The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

Jim & Crews: Looks like a few pretty days down there now after the storm...which is often the case. Hoping for good weather next week for myself and Roger (SENSIE) and our country crossing going up to Oak Harbor, WA from Nashville, TN.

Enjoy the good weather...post a few more pics when the hook ups allow.

Byrdman
 
Hi Brother Byrd,

It's going to be chilly the next week or so. And, as we all know, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. :roll: The trolleys don't run here on weekends... but, Enterprise Car Rental picks you up. With three couples, the cost per is pretty inexpensive AND Enterprise was offering a 50% off weekend special.

We've decided to stay through Monday morning (Sunday night is supposed to be the chilliest, in the 30s), so we took advantage of the car rental special. We all know that WM is where boaters go to stock up... no, not West Marine, Wally-World. :wink: The other couples liked our auto GPS (which also is good on the boat when you want to search for POI on land), so we shopped around and they found an outstanding price. THEN it was on to West Marine... they were offering 20% off almost everything (some exclusions do apply) this weekend only... it made their prices nearly reasonable. :wink: Everyone left there with something.

Tomorrow, we will go land exploring once again, touristing instead of shopping. The sky is a bright blue, there's a nip in the air, and I wore long pants today for the first time in months.

Tom and Nancy, I somehow missed your post... we did walk by Tom's Hot Dogs, but the consensus was for Italian last night, and we're cooking on the boats tonight. Don't know if they're open on Sundays, but I'm about due for a burger in chilly paradise... not to be confused with chili paradise. :mrgreen:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Dixie is a wonderful hostess - the 6 of us gathered on Discovery last night for supper. It was too chilly to sit outside to eat, but it was cozy inside. Ribs, pork tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, salad, fruit - everyone contributed. The meal and conversation made the evening.

As expected, it was chilly last night. One of our purchases yesterday was a new electric space heater. Our old one gave us years of good service, but seemed to be getting weak; this new one ($15 at WM) kept us toasty, even at half power and 40º outside.

The weather weasels are predicting a high around 60º today with a chilly north wind. Looks like we're going to have to break out the coats.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Around here we call 60º a "heat wave," and strip down to shirt sleeves...


JamesTXSD":l36vicm4 said:
The weather weasels are predicting a high around 60º today with a chilly north wind. Looks like we're going to have to break out the coats.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
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Pat Anderson":wt04zquk said:
Aound here we call 60º a "heat wave," and strip down to shirt sleeves...
Click to expand...

That's because you guys are tough, Pat. Or... :wink:

Before we head out today, everyone is picking up. Here's a shot of Jeff dumping water out of his dinghy...

DumpingWaterE.jpg

The tide is out this morning; we had to climb UP to get to the dock. Check out the photo - the top of the boat is about the same level as that bit of finger dock...

LowTideE.jpg

But, it's a sunny day - brisk north wind, though. Here's a shot of the bay in front of the marina...

BayfrontE.jpg

So, Pat... how was the weather in Mexico? Any days that only made it to 60º? Didja like it? :twisted:

Best wishes,
Jim
 
The weather in Mexico was well above 60º - around 90º every day - and humid humid humid! We had a great pool though, I swear it must have been run through refrigeration coils or something - it was wonderful. The weather we liked best, anywhere, any time, was Lake Powell in the second half of September - also about 90º but "it's a dry heat" or whatever they say, it was really comfortable. We think we could do September and October on Lake Powell every year...

P.S. - is there some reason that people on the Right Coast can't figure out floats? We puzzled over those goofy finger piers like in your photo on the Chesapeake, there must be some reason they use them there but it eludes me...


JamesTXSD":1lo5tmvn said:
So, Pat... how was the weather in Mexico? Any days that only made it to 60º? Didja like it? :twisted:

Best wishes,
Jim
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Pat Anderson said:


P.S. - is there some reason that people on the Right Coast can't figure out floats? We puzzled over those goofy finger piers like in your photo on the Chesapeake, there must be some reason they use them there but it eludes me...


It's becuz we only gots a couple of feets of tide. No need to "float" something. It's harder to fall off of too (possible however, I can vouch for that personally :roll: ) because it's not "tippy".... :lol:
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I gotta tell you, Pat, I am not a big fan of slips with pilings to tie off to and a tall, scrawny finger dock. It takes a while to get situated. After today, while looking up at the dock from our cabin, I think all marinas should go for those nifty floating docks like you folks in the PNW have. When we leave in the morning, it will be near low tide and we will have the fun of retrieving our lines from the pilings... that's when I'd really like to have Brent's reach! :wink:

There is a floating dock over by the fuel... don't suppose they'd let me spend the night there?

Oh, and if you were to tell them that city docks in your area are only $.50 per foot, they'd laugh at you here.

Still, it's nice to have a boat that lets you experience both. :thup

Best wishes,
Jim
 
The docks at the Water Street Hotel in Apalachicola are as-good-as-they-come floating docks manufactured in Bellingham, WA -- go figure.

Regards to all,

Greg
 
Hi Jim. Good question. I stayed in a motorhome most of the summer. No, I do not need a house. Home is where the wife is. Stay safe out there and I am enjoying your travels, if only vicariously.

:thup
 
We have spent two peroids of over 4 years full time cruising-no house and I didn't miss it one bit. Marie did. We went from no house about 12 years ago, to a large house, filled with "stuff". I suspect I am stuck in the house--but Marie makes up for that!

