Merry Christmas (to all our friends)

Decorated and ready to celebrate another Christmas.  We have soooo many blessings, and Wish You A Very Merry Christmas !

First snow of this year to make it easy for Santa to get to our house!!!  (snow for the sleigh you know)

Santa at the "Duck Club Yacht Club" greeting children at our annual Christmas party on the river.

Even some adult members like Debbie got a chance  to tell Santa her wishes.

While the river and pool became desolate looking and cold outside, we dined to an awesome buffet and enjoyed the fellowship of the other boating members of Duck Club Yacht Club. 

Pork rib tips, cheese burgers, loaded potatoes and all the fixings  were great.

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And a big THANKS to our chef Mark for another good year of good food at Duck Club on the river.

And Santa's helpers were great too, tending to our food and drink wishes..

The party was complete with the artistic touch of one of the "Elves" being creative with balloons for the children.  Although we celebrate the season with gifts and merriment, the true meaning of all this including our salvation must always be kept in our hearts.  God bless you all and have a wonderful Christmas. .....

 From Captain Dave and the Admiral JoAnn on Great Escape. (come see us next summer at Port Charles Marina, or the Duck Club next door)

Great Loop Boat Perfection (The 4788 Pilothouse)

Yep, That's me in the saloon.  Happiness living aboard requires space to be alone at times.  I love my mate "the Admiral" but at times you need your own space.

Our "Great Escape" at dock in Palm Beach Fla.  (a 1997 Bayliner 4788 Pilothouse Motor Yacht)  The 4788 although not being built any more was a very popular model that in my mind still can't be beat by anything out there for cruising. And, its affordable!

JoAnn and me with Great Escape in back round.

A spacious pilot house with unobstructed view is a MUST!!

Good ground tackle to handle different sea beds is required.  We have a 60# Bruce with 200 feet of chain and a lighter Danforth with chain and rope.  A smaller aft hook in cockpit is also available.

 Flying bridge when the weather is good with a good canvas cover is a great way to travel. 

Ease of anchoring out is facilitated by two pilothouse doors.  Locking through is also a chore made very easy with the pilothouse doors. The doors also allow options for easy access to the boat when dealing with tides while doing the loop.

Space in the pilothouse is well managed. Instruments include 3 chart plotters (one on fly bridge), radar, 2 ship to shore radios (one on fly bridge), a wind direction indicator, a haler with automatic fog horn,  and an auto-pilot. See sliding door on the left.  Redundancy of instruments on different power supplies is a good idea when you actually need them at sea.  The new glitzy devices with overlays of radar and gps sound good but can be a disaster when they fail  at sea.

Master bed is a king size (in boat language) which means Queen size but very comfortable. Nothing beats it with a gentle storm rocking you to sleep.

The lounge, or saloon, is an open area that allows entertaining fellow "loopers" or friends who are traveling with us.  The pilothouse 4788  has another two bedrooms and baths (not shown in the blog) for  traveling guests.  

AGLCA flag.  White back round means in process of doing the loop.  Gold back round means loop has been completed. 

JoAnn (the admiral) and me enjoying dinner at a marina restaurant following a great day of cruising.  The time we spent living aboard and cruising was wonderful. Even though we're currently "dirt dwellers" we still have these memories.  Jim White once said Memories are better than dreams.  So if your are thinking some day may be .Just do it!  And when you do, come see us at Port Charles Harbor where JoAnn and I are "Harbor Hosts" for the AGLCA ( American great loop cruisers association )

Should you eat turkey? (SHOULD YOU GO OR NOT?)

Moorings Marina in Carrabell where many "Great Looper" boats are waiting to make the cross to Tarpon Springs or Tampa Bay.

BUT,,,,Thanks to Tom Conrad's "Weather Musings" (on the American Great Loop Cruisers Assoc. site)  they will shut down their engines and stay put til the weekend and enjoy a nice "Thanks Giving dinner at the dock with other boater friends. 

View of passage way to the Gulf on a calm day . According to our weather wizard Tom,  the Gulf is kicking up today with 30 mph winds and eight foot seas. Tom's advice on when to cross and when not to are very valuable to those of  us who make the crossing.  The next weather window will not be until after Thanksgiving and since Several marinas like "Dog River" in Mobile and "C-Quarters in Carabelle  will have complimentary turkey dinners ENJOY!

