Mario and Yaisy's home page

Memorial Day weekend in the Florida keys

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:19:00 +0000

Overnighted in No Name Harbor on KB Thursday night to leave early friday at 3:00am. in tow was our 24' wellcraft. Just as i was settleling in for an 8 hour passage along Hawk Channel, we smack something around 4:00 am in the complete darkness causing a shutdown of the starboard engine. I Immediatly hit the MOB button on the plotter and went to netural. I checked down below to see if water was comming in and my father in law had the search light in hand and spotted a palm tree partally submerged. After regrooping, I put her back in gear and noticed a slight vibration on the starboard side not to bad though. Overall good weather along the 80 nm to Islamorada. We had reservations at Holiday Isle and were the first ones there. We arrived at 11:00am and timed the Whale Harbor channel enterance at high tide (a must for us). After checking in, we quickly set up camp, fired up the grill, cracked open a cold one and setteled in for a crazy weekend at the famous "Tiki Bar" which as usual lived up to it's crazy memoral day traditions. After some fishing which we didn't catch a darn thing, partying and some gulf side cruising in the tender, we packed up and cought the high tide going out at 2:00pm Monday. very breezy which kicked up the seas to about 5' but not to bad a ride since they were mostly head seas which the YF seams to love albeit very wet. It got a little rolly at Fowey Rocks around 9:30 pm so Yaisy picked up the number "2" red marker and bought us in to Key Biscayne for a smooth ride back home to our yacht club on Watson Island at 11:00 pm. after unloading tons of gear and saying goodbye to family and friends, we fired Siboney back up and headed back over to No Name Harbor where we are now where we have the whole harbor to ourselves. 160+ NM of fun and Siboney never skipped a beat!

I'll post pics later because right now I see a Vodka and cranberry in my near future.

Mario

Overdue update.

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Yes I know I've been abandoning the blog lately. Sorry. At the risk of sounding like an overplayed cliche, we really have been having fun! Since our last update we have cruised to our favorate places in Biscayne Bay, have done boat parades, celebrated birthdays and have spent priceless nights with family and friends. The boat has been running great with minimal problems. All tune-ups have been done and up to date. One thing that we have noticed is that we spend more time on the boat than at home. the boys love being on the boat and have claimed the guest stateroom as their own. There are a few things that seem to follow us around and that is all of the toys that are scattered around in every spot on the boat. What a heart warming feeling it is to step on a piece of Lego or a green army man in the middle of the night while I do my nightly checks while at anchor. It is such a wonderful feeling to see your children having fun while spending time with family. On other days we have entertained friends and have enjoyed having those special moments. On other days the boys grand parents have been wonderful and have taken the boys home on some weekends which have allowed us to escape on weekend get-a-ways. Yaisy and I charish every one of those times we get to spend with each other alone. In Janurary we spent 10 days at Boca Chita located in Biscayne Bay for my 37th birthday. It has always been my dream to one day go there in our Yachtfisher. Yaisy some how was able to keep hidden a chocolate cake from me and the boys. I celebrated my birthday with my wife and my boys and a few unknown cruisers that were there also. A fun time was had by all! Later this month we will head down to Islamorada for memorial weekend. Fishing and fun is on the menu. As usual alot of family and friends will be joining us for the fun. I'll post some pictures that I have taken since October.
Mario

Siboney is her name...

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:09:00 +0000

October 21, 2007

What a great day to celebrate a name for a boat. Not just any boat, but our beauty! We cruised over to No Name Harbor this passed Sunday and prepaired for a great party to comemorate her new name Siboney! Celebrating with us was many family and friends. We had a great time until late night when NNH closed and we had to leave. As usual, our friend Ang made a great cake for us that Yaisy quickly made good with. Pascal and Naomi gave us a really great bouquet of "Jolly roger" balloons that fit the theme just perfect.

Why the Name "Siboney"? The name "Siboney" (pronounced 'Sea bo nay') is derived from the accent tribe of the Siboney Indians. The Siboney Indians were native to the island of Cuba and predates the fierce Taino and the Caribe Indians. The Siboneys were highly skilled fisherman and knew the sea well. They lived in close proximity to the shore when other Indian tribes lived in the interior. In reality, little is known of the Siboneys. Most of the history is handed down through the Taino Indians which were the bigger and more powerful tribe, which eventually over ran the Siboneys. "Siboney" is also a beautiful love ballet from the 1920's. Since all of our family and friends have always lovingly called us "the tribe" (in Spanish) because when we go boating we usually have the WHOLE family with us . I guess it's the way we grew up. Yaisy and I figured since we are of Cuban decent and we are considered a tribe we might as well call our boat in tribute to the humblest of all Indians of the Caribbean, the "Siboney"...

Sign, sealed, delivered!

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:35:00 +0000

After so many years of dreaming and working, Keeping our prospectives during setbacks, the highs and the lows. We finally did it! We have our dream boat. A beautiful example of what a Yacht should be in my oppinion is our lovely 1972 58' Hatteras Yachtfisherman. This particular yacht is in such great shape that it baffels the mind. This boat was restored to like new condition mechanicly and cosmeticly. The owner from who we bought the boat from had a passion for restoring boats and it shows in his latest creation. He is also a man of his word of whom we made this deal based soley on a hand shake.

