DEATH OF A FRIDGE

While I have been doing Walmart trips back and forth Paul has been wiring up the solar panels. I helped just a small bit helping to feed the wire down from the fly bridge to the engine room through a loom in the travel lift. Now the solars are wired and Paul is testing one today!

Our mini fridge in the fly bridge just died a few days ago. Replacing it with the 12 volt one we want is $1,000! But at Lowes a normal plug-in fridge was $116.00. Paul drove there today and brought it to the boat. It is plugged in and has the beer and water in it. He has estimated that one solar panel can run that fridge. It is very energy efficient.

We wish it was a little bigger but I said at $116.00 if we find another one in a couple of years, no big deal, someone can have this one! I can now resume going to Walmart and start buying the fridge stuff! Every square inch of this fridge will be full the day we Escape Florida for the Bahamas. I will post a picture then.

Soon, this blog will have pictures of blue waters, dolphins, Paul and I in swimsuits and a big smile on our faces! Yes, there are swimming pigs at Staniel Cay, Exuma, I will post pictures of that too. We are getting excited.

BOSE SOUND BAR

A sound bar comes in handy when hearing the plot line is an issue! We had to venture to Sam's Club to buy the Mini Moos (mini creams for coffee and Brandy Alexander), kleenix, feta cheese, shrimp and the big container of fancy nuts plus the oil needed to do an oil change on engines. We knew we needed a sound bar and knew 3" is all we had .... and lo and behold there is the one we need. Paul installed it and he can test it with a movie soon.

Sounds fantastic when the music channels are playing!

Perfect fit! Great handy man that installed it.

These are two of the three couches that are packed with our 10 weeks of provisions. Just to fill the freezer (Sam's Club shrimp are there already) and fill our fridges. ETE (not ETA).... we nicknamed our Estimated Time Escaping! Yes, Florida is great but when you know how wonderful the Bahamas are you start getting excited like a kid! ETE is not this weekend but next weekend. Yippee.

We flew home for a medical appointment and a funeral, so our date of departure got delayed.

FLYBRIDGE ENCLOSED!

In November a freak storm damaged our fly bridge top ..... so a decision had to be made, replace just the top or replace the top and get 3 sides done! We decided to get all 3 sides done with glass and extend over the hatch opening from the fly bridge down to pilot house. We are super happy. It is another usable room up there. We always had to see what the winds were like if we sit up there. A whole new experience!

Even Paul can drive up there if raining! Much more comfortable.

Can't wait to enjoy this new "room" in the Exuma, Bahamas!

OCEAN ACCORDING TO CHILDREN

The Ocean  ALL you Need to Know!!

Children Writing About the Ocean!.

 

1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)

2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)

3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't
Have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Mike, age 7) 

4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily
Richardson. She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)

5) - A dolphin breathes through an asshole on the top of its head.
(Billy, age 8)

6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and
Pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)

7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the Ocean.
Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come.
My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7)

8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails,
but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)

9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)

10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7)

11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my Willy small. (Kevin, age 6)

12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)

13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. (Julie, age 7)

14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)

15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean.
What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom.

(James, age 7)

PROVISIONING STARTED

We did not go to the Exumas, Bahamas last year so I have zero notes to refer to, however a good boater I am! I saved all previous notes. The inside of these couches are empty (ish) right now but in the next 2 to 3 weeks, they will be logged and jammed pack! Let my Walmart adventure begin!!

I have these two couches that you see, plus another one and under our master stateroom bed. Plus I fill up one shower stall.

Under the helm station in the pilothouse is usually a great big green garbage bag full of chips and munchies. 

One week before we leave I will finalize the provisioning by filling up the 2 freezers and the 2 fridges right to the maximum! The below picture demonstrates my great organizational skills. All these notes are great reference points. I totally understand them all and will base our 8 - 10 weeks of 

provisions needed on these notes.

The ladder leading down to our swim platform. The last step is suppose to be under water most of the time, hence all the barnacles clinging desperately to that step. The tides have been very low later in the day and a nuisance getting on and off the boat. (Flip Flops not the greatest, especially when one falls in this brackish water)

BOAT COUCHES REUPHOLSTERED!

These 3 above photos are the BEFORE. They were worn out, cheap material and extremely sticky. We had to sit on towels and I avoided touching the couches with bare skin. We went and got all the couches recovered. They turned out so much better than we anticipated. So pleased with Covergirls in Stuart, Florida. 

This is what is looks like inside once all pieces on board (before it rains here). A giant jigsaw puzzle. There is only so much room to put everything and assemble the backs of the couches to the bottoms then the cushions to the correct couch. Lots of fun and humid! No more sitting on lawn chairs for the past week!

AFTER wow!

Now we can have visitors and no need to explain about this sticky furniture on board. Bring on the guests!!

SEXY RUG DOCTOR

All of our couches are out of the boat being reupholstered with CoverGirls here in Stuart, Florida. So far they look so amazing. We are quite excited to get them all back onto Time Out. In the meantime the Rug Doctor is cleaning the carpets. Paul went to Winn Dixie and rented the Rug Doctor machine. Took us no time at all to clean the carpets including the stairs. Nothing sexier than a topless man cleaning the rugs! Salt water takes its toll on carpets and rugs. Start the season fresh.

We left snow and cold from our back yard here to the wonderful sunset! It is cool down here but no comparison to what is happening up north. We are so grateful to be down here.