Merry Christmas in Port Mansfield!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We woke to another cold, gray day, but realized it could be a lot colder! Daren surprised me with a new Kindle Touch e-reader, but I suspect it's mostly HIS present! Still, it's very cool, and he's figuring out how to download library books! We've bought so many boat things, we have Christmas and birthday gifts for the next decade!! My favorite is our new black solar shower that pumps up like a bug sprayer. It works so much better than the gravity-fed black bags! (As seen in large photo on deck). I know it's primitive to live without a water heater, but it won't be an issue in the tropics! That sure sounds good right now!
The Christmas Eve candle light service at church was lovely, and we enjoyed singing carols with a packed church and then eating Christmas goodies! I brought G/F shortbread cookies (thank you, Sue!) with melted chocolate chips, a veggie tray, and Daren's Mom's tuna-stuffed jalapenos! We got to visit with Candy and MO friends Wanda and Ron, their son Rusty and wife Ruth, and their 2 college sons, Conrad and Garret. Such a nice family!
Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious Christmas feast at the Pelican Pub with about 20 new friends! Jesse is from Tunas, MO, and was class president one year...out of a class of 15! We ate the best prime rib ever, made by pub owner, Jan's new boyfriend, Gary. We were entertained by comedian Marsh, and Jan served her award-winning banana-blueberry cream pie. Everyone had a great afternoon, and Pete and Libby were thrilled with the scraps we brought home! Merry Christmas to ALL!
Yesterday, we walked dogs and clothes over to the laundromat at the RV park, and ran into Missouri friend, Mary, from the quilting group at Preston's Prairie Methodist Church!! We marveled at the "God incident" and I HAD to call our friend Tracee to tell her about it, and we had a nice visit! She was in charge of their church's Angel Tree again this year, and it went well...36 children! She and Roger bought 3 shaggy red Highland calves for Christmas!
I heard from cousin Jamie in Enid, OK, who comes to Port Mansfield every January! I'm hoping we'll get to see them before we leave, as I haven't seen her since I spent a HS summer with her family (40 yrs ago!). Warsaw friends, Jack and Shelly are on their way to Brownsville in their 37' RV, and we look forward to seeing them, either here or Port Isabel, our last US stop. Daren and I got to ride to Brownsville with Orvil and Candy last Thursday/Friday when they dropped off/picked up their boat starter. It's a very colorful town with a lot of historical architecture and friendly people! The staff at O'Reilly's were especially helpful, and Candy and I ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant where the waitresses wore red Santa's helper outfits! Fun!
Tonight, we had a surprise Skype call from Don and Cheryl and daughter Holley! It was fun to see them on the computer screen, and their dogs! You've got to love technology! We wish you ALL the best for a healthy and happy 2012! If the Mayans were right, Jesus will return this year, so be ready! : )

We Love This Town!

This morning, while walking the dogs, we met another boater named Candy out on her bicycle. She kindly drove us to the RV park with the only laundry machines in town with our 2 loads, and we popped them in the dryer just in time to walk next door to the only church in town...Baptist. The pastor was wonderful and talked about how Christians need to be salt and light...especially at Christmas! We don't need to preach to people, just be an example...a happy person who has peace through Christ. Who wouldn't want that! They're having a Christmas Eve service and afterwards, we'll have snacks and cookies and go caroling! FUN! It's a very small church (30) in a very small town (3-700), and we met a lovely couple, Wanda and Ron, from....Springfield, MO! They came down here on vacation a few years ago and bought a waterfront house before they left! They're cattle and horse ranchers who now spend winters here, and their kids are coming down this week. They took us back to pick up our clean clothes and gave us a tour of the town! There are small deer EVERYWHERE, and completely fearless! I've never seen anything like it! It'd be fun to let the dogs run, but somebody might get hurt! The deer may be small, but about half of them have HORNS!
Daren and I had lunch across the road at Pelican's and it was great food! They have fantastic shrimp and fish (drum) down here! We signed right up for their Christmas prime rib dinner! Daren stayed to watch football, and I came back to the boat to ck on the dogs and make gluten-free bread (Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix). Candy came by to take me back to Pelican's to meet her husband, Orvil. They've been down to Belize and the Rio Dulce (sweet) River hurricane hole in Guatemala. She had gorgeous photos, and gave us lots of great tips!
I spoke with Mom tonight, and she wanted to know our address. It's
C/O WCND
630 Laguna Drive
Port Mansfield, TX 78598
Not that I'm soliciting Christmas cards, but some of you asked where we'd be.
Have a fun week before Christmas, and let your Light shine! : )

