picture gallery from September

Jim Mitchell, Stu's artist friend from Noank


















Nice photo of Stu















Mom & Dad on Tall Tales


















Hol on the beach in Rhode Island

Since our arrival in St. Pete's, most of our time has been spent getting the boat ready...again!. Stu has done extensive electrical and plumbing work; installing a new bilge pump, GPS, and radio, replacing a faucet in the galley sink, and making some minor repairs in the head. He has worked on the rigging changing the main sheet, setting up reef points on the main (this reduces the sail area if we get into heavy weather), and making adjustments to the jib. It seems that every project leads to another, so the work is ongoing. We'll probably replace the main halyard as its quite old and a bit worn. We also have to make some adjustments on the roller furling. Stu says the winches could use some rebuilding and then everything needs to be continually lubricated with silicon spray. At any rate, it's finally to the point where she is ready to sail anytime now! Yippee! We are sure, however, new issues will be revealed with each outing as we stretch out all her old kinks.

While Stu was taking care of the mechanics. I was, of course, cleaning and painting the interior. I spent the last 4 weeks striping out the old liner, dissolving and scraping the old glue residue, painting, and repairing the windows. There had been a long time leak from the port chain plate and I discovered rot in the bulkhead between the head and forward cabin. Ideally, if we had the time and skill, we'd take out the entire bulkhead and build a new one. But instead, I ended up digging out the rot and patching the hole with marine ply. I made a template of the hole with newspaper, traced it onto the wood. Dorene let me use her jigsaw to make the cut and I was fairly pleased how well it actually fit. In the meantime, to repair the leak,Stu lifted the chain plate, dug out the old caulk and re-bed it with a new sealant. It seems to have worked since it rained fairly hard the other day and there was nary a drop inside!!! In a few weeks after the rest of the wood has sufficiently dried out, we'll inject some apoxy to strengthen what's remaining of the original bulkhead.

A few days ago, I got into the dinghy. It was finally time to remove CARA MIA from the stern! Armed with acetone and a razor blade I did the deed and now the transom is bare and awaiting a christening . We are down to the final choices, FLIPSIDE, SHORT CUT, and now a new one,TERN HERE.


































Stu and I have been trying to take time each day for some fun and exercise. He tries to jog several times a week and I practice yoga on the dock. It's amazing to see dolphin and manatee swimming in the canal while doing sun salutations. There are 4 very green and very vocal parrots squacking in a tree over looking the dock. I get such a kick out of seeing PARROTS (!) flying around outside a cage. It's gotten to the point where I can reconize their calls and they often wake us up in the morning. If I pop the hatch in the forward bunk and look out, I see them sitting on the top most branches looking down and making a wracket! ( I think that's how you spell that? ) Anyway, I'll try to get a photo of them soon.
I also get to enjoy viewing hawks, pelicans, herons of all kinds and egrets hanging around on the pilings while bending, arching, twisting and inverting!


Several times a week, fishermen come by in their skiffs with their nets to fish for mullet which are running in the canal. One morning we were the lucky recipients of freshly caught fish. Stu cut their heads off and gutted them, as I was too squeamish, but I cleaned and scaled them and had to dispose of their remains..... But they did make for an absolutely delicious dinner, pan sauted with garlic, onions and veggies. As I was cleaning them we had a visitor just waiting for us to turn our backs for a nano second!








Mr. Pelican sitting casually on the piling next to our boat pretending not to notice the fish!














My handiwork, mullet, cleaned and scaled.

















We brought 2 folding bikes with us and use them regularly. We are only a 30 minute bike ride on flat terrain to the gulf beaches which are open and clean and not very crowded. We've taken several L-O-N-G walks on the beach, wading in the surf and picking up sea shells which are more exotic and colorful than east coast sea shells. We are also a 30 minute bike ride from downtown St. Petes. The downtown area is being revitalized and boasts one of the largest most desirable municipal marinas left in Florida.

