CHRISTMAS ON THE ST. LUCIE RIVER

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

 We hope everyone is having a great Christmas.  We are - - an exciting and very different one for sure.  Christmas Eve we went to dinner on another boat.  Steve and Ruth were wonderful hosts to about 16 people on their 48' Kadey Krogen Whaleback, a very nice single engine trawler they have lived on full time for 6 years.  Judy remarked that the inside looks like a Manhattan apartment, very plush.  Today we are invited to our boat broker's house here in Stuart for dinner with his family.  We are enjoying the people we meet, but we do miss our family and friends.

Our plans have changed a little.  We had hoped to leave Stuart and start traveling on Monday, but Matt has developed some back problems.  He has been in pain for several weeks now.  He had an MRI done and the doctor recommended a series of three injections in two discs.  He had the first ones on Tuesday and has the second one scheduled for January 4th.  It seems to be working a little and we hope these will do the trick and relieve the pain.  So, we will keep our slip for a few more weeks.  It's a nice place to be, but we are anxious to start cruising.  If he improves quickly, we will leave when we feel comfortable to do so.

We have had some very beautiful sunny weather.  This morning was a little nippy at 48 degrees, but it will warm up to about 73 later today.  We have also had some colder than normal nights, but it beats snow.  We didn't do much decorating for Christmas, but look at the attached photos.

Well, off to the jacuzzi and a swim -- don't be envious.

Merry Christmas to all and we wish you a safe, happy and prosperous New Year.

No News, Just Photos

Thanksgiving Afloat & Other Events

Hi, it has been awhile since we updated the posts, so here goes.  Most of the time we have been at our slip in Stuart, Florida, playing host to people who come and go while pretending to fix something on the boat.  We are upgrading some electronics and commissioning some items that were not working properly.  The fellow who ordered this boat from Ocean Alexander in 2005 seems to have had an unlimited budget and there is an incredible amount of sophisticated machinery on board.  That's great for us in one way, but we also have to keep this stuff working and the folks that work on yachts get about three times what a plumber charges!  Anyway, we are working away and the boat looks great.

We decided to take a short run with the boat the day before Thanksgiving --  our first adventure with just the two of us.  Weather was very nice, blue skies, light wind, calm water, etc.  We sallied forth and left the marina, headed west on the St. Lucie River, which is part of the Okeechobee Waterway (more on that in a later blog).  We passed under the Route 1 bridge, which has 65 foot clearance and then through the Florida East Coast Railway bridge, which is kept open except when a train is coming.  It is very old, very rusty and it's closing is triggered by the train tripping a signal a few miles before it gets to the river.  There is no attendant and it just blows a horn and starts to come down.  When this bridge is down, it only has a 7 ft. clearance.  We need 25 ft to clear a bridge, at the time we passed the bridge, it was open.  Next we came to the Old Roosevelt Bridge, which has a 14 ft. clearance, so you call them on the radio and request an opening.  They will try to wait for some other boats to queue up before opening, but we hit it just as he was ready to open.  Very interesting crossing these bridges as they are all three in an area only an eight of a mile long.  Busy little place on the water.  We headed up the North Fork of the St. Lucie and there are lots of very nice houses with docks along this stretch.  The North Folk eventually dead ended and we headed south to, yes, there is a South Folk.  This part of the river ends within a few miles and becomes the St. Lucie Canal, part of the Okeechobee Waterway to the West Coast of Florida.  We returned to the marina in the afternoon, we are getting good on the bridges.  Very windy upon our arrival and Captain Matt made a beautiful approach, but it was to the wrong slip.  By the time I got it straightened out, we made a bit of a sloppy arrival, but did not hit anything or anybody, so I guess it was a successful outing.  We are learning.

I am running on a bit here, but I have nothing else to do.  Thanksgiving dawned a beautiful day and Judy had ordered a 10 lb. turkey from Publix Supermarket.  It was already cooked and all she needed to do was to heat it in the oven for about an hour and a half.  It was great and it came with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dressing and gravy.  It also had apple strudel, which was not the greatest but what do you want for $39.95!  We had lots of leftovers and enjoyed the day.  The marina was very quiet as most of the boaters headed to see the relatives in the frozen climes and the west coast.  We enjoyed the quiet and talking with our neighbors.  We have met quite a few very nice couples on their  boats.  Many of them have been wintering down here for many years.  Some are full time liveaboards and we are learning much about where to go and where not to go from the west coast of Florida to Maine to the Bahamas.  We are amazed at all the places these people have been.  The marina is having a Christmas party next week and we are looking forward to meeting some new folks as well as renewing some recent acquaintances.

