PROVISIONS AND PREPARATION

The marina here in Vero Beach is very popular and the carts are not always available. I bought this foldable "wagon" or cart for me to cart all the provisions down to the floating docks.

It folds up nicely and fits in the trunk of car and it is fast to put down to a wagon again.

Two patches had to be prepared and put on our dinghy.... 2 small holes! Good thing we check these kinds of things BEFORE we leave the dock. The dinghy is great again. We did not want to research and buy a new dinghy... too expensive.

This is one of three couches, empty then full. All are full now and ready to use in the Bahamas.

This is a pretty small bird I saw today.

SOLAR POWER

SIX solar panels are now sitting on a custom-made aluminum frame just above our bimini top. We are now experimenting at the dock with all this solar power.

We are quite happy with the power these panels are giving. We will not have to run the generator to keep batteries charged, the solar will do that. We will run our big generator to use our water maker every so often.

Our generator can be noisy and we don't like to hear it for a few hours a day, now the solar will rectify this. Yippee! There is an extra 250 lbs up there so we hope we are not that much more rolly! But, I am hoping we install stabilizers next year!

ALUMINUM FRAME

SOLAR ON TOP

WIRING, CONNECTIONS ETC.

OUR BIMINI TOP AND SIDE CURTAINS BACK ON

It took us over 2 hours yesterday to put the bimini top and side curtains back on up in the fly bridge. Good exercise..... and I am so glad we only take down in the summer for hurricane season!

TIME OUT WITH GRANDKIDS

This was their first time to visit us on Time Out. We have skyped with them and it is not the same. They saw this boat with their own eyes. They are five and three, we had a fantastic time. The Brevard Zoo in Melbourne was the highlight with the feeding of the birds and other animals!

These two have been to the Ocean in British Columbia and now to the Atlantic here in Florida! Lucky kids.

We are finalizing the solar up in the flybridge, that will be the next post for the boat fans out there.

OUR 2019 SEASON BEGINS

Our new year began well as we only took 2 days to drive from our home to Vero Beach! (It is usually 3 days). It was a great drive, zero traffic and zero construction!

This is what we came to see

This is what we left behind in our back yard!

We are on floating docks here and loving the access to get on and off the boat. I had my left hip replaced and I can say everything went well and now back to boat life for us!

This is just one couch of leftover provisions from last year. Back to getting a major list organized and doing trips to the Walmart and grocery store.

We had to go and buy 2 small life jackets as our two grandchildren are going to visit us in Florida (along with their mom and her friend). It will be their first time to see our boat. Talk about excited.... they are too!

After they leave, we will get the final solar panels up and leave our dock for Key Biscayne, Florida where we will cross to Bimini. Let our next adventure begin!

FIXED TO FLOATING

We were on a fixed dock and the finger was not every wide. I was getting on and off the boat through our side door but it was high. I need a new hip and it was tricky with a foot stool. We got an opportunity to move to the floating docks here and they are beautiful!! We thought it would be temporary while Paul washes and wax both sides of boat, but not! We are staying. Nice for me to get on and off from the dock to swim platform and I feel better if we host visitors on board.

On our way to the slip here in the marina, there was something sticking up almost out of water. It looked like a big stick. Well, look here, try to pull up an opened umbrella! There were three guys involved. This umbrella was full of barnacles, it was under the water for awhile. It probably came from a neighbouring pool on a windy day.

Paul waxing the boat on the side, shiny!

Cheese Paul.

Painting snowman on rocks, fun!

We are leaving Florida in less than a week. We will be happy to be with friends and family then back in January. I will have recovered from my hip surgery by then. I can't wait to swim, snorkel, paddleboard, walk and run if I have to. We will provision Time Out and leave for the Exuma Islands mid February. Our 2019 adventure will begin.

LIGHTS, SUNSETS AND SAND

We are enjoying our "marina life" here in Vero Beach, Florida. We are meeting many nice people here at marina and the various homeowners. We are doing a few odd jobs while on boat. The big one will be to get a frame made to go on top of our bimini up in the flybridge. This frame will hold the solar panels. We are waiting for a second quote right now. 

We have our air conditioning running full time and as a result our sea strainers have to be cleaned weekly (by Paul). 

The water is so brackish here and not nice! Mind you the dolphins and the manatees don't care!

Even a neighbourhood turtle doesn't care when there are crustaceans to eat off of our hull. 

We never anchor in the dark! WRONG. Two years ago we went into Chub Cay, Bahamas in the dark and what are the odds that there was no moon? There was no moon! Plus it was raining that night. There were so many sailboats anchored with their dim anchor lights on up on their mast..... which I absolutely hate because these lights look like stars. Our big spotlight at bow was not working properly at that time and since that time. Paul is fixing it now and the small teeny light bulb is $65 that we need. Yikes. Plus he is checking all the wiring because there are two bulbs and one burnt out bulb should not cause the light to malfunction.

Our dinghy is on the flybridge and Paul had fun installing cute blue lights on the stern. 

These will look so cool when our dinghy goes in the water and the water is clear.

This great idea of sand and shells was in a lobby of Kimpton Hotel here in Vero. I was invited out for a lunch there with three others. Unfortunately, we ate inside instead of on the water on the ocean side. There was the Red Tide that arrived and this is a terrible problem in Florida that causes respiratory problems along with death of marine life. I will let you look that up. The Red Tide lasted about 10 days here in Vero but not at our marina.

This is a beautiful sunset we saw last week. We are so lucky! 

DECISIONS DECISIONS AND MORE DECESIONS

The Quick Lift up in the flybridge is great IF it is working. We wanted to lower the dinghy and go for a ride on Sunday but a NO GO! The darn Quick Lift was acting up and not performing so the dinghy is stuck up there which is actually better than being stuck in the brackish water here in Vero. Sometimes it is working and sometimes it is not. An expert will need to be called... a major decision!

We bought this boat in 2014 with the original carpeting and we do not like this carpet. Every stain shows up and it needs vacuuming more than once a week, the carpet fibers are floating in the air everywhere! We went to a carpet place to look at samples and bring some back to the boat. Now the big decision (and the big expense) ... WHICH ONE? All the carpeting will be replaced.

Between these two samples

Last Exuma excursion was later than normal and the breeze in the pilothouse was not good, especially dinner time. So we have made a decision to install a fan in a corner. This will also help when we actually decide to drive from the helm here. It gets so muggy.

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Paul has opened the panel to see where the power can come from and we have a couple of "spares" on the panel so now just to do the work and decide where to place this fan. Our company that comes and plays cards with us will be so happy and cooler! Yippee.

As you can see it is not all play and no work..... or I mean all work and no play? We balance it all out as there is a nice refreshing pool here at the marina to cool off in at end of day.

Painted a starfish from Vancouver Island that was getting old and yellowish as it was collected in 2005!