Key West - More provisioning

Exhausting day getting stuff at the marine store and and being a gopher for subs working on the boat. Devante's Dream got new swing doors installed for the companionway which replaced the large single slat door that was a total pain. It had to be pulled out and replaced each time you went down into the cabin. Now they need to be varnished (cetol). They should get four coats but we'll probably only get 2 on before we shove off. Jane said that she will put a few coats on when she in onboard.

I checked the drive shaft bolts yesterday and two of the four where laying in the engine pan again. The engine sub (Andy) came over and looked at it and said that the engine needs to be re-aligned. They'll do that tomorrow.

Bill (my brother inlaw) and his friend Mike fly in tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing them both. And I need the help! Bill just finished up his open water diving certification in Mass. and Mike is already a diver so we should be able to get some good dives in.

The weather has been very strange since I've been here. Blowing around 15-20 out of the east every day. It's supposed to swing around to the south on Saturday. We'll held out as soon as the wind swings around....

Eric

Provisioning in Key West

Arrived Key West at 1400 after stopping overnight in Daytona Beach. Unloaded the van and packed everything out on the boat. The windsurfer that I had ordered was delivered here so I picked that up at the dock masters office and unpacked it. It looks really cool. Since it's really windy here I'll get to practice with it this week at the beach.

Jane pre-packing all of the dry provisions in fold down filing boxes was a HUGE help. Just two trips from the van with the 11 boxes. They also perfectly fit in all the available storage that we have. I just need to provision the fresh stuff for the first leg later this week. It took three years but I think we are finally getting the hang of this thing...

The boats in great shape for being out on charter just about every week this year. This week I'll be working on getting the rest of the gear packed out and some upgrades installed, including a cellular repeater system (so we can use the cell phone up to 20 miles from a cell tower), remote control bow flood light, bimini work, some audio stuff and a new sink faucet.

Later,

Eric

Heading to Key West

The van is packed, 10 food boxes, 4 dive bags and a bunch of gear, and I am heading to Key West via Savannah Ga due to the fires in Waycross. It will add about an hour of driving but it beats driving through smoke for 5 hours. I'll

The weather in Key West for the next week is very windy out of the east, 15-30 kts, and so not that good (really bad) for heading to Bimini. We were supposed to leave Key West on Friday June 1st but that may have to be delayed until the east wind clocks around to the south east. We'll see.

Eric

Summer Cruise 2007

This summer's cruise calls for Eric, Bill and Mike to depart Key West on June 1st and head to Bimini, then on to either Andros (for Crab Fest) or Nassau. Bill and Mike fly out of Nassau on June 9th.

June 9th Jane gets on board in Nassau for a week with the hubby (no plans!). Then she flies home on the 15th and returns on June 16th with Elizabeth and her friend Christy who will be aboard for two weeks of cruising Spanish Wells, Harbour Island and The Abacos.

June 30th Stan Sunderland and friends get on board in Treasure Cay to run the Regatta Time In Abaco races. Stans departs July 9th
July 5th Jack, Jared and Luke get onboard to join the races and then make the passage back to Key West, hopefully by the 19th.