Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas 2014!

 

Kasidah has been in the Bahamas for just over a month now. We’ve settled into our winter and taken care of some boat chores. I have to apologize about the last story’s editing. Some of the story got mixed up from the copy to the posting or something and it really left some gaps while reading it and it jumped all over the place. I’ve fix it so it makes a lot more sense now.  

Jon and Kevin chillin on Kasidah

December will go down as the month of charger problems,…not for us but fellow boaters. We met Dan and Judy this year and he posed a question to me about battery voltage while running his engine. He has the same kind of Alternator and 3 stage regulator that we have so I felt confident about listening to his questions. He had us over for Rum and wine and shows me the voltage reading while running the engine. 16 volts to the batteries!!….WOW slow it down! That voltage will cook the batteries and kill them in no time. A few more readings the next day, a bit less rum and we decided the regulator has to be bad or at least programmed wrong. I read up on the programming and tried to get it to a different battery setting but still had the voltage too high for the batteries. He ordered the new one from Defenders and with $100 for shipping and customs it was here in 3 days,…Thanks FED EX. The best part of the new regulator is that it’s a lot easier to program and yes it did fix his high voltage problem. They left a few weeks ago and are in Georgetown in the Exumas.

Jon helping out Raymond 

Our good friends Duncan and Cathy on 2 Scotts had a bad crossing from the states. They have a good sized twin engine trawler and somewhere in the crossing they had to shut down one of the engines when it over heated, no big deal when you have a spare engine right. Then the voltage on the batteries was dropping and he lost all of his instruments and running lights. He made it into West End under celestial navigation, his compass and some luck. He cleared the blocked intake which lead to the over heating and got the engine running and batteries charged and made it to ORYC. Once here he figured the alternator on the one engine that stayed running wasn’t charging. Duncan is a pretty clever guy and looked at it for a few days but could not get the regulator powered up and he asked me to look at it. We found that the regulator did not have power to it to start the whole process. The power for it comes through a couple of safety switches on the engine. We found a wiring diagram for the engine and worked through it figuring that the alternator was new, it was different than the other one, and that it could never have worked. He tried to talk himself into the fact that he’d seen it light up before, but all I could do was go with the obvious,…..It Never Could Have Worked, not wired like this, and he swears he didn’t move any wires. We move the wire to a better spot on that engine circuit and now it’s charging.

Kate taking over the helm for our ride back to the marina

Raymond on a power cat was having a problem with his gen-set and inverter on his boat. The generator would start but quit when you took off power to the glow plugs. Found the wiring diagram and a bit later figured it was the remote start-stop control that was disabling the local controls on the generator. His inverter was shutting down with what he thought was a high voltage alarm, but that wasn’t the case. It had to have been over heating, because it caught fire. He ordered a new one. We’ll see who’s paying attention or reading our stories now. So all is good in the battery department for friends here at ORYC.

Strawberry Grouper

And finally I’ve met Mike, he is here for a week,..he flew in on a single engine Cessna,…his batteries aren’t charging. Trying to figure out how to make the jump from marine to aviation,….It’s got to pay more right?

Raymond took us and Kate, of Kate and Chris, Her husband Chris went back to Australia to work for a bit, out fishing. We trolled all morning and Kate had a bite for a big Mahi Mahi and got it close to the boat. This was about a 4 or 5 ft fish and put up a good fight, he got close enough to the boat for Raymond, Arline and Kate to see it, I missed the sighting of it. Later that day we fished on the bottom and the girls got some fish.

Blues new umbrella

Thank you gifts from cruisers for Jons help

Birthday party for Diane

Dinner at the gazebo and one to many JD drinks

A few days later Arline and I were out in our dinghy fishing, one of our favorite things to do here, we were trying a couple of different spots and depths. One spot was just around 90 ft of water and our anchor wouldn’t hold so Arline pulled the anchor in and when it got to just below the dinghy, like 3 or 4 ft in the water, Arline screams and says “Wholy crap look at those fish!” I only saw one but it was about a 3 ft Mahi Mahi circling our dinghy checking out the anchor, they travel together so I’m sure they were there. I saw him circle again it was absolutely beautiful! He was going so slow I was able to cast out in front of him and reeled it in hoping he’d go for it but he wasn’t interested. We trolled around the rest of the day looking for these guys. We were in the right area and depth but,…Nothing. Not sure how we would have gotten the thing in the dingy, but we wouldn’t have given up on it.

