Provision Day

We've been studying weather forecasts all morning to decide which part of Florida we should sail first. Originally, we had planned to cruise Southwest Florida first because we've never done it before and if we loved it, we could stay longer. However, with the cold weather that is coming through SW Florida, we might swap cruising destinations. It appears that the lows are about 10 to 20 degrees higher in the Keys compared to the Punta Gorda lows. This makes a huge difference in the mornings and in the evenings on the boat. Remember that we are essentially camping but sans space heater and long johns (no we aren't irresponsible, we're in Florida!). Although, we do have a sleeping bag, fleece blankets, and we are in an enclosed space.

Assuming Scott doesn't change his mind, we're heading to the Keys first. This morning we are leaving Fort Lauderdale to spend a night with our friend Abbe at the Nuzzo's. We are going to provision today so that we can freeze what we can overnight to help keep the cooler cold. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning we'll head for the Keys!

Heading for warmer weather,
Lauren & Scott

Two Tickets to Paradise

Okay, we didn't tell you about this trip, but we went on a sea cruise and it makes what we are about to do just that much less luxurious. We were aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas on a 6 night vacation. We left from Fort Lauderdale and just returned yesterday.

George Town, Grand Cayman was our first port. We didn't plan an excursion for this port but as soon as we got off the shuttle to shore we decided to take a small bus tour around the island. We hit the hot spots; Hell, Dolphin Discovery, 7 mile beach, Old Homestead, and the Governor's House. After looking at the clarity of the water, we wish that we would have headed to the beach to snorkel but we just ran out of time. On the ship, I went to a port shopping seminar and learned that the most purchased item from Grand Cayman are diamonds. Sadly "we" didn't buy any of those. Onward. 

Jamaica was my favorite port. Royal Caribbean built a port in Falmouth so that their two largest ships could dock, as well as to create an upscale shopping area for their passengers. We had a horseback riding excursion planned for this port. The hour long trip to the horse farm was along the coast and really scenic. Scott rode a horse for the first time! Not only did we do a little trail ride through an old sugar cane plantation, we rode in the ocean too. It was seriously a blast, brought back a lot of memories of riding horses through the pond at Bahorel Arabians with my friend Sarah. 

Our final port was the Royal Caribbean owned private island called Labadee, in Haiti. The port was beautiful to pull into, our ship was nearly surrounded by green mountains. The private island had a "Dragon Coaster", a zip line, and plenty of beach coves. It really was the perfect beach day. I got some snorkeling in, and Scott rented this water mat to float around in the ocean all day (which he did). 

The ship experience was great. All of the crew were so friendly and they did a really good job keeping the ship clean. At dinner we opted to sit at a table of six and meet four new people. Lucky for us they sat us at the cool kid's table. We met a couple from Boston, Nikki and Luke and a couple from Toronto, Queenie and Todd. We ended up spending the last two days hanging out together in Labadee and on board the ship during our last sea day. On our last day we climbed the rock wall together (well some of us), watched Todd and his dodge ball team beat the crew, and dined at Johnny Rocket's for our last lunch. 

There was always plenty to do aboard; bingo, trivia, musical shows, comedy shows, seminars, bars, a casino and plenty of dining options. Scott and I got tickets to an ice show which we ended up watching twice because the tricks they did on such a small rink were truly impressive (if you're thinking I had to drag Scott to watch the show both times, think again. He likes the outfits the girls wear). We lost a small fortune to the penny slots in the casino one night after polishing off a bottle of wine. I hit the fitness center a few times, which was a really nice gym with a 180 degree view of the ocean from the bow of deck 11. It was a pretty great vacation. 

We are back in Fort Lauderdale but leaving tomorrow morning for Punta Gorda where we will be reunited with the truck and boat. Looking forward to provision and launch day! 

Resting up at Hotel Uznis, 

Lauren & Scott

Going Back for Seconds!

Rereading our last post, “[w]e probably won't cruise on Threesome for more than two weeks next time”, oh how we lied! Apparently enough time can pass to make you forget about all those lessons that you learned from the first cruise.

We have 40 days in Florida planned over the next couple months to keep ourselves out of the Michigan cold. How did we manage all this vacation time? Well I was accepted at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and I start June 12^th. I decided after my first semester of grad school at Wayne State University that it didn't make sense to stay in the program for the spring semester. Fortunately, Scott is in his off-season with his day (night) job on the Detroit Princess. His real estate business is busy and pushing forward without him, luckily Scott can handle almost everything from his phone (with a little help from Uncle Giovanni).

We've already taken two trips down to Florida this winter. In our first trip we towed Threesome down and put her in storage in Punta Gorda, we received our new dinghy in the mail and blew it up, and we spent some time with friends in Estero. 

Our second trip was just a sabbatical from the Michigan snow. We spent ten days in Punta Gorda with Jim and Carol. Jim was the Captain of the Lee Tregurtha while Scott was a cadet. We had a great time taking their powerboat out for canal cruises, a trip to Cayo Costa, and exploring Charlotte Harbor. We also had the pleasure of sailing a Morris 29 with one of Jim's friends, which was probably the highlight of our trip. Oh, and between the two of us we gained 9lbs. Yeah, we ate well.

Ready for our upcoming adventure, 

Lauren & Scott

Lessons Learned

We've learned quite a bit from our trip.

While we had two batteries, we probably used a lot less power than we thought. It also really helped that we had a solar powered anchor light and that we used battery powered reading lights at night. We would like to invest in a new solar pad to help recharge the battery. The current one is pretty old and we aren't sure how efficient it is.

