MERRY CHRISTMAS (or Heathens' Greetings)

N   26 40.92
W -82 13.29

A beautiful sunrise this morning over the mangroves.
Joyce and I exchanged 100 lengths of 1/2 inch galvanized chain this morning with much Ohhing and Ahhing and "just what I wanted". Actually we put it on the anchor two days ago and love it.

Only 9:30, and we've both been diving already!
-something indescribable was wrapped around the propeller.  We are anchored (very temporarily) south of Sarasota in barely six feet of water.  Fairly warm water, fortunately.
We should be under way shortly, heading for Venice and Sanibel.

does this look silly to you?  we are trying to redecorate the wheelhouse with better feng shui.

Classical Motifs in Sarasota

N 27 19.93
W 82 33.15
Dearest Elle,

We have found Nirvana in Sarasota.

The fog cleared, the channel opened into a bay, the air temp is in the 80's, the water in the high 70's, calm seas, wonderful swimming, a good anchorage, a quarter mile dinghy ride to downtown, a great tapas restaurant, new library (see column above) and a WHOLE FOODS MARKET.

Maybe I won't need to adjust my medication.

Love,

Lorenzo

Cold stares, thick fog, and low bridges

N 27 41.83

W 82 43.127

After days of waiting for the weather to calm down, we finally made it to Clearwater- and went into the Belleaire neighborhood to do some much-needed shopping.  Got some really cold stares from the walking dead that live here. As Christine says, you know all those old people that live on the east coast of Florida?  Well their parents live on this side.

We did look like the homeless with our backpacks and wheelie suitcases, stuffing our garbage into trash bins in our scruffy boat attire, but hey, that’s who we are, get over it.  When we got back to our dinghy some ancient crone with half a million dollars worth of plastic surgery was standing guard.  Hello, she says, I don’t believe I know you.  I know just about everyone that lives here.  We were on the sidewalk of her apartment building, so I guess we owed her an explanation.  She would last about 5 seconds in Harlem.  I did have a good time chatting her up, live on a boat for awhile and you’ll talk to a seagull.

So Sunday morning we pull out and head on down the ICW, when we get socked in with fog, which was awkward as the channel is pretty narrow and the water on each side about 2 ft deep.  You can’t see the channel markers and there’s always a bridge just ahead and the bridgetender won’t raise the bridge or answer the radio because every asshole in Florida is in his speedboat doing 40 mph in the blinding fog and if he answered every boater that wanted to talk to him he wouldn’t be able to give his porn site his full attention.  It’s daylight now and it looks like we’re in for more of the same. 

N 27 55.16

W 82 49.66

Here's Clearwater, world capital of Scientology (perhaps they give tours?)  The plan:  buy groceries and go!  Menu has deteriorated to pasta, pancakes, and grits.  

Here's L in our new dinghy- he went right to work on it.
It's 10 am, and we're waiting for a San Francisco-esque fog to lift.  When/if that happens, we might get as far as Clearwater today.
nb to Muz:  isn't Jim Griffin somewhere about these parts?

Florida is grey!

N 28 10.82

W 82 50.22

The good news is that the anchor is holding.

The last few days the weather has been blustery and the wind comes out of a new direction every hour at anywhere from 10 to 30 knots so we’re sort of sitting here spinning in circles and chewing through our stash of books.

We got caught in a tight little anchorage on Weds. with the wind holding us firm to a rock embankment, which was nasty, but we did manage to get out of there.  In all the frantic maneuvering I destroyed the dingy and sent my new motor right back to the shop, but the boat came out OK and the prop is fine.  Best to stay out of tight spots and away from rocks.  Most of the coast of Florida is only a few feet deep and the channels are narrow and shoaled, so we’re starting to appreciate open deep water and our anchor.  The mainland of Florida is one long strip mall and endless trashed out trailer parks, and it is really beautiful out here despite the weather, so we’re not complaining.

When these cold fronts blow through, we get our motor back and a new dinghy, and restock our salad bin, we’ll head further south.

uh-oh Wednesday

Chris came down from Gainsville and spent the night; very fun.  nb- for a good time, have Chris over.   As he was leaving and we needed a new outboard, he dropped us off at a nearby boat dealer.  We were fixed up with a new motor, and proceeded right into the eye of a storm (see weather, Weds 12/2, for Tampa area).  

