Happy Easter to all who celebrate, Happy Spring to all...

April 21

Chris here at Sunset Bay.

Loving my accommodations and getting some tasks completed on the Belle.

• I fixed the head!!! Yay for me. 
• The propane alarm system that fuels the stove is wanky but I have the microwave, crockpot, electric frying pan, toaster and outside grill so I am not uber worried about it.  Plus, there are oodles of good restaurants within walking distance.
• Every day I am trying to polish one inside porthole so by the time Kerm gets here we will be looking great.
• The woodwork inside the cabin gets sticky from all of the salt and human oils in the Bahamas so I am working with vinegar and water to renew the teak.
• Starting the motor every week for one hour to charge up the batteries.  It is sooo nice when the motor pops right into action when I turn the key and press the start button.
• Continuing to learn more about the systems on board every day.

In addition to my 'daily work' I have to get morning coffee from the ship's store and blab about the weather, town events, marina gossip, etc.  I schmooze with other cruisers and learn more about places to anchor in the Bahamas, interesting things to see and how to catch spiny lobster and conch.  The people here are very friendly and there is a lot of fixing, replacing and cleaning going on.

Our friends on 'Blue Bay', Dick and Nancy, have been very kind to me and we all went out to Easter dinner yesterday.  Ham dinner was great and then we walked over to the ice cream shop for dessert.  Hey, it was Easter and the Bunny didn't hide any eggs for me...although Dick says they are actually underneath the Belle. Dick and Nan are leaving Tuesday for Ft. Pierce to have 'Blue Bay' pulled and stored for the season and then they are headed home to Minnesota.  They are planning to race on the St. Croix River this season so 'Irish Temper' will be seeing them pretty soon.

Nancy and Dick at Duffy's

 Kerm has been calling me for measurements in the bilge ...we are installing a new battery charger when he comes down.  Also, we plan to re-caulk the teak decks.  That is a big job but very important for maintaining the integrity of the fiberglass decks below...spongy decks are death to a boat.

Weather good here and I hear things are getting better up north.  That is good for all.  Take care all...

Christie

My new home (for a while) Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage Stuart, FL

Chris here....

Thursday, April 10

I am now safely installed at a great marina in Stuart and the Belle is working well.  Life is good.  Better if Kerm was here but he will be soon, we hope.  After the drama of Kerm's medical emergency, getting him safely to a health care facility in the States,  the Belle's electrical emergency and getting her safely to the States for needed electrical surgery it is wonderful to rest for a while and not have to worry every minute. 

I have learned a huge amount about the boat and had to dock her numerous times with no assistance from the captain.  It's been a huge learning experience and I have really enjoyed having a chance to handle things by myself.  I shouldn't say by myself, however, because Linda has been with me the whole time and she is an exceptional crew.  She has been steady, willing to work hard and open to all the learning opportunities that presented themselves.  She stayed on the boat and weathered a huge blow in Black Point when I flew out to Miami to check on Kerm's progress.  Without her the Belle would probably still be in the Exumas.  She is awesome.

Pat, Linda's son, came to visit us here in Florida and has been a great help on the boat, washing, waxing and polishing.  The Bahamas salt and sand are almost all gone by now.  Linda and Pat are renting a car and heading off to Minnesota on Sunday...I am going to tag along to Atlanta and collect Kerm's pickup truck which is at his cousin, John's house.  Then I will drive it back here.

Here are pictures of our new home for a while...

We are on A Dock ...closest to the bathrooms, office and ship's store and cruiser's lounge

Our exact address.  Slip A-19 is in a nice protected spot

The Belle...sitting pretty

Office, ship store bathrooms, lounge and dinghy dock

Tuesday and Friday there's free bus service to area shopping spots...a wonderful convenience for cruisers

Laundry room and bathrooms are new and cleaned every day...not always the case at all marinas!

Harbormasters Sam and Buzz great guys and very helpful

Hibiscus all over the place

Air conditioned lounge with TV and lots of books

The lounge is a nice place to read the morning paper

On site restaurant...quite good

Nice ship store with coffee every morning

That's the Belle with the blue lee cloths by that orange thing.

Marina has about 240 slips

Mooring Field has about 40 mooring balls.  Our friends, Dick and Nancy are here!

Bird of Paradise...need I say more?

Up date as of 4/4

 Kerm here,

The Belle, Chis and Linda are at Sunset Bay Marina in Stewart, Florida.  Me, I'm well entrenched in the medical merry go round here in Minnesota.  I'm fine but a decision was made to use MN as the central location for all medical care so a bunch of new doctors and a whole new battery of tests as to establish a base line for them.  Frankly I'm tired of being a pin cushion but it looks like I may be able to head south in early May although it may be possible to sneak out for a couple of weeks between appointments.  TBD.

