Boat Shopping in Florida

Yep, we are once again hopping on a plane and heading out to view as many boats as possible. This time, our destination is Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. There just aren't many catamarans on the West Coast. None, actually at the moment. So, off to the East Coast it is. Our broker, Clive, is amazing and is compiling a list of boats to view. We are specifically looking at Lagoons and Leopards in the 40-45 foot range.

This timing also happens to fall on our 15th wedding anniversary, so what better way to celebrate? The kids are heading back to their grandparents for the duration of our trip. J and I will have a visit and then head on out. While we know they'd have fun on the plane and for parts of the trip, we just know after the 4th or 5th boat, they would tire of it and be bored. Plus, we are on a mission! To find the exact model of cat that will best fit our family. 

We've rented a car to be prepared to drive around as needed and of course, do a little exploring along the way. Any sightseeing suggestions? Send them our way! =)

The Boat Box

Yikes, time is flying by way too quickly! We are officially on Christmas break and most of our free time is spent working on the house. I'm taking a little break this afternoon to work on the blog.

As I clean up from the holidays, I am setting aside piles to go back into storage, donate, and one for the boat. I have been thinking ahead to future holidays and wondering just what to bring to decorate the boat with. There isn't much out there on this topic, so I am just going with my gut and what I think will work in a much smaller space. Some LED lights, a few decorations, and ornaments, but I figure we will just make do with what we have, as well as create new decorations depending on where we are. That will be all part of the adventure!

Santa brought a huge stack of board games and card games for the boat. These are definitely going into the boat pile. The kids' Christmas Elf, Christopher, will for sure find his way to where we are (I have promised the kids he would find us). One of my favorite finds were these Glow in the Dark Playing Cards

Thus, a few "Boat Boxes", large plastic totes, have joined our household and I am slowly filling them with things to bring on board. Home school curriculum, small surprises, decorations, and whatever else I think we might need are making their way into these totes. Of course, the kids are also "helping" with this endeavor, so I have to be sure and check through the contents before I pack the tote and stick it in storage (we have a "to go on the boat" area in there).

What items did you pack on board for the various holidays?

Pirates and a U-Haul

Black Friday is typically a day for people who love to shop to get their fix. Well, not for us. We usually stay away from the chaos and instead, chose to go visit some sailing friends up north for a pirate adventure. If you are a Pirates of the Caribbean fan, you will understand. The Lady Washington was used in the first film (Curse of the Black Pearl) and starred as the HMS Interceptor.
We met up with the crew from s/v Odyle and toured the ship. Here are a few pics from the tour:

Afterwards, we let the kids play for a bit on the beach before heading off to pick up the U-Haul to bring home our Black Friday purchases. Yep, you read that right. We bought so much that we needed a U-Haul. Now before you start picturing TVs and the like, it was actually for all the insulation for the house. As we purchased over 30 bags, we needed something a bit larger to transport it back home.

Jared and Zach took off for Home Depot way up near San Francisco (this stuff isn't carried locally, unfortunately) while Matt, Cadence, and I headed for home. The plan was for Jared to drop off the insulation at the house and return the U-Haul that evening. Due to traffic, he didn't get back until 9pm, so we ended up making the return early in the AM.

The rest of the weekend was spent installing insulation to prepare for inspection on Monday. Talk about pressure! We passed with flying colors and could finally schedule the drywall installers (we did everything ourselves last time and decided paying a crew to do it this time was well worth it).

We are hoping to wrap up construction on this addition by February. Just in time to enjoy it for a few months before we sell it. We love this house, but unless we win the lottery between now and June, we need the money for the boat purchase and cruising kitty.

Progress on the House

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What have we been up to lately? Well, today, up to our necks in insulation installation! We took some time out to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and then got right back at it.

We are making lots of progress on the home addition and are now working on installing the insulation and new windows. There's an inspection on those this week and then we can start on the drywall! The kids really want to go get a Christmas tree, but that has to wait until after drywall and the new flooring projects are completed. Fingers crossed we are done in a few weeks! 

