tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72930934918106684302024-03-14T06:36:06.212-04:00Twomorrows TodayLarry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-67143133820746028922013-04-20T14:05:00.000-04:002013-04-20T14:30:45.335-04:00Almost Home<br />
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March 27-April 20 </div>
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Well, we have had an interesting time since our last update. We finally left Marathon on Sunday 3/31 for our first leg of the trip out in the ocean. We made it to Rodriquez Key and anchored with 19 other boats, some on their way to the Bahamas and some just heading north towards home. The second day we headed to Miami/Coral Gables where we had spent 55 days earlier in the year. As we headed into Biscayne Bay the sky grew dark and wild thunder storms started. We spent over an hour just “treading water” outside of the marina entrance as we couldn't see past the bow with the heavy rains. The vessel Marianna, who was traveling with us, was hit by lightning and lost all their electronics. The bolt vaporized their antenna and also killed their refrigeration. Both Pat and Fred were unharmed. The next day we left early and went all the way in the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale. It was an easy calm day and we anchored for the night at Boca Raton. </div>
After Ft Lauderdale we were now in the ICW and for the next few days worked our way north to Vero Beach. Old friends, David and Janet were there along with Bill and Terri and Laura and Graeme. They all had just come back from their 4 month trip in the Bahamas and were waiting for us to arrive. The following day we rented a car for the weekend, $9.99/day, and did the last of our major shopping before getting home. The wine cellar needed restocking and we were getting low on bottled water, sodas and other adult beverages. We had a great time seeing our friends before they started leaving. Bill and Terri are in a race for home to see their new granddaughter. Janet and David needed to get to Green Cove Springs and prepare their boat for the summer before heading back home to Canada. Laura and Graeme needed to move on also in order to see some sites on their way home to Ottawa. We stayed in Vero for one more night and then started our voyage north. A few days later we caught up with David, Janet, Laura, and Graeme in St. Augustine. For the second time this trip the weather in St. Augustine was so bad we couldn’t even leave the boat to go ashore. The winds were 25kt and the waves too high to make a ride in the dinghy a dry one. <br />
We had been communicating with Fred and Pat on Marianna on a daily basis concerning their boat. The damage from the lightning was more extensive than first thought but they are making progress on temporary repairs and should be moving any day to their home in New Hampshire. We had plans to meet them maybe in the South Carolina area. But as with our plans with Laura and Graeme, sometimes they just don’t work out as we hoped. We have either been trying to catch them or they have been trying to catch us due to different thoughts of where to stay and for how long. We made the trip through Georgia, which has several low spots with eight foot tide swings, in only three days with beautiful weather and calm seas. On the way to SC we saw a Coast Guard helicopter doing practice maneuvers with a small boat and a blimp on it's way to the RBC Heritage golf tournament.<br />
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We pulled into Port Royal, SC on the 16th to rest, do some laundry and pick up a couple of items we discovered we needed. Port Royal Landing Marina is one of our favorite places to stay. The staff is top notch and there is a loaner car we can use almost anytime we feel like it to run errands or just go into town for lunch. Pat and Fred arrived on our second day after an overnight passage in the Atlantic from Fernandina Beach FL. Laura and Graeme arrived on the third day after spending a couple of days at St Simons. As luck would have it, the weather took a turn for the worse and we extended our stay for three more nights here at the marina along with our friends. We are so close to home, maybe two weeks, and are ready for our king size bed, king size shower and large kitchen. We love being on the boat but after almost 8 months of living within 38 feet of space we tend to get the cramped feeling.<br />
Our plans from here are to travel 35-40 miles each day with only one more stop for more than one night. That will be at St. James Plantation, NC to see Dale and Kim. They are close friends of ours from Virginia that have moved south and are building a new home in the Wilmington area. From there we will be less than a week from home. The next update will probably be at the end of our trip. Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-16409880890879507002013-03-26T13:40:00.001-04:002013-03-26T13:50:17.529-04:00Show Me The Way To Go Home - Please<br />
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March 8-March 26<br />
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida<br />
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I said in our
last blog entry that we might not leave for 2 weeks after our month contract
was up and it is now almost the end of those two weeks. Due to some needed repairs and the weather we
have had to prolong our stay in Marathon.</div>
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After my brother
Kevin left we started on a cleaning frenzy to get ready to head back towards
home. It’s amazing how much dust and
dirt finds its way into our home on the water.
One would think that dust is a land borne problem. Aside from cleaning the inside we also needed
to address the exterior and that included the sails and sail cover. When raising the main sail to get rid of mud
dauber nests we discovered one of the attachment points that holds the sail to
the mast had torn and another was ready to come off. The sail cover also needed to have some reinforcement
grommets added. I found a local canvas
shop to do those repairs but had to wait a week before they could start. I was fortunate enough to have friends on three
other boats help me take the sail and cover off. I never would have been able to do it without
the help of Bill, David and Fred. Once I
took the sail and cover to the canvas shop I found out it would be at least a
week before I could have them back.</div>
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During this waiting period Lynn and I
volunteered to work at the local Seafood Festival. The festival is held on a weekend and sponsored
by the local fishermen to raise money for scholarships. Lynn helped bread fish filets and I worked on
the assembly line making up food platters.
Last year there were over 24,000 attendees and this time by 6pm on the
first day they had cooked over 2,000 lobsters and we found out that they ran
out of food early in the afternoon of the second day. We both had fun helping and one of the benefits
was all the seafood you could eat while working. I ate lobster, stone crab claws, oysters, and
Mahi-Mahi until I thought I couldn’t eat another bite. The fishermen working with me on the line
also provided a never ending supply of sodas and beer. If we are ever here during the festival we
would volunteer again.</div>
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We also seemed to
have developed an oil leak under the engine.
I couldn’t find where it was coming from and cleaned the area underneath
and the engine itself. Checking every
day afterwards I never saw another drop.
We took the boat out along the shore and ran it for about 2 hours and still
saw no more leakage. I contacted a local
diesel mechanic to see he if he had any ideas.
It took several days for him to show up and after spending about 1 ½ hours
checking every inch of the motor he could find nothing either. He did say that the engine appeared to be in
great shape and that due to its age the oil could be from “blow by”. That would be caused by loose fitting piston
rings. We put an additive in the fuel
and the oil to help remedy this problem.
Whether it will work or not remains to be seen. I’ll keep a close eye on the engine during our
trip north.</div>
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Our refrigeration
also decided to cause us a few problems.
What can I say, it’s a boat and there’s always something that needs
attention even when you think all is well.
