We finally arrived in Galveston yesterday (Sunday) at noon, after an adventure Saturday night! Our engine quit just 5 miles from the anchorage at Offatt's Bayou about 5 pm. Daren set anchors to keep us out of barge traffic in the channel and decided to change the fuel filter. I rowed the dogs to shore so we'd be out of his way and sat on the dinghy and prayed that he'd get the engine started so we could be safely anchored in Galveston before dark! When we came back, the filter was changed, but we had an air lock and no diesel to prime it with. Just as we were kicking ourselves for putting the last of the diesel in the tank, a young couple with 3 dogs pulled up and asked if we were OK! They offered to take me to get diesel and off we went. The fuel dock was closed, so we went to their house to get a car and drive to a gas station, and by then it was pretty dark. I hated to have them running their boat after dark, since the channel marker to their house was a big STICK, so they said I could stay the night. Darryl and Laurie were SO nice about everything, I was sure they were angels sent by God! They said they just had a notion to go for a boat ride, and rarely ventured out as far as we were stranded. Hmmmm. They thought it odd to see a boat anchored in the channel, which is why they ck'd on us! They certainly saved the day! After I called Daren to explain the situation, the 3 of us had a wonderful evening and lots to talk about! They are high school teachers who met at school and are getting married in June in Grenada on a friend's sailboat. They have a lovely cottage on a canal with their own dock and yard for the dogs and plan to rent it out when they go cruising.
Yesterday, Darryl and his friend Doug took me and the diesel back to our boat, and the guys got the engine going while I ran the dogs onshore. An hour later, we were happily situated in Offatt's Bayou, with an invitation to a BBQ at Darryl and Laurie's a few hours later. We met Darryl's really nice parents (our age) and another couple of their friends. They brought us back by boat and we slept like rocks! We will always be grateful to these new friends!
This is a great place to be! Everything is close by and we're getting lots of walking and rowing exercise. Pete's doing really well and the weather's perfect, too! Life is good!
Goin' South
On the Gulf Coast Waterway 11-2011
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Crunching Numbers!
Some of you were confused about our Gulf coast plan and thought we'd given up on going south! Perish the thought!! With lots of time on my hands yesterday while the winds howled here at this lovely spot, Sanctuary, I did some math that might help explain things:
We plan to be in Rio Dulce, Guatemala by June 1st, the official beginning of hurricane season! That's only 72 days from tomorrow, when the weather calms back down! We'd also like to see our friends Tom and Jodie when they're in the Keys for his birthday, just 36 days away! We also want to stop in Pensacola and see the new house that brother in law Yohannes (aka Apar) built for my sister Judy. We also want to meet up with good friends Alfred and Monika in Tampa.
Here are some mileages:
From here to the Louisiana border: 213 statute miles (nautical miles are a bit longer)
Louisiana border to Harvey Lock (New Orleans) 265 "
Harvey Lock to Pensacola 180
Pensacola (offshore) to Tarpon Springs 285
Tarpon Springs to Ft. Myers 150
Ft. Myers to Flamingo 120
Flamingo to Key West (offshore) 80
Key West to Isla Mujeres, Mexico 345
Isla Mujeres to Ambergris Cay, Belize 200
A.C. to Rio Dulce, Guatemala 180
__________
Total= 1963 miles!
So, in order to see Tom and Jodie the end of April, we need to average 36 miles/day, to cover the 1293 miles, which sounds like a lot, but it's do-able, since some of that is offshore, (144 miles in 24 hours, doing 6 knots).
From Key West to Rio Dulce is 725 miles and, leaving the Keys April 29th, gives us 33 days, or 22 miles a day. That's not too bad! Still, we are kind of running out of time before hurricane season! We would love to travel with our friends Candy and Orville, and are hoping they'll catch up to us along the way. They're faster than we are, so it's possible.
