Back to Cruising

 It has been way too long since my last post but a lot has happened since early 2020.  We've all had to endure the COVID insanity of lockdowns, don't lock down, get innoculated, don't get innoculated, etc.  For the record, we grew up in a time where people we knew suffered polio and we all had measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc and vaccines were seen as a gift from God.  That's how we looked at the this latest vaccine.  Get it and pray for the best.

Not being excited about lockdown, we went camping.  There were still 7 states of the 50 we had never visited and what better way to socially distance than camping!  We bought a fixer-upper Coleman pop-up trailer and fixed her up.  Ironically, it was the same year and model as the one we owned and toured the US in back in the early 2000s when we lived in New Mexico.  It was a great trip overall.  Except, (wait for it) I developed a lot of pain in my shoulders and upper back.  Long story short, I spent the rest of 2020 being diagnosed, poked and prodded all at a snail's pace.  Remember COVID?  It took an act of congress to be seen in person and get the necessary MRIs, X-rays, etc.  What a pain, literally.  Anyway, I had rotator cuff repair in January and neck fusion in August.  Lots of  caring and attentive PT and excellent surgeons made a crummy situation bearable.  2022 opened with slow healing but improvement enough to start considering another cruise to the Keys and The Bahamas for the winter/spring time.

Lest you think we sat around bemoaning our lack of cruising, fear not.  Besides all the crummy stuff we had some great times welcoming new grandkids, Alder Palace and Gloria Eleanor to the family tree.  We always enjoy visiting our kids and grandkids.  Hopefully we'll also be able to get back to Australia and see those kids and grandkids.  We have so many blessings and we're grateful.  

Ok, back to cruising.  There have been a few hiccups along the way but the boat and our bodies are now just as ready as our minds and imaginations.  I hope you enjoy the journey along with us.

The club heron sees us off.

Making lists helps me not forget anything.  I update the list at the end of each trip,

A cushion blew off the boat this summer so I made new ones.  We replaced the foam in the cockpit cushions so I had extra foam to use.

I have a diagram of where everything in "woman land" goes.  Helps me remember where that extra can of olives is lurking.

And the gathering begins.

Our cockpit surround is so wonderful in the

winter.  The greenhouse effect is great.

A view down Choctawhatchee Bay, our home waters.

Low tide along the way shows the muddy banks of grass.

A warm cup on a cold day was awesome.

The ditch is actually part of the Intra-coastal Waterway or ICW for short.  This runs from Brownsville, TX to Carrabelle, FL then picks up again at the Anclote Rive in Central Florida and runs through Lake Okeechobee up to Norfolk, VA.  We have traveled all but the stretch east of far eastern Mississippi.  Someday....

An old landing for some long ago business.

The banks always have something interesting to see.  We often see eagles, deer and other wildlife but today it was too cold I guess.  It's in the 50s and that's hunkering with hot chocolate weather in Florida!

What we see as we navigate.  This is a shot of the ditch on our chartplotter.

And they says cruisers have no luxuries!  My indoor clothes dryer in action.

The outside view of our awesome enclosure..  The solar panels help keep up with our power usage.  We have two more folded down for travel that we'll use at anchor or on a mooring ball.  We also have a wind generator.

You can see signs of previous floods.

 David is repositioning gear for heading offshore to points south.  We try to have Blue Moon set up for as many wind conditions as we can before we head out.  We plan to go at least 220 miles so the conditions will vary along the way.