Still here, and Hani is gone....

So... life happens..

We finish all the projects, provisioned the boat and we were ready to leave, and... life..

Hani had to go to Israel, and with the curve ball of Covid-19, she is gone for two and a half months.

She had to go to take care of her parents, and as she has to be in Israel for two weeks in isolation before she can be with them, and as the nurse that take care of them has to be in isolation when she comes back, a "normal 6 weeks visit" has turned to just of 10 weeks visit.

Well, that is life. I am on the boat, doing projects, doing nothing, planning routes for others, checking weather for others, and cooking for Cocoa.

Before Hani left we went through two more major storms, she baked bread (Challah), and we had some fun.

The main project I have completed is the installation of the Single Side Band (SSB) radio and the Pector Modem that goes with that were stolen after Dorian. So now I have again my weather receiver and sailmail services. For the geeks of you - my sailmail address is wdk7239@sailmail.com. And if you have a Ham station, we can talk.

I still have some more sowing projects to complete, but I am waiting for a better weather...

That's all for now, enjoy the photos and stay tuned.

We are ready (almost) to leave the dock

 A lot of work has been done in the last few weeks to get the boat completed and ready for our next phase in cruising life.

Almost two months have passed since the last post, and many things have happened since.

First - the weather. We have been monitoring the weather a few times a day (well - me monitoring the models as they published trying to get a 10+ days predictions so I can prepare or hyperventilate)

This is hurricane season, we have been in one before so our PTSD is doing overtime. We secure the boat and making it ready as much as we can.

And there is the insurance..... our provider, as long with nine other insurance providers is no longer in business. So we have to shop for a new insurance, and it is not easy in today's world. Only four providers are left in the market, their prices are sky high and their requirements and limitations are even higher.

But, the good news is that we have a new insurance, and we hope it will allow us to travel out of the US back to the Bahamas and the Caribbean's.

We took the boat out of the water twice in the last 6 weeks, once for an insurance survey and once for a short maintenance (one week).

For the rest of the time we have been enjoying the weather, the rain, the weakly storms, and as you will  see below in the photos - celebrating the Jewish New-Year and other Jewish holidays; And Hani baked bread (Challah) for the holidays (did I say she bake the best Challah ever); doing some fishing, and you can see the photos of one of the fish we caught, and it was two hours from catching to eating... what a treat!!

Also, even more fun, Hani got her new purple sun shades - and she is very happy with those.

And last but not lease - I would like to mention the company that did our rudders bearings - Williams Marine. Unfortunately we started to get use to the Florida culture and work ethics. 8AM means maybe todays afternoon, and around lunch time means not today, probably in a day or so. a 3 days work estimate means two - three weeks etc., etc. This company was a total different experience. 8AM was 8 AM. I will be by 11, he was there just before 11. What a great experience and great work they did - Thank you!!

Last but not least, we had a car for a few days, so we took Cocoa to Cocoa Beach...

Some more photos below...

 

The Manatees are back 

Sea Trial etc.

 

 Done!! Successes... and a few more things to complete.

As promised last week, here is the update.

On Tuesday, August 18, we performed a sea trial.

Mack Sails, Ekor Yachts Services (the company than fixed our boat after Dorian), and Dan our trusted project manager, as well as our daughter and two grand kids, came to the sea trial, to mainly test the sails and rigging, but also to assess the boat performances and sea worthiness.  

It was a success! The boat performed well (even as she is fully loaded ready for long term cruising), she sailed well, balances and fast once the code zero was opened.     

It was great to finally hear the wind on the sails after a year.

It was a fun afternoon and we all enjoyed it. Hani learned a lot on the code zero, and now she will need to teach me as I was most of the time at the helm as Mack sails, Dan and Hani worked the sails.

we managed with the code zero and the main to get to 5 kt in 10 kt wind against outgoing current of 2 - 3 kt.   

We celebrated after returning later that afternoon to the dock, and some drinks together to cement that great milestone.

Let me also give you a little update on where we actually are, what we see here, and a brief story of the last two weeks with our daughter Avi (Avivit) and her two kids Nathan and Leila that spent the last two weeks with us on the boat.

First the location. We are in Ft. Pierce, FL, at Harbortown Marina.

 It is a very nice marina that sit on Tailor creek. The location gives a great view to the variety of marine and birds life. We see manatees, crocodiles, dolphins, bull sharks and large variety of fish. It is always full of action.

Than Avi and the grand kids came, and life become even more full. Almost every day we went to the beach, pool or both. Collected sea shells, visited the botanical gardens, the SEAL museum and many other places as we could, including many dinghy rides to islands and beaches to swim and enjoy. All of that while our daughter stayed at the marina working and we had the kids. 

I am attaching photos to show a little of the fun we had. 

I am writing this on Thursday night while getting ready to go on Friday to the Magic Kingdom for a day so the kids will have some more fun before flying back to Minnesota and going back to school.

That's all for tonight

And before we part

First we took the kids to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. It was a gear long and fun day. (over 20,000 steps...) many many rids, a lot of fun and a great finish for the two weeks visit of our daughter and grand kids.

And last but not least... The stress level and hurricane season. It is more than just a Disney roller coaster ride. We follow the weather 3 times a day, stress out and relax based on the prediction, tie our boat, planning routes if we need to leave etc. etc.

life on a boat...

scroll below for some more photos

Have a great week