Belle to Stewart

 Kerm here.
The Belle is tied up at Hinkley Yacht  near Stewart where the electrical system will be checked out. You don't know how it pains me that I am having someone else look at the stuff as I have always prided myself on being able to take care of 99% of maintenance and restoration myself.  Plus I'm one cheap B*****D.  Anyway,  the batteries will have to be looked at and probably be replaced, new battery charger for sure and if putting in a new charger the right thing to do is all the digital controls and the diagnostics stuff.  This boat was never designed for all the new technology over the last 30 years and I don't know where even one more panel will go.  We have added 4 new panels since last year for generator, inverter and fire systems and propane sensors.  If we had any more panel LED's shining in the cabin at night we wouldn't be able to sleep.  We sure as hell don't need night lights anymore.

I am angst.  The Hinkley electrical guys will be doing a reconnoiter of the Belle electrical system tomorrow.  Holy crap.  I replace all the mainline DC stuff over last winter ACCORDING to the book and all my tests were by the book.  Alternator, regulator, splitter, batteries, all high amperage DC wiring, circuit breakers, everything.  Crap, I do hope they find something but just not for the stuff I did. 

The Belle is back

Kerm here,
The Belle is back on the mainland anchored near North Palm Beach.  The captains left South Bimini bright and early on Friday and according to them a fairly pleasant ride but perhaps a bit rough towards the end as there were some northerly winds pushing against the gulf stream. The trawler school they took last winter paid off in spades.  Over the last year the pair also took notes on a regular basis on how systems worked, periodic maintenance and the basics of both AC and DC electricity. We may have to get a service man out to figure out what the deal is with the batteries and charging systems beforehand but knowing how those two don't like to sit this may be delayed. 

I'm proud of them.

The straw man for the next adventure for them is a move the Belle to Savannah, GA perhaps for the summer or whatever.  Just an idea.  In reality it costs nearly as much to continue moving on the boat as it is to put it in a marina.  There are so many options.  I have a Dr. appointment in Miami on the 7th where they will decide to do with some other plumbing in my neck and / or give me the green light to go back to the cruising life.  I'm thinking they will want me to lay low for awhile but we'll see.

I'm still in Atlanta staying with my cousin John and his wife Cheryl.  They live in the Virginia Highlands area.  This area is similar to the Uptown area in Minneapolis but much larger and perhaps a little more upscale on average.  It's the happening area in Atlanta.  Fun.  Cheryl has made me a list of small repairs do around the house so my guest guilt is at a minimum.  Today John and I are picking up his J-24 to bring it home for a spring cleaning.  If any of you recall this is our old 24 from 20 years ago.  John has kept the boat nice over the years and has continually upgraded it to keep it competitive on Lake Linier.

The Belle is in Bimini

Kerm here,
The Belle is in South Bimini.  She got in at 2am with Chris at the helm as I understand.  I'm getting info 2nd hand as I'm sure that I would think that they are completely nuts for doing it and may want to give me a day or two to settle down.  With the weather as it was and the instrumentation plus having gone in there before perhaps not so bad.  Just not me.  Those two just amaze me. 

So, at this point it looks like a Saturday crossing to the mainland which again comes second hand but the numbers look good on the cruising weather forecast websites.  Worth inlet is where they may be coming in right near North Palm Beach.  The lake there is a great place to stop and anchor. 

I know no more...

Where we at...

Kerm here,

Me.  First let me thank all the well wishers and offers of lodging.  Wow, as they say down here so often in the south, "I'm blessed".

Yesterday I left Bill Collins's boat in Fort Myers and headed up to Atlanta to see my cousin John and his wonderful wife Cheryl.  They live in the Virginia Highland area and if you know the city this is the place to be.  Bill's boat was nice but he left to go back home on dry land and it was getting too quiet besides a real bed and knowing that Cheryl would spoil me rotten was just too much to pass up.

Shortly before arriving at Bob and Cheryl's at about 7:00 my tongue started to swell so upon arrival Cheryl and I took a trip to the hospital.  An allergic reaction to we don't know what but they slammed an IV into me and poured drugs in and ta dah the swelling went down.  We were back at home by 1:00 am and I now have more drugs to take for awhile plus additional drugs if it happens again.  Dear mom, life is a b***h.

I just had a report from Dan that SPOT shows that the Belle is on the move.  Dan said he got a report that they are headed to Hog Cay probably with some other boats.  I should not second guess them as they have been talking to other Wednesday leavers that have more experience that either me or them.