Tis the Season to Cruise

Update from S/V Imagine living on the Retirement Wake.  The Retirement Wake is the blog for Carol and Ken living on S/V Imagine.  We moved from Arkansas to Texas to live on THE BOAT!  We had looked long and hard and when she found us we knew it was time to make the jump.  Knowing we were still having to work a couple more years we did it.  When we moved, we had a lake house back in Arkansas, we rented it via VRBO which did pay for the expenses of that property and provided a small amount of income.  Then it sold and was a blessing for us, it pushed us one step closer to shoving off. We are now adding more to our savings and investments for another year and some critical boat projects I want to do.
Boat Projects
  • New jib. (the one we have when we bough the boat is about 7 ft short)
  • Permanently mount AIS (however we use BOAT Beacon which is a APP works good but not the solution for long voyages)
  • Fuel tank #2 (ours is only 26 gal, which gives us 24 hours of motoring. I want a bit more range)
  • New Radar ( up in the air on this one. Ours works so we will wait till it dies)
  • New Wind Instruments
  • Water-maker (Will wait till we get to clean water to do this)
Living on S/V Imagine
We promised we would keep her ready to sail.  We were doing pretty good at that, but like a lot of live aboards we fell into routines which kept us  from moving.  Dock mates that were leaving for warmer weather and prettier water told us about TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Association) www.tmca.com and what a fun year it has been.  This group is just fun, we have meetings, dock parties, cruises, education and made lots of new friends.  Since joining TMCA we have cruised all over Galveston Bay, and keep Imagine moving which is what we wanted to do.  We have navigated on one of the most traveled ports in the U.S., travelled the ICW, went under bridges we had to have raised, navigated shallow waters, and travelled up a remote bayou.  It has been a GREAT YEAR!
Pictures of this years travels.....











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going to the Circus City! Sarasota Flordia

Image
We finally got away from the Gulfport FL/St. Pete area and headed to Sarasota FL. **** We cannot say thank you enough to Bob and Ellen in Gulfport who helped us so much, and provided such great hospitality. They even introduced us to some other boat folks too. ****  We ended up at the Sarasota Mooring Field that is managed by  Marina Jacks.   We opted for a mooring ball at $25.00 per day vs $2.75 per foot.  That for us would be $104.50 per day!  It is a short ride in via dinghy to the marina.  For the $25.00 I get the same amenities, showers, shuttle service, restaurants etc.  The bathrooms are nice, each have an individual private bathroom with shower.  I am glad some of those mega yachts can afford to pay for all this for us to enjoy. The only down side is there are numerous dinghys at the dinghy dock that have been left there by the mooring field peeps.  Some it would appear for a long time by the growth on them.  They really need to manage this better. The marina is right in the mi
Read more

Last week in Tarpon Springs.

Image
Tarpon Springs was such a fun place to have stayed during our adventure.  Our extended stay was caused by a Low Pressure system that was coming from East to West across Florida. Causing winds or suppose to cause winds up to 40 mph.  We were in such a protected place, and with the TS forming in Mexico that turned into Hurricane Nate we decided to stay put for a while. The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was amazing with all the stained glass, paintings on the ceiling and the Icons around the church.  There was a staff member there that answered questions for us about the church and services.  I found it interesting they still use the same service since the 4th century.  They also sing the entire service.  We also leanred that St. Nicholas also being Santa Claus is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, and the Patron Saint of Sailors.  It was time to venture out further and see more local attractions so we jumped aboard the Clearwater   Jolly Trolley which runs from Tar
Read more

The Lines have been Cut! #Cruisinglife

Image
Imagine has actually cut the lines!  We have made the jump! Living the Life! #Cruisinglife, #liveaboard, #USVI and all the other hashtags and catch phrases there is. Carol and I have worked hard to get to this next adventure in our life. The friends we have made in Texas are friendships that will last a lifetime.  We will truly miss their company, but the friendship will live on while we share our adventures with them.   Imagine found a weather window between Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma to move to Florida. There are some alternate routes built into if ole Irma decides to change paths and mess things up.  We take weather seriously, but you have to move on so you plan for what you know, and what you do not know.  Guess what?  We used one of our plans to stop to wait out upcoming weather.  The wind switched more E to NE  which is the way we were going.  The wind picked up to 23 kts max with sustained in the high teens.  The waves were 4-6 ft with a few that would get a bit bi
Read more