Spear fishing lands Jon 36 bucks

This trigger fish decided to take a piece of Jon

Jons new dive skin

We’ve taken care of several chores on the boat; changed out a locker hatch, rebuilt the dinghy motor mounting bracket on the back of Kasidah, once again some of the conduit in the mast came lose during our crossing. This requires a trip up the mast to each area that the conduit is fastened. There are 2 small holes in the mast at each spot that you pass a wire from one hole to the other around the conduit on the inside and install 2 pop-rivets which you wrap this wire around to hold the conduit in place, simple right. Nope. While sitting in the chair trying to get a solid wire around a conduit and back out the other ¼inch hole, it’s harder than you think. But I have a couple years of experience at fishing wire and got 6 or 7 places done in just a ½ day. We also re-bedded the deck snaps that hold the Dodger down, these had been just screwed into the deck and a few had started to show signs of letting water into the deck core. I drilled these out and then used my Dremel tool to dig out any soft wood of the core. I was very happy to see that water hadn’t traveled very far at all, also happy to find real plywood not Balsa wood near the mast and the rail for the head sail cars. Filled these holes with G-Flex epoxy and just as it was setting up pushed the snap screws into the epoxy for a great looking finish, strong as could be and no leaks anymore, and the fittings cover the hole so you can’t see the different color epoxy.

Dan.Judy,Raymond, Jon and I at the two dollar bar.

Raymond and I heading out to fish near West End

Wonderful fishing trip

The routine here is pretty boring, Coffee and a dog walk followed by tennis at 8 am with a group of people for close to 2 hours a couple of times a week, then breakfast and internet checking of news, family and friends and a stop at the free ice machine to fill the cooler for the day’s needs. No need to check the weather here, upper 70’s in the day and 60’s at night. If it’s blowing from the north we go fishing or snorkeling, exploring with the dingy or head to a beach. Blue usually goes with us so we’ll always stop at a beach for her to run and play. We sometimes bring a light lunch in the cooler with enough ice for the fish bucket if we’re lucky. Once back at the boat we wash off stuff and head to the pool and or hot tub, there’s never an issue finding a chair by one of the pools or people in the tub, and good conversation is always the rule. A small lunch means a good dinner and depending what night it is there might be something happening on the resort side how ever we find ourselves there less and less. Karaoke night is sometimes a fun night to watch people sing, NO WE DON’T. The boaters here have their favorite songs and are proud to sing them week after week after week,….Every once in a while a resort person will come in and really nail something and surprise all. We might also get together with another boaters for dinner or drinks and stories. If it Blowing out of the south it’s too rough out there to get into the dingy so we’ll get on the bikes and get groceries if we need them, or ride into either Port Luyca or Freeport or if it’s really hot we’ll go to a beach with the cooler and Blue. Once a week we’ll try and eat a late lunch out, we have a couple of favorite places where the locals eat so they are priced right, usually we get away with $20 or so. If we eat out or hit a beach we’ll again still head back to the pool, but dinner is usually very light or some snacks like cheese, popcorn and a movie on the boat. Sometimes we don’t go anywhere but to the pool, we’ve got a couple of games we like, Backgammon, cribbage, for get it, or some other card games, and we’ll take our music and drinks. If it’s cooler and we haven’t played tennis in the morning we might play in the afternoon.  See I told you it was boring,…of course boat needs supersedes all other activity.

 

I’m sure you’ve all seen on FB that Cal is getting bigger; Amy says he’s about ready to take off crawling, and this is where the fun starts. 

Christmas dinner is with all the boaters and I think there will be about 45 of us. We hope everybody had a great Christmas and your New Year is Prosperous.