We put the new motor on the old dinghy, and set off across 100 yards of harbor to our boat.  First the motor came unscrewed from the panel (sic?).  Then it refused to start- wet, probably.  We had now blown all the way across to our boat onto the mangroves, so I tried dragging the dinghy to the boat by its bow line.  This worked, but we were both so disoriented we left the dinghy tied to the back of the boat- and went to adjust our anchor, as it looked like we were drifting in the wind.  

In the process we noticed people on the dock pointing and yelling to us.  We had picked up the dinghy and turned it UPSIDE DOWN- with the new motor attached.  I ran to the stern in time to see us suck the dinghy under our boat and into the propeller.

Which we still have.  We went down and looked this morning, and it's still there.

The dinghy, however, is now a metal sculpture.

open seas

We crossed the Gulf from Apalachicola to the Tampa area and are anchored just outside Tarpon Springs in behind Anclote Key, a nice protected spot as it's supposed to get nasty later this week. The seas were a little rough at first but settled down as we approached the coast.  It's a little strange being way out there just listening to the hum of the diesel and staring at the horizon wondering what your going to do when things go bad, and of course things do go bad. Boating is about survival, as Elle points out, so you wake up every day, grit your teeth and Choose Life.
Joyce went down under the boat with the breathing gear and cut away a crab pot line from the prop, which was very exciting. The water's starting to get clearer and warmer as we go south so we can put on less wet suit when we swim.
Chris Nannig called and will visit today which will be a lot of fun, and then we'll just hunker down and wait for this cold front to blow by before we continue south. Running 10 hrs a day gets tiresome and it's lovely to lay about and read and do the occasional chore.

happy thanksgiving

We're in Apalachicola now- a lovely town.  They have everything- well, if you need nautical gifts- but they do have a very efficient tax collector, who managed to license our boat and a skiff we bought on eBay- within an hour. Included an onsite inspection by Fish and Wildlife. On the day before Thanksgiving.  

We are gratefully making the festive pizza dough.

Hog Islanders:  oysters $5.99/dozen.  With condiments.

backslidin' Christian

Attention, Muz:  your documentary skills are needed here.  Yesterday we had a visitor- David C. Something (there's also a David J. Something, but that guy's a child molester).  He's in a skiff on his way back from visiting his girlfriend, when he notices our boat in Lake Wimico-  comes over to see if we've run aground (shrewd guy).

For an hour, he regales us with tales of his girlfriend, her other boyfriend, and hurricane Katrina.  'My roommate, he saved me- saved me and put me in a tree!  I was drunk, when he put me in a tree.  I was a backslidin' christian then.'

A narrow section of the ICW going through the Florida panhandle-  sand and scrubby pines, sort of like the outer Cape.  Saturday we stopped in a quiet bay east of Panama City, and are still here puttering around.  There are 12-volt lights in the kitchen.  The motor on the dinghy works.  We're swimming, but have yet to step on any oysters.  The next town away is Apalachicola, where oysters have a big presence.  So we're just delaying the inevitable.

the Lorenzo version

Maiden voyage

---

Or leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight

After 18 months in New Iberia La. rebuilding this shrimp boat we finally pushed off. We tried a week earlier but dropped a valve and cracked a head so we did an engine rebuild. I must say that even while the Detroit Diesel was grinding up it's own guts and spitting out the pieces through the exhaust it ran just fine, lost some rpm and belched a lot of smoke but kept right on chugging.

Left Vermillion Bay the first day to go around the Mississippi River outlet on the outside toward the Florida panhandle an had a fuel spill an hour out, ran aground the second day, hit some nasty weather the third day with stuff flying around the cabin since nothing was secured, and snapped my anchor cable the fourth day trying to pull it up. The snubber line held so I managed to retrieve the anchor with a chain.

Running aground was a hoot as the depth sounder was telling us we were in 93 ft of water, so I assumed we snagged a net or something that was holding us firm. I put on my full Jacque Cousteau drag and jumped in the water to do battle and landed on the bottom with water up to my tits. Our boat draws 6.5 ft so I knew right off this was not good. I did ease it off with no problem.

Anyway we're heading to Key West should you want to give us wide berth.