One of our downtown highligts was an evening at the Dali museum. The docent was informative and witty and wore a shoe on her head as a hat. It seems that Dali had a shoe hat made for his wife Gala. I was impressed with the detail and thoughfulness in imagery in each of his paintings. We saw snips of a film of Dali and he was some character! What interested me the most was looking at his earliest painting from his teen years through his early art education. In those first paintings, he was just learning how to draw and paint. The works were traditional and copied from the masters. He was experimenting in the different painting genres. It was only in his mid to late 20's did he begin to explore the techniques he'd use in his later paintings. It reminded me that , all artists have to go through a process of learning their craft and experimenting in different styles until their own originality emerges.

We arrived at the Maximo Boat yard in St. Petersburg on December 7th. The boat was in the water. With the inside torn apart we managed to unpack and organize a few essentials from the van and spend our first evening aboard.

The boat's original name is CARA MIA, which of course, we have no interest in conveying. Brainstorming a new name has been a challenging pursuit with several choices; DON'T ASK, FREE COFFEE, SEA RISKIT, WINTER EYES, NEXT LEFT, SHORT CUT, FLIPSIDE,ETC. We still aren't knocked in the head by any of these Got any ideas? We'll welcome and consider all entries.

Stu's friends, John and Dorene Brunetti and their very cute 11 year old daughter, Samantha, own a lovely home in St. Peterburg with a dock on a canal out back. They offered us a most generous dockage rate to stay there while we get the boat ready. John and Stu were partners on the VENTURA, a 62ft Herreshoff design sloop, which they chartered off Piers 11 and 13 ( South Street Fishmarket area) back in the '80's.





John and Dorene in their hot tub!











Samantha with Neffertiti, one of their 6 cats and 7 guinea pigs!















John and Dorene's house taken from the dock.















The boat and dock taken from their yard.

Our day in Charleston was really quite wonderful. Stu says, that in addition to Newport and Annapolis, Charleston is by far one of his most favorite cities. The day started off rainy, but warm. The humidity lent a lush sensuality to all the old buildings, flowers and trees. We parked on the outskirts of the downtown area and started out.

Much like Savannah, Charleston offers its visitors the opportunity to take horse drawn carriage tours throughout the historical and very picturesque parts of the old downtown area. However, we decided to walk. ducking underneath awnings between showers.

Midday, the sun came out and just in time for the Annual Christmas Parade with a cast of thousands, marching bands, floats and dignitaries. Basset Hound owners came out en masse to parade their dogs dressed in Santa hats and Christmas Wreath collars. Much fun!
















Later that day, we drove to Savannah and had dinner with Stu's friend, Vada, her exhusband and his young wife.






Stu is sporting an antique pilot's helmet that Vada picked up for him at a flea market.





The next day, we arrived in Jacksonville, Florida on a flat bed tow truck. A hundred miles into our travels we stopped at a rest stop only to discover that starter on the Caravan had crapped out. Thank goodness for Triple A!

Just after Thanksgiving, Stu and I went up to Mystic, stripped down Tall Tales and loaded up the van. Looking like something out of "Grapes of Wrath", our dinghy and sail bags strapped on top of the van, bicycles off the rear, and the back of the van full up to the top we started on our way

We took several days heading south, visiting with a few of Stu's friends on the way. Our first night we stayed with Ed and Mary in Norfolk, Va.
















Ed is a motorcycle affectionado and took me for a spin, Great fun!










Stu, an old time 'Easy Rider', headed out on his own.











Stu looked pretty happy after his ride!













The next day we drove to New Bern, North Carolina for lunch. New Bern is a lovely little town that is beginning to be 'discovered". The harbor area has been developed and the condos are soon to follow. Sadly, this seems to be the way of the future of all coastal sea towns.... And they all look pretty much alike!


As we parked the van, a little while haired lady wearing a placard, "Join us at the Christmas Cookie Walk." targeted us and suggested we go the local church for lunch!