The compressor would start to run and then shut off. Start to run again and then shut off. This only happened when the batteries were in
a minimal state of charge, 12.4V. I
walked over to a company that works on refrigeration and talked with one of the
technicians about our problem. He said
that the cause most likely would be a loose or corroded ground wire. I came back to the boat and lo and behold
found the ground connection to the control module pulled off in my hand with no
force exerted. I replaced the connector
and everything seems to be running well. As I have been completing tasks on our to-do list,
Lynn keeps adding new ones. I really
think she needs to find something else to do with her spare time!</div>
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For Lynn’s 65<sup>th</sup>
birthday we had more fresh lobster tails on the grill and stone crab
claws. We are sure going to miss all the
seafood that we can get down here. Our
friends Laura, Graeme, Bill and Terri called her in the evening from the
Bahamas and sang Happy Birthday. She had
a smile on her face for several days after that phone call and the ones from
our sons.</div>
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One hot afternoon
I put on my SCUBA tank and went to work cleaning the barnacles and growth that
attached itself to the bottom of the boat during the time we’ve been in
Florida. I took me almost an hour but
the water temperature was perfect. It was
a great way to cool off and get a little “diving” done to boot. I picked up my sails and cover the following
day and Fred and David came back to help me put them back on. Bill had already left for their trip back home.</div>
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View of rain storm headed towards our boat</div>
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We are now just
spending our time waiting for a decent weather window to leave. We need to be in the ocean for three separate
days before we can get to a spot to travel inside on the ICW. Once on the Intracoastal Waterway we will be
able to move north without worrying about the sea conditions. During this wait we did get our Income Tax
return done and are glad to be getting something back for once. We miss our sons and daughter in-laws and
especially our two grandsons. It’s nice
to be able to receive pictures of them growing up and I, for one, am very happy
I got an iPhone before we left on this trip. </div>
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Ryley with his new friend</div>
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River being cute</div>
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I hope we are
able to leave on Saturday the 30<sup>th</sup>.
We are spending entirely too much time online ordering stuff from Amazon
and eBay!!! We even ordered a large
supply of Chai Latte for Lynn’s morning fix.
We will be traveling with Fred and Pat from Marianna at least as far as
West Palm Beach. I hope my next blog
entry will be from someplace in northern Florida.</div>
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Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-21725924551529597462013-03-09T12:21:00.000-05:002013-03-09T12:29:26.008-05:00Relaxing in Paradise, Florida Style<br />
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Feb 14 – Mar 7 Boot key Harbor Mooring Field<br />
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We spent the
first few days here getting reacquainted with the marina and the surrounding
area. Not much has changed since we were
here 3 years ago. I went to Publix, our
favorite grocery store, for fresh produce and bread items and Lynn did the laundry. The washers and dryers are now $3.00 each per
load, quite expensive for marinas even in the Bahamas. The first weekend brought lots of wind,
cooler temps and rain so we stayed on the boat and read. The temps were low enough to pull out the
polar fleece blanket again.</div>
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Friends we have traveled with before
are also here and we have spent a bit of time socializing with them. I took a couple of long walks, over a mile
each way, to the CVS for meds and to a local dive shop to pick up a couple of
items. I was able to get our backup
propane tank filled right across the street from the marina and at a fairly
decent price.</div>
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On 24 Feb, my 65th birthday, I received a phone call at 0900. I answered the phone to a chorus of Happy Birthday from our friends in the Bahamas. Laura, Graeme, Bill and Terri were thoughtful enough to make an international call and surprise me. It was the highlight of my day and great talking with them. Thanks Guys !!!!!!!</div>
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My brother Kevin
arrived later that day for a 10 day vacation.
When he left Ohio it was freezing cold but was in the mid 80’s when
the plane landed in Key West. He
actually changed into a pair of shorts while standing at the bus stop. While he was here we made two attempts to
SCUBA dive. We took our boat out to two different
reefs on two different days and both times the water was too rough to even
think about going in. At least he was
able to experience the boat ride even if it was under less than optimal
conditions. One afternoon we took our
dinghy out to a small island about ¼ mile
offshore and snorkeled. We spent about 2
hours in the water, which was like bath water, and saw conch, star fish, lots
of fish, a moray eel, coral, and one dead lobster. Our orders from Lynn were to bring back
dinner, she wanted lobster that night.
Having failed our objective we all went across the street to a great
seafood restaurant and stuffed ourselves with lobster sandwiches, stone crab
claws, onion rings, coconut shrimp, buffalo wings and of course cold adult
beverages. While there we noticed they were
running a special on fresh lobster tails till the end of the week. On Friday we walked back over and bought 12 lobster
tails and one pound of stone crab claws to cook for dinner on the boat. I cooked the tails on the grill, something I’d
never tried before. With only 3 of us
for dinner there weren't any leftovers.</div>
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Our seafood feast on the boat</div>
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One afternoon
while Kevin and I went to the store Lynn called our health insurance
company. We are both now officially on
Medicare and she discontinued our Cigna policy.
We were able to get a great supplemental plan through BC/BS and should
enjoy a rather large increase in monthly income by not paying the outrageous premiums
for the group plan from Cigna. On this
note – neither one of us even feels close to being old enough to qualify for
Medicare. That’s something for really
old people …………. right????</div>
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The last two days Kevin was here we rented a car to do some sightseeing. I had reserved a compact but when we got to
the rental agency they didn't have any available. The woman apologized and offered me a choice
of either a minivan or an almost brand new Cadillac for the same price. Sort of a no brainer which car we got,
eh? The caddy drove fantastic and the
gas mileage was astoundingly good. We
drove north up the Keys towards Key Largo stopping at a couple of places along
the way. The first was Bass Pro Shops to
restock on shorts and shirts (they have the best selection at great prices) and
then had a very light lunch at the restaurant outside. Next stop was Divers Direct. Kevin was able to get a monitor for his
underwater camera and I picked up a couple small items. I find it very hard to go to a dive shop and not find something! We then drove to John Pennekamp State Park
and both drove and walked around the grounds.
It was amazing at the amount of “tourists” that were milling about. Most had just returned from a snorkel trip
and several seemed to be either coming or going to the beaches. We left there and headed to see the African
Queen, the same boat that was used in the movie of the same name. It has been completely restored and is
available for canal cruises for $49 per person for about 90 minutes. Too rich for our blood so we stood and
watched some fishing charter boats come back to the docks and off load their
catches. While they were cleaning the
fish on the dock pelicans floated in the water below catching the “treats”
from the cleaning process. The last stop
for that day was dinner at the Fish House, a great place for seafood we found
several years ago.</div>
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Egret waiting for fish innards</div>
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Sign at the dock next to the African Queen</div>
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The next morning
we started early and went to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast. It is a small crowded diner with good
food. After eating the large portions of
biscuits and gravy, sausage, grits, hash browns, bacon, and toast we drove
south to Key West. Kevin was flying back
home that day but not until early evening so we had time to play. The drive down was scenic and without any
traffic. Our first stop in Key West was
the Most Southern Point in the US. The
traffic now was so bad that we could barely get through stop lights when they
changed because of gridlock. The spot is
marked with a huge cement monument and Cuba is only 90 miles off shore. We worked our way through the streets of Old
Key West until we came to Duvall Street.