We want to enjoy all this hard work before we sell the house in the spring. In between working at our regular jobs, working on the house, and dealing with the kids' schedules, we are also trying to continue to move things into storage and slowly sell or give stuff away.

BVI to USVI: Homeward Bound

5am found us up and about preparing to set sail for Road Town, Tortola. The trip seemed to fly by and we were a little sad it was over. On the other hand, we were missing our kiddos like crazy and thought ahead to when we would bring them back to enjoy these beautiful islands on our own boat!
We sailed as the sun rose and enjoyed a nice and relaxing ride. Coffee in hand, we took in the views and relished the last bit of time out on the water. Around 7am, we hailed BVIYC on the VHF and got crickets. Their website stated they opened at 7 am, but in fact, they didn't open until 8 am. Oh well, we decided we would just tie up to the fuel dock anyway and unload the boat.

As we neared the dock, two employees waved us over and helped us tie up. Awesome luck! They said they would go through checkout with us even though no one was up in the office yet. Perfect! We got everything off the boat, trash deposited, and by the time everything was checked off their list, the office staff let us know we were good to go. They even called us a cab so we could catch the 9:30 am ferry to St. Thomas! Only downside was Jared's sunglasses decided to go for a swim as we were walking away from the boat. He dug out his snorkel mask and underwater flashlight (the water was really murky) and dove in. After a few dives, he came up with sand. At least they were lost at the end of the trip and not at the start!

The cab ride to the terminal was quick and before we knew it, we had our tickets purchased and some time to kill. We set off to find Jared some new sunglasses and souvenirs for the kids. Mission accomplished, we stopped by an ice cream stand for a cold treat and head back to the terminal.

After going through security, we settled down to wait for the ferry. I had been writing down our daily adventures and was in the middle of this morning's recap when it was time to board.
















We started out sitting outside but the sun was pretty intense, so we decided to move inside the cabin. A blast of frigid air hit us,so cold, I wished I had my jacket! We took in the views for the next 45 minutes (so many other islands we want to explore), and soon we were on solid ground and walking in search of lunch in Charlotte Amalie.

Google showed us that a restaurant was close by at the marina, so off we went. The Hook Line and Sinker  is a nice place with views of sailboats all around. Let me just say that this restaurant has the BEST food! Definitely go grab a meal there if you are in the area. SO GOOD! The staff was great as well.

As we wrapped up lunch, I called David, our cab driver from the start of our trip, and a few minutes later we were heading to the airport, chatting all the way. If you want David's number, let us know. He is a superstar and knows these islands in and out!

After going through airport security, we grabbed a snack and settled down to wait for our plane to arrive. There isn't much to do at this airport, so bring a book or two. We were told to check in at least three hours before our flight. Well, it took us all of 20 minutes to get through to the gate. Not sure where that three hours came from, but we heard it from both our new boat broker AND our cab driver.

Oh well. I took the time to catch up on my journal entries and Jared napped. No sooner had I caught up on my writing, that it was time to board the plane. We were now on our way to Miami, FL to catch our connection to San Francisco, CA. We settled in with snacks and just watched the islands disappear beneath us. As we flew towards Florida, we tried to identify the various islands we were seeing. This flight did not have the cool interactive map (guess we just lucked out on our first leg of the journey), so I noted the shapes and decided I would look them up once we got to Miami.

We landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule and had time to get some dinner before catching our connecting flight.

Around 11:45 pm, we landed in SF and much thanks to the baggage claim gods, our luggage was out FIRST! Wahoo! We were in our car and driving to the grandparents by 12:10am. By 2:30am, we had showered and crashed into bed (after kissing each of our kiddos). Matt woke up and briefly smiled and gave me a hug before falling back asleep.

What a trip! It solidified our entire reason for going cruising with our family. The island time, culture, and new sites we experienced, were just the tip of what we will be seeing. All in less than 6 months!