Thank you all for following our adventures.

Ready for a cold beer under a palm tree...........

The weather window for the crossing was 2 days, but the next one was at least 2 weeks away. So you assess yourself, your boat, listen one more time to the newest predictions and forecast, and make your decision. We decided to go. We left Stuart for the days travel to Riviera Marina. Staying at the marina would allow us to nest closer to the West Palm inlet, saving an hour from our previous anchorage that we stay. It wound up costing only $1.75/ft Cheap when you consider the other benefit of not having to lower the dinghy in the dark, walk Blue and retie the whole dinghy thing again for a crossing, saving another 1- 1 ½ hour.

The trip down the ICW had winds on the nose at 20 knts and a fare amount of boaters with the same idea and plan. There is current according to the tides in the ICW so we had slow boat speed fighting it from time to time and other times it really carries you a lot faster. Added boat speed is always good, moving you to the next bridge opening quicker. The last 5 bridges open on the hour, and half hour. One bridge is quite far for us to motor the distance from the previous one and we usually get there too late, the bridge tenders are pretty stern about this. This year we where running with several boats, all the fast ones pulled away from us headed for this bridge, we were running our engine a little faster than I normally do, trying to stay close to the other boats. Then the gap between us and the pack started to open up and again we were sure we’d miss it. We had to be at the marina by 5pm to check in and it was going to be close. Then we’re not to surprised that another boat passes us, but by doing so he filled in the gap between us and the other boats. By the time the 1^st boats got to the bridge there was a steady line of 10 boats, all within a few boat lengths. The bridge tender had no chose but to leave it open for all of us. That was a ten minute opening,..if you where a car that day, Sunday, at the 2:30 opening on the Donald Ross Bridge, I’m sorry for the long wait. We get through the bridge and now realize that we only have 20 minutes to make the next bridge which is going to be way too close again. But the long line of boats and current now with us, again made the timed opening. Then only one more which is close and opens on the quarter and ¾ hour, but its right around the corner, no issues.

Riviera Marina

Pulling into the Marina we are told it had all new floating docks and they put us right next to a brand new Beneteau 55 ft monster of a beauty of a boat, this is a Beneteau dealer so 4 other new boats all lined up. Arline reminds me there is current and wind (still 20 knts) and not to hit anything. Thanks Dear. We landed fine and shared a finger with another big 47 Beneteau that was headed out in the morning and another 36 Beneteau ready to go.

We got up at 4 am and got ready. The wind sure did sound big and still from the south which was predicted. The waves on Saturday and Sunday, in the north flowing Gulfstream, where 10-15 ft, this was because of a week long blow from the north, thanks Canada. The wind on Sunday switching around to the south should have settled the Gulfstream down to 3-5 ft for us on Monday. Did it settle down or are we going back to Stuart, which was the golden question. The marina is right on the ICW, still dark, and everything ready to go for us. I look at my AIS (Automatic Identification System) and other instruments and see that a boat has just cleared the inlet, I have his boat name but he doesn’t answer my call on the VHS. Another moment passes and I see another sailboat just passing the marine on the ICW. Again I see his boat on my AIS. Ursa Minor answered my call, I asked if he’d give us a report on the waves when he got out there. He was traveling with another boat that had been out there an hour already. Another moment passed and we had his report that waves where 3 ft and nothing breaking! We’re Off!

sun rising out side of Lake Worth.

Blue just waiting to get there

Still dark, the inlet was calm but the incoming current had us down to only 3 knts SOG but boat speed was 7 knts, aghhhh. The opening itself right at the ocean had some really big rollers that knocked us around for a short bit, but we were out and going. Once we set our sails, pointed the boat on a close reach to start making as much south as we could we realized right away that we were not going to be able to make Port Lucaya, it would be West End.