For those who have never been there I can only describe it as being
something from another country. Crowded
with tourist from cruise ships, bus tour people and college students on Spring
Break the sidewalks are full and the mood is party, party, party. We, as tourist ourselves, did our share of
shopping and checking out more than one pub.
It’s called the <b>Duvall Crawl</b>
when you start at one end of the street and work your way, bar by bar, down to
the other end. We cheated and started
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Southernmost Point Marker</div>
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Stop #2 of the Crawl</div>
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Stop #3</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We dropped
Kevin off at the airport with plenty of time for him to check in and wait for
the plane. It was really nice having him
visit and I really appreciated all the help he afforded. Especially with getting water and loading the
heavy jugs on the boat and the company while walking to the grocery store and
back.</div>
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Our contract here
ends on 13 Mar but we will have to extend due to a couple of repairs that have
to be addressed. It could be as long as
two more weeks after the 13<sup>th</sup> before we can start our voyage back
north. </div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-17619029179636736012013-02-13T19:56:00.000-05:002013-02-13T19:56:44.400-05:00On The Way Again<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">23 Jan – 13 Feb
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Our friends David and Kathy from s/v Orion
showed up in the mooring field. We haven’t
seen them since the Chesapeake two years ago while waiting out a hurricane in
Deltaville. They, like us, are staying
in the States this year and taking their time moving from one spot to another. We’ve
had plenty of time on our hands and have been able to take care of those small
projects that always pop up when you own a boat. I’ve been able to test a few new recipes such
as Salmon with asparagus and red potatoes cooked in parchment paper, curry
chicken with summer squash and spinach, and Greek chicken breasts with feta
cheese and black olives. Needless to say
the meals on the boat are getting a good bit better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> The winds in the mooring field were
kicking up quite a bit for several days.
We stayed on the boat and read while getting rocked and rolled. We also had shrimp boats going down the
channel from 0200-0400 every night causing both wakes and lots of noise. We figured it was time to leave, but …………
Lynn started not feeling well again so away we went back to the doctor. With a new jolt of steroids and more antibiotics
she fought this episode off in less than 10 days. Another trip back to the doctor for a checkup
and then we got ready to leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Sunset view from our boat at Dinner Key</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> We rented another car for a day to do some
more shopping. Mostly heavy items like
beer, wine, sodas and bottled water that are difficult to pick up on a foot
trip to the store. It took two trips in
the dinghy to get everything back to the boat.
The following day more friends arrived.
Dean and Susan from s/v Autumn Bourne stopped by on their way to the
Bahamas for the night. It was good
seeing them again before they left. We also took the car to see Dorothy and
Glenn, s/v Dotsway, and had a great happy hour and dinner with them. We made plans to meet them the following week
on our way to Marathon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> The day before departing we noticed a huge
barge pull into the anchorage next to the mooring field. It had a crane with a bucket and started
picking up abandoned boats out of the water and crushing them into giant
dumpsters. We heard that over a dozen
boats were disposed of in two days.
Florida has a real problem with people just leaving boats anchored in
the waterways and causing navigation problems for other boaters. These people just decide they don’t want the
boat anymore and set an anchor and walk away.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Glenn and Dorothy at Pumpkin Key</div>
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Some coral with my new underwater camera</div>
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Our boat at anchor in Pumpkin Key</div>
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Channel Marker at Pumpkin Key. Note the multiple pumpkins that go all the way around</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My first catch of the season</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> After 55 days at Dinner Key we finally
left the mooring ball and headed south.
Our first stop was Pumpkin Key where we met Dorothy and Glenn for the
weekend. We had two great meals with
them and on Sunday took a 3 hour dinghy ride thru the creeks and canals. I was able to catch my first fish on my new
rod and reel but it was not a “keeper”.
On Monday we headed out to the ocean for our ride south and Dorothy and
Glenn headed back to Miami Beach. The
seas were rough starting out but did calm a bit later in the afternoon. We pulled into Indian Key and hooked up to
the one of two free mooring balls.
During the evening the winds increased and made for a rather
uncomfortable night’s sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> On Tuesday, 12 Feb, we finally made it to
Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. This will
be our home for the next 30 days. We had
to anchor the first night because there were no mooring balls available for us
regardless of seeing at least 12 empty????
Today we were assigned one of the empty ones from yesterday and have started
to get settled in for our stay.
Hopefully we will get to meet up with friends Ian and Sharon from Canada
that are down in Florida for a holiday.
We also might get to see Beth and Bruce from Ohio when they come to Key
West to see their new granddaughter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-66373558154390102452013-01-22T16:16:00.000-05:002013-01-22T16:50:35.870-05:00More Miami and a Road Trip on the side<br />
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<span style="color: midnightblue; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On Monday the 14</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I took the
bus to get a haircut. It had been over 2 months since my last one and I was
getting a bit shaggy. This gave Lynn
some time to relax again. While I was in
the area, I walked to West Marine in search of a folding bicycle. Folding bikes are perfect on a boat as
they don’t take up valuable space. It
turns out that the one I was looking for was recalled due to a safety issue. It's a good thing I didn't buy it before we left as
I had planned!! Back at the boat I tried
in vain to find a decent folding bike online at a decent price. I guess I’ll
wait until we get to Marathon next month and search again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Tuesday was laundry day and a chance for
Lynn to get off the boat for a little time on land. We packed up all the dirty clothes,
detergent, fabric sheets, etc and headed in early so we wouldn't have to wait
in line. There are only 2 washers and 2
dryers to accommodate 228 mooring balls.
The office opens at 0800 and we arrived at 0830 to find the washers were
both broken and might be fixed later in the day, maybe. So, back in the dinghy with all our stuff and
back to the boat. At least Lynn got her
feet on terra firma for 20 minutes or there about. I found out thru email later
in the day that the battery was dead on my truck at home and wouldn't take a
charge. Our neighbor Stephanie has been
kind enough to start it every other week. Our other neighbor Chrystal is going
to ask her husband Jim to look into the matter for me and get a new
battery. We cannot say enough about
where we live and the great neighbors we are fortunate enough to have. It makes leaving for trips almost worry
free. The next day I went back in to do
laundry with the newly repaired washers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> On the 17<sup>th</sup> we took the bus and
trolley into downtown Miami and had a great lunch for our 43<sup>rd</sup> anniversary. We walked around a bit after eating and then
took another bus to the Coco Walk in Coconut Grove for a short walk around the
chic and expensive shops. On Friday we picked up a rental car</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">($9.95/day with 100 miles per day) and did
some much needed grocery shopping.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We
also drove through Miami Beach and up the shoreline for about 20 miles.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But we were never able to see the water or
even the beach because of all the high-rise apartments along the road. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We ended the afternoon at an Irish pub that didn't have one Irish beer or any Irish fare on the menu!!!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Just an Irish name, Flanagan’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Farmer's Market Outside</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> On Saturday we went in early with the car
to the Coral Bagel, a great spot for breakfast. There was a waiting line but
it moved quite fast. Had a really good meal and then drove to the
Farmer's Market that is held every Saturday. We bought more produce and
some fresh spices as well. Then we took off for Ft. Lauderdale to find
the dive shop, Divers Direct. I tried to buy a full wet-suit but was
unable to find one that fit me properly. But I did buy an underwater camera.
