What's missing ???

Oh yeah, our pier!!!

What a crazy last 24 hours!

We get up yesterday and have no power here at the slip even though BGE has turned it back on.  Riverwatch sends someone down to look at it and they couldn't figure out what was wrong, so they had to call an electrician to come and fix it, but he won't be here until tonight some time.  In meantime, we are running the genny constantly to try and keep warm and then she starts acting up (again) so we had to shut her down.  Now we have no heat at all!  So Bob calls Derek and asks if we can stay on their boat until our electric is fixed (without me knowing) and Derek says "I need to check with Shelley first" (that's because they have been working on their boat all winter and they couldn't wait to show us all of the upgrades they made to her) and of course Shelley says yes (she certainly isn't going to let us freeze even if it means they are not here the first time we see the boat!) and then Bob tells me that Derek and Shelley said we could stay on their boat!  I said NO!  You know how excited they are about showing us their boat and I'm not seeing it for the first time without them!  We will have to figure something else out.  I told him to go out and try to find another pedestal that had power and we would just plug into that.  He looked around and couldn't find one, so Don & Kim our neighbors, looked like they were getting ready to be put back in the water (their power cords were there) so we called them, told them our situation, and they "graciously" said we could use their power!  Thank you Don and Kim and Derek and Shelley! and another thank you to Rob Bob from the Middle River Yacht Club also, he had heard we didn't have heat and called and offered us a heater to use!  What great friends we have here in Middle River, no wonder we are always so excited to come home and see everyone!

Now for my daughter.....we are supposed to be going down to see Jon, Jen, Charlie (their pup), and Samantha (their cat) tonight.  But not so sure that is going to work.  We have no piers, at least nothing we can see that isn't under water!  We will see how the day progresses.  I guess doing laundry today is out of the question also!  It's not going to stop raining until later this evening, or early tomorrow morning.  This sure is putting a hamper on everything I needed to do these last couple of days!!

Well as you can see, we are home....and as the old saying goes "April showers, bring May flowers!" So here's to the end of April!! and bring on them flowers!!

Enjoy our stats....because we sure did enjoy making them!!!!

2013-2014 Storymaker Abacos, Bahamas

Key West Trip Stats

# of Days Gone

192  Days

(Oct 17, 2013 – April 27, 2014)

Total Miles Travelled

3218  Miles

Engine Hours (port)

636 hours

some of this time was idling charging the batteries

Engine Hours (starboard)

592 hours

Gallons of Diesel Fuel Used

593  gallons

Average Gallons Per Hour (for both engines)

.48 gallons per hour

Average Miles Per Gallon

5.4 miles per gallon

Longest Distance in One Day

97 miles

Shortest Distance in One Day

6 miles

Highest Wind

42 Knots

Bridges That Opened for Us in One Day

18  Bridges

(West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale)

Most Dangerous Trip

Bill & Mo in Dinghy

Key West Dinghy Dock to the Mooring Field

37 mph winds

# of Times Fish Jumped in the Dingy on Their Own

4

Best Meal (Besides my Wife's Cooking)

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Jayne

Cumberland Island, GA

Kind of the Strangest Things

Being Able to See the Bottom at Night Even with No Moon

Dropping the Anchor with no Land in Sight

  

Friends That We Saw:

Ross & Randy

(Lynn’s ‘ole work buds at Harford County 911)

Bill & Mo

(Middle River Yacht Club)

Derek & Shelley

(Riverwatch Marina)

Gordon & Debbie

(Middle River Yacht Club)

Gary & Carol

(Bel Air - Now Florida)

Jay & Joan

(Florida)

Andy and Sandie

(Ellicott City, MD and Florida)

Capt Dave and Mary Jane Underill

(Vero Beach, FL)

Larry & Terri

(Bel Air, MD and Blue Water Key, FL)

Eben & Carol

(Gangplank Marina, Washington, DC - Now Virginia)

Jack

(Riverwatch Marina)

Number of Animals Seen

Dolphin

Hundreds

Biggest Pod

7

Dewes Creek, Isle of Palms, SC

Pilot Whales

14

Atlantic Ocean

Waterfowl

Gazillions

Turtles One Day in North Carolina

176

# of Manatees Seen in 1 Day

14

Titusville, FL

Stingrays Seen

5

(1 Jumping)

(4 under the dinghy)

Lobsters Seen on Our Plate

25

US Cities/Towns Explored

Annapolis, MD

Beaufort, SC

Cocoa, FL

Coconut Grove, FL

Cumberland Island, GA

Eau Galle, FL

Fernandina Beach, FL

Georgetown, SC

Melbourne, FL

New Bern, NC

Oriental, FL

South Beach Miami, FL

St. Augustine, FL

Titusville, FL

Vero Beach, FL

West Palm Beach, FL

Wrightsville Beach, FL

Bahamas Cities/Towns Explored

Double-Breasted Cay

Grand Cay

Great Guana Cay/Settlement Harbor

Great Guana Cay/Baker's Bay

Green Turtle Cay/New Plymouth

Man-O-War Cay

Great Abaco Island/Treasure Cay

Great Abaco Island/Marsh Harbor

Elbow Cay/Hopetown

No Name Cay

Spoil Cay

Walkers Cay

Number of Days

At Anchor

194 nights

At Mooring Balls

38 nights

At Marinas/Docks

3 nights

Lessons Learned!

We must be healthy and strong to really enjoy

the trip, adventure, and experiences

Things just absolutely have to be put -back

in place when you are finished with it

We must pick up and clean daily

or things get underfoot

My wife is was already an excellent cook!

But with an oven you she see what she can do !!

We must bring in everything from outside at night

It seems like it always rains when you don't

All non-stainless steel metal has to be cleaned

or lubricated weekly or monthly

Things and conditions can change very rapidly

and a sense of urgency is of the utmost importance

You cannot rely completely on the GPS Chartplotter

Trust, but verify - it was incorrect .01% of the time

but that could lead you aground

Slow down for any areas that may have shoaled

Pay full attention when near markers, bridges, shoaled

areas, other boats, and shore - no "heavy" conversations,

cell phone use, or doing one other major task at the

same time

Fix, attend to, any item that even appears that it

may pose a problem underway

The Captain is responsible for the ship, her crew,

and anything that goes wrong

The Admiral is always right

I am a better yachtsman for the trip

And Many Thanks To:

All our family and friends for following our blog

Bill & Mo for storing our car

Stacy for storing our car, motorcycle,

and boxes of junk

Jon and Jen for storing Bob while he came

back in February for his Motorcycle Safety

Seminar

Derek & Shelly for storing our deck steps, and

other goodies

A very special thanks to Gordon and Debbie

for their hospitality, dinner, happy hour, letting

us play with their dogs, and making sure Andy

and Sandy were there for us to see…(oh, and by

the way Gordon, we owe you one!!)

Gary and Jayne for travelling down the Bahamas,

the ICW, and Miami with us

  

Every Day's a Gift!

Thank You God for another Healthy,

Exciting, Adventurous Trip Filled

With Family and Friends