Poco a Poco

Hear ye!  Hear ye!
Fiesta is now officially christened and registered in Neptune's deep sea ledgers----blessings for fair winds shall ensue!

Our good friend and favorite mentor/advisor/broker/orchid-loving-guru and salty sailor Mike Fauser joined us on this landmark day! 





Thanks to Rob Wolff in Virginia Beach, VA for the dedicated (and excellent by the way) bottle of Kampfschwimmer (German version of military Special Ops) branded champagne!

And to further celebrate....we can happily announce that we are not "dinghy-less" any more!  We are the proud owners of a new 9ft Caribe with a 6HP Tohatsu motor!  Yamaha outboards proved to be illusive to attain for us....so we continue to follow a motto of "the path of least resistance" (and least cash).  We also chose a 6HP for it's smaller size and weight....it's 57 lbs versus a 9.9HP at 81 lbs.  
This Caribe rigid-inflatable already weighs in at 115 lbs with a fiberglass hull.....so far so good.  You can see Fiesta in her slip with the beige cloth sail-cover in the background above Tim.

Our dinghy has been dubbed "Speedy" after the crazy lil Looney Tunes mouse 

Speedy Gonzales---

although, at 6HP it's more like Speedy's cousin, Slow Poke Rodriguez....

"slow in the feet, but not in la cabeza".  That's ok....we're not in a hurry.

Andele! Andele Arriba!

There's been so much that has been achieved in the last 3 months, that can now be seen on Tim's latest video "Sailboat Search"

Today is Valentines.  And guess what we gave each other?

A brand new 44# Rocna Anchor 

High-strength alloy steel with hot-dipped galvanize....

Narrow shank profile for deep penetration, wide fluke and chisel tip for high holding power

ooooh, baby......Happy Valentines Day**wink

It's not red, but it looks like a heart.

Poco a poco we are pulling the remaining  pieces together to our close approaching 

take-off date around the first of March....thanks for dropping in!

Dinghy or dingy

In our North American nautical world, a "dinghy" is any small boat powered by oars, sail or outboard motor....and then there's "dingy" which is similar to ditzy....less than average common sense with a lack of focus.  This is exactly what researching and purchasing a "dinghy" has done to me......it is totally driving me dingy.....kind of like Dory from Finding Nemo.

There is a wide variety of inflatable rubber dinghies out there.....you got your AB's....Achilles.....Carib.....Zodiac.....Walker Bay......Avon.....do-da, do-da (do you hear Dory singing here?)  And then there's a decision of size----9 ft or 10ft (yep, it does matter) and a motor decision of what horse power 9.9HP or 15HP....we'll go with Yamaha as it's prevalent in the Caribbean for parts and repairs....and then there's the co$t of course that is choking us. 
Though we don't possess a dinghy...yet, as of today anyway.....we can proudly boast of our new stainless steel MarTek Davits.  

MarTek motto:  Towing your dinghy is a drag

Davits are the metal brace arms extending off the stern (or back) of the boat to lift and carry your dinghy.  We found a new friend, Kevin the owner of the MarTek Davit company and succesfully traded him a davit installation job on our boat for an official Tim Reeves Video on how to install your davits--don't ya love barter?  Check it out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE-5dJzkuqc

So davits are the first step----but it's kind of like having a garage....*sigh*.....without a car and it's motor = dinghy-less.....oh well, as Dory sings....we'll "just keep swimming" until a dingy dinghy decision is made....stay tuned.

One of the big events of the week was the removal of the boat name "Grateful"...hanging on a swim platform over marina water.....while holding a heat gun and peeling two decades of lettering off.    And then, applying the new sticky vinyl lettering.....ta-da!  

The champagne ceremony and celebration are soon to follow

Viva la Fiesta!

Ahoy Senor Tim and neighbor Frank!

Always time for a Friday night sunset dock party....whew, 19 sailors and 1 donated large bottle of tequila under one bimini....woah.

Lost at sea? Not yet.

I know----this blog has bogged down, as many of you have asked if we're lost at sea yet....sorry for the delay in postings.....I just really don't know where the days go.  I wake up to the sound of blackbirds chatting (and sh**ing) on the neatly lined up fleet of boats across the marina....

....including our regular village Osprey (named Oliver) that watches over us every night....he's really cool and forgiven by most of us when he leaves a calling card on deck.

 

Happy hour with the dock mates

...and then, before I know it----it's HAPPY HOUR!  jeez, what's a working sailor to do?  

The proverbial list of things "to do" seems to get longer....and mind you, these are not fluffy things to do like bake cookies or clean the head...these are vital to survival for us to cast off.
Some items have been on the list since day one.....things just take lots of time to complete around here.  And though we come from the land of mañana----where the definition is actually "not today"....alot of this stuff takes research and then patience.  

Underneath the dual anchors on the bow sprit, we'll be replacing a cracked bracket that holds the "bobstay"----- integral for the mast to stay upright. 