We are lining up a trip to Florida in February to attend the Miami Boat Show and hopefully buy a boat! If not there, then we are for sure going to look in Croatia or Greece. I really want to start over there anyway; so much history and things to see! Not to mention the food and culture!

We've been asked about sailing the BVIs in October. Let me just say that it was great! There aren't many boats around, so you have your pick of the anchorages. We had The Baths to ourselves for a morning; same for most of the snorkeling spots and beaches. Saw only ONE tiny mosquito the entire trip! We came prepared to wage battle after reading travel forums and it was all for nothing (guess we will just pack away the repellent wipes and blankets for another trip).  So, yes, October is an awesome time to visit the islands! =)

Last Night in the BVI: Snorkeling The Indians

The Indians are comprised of four large rocks jutting out of the sea off of Norman Island, named after the Arawak Indians. There is a 5th Indian underwater. Pelican Rock is on the other side.

There was only one other boat tied up when we secured ours to the mooring ball. I think it was a cruising family, as you can definitely tell these boats from your typical charter boat. Lots more gear and items on board. Again, we can hardly wait until that is US cruising around with our family! =)

Anyway, they were heading back to their boat, and we noticed that we didn't have too much daylight left and had better get going. We set off in the dink over to the dingy mooring that was set right up along the snorkeling area. Secured that, geared up and jumped in. Well, Jared jumped in. I was a bit more hesitant, as this was out in the open sea and the word 'sharks' kept popping into my head. I joined him a few minutes later, after he promised to stay next to me. I really need to stop reading so much on the internet... My fear came not from personal experience, but from reading a few sailing forums online and how some people have seen bull sharks in the area. Reef sharks don't bother me, but bull sharks do.

We snorkeled for about 40 minutes before the sun began to drop below the horizon. This was the best snorkeling of the entire trip and highly recommend this as one of your MUST STOPS if you venture this way! Beautiful purple sea fans waved back and forth, colorful coral as far as the eye could see, and the multitude of schools of fish were just breathtaking.

Hoping our new camera works better than this one. Just doesn't do it justice!

We had scoped out a couple of anchorages on the way over and decided upon Soldier's Bay. It had a low point where the breeze would pass through and was shallow that we could see the underwater world below. Just amazing. You could even see the shadow of the boat on the sea floor below in the moonlight.

You can see The Indians and Pelican Rock in the background!

We had a great evening, despite it being our last one in the BVI for awhile. We enjoyed it for awhile before reality set in.
We began the task of packing up and getting ready to depart for home the following morning. We had an early wake up call of 5am! We needed to be sailing by 6am in order to make port in time to check out and catch a cab for the 9am ferry to St. Thomas!

We will be heading towards those lights bright and early the following day!

BVI ABC's: Ants, Boats, and Cruiseships

As we pointed the bow towards Marina Cay and settled in to read over the guide book, I saw our first stowaway. A large black ant, crawling across the page that I was reading. Then, another, and another, followed by a huge group of them next to the seat cushion where our binoculars were resting. No big deal, as I swiped them off the seat and onto the back of the boat. A quick rinse with the transom shower and they were gone. Looks like we picked up some ants while at the dock. Well, 'some ants' turned into quite a lot of ants! They were all over the deck of the boat! I waged battle for the entire passage to Marina Cay! Fortunately, they didn't make it beyond the cockpit and the deck. I didn't see any ants while at the marina, however, it just proves that anything can get aboard if one is not careful. Chalk it up to another lesson learned.

Marina Cay is nestled in front of Scrub Island and Camanoe Island. It was about a 40 minute sail over from Virgin Gorda. It is a flatter island with a very shallow reef surrounding it.

Marina Cay, Scrub Island, and Cam Bay services: restaurant, bar, hotel, fuel, ice, water, garbage disposal, WiFi, ferry to trellis bay, and Pussers store.

