The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

Please put Judy and I down for the second copy to come off the presses or off the gigabyte..for our furry ones need to learn how to get along with the "dark side" of boating critters. Molly was a beauty and your talents as a professional photographer were shinning bright the day you took that cover shot.
 
How to do all this ("print on demand" publishing with one of three or four big outfits) was one of the topics I had a bit of back and forth on with Uncle Don (Sneaks), since Mary had gone that route with her book. I have a brewing book "mostly" written, don't know if I will ever get back to it or not. It involves setting up your own publishing company (pretty easy really), obtaining an ISBN number, and producing a PDF of your work meeting certain criteria for submission. Color pictures must be CKYM not RBG but of course you are an expert on that part. Don did NOT like Amazon because they insist on owning too many of the rights that the author/publisher should have. So then YOU do the marketing, as you say, but books are only printed when they are sold, and you theoretically are not going to have to buy a bunch of unsold books back. I did not do it, so I really do not know how it actually works after you get the PDF of your book into the big print-on-demand outfit, but it is an intriguing idea...
 
Pat Anderson":1whiqxgz said:
How to do all this ("print on demand" publishing with one of three or four big outfits) was one of the topics I had a bit of back and forth on with Uncle Don (Sneaks), since Mary had gone that route with her book. Don did NOT like Amazon because they insist on owning too many of the rights that the author/publisher should have.
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It does my heart good to see frequent references of Don (Sneaks) on the threads here as he is able to continue to offer his sage advice.
 
Well, I have done quite a bit of research on the various ways to publish a book. I really think ePublishing will become even more of a major player in the publishing industry. POD (printing on demand) is another avenue, and there are a lot of options for that. One has to be careful with the POD about who owns what.

My book is now in the queue at one of the eBook distributors, so it is "wait and see" if my "crash course" on eBook formatting was successful. The BIG players in eBook distributing have different formats (iBooks, B&N, Sony, etc). It is certainly different from traditional writing, and I am learning as I go.

I'll keep you posted.
 
After a long walk on the beach this morning, we headed out in Wild Blue. Lunch on the hook in a cove in the jetties; it's one of our favorite places to hang out - we can watch the dolphins, see boats go by, and generally decent protection. If you saw Herb's post in the "C-Dory Sightings" thread... yeah, we saw him and gave him a call on the radio. Here's a look at his R21...

HerbsTugE.jpg

There was a widely spaced 2' swell coming into the cove (about a 12 second period)... like being gently rocked to sleep for an afternoon nap. Other than being fried to a crackly crunch from the beach walk (that Tropical Tip sun can be brutal), it was a great day on (and near) the water.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Pat Anderson":3b2alp7j said:
Geez, doesn't that Ranger 21 just cry out for a little more cabin instead of so much cockpit????
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Different strokes for different folks. If I lived on a small lake and wanted to take the neighbors out for cocktails on the boat, it might be just right. But, like you, we like to cruise, so more cabin is what we need. Of course, Ranger now makes the R-21EC, which stand for "extended cabin"... seems that you're not the only one who felt more cabin was welcome. :wink:

Cute boat, though.
 
This morning's sunrise, heading towards the Gulf...

SunriseE_001.sized.jpg

After our "cold front" passage yesterday, this was the nicest day we've had since getting back - high in the upper 70s, crisp blue sky, low humidity, breezy (but not blowing like stink).

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim,

Thanks for sharing your sunrises and sunsets. It is my favorite time of the day also. My favorite part of working nights was to be able to watch the sunrise color changes and morning wakeup. Sometimes that is what made the long nights worth it.

So, roughly, how big are those oil rigs. (High, wide, and long approx?)

Big job moving that through a small channel huh?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
hardee":2ce12lwe said:
Jim,

Thanks for sharing your sunrises and sunsets. It is my favorite time of the day also. My favorite part of working nights was to be able to watch the sunrise color changes and morning wakeup. Sometimes that is what made the long nights worth it.

So, roughly, how big are those oil rigs. (High, wide, and long approx?)

Big job moving that through a small channel huh?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
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Hi Harvey,

Those oil rigs vary in size. This particular one is not one of the biggest, but I'd estimate that it is between 30 and 40 stories tall; a couple hundred feet wide at the platform. Some of the bigger ones have helipads. Generally, the ocean tugs that pull it down the channel are in excess of 100' and they look awful small to do the job. It is an impressive sight to watch, the coordination of the tugs and the movement of the rig.

