Back to Harbortown

We had a great summer back in Minnesota. Along with seeing friends and family and enjoying our home, we did some really fun "bucketlist" stuff.  Saw the tall ships come into Duluth, went hot air ballooning (Liz only), paddleboarded, and rode on Segways.  One of our highlights was getting to play Harbor Host to Fred and Linda aboard their Great Harbor 37, Young America.  Not too many cruising boats make their way all the way up the Mississippi, so we were delighted that they did.  It was great to see them again and catch up on all their latest adventures.  Here's Young America cruising by our house on their way back downstream. 

 We got out in our 15' Boston Whaler a few times.  Here is our son Dan and his lovely dog, Aga, enjoying a perfect Minnesota summer day.

 Of course, there was plenty of boat projects along with home maintenence and gardening to do.We spent alot of time on our deck, watching the water, barges, tow boats and pleasure craft go by. 

 In October it was time to return to Shingebiss with van packed again to the roof ... this time we had to take the middle seats out to fit it all.  Stopped in Tennesee to see Jack and Nan and caught up with Brent and Susan at Green Turtle Bay.  Susan is an artist, she painted us a picture of our Roughwater last winter.  Just had to share this painting she did of abandoned boats in Georgetown, SC.  It's really amazing in person.

The boat was stored at Glades Boat Storage on the Okechobee Waterway.  Glades is not a marina, it is a boatyard and there is a difference.  Snowbirds store their boats for the summer, then have them moved into the DIY yard to get them ready for launching.  Steve sanded and painted new antifouling paint on the bottom.  Notice the old Chris Craft next to us. It was very hot, we spent half the day working, and the other half recovering. 

They allow you to live aboard in the yard, climbing up a 10' ladder to get on and off, with one 110v cord to run frig, and a few essentials.  There are some boaters there who have been building and/or restoring boats while living there for months to years.  Yikes !!  Here is Dirk, a refinishing expert and professional captain showing me how to sand the rust off a stainless steel strip on the hull of the boat.  Loaded with rust, I learned a new skill and it looks great now. 

 After a week in the yard, even Lucy was gazing at the waterway, wanting to get going.

 We got launched early one morning.  There's only a dock for a couple boats, so most folks fire it up and go.  We had a two day journey upstream on the Calusahatchee River, across Lake Okeechobee, downstream on the St. Lucie River, and north on the Atlantic Intracoastal to our temporary home in Fort Pierce. 

 

 We spent one night at Indiantown Marina, plugged into full power (and air conditioning).  It was a lovely cruise until we exited the St. Lucie Lock the next day and suddenly lost power.  For almost an hour, Steve tried everything he could think of to get us going again.  This Osprey put up a squawk as we drifted into his shoreline.

 This had NEVER happened with our old Mainship so I was trying not to "awfulize" when suddenly she started up again.  We were limping along, as she just wasn't sounding right, so we pulled into the fuel dock at American Marine to do more thinking and trouble shooting.  Steve had our fuel needs calculated to come into Harbortown almost empty because the biggest project this winter is to replace the fuel tanks.  The dipstick gauge was showing we had at least 40 gallons left, but it sure seemed to be out of fuel .... and oh, the generator wouldn't run either, same symptoms.  So we took on 30 gallons of diesel and voila !!!   All is well !!!  The boat gods were with us as we broke down below the lock rather than above, and then managed to actually get to that fuel dock without a tow.  Better late than never, we pulled into our new slip at Harbortown.  Our friend, Nigel, was here to meet us, he was the first person we met here last year, but most of the other snowbirds haven't arrived yet.  Last winter, Nigel and his first mate, Elizabeth, sailed their 41' sailboat all the way to Antigua/St. Kitts, so he's got plenty of sea stories to share.

The next day Nigel loaned us his van and we drove 2 hours back to the Glades to get our van.  We had been on the go since we left MN so took a couple of days to regroup and rest up.  Last night we took a swim in the pool, went up to the bar/restaurant to listen to steel drum musician and strolled the docks.  Today, I blogged and Steve started his first project, installing the refrigerator cabinet that he built back in MN.  There won't be any cruising news for a while, but I'll blog each week on what we've been up to as we continue "livin' the dream". 