Well, it's been a fun week so far.  Fed up with the ICW and those tiny passages through the bayous. we decided to head for the Gulf.  This was idyllic through Monday- not counting that one time we ran aground (the fishfinder said we were in 90 feet of water, so Lorenzo grabbed the compressor, put on his wetsuit- and stepped off the boat into knee-deep water.)  We were able to ease off the shoal- this was just east of the mouth of the Mississippi, for you Louisianans.


It became rather blustery Monday night, making obvious all the needed tweaks to our interior.  The kitchen was especially hazardous.  Not a thing happened in the work areas, but it was raining books and toiletries everywhere else.  After this noisy night, we couldn't wait to weigh anchor Tuesday morning, but while we were pulling it up, the cable snapped.  Lorenzo donned the wetsuit (best investment so far) administered one of his fixes, and we still have the anchor, but slightly bent.  


It brings to mind once again the Nannig family motto:  Boating is not about fun!  Boating is about survival!

Ida, where art thou?

Hurricane Ida had us holed up in a corner of Vermillion Bay with our anchor set ready to rock and roll, we were in only 7 ft of water and a mile from Weeks Island facing the wind so how far could we sink?  Woke up the next morning and da bitch was gone, run off to the Florida panhandle, which is where we were supposed to be except for this little problem with the engine belching clouds of white smoke.  So we chugged up the Bayou Petite Ance some 10 miles to Delcambre La. to have it worked on.  They think it's a fuel injector that's bad and no big deal.  It's projected to be nasty the next few days from the storm, but the sun is shining and the skies are clear.  John came over for dinner last night, he lives only 4 miles away, and we'll go shopping today for fresh veggies.
Spoke too soon, engine needs serious work. Broke a spring, dropped a valve, chewed up a piston, needs new heads, etc. 3 or 4 days. Oh well. Good guys working on it, nice little town, it's a boat, there's always something.

We're tucked into Week's Bay, with a view of the burning cane fields.  This should be a comfortable spot until the tropical storm passes tomorrow night.  Our engine's sputtering and complaining, so we should have it seen to.  So much for the vaunted reliability of Detroit Diesel- just kidding, engine gods!

Cast Off

We sold off the truck with 170,000 miles on it, it replaced a truck with 500,000, paid up the port for our dock space, cast off and left New Iberia! Came around the corner and ran into a whole bunch of barges and tugs going every which what way, lots of fun, and now we're back in Weeks Bay to try out the autopilot. In a few days we'll start moving towards New Orleans.

slobbering

It seems my engine is slobbering, that is to say spitting oil and fuel out the exhaust. Evidently it's what Detroit Diesels do. The cure, I'm told, is to put the bow up against some bulkhead, tie the boat up so it won't swing, put her in gear and run the piss out it for 6 hrs while you catch a few double features. In the meantime we're sitting here waiting to get our autopilot hooked up. We actually found a competent electronics guy and we are loath to leave till he gets this figured out. Still have not decided whether to go through the ICW to New Orleans or go around the outside to the west coast of Florida. The ICW is an ugly narrow ditch full of large barges and tug boats- and the outside is a minefield of oil rigs, pipes, unmarked shoals, and wrecks with some wild seas. Our friend Bill the tugboat captain thinks he's headed up to NO with a 70 ft wide barge soon so we may just slip in behind him and let him run interference. All the barge traffic runs from the Mississippi River to Houston- so once we're on the other side it should quiet down.

Spent the weekend drifting to different spots around Vermilion Bay. It's lovely being anchored in the middle of nowhere (well, the scenic oil rigs-) with nothing to do but cook and read. The phones and web stopped working promptly, so we couldn't get anything done- very relaxing. And the swimming off the boat is great- we have belatedly discovered wetsuits. The water's still above 70- not exactly a brave gesture, but fun.

Now we're back in New Iberia getting the engine looked at- it's spewing oil, which doesn't seem to be a good thing. A chance to eat lettuce and see movies: Chris Rock's "Good Hair" was a lot of fun- highly recommended for old white folks.

We just dropped anchor in Weeks Bay- it's so rainy we thought we'd hang out here instead of in town, and just play with the boat. Lorenzo has devised a new anchoring system that seems to be working out. The cats have forgiven us for making all that unseemly noise with the engine. Still not sure what to do when other boats come directly at us- but so far we've managed to get out of the way.

our new following

We're returning from Weeks Bay here, and attracting a crowd. Just a short voyage- enough to use the electronics, and practice not hitting other boats. Lucky it was such a grey day- not many people out there. Just a few fishermen.

