Day 173 –
12/31/2015
No Boat
Travel.
As 2015 came
to a close, I reflected back on what an amazing year we had. I started out the
year taking art classes and attending water aerobics sessions at the YMCA.
Clark continued to work at Ikanos and relax by attending weekly guitar classes and swimming at the Y.
In March I
flew to Utah to help my son and his wife work on their house in Park City,
Utah. While I was there, the three of us and my granddaughter took a quick
overnight road trip to visit Boise, Idaho where my son later took a position working for Hewlett Packard.
By April my
main focus moved to preparing for the trip of our lives, and on June 17th,
we loaded the boat, pulled in the lines, and headed north to start our Great Loop adventure. Since then we have covered quite a bit of territory!
While living on board our boat for the past 6.5 months, we have visited thirteen
states and one Canadian province thus far on our trip.
By
boat we visited places in NJ, NY, Ontario, MI, IL, MO, KY, TN, MS, AL, and
FL
Distance
Traveled in our trawler: 3496 Nautical Miles or approximately 4023
statute miles
Along the way, we navigated through 102 locks in a variety of shapes,
sizes, and functional design.
By rental car we visited places in MI, NJ, MO, GA, TX, LA, and CT*
Distance
Traveled in rental cars: over 5000 miles
* The road
trip I made to Connecticut in September had a similar purpose as my trip to
Utah in March – paint! While in Connecticut, I helped my younger son and his
wife paint a bedroom to prepare for the arrival of their first child (and my
second granddaughter) in February. So excited!
Many people
have asked me what it is like to live on a boat for months at a time. My
response is that it is like being on vacation every day with a new place to
explore right around the next bend.
Our year
ended with a quite literal bang as we stood in St. Petersburg, Florida watching
fireworks to say farewell to 2015. Late in the day on the 30th of
December we decided that we would buy tickets to First Night in St. Petersburg.
Activities started as early as 4:00 in the afternoon and ran until the fireworks exploded
at midnight. Earlier events targeted the younger population with later events
targeting the older generations.
We made
arrangements to go into St. Pete with Clark’s cousin, Dawn, who we visited on
the 25th for Christmas dinner. She picked us up at the marina just
before 5:00 and drove us into St. Pete to collect our First Night “buttons”,
find a restaurant for dinner, and then hit the “grown-up” events that we found
interesting. The problem with that plan was that we had interest in too many
shows to attend them all.
For dinner
we decided to try Tappas at Ceviche. We each selected three dishes and had no
room for dessert by the time we finished the plates. While we ate we selected
our target destinations. The places / shows we managed to visit from our list were
the following:
1 – Vocalist
Belinda Womack – Gospel Remix
2 – 8:00 fireworks show
3 – Glice ice skating (watched kids struggle to
skate on a wax-like, faux ice surface)
4 – Shuffleboard (watched some folks playing
and listened to some music at the “World’s Largest Shuffleboard” club)
5 – American Stage Improv (Improv routine
based on Place = Boston; Item = Ham; Item = Diet).
6 – Songwriter, singer and guitarist Brooke
Ramel (Clark liked this show so much he bought three of her CDs after the show)
7 – Songwriter, singer, and guitarist Jun
Bustamante (One of Dawn’s local favorites)
Besides the
shows we attended, we saw numerous other activities in progress as we walked
about town from one site to another – something for everyone. I made sure to
put on my FitBit before leaving for the event. At the end of the evening, my
wrist vibrated as the FitBit hit the 10,000 steps mark – the goal for the day!
We left St.
Petersburg just before 11:00 as our driver, Dawn, wanted to be home before
midnight and a flock of crazy or drunk drivers came out on the roads. Clark and
I watched the ball drop on our on-board television and heard a few bangs and
sizzles outside as people fired off their “at home” fireworks.
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| Fireworks in St. Petersburg, FL |
Florida: from Gulfport to Anna Maria Island
Day 174 – 1/1/2016
NM Today: 15
NM Total:
3511
Before
heading out to the First Night activities yesterday, Clark and I moved the boat
to a different dock within the Gulfport Municipal Marina. The net result was that the “head” / restroom became 50%
closer to the boat as a result of the move. Two other boats came into the marina yesterday
afternoon to share the transient dock with us – one a current looper and one a
boater planning to start the loop in 2016.
Regardless
of how close or far away the restroom is located, that first walk in the
morning is a tough one. Inevitably a sense of urgency accompanies the first
walk of the day. I got up in the morning with my usual urgent need to use the
head. When I got to the ladies room, I found the door closed and locked. I had
never found it locked before. I tried my key which went into the lock but would
not turn, so I went to look for assistance. I found someone and the
conversation went like this:
“Are you marina staff?”
“Yes, mam.”
“Can you tell me why the ladies room door is
locked?”
“The door
isn’t locked”, he replied.
“It most certainly is locked”, said I.
“No, it’s
not locked.”
“Well, if it’s
not locked then I am pretty stupid cause I can’t open it.”
“I’m not
saying that, but …” his voice trailed off as if to confirm that he did consider
me quite stupid indeed.
By now I was
infuriated and even more desperate to use the facilities than before. This of course did not improve my mood one
little bit.
When we got
to the door, and he said to me “Give me your key.”
I did so and
he put the key in the lock, turned the key (why couldn’t I do that), opened the
door, and said to me, “See I told you it’s not locked.”
My response,
“Damn it!!” as I walked past him into the restroom.
Besides
being under construction, which made getting to the restroom a royal pain, we
saw signs on every gate and door of the marina warning boaters that the water was
contaminated. When we talked to the folks on Nearly Perfect, they told us they called some officials to complain
about the dead fish collecting and smelling near their boat so that it was finally removed. The boater next to
ours at our original dock assignment let his dog do his morning dumps on the
dock next to his boat, which just happened to be the dock we were also tied to. He then left the evidence sit there all day for us to admire. I think this marina
definitely needs to get its act together beyond just completing their current construction project.
I guess the
birds have not figured out that the water is contaminated as we saw several species
along the docks.
 |
| This guy stood here for hours ... only slightly distrubed by our passing by his fishing spot |
 |
| Pelicans |
We made a relatively
short hop to the next marina on our list which only required about two hours of travel to
reach. Several weeks back, Jammin Jane
told us that they are spending several weeks on Anna Maria Island and invited
us to come see them when we got in the area. We arrived at Anna Maria Island a
little after noon today.
When we
approached the marina, we got a call on the VHF radio from Ben on Jammin Jane welcoming us to the island.
Before docking at the marina, we drove our boat around to where they are docked
to see their new boat.
 |
| The New Jammin Jane - a real beauty! |
After a
quick hello, we went back to the marina, docked our boat, and had a bite to
eat for lunch. Afterwards we grabbed our bicycles and headed down the street to
visit Ben and Jane and the friends they currently have visiting with them. Ben
and Jane are “living the life” as the place where they are docked has a grill,
heated saltwater pool, hot tub, and outdoor shower in a gorgeous tropical
setting. I took advantage of the pool. Clark tried the pool and the hot tub and
approved of both!
So nice to enjoy the last few hours of 2015 with family! Thanks Clark & Ev, for delicious dinner & plenty of "First Night" fun! Love, Dawn
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