Happy Ending To A Great Cruise

View from the initial berth of our  "Great Escape" when we took possession of her in Ft. Lauderdale Fla. on New River.

Leaving the dock for the first time in our new to us boat on the voyage home to St. Louis Mo in the fall of 2009 .

JoAnn with our daughter Robin on fly bridge of "Great Escape".

Going north on the ICW to the Palm Beach area on Lake Worth passing many multimillion dollar houses .

Eleven bridges had to open for us between Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach on our way. ( Some on demand as you arrive and some at set scheduled times )

"Great Escape" in its slip at the dock at "Sail Fish Marina" in Palm Beach Shores.  My goal to be either "on the hook" or safely at a dock by 4:30 PM with a glass of wine  was met.  We left our spot in paradise on New River at 7:30 AM.

A view off the back of our boat on a perfect day later in the trip. (see blog "Crossing Okeechobee")

JoAnn and me bringing a perfect day to an end at "Sail Fish Marina" restaurant.  Our choice of this marina was influenced by memories of our "honey moon" some fifty years ago when we stayed in the Palm Beach Shores area.  The marina is a short walk to the beach and many memories.

Carabelle a place to "Jump From"

Here's a pic of the Moorings Marina in Carabelle Fla.  To cross the Gulf,, most recreational boaters leave either from Apalachacola or Carabelle and cruise across to either the Tampa Bay area (170 miles), or to  a shorter destination which requires a second hop to Tampa area.  We've crossed from both Apalachacola and Carabell to Steinhatthache a distance of about 120 miles.  The next hop from Steinhattche to Tarpon Springs is another 120 miles.. 

Carabelle is a quaint "old Florida" town that is the home of the Moorings Marina.  A beautiful area with out the high rise buildings that have taken over the Florida beaches elsewhere.  Always file a float plan with the Marina before leaving.

Just a short trip up the river to the marina is rewarded by the friendly management who are eager to give advice on the weather and other crossing info.

Carabelle is probably the only town in the USA whose police station was a telephone booth.

When leaving the shore you see Dog Island over your shoulder if you left through the proper cut.

The cut between Dog and St George Isles is the beginning of the trip when leaving Carabelle.  When leaving Apalachacola, one must go thru the tricky narrow Gov. cut that many boaters prefer to avoid.  This plus the fact that Carabelle is about 10 miles less distance makes the Carabelle the preferred departing port.

Distance from Carabelle to Tampa Bay is about  170 miles and is usually run over night.  The determining factor in planning is one must leave and arrive in daylight to avoid hitting crab traps. They are with in 20 miles off both shores.  Also,  when going to Tarpon Springs you shouldn't arrive too early in the morning as the sun coming up will make it very difficult to navigate in to the Ancelote river at the Greek island..

Moorings Marina  office and store as we came in from our last crossing.  Our third and last crossing was east to west when bringing our "Great Escape" home to St. Louis.

Our "Great Escape" at the dock.  (she really wants to get back in salt water)                                     

Sponge diving boat at dock on Ancelote river in Tarpon Springs.

Pelican in the afternoon on the Gulf...We were warned by the Coast Guard on the marine radio that 12 to 16 forty foot Grey Whales were "lurking" in the area that we were going to cruise through.  JoAnn and I wondered why they said lurking.  Its bad enough to have some anxiety when out of site of land for 6 to 7 hours, but to be told something will be lurking in the area??? Really???

Home Was Where Our Boat Was

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 While living aboard our home environment was shrunken to a very simple space; and, it moved around with us like a turtle carrying its shell. (JoAnn and I at our dock in St Charles Mo.)

Sometimes your home can be out of sight of land with a shrimp boat for your only neighbor. beautiful !                                

Catching the first sight of land while being circled by Gulls while crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

Crossing Lake Okeechobee on a beautiful day.

Aft deck of Great Escape is the

common area where friends, new and old, are greeted.  Reminiscing about the places we've been and sharing our pictures on the blog has been fun.  We are approaching 20,000 hits from people as far away as New Zealand, Russia, China etc.  Hope to be a "live aboard" again some day.  Until then we'll settle for reminiscing.  As "dirt dwellers" we will continue to dream.