It's waterproof to 200 feet and came with a clip on wide angle lens,
a $70 value, for free. Can't wait to use it in Marathon. Lynn got a
nice shirt there, light weight and with a dive theme. Next door to the
dive shop was a Bass Pro Shop that we spent quite a bit of time walking
around. I was able to get a nice knit shirt and some light weight cargo
shorts, both on sale. We next drove to Total Wine and stocked up on more
Merlot in bottles. Since we are always close to a trash can here we
decided to get bottles and keep the box wine for traveling. We ended the
day at another Beer and Burger place for supper. We split a meal
because the sandwiches and helpings of potatoes are huge.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Farmer's Market Inside</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
Sunday we headed south to Florida City and stopped at Wally World. We had
put together quite a list of things to buy. We also made plans to meet
some friends from Ohio, who were on their way to Key West to see their new granddaughter, to
meet in Key Largo at a great seafood restaurant we discovered years ago.
These are the people, Bruce and Beth, from s/v Grace whom we traveled with our first year in the
Bahamas. For some reason our location was either not understood or not communicated
well. We never did meet up but Lynn and
I enjoyed a terrific seafood supper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Yesterday, Monday, we returned the car after
having breakfast again at Coral Bagel.
After 3 days of driving around and eating at all those restaurants we
spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. Today was spent getting water
with the Jerry cans x 2 trips and cleaning the boat. The weather has been very
nice here with only 2 days of rain. Just had to rub that part in for all our friends and family back up north !!!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-20718771379628993302013-01-12T17:14:00.001-05:002013-01-12T17:14:26.058-05:00Week 14 on s/v twomorrows<br />
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It’s been a very relaxing week here at the mooring
field. Lynn has been behaving herself by
spending her time reading and doing crosswords.
A few naps here and there to regain strength and most of all keeping me
company. The last 3 plus weeks became very
boring being on the boat by myself when not at the hospital. The weather has been warm but very windy and we are
glad to be safely attached to a mooring ball.
Winds have been from 15-25 knots constantly with gusts of maybe 30
every so often. The long range forecast
has the same outlook till maybe Wednesday of next week. It’s also nice to cook for more than just myself and Lynn enjoys having something other
than the hospital chow.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQc3o_SDYzp-atBC8ekkeW6vMKxz692cUqndtl2MwoOtU4YII6coPwtx4u4lrMRDSBWtyUoYibaRwRCmLGQMxtkPX3ILJipkXTidKMUQxyC9d-dfqDUCDMApGyRpGcyaelBCdMorBM19TY/s1600/dock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQc3o_SDYzp-atBC8ekkeW6vMKxz692cUqndtl2MwoOtU4YII6coPwtx4u4lrMRDSBWtyUoYibaRwRCmLGQMxtkPX3ILJipkXTidKMUQxyC9d-dfqDUCDMApGyRpGcyaelBCdMorBM19TY/s320/dock.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Dinghy Dock at Dinner Key</div>
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A Manatee that wouldn't go away from behind my dinghy</div>
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<br /></div>
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I discovered a
Farmer’s Market that sets up on Saturdays nearby and have made two trips for
produce. The selection is huge and the
prices are very low. We've been able to
enjoy fresh vegetables almost every night along with our meals. I made a great stir fry the other night with
some fresh shrimp we had frozen just before the holidays. I took a day trip on the bus to a SCUBA shop looking
for a full wet suit only to find the place was just a small operation with no
inventory. At least it gave Lynn some
time to take a decent nap without me bothering her.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTCwXvAnbIuDmw0VBaqki5sJxuI1c0-MW6n8SCNHd9gbRrOU_mLqrepAEHV8F3V_zE_ux7o0ChuuRxQfsMH2xi1TUBkdohGN-LIgKaEK3EbM8XJMPZfVe1n6S8DxyY8Xf_STMx9d7Vu-L/s1600/market.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTCwXvAnbIuDmw0VBaqki5sJxuI1c0-MW6n8SCNHd9gbRrOU_mLqrepAEHV8F3V_zE_ux7o0ChuuRxQfsMH2xi1TUBkdohGN-LIgKaEK3EbM8XJMPZfVe1n6S8DxyY8Xf_STMx9d7Vu-L/s320/market.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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The Farmer's Market on Grand Ave. in Coconut Grove</div>
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<br /></div>
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On Thursday she
had a follow up appointment with the pulmonologist that attended to her while hospitalized. He said she was doing extremely well and didn't need to see her again. She is to
continue the meds given on discharge until they are finished and keep relaxing
for another week or two. Our plans are
now to stay in Miami till about 1 Feb and then head down towards the Keys. We will probably go to Boot Key Harbor in
Marathon for a month before moving either to Key West or maybe start slowly
back north. We would like to meet up
with Laura and Graeme when they return from the Bahamas and continue our trek with
them towards home in April. My brother
Kevin is making plans to visit us while in Marathon with hopes of doing some
diving and sightseeing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are several
sailing schools located around Dinner Key.
While Lynn was in the hospital we were able to look out the window and
sometimes see as many as 50 or more small sailboats in the bay. While in the mooring field we see them up
close. They sail through the field and
in between the boats in order to get out and back from their lessons. It’s really a sight to watch them weave
around the big boats tied to the balls.
And we have never seen anything even close to a collision. They must be learning well, eh?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sailboats going through the mooring field returning back to the docks after their lessons</div>
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<br /></div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-37630626248898431882013-01-05T16:34:00.000-05:002013-01-05T16:34:34.770-05:00Free At Last<br />
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After 22 days of hospital confinement, umpteen lab tests, X-rays,
CT scan, numerous IV antibiotic infusions and countless respiratory inhalation
treatments Lynn passed muster and was granted permission to leave. Since my last post she was moved from the
room with a view to another room where she was able to admire the air
conditioning units on the roof all day. For
the past week she was self sufficient and almost able to give herself the
meds. One day she even went in the hall
and got her own dinner tray off the cart because the staff was too slow. Needless to say all the nurses wanted her as
a patient as she required almost no upkeep!!!
She is back on the boat and after 24 hours doing well at adjusting to
the routine a float. We have follow up
appts for her this coming Friday to see what the future holds. We are hopeful that we will be able to continue
our trip but stay in the States in case more medical attention would ever be
needed.</div>
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We spent both
Christmas and New Years with each other and that is a good thing compared to
the alternative. On Christmas day we had
the opportunity to do Skype video calls with both Todd and Jeremy. It was so nice to talk face to face with them
and to be able to see our fantastic grandsons.
