Memorial Day Weekend

You realize the boating season has officially begun when you see as many boats as were out this weekend. There were probably close to 75 if not more boats at Shell Island. We headed out to the island under motor as we wanted to give the gal some time to run for a semi extended time. As usual she ran like a charm. We set anchor at about noon on Saturday and by 2pm the place was packed. I have never seen so many sailboats at the island together. Ron and Sonja from S/V Conch Clipper slipped in next to us. Below is a picture of Tybee Time at anchor.

After lowering the dingy and hoisting the motor on it we realized we are still having problems with it. Or should I say problems with both. We had a few small leaks in the dingy and guess that the patch job didn't hold as we expected. A new one before we shove off is looking more likely. As far as the outboard goes its still sputtering and shutting off. So it made another trip home with us. Dirk took everything apart that he could and cleaned it. After putting it back together last evening it was running like a champ. Crossing fingers it will continue to do so. So we didn't do the usual run about in the dingy that we usually do. We only made two trips to the beach. The Gulf side was so rough that it was nearly impossible to swim. So we walked the beach and did the usual combing that occurs. Evenings were spent catching up with good friends, sun downers, and the consumption of way too much food. If this is the way it is when one starts cruising I can see we will both gain weight. But then when have you seen heavy cruisers. I guess exercise equals calories taken in. Plus I notice when you have had enough sun downers you really aren't in the mood to cook. Mental note "must bring plenty of dietary rum and gin" Below see Dirk on Conch Clipper enjoying his.
All in all it was a nice weekend and we ended up staying until Monday. Sunday was the only day that we ended up having any type of bad weather and that only lasted a brief time. But what a beautiful end to that day as we watched a beautiful sunset behind our dock neighbors boat S/V Miss Divine Em.
Monday after heading in we had gotten a call from the couple that sold us the boat. They were in town and so we spent that evening catching up with them. After wonderful conversation and food we finally called it an evening and headed back to the marina in preparation of packing up and heading home on Tuesday. Thanks Dan & Roxanne, we enjoyed it. I did happen to capture some video and as soon as I can figure how to get it from there to here I shall post some edited version.

Google searches & Sunsets

On our site here I have a tool called site meter. I added it as I like to see where our readers are located. It's nice to see a family member, who even though we don't keep in touch as much as we should, still pops in about once a week to read the blog. Thanks Kathy, I know your there. The site meter also tracks the referral that sent that person to our site. I know quite a bit of people that stumble on our site did so because they googled something and then were directed to our site for say "nav pod installation". I know I write about the new items we install on Tybee Time but I don't go into a lot of detail on the how's. Sometimes I feel I would bore a reader too much with too many details. Alas I feel I am boring readers until we make that cut from land and I can finally write with excitement about our travels and destinations. Hang in there readers, those days will come... I just want to say that if any readers have questions regarding the how's of any projects please feel free to leave a comment under the post with your question or you can e-mail us in the address provided in the upper left hand portion of the blog. Also we love getting comments and would love to get more. I wanted to provide a photo and the only ones I took this weekend was a sunset I happened to catch.This was taken from the cockpit overlooking the marina. What a beautiful sky. Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend and we have four days to relax and enjoy it. Here's hoping the weather is beautiful as we plan on anchoring out at Shell Island for a few days. Perhaps I will capture a decent video to let our readers see what a bit of our life is like on Tybee Time.

Speaking of sails

I had said before that we were waiting on CB Sails out of Panama City to come and measure for a new sail cover for us. Well Dirk was speaking to them about the cover as we have lazy jacks and what they make is a "lazy bag" for them. When we first had the boat surveyed last year the surveyor told us that we could probably get another good season out of our existing sail. Dirk and I had already decided that before we made the leap from land that we would make the big purchase of a new main sail. Thankfully he said something about this to them and they said they could not guarantee that the new sail would fit into the bag that they would make as it wouldn't fold up as tight. So Dirk told them to hold off so we could discuss it. After tossing around this and that we decided to bite the bullet and order our new sail now along with the new sail cover (lazy bag). Ouch, did I say ouch? I meant double ouch. That slimmed down the cruising kitty just a wee bit. But they said they would throw in a helm cover. Maybe Dirk should have pressed them and maybe we could have gotten our hatch covers done as well. Oh well... Speaking of hatch covers, Dirk has been trying to make a pattern that he is happy with. So much for me having to do the sewing. I have to say, the man can find his way around a sewing machine a lot better then I can. Below is a photo of Dirk trying to figure a pattern out with Butters seeing if he can offer any assistance.

Dirk did the installation of the final two hatches and he also replaced the ratchet system in them so that they will now stay open without having to tie them to the boom. First pic is of the old plexi glass window and the second is looking through the new lexan window. Wow, what a difference. We are still trying to finalize some of the major projects so that we can begin enjoying the summer aboard. Memorial Day weekend should be a good weekend for us and will also mark one year that we did our first overnight at Shell Island. Hoping to get some video so that I can try that function out on the blog. Till next time.....