Florida, Green Cove Springs – Opps, my bottoms wet

Yes, our bottom is finally back in the water.

It has been a lot of hard work, well at least for my work force.

The humans failed me in the search for a used dingy.  In the end they spent a good portion’ of the annual budget on a new one.

It has not been all work.  I did let the female human off work for a weekend to visit my Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary staying in Miami for a holiday.

It was a bit ‘mad’ of her to drive down there for the weekend, but she had lots of fun catching up with the kids.

They had fun at the beach and pool, and even found time to head into the interior Everglades for a ‘swamp buggy’ ride and wildlife spotting.

In the Everglades they learned about the local bird and plant life.

And they were lucky enough to have some ‘close encounters’ with Florida alligators.

If you have fast streaming internet here is a little video.

They also took her to a fabulous Cuban restaurant, in central Miami, where she was able to sample some ‘cuisine to come’, as Cuba is on our route this sailing season.  But only if we ‘get our butts in gear’!

The first step is to get back in the water.

To get our boat into the boat lift we had to loosen off the back stay (stern rigging) and disconnect both the Genoa and foresail rigging.

The boat was very happy to be back in the supporting cushion of the water.  Luckily the yard allows you to tie up to their jetty to get yourself all sorted out.

We joined a long line of boats finishing off tasks, or waiting out the holiday season, before heading off.  At $5/day unlimited water and electrics, you can not lose.

But we are not here to hang about, so I got the humans to work with the morning light.

Decks to wash, of working yard grit and grime.  Rigging and sails to go back up.

The raised water line looks a load better.  Hopefully this will cut back on time spent scrubbing off weeds growing on the boats boot stripe.  The new dingy looks real sharp.

You have seen how many solar panels we have on our boat, not to mention the wind generator, and still we have to be careful with our energy usage on windless cloudy days.  We find it remarkable how many American boats have no alternative energy source.

To each, their own?

So, we are in the water, what next?

Weather considerations first, it looks good this week for sailing down the Florida coast.  This will save us time and fuel, compared to motoring down the ICW.  We can turn the fridge and freezer back on (keel cooled systems do not work out of the water) and get out shopping for food.

I need to see the Vet for a Health Certificate declaring, to anyone that cares, that I am ‘fit as a fiddle’ and free of disease.  The humans want to get a final washing done and hit the hardware store one more time.

Then it is just getting all the stowed safety gear out and ready, navigation and tidal work done, and we are off.  We think that will be Wednesday morning, unless the weather forecast changes.