From Cocoa Beach to Sebastian Inlet, FL

We are traveling along the ICW for a more comfortable ride. We were able to use the genoa to sail with the motor today so we made good time and saved some diesel.
We found a cool park to play at Long Point Park. We used our new dinghy to get over to the park. It is fast!

Heading South Again

For some reason the song "On the road again", by Willie Nelson keeps going on in my head today.
We are heading south and made it to Daytona Beach. Our next destination will be the Keys.
Today was an uneventful smooth sailing day along the ICW.

Happy New Year

New Years Eve we finally left Xynides Boat Yard and are at a mooring at St. Augustine Marina. That night we enjoyed fireworks at the beach with Charlie and Judy.
The next day we got a ride on the free launch over to where we played miniature golf and found lots of cool bugs and lizards along the way.
Samantha and Nicholas also had fun becoming pirates after they searched for treasure at the Pirate Museum.
On the boat we are now making our own electricity with new wind generator.
Yea!
We sold our minivan today and will be on our way soon.

Maiden Voyage of the Dinghy

The family has pretty much decided to call the dinghy Shambi.  Today Paul put it in the water and we broke in the new engine.  The dinghy has so much more room and feels very comfortable for longer distances.  We have room to bring a lot with us or a lot back with us.  Whatever we may need.

We do need to figure out a way to get it up into the davits without scratching up the back of Shambala or damaging Shambi.

Tomorrow should be good weather for painting the dinghy and then we can do some more problem solving.

Paul is working hard tonight cleaning up his tools on the inside of the boat and may get to build a shelf for another water bladder to give us more water carrying capacity.

It Floats.

Ta Da!

Two young travelers are attempting to wait patiently while the engine idles for 10 minutes.  This is what was recommended to break the engine in.  You only get to break in a new engine once.

Off they go in the maiden voyage.  

Now we can get pictures of Shambala from the water side.

Back in the Water Again

Yesterday was our big day back in the water.  The travel lift came to pick us up early so we could go in at high tide.  The launching of the boat went perfect and it feels great to be back on the water again.

Looking out the port holes and seeing water instead of a metal building feels right.

The next step was cleaning the boat of all the grime and dirt that had built up over the years it was stored in the boat yard back in Port Clinton, OH.  The weather was warm and sunny and perfect for some deep cleaning.

Last night it rained all night and we found a few new leaks.  Maybe cleaning all of that dirt of the boat was not such a good thing after all?

We are in the process of figuring out our new wifi booster so for now we blog using the internet at the boat yard.  We should have the kinks worked out soon.

Enjoy the pictures of the big splash.

Starting at 8:30 AM we were off the boat and watching the travel lift work.  This time the kids made sure we remembered their water and food unlike the time we were pulled out onto the hard and forgot.  Oops! 

The launch is waiting for us and looks inviting.

Nick, the owner is on the left.  Bobby, next to the piling works with him.

Our empty spot next to the warehouse.

Mama gets to scrub the boat.

And Scrub.

And Scrub!

Paul works on the dinghy.

I think it is clean enough.