We miss all of them so much but they seem to be doing just fine without
Nana and Pop Pop’s spoiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my stay
here on the mooring ball, I was able to meet up with some friends. Bill and Terri stopped by for a night before
going to the Bahamas. Bill and Bette
were so nice to invite me over for dinner one night. Bill and Bette are friends from a previous trip
to the Bahamas. Bill and Terri are
members of our sailing association in the Chesapeake Bay. Also Glenn and Dorothy surprised Lynn with a
visit at the hospital before they left for the Bahamas. I’d like to thank all of you that sent
messages asking about Lynn and for all of your thoughts and prayers. As you can see, they worked. Thank You !!!!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In between trips
to the hospital every day I was able to find places for us to visit by
bus once Lynn feels up to getting off the boat with the doctors
permission. Several restaurants, parks
and a couple of museums await us. But
all of that will wait till my best friend is back in good health and ready.</div>
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No pictures for
this posting but I hope to have several to add to this Blog the next time. Looking forward to seeing my brother Kevin
and Tracey in Marathon, if we make it that far, to do some SCUBA diving. </div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-32202293138810220192012-12-22T16:20:00.000-05:002012-12-22T16:32:20.578-05:00Marking Time in Miami<br />
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It’s been 9 days so
far for Lynn’s stay at Mercy Hospital.
The care for the most part has been top notch and the Pulmonologist
really seems to know his stuff. There
are at least 3 doctors that are involved in her treatment and at times it does
cause some confusion about the plan of attack.
There is also an Infectious Disease doc and an Internist. Each seems to have a slightly different idea
for treatment, but the Pulmonologist seems to be the main man in charge. Lynn’s only complaint is the food
service. Not necessarily the taste but
never knowing what time the meals will be served and the lack of variety. Most every meal is some kind of chicken with
some kind of rice with some kind of vegetable.
Boring to say the least and since we are in Miami the taste is Latin
American inspired.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The beautiful view of Key Biscayne Bay from Lynn's room</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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Five days ago I
moved the boat from Crandon Park Marina to the mooring facility at Dinner Key
in Coconut Grove. Moving it by myself
was very easy as the water was calm and I had help at both ends of the
trip. At the marina a staff member
helped with my lines as I left. At the
mooring field the shuttle boat and some passengers helped attach my mooring
lines to the ball. I am at a mooring
ball close to shore and that makes it a short trip to the dinghy dock to catch
a bus to the hospital. While on the subject
of buses, Miami has a great public transit system. I can get to anywhere with minimal confusion
about the routes. The bus fares run from
free to $2.00 depending on where you are going.
I’m going to try and get to one of the stations to buy a pass. That way the cost will be cheaper than paying
for each trip. I’ve found where the two
closest grocery stores are located and also many little restaurants along the
routes that we can try once Lynn is released.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
One of the many bus stops I've come to know and love</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our hopes of
having her discharged by Christmas were pretty much dashed this afternoon. One of her lab test has shown a very hard to
treat bacteria. The name would take up
two lines of type !!!! The treatment is several
days infusion of additional IV antibiotics along with all the other IV’s she
has been receiving. The news was not
what we wanted to hear but it’s better to kill the bastardly bugs now than to
go home too soon and have them resurface in a few weeks or a month. She is
resigned to the fact now that it will be several more days before leaving. The good thing is that together we will get
to enjoy a good Christmas dinner with hospital food. Maybe they will serve “Turquía y relleno con
salsa gravy y puré de patatas” ?</div>
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To all of you, have a Merry Christmas and
please send us a note to let us know how you’re doing.</div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-68646323697979279172012-12-15T17:29:00.000-05:002012-12-15T17:29:10.573-05:00My My It's Miami<br />
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We were able to
find a very nice spot to drop our anchor in an area called Belle Island. It is at the end of Collins Canal, a main
waterway for dinghy’s traveling the city of Miami Beach. From this anchorage you can see several large
cruise ships leave daily for the Caribbean. They leave every afternoon at around
1600. At night you can see the Miami
skyline lit up with different colors of lights on the tall buildings. Very beautiful !!!! </div>
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I forgot to
mention that while in Fort Lauderdale we ordered more medications as we had some
due to renew before we switch to Medicare.
They didn’t arrive before we left but did the following day. Bill and Terri on Second Option brought them
to us as they had rented a car to drive home.
We met them at a place called Burgers and Beer, just a short walk from a
dinghy dock by the Marine Police station.
The following day we and Sweet Chariot took off for a long, over 7 miles
and 2 ½ hours, dinghy ride thru the
canal system of Miami Beach. Later that
day I went to Publix for our final grocery shopping before we left for the
Bahamas. That evening we met with Laura
and Graeme to decide when to leave the following morning and head to a place
called No Name harbor for the night.
During the night Lynn started to develop a rather high fever and was
having shortness of breath. We carry an
oxygen generator on the boat and promptly started it up along with doses of
Tylenol. We listened to a local Weather
Guru called Chris Parker in the morning as this guy seems to be the one people
rely on for accurate forecasts. If there
is such a thing as an accurate forecast !!!!
He said that the window to cross to the Bahamas was closing and to do it
now or wait at least a week. We radioed
Sweet Chariot and told them that Lynn wasn’t feeling up to leaving and they
made the decision to leave by themselves.</div>
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Wildlife on the canals on Miami Beach</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After 4 days of
feeling lousy and using all the meds we had on the boat that were supposed to
treat Lynn’s condition, we decided to pull into a marina. This way we could plug the oxygen generator
into shore power instead of running it off our batteries and also be able to
turn on the air conditioning. Two days
in the marina and Lynn’s still not feeling well. Time to seek professional medical advice had
arrived. We took a taxi from the marina
in Key Biscayne and went to Mercy Hospital in Miami. After 4 hours in the emergency room she was
admitted. If this flare up runs it’s
course she will be in for 5-7 days. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have decided to cancel our trip to the Bahamas and at this time aren’t sure what we will do after she is discharged. Options are to stay in Florida where medical
assistance is readily available, should it be needed again, or to find a place
to leave the boat for the winter and drive home. We, or I an another able body, would come
down in the Spring and take it back north.</div>
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I’ll be posting
more as soon as we have figured out what we’ll finally do. If I don’t send another post before, we would
like to now wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-41100921530924503442012-12-15T16:32:00.002-05:002012-12-15T16:32:27.681-05:00Nov. 15 - Dec. 7, 2012<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been too
long since I’ve updated this Blog and I apologize to those who are following
our adventure. Much has happened and I’ll
try to catch you up to date.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On our second day
in St. Augustine we were able to go ashore and have a great lunch with some of
our friends from the Hunter Sailing Association we belonged to in the Annapolis
area. Jim and Steph Weeks live in
Florida and Dale and Kim Seastrom just happened to be visiting the area. We spent a few hours eating and talking about
what has been going on in each other’s lives.