In the Gulf stream

All the way across it really was sailing as close to the wind on a Starboard Tack, as possible, a little too close and our speed would drop off. Off the wind the boat speed would increase but we would miss West End to the north by miles. Did that both other times to West End, this makes for a long makeup south at the end of the day heading right into the wind. Our heading is where the boat is pointed, that was about 115 degrees, but our Course Over Ground (COG) was 93 degrees which is the heading to West End. That’s how much the Gulfstream was pushing us north. Just afternoon we began to see a difference. The COG and heading came together meaning we were out of the Gulfstream, Our boat speed picked up and we were pointed right at West End, this is when Kasidah started to Fly. The auto pilot (Auto) had been on all day and doing well, but the seas where just a little too much and the boat speed would very too much. Rather than try and remember how to make adjustments to Auto, I decided to sail her. I really don’t get to sail her that much so I put my gloves on and sailed for about 2 ½ hours. It was fantastic, she would hold her course and speed, the wind picked up a bit and the helm was a little strong. But the boat speed was great and we were right on our rum line headed straight at West End. The wind picked up a bit more and we where starting to worry about getting into West End before 5 PM when they leave. I rolled in a little of the head sail and her speed picked up again. Arline took over and steered for a while and took it all the way in till we took down the sails just outside West End at 4:20 PM. It really was a great sail and the straightest line we've ever made sailing,…..anywhere.

The channel

We needed to make the Silver Cover cut taking us to ORYC no later than noon, which was 2 ½ hours after high tide to have enough water below Kasidah. So we were up at around 3:30 and out before 4:00 am for the planned 5 hour sail. Dark as could be, no moon at all and some pretty good SE wind on the nose (As always). We tried tacking out and back in only to find we really weren’t making any headway down the coast to Freeport. Once we could round that point we could turn more east and sail. So the main sail came down and we motored for a few hours into the wind. Arline steered most of that time and got a good rhythm of steering around the waves to keep out boat speed above 4 knts. The waves were indeed bigger than yesterday in the Gulfstream. We put up the staysail which really did balance the boat, and gave us a little speed. We are a sail boat but the window weather had closed in a bit and the tide was going to hurt us if we didn’t make it. We could see Freeport now and about 10 tankers, most of which were anchored just off the inlet. It was interesting sail around them and keeping an eye out for the one that just went onto port and the one just coming out. I think the wind shifted a little south and Kasidah was off again. Boat speed was now close to 6 knts and we were going to make the tide. We were right at a point where the depth comes up from thousands of feet to 100 ft so there really where some big waves. I had the wheel now with 2 hours to go and as I looked out over the boat I could look through the top few feet of the waves and see that gorgeous turquoise blue color telling me the waves were big. Arline and I were guessing 8-9 ft because of how much water was coming over the bow. We have that sunken area on the fore deck and I have never seen waves fill that and then boil onto our flush deck making its way back to the cockpit. Bruce King had an excellent design with that, as much water as there was it never made its way to the cockpit. Finally we could see the Silver Cove Inlet which faces south. All writings about the inlet say do not do it with any south over 15. Opps it’s 20 south wind. Looking through the binoculars I could see it wasn’t breaking over the rocks on either side of the inlet but knowing the inlet I saw we had still a lot of tide left, so I felt really good about getting in. I would not have tried it if I thought I was putting us and Kasidah at risk. As we got closer the waves started to settle down but the wind was really right behind us. Kasidah did get rocked back and forth quite a bit until we surfed one or two waves coming in, lots of steering and some engine RPM,..Very Exciting! Once in and the calm overcame us, we knew we had done it. Passing a few tourists inside on the wall fishing they screamed that was awesome! “You have no Idea!” was my thought, but thank you.

Blue getting a full view of Thanksgiving turkey.

We invited Kevin from Connecticut out for a ride on the dinghy..

Kasidah settled into the same slip we had last year and fellow boats came in to say their hellos. Later that day we find out 2 other boats turned away from the channel, one big trawler came in and said wow, everything in his boat was trashed and somebody else flipped their dingy in the channel. The local dive shop canceled his afternoon dive and all claimed that the waves were well over 9ft. Thanks Kasidah.

Just sitting and waiting.

