Sunrise in Longboat Keys

Sunrise in Longboat Keys
Up Early & Ready To Go

Today’s adventure started before we left the anchorage, while bringing up the anchor it was noted that the steering wheel seemed to be frozen, in other words we had no steerage for a few minutes.  Upon further investigation we found that the autopilot button had been accidentally pushed, so thank goodness we were able to steer the boat again.  The picture above is this mornings sunrise, beautiful!  So we have another long run today 7 hours to Boca Grande, the seas are much better today 2 ft or less smooth sailing or motoring which ever is the case. My job for the day is navigating, watching for CRAB POTS and knitting.  So far so good, we have not hit any crab pots yet, although we do have line cutters now so in theory we should be ok if we do hit a pot.  Anyway it does help to keep us more focused on watching where we are going.  Sometimes it is looks like a checker board out here dogging pots. I tried to take a warm shower today but the water was not exactly hot yet and I did not want to waste too much just running it to make it hot, so a quick dip is all we needed. Living on a boat is different than land, you think about things like water usage and electricity.  We now have battery monitors to check and water tanks to keep full. And when you don’t have shore power, you also do not get to use the microwave or turn on the heater unless you either put the monitor or generator on which uses gasoline so you don’t want to use it unnecessarily. We are moving the boat long distances the next couple days while we have a clear weather window.  Wednesday it is supposed to rain again for a few days so we will want to hunker down somewhere for a while. We need to be in Miami by the 2nd week in Feb so we don’t have time to do too much exploring around. From Boca Grande we will head down to either Naples or Marco Island whichever we can get to easier.  Brad is busy monitoring everything on the boat, from what is the most efficient boat speed vs gasoline usage to the temperature of the engine at various times.  It is a numbers game for sure, I thought I was a detailed person but keeping track of everything is a full time job. The weather is better today, at least the sun is shinning but it is still cold for a tropical vacation, I even slept in my clothes last time and was quite comfortable. I think I will practice my piano after writing this blog. So far I have also written 2 articles for the food tour business: 1) 10 Best Restaurants in Carlsbad & 2) 20 Things to do in Carlsbad Summer 2016.  I will be writing more articles/blogs as we move along towards the Bahamas. Can’t wait to get to the sunny white sand beaches.  As for where we are going to store the boat next season, we are not really sure yet.  We have however left Pasadena Yacht Club, it was just a bit too expensive to keep the boat in the slip, especially since we are gone half the

year.  Plus we had to pay a certain amount of food at the club, a diver to clean the bottom and someone to wash the boat.  We will surely miss Cam the Dockmaster at PYCC he was a lot of help.  We loved having him watch over the boat, it was like it was his boat, he even washed it down when the birds would attach it.  It was harder to leave Cam then anything, he was always there for us.  Any questions we had about Florida or the Bahamas he knew the answers.  He also shared with us his foodie knowledge of the area so we could go to some of the best restaurants in town.  Thanks again Cam for all of your assistance while we were at PYCC, you’re a gem!  However due to finances and location we are moving the boat to the East Coast area of Florida to be closer to the Bahamas where we would like to spend most of our time. We already checked out St. Augustine and loved the town and the yard was ok too, so that is a possibility, but it is a 2 day run down to the Bahamas so I am not sure I want the boat to be that far away. St. Augustine has not had a hurricane in 20 years so it is pretty safe there but since the boat is going to be on the hard or out of the water as we none sailors say, it would probably be safe most anywhere.  The next spot we are going to check out is Key Largo in the Keys, they also have a Catamaran Yard.  That location would be ideal for trips to the Bahamas and the Keys, so we shall see how we like it and if it feels safe there.  I go back and forth as to which spot would be best because I do love the town of St. Augustine, so if we were stuck in town I would probably rather be there then in Key Largo where there is nothing to do.  But for boating, obviously Key Largo is the way to go.  Either spot is cheaper than bringing it back to the Yacht Club, but I am going to miss it.  They had a fabulous Chef that made all kinds of gourmet meals.  They also had an outside bbq area by the pool so on sunny days you could sit out there and eat.  Anyway, I guess that’s all for now, talk to ya again later.