We probably won't cruise on Threesome for more than two weeks next time. It takes a toll on your body when you're sleeping on 2'' cushions and crawling around. It is a really good boat for cruising the Keys because it doesn't draw all that much and it gets around quick, however we did have pretty minimal living space. While we were in the Keys, we looked at a lot of other boats to determine what the "ideal" cruising boat might be. We know there are trade offs in every boat but we aren't even sure if a monohull would make more sense or another multihull. I think the trick is to try and charter one of each to see which works better for us.

We did not use as much freshwater as we initially thought we would. We had about 10 gallons for washing dishes, and showering and we might have used 6 gallons the whole trip. I suppose we didn't shower all that much when we were anchored, either. We were also in and out of the marinas a lot so it was easy to refill if we had to, but we never really needed to. On the other hand, we definitely drank more fresh water than we thought.

We stayed in marinas more often than we thought we would. So we spent more money in that area, than we had planned. But I think that was because we didn't know the prime anchorages and it was just easier to know you would be safely tied up at night. We did find some excellent places that we would like to anchor next time in the ICW.

We learned a lot about what places we wanted to go back to. We loved Bahia Honda State Park, but we definitely missed some prime places too. We would really like to go to John Pennecamp for snorkeling. We found out a lot from other cruisers as well; places they liked and places to avoid. Newfound Harbor turned out to not be the greatest anchorage.

We ate out a lot more than we thought we would. Cooking on the boat became a hassle after the first two weeks. It was a little annoying to get everything out and essentially set up the entire kitchen and then everything you need for cooking.....just to have to break it all down again when you were finished. We also ran out of quick and easy meals so we ate hot dogs and tuna sandwiches pretty frequently which wore me out.

We also decided that this compatibility test was a success so we're going to keep each other, for now anyway.

Lauren & Scott

The Long Trek Home (Wed, Thur, & Fri; April 4, 5 & 6)

We left Fort Lauderdale late Wednesday morning to begin the trip back to the mitten. It took us three days to get back. We stopped south of Macon, Georgia the first night and stayed at a really nice Comfort Suites. They had their own happy hour with beer, wine, and snacks. We also had a huge room with a fridge and microwave. Unfortunately, we didn't have any leftovers from dinner so we weren't able to use those amenities. Our second night's stop was in Valdosta. It was here that we had a lovely mexican dinner and we found out Kentucky has 9.4% sales tax.

 Fortunately, the trip went pretty smoothly; we didn't have any truck or trailer problems. We were also able to avert most traffic jams, even through Atlanta. However, we did run out of money on the way back. We're on a budget now and saving up for our next adventure.

Home safe,
Lauren & Scott

Relaxing in Ft. Lauderdale (Monday & Tuesday; April 2 & 3)

We spent the next two days in complete relaxation. It was the perfect way to finish our adventure.

On Monday, Scott and I rode bikes around Fort Lauderdale and down A1A to check out boats and the beach. We read outside by the pool in a beautiful outdoor living room area. Then we went for a boat ride with George. We cruised up to the inlet and then out into the ocean. Scott saw the old tugs that he used to work on. We saw a beautiful Hylas 70 and continued to stalk it as it went for a test sail (it was for sale). We swung back by the house to pick up Mary Ann for lunch; she had a tennis tournament, which she won! After lunch we did more canal cruising to check out the river walk along the ICW.

For dinner we went to a trendy place called Cafe Martorano. http://www.cafemartorano.com/ We met the owner Steve, who looked like he was the bouncer! But WOW, could this guy cook! We had delicious appetizers, we tried his famous meatball and fried fresh mozzarella. And our dinners were wonderful as well.

On Tuesday, Scott and I had a very relaxing morning reading by the pool again. For lunch, George took us out on the boat up to Southport raw bar. In the afternoon, Scott and I walked to Las Olas for ice cream and then went for a swim.

We took the boat to Blue Moon Fish Co. and had another really nice dinner. We also had a wonderful chocolate soufflé for dessert. The boat ride was about 40 minutes. The temperature set up the perfect night to cruise around under the city lights.

We went to bed pretty relaxed wishing we could stay for another week.

Loving Florida life,
Lauren & Scott

Our Last Days Living Aboard a Boat (Fri, Sat, & Sun; March 30, 31, & April 1st)

We spent about three days getting the boat packed up. It honestly took a full day to mentally prepare ourselves that the trip was actually over and that we had to go back to Michigan. Yes, I'm counting this as one of the three days. Scott also went to retrieve the truck and trailer while I lounged on the beach. It was so nice to have the truck back and the freedom of being able to get around on shore when we were actually staying in a marina. Taxi prices seemed steep in the keys, they charge over $2.50 a mile, but maybe we aren't used to cab fares (or maybe we are just cheap). We were able to go out to dinner in Marathon. We crossed the 7 mile bridge at sunset on the way back to see some pretty beautiful views. We were also able to get new books, we had left some of them behind in the truck because we thought they were too heavy (we also thought it would be a lot easier to access the truck while we were cruising; we were wrong, it was expensive to do just that).

The other two days went by pretty quickly packing the boat up. We took down the sails and packed them up first. My phone died and never came back to life. We tried to catch lobster again but they were all too small. And we bought steaks to grill anyway. Unfortunately, we did not see our manatee friends. However, we were able to see a pretty cool bird that was hanging around us while we made lunch on shore.

 Finally, on the last day we folded her up, put her on the trailer, and dropped the rig. I swear the weather waited for us to take the boat apart. It was a complete scorcher; it had to have been the hottest day yet! Very light breeze and we were on the blacktop all day carting items to and from the truck and boat.

From Bahia Honda State Park, we drove far too long but safely arrived in Fort Lauderdale. Scott's Uncle George and Aunt Mary Ann were wonderful to us the moment we pulled in. We took showers, did our laundry, and had a really nice dinner.

Staying at a 5 star hotel,
Lauren & Scott