Coastal Cruising: Bay Breeze & Aquavit

2019 - A New Adventure Begins It's always hectic on the way to cast off to cruise. Allowing plenty of time to prepare the boat and get our affairs in order, we think it should be easy. But it seems that life has other plans. Last minute details arise and plans gone awry grab our attention and add an element of stress. What? - the engine is overheating on a simple daysail? It's no real comfort to know that the work expands to fill the time available and it all works out. However, we do know that once we leave the dock and pass the entrance mark, our cares are blown away. Bay Breeze is ready to go. Our plans this year are to sail south. First to St. Petersburg to have Sailor's Wharf Boatyard inspect our rigging and coat the hull with anti-fouling paint. Then, on to Sarasota, Cayo Costa, Ft. Myers, Naples, the Ten Thousand Islands, and end up in Marathon. From there...we might make The Bahamas. Keys backcountry, or Dry Tortugas? We will retrace our route home, and t...

Tropicbird This is the 30th anniversary of a Thanksgiving that we hold very special.  It was November 21-23, 1988. In our 37-year career, it was rare that we took a dedicated vacation. Running a small mom-and-pop company limited the time we could be away from our business. We might take an extra day tagged onto a work trip or a long weekend to visit family in South Florida. But, that really wasn't recreation time. Besides, we traveled so much to so many wonderful places, we never felt the need to take time off to change the scenery. But, we did long for more time to cruise on our sailboat. Our Tropicbird,  a 1960 Pearson Triton, was a well-found sailboat. We became her caretaker in 1979. The fabled classic Triton was a Carl Alberg designed, heavy displacement craft, full keel with a four foot draft. We worked to refit and upgrade Tropicbird  and invested much sweat equity and funds. In 1985 we repowered with a Westerbeke diesel. A few years of negl...

Mystery Leak Found and Fixed! Several readers were interested in the mystery leak we had on AQUAVIT that first appeared on our rough offshore passage from New Smyrna to St. Augustine. The leak showed up in the 4-6 ft seas ploughing ahead at 15 knots, waves breaking over the bow. We noticed a steady stream of water over the cabin sole. Not much fosters more anxiety than water on the inside when one is a few miles offshore. We quickly determined it wasn’t enough to sink the boat, but still very concerning.  That was the beginning of our frustrating quest to track down this leak that wet the bedding.  During our cruise, we checked bilge, forward deck hatch, port lights, and hull. We considered sea conditions and rainfall as sources. We recalled a rotten vinyl covered headboard that had been replaced in Naples in July 2017 when we purchased “Mr. Goodbar”. Molly’s Marine had sealed port lights and replaced the headboard with a new plywood insert and mirror. The bulkhead beh...

A wonderful cruise! We travelled nearly 2000 nautical miles from the Gulf up the Atlantic ICW and to NYC for the 4th of July and as far as Norwalk Connecticut. Now it's time to head home. NYC in the wake! We left Liberty Landing Marina early on a quiet morning and made the 22 nm run down to Amboy New Jersey to the family-run Lockwood boat yard. It took only an hour and a half - but had to wait for a commuter train to pass before the railroad bridge could open. Lee packed up while Marvin took a Lyft to get the rental car we left in Jersey City. Navigating the roadways is a lot more challenging than the harbor! Lockwood Boat Works is up the Cheesequake Creek. What a treat to hear the Jersey accent of the bridge tender;  "Thanks for opening" ~ "fuggetabowtit!" Next port is Snead Island Boat Works in Bradenton Florida where she will get new bottom paint and a running gear "pedicure". Maybe even a wax. There are a few details th...

Today we left Liberty Landing Marina and New York City to move up the coast to Long Island Sound and Norwalk, CT. Lee's cousin, Steve, and his wife Carol are coming from New Milford CT to meet us in Norwalk. As with the cousins that we met in NYC, Steve and Lee haven't seen each other in over 10 years. Passing by the United Nations - Empire State Bldg to L, Chrysler Bldg. on R The trip north was a good one. It was a Sunday and before 9 a.m. when the weekend ferry schedule starts so there was not much traffic on the Hudson or the East River around Manhattan. There were no barges either. We made good time. On Long Island Sound, more boats were around - pleasure craft out fishing or enjoying a beautiful day on the water. Most were motor boats because the current was running against us in the East River so sailboats heading north would have had a slow trip motoring against the strong current. Heading North on the East River Lee was dreading Hell Gate. All of the book...

On the 6th, it rained early in the morning and continued to drizzle off and on all day. So we decided to take a day-long break from the Big Apple, staying on the boat and hanging around the marina. We made arrangements with a transport company (and the marinas where the trip will start and end) for shipping AQUAVIT back to Florida at the end of the month. We had a nice dinner at one of the restaurants on the marina property and were treated to a beautiful sunset and a cool evening. Today we decided to go back to the big city for one last day of excitement before we have to leave the marina that has been our home since June 21. And, we wound up walking and walking; by our estimates it was 10 miles or so. This morning was delightfully cool - low 70s. We started the day at a great little cafe called Sam A.M. in Jersey City, across the canal from the marina and up a few blocks. From there we wanted to take the Paulus Hook ferry to about 42nd St., but the ticket line was long. I guess...

Let me start this blog with a note. If you are a subscriber to our blog and get it via email each morning, you may notice some of the blogs have missing pieces. When we put a video into the narrative, it doesn't necessarily show up in the email. To see the video (i.e., the New York and New Jersey fireworks) go to the blog page at shoalsailer32.blogspot.com. How many ways can you get around New York?  Let me count the ways we've been using - ferries, subways, trains, and automobiles. We have been riding ferries across the Hudson River from our marina to various places in Manhattan. The Liberty Landing Ferry goes to Warren Street in Jersey City (just across the canal from the marina,) then on to the World Financial Center and Brookside Place. The Paulus Hook ferry goes to 42nd Street. Then there's the subways. Not only is there the New York subway system, there's the New Jersey subway system that goes into New York (called PATH). We've ridden the PATH subway from ...