I can hear some of you saying we should've gone with friends Sue and Al when they left on Wind Dancer back in November. They're down in the Bahamas now, enjoying clear waters and eating lobsters! But look what we'd have missed...meeting wonderful friends in Port Mansfield, and LEARNING about Rio Dulce (a lot closer than Golfito!) from friends Candy and Orville! We trust that God's leading us in the right direction at the right time, and putting the right people in our path! The journey is the thing, and we are enjoying each day, even the rainy or windy ones!
We plan to be in Rio Dulce, Guatemala by June 1st, the official beginning of hurricane season! That's only 72 days from tomorrow, when the weather calms back down! We'd also like to see our friends Tom and Jodie when they're in the Keys for his birthday, just 36 days away! We also want to stop in Pensacola and see the new house that brother in law Yohannes (aka Apar) built for my sister Judy. We also want to meet up with good friends Alfred and Monika in Tampa.
Here are some mileages:
From here to the Louisiana border: 213 statute miles (nautical miles are a bit longer)
Louisiana border to Harvey Lock (New Orleans) 265 "
Harvey Lock to Pensacola 180
Pensacola (offshore) to Tarpon Springs 285
Tarpon Springs to Ft. Myers 150
Ft. Myers to Flamingo 120
Flamingo to Key West (offshore) 80
Key West to Isla Mujeres, Mexico 345
Isla Mujeres to Ambergris Cay, Belize 200
A.C. to Rio Dulce, Guatemala 180
__________
Total= 1963 miles!
So, in order to see Tom and Jodie the end of April, we need to average 36 miles/day, to cover the 1293 miles, which sounds like a lot, but it's do-able, since some of that is offshore, (144 miles in 24 hours, doing 6 knots).
From Key West to Rio Dulce is 725 miles and, leaving the Keys April 29th, gives us 33 days, or 22 miles a day. That's not too bad! Still, we are kind of running out of time before hurricane season! We would love to travel with our friends Candy and Orville, and are hoping they'll catch up to us along the way. They're faster than we are, so it's possible.
I can hear some of you saying we should've gone with friends Sue and Al when they left on Wind Dancer back in November. They're down in the Bahamas now, enjoying clear waters and eating lobsters! But look what we'd have missed...meeting wonderful friends in Port Mansfield, and LEARNING about Rio Dulce (a lot closer than Golfito!) from friends Candy and Orville! We trust that God's leading us in the right direction at the right time, and putting the right people in our path! The journey is the thing, and we are enjoying each day, even the rainy or windy ones!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Port O' Connor
Hooray! We left Mud Island near Rockport this morning, and are 50 miles north, at a lovely development called Sanctuary, "discovered" by our friends Sue and Al on Wind Dancer. Back in mid-November, we drove up here for their send-off dinner! It was SO cold, Daren and I decided to go south instead! So here we are, 4 months later, and it's very windy and supposed to get nasty tomorrow, but at least it's not too cold! We are glad to be tied up safe and sound.
After the last bit of bad weather cleared up, we left the old marina at Rockport on Sunday, March 11, and have been anchored at Mud Island for a whole week! Daren built a helmsman's seat for the cockpit so we don't have to stand up to steer! Friday night, Larry and Sue and good friends Frankie and Sherry and their cute grandson, Shawn (9) came over on Gypsy Wind II to spend the night. We had a great time and a wonderful shish-kabab dinner! They left yesterday about noon, and we decided to spend one more night to get an early start this morning.
We had a BIG surprise call from Candy this afternoon! She and Orville were in Port O'Connor and wanted to see us! I told them we were heading for Sanctuary, and when we arrived about 4 pm, they were there to catch our lines! It was such fun to see them again, and they're hoping to catch up to us in Galveston. It sounds like a nice place, and we would LOVE to travel with them again, so we'll see...