Port Mansfield

We left Thursday morning and had no problem crossing Corpus Christi Bay...it was like a lake! We made 40 whole miles south to Baffin Bay and anchored there for the night, with extra chain out since the weather was supposed to get nasty. Well, it certainly did! The wind shifted to the North and our anchor failed at about 2 am and we woke up on a hard shoal. Normally, we could just pull ourselves off by bringing the anchor in, but the windlass failed, too. There was a lot of praying going on, believe me, but thank GOD and Jason, we were towed off about dawn and went on down the waterway with no apparent harm done. It was a LONG cold day, but it was a downwind motor sail and we averaged 6.5 knots for the 50 miles to Port Mansfield. Manny on Corazon (heart) Frisbee (after his boxer) heard us on the VHF radio at Baffin Bay and called to tell us of a cheap dock in Port Mansfield that has no power or water, for $35/night. He was there to catch our lines when we pulled in about 4 pm. What a nice guy! He's on a 22' cat boat (gaff-rigged sailboat) and on his way from Galvaston Bay to Port Isabel for the winter. Daren and I went to dinner next door, walked the dogs, and were in bed by 6 pm!
This morning, we decided we'd really like to have electricity for our little heater, so we called the City Marina and found that their daily rate is $25/day and their monthly rate is $125! Since we need to wait on weather and for a new windlass and anchor, we signed up for the month, although we'll only stay a week before heading on down to Port Isabel. Manny came over this afternoon and showed us some great spots to anchor there. One's right on South Padre Island, but not accessible by car, so we can run the dogs on soft sand beaches instead of that nasty oyster shell that cut up Pete's feet the other day near Corpus Christi Bay. He's still limping a bit, poor guy!
Port Mansfield turns out to be a really small town of about 300 people! There's only one church here, and we're going to check it out tomorrow. It's a very friendly and walkable place, but there's not even a grocery store here...just a bait shop with chips and candy bars! We did find a great little waterfront restaurant with a good salad bar and a big screen TV for watching tomorrow's football game featuring Tim Tebow's team.

Adventure Dogs

We left Mud Island this morning after Daren took the dogs to shore...barking all the way! The life vests make it so easy to haul them out of the dinghy like big wet suitcases, and they don't seem to mind wearing them while we're underway. A funny thing happened when we put up a sail just past Port Aransas and heeled over: the gas tank for the dinghy went overboard! We'd forgotten to stow it and it was just sitting on the solar panel, so it made quite a splash!! It was quite exciting; dousing the sail, turning around, and retrieving it with the boat hook before it floated into shallow water! I was just SO grateful it wasn't one of the dogs! I think they realize the risk, so they mostly stay in the cockpit with us, unless they see a dolphin, and there are plenty of them around!
When we reached the open waters of Corpus Christi Bay, we were knocked around a bit, and the dinghy slipped sideways, flat against the stern, which meant the outboard motor was sideways, too! YIKES! We went back to the lee of an island right next to the big ship channel and anchored about 3 pm! We were pooped and glad to be done for the day! We had hot showers, watched a couple Frasier episodes, and are ready for bed. We've had a couple MONSTER ships pass by us, but we're safely out of their path. Thank you again for your prayers! You can see that we need them ALL! : )

Off We Go!

I'm so pleased to tell you that we're on our way at last! Thank you, God! We had a false start about 9 am, when we pushed off from the dock and the throttle broke off in Daren's hand! YIKES! Fortunately, Sue was there to catch a line and Daren was able to fix it and we left again at 11 am. By then, it was too late to go to Corpus Christi, so we went about 10 miles to Mud Island and are at anchor here now. It's a lovely spot, and very calm and not cold at all! Daren took the dogs in to shore, and they had a blast running up and down the beach with their little life vests on! It's the first time they've been off leash (except for in the marina) since we left the farm back in August, so they were ecstatic! They are really doing well as sailor dogs, and enjoyed the ride. I'm so relieved about that! I was worried they wouldn't "go" on the deck, but Libby didn't hesitate to decorate the forward deck while we were still underway! What great dogs! : )

It MOVES!

