End of the Shakedown....Goodbye to Stuart.....Hello Great Loop!

We have enjoyed ourselves immensely here in Stuart and tomorrow morning we will begin our journey north.  1st stop is Fort Pierce we need to be in Jacksonville sometime between the 7 and the 10th of March for scheduled boat work.  And out of Florida before April 6th.

statistics for trip south.....

20 weeks.....140 days
12 states
1479 NM =1702 miles or 2740km
average speed traveled 9 kts= 10mph
fastest speed traveled 19.2 kts= 21mph
how many gallons of diesel?  Afraid to look!

What we signed up for?

The American Great Loop
6000 miles
19 states and Canada if we survive  The Bahamas!
How long?  We shall see.

The average couple completes it in 18 months but some take years.  I have been told, that on the average there are 200 boats in some stage of the loop each year. The AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) has just over 1500 members in some stage of planning, doing it for the first time and doing it multi times.  In the last 5 years an average of 50 boats a year complete the Loop.

Life is a journey, not a destination…

Week 19 and our last week in Stuart

Another beautiful sunset 

its an epidemic around here

Jerri and Pete

We woke up to a fog filled marina we have been extremely lucky as far as dealing with fog on travel days, glad today isn't a travel day. As you have seen by previous posts Jim has been very busy getting boat work done, all those projects that need to be completed for our trip back north. He is waiting on the Garmin HD radar which is promised to arrive here on Wed. so out with the old, which he removed from the boat yesterday.  The Garmin HD will overlay on the chart plotter or you can split screen it, removing the need for the big black box.
 
Craigslist has been very good to us, recycle recycle.  Jim posted the old radar and the old chart plotter on craigslist and in 24 hours they were sold!  That is how we sold our camper and the basstracker the week before we left home. And where we found our bikes and our dinghy.  Its a good thing!
We are loving it here in Stuart and almost hate to leave but 1 week from today we will move on,  but this time we will be heading north.  It just hasn't been the same without our friends Jerri and Pete though we miss them as they are off to Mexico for a family vacation.  Since we will be gone when they return we said our goodbyes and we all hope to meet up in Charlestown SC or somewhere else sometime soon.

Now our travel companions from New England Bob and Denise on Liberty(RI) are in Key West.  They made there dream destination and will be heading north at about the same time as us, we hope to have some travel time with them as we head north around the same time.  And Scott and Lane on Esperanza (Canada) are on their way to Miami as there final destination for awhile, we wish them well.  We all left New England at the same time.  It was fun playing catch up with each other for the last few months. 

Jim and I went to see the play Chicago at a local theatre here in Stuart, it was really good I enjoyed it as much as the shows we have seen in Boston.  And wayyyyyyy cheaper, we got great seats for $25 bucks each well worth it, they did a fine job.
That is about it for this week I probably will not post again until next week after we leave here.  Until then Jim and Dale.

Valentines Day, Farmers Market & what is that noise!

We lent a freedom fender out during high winds she is returning it along with a 12 pk if Sam Adams how nice.
Jim bought a new roller for the pulpit now it needs some beefing up so we can put on the new manson anchor and begin anchoring out.
Jim decided it would be best to add extra support by backing the pulpit up with aluminum so we are having plates made. measurements being taken here.
Our Valentines gift to each other. I have been eyeing this engel cooler for sometime we figure it should pay for itself in 6 months. Its suppose to keep ice for 7 to 10 days.
stocked and chilled I will let you know how long the ice lasts. The last cooler needed all fresh ice 2-3 times per week.
...... before..........sanded......2 coats of marine poly

almost like new

A trip to a Farmers Market is always a treat! Yesterday our friend Jerri and I went to the Jensen Beach farmers market, great deal there on fruits and veggies they also had herb plants and orchids which most of the FM in Florida seem to have. Something else you don't see up north is huge binds of oranges and grapefruits the size that pumpkins come in up north in the fall. We also made a trip to Publix (grocery store) to stock up. Its nice to have the marina shuttle for shopping but way better to have a friend with a car. It was very nice that Jerri invited me along, Thank You Jerri. Our next trip in a few days will be to Wallyworld haven't been there in months. Ahhh yes, sometimes its the little things.

Well its just after 8am and I have been up for nearly 5 hours ugh during the night (3am) I was woke up by this loud screeching noise figuring Jim had to hear it too I laid there until I couldn't take it anymore and went to investigate. The wind had picked up and the line had stretched so the stern was rubbing up against the piling, yes we are once again in a slip that is really too small for our boat. Since I couldn't tighten the line enough to get us off I threw another fender out. I couldn't sleep again after that and had to readjust the fender a couple more times during the night. How could Jim sleep through that? Hmmm it might have been the multiple bottles of wine he went through the night before. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day.

Our theme song, Knee Deep In Paradise

The end to our first week in Stuart FL

And what a beautiful finish to a wonderful warm week in the sunshine state
during the week Jim started to tackle those nasty dining chairs first sanding them
The guys taking a break and watching a Cat boat that the 40kt winds got a hold of, see next picture.
oops Cat boat picked up a mooring rope in his rudder unfortuately another boat was attached. No real damage to either boat but Sea Tow to the rescue took hours for them to get there.
This is what the guys were doing for a few hours as the wind blew in. One boat at a time. Adjusting lines and fenders.
These divers took a look at the bottom of our boat for us. The report had no surprises. zincs need replacing, shaft and props in great condition, Bottom needs a cleaning but not that bad. It will need new bottom paint in the near future. SO now the bottom is clean and the zincs replaced.

Stuart Fl Sunset Bay Marina

Weather has been extremely nice its been in the 80's everyday since we arrived. This marina is beautiful all newly built in 2009, new everything. Very boater friendly, entertainment at the restaurant every night, the marina has a shuttle that takes you to many different stores including home depot, Publix (groceries), Walmart, and some other stops twice a week. They have a meet and greet every Sunday (pot luck) , a ladies social afternoon, and other social gatherings, where people can meet on a beautiful patio area with a gigantic grill, and rocking chairs all around the porch. This Sunday is a Superbowl party in the Club House a social on the patio and other assorted dock parties.


If your planning on using these facilities plan ahead the place is packed. The mooring field has 70 mooring balls and there's 128 slips at the marina, free dinghy dock and a pump out boat that comes around every week.



We went out for some GREAT pizza with Pete and Jerri (5 o'clock) a couple we met a week ago in Melbourne, they are here at Sunset Bay for a month or so. It was a very nice night, when we returned to the marina we all grabbed some wine and met up again in the porch area, shared boating adventures and rocked the night away.