After the last bit of bad weather cleared up, we left the old marina at Rockport on Sunday, March 11, and have been anchored at Mud Island for a whole week! Daren built a helmsman's seat for the cockpit so we don't have to stand up to steer! Friday night, Larry and Sue and good friends Frankie and Sherry and their cute grandson, Shawn (9) came over on Gypsy Wind II to spend the night. We had a great time and a wonderful shish-kabab dinner! They left yesterday about noon, and we decided to spend one more night to get an early start this morning.
We had a BIG surprise call from Candy this afternoon! She and Orville were in Port O'Connor and wanted to see us! I told them we were heading for Sanctuary, and when we arrived about 4 pm, they were there to catch our lines! It was such fun to see them again, and they're hoping to catch up to us in Galveston. It sounds like a nice place, and we would LOVE to travel with them again, so we'll see...
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Thank God and Gary...we're GONE!
Greetings from Rockport! Yes, we're back to our starting place! We left Port Mansfield late Sunday morning, after a slight mechanical delay, which Gary helped Daren repair...hence the title, which I just HAD to use! : ) There's an old country song, "Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone!" HAHAHA!
We spent Sunday night at a lovely anchorage (Yarborough Cut) just south of treacherous Baffin Bay, and the dogs ran up and down the beach so hard yesterday (Monday) morning, that they slept all the way to Corpus Christi!
We were grateful for 3 days of perfect weather with our friends on Bootlegger, and Flying Dogs lived up to her name! This boat is FAST under sail, and we had plenty of wind in protected waters. Last night, we were tied up to Snoopy's restaurant at the foot of the JFK causeway bridge in Corpus Christi and had a great meal there. The laughing gulls did keep us awake, though, which was no laughing matter, since we had to leave at the crack of dawn this morning to cross CC Bay before the wind picked up. With such an early start, we arrived at the Hook and Bull yard by noon! Bootlegger tied up to a barge there, but we headed out to Mud Island anchorage. It was so rough by then that we turned back and are anchored just outside the ICW channel across from the yard. We may move there tomorrow if the wind dies down, but it's blowing HARD right now out of the SE, so we're pretty content right here!
It's going to be tricky seeing friends here in Rockport, but we'll figure out a way. We don't want to tie up to a marina, but that's certainly the easiest! We're cruising now, so we need to stay at anchor. : )
We really enjoy traveling with Candy and Orville, and plan to hang out in the area while they get their boat hauled and painted. In the meantime, there are projects we can do on Flying Dogs, too.
I'll let you know when we're back on the "road" to Florida. If you don't hear from us, it means we're still here!
We spent Sunday night at a lovely anchorage (Yarborough Cut) just south of treacherous Baffin Bay, and the dogs ran up and down the beach so hard yesterday (Monday) morning, that they slept all the way to Corpus Christi!
We were grateful for 3 days of perfect weather with our friends on Bootlegger, and Flying Dogs lived up to her name! This boat is FAST under sail, and we had plenty of wind in protected waters. Last night, we were tied up to Snoopy's restaurant at the foot of the JFK causeway bridge in Corpus Christi and had a great meal there. The laughing gulls did keep us awake, though, which was no laughing matter, since we had to leave at the crack of dawn this morning to cross CC Bay before the wind picked up. With such an early start, we arrived at the Hook and Bull yard by noon! Bootlegger tied up to a barge there, but we headed out to Mud Island anchorage. It was so rough by then that we turned back and are anchored just outside the ICW channel across from the yard. We may move there tomorrow if the wind dies down, but it's blowing HARD right now out of the SE, so we're pretty content right here!
It's going to be tricky seeing friends here in Rockport, but we'll figure out a way. We don't want to tie up to a marina, but that's certainly the easiest! We're cruising now, so we need to stay at anchor. : )
We really enjoy traveling with Candy and Orville, and plan to hang out in the area while they get their boat hauled and painted. In the meantime, there are projects we can do on Flying Dogs, too.
I'll let you know when we're back on the "road" to Florida. If you don't hear from us, it means we're still here!
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