So what have we been up to?

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Heading SOUTH! We hope.

We are ready.
The boat is ready. Now if the weather cooperates we will be out of here tomorrow, or at the latest Friday. Our concern right now is temperature. The nights have been in the 40s here in Brunswick and we are worried that if we anchor out and don't have power it might be too cold for Morgan. So we watch the weather carefully and head out when we know it will be warm enough at night for the bird.
This week has had its challenges. On Sunday I changed the oil in the engine. That went OK. Then I started the engine to make sure everything else was working OK but noticed a slight leak in the sea water pump. Yuck. I pulled the pump out and took it apart thinking a new impeller and seal would fix the problem. Nope. The inner workings of the pump were badly worn, bearings and seals bad, etc. I checked the Jabsco website to see if a rebuild kit was available. Yes, sure, it was available. BUT...the kit I needed was $317! A whole new pump was about $350 so rather than take a chance of not getting it back together right, I just ordered a whole new pump. It came in on Tuesday and I had it installed and running the same day. Now there are no leaks.
We had had the yard man put in a new gasket on the valve cover in July and now it seems we have no oil leak either. Hey, there's a novelty - a clean, dry engine room! For now anyway. It is a 30 year old engine, after all.
This last week has been one of socializing as well. Bev's friend Jane and her friend Tony are sailing from Cape Cod to St. Pete in his Catalina 27 "Patience." They stopped by along with a buddy boat "Hawks Nest." In addition to Tipsy McSway's for trivia night, we also had several dinner parties on Queequeg, one on Hawks Nest and one next door on "Grace." Whew! Whirlwind social life. Tonight it's Tipsy's trivia again along with Jim and Bruce from Hawks Nest and our friends Mike and Shantee, who live in Brunswick. Mike and Shantee have graciously volunteered to "van sit" while we are in Marathon for the winter.
So, if it will just warm up a bit, we can head out without freezing the bird!

So where have we been?
Where haven't we been, that's the question.
We ended up buying a minivan and driving north. We went to the Catskills in NY to see my sister, Albany to see my son and Massachusetts to see Bev's family. We also spent some time in Newburyport visiting some sailing friends and in Hyannis visiting Bev's friend Jane. Along the way we did a bunch of sightseeing.
Some of the highlights of the trip include an exhibit of Grandma Moses' paintings, Thomas Jefferson's house at Monticello and the Ludwig von Mises institute in Auburn Alabama.
Now we're back on Queequeg cleaning, fixing up and getting ready for a trip south. Our current plans are to spend the winter in the Keys, then come back to Brunswick and pick up the car for another road trip. This time we'll include a cross country trip to California to attend my granddaughter's graduation and visit Ben and his family.
During this summer's trip, we cleaned out my storage locker and had a yard sale. Anything family didn't take, went. We did bring back some clothing so now we have to triage all our old stuff to make room for what we brought back with us. At least we have the minivan to store the overflow. We REALLY need to lighten the boat!

Our $2000 Mininvan

What's happening?

Well, we're stuck.
We're in Brunswick, GA at the Brunswick Landing Marina. It looks like Queequeg won't make it any farther north this year.
We started out great, making good time. We were a month behind our times from the last trip when we started, but we caught up to within 5 days. Had we been able to keep going, we would have reached NY ahead of schedule, but thing just didn't work out.
First Tropical Storm Beryl cost us a week. We had a great time waiting her out in New Smyrna Beach, but still it put us behind.
When we reached Jekyl Island, a cold front came by and stalled, giving us thunderstorms every day. We moved a few miles further, stopping at Brunswick.
By the time the front had moved on and the weather became more favorable, we discovered an oil leak in the engine.  So now, we're sitting here waiting for parts to fix the engine.
The marina is very nice, with free laundry, nice showers, etc. The town has a few things to offer while we stay here. And it's a great hurricane hole.
It will be another week until the engine is fixed, and that makes it too late to head north. We'd reach NY and MA just in time to turn around and head south again.
So now the plan is to buy a cheap used car and drive north. Not what we really want, but it will get us the chance to visit family while keeping the boat safe from storms.
Wish us luck finding a decent but REALLY cheap car.

Waiting out the storm.

A bit of tropical weather is brewing offshore so we've decided to sit tight for at least one more day. It looks like the storm will come ashore somewhere north of here, near the Georgia border.
We'll just sit tight, change the oil, do some other maintenance and be on our way once this storm clears.
Hard to believe it's out there. Here it's a beautiful day.

When was the last time...

You had a real sundae at an old fashioned soda fountain?
We're in New Smyrna Beach at a place called "Little's." It's a real old time drug store with a soda fountain.
We had planned on anchoring tonight but our favorite spot was shoaled in too shallow for Queequeg, so we stopped at the city marina. We needed a pumpout anyway, so here we are.
Early enough in the day to walk around town and we discovered Little's.
I know, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

The Indian River

A most interesting day.
About sunrise this morning, we raised anchor and rolled out the genoa. Sailing off anchor is always a treat, but today it was so quiet! We had, maybe, 3 knots of wind so we ghosted along at a gentle 1.8 knots most of the morning. About 11 or so we added the main and continued at about 2.5 until just after noon. Then the sea breeze kicked in and we were up to 5! As the breeze continued to build I noticed more weather helm than I like. We started flattening and triming the sails to reduce the weather helm and Queequeg said "thanks," kicked up her heels and took off at 6! After a bit, the weather helm came back so we trimed again. Like a thoroughbred racehorse, Queequeg took off at 7! What ride!
After a short while the weather helm came back and we got nervous. We rolled in the genny and the boat settled down to a nice, sane, and comfortable 4.5. We made it to our planned anchorage right on schedule.
I can see that under the right hand and in the right conditions this boat is a rocket!