Leaving CT after a great meal with my bother Tim and his friend Christopher was our next journey. But what a meal and night we had with them. Christopher is from Vietnam, he and my brother must have cooked all day for us. It was a short ride to the house from Mom and Dads onto Winterberry Pl. in some town. Setting my Waze App (Love this App) we arrived and a call to my brother revealed that we where at Winterberry CR, a minor mistake my Waze and a 20 Minute back track… Mom and Dad, Arline and I, ate great Vietnamese food, soup, spring rolls with hot home made Hosni sauce, and on and on, finishing with Vietnamese coffee WOW. We didn't get to sleep until about 3am that night. Did I mention that Arline and I gave up CAFFEINE? WOW!!! Mom and Dad had 2 glasses of wine and I haven’t seen them in such good spirits and up that late and really enjoying the evening in years. I think that’s why it was called “Spirits” years ago, rightfully so. Thanks Tim and Christopher.

Traveling next to Amy and Jeremy’s in PA, they are in a small apartment waiting to close on their 1st house. Everything was on track for them and they were to close in a week or so. We visited and spoiled Cal as best we could in a short time. We played tennis, did a little sight seeing and we babysat one night so they could go to a movie. Cal had been being nursed but Amy had some stored that Arline was to feed him,…..well he wanted no part and was putting up a fuss for his mom. It wasn't until we distracted him and took his mind off the bottle that he would stop fussing, it worked and he took the bottle. Of course I was now tired from jumping up and down. That’s how we distracted him, Grandpa was playing and waving his floor toy over his head and showing him his mirror and stuff. Thanks Amy and Jeremy.

Jeremy always thinks of Arline’s addiction of chocolate and made sure she was set for the entire season, filling the Jeep with Hershey.

While with Amy and Jeremy I traveled just 25 miles to Philly PA to do a job at a customer’s house; he’s a prominent lawyer/judge in that town and also has a house in Skaneateles just off the lake. I did a nice job for in NY and he found out I was traveling by his real house and wanted me to install a generator switch for him and take care of a couple of motion detectors. He does a lot in the aviation field in his practice and we had some great talks about Amy and her plans. Thanks Chris

We only stayed a few days with Amy and Jeremy and headed to Kasidah and Florida. We had one last job in West Palm Beach too. Another customer from Skaneateles, the owner of a well know Rug retail and service store in Syracuse that I’d been doing work for many years, figured out how close Kasidah was to her summer home. She was having a problem getting some lighting fixed around her pool and yard. Somebody had come in and promised her that they’d have to pull up all the

landscaping and dig 18 inches down with a machine and blah, blah, blah$. Arline and I got there and saw none of the low voltage lighting working. We found a loose connections on a transformer, some bad bulbs, lose connections on light fixtures and it all worked. It took longer to drive to Home Depot to get some new LED lights and a few motion detectors than it takes to install them,…well almost anyway. We stayed the evening had a great meal with her and a couple of friends and a neighbor that invited us to do a few things for her. Thanks Lucia.

Next day we had another drive to Home Depot for the neighbor’s parts. It really was a few simple things but she is an older lady that just wanted it done right. The thing she was the most pleased with, and she was willing to take her new Ford back to the dealer and get a new one, was to program and sync her visor button to her garage door opener. (It’s the simple things in life that make you happy). Glad we could help. What an active great lady she is, at near 80 she reminded us of Katherine Hepburn, so alive with stories of her winning fishing tournaments, trophy turkey hunting, trophy Sailfish hanging in her study. Thanks Maryanne.   

 

Thanks Jeremy

We arrive at Kasidah to find her in the best shape yet after a summer in the yard. Her deck was nearly

clean meaning the down stairs had no mildew or anything. All the lockers and the storage areas were dry, the stored lines did not need cleaning, and it got better and better. We did find some signs of water but again nothing was really bad.

No one steals Jack's dinghy!

