WE FINALLY MADE IT!!!!!

Good morning.      Well.... as you can see there has been some time since the last blog entry. That is wholly my fault. As my wonderful wife Jan knows, I am a procrastinator !!    I know she became frustrated with me at times......So, here we are, finally in Florida!   

OUR 43' SWAN -- S/V "THUMPER"

53' HATTERAS - M/V "JJFLYGIRL"

Yes, it took much longer than I originally estimated....Remember (if you have been following our blog), I came from a "sailing" background, most in "blue-water" The ICW was quite a challenge for me...there are many factors that entered this equation.....when sailing offshore, I knew what a used sailboat was capable of doing per day.....24/7.    Old "Thumper," our classic S&S Swan 43 typically averaged 140 miles /day.....she was and still is a great used sailboat. BUT, the ICW has it's own set of challenges.   Also, this Hatteras 53 used motor yacht was very new to us....and I did NOT push her at all.  I am not making excuses ... just how it all fell out.     The entire trip down the "ditch" was fun, and enlightening...But, it demonstrated to me some old personal
 shortcomings....The biggest problem being my vision. At 69, not quite 70, I realized that my long range vision was pretty bad...This is simply an age factor, and the fact I am a diabetic....
The first two weeks on the ditch, we had some good friends that came along, and they sure helped at the helm, with their great vision......And Jan, my bride of 2 years, stepped up to the "plate" and became an outstanding navigator and helmsperson.....I had problems seeing the daymarks at any distance, distinguishing shapes and color.....(hell getting old!!!)
Now that we are at our new home at Lighthouse Point Marina, I am seeing the eye specialists.....so, in short order we will get this problem corrected. Thanks for your patience Jan.
Now, back to the ICW, and it's challenges , we had the many, many bridges, the many  no wake zones, and on weekends, the many weekend water folks and kids on the wave runners. Also, the many folks that have no clue as to rules of the road, and no concept of how bad their wake is.    Another reason it took so long, goes back to my trait of a procrastinator....when we stayed at some neat marinas, or town, I wanted a day or so to explore.  We did enjoy exploring some of the neat stops along the way and "ate" and "drank" our way down the ICW - experiencing each area's own unique flavors - shrimp and grits still a favorite!

More to follow about our journey and then the reality of settling into a new marina.
We definitely have a lot of backtracking to do also to share all our experiences of those 34 days on the ICW - an EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME1
Now in the process of doing all the routine maintenance and repairs....stay tuned


Capt Ed