We're just waiting on weather. It's been SO cold and the wind's been out of the north, but tonight, it dropped off and we decided to move to the end of the marina for a quick getaway! We went all the way from slip 5 to slip 27, just past where Sue and Al's boat was. This was the first time we've even untied the lines, and it felt good just to see how the boat maneuvers. The forecast is for north winds 'til Monday and then we can head south with warmer weather. We have a nice view from here and an amazing internet connection!! We are ready ready READY to be on our way!

Not One More THING!

Our big roll of Mexican and Central American charts came yesterday and we also got our jerry jugs from Tara at West Marine in Corpus! She was so kind to meet us half way, in Portland!
Sue and Larry just got back from Waco (We Ain't Comin' Out!) and it's great to see them again! They loaned us Sue's car and it's been a life saver!! I've gotten a lot of use out of her old Singer sewing machine, too!
I've been trading e-mails with Taste of the Wild dog food. The good news is: they sell it in Costa Rica, but not any of the other countries we'll be visiting! Our cruising guides make Belize sound like Paradise, (and they speak English!) so I'm hoping some of you will come see us....and bring dog food! : ) Everyone loves a mission...especially to a gorgeous place! I remember taking a camp stove down to Bob and Jackie in the Bahamas so they wouldn't have to cut their trip short when the generator on their trawler went out! We had a blast!
We just heard from Sue and Al, who made it to Pensacola. That's where brother-in-law, Apar (Yohannes) is finishing up their new house and their whole family will spend Christmas there! My sister Judy and their daughter Karen will fly in from Okinawa and their daughter Alex will join them from Denver. I'm sorry we'll miss that event, but warm weather is calling us south!
Sue reported that her new non-toxic Shoo Bug tags really worked against mosquitoes they encountered in Louisiana. Sailor friend Kate had told us about them, and I'm kicking myself for not ordering some...at least for the dogs! Yes, they have flea & tick tags for dogs, and you need a different tag to repel each type of bug! Sounds weird, I know, but ck their web-site www.shoobug.com But we are THROUGH ordering stuff, and hope to leave... dare I say it, on Wednesday, Dec. 7th, Pearl Harbor Day. Daren's already planned out our route. We're less than 200 miles from Mexico, and will make stops in Tampico, Veracruz and along the coast to the Yucatan. We set up an account with Skype (since our cell phones won't work outside the US) and called Mom on the computer, and it worked GREAT! You gotta love technology!

Cooking with Li Ling

We're still waiting on a couple things...those jerry cans and the charts! Pete and Libby got the last of their shots on Monday, but we needed a USDA stamp from the official vet in Austin, so overnighted it each way, and got it back yesterday. Very efficient! We're not having much luck with the bottles we ordered from West Marine, but what can you do? We're not leaving without our charts, either!
We're still enjoying ourselves here in Rockport! Tuesday, Li Ling took me to Mai's Asian Market on Broadway and showed me how to make her wonderful marinated veggie salad back on our boat. She gave me the coolest little tool...an OXO julienne maker. It looks like a flat carrot peeler with little teeth that make noodles out of veggies in a hurry! Fun! Here's her great recipe:
Li Ling's Zucchini Squash Salad
1 medium zucchini, julienned
1 medium yellow squash, same
1 small carrot, same
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/3 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 TBS chopped cilantro
1 tsp. chopped mint or basil, if available
Shred the veggies and mix in a medium bowl.
Mix the following dressing:
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, finely chopped, omit seeds
2-4 TBS lime or lemon juice or rice vinegar
2 TBS fish sauce (for saltiness and flavor)
2 TBS palm sugar (has subtle maple flavor)
1 TBS crushed roasted peanuts
2 TBS olive oil
Mix until sugar is dissolved. Taste first and add to veggies. Refrigerate for an hour at least before serving.