Muz, this is what the inside of the boat looks like: not ready for photographers. Or seas over 2 feet . . .

FINI

We did it. The Eileen Farrell is ready to go. John put in his last day and we're loading up our stuff.

Now we have to figure how to steer this puppy and make it go where we want, so we're heading out to the Vermillion Bay to run around in circles for awhile. Still have a few odds and ends to pick up and provisions to stock up on.

Had lunch with some cruisers yesterday in order to pick their minds with a thousand questions and they pretty much came to conclusion we were nuts, but then we knew that.

Dado at our wedding, 12/26/84

Propeller surgery

That's John, Matt and me heading down the bayou to a straight stretch of water to open up the engine full blast so we can measure the rpms. Monday she gets picked up and has a new shaft put in and the propeller gets balanced and tweaked. Still having trouble steering this puppy in tight quarters, the rudder really only functions when you're moving along. And she does move along quite nicely, 8 knots at 1600 rpm with very little wake.

John and I put in a muffler on the main engine stack and it cuts the noise way down.

Much better. It was physically painful before.

Toot Toot

The Christening

This morning we got together with John and Betty and christened the Eileen Farrell- with Muzz on the phone to say a few words. Poured the champagne all around the boat and asked King Neptune to look after her. Then Bill the tug boat captain and his wife came over and we all went for a spin down the bayou and out into the bay. Lots of fun. It's really hard learning to steer a boat this large into a tight ditch with other boats around, but I didn't hit anything. We dropped anchor and cooked up a bunch of steaks for lunch. It was incredibly lovely out there with the engines off just bobbing up and down.

Then, of course, the weather changed. Not storming, but raining really hard. The winch on the crane shorted out and opened the roof hatch of its own accord, and then jammed. The drive shaft started rattling around, the stuffing box started coming apart, and everyone ended up wading through knee-high water to get back to their cars.

The purpose of a sea trial is to find all the defects and bugs, and we did that. First of all, we have to put a muffler on that exhaust, the sound that puppy makes at 1600 rpm is unbearable. The shaft needs to pulled, welded up and turned, and the prop balanced and reinstalled with new bearings. Then we need to learn how to handle a boat that size.

The good news is that the engine is great and the boat itself is fabulous.

I came home, got in bed, and pulled the covers over my head.

toot toot

I was going to take her out this Saturday into the bay to check out systems when I took a hard look around at all the acetylene, propane and oxygen tanks just standing there. Thought maybe I should spend some time securing things and packing things away before I go out and play in traffic and swells. Just a few small things left to button up and we're good to go. We do of course have to move our stuff and cats and provision the boat and do sea trials, but it feels good having finally gotten to this point. Much more relaxed.

Toot Toot

named

we got the name on the boat!

toot toot

Moved the washer dryer on board and hooked it up. Joyce is nervously packing.

My anchor " Stay, anchor, stay ". Good anchor.

Got the winches working and the anchors set up, the electricians are finishing up the power and controls, built the beds and storage areas, got a 12 man life raft and a 26.5 mm Czech flare pistol with a box of blue smoke flares. Ready to rock and roll. Selling off my real guns- too much of a hassle entering and leaving other countries. Everybody knows gringos are gun-toting lunatics.

AAAgh- sorry, I had to move that last picture out of my line of sight! maybe I'll draw a line through it.


So here's my version of what's happening this week.
Lorenzo and the electrician have hooked up the controls in the helm. All that's missing is the autopilot. The engine works. The hydraulics work (too slow for L, but they do work); the toilet will work as soon as the right pump arrives. The generator works, and is loaded up with air conditioning and every heater we could borrow. There's a bed platform being built in the space below the helm (for Tony and Cleo). Good! Progress is good!

Delcambre Shrimp Festival

We went for a short time last night- and this guy was playing. Aaron Tippin. I could tell he was a famous country singer- he had all the moves. Only three weeks till the next Blues Festival- Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Air conditioner

Fired up the 20k generator and fell in love, it just purrs. Turned on the air conditioner and dropped the inside temp down 20 degrees, it's been so hot for the last 6 weeks we stop working around 11 AM. Sucker blows out an incredible amount of ice cold air. Next couple of weeks we calibrate the hydraulics, install more controls, lots of wiring, electronics and on to sea trials.