We even had a couple of beers from the list of over 70 drafts that are
available at JP Henley's. The following
day the winds where strong again, 25K and we elected to stay aboard and not get
soaked trying to go into the dock in our dinghy. This was not one of our better stays at our
favorite city on the ICW.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The HSA group at JP Henley's</div>
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Lynn reading historical marker in St. Augustine</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day we
departed for Daytona Beach and had to drop the anchor at the first high rise
bridge because the tide was too high and we couldn’t fit our 63 foot mast under
the span. We stayed the night and had a
very bumpy experience with waves and winds.
Are you starting to see a pattern here?
In the morning the tide was low and we headed for Titusville mooring
field. We had hoped to see our friends
Dorothy and Glenn but again the winds and waves kept us pinned on the
boat. We were able to get fuel and water
before grabbing the mooring ball. Our
night was somewhat calmer and restful. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then let for
Melbourne for one night at anchor and then to Vero Beach where we got another
mooring ball. Sweet Chariot tied up with
us and the following day we were joined by Second Option. Lynn promptly went to shore and did 5 loads of
laundry while I took the bus to West Marine for new cockpit speakers and did
some shopping at the Publix for groceries.
On Thanksgiving Day Dorothy and Glenn arrived and we went to a lovely
potluck Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the Marina. They provided the turkey and ham and the
boaters brought the rest. The food was
good and plentiful. Dorothy and Glenn
spent the night aboard and left in the morning.
We, along with Sweet Chariot and Second Option, rented a car for 3 days
and spent them going to the Wine Store, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and numerous other
places to stock up on supplies for the Bahamian trip. During this time I was having trouble with my
outboard engine and found a mechanic that made “house calls”. He quickly fixed the problem and now we have full
power again on the dinghy. We had
ordered backup medications and they took longer than expected to be delivered
to us at the marina. During the wait we
made lots of phone calls to schedule a Medicare call with our insurance
provider and to find out about updating our Local Boater Option cards with our
new passport numbers.</div>
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The crews of Sweet Chariot, Second Option and twomorrows</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sweet Chariot and
Second Option took off south and we made arrangements to meet them in Lake
Worth as soon as the meds arrived. I
checked later that day and they had been delivered so in the morning we took
off to meet up with our friends. We met
them the next day after a 10 hour day on the water. The following morning I went to the Customs
and Border Patrol Office and in less than 5 minutes got all our paperwork
updated. Again the wind and waves
prevented us from going back in to shore for and sightseeing or lunch at the
local TiKi Hut. We left the following
morning and dropped the hook in Boca Raton.
Guess what? Right, high winds and
waves keep us on the boat again. We did
try a dinghy ride the next morning but after a short distance decided we didn’t
need salt water “showers” and went back to the boat.</div>
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Our next
destination was Fort Lauderdale, Cooleys Marina on the New River. We all pulled in to this really nice and very
inexpensive marina for 4 nights. We were
able this time to actually take the dinghy down the canal for a great dinner
and social at an Irish Pub. We were able
to do some more minor shopping and clean almost 2 months of dirt from the
outsides and inside the boat. Did
laundry again and spent a nice evening on Second Option watching a movie and
eating popcorn. On Friday, Dec. 7, we
left Cooley’s and headed to Miami with Sweet Chariot and a boat called Truancea. Second Option stayed for a few days in order to get a car and drive back to Virginia to see their brand new grand daughter, Emma. We left the protection of the harbor and headed out into
the ocean at about 10:00. At around 10:30 the
waves were so bad that we considered turning back but thought we would try
moving farther off shore and give that a try.
We moved out a bit too far and ended up in the Gulf Stream and a 3-4
knot current against us. By this time we
were too far south to turn back but did work back towards shore, maybe 3 miles
off. The waves calmed a bit and we had a
better ride into Miami. </div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-62177223753820310082012-11-14T16:38:00.000-05:002012-11-14T16:38:37.938-05:00Finally in Florida<br />
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We left Port
Royal on Election Day and traveled all the way to the Herb River, Laura and
Graeme went to Turner’s Creek. They
wanted to see Savannah and we thought we would wait to visit this city on our
way back north. From the Herb we went to
the Wahoo River. Great place for a
Cleveland Indians fan, eh? We received news
that our nephew’s daughter was born and a good friend’s mother had died on the
same day. Funny how the world works, one
life ends and another begins. Spent a
nice evening with two other boats and in the morning made our way to the mouth
of the Fredrica River which is close to Brunswick, GA. We have been here on other occasions and
always have an enjoyable anchorage. On
the way to here we saw many dolphins and a Bald Eagle that was perched on top
of a dead tree.</div>
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Natalie Elizabeth Brenner headed home from the hospital</div>
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<br /></div>
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Next morning we
motored through an area called Jekyll Island Cut which is noted for being very
shallow. We needed to catch it at high
tide and we did. We stopped for fuel,
water and a trash dump at the Jekyll Island Harbor Marina and were greeted by
the most pleasant people on the dock we have encountered so far on this trip. We went about 10 miles south and dropped the
hook right off the channel for a calm night.
In the morning we awoke to our boat covered by bird poop including
undigested fish parts. Not my favorite sight
with my morning coffee.</div>
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On Saturday, 11/10,
we went to Cumberland Island to meet up with Sweet Chariot and their friends
Jack and Donna on Kathrian. Happy Hour
was on board our boat and lasted too late for us to make a proper dinner. We had an easy box dinner instead. On Sunday we took the dinghy to shore and
went to the Ranger Station. Lynn sat and
enjoyed the peace and quiet and I took off for a half mile walk through the
woods to the beach. On the way over and
back I saw many campers but none of the wild horses that make this island
famous. We had a great dinner that night
on board Sweet Chariot along with Jack and Donna. </div>
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Lynn and Graeme with the Park Ranger on Cumberland Island</div>
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<br /></div>
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Monday we arrived
at Fernandina Beach, finally made it to Florida after leaving home 34 days before. There we met up with our friends Bill and
Terri Ellis from s/v Second Option. They
belong to the same sailing club as we do from the Annapolis area. We went ashore later in the day for a
fantastic dinner at the Marina Seafood Restaurant. The wait staff are all sisters and they were
a hoot!!!!! I recommend this place to
anyone while in this area. On Tuesday we
had a small flotilla of 4 boats making our way towards St. Augustine. The current was so strong that at one time
going under a bridge we were only making 1.9 knots at almost full throttle. We stopped for the night at Pine Island, a small
creek, with 11 other sail and power boats.
The winds kicked up and howled through the rigging all night. Not the best evening we've spent to say the
least.</div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We
are now on a mooring ball in the harbor at St. Augustine and the rain and winds
have not stopped since we arrived 6 hours ago.