First Roughwater Post


18 months out of the blogosphere, but I've decided to get back into blogging our cruising adventures. After selling the Mainship 34 in April of 2012, we began our serious search for a Roughwater 41. We knew it was the only boat within our price range that would satisfy our boat wish list ... but they are not that common, only made from mid 1970's to mid 1980's and almost all of them are on the west coast.  In June of 2012, we found our new boat on Craigslist (?!?), flew to Florida, had the boat surveyed, closed the deal, and cruised her to Indiantown Marina on the Ochechobee Waterway to be put on the hard for the remainder of the summer (hurricane season).  We returned home and spent the next three months studying the numerous photos we had taken, ordering boat parts and dreaming of our return.  October 1, we loaded the van  to the roof and drove down.  Within a few days we were safely tucked into a slip at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce and then the fun (ie. work) began.  The complete list of projects we completed by the New Year are too numerous to list, we worked 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week, a labor of love most of the time. I decided to forgo the blog thinking no one would want to read about motor mounts, shaft straightening, marine toilets, curtains, and alot of varnishing.  We spent our spare time commiserating, eating, laughing, and playing cards with Brett and Susan.  These fun folks are from MN, and had recently purchased their first cruising boat, a 42' Jefferson, and were working on her in anticipation of doing the Great Loop, which they are now currently doing.  Here they are at the restaurant at the marina.

We ushered in 2013 by picking up BFF's Sue and Ron from the airport for a one month cruise.  Our new dinghy arrived, we bought davits and motor from a sailor in the marina and rigged it all up.  We set off for our "shake down cruise", west on the the Okeechobee Waterway, south to the Florida Keys for a month's stay and then back up the Atlantic Intracoastal to Harbortown ... sometimes called the "Little Florida Loop".  We had our fair share of issues, electrical, fuel, and others.  There were moments when Steve wished he had his old Mainship back ... this one is like starting over with every system, repair, and improvement.   But the weather was gorgeous and we were enjoying the room, storage, and comfort of the new boat and being able to have friends join us.  Here we are heading into Fort Myers, thanks to Looper friend Tom for taking this from his condo.  Ain't she lovely.

We hooked up to a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon for a month.  It's a low cost way to enjoy this fun cruising town.  There are lots of sailboats headed for the Bahamas and Great Looper Trawlers enjoying the Florida winter, along with folks who live full time on their boats. 

We explored the island, rode in the dinghy and just enjoyed.  The last time we stayed in Marathon we were in a Marina, but wanted to see what it was like to spend a month on a ball.  On the Roughwater, no problem.  Sue and Ron went back to Miami airport via the Keys Shuttle and a week later Jack and Nan (readers may remember them as our Gibson 37 cruising buddies during our Great Loop) shuttled on down for a week long cruise back to Harbortown via the Atlantic Intracoastal.  First we all attended a Looper Gathering at Banana Bay in Marathon, an annual event, and had a great time reuniting with more looping friends.

Our cruise up the Keys and through the Miami/Fort Lauderdale megapolis was trouble free.  We discovered a new anchorage right across from downtown Miami called Miami Marine Stadium.  Here we are in the dinghy, going to see the abandoned stadium. 

Built in 1963 on a huge man made harbor on Virginia Key to host powerboat races and concerts on barges, the stadium was abandoned after 30 years following Hurricane Andrew and has really fallen into disrepair.  It is considered a Miami Landmark, however, and there is a movement afloat to restore and reopen it.  Meanwhile, the harbor remains a peaceful and popular place for an overnight anchorage with a great view of the Miami lights at night.

 

 

Back in Fort Pierce, we continued to enjoy this great Marina and town.  Our final adventure of the cruising season was driving to Tampa and boarding the Norwegian Dawn with all 5 of my sisters adult children and their spouses/SO's.  Our first time on a big cruise ship, organized by the "kids" so we could all be together while we are all still healthy.  

 

Here we are in our tiaras and formal wear.  Copied from facebook, this pic gets real blurry when I enlarge, but you get the idea.  We went to the western Carribean and had a blast.  In early April, we had the boat lifted and stored for the summer and returned to our home in MN.  Here she is coming out of the water at Glades Boat Storage on the Okeechobee Waterway.

 So that's a condensed version of our first season on the new boat.  Welcome back, thanks for reading, and please stay tuned.  Our cruising plans this season include going to the Bahamas, so we'll have some new adventures to share.