Wow, time flies. Two summer seasons have passed, and now we are into a second winter and not quite ready to take to the seas.
This is where it all began, the next phase of our gypsy lifestyle. We arrived in Panama City, Fl at our marina home, and were so grateful to have arrived in one piece. The transmission was “dubious” as Captain Ed described it. We sailed as long as we could and came around the marina entrance to find another boat still occupying our slip. We didn’t mind too much because the marina was kind enough to rent out our slip and give us a 50% credit on our rent. We slipped onto the transient lay along dock without issue and were greeted by our dock mates.
This is us once we were home, we used Li'l Maur, our 13 ft. Boston Whaler a lot while at the marina, to buzz over to Shell Island and the beach.
We were exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. We had been on an adventure of our lifetime, I got to see the Bahamas for the first time, in our own vessel on under our own schedule. I learned so much about sailing, mostly about following orders and communicating with my partner and my captain. The most important thing I learned is that I have so much more to learn.
But first, we need to re-enter the work force. We need to pay some debt and fill the cruising kitty. I needed to take a trip to Arkansas to visit with my children and grandchildren. Ed decided to return to the work he did at Home Depot, in the merchandising division. He applied, but was only offered a job in SW Florida, Sarasota area, 400 miles away. The job was managing a Reset Team on the overnight shift. We decided he would take the job and see how it goes for a year.
We looked at marinas, and man, they were expensive that far south. And slips were hard to come by, even with as little as a 5 foot draft. I did lots of research in the area, and we took a road trip to field it out. We decided to bring Manatee to a nice protected anchorage just east of Saint Andrews Marina and anchor her there on two hooks, one off the bow and the other off the stern. Reluctantly we kept her there for the year while we set up home in a Mobile Home and RV Park in Nokomis, Fl.
Manatee at Massolina Bayou, on two hooks.
Living in our 26 ft. travel trailer in a Retirement Community where snowbirds flock to every fall and disappear every spring was interesting, kinda fun. The park was a mere 1.25 miles over a small drawbridge to Nokomis Beach, one of the best beaches I have ever been to. Ed bought me a great beach cruiser bike and I was a happy camper. Ed on the other hand persevered through his internal commitment to give this job a year, and barely made it. Being such a “day" person, it almost broke him to leave for work at 6:00 pm and not return home until 8-10 am the following morning and not getting his so-needed sleep. As much as we could, we would pack it up and drive the 9 hours to Panama City to visit Manatee and to reassure ourselves she was okay. We were able to visit and have fun with Roger and Genie onboard “Tranquility III”, since Saint Andrews Marina was their home port. We occasionally were able to meet up with Steve and Erica from NW Arkansas when they came down to visit their beloved vessel “Soul Mate”.
Before we knew it, we were into another summer season and another couple of trips to Arkansas for family fun. I spent the month of July in Fayetteville, hanging with Erin and Anna and doing the “Grandma” thing.
Before we knew it, we were into another summer season and another couple of trips to Arkansas for family fun. I spent the month of July in Fayetteville, hanging with Erin and Anna and doing the “Grandma” thing.
During the month I was gone, Ed decided he was finished with the corporate world of working and resigned. His plan was to work temporary merchandising jobs and continue that while collecting Social Security in September. Yay for 62!
I returned from Arkansas to planning a sailing trip from the Panhandle to Venice Florida. We would be relocating Manatee to an anchorage close to the RV Park where we can have her close as we decide what our next steps would be. We decided that we had a sailboat and we had the time, so transmission or not, we were going. Roger and Genie on board Tranquility III were ready for a short trip, so they decided to buddy sail south with us. We left out early on Wednesday, July 19th after stocking up the boat with food, water, fuel and adult drinks. We held our breath as we slipped the throttle into Forward to go under the Massolina Road Bridge to get out of the anchorage. It worked and we were on our way. Roger and Genie met us at the St. Andrews Pass and shortly after raising their sails, they slowed down as if they were having a problem. They were. They were taking on water in their engine room! Yikes! They had to stop, pump out as much water as they could, and try to figure out where the water was coming from. We proceeded on to Saint Josephs Bay and they took a slip at the marina there. We had to keep going. They discovered the bilge pump that was put in not long ago was lacking a non-return valve and water just gushed in every time they heeled over! They got it fixed and made their way south to meet up with us for a short visit a week or so later.
Tranquility III
We had a nice trip, entering the Venice Inlet at daybreak. It was the best crossing I have had yet. Nice weather, although hot. It took us approximately 21 hours.
Dinner
We had company in the Gulf on our way to Blackburn Point
Approaching Venice Inlet, at daybreak
Opening one of the bridges in Venice
Anchored close to home
Manatee as seen close to the road
Happy on Manatee
We still weren't happy having Manatee anchored a few miles away. It was a rather shallow anchorage, and not very large. Within a month of settling in Tropical Storm Gert came to visit. We woke up (in the camper) to the news of the storm gathering strength and very close. We immediately made our way to Manatee and rode out the storm in the cockpit. The anchors held, but we still did not have a warm and cozy feeling about her being there as our live continued on land.