We sailed up to the channel entrance, dropped the sails, and motored over to the mooring field. We were all alone, save for one tiny sailboat maneuvering the mooring balls as part of their sailing school course. Picked up our mooring and jumped into the water to check out the sights. We decided to dingy over to the dock to check out the island a little while later, as it was hot and a cool drink was beckoning.

Amethyst is right behind the cat that just pulled up. The cat that almost ran aground on the reef about 10 minutes after this shot was taken.

Walking from the dingy dock to the other side of the island.

We entered the reef to go snorkeling from this side and ended up swimming all the way around to our dingy.

Tied up to the dock, we peeked over the side of the dingy and saw lots of fish right below us! We walked along the island path through lush vegetation to the beach area lined with chairs and thatched umbrellas. A boat was unloading a group of tourists, so we decided to just head out into the water for some snorkeling before it got too crowded. Turns out, we ended up being the only ones out there the entire time, as the group mostly concerned themselves with just the beach bar and the water's edge. 

I have to say that we were quite disappointed with the visibility and quality of the snorkeling. Could it be that it once was an ideal spot, but with growing tourism, the scenery was destroyed? A couple of engines were found, with marine life growing on them (mother nature taking over), however, the scenery wasn't as bright and colorful as we have seen in other locations. The urchins were huge though! They were triple the size of the urchins back home with much longer spines.

The further from shore, the better it got, however, due to the swell happening, it wasn't as clear as it could have been. I found a lonely conch trundling along the sea floor, as we swam closer back to shore. I was surprised at just how bright the orange coloring is on the other side. Two little eyes peeked out at me, curious as what creature had turned its world upside down (yes, I set it back on it's original course).

Can you see the little purple and yellow fish peeking out?

I turned around to show Jared and right there behind me, there was a barracuda, still as stone watching me. I have read about these fish and how they are most famous for their large sharp teeth.  This one looked to be a juvenile, however, it was still too close for comfort. It is quite eery, as these fish are not scared off in any way and just hover there staring at you. This ranked high on my 'creep-o-meter', so I slowly swam away with the hope it wouldn't follow. Just another reminder that we are a guest in their home.

It's hard to see with the background, but there it is!


After snorkeling a bit, we decided that we had better get a move on if we wanted to snorkel The Indians and our last anchorage for the night. We headed back to the boat to drop off the snorkel gear, change into dry clothing, and pick up some cash to buy snacks and cold drinks for the passage.

As we walked along the shaded path, sprinkled with patches of sunlight and scurrying lizards, we paused a moment to take it all in. What an amazing and beautiful place, these islands are. We can't wait to bring the kids back here on our cruising adventure.

Back on the boat, we set our course for Norman Island and The Indians. What a glorious afternoon it was sailing along. Being that it was still hurricane season, there weren't that many boats out and about. The only encounter we had was a large cruise ship coming from Tortola heading straight for us. They did not turn or change course, so we slowed a bit in order to let them pass. You'd think they would be a bit more polite, considering their wake would make things quite rough for us. Nope. Jerks.

Anyway, I found a few more ants while underway. That occupied me for a good while and I finally got the last one just as we were approaching the mooring balls at The Indians.

Up next, our snorkeling, shark worries, and Soldier Bay!

BVI continued: Boat surfing and The Baths!

I put away the camera shortly after this photo because the waves were really rocking the boat as we prepared to enter. We had radioed Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor about 30 minutes before and were told to go into the B dock where someone would meet us to help with the lines.

Once we got to the point to where the waves were actually breaking (not even to shore yet), things got a little hectic. Jared was at the helm and I was making sure we were in the right position to enter. You have to go straight and then turn 90 degrees fairly quickly. We tried timing the entrance in-between the breaking waves but they were seconds apart. Camera went away as I needed to hold on with both hands, we were rocking and rolling that bad. The most scary experience was right after we turned 90 degrees. A wave broke and we were caught in it. Scared that it would push us sideways into the shore, we had that motor full speed and just prayed we wouldn't be pushed too far. The boat rocked WAY over so that the deck was under a bit, but she rolled right back the other way and righted herself. I looked back at Jared as we cruised into the spot behind that little jetty and were safe from any more waves. Whew! What relief. Here is a photo of Jared right after that (we were celebrating the fact we did not run aground)!

