Deja Vu

Here we are back in Indiana.  Since the last post we have done a lot of exciting things: (1) We drove over to Green Cove Springs, FL for the first time to look at a Whitby 42, (2) the sunset dinner with a HAM radio friend, W3RX, was a real treat, (3)  visiting Steve in Marathon and Roger in Miami was quite interesting, (4) re-visiting a Irwin 43 we were shown in Green Cove Springs, visiting grandson Mitch in GA and (6) making an offer on Con El Viento.  I will write a paragraph on each subject but this will take some time since there are pictures to be added and the new WordPress 3.9 is supposed to handle drag and drop so I first need to get the pictures on this machine. Our winter past time in FL has been to look at boats, more specifically boats that you can live aboard and do a little cruising in FL, Bahamas and The Keys, so our search has been Pearson 424, Whitby 42 and more recently Irwin 43. A Whitby 42 took us to Green Cove Springs which is about 3 hours NE of St. Petersburg.  The Whitby did not suit SAM’s fancy so the broker showed us an Irwin 43.  SAM immediately liked the airy interior and I like the enclosed cockpit.  The Irwin was quite a departure from my ideal boat so I had to think real hard about what we would really be doing with a boat.  Our boat must be a live aboard that has sufficient fuel and water to stay on the hook for at least a week or two severed from dry land, have airconditioning for the impossible nights, a genset to power the aircon and be a solid coastal cruiser with occasional open water passages in fair weather but stron enough to handle the occasional blow on open waters.  In the end, I reluctantly had to agree that a blue water cruiser would not be our next boat and that an Irwin 43 would probably be a better boat for our use.  It is all a matter of compromises.  So, I came to the conclusion that we would need to see Con El Viento again in a few weeks if she was not purchased by some other lucky person.  Here is a link to Irwin 43 specifications .  And here is a picture of the type.

Over the ham radio via IRLP I met a node owner in the are in which we stay in St. Petersburg.  After a few weeks we were invited to his place on the beach for a light dinner and a walk on the Treasure Island Beach.  We had a good time with Steve and his girl friend.  His repeater is kept in top-notch condition and the same applies to the IRLP node.  The visit ended too soon and we counts this as one of our highlights for the trip.  Any ham can look up W3RX and even see his beach cam.  On a similar note, we met Fred & Karen Beck down on Longboat Key while they were down.  We saw several sights and toured some real expensive homes (the home hostess was quite gregarious, entertaining and a genuine nice person.  Quite an eye opener all-in-all and arrived tired but happy.

Marathon, FL (Vaca Key) was a winter destination.  We took the whole rig down there and stayed in Steve B’s front yard.  The car and bikes came in quite handy and we rode them on 7 mile bridge several times plus used the car to get around.  Last year we really missed having the car there.  It is interesting that our camper just fits between two of Steve’s palm trees perfectly.  We are connected to power so we had all the facilities to stay a long time.  However, by tradition we stay only a week so we get invited back but I think SB would tollerate us for a bit longer. We were introduced to a wonderful fresh fish shop.  We returned several times and bought shrimp, tuna and other.  Prices were very good.  It is a definite must return place.  We toured the marinas in preparation to the days when we will take our boat down there for a couple of months in the coldest parts of the winter.  We like the mooring in the city marina for about $350/month so here is the webcam of the moorings.

After leaving Steve B’s Atlantic ocean front beauty we proceeded up to Miami to Larry & Penny Tompson RV Park near the Miami Zoo on SW 184th to meet up with Roger S, who like Steve B was an old D&L workmate, fo his daughter’s 1 year birthday party  – Latino Style. There were about 100+ people at the party, some from Roger’s side and most from Cecilia’s side: Pinata, lots of presents and great food. The wind was up and it was hard to contain the table coverings and decorations.  Coincidentally, the party was the same park where we were staying so we rode the bicycles over early to help with the setup.  After the party (for us at least) we rode back to the campground and had a good rest.  WE STARTED TO PACK for the trip North to  St. Pete. Life is always good in South Miami.

The trip north was interesting.  After reaching Fort Lauderdale, Florida and onto I75 West than we needed to stop for fuel. This proved to be a big deal since they had blocked off major areas of the filling station. Wow – we sweated for a half hour inching forward at an opportunity and finally everything opened up so I made a tight turn and two then just sort of took off with SAM running behind and finally jumped on the running board and we were off again on the cross Florida I75. Whew – this was the closest call we have had to getting stuck with our rig in a very small station area.

The rest of the trip to St. Petersburg was long but uneventful and we arrived back at M’s house, dropped the car then the dolly and moved everything into place at the home QTH of the winter.  This leads us into the final phase of the winter event and this is a BIG DEAL.

As we made preparations for the trip back home to NE Indiana we were conversing with the broker for the Irving 43 and we set up a schedule to stop by Green Cove Springs again.  This time the owner were on board of Con El Viento and wanted to meet with them.  An uneventful trip to GCS brought us to the marina camground so we hooked up, set up the site and headed out to eat a southern style bbq.  Afterwards – quite stuffed – we hit the hay and had a pretty good sleep.  At 0700 we were awakened to a general hubub of activity and sure enough the workers for the building of the steel big boat started. I was sort of in dreamland so managed to remain horizontal until 0800 hrs.  I got up and heated some previously made oatmeal then added walnuts, cranberries and raisins all topped off with Fall Season honey ( the honey has a distinctive rural flavor that is hard to describe but has a pungent, eucalyptus aroma).

By then SAM was awakened and we started the day with promises of visiting our future boat.  I can only say we had a great day of bike riding to pier 11 and lunch at Brickyard Cafe and this was memorable in a positive sense.  The Brisket was wonderful as was the chicken and pork.  It was well worth the $ in a downtown quaint atmosphere of sidewalk cafe style.  We were so stoked with everything as to be overwhelmed and not ready to be treated as Kings and Queens by the owner of our future boat.

We finally met up with then about 1830 hrs – they were at a dock party as we rode by on our bicycles – and they introduced us to all their Canadian friends just back fro a winter in Bahamas.  From there it just degraded into an affair with our future boat.  By the time the evening all our doubts were gone and serenity reigned as we made our way back to the camp site.  We were stoked and that is an understatement.  The Host and Hostess were quite gracious, intelligent and informed.

With the coming of dawn and the work activity we started to get ready to pack out on our trip North.  We were on the road on schedule about 0900 under clear, warm and dry skies.  The trip North to Florence Marina State Park was pretty much uneventful.  These were beautiful stretches of road in rural Florida and Georgia and for the most part were quite good roads.  We arrived at the park on schedule in the afternoon and quite whipped.  We set up camp and after a few FUBAR’s were ready for a wee nap.

We had a great visit and hike with Mitch and SAM made a good meal for all of us.  We separated happy for the events and plans for Sunday treks.  For us it was a Home Run of 16 hours with bad traffic stops and rough I65 roads via Nashville.  For Mitch it was church, study and sometime with friends. (continuing)