We took the boat out again today and, according to Judy, really redeemed myself on the docking.  It was perfect.  We went up the St. Lucie River to where it turns into the Intracoastal Waterway.  It was the world's most perfect day -- weather wise and fun times.

Judy and I wish all of our followers, friends and family a wonderful Christmas and a safe holiday season.  More to come on our planned trip across the Okeechobee Waterway to Ft. Myers later this month.  Stay tuned.

Captains Matt & Judy

We went boating today!

Yes, we went boating today -- well, it was only in a 11' dinghy!  We are very proud of ourselves.  We got the dinghy down from the bridge using the davit all by ourselves.  We had a small problem when we started to go for a ride though -- we couldn't find the key.  Of course, we blamed the previous owner for not giving it to us.  We tore the boat apart and did find it.

We were gone for about an hour.  We just went into the St. Lucie River and looked at houses, boats, marinas, etc.  It was a little choppy, but a very comfortable ride.

Last Thursday our Captain came and went over some systems in the engine room with us, showed us how to clean strainers on the air conditioners, helped us stow the steps we were using for boarding and helped us hook up our new ladder.   Then we went out.  Matt took us out of the slip and into the river.  I drove some.  It was fun -- I think I will like driving.  I practiced with the gears, throttle, thrusters, etc.  I even kept the boat in place while Jeff and Matt put down the anchor and brought it back up.  We have a very good 80 lb. plow anchor and lots of heavy chain.  Jeff was very impressed and said we couldn't drag anchor with that much weight -- famous last words.

We then decided to practice some more docking.  Well, the wind was gusting up to 23 mph.  It was awful.  Matt did a very good job docking several times.  It was very difficult because of the wind and because we weren't really tying up so had no help with lines.  He was trying to keep it centered in the slip while the wind had other things in mind.

We have progressed enough that we are going to start taking Monkey Business out by ourselves.  If it is not too windy tomorrow we are going out for a few hours.  Next week we may go on a little trip and stay some place for a night or two.  We need all the practice we can get.  

These postings may be boring until we really start traveling, but stick with us.  We hope to leave here by the end of December.  We are going to have some varnish work done starting Monday, so if it is finished we may leave a little earlier.  Our plans are to travel to the west coast of Florida.  We'll keep you posted.

We want to wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We all have so much to be thankful for!

Words from Judy

Judy here.  I thought I would be the one posting the blogs, but Matt started and (1) he seems to enjoy it, and (2) he is doing such a good job.  I did want to write a little from a woman's point of view. 

Even though it is a "luxury yacht", it is still just like a house -- it needs to be cleaned, laundry needs to be done, meals need to be made, dishes need to be washed, etc.  Well, we are lucky enough to have a Central Vacuuming system, a washer and dryer, an oven, a cook top, a microwave oven and a dishwasher.  We have figured out how to use all of them.   It was a little hard to get used to the size of a "galley".  I had such a nice sized kitchen in Hilton Head -- don't take for granted your drawers, cabinets and counter spaces!  I am very good at organizing and have managed to use our areas to the best possible capacity.  It's been fun.  I've made some nice meals so far and hope to continue to cook and even do some baking. 

We are back to having glorious weather here in Florida.  Last week it got very cold (low 50's) with lots of clouds.  It was getting a little depressing, but today . . .

We had an interesting day yesterday.  The captain we are paying for training came at 10:00 and we practiced taking the dinghy on and off the boat using the davit.  It takes a little coordination, but it will just take practice.  Then we took the Monkey Business out.  This is the first time we've been out since we arrived in Stuart.  Matt was at the helm.  We went out into the St. Lucie River for a while, then came back into the marina and went to an empty area and practiced docking.  Matt backed in to 3 different slips (stern in) and drove forward (bow in) into 2.  Then we went to the fuel dock where he pulled into a smallish area in front of another boat already being fueled.  He was great each and every time.  Practice will make perfect, as they say.  While at the fuel dock, we took on 800 gallons of diesel fuel.  That should last us quite a long while -- we hope.  Also, we had the holding tank pumped out.  For those non-boaters among you, a holding tank is what holds . . . well, you can take a guess. 