We have run into many of our cruising friends and have also been having a great time with all of them. Sid and Kate on an IP 40 have been with us for years,…this is our 5^th year I think in the yard or traveling with Sid. He’s an electrician on the west coast so we really have a lot in common. Kate has been with him for 2 years now I think. Sid had some Prop Speed left over from doing his prop. It’s a slippery kind of anti-fouling epoxy mixture just for marine prop$. I think he paid well over $100 for enough to do his. He mixed up a bit too much and brought it over to us, then Arline and I got busy on our prop getting ready for the application. It really is an amazing product makes the prop slippery, pretty and marine growth is not suppose to like it. Arline thinks we picked up ½ a knot on our trip motoring to Stuart. Thanks Sid

I changed the hot water heater that leaked last year. The old one would not come out of the locker. Lucky for me I brought my Milwaukee saws all. Now the old one was round and the new one was square. I looked and planned for a full day to figure out how to take some wall apart so I could get it in. There is absolutely no where else on the boat it could go. Then I took a drawer out of the aft cabin to show Arline the heater and why it was taking so long. The drawer is full of tools and heavy, as it came out it dropped hard and came unglued, Busted.  BUT I could see the heater and a way for it to slide into the area. I just had to take the 2^nd draw out, cut a simple piece of the section between the two drawers out, then knock the back wall out of the drawer area, build a new platform under the heater after it was in place mind you, rework the plumbing, put the drawers and cabinet area back in and it was in,……All of this while blindfolded, one arm tied behind my back, on my stomach in the 80 plus degree heat. One of the hardest things I’ve done on the boat in a while. But it’s in and works great. Thanks Kasidah.

After the launch we rigged Kasidah for the season but this year we did all our shopping from Indiantown. We figured we’d leave the Jeep in Indiantown instead of bring it to Stuart and do our shopping there. We did our runs for canned goods, another for real food, frozen food, and another run for booze, and diving needs. A few trips also for parts and we were done. Happy not to have a car in Stuart, the parking here can be difficult and other than shopping we wouldn't need it here.

Our trip to Stuart was for the most part uneventful till after the lock when we were passed by another sailboat that came into the lock with us. After he was in front of us he went on the wrong side of one buoy then almost went down a channel that wasn't a channel. If he’d gone another 50 ft up the non-channel he would have been aground and going at hull speed he would have been quite far up on it. Thanks Crazy Ivan.

Sitting in Stuart is always a nice time, the breeze keeps the bugs away, it’s always cool at night and on days that the Canadians keep their weather to themselves, it is in the 80’s and mostly sunny. The solar panels are keeping the batteries charged, and on days when those Canadian’s let their cool air come here the wind generator kicks in. Downtown is a short walk away, with great priced restaurants and shops. The showers are great here, WiFi is less than so-so out on the boat, but good on shore near the office. All the cruisers here are looking at weather, studying charts and sharing plans and stories.

Today is a cool day and raining so Arline caught the marina bus to Wal-mart to get a few last item things, I hitched a ride with Sid and Kate to get more parts for Frankenmotor. It’s now going to be 15hp with parts from an ‘87, ‘77, and these new parts will throw in a little ‘82 also.

Last night when most of our friends and family were getting cold blowing record snow we got a pretty good blow too. I heard the wind generator kick up and I know the sounds it makes at different speeds and the corresponding out puts of electric. Doing a battery system check I saw 30 amps going into my batteries. With all the boat lights on, the inverter on for the computers and a refrigerator or 2 running this was record setting and maxed out.  

We are now looking at a weather window that might open up for Monday or Tuesday to cross the Gulf stream.

We will see if it holds or not.

 Weather rules here……………                                

Summer Recap.

I can not believe we are out of NY and headed to Kasidah. This summer was filled with so much that it will not be able to be covered in one post here. Facebook has been a little easier to let people know what is going on, but not in the detail that I know some of you like and I like to write about. Most of you that read this will all know the highs and the lows of the summer.

The highs include but are not limited to; 1^st grandson Cal arrived and we were there, both kids are doing extremely well in their careers and lives, another good year for Jae Bee Electric, especially our new marine division, our good health, summer home fun, no huge vehicle expenses, traveled and explored a bit, tennis was good, we had the largest number of visitors to the summer home we've ever had, the weather had been fairly good. Our fifth wheel summer home worked out great, my old Dodge work van got us through another season with just minor repairs. Great rides along some beautiful roads on the motorcycle.