She and Glyn came down to the boat yesterday and met Bert, our neighbor with the Cheoy Lee 38. He invited us and Mark to go sailing this morning, but the weather's not cooperating...kind of rainy and grey! We've had so much trouble with our internet that we're at McDonald's for their Wi-Fi.
I promise to let you know as soon as we leave! Don't give up on us! Daren used to say, "We're a long time leaving, but we'll be a long time gone!" So true, so we'd better not forget anything! : )

Frog Feet

    Has it really been almost a week since I last posted?  So sorry!  We're still here at the dock and, believe it or not, still doing stuff to the boat!  We're waiting for Mexican charts to arrive, which we can pick up Monday!  We also ordered more jerry cans, which will be here Tuesday.  Daren told me to stop picking departure dates, but I'm thinking Wednesday looks good, weather permitting!
    Hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.  We did, too!  I finished sewing a canvas boarding dog "ladder" for the inflatable dinghy.  This morning, Pete fell overboard, which he hasn't done in weeks!  He must've known I needed him to try it out, and he climbed right into the dinghy using the steps I'd made in the canvas!  Kate here at the marina thinks I should market them to dog lovers, and I have to admit it's a better option that the ones available...big clunky plastic things that cost $200!!  Anybody want to help me with that project?  : )
      Today, we went shopping in Corpus Christi and did our best to stimulate the economy!  We'd forgotten it was Black Friday, but we needed snorkeling gear, and a lobster spear for Daren.  At one dive shop, I tried on a pair of mint green Vibram shoes and fell in love with them and wore them home.  They're like gloves on your feet and make you feel wonderful, like you could walk or jump up a wall...great traction and springy-ness!   But they DO look ridiculous, and make you smile just looking at them!  I took a picture, but will post it later, since my tech support (Daren!) has gone to bed!  I suppose I should, too, as tomorrow's another big day!  Kate and I plan to go to Coastal Bend Health Foods!
     Until soon....

Grand Opening of Coastal Bend Health Foods

 Today, I was happy to attend the grand opening of Kimmi's health food store, (111 N. Austin St) which happens to be the only HFS in Rockport!  I wish her great success!  It was a fun time with great food and recipes!  I met a lovely family who are planning to move to Equador, which looks like a great spot!  I also got a wonderful chair massage from Anne, a brilliant masseuse!  Four String Farm owners Justin and Kayla were there, and Justin played his bass guitar with singer/songwriter Ty Dietz to provide great entertainment!  He has a fun blog at www.FourStringFarm.wordpress.com

We've Been Expedited!

    We got the nicest call from Judy at the Coast Guard yesterday morning, (Friday) letting us know we've been approved for expedited processing for our Documentation certificate, which would be sent out the same day!  WOW!  (Thank you, Michael, for that great advice!)  It should arrive Monday or Tuesday, and we'll be good to go!  We'll grab one more 30# bag of Taste of the Wild for Pete and Libby, and get the rest of their shots to enter Mexico.  Pete needs to show Dr. Stork and the crew how great his leg's doing!  He's a new dog!
    We may be sailing on Thanksgiving Day!  This means we may still reach the "Cozumel by Christmas" goal!  Life is good!
     BTW, I heard it's hard to comment on this blog.  I'm always happy to hear from you at flyngdgs@gmail.com, and will gladly put you on my e-mail notification list if you'd rather not sign up to join this.
    Happy Thanksgiving!  We ALL have so much to be grateful for!!  Let us hear your great news, too!

A New Direction!

