Saturday night, we anchored out in the middle of The Great Bahama Bank. The ocean is shallow in the Bank, about 12-18 ft. The water is so clear that it makes you want to jump in and swim and drink it (except that it’s salty-plhh).

Early Sunday morning, we headed toward Chub Cay. We didn’t get too far by sail, so we ran most of the way on engine power. Chub Cay was a full day away, so we would have had to spend the night out again if we hadn’t used the engine (iron wind). We spotted land around 3:30pm. It would take another hour and half to get to it. Read the rest of this entry »

Before we began living aboard, I had read in several cruising magazines that cruising was nothing more than boat repair in exotic places. It’s true. There’s always something to fix. This time, it’s the water-maker. Several attempts later at getting parts, we think we have what will work now. We don’t want to leave the US without the water maker working because water is expensive in the Bahamas. Read the rest of this entry »

We have been anchored out at Key West for several days now. It’s an interesting place. The kids have culture shock. It seems to be a very liberal minded place. What freaked them out the most was the guy they saw that had eyebrows tattooed on –rather large, pirate-like eyebrows. There are a lot of people here that seem to wish they were pirates. There are also lots of establishments with bad words in their names–which isn’t something the kids are used to seeing. Most of their experiences are limited to Victoria, Tx (a fairly conservative, family town), and OKC (the buckle of the Bible belt). John says that Key West attracts so many “interesting” people because it’s the end of the road. He said they keep moving down the road looking for a place to fit in, and they all end up here because there is no more road.

There are lots of VERY cool boats here.

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Where do I begin? First, I need to give a little background info for those of you who are not familiar with our previous “adventures”. I’m not sure why this happens, and I am now open to considering that God is trying to scare fear out of me in some kind of ironic, miserable, boot camp like way. For instance, if we go camping, it’s freakishly hot that particular summer, or it’s monsoon season and we have a thunderstorm that floods us out of our tent and into our car. If we go canoing, there’s some freak 20 year drought where we have to walk the canoe down the river! John is always just as happy as anything and chocks it up to a wonderful adventure. He is unmoved by any amount of discomfort or inconvenience. He is also the same man that says he wouldn’t mind being bitten by a snake because, “at least it would be an adventure.” Did I marry Indiana Jones? What’s up?

I am very sorry to say that John’s quest for adventure did not go unanswered in our Gulf of Mexico crossing. How many of you remember the words to the Gilligan’s Island theme song: “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. It started with five passengers, aboard a tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure….blah, blah, blah…. the weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the minnow would be lost.” Read the rest of this entry »

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I know it was yesterday, but we were visiting family, so I didn’t post. We are in Oklahoma City for the week. That’s right—we’re in OKC!

“How did that happen,” you ask? Well, we were in Galveston for about way too long and the kids and I Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we have been living on a boat for 3 full months now, and we haven’t gone anywhere. Warning: this may turn into a gripe session–but it won’t last long, maybe…

I never dreamed we would still be in US waters in December! I definitely never planned on being cold. Even in Galveston it’s cold. Last night was 38, and today’s high was 64. We’re all running out of cold weather clothing. We didn’t pack but a couple of pairs of jeans, and a couple of sweatshirts each. The kids didn’t bring any coats, either. Read the rest of this entry »