Norfolk, VA
To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.
Week 10 — Decommissioning
Disposal day. We took a pile of towels, blankets, and sheets to a donation center. Animal shelters can use stuff too worn for humans.
We took a pile of fabric and parts for repairing the dodger …
Week 9 — days 96-102
As forecast, much nicer weather today. Breezy, but no insane gusts.
Outboard engine uncooperative. Once it started, it ran flawlessly. 10m40s to shore 10m24s back to Red Ranger. Starting it was really …
Week 8 (days 89-95) Not much going on this week. Again. We like it that way.
Resting up after yesterday’s outing. Listening to the wind building.
Raising and lowering the dinghy engine is a bit …
Week 7 (days 82-88) Had some guests this week.
Sunny and pleasant morning. Breezy in the afternoon. Did some boat chores.
Okay.
Did one boat chore: I topped up the battery water.
We grocery shopping. We’re …
Week 6 (days 75-81) Back from the Hiatus. Doing nothing. It's delightful.
The reverse of our trip out. Rental car to airport. Huge weather delays. Flights. Shuttle bus to a hotel. Shuttle back to the airport …
Week 5 (days 68-74) Mooring fields are very nice. We can take a hiatus, confident Red Ranger is safe with double mooring lines.
Shower day. Dinghy trip to shore for Hollywood showers. Also. Started bringing …
Week 4 (days 61-67) Mooring fields are very nice. And yes, we're doing mostly nothing. We have stacks of books and miles of yarn.
Move down to San Carlos Bay, outside Ft Meyers beach. Delightful motor …
Week 3 (days 54-60) we actually did some cruising.
Groceries run. It was a beautiful morning. It's about a 20 minute dinghy ride to Laishley Park.
From the park it's a 40 min walk, 1.7 mile, down to the grocery store. Then …
Week 2 (days 47-53) was (mostly) stinking cold. No drama, though, just endurance.
I'm lifting the panel under the starboard side berth in the aft cabin. It's packed full of yarn. This is CA's "craft room".
Many retired folks have rooms or basements devoted …
There's a gap of several days. Then the actual voyaging part begins (after 42 days of preparation.)
We're not counting the hiatus days. The 2025 cruise day count resumes with Day 43, when we returned.
Sunday, January 11 to …
"After all that waiting...?"
Here's the wrapped-up truck:
You can't see the little solar panel and trickle charger for the truck's battery. We figure, it doesn't hurt to make sure the truck starts when we get back.
Move to a new …
"So, where did you go on your 2025 cruise?"
The boatyard. Some hotels.
Here's the obligatory beach photo:
Here's the bullet list of days waiting for a repair.
"So far," you say, "your 2025 cruise is boring."
My response is that it's quite exciting, in a boatyard-maintenance-breaking-fixing kind of way. In a pretty-anchorages-cool-waterfront-bars way, it's not great.
Here's the obligatory sunset photo.
A few days before solstice, 19 December 2025 at 18:17.
All the planning. All the preparation. And. Oof.
Here's the ladder. It's under this.
The range light (fitting is a Perko 0170BMD) was out. The bulb was not connecting solidly. While hanging in my rock clumbing harness at the first spreader, I touched the bulb …
At the dock.
End stay at rental. Finish stowing some personal things and moving aboard. CA has a complete plan for this, making it easy for me to move the heavy things where and when she tells me.
Start provisioning for the first month or so. When the …
Launched. Here's the recap...
Ascend mast and reattach wind instrument. Test instruments. They seem to work. Here's a picture of the strip-chart recorder on the left showing a few minutes of wind direction and speet. On the right is the wind rose that shows the boat "direction" arrow …
Today. The jobs are getting bigger, actually. They take several days to complete.
Tighten the bolts on the stays'l track. They're accessible in the main cabin -- they come right through the deck and the top of the cabin. The track on the caprail has bolts that are almost inaccessible behind …
Yesterday, we took a little break in the morning. We've been working steadily, but, we're old.
However, we did get a lot done yesterday.
Where are we in the TODO list?
Well... It's complicated.
Last year, I cracked the bowsprit platform when I hit a dock piling.
The platform has stringers. Two were broken and lifted out.
I used some glue and screws to reassemble the two pieces …
Where are we in the TODO list?
Pretty far, actually. TK suggested I provide pictures. Hearing that from a professional photographer is encouraging.
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