Winds are a steady 20-25K with higher gusts. The dinghy was full of water as I forgot to
pull the drain plug when I lifted it up on the davits. We had plans to go into town but have decided
to stay on the boat until tomorrow with hopes of better weather. We will meet other friends from our sailing
club for lunch and socializing sometime in the early afternoon.</span></span>Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-82611723407637465642012-11-05T20:31:00.000-05:002012-11-05T20:31:29.816-05:00Charleston and South We spent 2 nights at Dewees Creek and rode out steady winds of about 17 Knots with gusts of around 20-22. But we really never had the feeling that they were that high. The anchor was stuck well and I put out 170 feet of chain as there was a lot of room to swing. But swing we didn't. We stayed pointed west into the wind the whole time. We left on Wednesday, 31 Oct., and went into the Charleston Maritime Marina for a 2 night visit. It's really hard to pass up a fantastic town like Charleston when you're on a trip south. Our entry into our slip was not one for the record books, swift current and a mean cross wind. No damage, no foul.<br />
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Our boat anchored in Dewees Creek</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat a bit, going to the drugstore and just enjoying the activity in the marina. There is a water taxi service and a tour boat that make regular stops and departures with interesting people on board. Great place to "people watch". We took a PediCab ( rickshaw ) into town to meet Laura and Graeme at an Irish pub, Tommy Condons. Had a great dinner of fish and chips and washed it down with Smithwicks. Back to the boat with the same PediCab peddler and slept in calm winds. The next day we went grocery shopping, twice, to pick up some essentials. The winds kicked up again so we decided to stay put and not venture back into town, too cold and too windy for us to enjoy walking around. More puttering on the boat and happy hour on board with Laura and Graeme.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
PediCab in Charleston with Annie, our peddler</div>
<br />
The next morning we left as soon as the sun was up and we could see to steer. Heading south we had to wait for one bridge to open along with an additional four boats. Clearing the bridge we spent the next 4 hours traveling through winding paths of saw grass to arrive at a pleasant anchorage called Steamboat Landing. Yep, an area where "back in the day" steamboats used to stop to load and unload. The water was calm with almost no winds. Laura and Graeme came over for a "Weenie Roast" and we talked of future plans. Decided to go to Port Royal for three days and see a bit of Beaufort, SC.<br />
We left Steamboat Landing early in the morning and made it to Port Royal around 2 pm. Mostly a rather boring trip with no winds and not much to see along the way. Our first night there we had a great dinner of Sweet and Sour Chicken over rice on Sweet Chariot, Laura and Graeme's boat. The next day, Sunday, my brother Ric and his wife Donna drove up from Augusta, GA to see us. He took us to the PX on Parris Island Marine Base as we needed to replace our coffee pot that broke. We couldn't find a coffee pot there but I did walk out with a great US Navy T shirt. After a successful trip to Wally World for the coffee pot, we went back to the marina and ate a great lunch. Later that evening Laura and Graeme came over and we watched some football on the TV since the marina has a cable hookup.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Ric and Donna at The Back Porch Grill</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
On our last day at Port Royal we did a bit of grocery shopping using the free courtesy car provided by the marina and went into the town of Beaufort for a late lunch at Luther's. Luther's is an old drugstore which has been turned into a nice pub. Fantastic burgers and wraps with lots of different beers to sample. Back to the boat for a quiet night of relaxing and reading. Tuesday morning will find us on our way towards Savannah, GA as long as the weather co-operates. </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-69694930993140257742012-10-30T14:05:00.000-04:002012-10-30T14:32:02.674-04:00Still moving slowly<br />
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After leaving Mile Hammock we arrived in Wrightsville Beach
and put the anchor down in Mott’s Channel.
There were only 4 other boats so we picked the perfect spot …………… we
thought. There was a 34 foot sailboat
anchored a good distance in front of us that appeared to have been there for quite
some time. We had dinner and read a bit
and then went to bed. About 3 in the
morning Lynn woke up and happened to look out the port. The sailboat was now about 30 feet or so from
our boat and parallel to us. She woke me
up and by the time I looked out the boat had moved to a more comfortable
distance. We both went back to bed but
never really went into deep sleep. When
we got up in the morning the sailboat was right back where it was when we anchored,
no problem. While drinking coffee in the
cockpit I looked up and here was the sailboat close enough that I could have
filled their coffee cups!!!! I now
realized that they had only rope for an anchor rode instead of chain and a Hell
of a lot of it to boot. As a result they
were moving in an entirely different direction from the rest of the boats
around them. We decided it best to start
the engine and pull up our anchor and move a safe distance behind these people. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and
reading. We were getting ready to leave
the following morning when we saw about 100 people in the water in front of
us. Looking closer and turning on the
VHF radio we found out it was the annual Pier to Pier swim race. Turns out there were close to 400 people
swimming. The Coast Guard had closed the
channel for the race and we had to wait about 90 minutes before we could leave.</div>
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Our boat in Mott's Channel at sunset</div>
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<br /></div>
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Our next stop was
St. James Plantation Marina in Southport, SC.
We arrived at the marina in the early afternoon having had a great run
down the Cape Fear River. We did a
couple of loads of laundry and then went to the Pub for a great meal. We met some folks that were also traveling
the same as us and talked about traveling together for awhile. But the next morning they left before us and,
aside from hearing them on the radio, we never saw them again.</div>
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From St. James we
went to the Barefoot Landing Marina to spend only one night. This marina is located along side an outlet
mall that also has some great restaurants.
Our favorite in the past years has been the River City Café. This is a great hamburger joint that has
barrels of peanuts at the door. You grab
a dish of nuts and proceed to litter the floor with shells. We each had a fantastic burger, onion rings
and fries. Then back to the boat for a
great night’s sleep. In the morning we took
off for Bull’s Creek which is off the Wacamaw River. Along the way we saw four deer swimming
across the ICW!! What a sight; unfortunately we didn't get any good photos.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stayed in Bull’s
Creek for three nights. Remember, we are
still waiting for Laura and Graeme to catch up.
We have been in Bull’s Creek many times before but this time we tried a
new spot to anchor and we loved it.
Better scenery and less boat traffic.
We called Laura on the phone and found out they were planning on being
in Georgetown, SC a day earlier than we had thought. So we left the anchorage the following
morning and got fuel on the way. We
arrived there about one in the afternoon and found a great place to drop the
hook and wait for our friend’s arrival.
They showed up around four and we all went into town to Buzz’s Roast, a
local pub, for a welcome drink and some snacks.
The talk, of course, swung to the upcoming storm, Sandy. We discussed staying put or getting a slip at
one of the local marinas. It was decided
to stay at anchor and ride it out as the forecast didn't look like it was going
to be too bad in G’town. Back to the
boat for dinner and to re-evaluate our plans in the morning.</div>
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We woke up on
Thursday morning and listened to the forecast.
It had changed a bit but we still felt comfortable staying at
anchor. Laura and Graeme, on the other
hand, decided to get a slip in the marina.
