One of Many milestones marked

I know It's been a while since my last post but there is good reason. As cruising goes, I think that a major milestone in ones life is when you first make that decision that this is the lifestyle that you want. How one achieves that can be handled many ways. Dirk and I had power boats in the past and we loved them because they got us where we wanted to be in a timely manor. We loved going out in the gulf fishing or to the Island for an afternoon of fun. It wasn't until we met a couple people at our marina that had sail boats that we even considered owning one ourselves. This is about the time in our lives when we started considering a sailboat because it broadened our scope of what can be done. Our lives changed when we purchased our boat. We have spent thus far a year doing up grades and making her ready to be our home when we depart this land life in less then a year. I know that sounds like a long time to some but it is passing very quickly. Another milestone one has to pass is what to do with your home when you decide to cruise. Some people decide to rent their home, others decide to sell. In this day when the housing market is a bit on the shaky side Dirk and I decided that we would try and sell but do it a little over a year out. This way we don't get into a situation next year where we are ready to go but the house didn't sell. So in April of this year we listed the house with the knowledge we had time on our side. Little did we realize that someone would decide they wanted it now. Wow, what do we do now. So on July 31st, we closed on our home and handed the keys over to what seem like wonderful people. So now we have made the first major downsize to happen before next year. Two storage units and a garage full needs to be gone through and decisions made. Since we have no set time limit as to how long we will cruise we really don't know what we should keep. I really felt like it would be very difficult selling our home which we put so much into but I'm finding that with each day getting us closer to our goal that I'm really beginning to focus on the future and the life it will bring us. So now that we have sold our home and moved, we can now resume our weekend life on Tybee Time. Its been about 4 weeks since we were on her and I believe this weekend will be spent with a lot of R & R.

A week and a half of fun,sun,sailing & work

Finally made it home and settled in after staying on Tybee Time for nine days. When we arrived at the docks we were greeted with the sight of our brand new sail cover all nice & pretty.
Wow, what a difference. Too bad the weather was so bad the first few days and we weren't able to take her out and sail. By about Tuesday we made our way into the bay and hoisted the sail. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and we got next to no winds. We still motor sailed around a bit and sat admiring the new sail. We both agreed, we are very happy with it. Dirk also finished up installing the new batteries. Boy what a job that was, hauling four batteries down the docks, up on the boat and then seeing poor Dirk dealing with them under the berth in the back of the boat. I truly expected his back to protest the next morning, but he seemed fine. He also finished wiring the windlass. As I had said before, Dirk installed a battery under the vee berth dedicated to the windlass alone. From there he ran wire from the battery to the charger. We actually took the boat out to Shell Island on the 4th of July and used it to anchor. Everything seems to be working great. After a few other wiring projects Dirk now says that he is officially wired out for a while. I can't blame him and shall give him the well earned break he deserves. As I said, we did head out to Shell Island on the 4th for a little fun in the sun. As is usually the case on holidays the Island was full to the max with rental pontoons and jet skies zipping in and out passing much to closely to our boat. Why do they do that? Geeze, I don't mind people going out and having fun but come on. Ron & Sonja from Conch Clipper anchored out next to us and we headed to the Island for a little water time. We decided we really didn't want to fight our way back to marina after the city fireworks display so we headed back into the marina and watched the various shows from the boat. Afterwards we headed to the ramp to watch with amusement as the overly indulgent people attempted to pull their boats. I guess we are easily entertained. Saturday morning our neighbors from up in Alabama came down to meet us for a little fun in the sun. We have been trying to get them down to Panama City for about 6 months now but it just hadn't worked out. Their son was turning six on Sunday so we all thought a day on the boat would be a nice treat. Of course the kids were excited and seemed to enjoy it when we let them steer the boat. Here is Erik steering with sister Tosca looking on.
We headed out to Shell Island and tried to go over to the gulf side but the algae in the water was so bad you couldn't pick your hands up without several strands of it being stuck to you. It wasn't sea weed, it was light green algae, Ick. Back over to the bay side. As the day was ending we headed back to the marina for a wonderful dinner cooked aboard. It was a perfect evening all the way around. So much so that we broke open a wonderful bottle of scotch we had gotten as a gift and enjoyed it along with wonderful conversation.
It was the first time we had six people, four adults and two children staying overnight. We are happy to report that it seemed everyone slept decent and un-crowded except the fact that Butters (our cat) was trying to bunk with everyone. At 17.5 pounds you tend to feel when he is walking on you or plops down on top of you at night. Sunday we took the kids to St. Andrews State Park and spent most of the day perfecting our sunburns and hunting for critters in the jetties. Unfortunately after that we had to head back to the boat and do the dreaded clean up and head home. When I say we were whipped that day would be an understatement. But what a wonderful end to a wonderful week. Thank you Frank and Claudia, we had a wonderful time. So all in all we had a full week of work, fun, and relaxation. I think I could get use to this.