 

One morning found us venturing up into an acrophobic's worst nightmare.....Tim replaced a missing screw mid-way up  on the mast light and inspected the cross-spreader boot ends.  Then it was my turn (don't freak out Mom)---- this photo is me getting hoisted further on up top into the ethers to inspect the tri-color light and head sail connection.  I found it actually exhilarating and comfortable to be hanging from there-----unlike many of our dock neighbors, who watched in respectful awe.  

Krista came in from the snowy depths of Taos, where she had spent Xmas holidays with Malia and cousin David on the ski slopes.   She had to adapt to our early-to-bed schedule----even on New Years Eve--we toasted to 2015 at sunset---cheers! 

She adapted beautifully to our new nautical life...especially when it was a warm sunny day of waxing the hull.

But alas, it is winter.....and not all days are bikini friendly.
As high mountain desert dwellers that are used to single digit temps, we have been shocked how cold it can be at 55 F..... it's the cold humidity that permeates to the bones.  We naively thought we would be sweating every day--even in January. Our wardrobe mostly consists of summer T-shirts and shorts....how silly of us.  I just bought another fleece jacket----the one I brought from the Rocky Mts is very tired.  And good thing Tim brought his ski jacket----it's doubled as ocean foul weather gear!  

The holidays tended to stall out our boat projects, so we decided to head over to the east coast of Florida.  In Ft Pierce there is a Navy UDT-SEAL museum we visited.  They had the SDV's that Tim had used in his second Viet Nam tour and one life size display of the VN era.  It was a small and privately under-funded museum, but we did find his class 53 group photo.





Also found some beach time for the college kid before she heads back to minus 15 F.... 

and a quick visit to the newest member of the Wyly family----Annika...our grand niece.

One beautiful Saturday afternoon found us out in Tampa Bay with 15-20 knot winds feeling the power and strength of our Island Packet sailboat. 

Looking for dolphins....

She is a full keel boat that handles and preforms better in higher winds and waves, than a fin keel boat.  And though she may sail slower in light winds....we'll take the strength of the linebacker over the speed of the wide receiver any day.....afterall, we got time.

Looking for avalanches?

Mother-daughter

Sunset sailing

We had originally thought we would only be dockside for upgrades and repairs through the end of January, but....in the true nature of mañana, it will probably be the end of February....and then the plan is to head south.....towards the Florida Keys to the land of Buffet and margaritas.....for a couple of months.  Now....we're off to buy and install dinghy davits....or......maybe tomorrow.

A Merry Marina!

Good morning from dockside in Palmetto, Florida!  

Life in our little dock village has all the wonderful components that a small town in America could have.  We got a couple great restaurants, 

a marina village general store with bait and fuel.. 

                         

....streets that are called "fairways"

(thank god they're wide fairways---more forgiving for amateurs with new boats).

 There's the local beautiful sunset charter sailboat---Catherine's Florida Charters....

....and there's the rentable floating wedding chapel.

 Our dock rental fees include a bag of ice a day, free coffee and gossip at the store....and the best part is donuts on Saturdays---a delicacy saved for only special times....gotta draw the fat line somewhere, cause it ain't gonna be the beer/wine.  We also have a fitness center, boaters lounge, swimming pool and Tim's evening favorite.....the hot tub.

But some of my personal favorite things about our little village is the "locals".  There's about 100 live-aboard boaters....some here for 10 years and others new and transient like us....but all with great character....just like their boats.

Growin' mangroves on a boat called "Noah Genda".  Tom is the local
diver that scrapes barnacles off of hulls...a constant dirty job...no time
for his own home

Lyn and Chris heading out for the holidays with the family....Abbey and Kate the parrot. Chris is the local canvas seamstress...and she's in demand too.  Lyn, is the local chatty-friendly guy---he likes to watch others work. 

Our across the dock neighbors---

Steve and Cheryl, the best happy hour boat and Robert the hilarious bachelor that rants everyday at the birds on his "poop" deck

We've been here for 2 1/2 weeks so far and everyday we complete some task to bring us closer to casting off the dock lines....still looks like end of January sometime.  

Old stain on the "sole" in the cabin

Sand, paint & varnish....done.

Organizing storage

...oh boy...

Yep, upgrade on plumbing

Kevin---the Yanmar engine guru...he walks on water

We have studied, listened, consulted and researched so many different aspects about our boat....Tim says our brains have many new wrinkles.....nothing a dock side sundowner can't cure :)  

All in all, this new life has brought us life....we feel alive, happy and healthy.

A lighted boat parade up the Manatee River something new for us..... 

Pink reindeer-flamingos?

*********************************************************************************

Our Christmas  boat-tree in blue lights----Fiesta

Festive and fun---our "C" Dock at Christmas 

Merry Christmas and a Healthy Happy New Year to all!!!!