The Retirement Wake on S/V Imagine

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

We are in the St. Pete area and have been for the past week.  The trip here from Tarpon Springs with a slight stop over in John's Pass was really uneventful.  We stayed in John's Pass for a couple of days to see what all they had, which was mostly all tourist stuff.  So, let me tell you the story of the week. We moved to an anchorage across from Gulfport, Florida, which is next to St. Petersburg.  First day or so little to no issue.  We meet up with some boating friends of Ladye Jane who moved here from Texas,  Ellen and Bob.  They ran us around for a few errands which was a big help.  We then hooked up with some other friends, Jim and Cat,  from Texas who were down looking at powerboats.  We went out for some drinks and dinner, and enjoyed visiting with them.  The next day we went to the Tampa Boat show with them, which was fun to do and look at some boats we could never afford.  Ellen offered her washer and dryer so we went over to their house and did some laundry, Ken

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

Tarpon Springs, Florida is the Sponge capital of the world.  In 1905,  John Cocoris  introduced the technique of  sponge diving  to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of  Aegina  and  Hydra , but they were soon outnumbered by those from the  Dodecanese  islands of  Kalymnos ,  Symi  and  Halki . The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film  Beneath the 12-Mile Reef , depicting the sponge industry, took place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs. Sponge Dock Shopping Area Sponge Dock in Tarpon Springs   We brought Imagine from Port St. Joe to Tarpon springs.   We anchored at the end of the peninsula of the state park in Port St. Joe. At 5 AM we left followed the channel out into the Gulf of Mexico.  Winds were projected to be light and only in our favor f

So far this has been such a awesome transition for us.  We spent a few days at St. Andrews Marina in Panama City Fl..  Very nice marina with good facilities. The staff were very friendly and helpful while we stayed there.  The bathrooms are clean and pretty nice.  It is just a bit of a walk to the facilities from the transient docks. We were lucky some great friends of ours have there boat there also and they had a rental car.  This is a big deal for cruisers to have a free ride! We made a run to West Marine to get some parts to fix a item that broke while making the trip from Galveston, Tx.  Also, we made a quick run to Wal-Mart to get some provisions before we headed back to the marina. My brother and his wife brought us my water-maker I had forwarded to his address in the Destin area.  We had a good visit with them and my niece and nephew also.  We went out to a local restaurant for a bite to eat.  The one thing is there are several local restaurants within walking distance f

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

Imagine was suppose to have a departure date of  August 26th, 2017 around 11 AM.  Hurricane Harvey had other plans for us.  This storm had been tracked for a long time, and I surely thought once it hit Yucatan Peninsula it would die.  Harvey is a Zombie, came back to life with the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and headed for Texas.  One thought was to leave now, but the fear of being sucked back in was to great.  We prepared for the storm, uncertain of the exact landfall and continued watching weather and models of the storm. Landfall was between Corpus Christi, Rockport , and Port Aransas, the pictures have been devastating of the damage. Homes, marinas, boats, and families destroyed by the power of the storm. For Imagine, we are on the dirty side of the storm about 150 miles away.  Wind max for us was 40 kts, most of the time it was between 20-30 kts., caused no problems for us.  Galveston Bay was stirred up and had very large swells.  Rain was off and on all day Thursday

A big part of leaving for new adventures is leaving behind family and friends you love.  Luckily our family tolerate our sometimes adventurous portions of our lives.  Our friends mostly being in the boating community get it.  This is a report of our great trip with family. We had debated about getting a SPOT or inReach or some other satellite tracking device.  All have various reviews, pros and cons.  We settled on the SPOT for simplicity and cost. The Spot allows you to set up custom messages. https://www.findmespot.com/international/ We noticed other friends who got it at the last minute and really did not play with it to figure out the device before leaving.  Thus leaving it hard to track and weird default messages.  The SPOT has an on/off button. A custom message you set up (Imagine is on the move!). A button to activate the tracking. An Ok button that you can customize also ( Imagine is done for the day). A reach out for help button, I am in the process of programming a cu

It has arrived!  The time to cut the lines and sail off for an adventure.  We have spent the last 3 years to getting ourselves and the boat ready or this next adventure.  It is time to hang up working and managing EMT's and Paramedics.  After 24 years it is time to move on to new challenges in my life.  Carol will keep her dental hygiene license for possible part time work in the off season.  This year I got my Masters Captains license near coastal with sailing endorsement, so I have already found a gig in the USVI.  We will be in middle of prime cruising grounds.  During hurricane season we will spend our time down south in the Grenada area.  We will also be able to fly back to our land base family to visit for the holidays.   The plan is to leave Texas out of Galveston off shore to Port Arthur.  Then a jump from Port Arthur to a point east of NOLA.  We will then coastal cruise along the gulf till we reach Key West.  At this point we will make the jump from a strategic startin

Captains Credentials, Canvas work, and fun Trips I must say working full time preparing for full time cruising and being apart of a great cruising club, "Texas Mariners Cruising Association" really fills every minute we have.  We are getting closer to full time cruising, seeing new places, and sharing it with you. Every since I had started this process to sail, being a Captain was also a dream.  This was just a personal goal I had,  but also to prove and have some backing of skills we had worked so hard to cruise.  Do you need a Captain's license?  No!  However it does provide some insurance discounts, it also opens up a revenue stream if I want to do some work for extra cruising funds.   I was talking with a guy in the Florida Keys and he wants a boat handler and Captain.  His comment was I can hit a dozen Captains with a dead mullet in any gin dive in the Keys.  I want a boat handler!  We had a long conversation via email about today's workforce. So the road to the