Boat Hunting in Florida: Day 2

24. Jun. 2014
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Planning the Trip, The Boat
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Author: Miranda

Location: Jacksonville, Florida
[26°8′N 80°9′W]

Slept like the dead. What a glorious feeling to be able to sleep horizontally after spending a night scrunched up in a pseudo-inclined airline seat. Went to bed early so we could wake up early and get on the road. We decided to do a long push to Jacksonville to see a 35’ Wildcat Mark II, and then make several stops along the way back to Fort Lauderdale, looking at other boats we’d been eyeing.

The five hour drive got significantly better when we realized the rental came with XM radio, and that meant several stations devoted to the formidable jams of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Heaven! I won’t tell you how many ridiculous Bon Jovi songs that we belted out at the top of our lungs… but it was many folks. Many. A lot. A lot for love, you might say. Oh, how Pete loves that lyric. Oh and this sweet treat really got us grooving..

We met Al on the docks, and he took us in the dinghy out to Quest, which was on a mooring in the river.

Al and Caryl were gracious hosts and very knowledge about their boat, which they helped design when it was built new, and then sailed it across the Atlantic from South Africa.

We could have spent hours chatting with them about their travels, their sailing knowledge, and their cruising stories, but, alas, eventually it was time to head out, as we had more boats to see that afternoon.

On our way back to south Florida, we stopped in Merritt Island to meet with Valerie and see her 35-foot Jeaneau Lagoon catamaran. Valerie is one of those people you meet and immediately say to yourself, “wow, I want to be friends with this person!” Even as a young sailor, she has many years of experience boating in the Caribbean, and her boat looked much newer than the 18 years that it had. Three tiny, adorable dogs also greeted us as we stepped aboard. Somehow a 35’ foot cat with a 16’ beam seemed to fit three adults, three dogs, and enough equipment to live aboard just fine.

Valerie regaled us with sailing stories, as well as stories of her fiancé Chris’s time spent living in Colombia. Wish we could have met him as well, but we are crossing our fingers that fate will pull us up next to them on a barstool in Caribbean someday, where we can share sundowner and talk about living in a country we now love so much.

Got stuck in a thunderstorm on the way back, which meant that we missed seeing boats on the hard in Titusville and also in Fort Pierce.

Just got too late in the day, and the marinas were closed when we passed through. Unfortunate, but these menacing, afternoon thunderstorms that come out of nowhere are just so darn cool… when you have an enclosed car to hide in, of course. As we were oh-ing and ah-ing one storm, I thought out loud to Pete, “boy- these are definitely not going to be as fun and exciting when we are out on the boat.”

Had a burger and a couple of beers to top off a long day of looking for the perfect boat. Lots of searching…

Our Proposed Route

26. Apr. 2014
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Planning the Trip
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Author: Pete

Here’s our proposed route for our ideal circumnavigation, a lofty goal, to be sure. Our itinerary has us leaving in November 2014 out of Florida and returning to the Caribbean around June 2016. Best laid plans… We created a course by taking the path of least resistance through the westward trade wind route, staying mostly in the tropics. The itinerary shadows the retreat of the tropical storm season in each region of the world, marked on the map.

Click on the map to enlarge. More details below.

Nov 2014 – Jan 2015: Miami to Panama

Feb 2015: Panama to Galapagos

Mar 2015: Pacific Passage, Galapagos to Marquesas Islands

April – August 2015: French Polynesia and South Pacific

Sept – Dec 2015: South East Asia

Jan – Feb 2016: Indian Ocean

March – April 2016: Red Sea/ Mediterranean*

May 2016: Atlantic Passage

June 2016: Florida / Sell our faithful vessel!

August 2016: Start teaching again in beautiful International School of Philenzublank!

*If the situation off the coast of Somalia doesn’t improve by January 2016, then we will need to make some alternations to our route. Like we said earlier, this is just our initial plan and will probably change several times in the next two years.

As you will have also noted, most of our time is dedicated to the South Pacific and South East Asia. This is an aggressive timeline, however, we are not planning to ‘see’ the world in this two year window. We are international educators and plan to be living abroad ‘seeing’ the world much of our lives. This adventure is about being on the high seas and the self-discovery that comes with it.

Come join us! This trip was dreamed up to leave room for our family and friends around the world to visit us along the way! Come do a passage, island hop, or meet us in a port city! Our itinerary is dependent on the winds, so your travel plans may need to be flexible, but we’ll make it worth your while with a cold beverage in the sun and shining seas! Email us if you have any interest in being a part of this adventure! We’ll even put your face on the blog!

Here’s our backup plan for the whole trip:

Plan B: Tour the Caribbean. If we’re short on time, funding, or Dramamine, we may end up cruising the Carib for a year before hitting the books again.

Plan C: Charter a boat in the Caribbean or South Pacific where we can’t get into too much trouble.

Plan D: Keep taking classes and help move boats in our off time and do this trip or similar later in life with kids or during retirement.

Plan E: Take an extended bath and slosh a lot of water around.

Quintero Pacific Sailing Lessons: Day 2

18. Apr. 2014
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Planning the Trip
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Author: Pete

Location: Quintero, Chile. [ 32°46′58″S 71°31′50″W ]

Stayed the night at a little B&B in the countryside outside of Quintero called Haras Casacampo. The place was built from an old pure-bred horse farm where horses and chickens roamed free and all the rooms were retrofitted stalls. Pretty cute. Gloria and Antonio were charismatic and welcoming.

The next day out on the water we motored from out mooring again, hoisted the main, unfurled the genoa, and made about dodging freighters and their pilot craft as we exited the bay under sail. The sheer mass and size of those ships is chilling.

The wind picked up as we left the lee of the Quinter Bay headlands. Out away from the ships we put a reef in the main and maneuvered around to get the feel for it. The boat sailed flatter and more comfortably than before. Then I put in another reef in the main, just for the practice, and we sailed along in the rolling swells with even more control.

We dropped the headsail and simulated a change out. Mario messed with things and watched us put them back together. We rolled around the seas for another hour or so then cruised in. In the bay we simulated a regatta, running a triangular pattern around buoys to get the feel for all points of sail. We did some more man-overboard drills under sail as well.

It was so fortunate to meet up with Mario. He did a fantastic job of mentoring and instructing us out on the sea and we are extremely grateful for his tutelage and friendship.

Afterwards we had lunch in the gritty little town. The place was a little rough around the edges, but the cazuela and fish (and beer!) were fantastic! We were so excited to get on the ocean! FINALLY!