TOOT TOOT

We went on a ride on a tug boat down the bayou to move a 200 ft barge to a new location.

BIG FUN

Truly an amazing boat, 1050 hp, spins on a dime. Got to look at all the controls and electronics.

The day before John took us down to the intracoastal on his bass boat, very fast.

We are so ready to push off.

the one that got away

This is Kellikins, a Florida boat we looked at last year. The decorating ideas look more relevant, now that we're starting to fix up the interior.

New Orleans museum has a great African collection- and other fun things. There were some films of Marcus Coates, a British performance artist, that we both liked. We also met a couple of well-dressed local ladies who discussed perfume with me- they had just come from a garage sale where one scored an unopened bottle of Bucheron for $6.00!

We spent the night, had dinner at Cochon, and generally reveled in not being home. David sent us off to his fave brunch place, but it was so crowded we were forced to have pizza for breakfast instead.

Air conditioner

About a year ago we got this 20kw generator at a great price in Morgan City. All the other boats down here had gensets about that size, so I figured that was the unit for me. Now a year later I'm ready to fire the puppy up and I get around to reading the instructions. They tell me that to break it in and seat the piston rings properly, I need to load the generator to at least 75% of capacity for the first 100 hrs, so I sit down to do the math. Seems this little guy will light up a small town, no way do I have enough electrical appliances to draw that much power, so off we go shopping for the air conditioner from hell. The electrician shows up Monday to start wiring up the boat and hooking up the AC and even with that he'll have to add some temporary resistors to get the load high enough. The hydraulics and controls are coming along and it's been raining now and then and that brings the temp down a little. All in all things are moving along nicely.

church in Lydia

att. Muz: this was not made with the Church Sign Generator

Another one of Joyce's wacky church signs

Been working away at the boat, but at a slower pace. John has been having trouble with his heart meds and we decided to cut back to 4 hrs a day. The hydraulics and controls are coming along and I'm getting ready to fire up the generator. We decided to put a large air conditioner and heater on the roof since we have power to spare and it's not good to run a diesel generator without putting a load on it. Joyce is starting to have nightmares about drowning in a terrible storm so we must be getting close.

how I store my fenders

Look at those gorgeous clouds!  It's rained every day so far this week - once nearly sinking the dingy before we noticed.  It's actually possible to venture outside during daylight hours.

This guy came down from Fayetteville Arkansas to man the fireworks tent.  His customer wants to see 'just the big ones'.

going crazy

It's 100 goddamned degrees outside, ambulances are driving around picking up the dead. Some 23 yr old kid died yesterday trying to work outside. We go to work on the boat at daybreak, but two hours later we have to crawl back to our little apartment and sit in front of the AC waiting for the sun to go down. We go swimming every day but the water gets hotter and hotter and smells like rotting mud, that would be the Gulf of Mexico. 

Happy Birthday Muz!

Summer's Here

Happy birthday Nick

and Happy birthday Joyce!

Joyce just got back from RI last night, she went up for a reunion and an unexpected funeral of her aunt Kate. She's been scurrying about the apt cleaning up my mess of the last week. Lovely to have her home again.

She says all are asking about the boat and particularly WHEN?

Good question. Things are going well, the engine is fired up, still trying to get someone to install the hydraulics, working on the electrical, the kitchen is pretty much set up, nav lights are arriving, and John and I are  working away. 

The real problem is that once again it is HOT AS HELL down here in the swamp. I'm talking 100 degree heat and 100% humidity. It's hard to understand why people live here.

The whole boat project is of course an ongoing thing and it will never be finished, but in about two months we will have it together enough to get on board and leave Louisiana in the broad daylight.

. That leaves us pulling out into the Gulf of Mexico in the middle of hurricane season, which I actually look forward to. Being tied up in the swamp is a lot more precarious than being able to get out of the way. 

LOCK  'N LOAD and Om Padi Padi

Scarborough Maine

Lynn Sparling's house

The engine roars

We fired up the 8/71 Detroit Diesel this afternoon to check it out; it sounds great.  Joyce was very happy with it.  The picture is Matt the mechanic.