Looking for local color and action, we were just in time and in the right place for New Bern's BIG HOLIDAY EVENT. Entering the church, we were handed a white pastry box and a plastic glove. Christmas music was being played by some local musicians... Middle aged parishioners dressed in red and green sweaters and wearing Santa hats playing electric guitar, bass , drum set and sax. Several good natured plump gals took turns coming up to the mike and accompanying the musicians in slightly off tune renditions of favorite holiday standards.

The community room was set up with many tables full of trays of cookies and pastries. The way a "Cookie Walks" works is this: We went from table to table and picked out cookies, brownies, bars and cakes. Then our boxes were weighed, we paid for our selection. Of course, we ended up buying way too many sweets, but most were quite tasty.

We sat with the locals and enjoyed some homemade soup, then quickly explored the town and continued heading south.

Our goal: We would try to make it to Charleston by night.

Oh, one of the greatest things. We decided to stay off Interstate 95, choosing instead to travel the back roads. It took me a while to realize that the fields of " white stuff" growing by the side of the road was cotton. That's right..COTTON! Now I KNOW that cotton is a plant.. But I had NEVER seen cotton growing. I wanted to stop and pick some to see what it looked like. I kept haranguing Stu to stop the car so I could hop out and harvest a sample, which he finally did. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it, but it was really wonderful. The cotton pod had split into fourths and begun to blossom. I was impressed how soft and white the fiber was.

That night we stayed in a real flea bag hotel just outside of Charleston.

It's been over 6 weeks since my last entry. A lot has happened during this time. So much, in fact, that it's difficult to write about it all. But I'll try to catch up up.

Rewind and Fast Forward..... PLAN B!

After sulking for a week or so about our canceled trip on Tall Tales. I began to think of alternatives..."What is the smallest boat 2 people can comfortably live aboard?" and " How large and what type of boat is safe to go off shore?" "Can someone get a good safe boat for around $5000.00?"

In early November, I suggest to Stu, " How about if we buy a another inexpensive boat in FLORIDA and start our trip from there? We can sail to the Bahamas and have some fun with it. And then if we want to or need to let it go, we can try to sell it in the spring."

Stu's response... " That's a wonderful idea Hol. I just love it!"

So the past month was spent researching used boats for sale in Florida online. We made many phone calls, rented a car and traveled down south to look at and finally purchase another boat. Stuart made suggestions of types, makes, models and years of boats we should pursue.... early fiberglass between 1960 -1979, shallow draft ( no more than 4 feet since the waters in the Keys, the Bahamas and the ICW tend not to be very deep), if possible an inboard diesel engine, preferrably a bimini/ suncover for the cock pit, a full galley and an enclosed head. Pearsons, Ericsons, Albins, Islanders, Morgans, Columbias were all desirable makes.

We set up 10 appointments to see boats. Most of them were located on the West Coast on Florida in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area. We took three days to drive down. Night one; the worst flea bag motel outside of Alexandria ,VA. Night two: in Jacksonville, FL. with Clayton, Stu's son and then to St.Pete's.

Just before Thanksgiving we purchased a 1975 Morgan 30, the fourth boat we looked at.

Here are some photos





We had the boat hauled at the MAXIXO BOAT YARD to have the bottom painted and all the sea cocks and through hulls replaced. Notice the shallow draft. She draws 3.8 ft and with her centerboard up.

Two weeks later..... And not ONLY are we still at the dock at Fort Rachel Marina... But Stu, after agonizing when and why we were doing this trip, made a final decision NOT to take TALL TALES down the ICW ( Intracoastal Waterway) after all !

We had had EVERY intention to leave over a week ago when the residue of Hurricane Wilma hit Connecticut with 50 knot winds and rain. We discovered a few tiny leaks in the forward hatch. Stu tied down a tarp to keep our berth dry. For two nights the boat was swaying so vigorously that I actually felt sea sick...A bit drowsy and queasy....And we were tied up at the dock! And with extra lines!


Although that system blew through rather quickly and the winds somewhat died down, a cold front followed fast on its heels and the temperatures dropped close to 30 degrees at night. In fact, the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported freezing temperatures and 14 to 20 foot seas in the sound.