We are getting used to "marina living" again.  There is lots of activity around here with all the boaters.  Their season is just now beginning so new boats arrive every day.  There is a restaurant associated with the marina that has live bands several nights of the week.  We now hear lots of music.  We are getting into all the Jimmy Buffett and islandy music. 

We have been invited for wine on two different boats.  Both couples are very friendly and knowledgeable of boating and areas to travel to.  We have learned a lot. 

Well, that's about it for now.  We are trying to figure out how to let you know when a new posting has been made (if you care to know -- several have asked) and hopefully that information will be coming shortly. 

Until next time . . .

A few details on buying a boat like Monkey Business

November 3, 2010:  Aboard Monkey Business, Stuart, FL.  Beautiful morning and it is beginning to cool off a bit.  Very warm since we arrived and, of course, a record hot Fall in Florida.  Seems like we have been enduring never-ending heat since May!  Supposed to be down to the 60's here later this week and we will enjoy that very much. 

If any of you want to make comments on our blog, just click below where it lists the number of comments -- you can read them, or not -- but below the existing comments there is a box to click that says "Post a Comment."  We are trying to figure out how you can be notified when we make a new posting, if you want to know.  More to come.  

At the risk of boring some of you, I thought I would write about the process of buying a large boat and include some details about checking out the vessel, which may be of interest.  After the acceptance of our offer to purchase the boat, we engaged a marine surveyor to check out what we were buying.  Similar to a prepurchase inspection on an airplane.  Malcolm was an interesting fellow who immigrated from Scotland about 30 years ago, became a yacht captain and later a surveyor.  He has about 5 people working for him and does about 300 surveys a year.  Considerable business in that it takes an entire day to complete the survey and that is if the weather cooperates.  Malcolm spends about 3 hours checking all of the systems, such as air conditioning units, generators, lighting, water maker, oven, dishwasher, washer/dryer, refrigerators, ice makers, etc.  The boat is then started and taken to a haul out facility to be removed from the water.  At the haul out, Malcolm checks the running gear, props, shafts, bottom condition, stabilizers, sea water intakes, etc.  Then back in the water for a sea trial.  He runs the boat at various RPMs to record fuel burn, speed, handling, etc.  He runs all the systems and electronics to see if all is well.  Monkey Business only had a few issues, such as the water maker, bridge stereo, high water alarm and other smaller items.

Next we had the Caterpillar people come in to check out the two 700 hp C12 engines.  We were asking for an extension of the 5 years warranty, which was expiring, for 3 more years.  Part of our offer to the seller was an extension of 2 years, which he agreed to, but we added a third year at our cost.  The CAT people do a full service, oil and filter change, etc. and then do a sea trial to check the speeds, RPM, etc. under full power and various other power settings.  The engines are required to reach at least 2300 RPM to qualify for the warranty extension.  This is to ensure that we were running the proper propellers and drive gear, otherwise it puts strain on the engines.  Monkey Business would only do 2291 on one engine, 2278 on the other.  Failed the CAT test.  This was a condition of acceptance, so the owner had to remedy this to get the required warranty extension.  The engines were working fine, but possibly the running gear, props and shafts, were dragging the speed down.  The owner had put a coating on the running gear to inhibit marine growth, which was noticed on the haul out, but it had a rough finish, which is not normal.  Malcolm, CAT and our broker, Paul Flannery, suggested we try removing the coating to see if the RPM would come up.  The owner paid a diver, who spent 4 hours under the boat, to remove the coating.  The coating is not really necessary, if you have the bottom cleaned by a diver once in awhile.  Result was 2320/2325 RPM on the next run.

The owner fixed all we requested of him to fix and we closed on the boat.  Sorry for all the detail, but some of you technical types out there might find this interesting.

We won't be leaving Stuart until the end of the year, so we will not have travel stories for the blog.  We will update you as we go along. 

More to come......

