Author Archives: Mark
“If I had a Shotgun…”
“If I had a shotgun, I’d shot a hole in the bottom of this boat”, Cindy, said upon our arrival in St. Augustine FL. As we continue our trudge up the east coast, we have been plagued with problems. We sort of expected some issues as Cream Puff has not been sailed hard in quite […]
Dream Big
One of the best deals in Ft. Lauderdale is the water taxi. The fare is $26 per person for an all day ticket. For us, this was less than renting a car, no worries about parking, no worries about traffic and okay to have a couple of glasses of wine with the evening meal. In […]
This Stinks!
“This stinks!” was the common phrase uttered after leaving Key West. While sailing motoring from Tampa Bay to the Dry Tortugas, the winds were too light to sail and we were forced to listen to the diesel engine for 32 of the 36 hour trip. When leaving the Dry Tortugas for Key West, we had […]
Key West – Again
Have you ever sat in a bar or restaurant while a band set up? Our initial thought was, oh rats, it’s going to get loud. We were drinking our adult beverages waiting for our food to arrive watching the set up and listening to the standard “check one two three” over and over. Then, they […]
H2-O-M-G
This is the most expensive glass of water ever. Here’s why. Prior to leaving St. Petersburg, I changed all the filters and membranes in our water maker (French). We have two water makers. One is original and installed at the Amel factory and runs off the house batteries. The second was added by the previous […]
Ft. Jefferson – The Dry Tortugas National Park
If you look at a map, about 70 miles west of Key West Florida, in the middle of nowhere, you will find The Dry Tortugas National Park. The park consists of 7 small islands and is the southernmost tip of South Florida’s coral reef tract. This represents the third-largest barrier reef system in the world […]
The Dry Tortugas
About 10 years ago, Cindy and I came to the Dry Tortugas during a long weekend in Key West. A friend suggested we take the high speed ferry from Key West to Garden Key which is the location of Ft Jefferson. During the tour of the fort, I remember looking out one of the windows […]
Sailing South
Our first stop after leaving the marina was top off the fuel tanks. Cream Puff holds 158 gallons (US) of diesel fuel. This is used to power the engine and generator. The engine is used in cases where wind is nowhere to be found or for tight controlled maneuvering. The generator gives us all the […]
Gone Sailin’
Early this morning, Cream Puff slipped her mooring lines as we embarked upon our new life as full time cruisers. What is a cruiser? There are many definitions of a cruiser; see Cindy’s post for her explanation about the different ways people can travel by boat. For me, a cruiser has always been a sailor […]
St Petersburg – The Arts
One of the things we’ve noticed during our stent in St Petersburg, FL is art. No we are not talking Garfunkel. St. Petersburg has built into the cityscape wonderful murals and statues. Taking a short break from readying Cream Puff for our escapades, we took a walk about the city armed with cameras. We have […]
Under 30 Days
We gave our marina office the required 30 days notice we will be vacating our slip and applied our security deposit to our last month’s rent. Our list of “must do’s” is shortening daily. We have a list of tasks that must be done and a second list of things we would really like to […]
Frustration
A day in my life. “Hey Cindy, today I’m going to install the new GPS unit I bought. You remember me telling you about it. It tracks the Russian satellites from the GLONASS system as well as the USA system. I think I told you about it, didn’t I? Well, during the cold war, the […]
Adjustments
Our time in St Petersburg is getting short. We are slightly giddy with excitement about our first passage as cruisers. Although, we are not sure where we will go first. As it stands right now, we will hop to the Dry Tortugas, sail around Key West (been there, done that), and hit some stops up […]
A New Rig
This week was the most expensive week of our lives! Ouch. Okay, perhaps the day when we purchased a house or one of our boats was really the most expensive week of our lives. But, we don’t have jobs anymore and when money goes out, it doesn’t come in (this is really quite scary […]
We’ll know in a couple of hours…
Am I about to die of food poisoning? I have an insatiable curiosity. It is who I am. Because of this, I read. A lot! As our plan to go sailing came closer into view, I substituted my reading material of investment prospectus’ and sales related leadership books to boat blogs, cruising guides and […]