So we made a decision to return to liveaboard status and searched out a marina. We found Royal Palm Marina in Englewood and secured a slip. We spent the last weekend in August moving Manatee and using public transportation to complete our move. We found a storage facility to put the camper until we sold her. We decided we didn't want to deal with the upkeep and maintenance of it any longer. We settled ourselves in and was basking in the beauty of living aboard when we were alerted of "Irma" lurking and growing bigger and stronger. We were advised (only two days after arriving) that due to the size and severity of the storm soon to be hurricane, we had to vacate the marina. Man! I had just taken all my possessions out of the camper and stored everything away in the boat. Our fate was uncertain at that time, Ed had to quickly find dry storage or we were going to have to take her to the mangroves off the ICW, tie her off and hope for the best. Luckily Ed "nice talked" the owner of Safe Cove in Port Charlotte who agreed to haul Manatee out if we got there within 48 hours. Those were the longest days of my live I think. It was 95 degrees out and we had to hustle our butts off to get Manatee ready and get her down the waterway. It took us 2 days with our dubious transmission, but we got there. We arrived too late for them to haul out that day, and the Hurricane was now approaching with a bullseye right for us. We took the chance and secured Manatee for the night at the transcient dock. The boatyard would haul her first thing in the morning. It was 10:00 pm. We took a hotel room and got up at the crack of dawn and hooked up the camper to head north. We were in all the evacuation traffic getting out of Florida. We left our camper at friends' RV Park in Enterprise Alabama, rented a car and drove up to Arkansas to the kids' homes. We watched Irma hit Florida, just after we watched her take a sharp right hand turn and avoided the area where the boatyard and Manatee was. We were very fortunate not to have lost her. We took our time returning south in the camper. We stopped at Georgeanne's house in Melbourne and helped her out for a couple of weeks. We had an opportunity to visit with Ursula and Doug on SV Island Explorer in Ft. Pierce. (We met them in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands)
October 2017 with Doug and Ursula DuToit
We had a nice trip, entering the Venice Inlet at daybreak. It was the best crossing I have had yet. Nice weather, although hot. It took us approximately 21 hours.
Dinner
We had company in the Gulf on our way to Blackburn Point
Approaching Venice Inlet, at daybreak
Opening one of the bridges in Venice
Anchored close to home
Manatee as seen close to the road
Happy on Manatee
We still weren't happy having Manatee anchored a few miles away. It was a rather shallow anchorage, and not very large. Within a month of settling in Tropical Storm Gert came to visit. We woke up (in the camper) to the news of the storm gathering strength and very close. We immediately made our way to Manatee and rode out the storm in the cockpit. The anchors held, but we still did not have a warm and cozy feeling about her being there as our live continued on land.
So we made a decision to return to liveaboard status and searched out a marina. We found Royal Palm Marina in Englewood and secured a slip. We spent the last weekend in August moving Manatee and using public transportation to complete our move. We found a storage facility to put the camper until we sold her. We decided we didn't want to deal with the upkeep and maintenance of it any longer. We settled ourselves in and was basking in the beauty of living aboard when we were alerted of "Irma" lurking and growing bigger and stronger. We were advised (only two days after arriving) that due to the size and severity of the storm soon to be hurricane, we had to vacate the marina. Man! I had just taken all my possessions out of the camper and stored everything away in the boat. Our fate was uncertain at that time, Ed had to quickly find dry storage or we were going to have to take her to the mangroves off the ICW, tie her off and hope for the best. Luckily Ed "nice talked" the owner of Safe Cove in Port Charlotte who agreed to haul Manatee out if we got there within 48 hours. Those were the longest days of my live I think. It was 95 degrees out and we had to hustle our butts off to get Manatee ready and get her down the waterway. It took us 2 days with our dubious transmission, but we got there. We arrived too late for them to haul out that day, and the Hurricane was now approaching with a bullseye right for us. We took the chance and secured Manatee for the night at the transcient dock. The boatyard would haul her first thing in the morning. It was 10:00 pm. We took a hotel room and got up at the crack of dawn and hooked up the camper to head north. We were in all the evacuation traffic getting out of Florida. We left our camper at friends' RV Park in Enterprise Alabama, rented a car and drove up to Arkansas to the kids' homes. We watched Irma hit Florida, just after we watched her take a sharp right hand turn and avoided the area where the boatyard and Manatee was. We were very fortunate not to have lost her. We took our time returning south in the camper. We stopped at Georgeanne's house in Melbourne and helped her out for a couple of weeks. We had an opportunity to visit with Ursula and Doug on SV Island Explorer in Ft. Pierce. (We met them in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands)
October 2017 with Doug and Ursula DuToit
We returned to the boat yard after a month of making our way back south in the camper. We put the camper up for sale again (we had a pending sale but lost it due to the storm). We were lucky enough to be granted live aboard at the boat yard.
Karma was telling us we needed to take advantage of the time on the hard and see about getting the transmission fixed, and why not do a bottom job as well? So we stayed there for 3 months, until December 15th.
We decided to keep going, and did the top sides as well.
Rebuilt Transmission!!
SPLASH DOWN!
FLOATING AGAIN
While we were on the hard and spending money on Manatee, an opportunity presented itself. Ed was securing a permanent part time position doing Merchandise Resets with Winn Dixie (a grocery store chain) and I was asked if I might want a job as well. Ed promised me it was easy work to do and I could easily do the job. So we accepted the positions and now we are able to work together, only requiring one vehicle, and have the same schedule. It was easy to say yes, as we needed the income to recover from all the work we did on Manatee this year.
A full year has passed since we took the positions and we love the job. It has worked out well for us. We have been taking long weekend trips to nearby anchorages and using Manatee as much as time, weather and the Red Tide allows us.
We had time off at the holidays and went to Arkansas to be with family for Thanksgiving. We planned a trip to Key West for the Christmas Break. We had a total of 32 days off, so our plan is to work on the boat for a week, then leave out of Boca Grande Inlet on December 17 and arrive in Key West on the 19th, just ahead of a big blow that was forecast for 20th.
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