See the waves coming in behind him? We are still rocking a little, but not as bad. #tensemoments

Nothing was marked, but we figured the staff member waiting at the end of one of the docks was our guy. So, we turned in and he told us we would need to tie the dingy to the bow and back the boat in to the slip. Ok, fine. I took the helm for a bit while Jared moved the dingy and then I handled the lines while he backed into the slip. It took us a few tries; the swell was still coming in (we were the first dock and the swell came right in and pushed us around.

Finally, we were tied up and hooked up to shore power. By this time, we were dripping with sweat  and spent a few minutes hovered over the AC vents in the boat. I took out our cruising guidebook and noted that the marina closed at 4:30 pm.
Oh crap, that's in 2 minutes, we have to go check in!

We scrambled up and out of the boat and over to the marina office. Once settled, we grabbed our shower gear and headed off to the marina showers. We had been showering off the boat, but let me tell you how awesome a real shower feels. We were feeling pretty darn great after that! Dropped off our stuff and decided to check out the area and find a place for dinner (our first meal out since being on the boat).

We ended up at the marina restaurant and watched another beautiful sunset. Island sunsets just can't be beat! You'd think we would sleep like babies that night with the AC and all.
Nope.
The swell coming in was causing the lines to slowly loosen--more like jerking around. The boat would move one way and then jerk hard as the lines grew taut, and then slam back against the fenders and the dock. Jared was afraid this might cause damage to the boat, so we added a few more lines to tighten things up. Finally, after that, the boat was snug as a bug and we could finally get some sleep.

Woke up around 7 am the next morning to eat breakfast and a mug of coffee before heading out to find a taxi. We needed to check out by 11 am, so we were pressed for time.

Let me just say that taxis are easy to find because they are everywhere! They are also MUCH more affordable than back in the states. For example, a ride from one end of the island to the other was $4 per person!

While chatting with our various drivers throughout this trip, we learned that the government sets the rates, there is a taxi union, and that most of them are self-employed and have other jobs as well. All of them were super knowledgeable about the islands, always friendly, and loved to share information.

We walked out into the marina parking lot and met our driver, Mr. O, who gave us a great tour as we drove to the The Baths. He said he'd meet us in 2 hours to take us back to the boat to check out. Perfect!

We had forgotten to bring our nature permit with us, so we had to pay the entrance fee, which wasn't that much, $6 total!

This is an awesome little hike. Immediately on the trail, huge boulders surround you. Nowhere else have I seen cacti growing among ferns. The ferns seemed to wind their way around the cactus like a feathery scarf. We had the entire place to ourselves, save for a couple of employees getting ready for a big rush of tourists later that morning. We came out to the beach and turned left to enter The Baths.

Magical. That is one word that comes to mind. Wandering through the twists and turns is just an amazing experience. The light dancing upon the water and splashes of light dancing off of the boulders is just spectacular.

Out of The Baths and onto the beach at Devil's Bay! Stef is looking on, wishing she could snorkel!


By this time, we had about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet Mr. O at the top of the baths. We turned around and just as we were heading back through the caves, we were faced with a huge group of people. So grateful that we had this entire experience to ourselves. Definitely bringing the kids back when we are cruising this way!

We headed towards the beach bar to get an icy blended, when we discovered they wouldn't open for another hour or so. Oh well, back up to the top.

Gorgeous view and a pool to cool off in!

After a fantastic ice-blended drink, we headed back to the marina to check out.

Leaving YGYH was much easier than getting in. The waves were still breaking but not as close together. We headed out in-between the waves and out into the beautiful turquoise water, pointing the bow towards Marina Cay. Little did we know that we had stowaways on board...but that's for the next post.

Such a beautiful color!