So again, we delayed our departure and listened carefully to the weather reports to strategically amend our plans.

Then towards the end of last week, after hearing reports of a slight increase in air temperature, intermittent light rain and most importantly a NE breeze of 10 to 15 knots which would give us the push we needed, Stu announced that we JUST MIGHT have a brief 3-day window of opportunity to make the jump down from Mystic to Brooklyn's Gravesend Bay. The plan was that we'd lay over there until we got a good weather picture to begin our trek down the New Jersey coast to Cape May.

However, now things would be different..No casual cruising.
We were over a month behind schedule. It had gotten much colder, the winter weather storms were apt to begin and we had plans to be back in New York for Thanksgiving! If we didn't have the boat far enough south by November 20th. It would be almost unbearable to continue south after the holidays in mid December.

All along, I had been concerned that I wouldn't have the stamina to be the primary helmsman. Stu would be navigating and I'd been driving or steering the boat. Initially, we'd plan to make 5 to 8 hour a day runs, then anchor or moor in the evenings, enjoy a good boat cooked meal and a good night's sleep before we set off the next day. With this new plan, we'd have to run at least 10 hours a day... perhaps even make a necessary 24 hour run to get far enough south to avoid the cold and eventual storms. Stu said this might be accomplished by bringing aboard a third person to divide the watches.

We met this woman, Joyce Little, a strong and wonderful 45 year old gal from St Augustine, looking to crew aboard a boat that would eventually bring her back home into Florida waters. Stu and discussed the pros and cons of having another person on board. It would be great having the extra hand and company, but it also meant less privacy and room. A toss up but we decided to invite Joyce.. And she was totally up for it!

Unfortunately, as fate would have it, that window of opportunity rapidly vanished as a new front was forecast. Although the temperature would rise substantially and we'd finally delight in long overdue sunny clear days, we'd be confronted with a consistent wind blowing strong out of the west and south. Precisely the direction we'd be heading...directly on our nose!

And that was it! Stu tossed and turned all Saturday night debating. Once at 4 am, he turned to me and said that we'd leave in the morning and wrestle our way down to Norfolk... But then at daybreak, Stu popped out of bed and consulted the NOAA website one last time, before he woke me. " Hol", he started," I can't have you upset with me, but I've decide that its just too late to go. I can't go into all the reasons right now, but we've been discussing this for weeks now and you know the variables. No fun, Hol! This is just NO FUN and this trip is suppose to be FUN!"

Well, you can imagine my dismay. 15 years waiting for this opportunity to go sailing. And six months of preparing.. arranging my ENTIRE life.......And now NO BOAT TRIP!!!

Stu was trying to be optimistic..." We can do this again next year. We'll take a nice spring cruise to Martha's Vineyard. You'll see, you'll get to sail. We'll rent a condo in Florida instead. Or we can hop in the van and take a camping trip. Why not fly to Italy. Hey, how about trekking in South America. Cheer up! Think out of the box! Be creative. Come up with an idea. Really, Hol, if we'd taken the boat now, you'd have been miserable, MISERABLE,COLD AND UNCOMFORTABLE! TRUST ME!"

But I didn't WANT to wait until next year! WAH!
I didn't WANT to rent a condo! WAH! WAH!
I didn't WANT to go to Europe for a few weeks or mountain climb in Nicaragua! WAH!WAH! WAH!
And I certainly didn't WANT to go camping out of the back of a van! WAH! WAH! WAH! WAH!

Needless to say, what started out as a definite funk.... by Sunday night had morphed into a full scale tantrum.

The next morning, I woke with one of those emotional "hangovers". In the last 24 hours I had sucessfully managed to exhaust both myself and Stuart! Poor guy!

However, it was a glorious warm and sunny day. I'd just have to make the best of it. I hopped on the bicycle and rode over to meet Joyce and regretfully inform her of our decision not to sail.

During the course of the day, as I calmed down and settled into the acceptance of having absolutely NO control over things like regional or global WEATHER SYSTEMS!, it seemed important to make conscious choices about the things I actually could had a say in. I'd just have to try to be productive and have some fun anyway.