    We came up with a new plan yesterday...we're going to head SOUTH along the Mexican coastline!   We reached that decision after realizing that we'll cut 200 miles off the trip to Cozumel, and we won't have to contend with cold weather.  Besides, it'll be new terrain for us.  We're already pretty familiar with the US Gulf Coast.  Our only concerns are: our sketchy Spanish and the lack of phone/internet once we cross the border.  But "God has not given us a spirit of fear", and lots of friends and family are praying for our safety...thank you so much! : ) As I recall, Mexicans are really friendly and have enormous patience with attempts at Spanish, and I've been listening to Spanish radio at night for practice.  I understand about half of what I hear now, so that's an improvement!
      Yesterday was gorgeous and 90 degrees, but it turned windy and cold last night, and we were grateful for the use of Sue and Al's little space heater!   Sue just started a blog at www.sailingwithwinddancer.blogspot.com   I AM sorry we won't be catching up to them anytime soon, but we'll always be friends and blog buddies, and this way we won't be holding them up!
       Our only hold up now is the  Coast Guard documentation papers that we've been waiting 2 months for!  I called them yesterday and was told we needed to request expeditious processing  by fax, so we did that this morning.  Tomorrow, we'll know if we've been approved or not, so please pray with us that our request is granted!  We can't leave the Country without them!
        Hope you have great Thanksgiving plans. This Sunday, the Methodist church choir is having a special musical event with a Thanksgiving potluck afterwards.  Daren hates potlucks, but I'm hoping we'll go hear the choir.  Sue and Larry were kind enough to loan us her car, so we have no excuse to miss it!  Of course, it's a bit embarrassing after all those goodbyes, but sometimes plans change!

Still Here!

   We're still finding lots to do on the boat!  Daren's painting the stripe on the side, which seemed like a low priority, until he pointed out that it's easier to finish painting than to stow all the paint and supplies!  I'm still working on the safety netting and getting all the food organized!  At this rate, we may still be here in Rockport for Thanksgiving!  I was hoping we'd be in Key West!!  

    Larry and Sue and Frankie and Sherry came back on Lovely Cruise this afternoon. They had a great time in the 4 days they were gone, but had a scary Red Tide story.  They were at an island park up by Port O'Connor and were offered a ride from a park ranger to the beach side, where they all got terrible coughing fits...even the 2 dogs!  They said they didn't smell anything, and were fine as soon as they got a ride away from there!  Yikes!  Sounds like the Andromeda Strain!!  I thought Red Tide was just in the water!  So, if you start coughing, you might want to re-locate!  That might be just the motivation we need!  : )

Left Behind!

    We waved goodbye to Al and Sue on Wind Dancer and Larry and Sue and Frankie and Sherry on Lovely Cruise yesterday morning and drove up to meet them and Lee and Kate for dinner.  What a place, with floating docks and beautiful grounds and covered dining area!  Daren and I arrived (by truck) just after 6 pm, and just missed a big wedding reception complete with Mariachi Band!  There were flowers everywhere, and we were given gorgeous orchid stems to take home!
      Today, Daren finished the boat name, installed cleats, and we almost finished the safety netting.  After much deliberation, we decided to let Sue and Al go on without us.  We're just not ready, and hate to hold them back!  We'd rather take the outside route anyway, to avoid commercial traffic and shallow water.  We're sure to catch up to them along the way, and that'll be great fun!
 

   

Farewell Heavy Metal Friend!

    We sold our 1984 4X4 red pick-up truck this evening to a bright young high school senior, Carl, with big plans for his future!  How fun to meet someone that age who knows what he wants and is going after it!  He also knows a good truck when he sees it!  This is his first vehicle, and we wish him many happy years with that reliable old friend!  Selling the truck was one of the major loose ends, and God really worked things out by sending Carl our way.  Yesterday, when we picked up our new dinghy and motor from the marina office in town, we saw Stacey, who works at Dr. Stork's vet clinic!  Turns out her Mom, Robbie works at the marina office.  Stacey (a Navy vet) thought her Navy friend's son Carl, would like to buy our truck and they came by this evening, just as we were about to leave for a going-away party at a favorite steak restaurant, hosted by our dear marina friends, Bert and Dixie.   What a great send off!
    Sue & Al and 3 couples from the marina are going 7 hrs up the Intracoastal Waterway to Sanctuary at Costa Grande tomorrow morning, and we plan to catch up to them on Monday or Tuesday, after we seal the truck deal and pick up a final package.

     Oh, and thank you, Veterans, for your service to our Country and for keeping us safe and free!  Hope you had a day filled with appreciation!  We ate at 2 restaurants today, and both gave free meals to veterans!  I wonder if they do that everywhere, or just here in Texas?  What a nice thing to do!
     Hope you're having a great weekend!
     