Lifting 66,000 pounds

Very large 5 bladed props

High and dry

Malcolm and Matt (that is not our boat bottom behind us)

Co-Captain Judy on the sea trial

We are finally aboard the good ship Monkey Business

October 30, 2010:  We are settled in our slip this beautiful Saturday morning in Stuart, Florida.  It has been a long and exciting week since taking delivery of Monkey Business.  We loaded up a small Budget Rent-A-Truck on Monday the 25th and I began the drive from Hilton Head Island to Palm Beach Gardens with Judy close behind in the car.  Weather was great and we were excited.  About a third of the way down I-95, we closed on the boat by releasing funds from escrow via my cell phone.  We were yacht owners!  Arrived about 7 PM Monday night and checked into a nearby Hampton Inn.  We have given Hilton so much business lately so they upgraded us to a very nice suite.  We took a quick drive over to see the boat, about a mile away, and she is beautiful.  We elected not to stay aboard as we did not know where the light switches were and we did not want to spoil the fun of being on board for the first time by stumbling around in the dark.  We would see her in the morning.

Tuesday the 26th we were up early and began the unloading process.  A daunting task that took all day.  We brought too much stuff!  Judy was a genius in finding storage space, which is ample, for all of our items.  As usual, the normal moving events occurred, such as finding a box we did not want and should have stayed in HHI, and missing a box we needed, which we hope is in storage.  We will survive.  We already have stuff for the local thrift store!

Early on Wednesday we returned the truck and headed back to the boat to meet our broker.  He brought us more stuff!  Hats, visors, tee shirts, boarding mat, gym bag, etc. all advertising his brokerage firm, but nice items.  Great guy and I recommend him to anyone looking for a boat.  Call Paul Flannery of HMY Yachts in Stuart, FL.  He goes the extra mile and he is a pilot also, so he has to be a good guy.   Another day spent putting stuff away. 

Thursday, our rent-a-captain, Jeff, arrived about 9 AM and we proceeded to "pre-float" the boat, checking oil, systems, etc.  Judy was to drive the car to Stuart, about 25 miles away.  Jeff and I would head up the Intracoastal Waterway, out the Jupiter Inlet for an ocean run and back in at the St. Lucie River.  Jeff had me run the boat all the way (about 4 hours with lots of "no wake" zones), including docking at the Loggerhead Club & Marina, our new home until December 31st.  Jeff is a very experienced captain with about 30 years of traveling and fishing the Florida and Bahamian waters.  He is a great instructor and lets you learn by doing with very calm suggestions.  Boat is very easy to handle with two engines as well as a bow and stern thruster system.  It will pivot on a dime and its 66,000 pounds keeps it very stable, even in a good wind.  I was pleased with my first trip, but have much to learn.

We will attach pictures next time (we have to learn how first).  

At last the closing and delivery of Monkey Business!

This is Matt and I guess I will start off this blog with the first posting.  We have never done this before, so give us a break if the format looks a little amateurish at first.  We are in Hilton Head staying at the Healey's place in Wexford.  They have been more than gracious in letting some homeless people move into their home.  We got the good news yesterday that Monkey Business is finally ready for delivery in North Palm Beach, Florida.  We close on her tomorrow and we begin to drive our car and a small truck to Florida in the morning.

Some background: when discussing my retirement a couple of years ago, Judy pointed out that my life would change dramatically, but hers would be about the same.  Her big change was having me around the house all the time -- not the best thing after me being gone almost every day and traveling most of my life.  You know the saying, "for better or worse, but not for lunch."  Judy brought up the idea of shedding the large house, along with its lawn service, pool service, trash service, cleaning service, HVAC service, bug killing service, Town taxes, County taxes, State taxes, club dues and the never ending maintenance of a 13 year old house.  Solution, which I loved, was to get a boat large enough to live on and sail the East Coast from Maine to the Bahamas.  The idea percolated and when I did retire in June 2009, the quest to shed the house and its obligations began.

We listed our home for sale in October 2009 in the worst real estate market of our lives.  Something that we are actually very good at, as we sold our home in Connecticut after ten years for about a 30% loss.  Took us until July 2010 to get a deal, but we were very happy with the net proceeds and it was enough to begin the nautical adventures.

We hope to keep you advised of our whereabouts with some semi-interesting dialog and photos.  Most of all, we want to keep in touch with our wonderful friends.

More to come..............