Joyce and I went for a long walk. She is good company; intelligent and a thought-provoking conversationalist.

As it was such a lovely day, I suggested to Stu that we deploy the dinghy and go for a row. Joyce teaches kayaking in Florida and she was happy to join me. We managed rather easily to put "Talespin" together on the foredeck and launched her overboard. Stu figured that I was digging have some female companionship and generously offered to let us "girls" go out by ourselves. Plus, he probably welcomed the break!

Joyce and I took turns rowing and it felt great to be on the water in the afternoon sunlight.
I rowed first under the railroad bridge and into the cove by West Mystic. There are several Meadow Larks moored there and I wanted Joyce to see these wonderful shallow draft, lee board wooden boats. I had to row hard against the wind and current and it took quite a while to get to Steve Jone's boat yard,West Mystic Marina ( home to the Messy). Of course, my crude and choppy rowing technique probably had a lot to do with that, as well! But anyway, it was satisfying to break a sweat using my body and my strength to move the boat. I knew that my back and arms would feel sore and tender the next morning.

We tied up on the dock, stretched out legs for a while and then headed back. On the return trip, Joyce rowed. By then the wind had died down and the tide was slack, so we got back to Tall Tales in no time at all. Of course, I suspect Joyce's experience as a kayaking instructor might also have contributed to that!

Later that evening, with a much improved spirit. I started to formulate a possible alternative for our trip....PLAN B!

So nine days and 20 inches of rain later.... We are still stuck on the dock with 30 to 40 gust winds blowing from the west. Cripes! Listening to the weather report we kept hearing of 14 to 20 foot seas out in the Sound. No fun...In fact pretty scary.

But the great news is... The boat barely leaks, Over the summer, we must have successfully sealed the few spots which had previously let in a lot of water! Except for the condensation, the boat was fairly dry and cozy!

As of today the winds have died down somewhat, but now Stu and I are DRIVING to Cape May tomorrow so that Stu can test a boat early Friday morning. Then next Tuesday, we'll FLY to Fort Lauderdale for the Boat Show for 5 days. Anyway, Hurricane Wilma is on her way. They say she's the largest and strongest hurricane on record. If she hits Tampa, we'll probably cancel the boat show next week and watch the weather carefully to see if she loops around and heads back out to the Atlantic or heads up the coast.

Tentatively, we now hope to begin our trip November 1, the official end of the hurricane season. Stu says , that although it is much colder traveling in November, we're more apt to get several clear sunny crisp days with north east winds. So we are preparing; long underwear, heavy duty insulated flotation jackets, wool watchman's caps and gloves! Boy , oh boy, won't the tropics of south Florida be welcoming when we arrive!

Expectedly, we have consumed a good portion of our provisions... And we haven't even left yet. Otherwise we have been to the movies on several occasions. Saw Flightplan, Broken Flowers and In Her Shoes at the cinema. and have rented a bunch of DVD's to watch on my new computer.....How great is that! One especially wonderful Canadian film was Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity. Also a few light weights which helped get us through all that rain...Spanglish, As Good as it Gets, The Interpreter, and the Upside of Anger.

We even started to house hunt again!!!!


As for our trip, we are being as optimistic as possible, thus we've been reviewing the charts and setting way points on the GPS. Nate came by and helped us to interface the GPS with our laptop.

















I took a bunch of photos of Tall Tale's interior so you can see how nice ( and compact) she is.





Tall Tales' stern.



Forward bunk. We sleep here and store our clothes and supplies up forward.



"Night table" by our berth.




Starboard bunk in the main cabin



One view of the galley. A gimbled alcohol two burner stove!




Close up!




Our Dinette! Notice the propane cabin heater on the bulkhead. This was handy to use during all that rain!




The companionway towards the cockpit. Our Westerbeke deisel engine is under the stairs.



Stu on the port bunk reading the newspaper and snacking on Matzoh with cream cheese and chives ( courtesy our new refrigeration)!