Departure Date: THIS Saturday 11-12-11

    It's starting to feel like we're really leaving here!  Sunday morning, we said goodbye to Rockport United Methodist Church.  We will certainly miss that amazing choir and Pastor Doug's inspired messages!
    Today, I finally finished the sail cover, and the closed cell foam cockpit cushion is now covered with Sunbrella canvas.  I wish I'd re-done ALL the cockpit cushions, but I didn't know it'd be so easy!  That Singer of Sue's is really great!
      Daren's been busy with carpentry and adding 12 volt lights.  He's re-done the cockpit grate and varnished the interior cabinets and wine rack with stemware holder above the "new" AC.  Very nice!  He moved the TV screen off to a corner, which makes the whole salon area look much bigger.  That's really saying something on a boat!
      We finally decided which dinghy to order, and it's arriving on Thursday, along with a 15 HP motor.  That'll give us just one day to put the new lettering on our transom, but I'm sure Daren can handle that!   Heidi sent the letters and flying dogs, and they look great!
       We still need to sell the red truck, and Larry suggested taking it to a consignment auto dealer in Corpus.  We may resort to that if we can't find a buyer by Thursday.
      The plan is to leave Saturday morning and go 7 hours up the waterway to Costa Grande, a beautiful marina development with BBQ grills and covered dining areas.  We're hoping dock friends will join us for a fun time and over night send-off!   It should be great weather, and low stress;  just follow Al and Sue, who already know the way!  : )

Houdini dog

Yesterday, we put up half the safety netting on the dock side of the boat, and it was so nice to know the dogs would stay put on the boat with it in place.  We went over to Sue and Larry's boat for wings, and suddenly, there was Libby right outside their boat!!   I couldn't imagine how she got out, and was afraid she'd jumped it and onto the dock but, upon investigation, found she'd chewed or pushed a head-sized hole in the net!  GREAT!  Maybe I need to use chain link or at least a heavier plastic instead of nylon!  That dog will not be contained!  When we close up the boat with the weather boards, she somehow manages to claw her way out and nose the sliding hatch back far enough to get out!!  Quite determined!   That's why anchoring out will be the best solution to having them run up and down the docks!
     Sue and Larry loaned me her antique Singer sewing machine and it sews like a dream!  I was able to make a windscreen today... a big rectangle with grommets in it that will keep the wind and spray out of the cockpit, or at least that's the theory!
    Tomorrow, I'll tackle the sail cover!   We had pizza with Sue and Al tonight, and they've moved their departure date to a week from Friday, 11-11-11.  That's certainly a memorable date, and Daren thinks we can be ready by then!   It really would be fun to join them, and it would be nice to have Thanksgiving in Key West!  It's already getting a bit cold here, and I'm wishing I hadn't gotten rid of all my cold-weather clothes!
     Just got a notice from good friends David and Aliza!  They just had their baby boy, Theo this afternoon!  Congratulations!!
 

Dog Food!

   Pete went to Dr. Stork this morning to have his stitches out, and we were given the lab report: "....undifferentiated sarcoma...a malignant neoplasm likely to be locally invasive."  It doesn't sound good.  Dr. Stork recommended radiation treatment, and we may be able to find that in the Keys.  In the meantime, we'll continue to pray for Divine healing.

    I stopped by Moore Feed and bought six 30# bags of Pete and Libby's favorite food, Taste of the Wild.  I'm hoping we'll be able to find it in other countries, or at least have it shipped there!   It's great stuff; no grain and they love it!

     Paula, who worked with Daren in Modesto, CA, told us her parents have a winter home here in Rockport, and they recently arrived from Minnesota.   We got to meet them this morning and had a nice visit!  Paula looks and sounds just like her MOM!  Funny how that works!

     We've decided we will definitely take the Intracoastal Waterway at least as far as Mobile.  It's a longer trip, but a lot easier and more scenic.  Plus, we'll be able to take the dogs to shore and sleep at night.   We're trying to hurry up and get everything ready.  Today, I finished all the courtesy flags and am ready to sew the sail cover and windscreen.  

      

     

Almost Gone!

Hard to believe it's just 9 more days until neighbors Sue and Al's departure date of Nov. 5th.  We'd love to join them, but here's our remaining To-Do list:

     >Finish interior cabinets and varnish (SO close!)

