liveaboardlife
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Pine Island
Sitting in the cockpit, as the sun was rising, enjoying my first cup of coffee, I heard a sharp exhale of air, like someone or something breathing. As I glanced across the anchorage at Pine Island, I noticed several dolphins swimming around the boat. This was going to be our first longer term anchorage along Continue reading
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Overnight Passages
Even being three miles off the coast, the quiet, the stars to the east of the boat. Not seeing anything else out there, save a freighter or a cruise ship on the horizon, it’s magical. There’s a peace that comes with sitting at the helm on a calm night with the disconnection from everything except Continue reading
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We are underway!
Leaving the dock at Green Cove Springs was always about timing. I always planned departures and arrivals based on the tide. I didn’t want to fight the tide there and used to my advantage, to either get off the dock or get pushed on the dock. So when we left for the last time, it Continue reading
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Departure Update
On Facebook, when I published last week’s post, I wrote that we were hoping to leave for St. Augustine the next day. I later posted that it was not a full blog post, but that we didn’t get to depart. The more I’ve thought about it, there really is a story there that I think Continue reading
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Everything breaks…all the time…it’s a boat!
When we first made the decision to sell everything and buy a boat for travel, my grandmother said, “Don’t do it. Your grandfather was always fixing something on his boat. Everything was always breaking. You’ll always be working on it.” I thought to myself, well, I’m always fixing something in the house, how can it Continue reading
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Hurricanes and sailboats!
Hurricanes! Every day, from the beginning of June until the middle of November, I wake up and as I am making my coffee, I go to the National Hurricane Center website. It’s the go to place to see about upcoming tropical cyclone activity. After that, I jump over to PredictWind so that I can see Continue reading
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Persistence, grit, determination …it’s all needed
Persistence We have been visiting family and friends lately back home. Something that has come up more than once is people’s amazement at our persistence. I’ve heard more than once, “From what you’ve written, I would have bailed a long time ago! I’m impressed by your persistence!” This has been a difficult year. Without a Continue reading
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Living off grid…you need power!
Let’s talk a little about managing power on a sailboat. When we lived in our house(s), I walked in, turned on a light and left it on. I would stand in front of the fridge with the doors open wondering what in the world I wanted (even though I wasn’t that hungry). Run the AC Continue reading
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Spending a week away from the dock at Julington Creek.
As we got ready to leave Green Cove for a little while, we knew we wanted to stay on the St. Johns River. It’s still hurricane season. We’ve weathered three hurricanes now in Green Cove and have done pretty well, though Helene was really rough even though we were just on the outer edges of Continue reading
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Knowing there’s always more to learn!
When I was writing last week’s post about the trip that ended (for me) in Key West, I had a few people ask me, “What made that trip worthwhile?” I tried to answer that question . .while I was writing about the importance of keeping up with the weather. It became too much and too Continue reading
The Great Wander 