but it works and will be fine.

The engine gave me a little scare the other day when I heard the exhaust sound a little different, I looked over at the outlet and not enough water was coming out. I knew what this meant, another raw water pump had been chewed up. Upon inspection I found all but one of the six impellers had been RIPPED off and caught up in the heat exchanger, this impeller lasted 10 hours and that's not acceptable. This is what was the start of the problem last winter. Of course when Arline saw this she started dialing the Realtor to buy a trailer or condo here. After a few calls people were telling me I had a water flow problem (DAH)know that the pump was ripping itself apart because it wasn't getting enough water and I should look at all the hoses. I took all the hoses apart and was able to blow through all of them on the suction side, so that can't be the problem right, WRONG. Determined to find something I started pulling them all out. There is a very tight set of hoses that run water through the bottom of the tranny for cooling it. They are up tight against the bunks for the engine and there I found a soft hose with a kink in it. I got that hose out and found it was supposed to have a wire in it to keep it from collapsing, but that had rusted and moved allowing it to kink. So new ones are on the way and should be here Monday. It's such a tight bend and corner that only a premolded hose would work. A trip to a Napa and looking at some 100's of hoses I couldn't find anything with a bend, wire and the right size. So Monday it is.

Back to my Lazy Saturday.

Bud and Jill from Earndale are in Vero Beach having problems with thier new Yanmar, 28 hours and the thing is leaking oil. Bad installation and heads are going to roll according to Jill. I thought we were having a tuff time with things. I won't even tell you what a new 4 cly Yanmar and a custom instalation cost. They've got to get to George Town by the 8th of January so if they get it fixed by the begining of next week we might cross with them, and follow each other to someplace that the wind and current take us. No Big hurries. We might still head to Miami, or not.

Looks like Amy and Jeremy have some time at the end of January and will meet us in Great Harbour Cay for close to a week.

Just enjoying the weather

We have been doing a lot of walking and meeting up with old friends here in Stuart. The Mooring balls were full when we got here putting us way out on the end with very little internet making it very hard to write in the blog. Now we are much closer to the marina so I have a  connection.





One of our last nights at Indiantown Rick, Kasidah's former owner came in on his way to Ft Meyers with a friend on a Dana 24 sailboat and spent the night. We all had a great time, there was much to talk about and there was drinks for all.
The croc did peek up at one point near thier boat to see the dogs.  

The trip to Stuart went flawless except the many sudden down pours. It was warm and the boat was running fine so that made the day wonderful.

We have been waiting in Stuart for our new Autopilot and we are also waiting for the canvas shop to drop off our new Bimini and Dodger. This is important for Jon because when he is asked to sleep in the cockpit he should at least stay dry.......

Last year we met a couple from Lincoln, Maine where all of Jon's family is from so we had to go introduce ourselves to them, wouldn't you know it, they know all of Jon's relatives. This year they just happen to be in the marina as we were getting Kasidah ready, so we have been hanging out with them. Don and Betty are a lot of fun and they are closer to 80  than 70, so for all of you that have told us your to old to go out cruising......we say sure you are.


We have been watching the weather and it does not look good for some time to cross so to Bahama, we have made our minds up to head to Miami for a few weeks and wait for weather there to make the crossing. We have seen that there are many places to anchor near South Beach and at Dinner Key.

So Miami here we come. 

1st week in Stuart

We moved Kasidah on Monday and she worked great. The engine was 100% with out any overheating.
We took the last mooring ball at Sunset Bay Marina, and won't give it up. We've been offered money to move, cause there are no reservations and people want in. The weather is holding people here, not able to move onto their next location. The wind has been up pretty good, keeping everybody from moving but keeping my batteries pretty well charged. The autopilot is dead and a replacement from a consignment shop was shipped back because it didn't work. A new, different make, should be here end of next week, and it should be an easy install using the same brackets and other item$.The canvas people are working on the dodger and bimini for the cockpit, Looking forward to having no leaks in the cockpit. Falling into our winter routine on the boat and loving it.

To rock at night on a mooring ball, with everything working right,..priceless.