The Brownsville Ship Channel has freighter and tanker traffic from around the world and barge traffic from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, but they coordinate and time the movement of the ships and tugs so that only one ship at a time is coming or going.

The Port is also a very active scrapping business center, with ships of all sorts being dismantled: aircraft carriers, freighters, old cruise ships, etc. It is not a BIG port, but the big traffic in and out of there is consistent. Oil, steel, grain, and gravel get distributed through the port.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Things do change. Five years ago, I thought we were done RVing. Traveling by boat was our plan for retirement, at least for a while; along with our house on the water. Then, a couple years into that, the Blonde said, "Let's get another RV." I didn't expect that the focus would change back towards RVing... hey, there's only so much time, even when you're retired. Taking stock of everything, we made the decision that we've talked about for a very long time... today, we listed the house with a realtor.

It's a great little house with a wonderful location, right on the water. My dock is just a few steps from the door. Out the canal and you're into the Intracoastal Water Way or around the island to the other side and you're heading into the Gulf of Mexico. The only thing the house is missing: wheels.

So, if it sells, we're on our way to being full-timers, dividing time between the boat and the RV. Up from the 9 months or so each year we spend away from the house. The time is right; we were both ready.

Now, we'll see if someone else wants a great place to have a boat; in a gated community; with a golf course, tennis courts, and indoor and outdoor pools.

Oh, and I should say that the three of us are ready... little Izzy is totally onboard, too.

-----------------

We're bailing from the Tropical Tip a bit earlier than planned. My Mother (almost 90 years old) fell and broke her pelvis. I will be making an unplanned trip to the frozen northland before we head to the desert to see our kid.

Wild Blue is coming out of the water tomorrow. Sigh.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim, you are so right! Things do change, sometimes quicker than we want them to. Hope this is the right thing for you to do, I sense some reluctance, as is normal with things this momentous. I know it's something you feel you have to do and that's OK too.

I have only seen pictures of your place but feel it will sell quickly, hope you get a good price for it and that it will add to your retirement fund. I'm glad it didn't happen 2-3 years ago, that would not have been good.

My grandfather once told me (as many folks have told many other folks),

"Happiness is not getting what you want, it's wanting what you get!"

I fervently hope you want what you get. You, your beautiful Blonde and the glamorous Izzy deserve no less!

Best Wishes

Charlie V.
 
Thanks, Charlie. Assuming the house sells, it will mean more boat time as well as RVing. We're both good with that. Wild Blue went into storage today... too soon. After doing all the "put away" stuff, I gave her a pat on the stern. I've always said that a great boat makes you look back as you walk away... and Wild Blue certainly does that for me.

We'll be away from the boat for awhile again, so any of you southern cruisers post something once in a while to keep us all going. Same thing for you PNW hardy folks.

On the road again... yeah, no need to cue the music.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Hmm...not sure we could ever do that, even if we had a bit newer / larger RV. We want a "safe harbor," which is Birch Bay. You know, half our time on the boat, half our time in the fifth wheel and half our time at Birch Bay! Really, for us, summers in Birch Bay and boating in the San Juans and Canadian Gulf Islands, and then in mid-September or October, run to the sun, whether Arizona or Florida or whatever, maybe in the fifth wheel, maybe in the boat, or one this year and the other next year. The new granddaugher may change that idea, Patty is getting some idea that we should be around here until Christmas, but I would say that whatever it becomes, a permanent land base is part of that picture...

JamesTXSD":w8nmkqqq said:
Taking stock of everything, we made the decision that we've talked about for a very long time... today, we listed the house with a realtor.
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Congratulations, you two! I'm with Pat, I don't think that lifestyle is for me, but if anyone is suited to it, you two are.

So where is your legal residence going to be, where are you going to store the RV/boat not in use, etc.?

Warren
 
Doryman":64aup4cp said:
Congratulations, you two! I'm with Pat, I don't think that lifestyle is for me, but if anyone is suited to it, you two are.

So where is your legal residence going to be, where are you going to store the RV/boat not in use, etc.?

Warren
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It's a work in progress, Warren. Serendipitous. :wink: of course, the house has to sell before we go to the next chapter. Lake Powell might be a good place to store the boat.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
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