As the day went on, Lynn and I kept discussing our choice and were good
with it until a local came by and told us the holding in the anchorage was
terrible. We then decided to also get a
slip. Then while pulling our anchor we
found it dug in very deep and difficult to get up. Needless to say we were hooked well (we later
found out from other locals there are only a <u>couple</u> of bad spots, we
were in a good one). Never the less we went to the marina and tied up. Laura and I walked down to the seafood market
and each bought fresh shrimp for $4.99 per pound!!!! After dinner we were ready to sit thru the first
night of the storm. Well, for the next 48
hours we got nothing but lots of rain and 14 knot winds with maybe a 20 knot
gust every so often. Sandy turned out to
be pretty much a non issue but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry. So we just enjoyed being tied up and having unlimited
fresh water and electricity. We did some
more laundry to kill time and so we wouldn't have to do any in Charleston, our
next destination.</div>
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The shrimp boat behind us in Georgetown with one of my God Daughter's name on it</div>
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<br /></div>
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We left G’town
early yesterday morning and fought currents and 15-20 knot winds on our way to
a beautiful anchorage called Dewee Creek.
Both of our boats are sitting here for 2 nights waiting for the last of
the winds to die down a bit and then we’ll take a slip for one or two nights at
the Charleston Maritime Center. This is
our favorite marina in Charleston as it is close, within walking distance, to
almost everything downtown. And as a
bonus, the cheapest place to dock. After
Charleston we will just take our time moving south and enjoying, hopefully,
some warmer weather.</div>
Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-30102284773862358692012-10-17T10:02:00.000-04:002012-10-17T10:02:51.387-04:00On The MoveWe left Edenton last Wednesday and have been moving very slow so we can enjoy the anchorages and scenery along the way. Our first day out was the longest, 9 hours, but the water was calm. We then went to a secluded creek called Campbell Creek and spent 3 nights at anchor. I was able to do some of the small projects that I didn't have time to complete at home before we left. Next we went to Beaufort, NC and bought fuel, filled the water tank and dumped our trash. We had another pleasant night at anchor in Town Creek. We are now in Mile Hammock Bay which is a small protected area in Jacksonville, NC at the edge of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. This anchorage is very popular with boaters and has many different craft staying here every night. This will be our third night here before we move along. We had a pretty heavy rainfall the first night followed by some stiff winds that lingered into the late morning hours. We are trying to catch up with friends Bill and Terri Ellis (Second Option ) who are in Charleston and at the same time letting Laura and Graeme (Sweet Chariot ) try to catch up with us. It's a balancing act that I'm not sure we are winning. But we will all get together sometime before we cross to the Bahamas, our ultimate destination. Tomorrow we will head to Wrightsville Beach, NC and anchor in an area known as Mott's Channel. After Mott's Channel we'll probably spend one night in a marina, St. James Plantation, in order to do laundry, refuel and top off the water tanks again. Everything has been going well so far and we are really enjoying living on the boat again. The weather has been comfortable during the day and maybe a bit nippy at night. As we continue south we hope to see those nights a bit warmer.Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-56759117257353812102012-10-01T17:19:00.001-04:002012-10-01T17:19:38.245-04:00Six days and counting down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, everything is completed on the project list that needs finished before we leave. All food except produce, frozen, and bakery items have been loaded and there's still plenty of room left. The only other things to take down yet are clothes and personal stuff. The goal is to leave on Sunday, weather permitting. We'll take our time and hope to let Graeme and Laura, our friends on Sweet Chariot, catch up with us around the Wrightsville Beach area. We have made the arrangements for our neighbors to watch the house and get our mail. It's so nice to live someplace where there are such great people next door. Lynn and I have <b><i><u>both</u></i></b> seen our doctors and have been given up to date immunizations and a clean bill of health to travel. After missing out on traveling to the Bahamas last year we are excited to start another adventure. We are looking forward to spending Christmas on one of the island chains and hoping for a visit or two from either friends or family. I'll post again as soon as we get underway and try also to add a new post at least once a week.Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-63890625595901406822012-09-17T17:13:00.000-04:002012-10-01T17:31:05.866-04:00What we'll miss the most<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRo9YiMjFVrd1IybExi_xIv8pra8Z0inT3GQlGvsaiSNY0Q3ki8m-rCoPoQpezeejoVl1kQwV-6NZs5iug0ig1sBssl9FTxPLccXXUHZLb_Mobuf-rjQs5cRdwc3PfGFjp8QkYzdTc3L0u/s1600/Capt.+Ryley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRo9YiMjFVrd1IybExi_xIv8pra8Z0inT3GQlGvsaiSNY0Q3ki8m-rCoPoQpezeejoVl1kQwV-6NZs5iug0ig1sBssl9FTxPLccXXUHZLb_Mobuf-rjQs5cRdwc3PfGFjp8QkYzdTc3L0u/s320/Capt.+Ryley.jpg" width="257" /></a>We wish we had these two little guys for our Captains this year but their Mom and Dad's need them at home. I guess the hardest thing about being gone for an extended time is leaving the family. We will miss our sons, their wives and of course our two grandsons more than anything.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3BbQ_dZwg4uDgYjHgWtRkJS-z2mfZJ_cqlobf4JCRxTr52UKP-iIf0Ak5Ba6qj-yVM8xmQ8AdOWqPn0q3Egjy7x3nwrMUmKxbhz2bYGF7fE0uI57yZNF7CvM3cXx1t-aSsOd3298BueB/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3BbQ_dZwg4uDgYjHgWtRkJS-z2mfZJ_cqlobf4JCRxTr52UKP-iIf0Ak5Ba6qj-yVM8xmQ8AdOWqPn0q3Egjy7x3nwrMUmKxbhz2bYGF7fE0uI57yZNF7CvM3cXx1t-aSsOd3298BueB/s320/photo.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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In the last week I've completed all but 2 of our "must do" projects on the boat. We have begun to stage items that need to go with us in the laundry room. Once I finish replacing the fresh water tank sensor and put the Vee berth back together we'll start hauling everything down and finding places to store it and then probably forget where.</div>
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The weather here in Edenton is starting to look like the beginning of Fall. The nights are cooling off to the mid 50's and the humidity has finally started to diminish. We look forward to traveling south without hot steamy days and sweltering nights. Plans haven't changed and sometime around the 1st week in October we hope to be back on the water.</div>
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Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293093491810668430.post-11155725192603706942012-09-11T16:09:00.001-04:002012-09-11T19:10:47.144-04:00Getting Ready to leave 2012-2013We've been working quite hard to get ready for our next trip south. All the teak has received a fresh coat of Teak Oil and inside cleaned of all the dust and debris from basically sitting for over a year in the slip. We had some mechanical problems addressed while in Virginia for a very short trip in July. Fuel and water tanks have been topped off and only a couple of minor repairs still need to be finished. Provisioning has been started and already we are wondering where to put everything. Plans are to leave some time around the first week in October and come back home to Edenton about the end of April or the beginning of May. We will try to post on this Blog as time allows to let you know where and what we are doing.Larry and Lynn Morrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397245428788495755noreply@blogger.com4