Once Alaya was safely tucked away at the Safe Harbor marina in Stuart, Florida, we headed across the state. Our destination was the Fort Myers area, on Florida’s gulf coast. We planned to stay for a few days with Lucas’ Uncle Joe and Aunt Melissa in their beautiful home. As a bonus, Grandma Nancy and […]
Family Time in Fort Myers Read More »
Still amped from our space week, we hoisted the anchor and headed south into the ICW again on Friday. Our new mission – reunite with our friends on SV Pokey again! We had two fairly uneventful, yet windy days on the ICW, arriving in Vero Beach on Sunday evening. On our travels south, we heard
Excitement in “Velcro” Beach Read More »
We left the St. Augustine Inlet on Saturday, January 13, heading out into the Atlantic Ocean once again. Our destination was Cape Canaveral, about 100 miles south. Initially, there was enough wind to sail but after a few hours, the wind clocked around directly behind us. We don’t have a good system set-up for downwind
Alaya Gets Bit by the Space Bug Read More »
After a few nights sleeping away from the boat (our first since we left Michigan in September), we were excited to get back to our own bed. Alaya was ready for us to be back too. She was filthy on the outside (some birds had noticed our brief absence and decided Alaya made for a
New Year, New Projects Read More »
I woke up Wednesday, December 27 jumping from one foot to the other – my parents were arriving for a visit! They pulled into town around 1 p.m. after driving all the way from Michigan and it was so lovely to see them! After we finally found a parking spot, we went out for lunch
Happy Birthday to me! Read More »
St. Augustine is a beautiful city. It is famous for their Nights of Lights, a downtown-wide Christmas light display that brings in tourists from all over the world. We first learned about this event in a laundry room in Beaufort, North Carolina before Thanksgiving (thanks for the tip, Jim!) and ever since it had been
Christmas In St. Augustine Read More »
Waking up in Charleston after a successful ocean passage was such a great feeling. We celebrated by eating and walking our way through Charleston over the next three days. Highlights included a 5-mile walk to White Duck Taco Shop by way of a cool suspension bridge; free PBRs at a pub downtown – some stranger
An Early December to Remember Read More »
There are two ways south for boats traveling along the East Coast – the ICW or outside (aka the Atlantic Ocean). If desired, a sailboat like Alaya (<65ft mast, <7ft draft) could make it to Miami via the ICW but lots of sailboats opt to take the outside route at least part of the way
Dolphins in Da Moonlight Read More »
After 10 days in the ICW, Lucas and I were getting a little grumpy. We had been struggling to balance the desire to make progress south with the desire to explore the various places along the way. With this struggle in mind, we decided to stay in Beaufort, NC for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This decision
Dolphins & Thanksgiving in Beaufort Read More »
The intercoastal waterway (ICW) is a 3,000 mile system of man made canals, rivers, sounds and lakes along nearly the entire eastern coast of the US. Mile 0 of the ICW is just south of Norfolk and that’s where we started our ICW journey in early November. Right off the bat, we were faced with
November in the ICW Read More »