New Sail being installed this week

Wow, here it is mid-June already. It seems like we haven't accomplished a whole lot this month on the boat, yet by the end of the month a few big projects will be completed and removed from the list. Of course as you remove one item you add three more. Last month Dirk started the project of installing the new windless. He built a shelf and brackets under the vee berth for the battery that will power it to be installed on. He has installed the circuit breaker and now only has to run a few more wires and install the battery. Last week West Marine had a good sale on their Deep Cycle Batteries so we decided to purchase all new ones for the boat. Our existing ones are about 6 years old and need replacing anyway. We could do it in a year or do it now while they were on sale. Right now we have two house batteries, and one start battery. When finished we will have one start, three house, and one to run the windless. We have also been shopping around for a wind generator and mounting pole. It wont be quiet enough power to run a small city on, but it should be enough for our needs without having to charge up the batteries with the gas generator or starting the engine too often. A few things that I wanted done for comfort rather then necessity was a new water faucet in the galley and some spice racks. My galley sinks are rather deep yet fairly small across. The faucet only stands about 4 inches above the opening. If you have something such as a pot to fill or something to wash that is too big for the sink you tend to get water everywhere.
So after much looking I found a bar faucet that we installed. Why is it that something that should take 20 minutes to do turns into a days project. First we removed the manuel hand pump leading from the refrigerator as I needed to make room for the new faucet. I think it was for when it was just an ice box. This way as the water melted you pumped it down the drain. Now that it has been changed into a refrigerator we no longer need it. So we had a hole left behind. We took the starboard material, actually I used a cutting board I purchased. Its much cheaper and seems like it is the same stuff, used that to cover the hole up with. Then mounted the faucet on top of that. We will be adding a new foot pump in the future to bring in saltwater to the sink. This way I can have the saltwater to wash my dishes and thus save my fresh water for rinsing. Three hours, two of us, and several burises later, the faucet was installed.
I wanted spice racks added to the little wall space I have in the galley. I told Dirk that I would build them. They seemed simple enough to do. I measured for them and Dirk did the inital cutting. After a lot of trial and error I finally finished them. All fingers still intact to boot. It would have been so much easier to go out and buy a spice rack yet with the odd size wall space I had to work with it wasnt that easy. I could have gone to a marine place and spent 45.00 for teak spice racks that would work, but I'm just not willing to pay that kind of price. So below is the racks I built out of red oak, and varnished to seal them.
Not too bad for my first wood working project. Last, but not least. Dirk and I removed the old lazy bag and sail to make room for the brand new sail and lazy bag system to be installed on the boat this week. Cant wait to see it on the boat next time we go down. Below is what ours looks like now.
The zipper does not work anymore as the material is all torn. So we have to wrap it up with rope to keep it closed. Doesnt work so well and it allows water to get in and cause the sail to grow green stuff. So if all goes well we should be able to try the new sail out over the 4th of July weekend.

Still playing with the video program

Okay, so I'm still playing around with the new video program. I dug up some older video of Dirk and I diving in the Cayman Islands. One of the reasons that we love the water is because we are divers and can do this along with the enjoyment of cruising. I can just picture us going along and just throwing out the anchor to do some underwater exploration. Some people have told us about the deck mounted or floating air compressors. As much as I would love to have one of the "super snorkels" have you seen the price of them? So I guess we will just go along and fill the tanks when ever we can. So anyway, this short video shows us mainly at the Turtle Farm on Grand Cayman. It is right off the Turtle Farm and so all the run off goes right into the ocean here. Its seems to be nutrient rich and thus it attracts much sea life. The last part of the clip is taken off the beach of our hotel. About 25 yards off the beach there is what they call the mini wall in about 45 feet of water. It drops off to about 65 feet. This in turn leads you to the big wall which drops off to 6000 feet. The entire Island is surrounded by this wall. The deepest we dove was about 130 feet. The water is so clear you don't realize just how deep you are. I learned to keep an eye on my dept meter.

Memorial Day Video

Well I said I would post a video as soon as I could figure it all out. Dirk actually bought me a new program so that I can make movies, edit and do some really cool things with. I just started playing with it today and this is what I managed to do. Didnt realize how difficult it was to edit and get rid of all the extra stuff. But I guess I will learn. Lots of info to take in but it should be fun. This is just a small clip of being at anchor at Shell Island doing a walk-through of the boat and a small bit of a sunset. I realize I will get better at this, I cant see that I could actually get any worse.

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.