     >Make sail cover and windscreen (fabric came today!)

     >Install another water tank (we have 50 gallons and want 100)

     >Put lettering on the transom (Heidi's sent them)

     >Install safety netting on life lines.  (in the mail!)

     >Make cockpit cushions (closed cell foam's on the way!)

     >Buy loads of groceries & dog food and find room to stow them!

Actually, that list doesn't look so bad!  We've certainly honed it down!

     We had decided to go to Key West from here...750 miles straight across, but are now thinking of taking the Intracoastal Waterway part of the way, until the dogs (and US!) are used to the boat before an offshore crossing.  We're waiting for our Coast Guard documentation papers before we can leave the country, and may as well wait where it's WARM!   Just now, a northern front blew in with LOTS of rain, and it's supposed to get colder.  We'll see...  

      Pete's doing well, and recovering nicely from his leg surgery.  He still has stitches and a bandage, and taking antibiotics, but is already acting like his old self!  

      I ordered free boat cards last night, but now wish I'd paid extra for faster delivery!  The marina may have to forward them to Key West!   It's fun to do and you can see ours at www.svflyingdogsonline.vpweb.com  

     

     

A brand new stove!

    Yesterday, we got 4 packages at the marina office, but none of them were our long-awaited new stove.  It finally arrived on a separate truck just before closing.   It took most of today to get the space cleaned out and the new one set, but it looks great, as you can see.  I'm so looking forward to being able to bake again,and I'm thrilled that my 15" pizza stone fits in it!  Gotta have pizza and the occasional cookies when you're out at sea!  I've been kind of limited with just a 2 burner alcohol stove and a microwave.
     We had a wonderful dinner at neighbors Sue and Larry's Carver power boat last night.  She made homemade beans and pork roast with salsa in a crock pot (served with tortillas) that made me want to get a 12 volt crock pot, but maybe I'll get a pressure cooker instead; much less strain on the batteries and takes less space.  Sue and Al introduced us to a great magazine, called Living Aboard that has lots of practical advice and fun articles.  www.livingaboard.com
    Daren still has to connect the tubes for the propane and make a vented shelf in the cockpit for the translucent fiberglass tank.  It gives a visual indication of how much propane you have.  It's also much lighter than a normal tank, which is a big plus when you're getting it filled in some remote place without a car!
 

Stay sail!

    Yesterday was a big day!  Daren went up the mast to install a new cable (stay) for a stay sail, which makes us a cutter rig instead of a sloop, with more sail area.  Our nice neighbor, Bert, helped winch Daren up the mast, and the sail looks great!  We went for a late lunch and, after we got home,  I tripped off the boat and into the water!  (NO, I wasn't drinking!)  It was a slow-motion kind of thing and my watch scraped up my arm real good before it broke off and went to the bottom!  Daren said I don't need a watch anyway, but I was REALLY glad my cell phone wasn't in my pocket!  My hero (Daren!) pulled me out and I was bummed thinking maybe I'm too old for this!  He remembered that I fell in once before 28 yrs ago, when he was at the top of the mast at a marina in Jacksonville, so I guess that should make me feel better!  Anyway, no real harm done!  Now the score is:  Pete-6, Libby-4, Nancy-1!  Daren's still unsinkable!  : )

      Today, I worked on varnish and paint, and Daren built shelves for DVD's and books.  Varnishing is frustrating, as I keep finding DOG HAIRS in it!   

      Sue and Al made it back from San Diego and seeing their new grandson.  It'll be nice to have them back on the dock, but their boat's still in the yard.  A new motor sailor yacht came in tonight...54' and HUGE!  The new owners, Darlene and Kelly, plan to take it to Australia, which is where he's from.  Now THAT's an ambitious destination!  Costa Rica should be a snap!  

     

    

Welcome to our blog!

Thanks for joining our travel adventure!  I'm hoping to post lots of photos so that you can feel you're along for the ride from Rockport, Texas to Golfito, Costa Rica!
     We'll enjoy reading your comments, too!  If you have trouble posting them, just write us at flyngdgs@gmail.com
     Welcome aboard!
     Much love from,
     Nancy, Daren, Pete, & Libby