 A great visit in Connecticut with a family gathering and what a great time we had,...nobody knows how to laugh like the Libby's. Not all are present in this photo and it's not a good photo of anybody but if you look at the faces and body language you know we were having a good laugh. Now, when you see Arline or I, remember to ask what we were laughing at and I promise you'll laugh with us.  Thanks Christopher,..   

                                                                           

The lows include but are not limited to; losing a few good friends and others in the fight for their life, Jill’s Audi was totaled in a simple rear end accident, my fears continue to grow that our country and our freedoms are in more trouble than they've ever been and we are again just one generation away from losing it all, I wasted 6 weeks or 1/5^th of my time in NY to earn money because of grand jury duty, I won’t brag about how much it cost me to serve, and they don’t care.

                              

Our many visits to the doctors for blood test, scans and full body skin check ended with pretty good results. I still have high blood pressure, boarder line high cholesterol and diverticulitis or something that sounds worst that what it is, my aches and pains have more to do with getting older and I need to watch what I eat a little better, we've all heard that.

Arline’s test results at first looked like she might have some major issues but in the end it ended up very good. They found she has Mitral Valve Prolapse which will be monitored, they removed several moles and one ended up being cancerous. They performed Mohs surgery removing all the bad tissue, after that, seventeen sutures and all is good till next May. This is a result of loving the sun as a teen and using baby oil to get the perfect tan. All she can say is 50 plus sunscreen if you like the outdoors. 

The cool air is starting to arrive.

We figured we should do an entry into the blog since its been awhile.

 Our summer in New York has gone by so fast and its hard to believe we're already packing for the trip south.

Relaxing with customers at Pleasant Beach

 

Fixing gauges and other stuff

We have been busy with work all summer between electrical jobs in the Tully area, Rochester, little Sodus, Adirondacks and Jon's mobile marine service.

We even have a chance

Changing inverter/charger

to do some work at a marina
 on the bay up north where we use to go for the summers next season, so we are looking forward to seeing and playing with old friends next year.
Thanks to all that came to say hi, it was great seeing all of you.

End of a nice Day

Talking with Scott @ Bayside Marina

Mary stopping to say Hi.

John and Margarette S/V Quicksilver  stop by

We have had
 many cruising friends
stop by this summer
 to say hi and
stay over a night
or two which
has been a lot of fun.
Thank
you all for stopping.

Rick and Charleen M/V Livin on the Hook

Alex and Mary stop by

Mark and Lynda S/V Rocinante II

Jon was called for six weeks of Grand Jury duty which no matter what your excuse is they don't care. You must report and do the time so that's what he is doing right now.
Out of all the jurors he is the only one that is self employed with no other income which will really put a damper on our cruising kitty but we will not let that get in the way. We will be staying till at least October 1st which should be just after the jury duty is over.
We are still trying to finish up our Doctor visits which may take a bit still. I will talk more about this in our next entry.

Amy is officially out of the military but now is in the Reserves which doesn't make to much of a difference since she will be still flying the same plane she use to fly and still out of the same place in Dover De. only difference is it will be her choice when to fly a mission.

Jill, Amy, Callen and Jeremy

I Just got back from staying with Jeremy and Amy for two weeks help with Cal so they could pack and get some last minute work stuff done before moving to there new home in Reading PA. this will be closer to us in the summers since it cuts the drive time in half. We may even consider that as our summer home in the future.

Cal

Gramma plays dressup with Cal

Cal and I had a great time for the two weeks I was there, it was a great bonding time for gramma and my little peanut. I can't wait to see him next, you forget how quick babies grow till you stay away for  awhile.      

Jon's new hand outs

Jon and I have started ordering our parts from the list we made in the spring for Kasidah,
some items that are checked 
off from the list are the Dive gear which has been serviced and ready for the season,this will be the first time we have brought it with us, the new wind instrument that flew off in the middle of the gulf stream and some koozies for Jon to pass out.