You cannot have many possessions if you live on any small boat or RV--but for me the life style is worth it! I do much better in very small spaces than Marie--I am happy in the Road Trek--Marie much prefers the larger class A RV. I prefer the 22 C Dory --Marie would have a 49 foot Defever--we compromise. With two C Dories, which add up to about 50 feet.....
 
We could do without the house. I've said before that I'd like to have a 4 car garage with a one bedroom apartment above it. :wink We have spent winters in RVs and our boat. We used to motorcycle camp, so we can handle small places together. The Blonde is a champ, going along with most of my "Hey, let's try..." stuff. We pick out our conveyances together, so that helps. I was originally thinking a 22, but Joan was right on that the 25 is a better fit for us.

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

We ran out in the Gulf today to Port St. Joe, then up the Gulf County Canal to the GIWW, then back to Apalachicola. Brent and Jeff retrieved their RVs, and Marc picked me up to get my truck and trailer. Jeff pulled his boat out already; Brent and I will get ours out in the morning. Then we plan to haul ass SOUTH. The next cold front is going to roll in here Tuesday night or Wednesday, threatening temps in the low 30s. I am not as tough as Pat Anderson when it comes to the cold... so, we are back to: the plan is there is no plan, but we're going where it will be warmer. Yes, all of Florida is going to see the chilly stuff, but the birds know... and I'm following the birds. 8)

More when I know.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Come on out to California--- you can stay toasty warm out here, as long as you don't become the toast :shock: .

Santa Barbara today- 17 Nov 12:53 pm 84 (temp) 32 (dew point) 15 (humidity) CALM
 
Saw a flock of birds and three C Dorys following them today ..........Have fun and we will look forward to seeing you on the return run ......
Marc
 
Wefings":3pih32mg said:
Saw a flock of birds and three C Dorys following them today ..........Have fun and we will look forward to seeing you on the return run ......
Marc
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Hi Marc,

Thank you SO MUCH for your hospitality while we were in Apalachicola. Your dealership is great, your staff is efficient and attentive, and you are just one heck of a guy. The new brake system on the trailer (electric over hydraulic) is outstanding... I had occasion to make a rather quick stop at an intersection (55 mph - light changed to red!) and it hauled us to a stop with no panic. Just right.

The only thing I would have asked for was warmer weather... but I called a marina in the Keys, and the girl there was complaining about the extreme cold - going to get all the way down into the 50s tonight! :roll: It brings up the phrase: candy-ass lightweight (which some of the folks from the frozen northland may also be using for me 8) ).

It was the first long day of driving in a couple weeks for us... a motorhome pulling a 22, a big ol' Ford with a big camper pulling a TomCat, and our red pickup pulling Wild Blue. The highest temperature we saw today was 60º, right before we pulled in for the day. It's going to be a chilly night, but we are in a very nice RV park, plugged in, heater running, and cable TV.

We'll be heading further south tomorrow. It's the old "go south until the butter melts" plan. :wink:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim, et al:

Not to change the subject, but I noticed back when we went to Holland, a town on Lake Michigan, for a National Championship in sailing back in the early 1990's that they had no floating docks. (Previous subject above.)

I never asked, but figured it was because floating docks would have to be removed in winter when it froze, otherwise they would be crushed by the ice and its movement. Thus they had only piers and running fingers at a fixed height.

That argument doesn't hold water in Florida, though, (no pun intended), but maybe the hurricanes and the associated wind and tidal surges make floating docks impractical there.

There were floating docks in the PNW when we sailed the San Juans a few summers ago, and the extreme tidal differences sometimes made the walkways down to them so steep they were almost treacherous (like during a 12 foot tidal drop).

Probably are multiple reasons why floating docks are or are not used in various locales.

Hope you find that nice warm "Fountain of Youth", and maybe even the Spirit of Ponce De Leon, himself, in your southerly quest!

Keep your butt(er) dry!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
With large yachts, the floating docks can be too low. Not an issue with our boats. :wink: The tides have been lower than usual the past week in the Panhandle... to the point where the finger docks were at the level of our cabintops. It made for some interesting gymnastics getting off and on the boat.

I'm sure the taller fixed docks are less expensive than floating docks, and likely require less maintenance. I've seen some floating docks that do not have to be pulled out for the winter in icing conditions. Yellowstone is an example; the docks are made of some hard Brazilian wood that actually drops beneath the ice. They did run into a problem with those docks when the lake level rose above the height of the pilings the ramps ride on.

My preference is for the floating docks, since you can snug the dock lines easier, and not have to make allowances for the tide swing. Our dock at home is the fixed type; we use long spring lines (and fenders) to allow for the movement, but the tide swing is generally only a couple feet. A technique that some of our neighbors use (besides boat lifts) is a fixed stand-off (in place of breast lines) with PVC that holds the boat away from the dock, then spring lines to keep the boat from moving fore and aft.

Always interesting traveling from place to place to see how things are done.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Hi Jim,

That is very intrersting about the docks at Yellowstone! I have never heard of docks that can drop below the ice in the winter. Of course, like where you live we don't have that kind of winter.

I have also never had the experience of having to tie to a fixed dock with tides. Maybe we will get to the east coast one of these years.

Steve
 
I've never boated on the Gulf Coast of Florida but on the North East coast I can't recall seeing many marina docks in tidal areas that weren't floating docks. My personal dock is fixed because the wakes from passing boats would destroy a small floating dock. I'm not in a no wake zone and the ICW is pretty narrow at my dock.
 
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