We hope to bring the boat down from Ft. Laurderdale in the next couple of days. After a boat warming/naming ceremony this weekend we plan on heading out and spending a few days on the hook somewhere in the bay. We can't wait. Our journey continues...

"Blue Light Special" !

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:04:00 +0000

Looks like we're getting close to the new boat. Therefore, the old girl has to go! price reduced to $25,000 but make an offer that I may consider and she's yours! I can't have both boats at the same time.

Have we found the "Mother Load"?

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:04:00 +0000

Yes, I've been pretty quiet. But I have a secret. I guess it's safe to tell everyone now. Well, here it goes. Are you ready? OK then. Guess what? WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON A 1972 58 FOOT HATTERAS YACHTFISHERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it's true. We found a beauty real close to home. The boat is in beautiful condition. The bank approves. Insurance is being worked on though. Insurance is a big problem here in Florida. The survey is complete and all that is left is the sea trial and closing. hopefully by mid July we will have her. We still haven't sold our 34. I hope that the broker can sell her in time or take her as a trade in.

Were getting close. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep your fingers crossed...
Pictures soon

P.S. Anybody want a 34' Hatteras Sedan cheap?

Time for a reality check...

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:46:00 +0000

It's been a while. I know, I know I haven't been keeping up the blog. Sorry, but we really have been having a lot of fun with the old Hatt. It seems that we have been using our boat almost every weekend since we brought her down from Maryland. We have taken her over to No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne many times, we have anchored out in that harbor several times. We've spent the days playing in the park and riding our bikes or watching the boys fish. We always have family and/or friends over. We all enjoy the relaxation and the family bonding that comes from such a unique setting. At night when the boys are asleep, the grown ups stay up to enjoy the evening with nice drinks and good food. Music is always playing. We have done countless day trips, and recently we have finally enjoyed swimming off our own boat. Our boat has been really good to us.

I know this might sound crazy to many of you but many of you that know me know that I'm just plain crazy. But hear me out, there really is logic to my madness. In the movie "Jaws" the life guard that was with the fisherman on the old boat looking for "Jaws" said it best, he said "We need a bigger boat". And there you have it, we need a bigger boat. "Why" you ask? well it's sorta simple really. In the beginning, if you recall I have always wanted a Hatteras Yachtfish but we ended up with our Sedan. Don't get me wrong, it's great boat but for our application it comes up short. Remember, we usually have a lot of family and friends on board which is ok if it's just for the day. but we usually are gone for the weekend. While we are anchored out we tend to find that the head (bathroom) is too small for us mainly the shower. Although I can take a shower, I can barely move around. Also, since we usually have a minimum of 5 people aboard it creates a traffic jam in the galley/head area, not to mention that the port o potty fills quick which requires me to take it to a proper place to dump. Although I don't complain, it's not one of my favorite things to do. But one of my biggest complaints is that come sleep time, I do not fit in the V berth next to my wife. the other side of the V berth is taken up by the boys. So I have no choice but to sleep on the floor in the saloon on an inflatable mattress. This alone has gotten old real quick. then there are things that the boat needs which I knew required when I bought the boat. Some things are like an on board generator. Incidentally, the boat has one but due to it's age and the fact that I'm not a big gasoline fan, I've left it untouched. The boat also needs a good air conditioner, a must in south Florida come summer time.

So, with these things picking at my mind, I talked it over with Yaisy and she seems to agree with my assessment that we should start looking for our future boat. So now I find myself doing the same thing again, looking at Yachtworld listings and doing my homework. maybe this time with proper patience and determination, we will find what we're looking for.

Boca Chita Key weekend Jan. 12, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:40:00 +0000

Friday after Yaisy got out of work, we packed the boys and some groceries into the boat and spent a great weekend at Boca Chita key in Biscayne national park. The weather was a quite breezy and the bay was choppy but it wasn't a problem for the old Hatt. We arrived around 9:30pm into Boca Chita harbor which was totally packed! the only spot open was at the "park staff only" area. Being as late as it was and as full as the park was we tied up at the staff only spot. A few folks helped us with the lines and informed us that a couple of boats would be leaving in the morning. We moved the boat first thing after breakfast and just in time to watch the Marine patrol enter the harbor. Our boys had a wonderful time. There were lots of other kids on the island so it didn't take long for them to make friends. By early evening, the boys and gang had found a "cave" in the dense brush next to the water that they quickly proclaimed for themselves and made a club. They built a door with palm leaves and even had a "secrete password" for entry rights. I later found out it was "crab claw" but they wouldn't let me in until I knocked on the "door" and said the secrete password. It was pretty neat and they even had a makeshift swing. After being overwhelmed by 10 or 12 "club members" I retreated back to the boat where I proceeded to give the blender a good work-out.

Pina Coladas anyone?

A friend of mine let us borrow his dingy and 10hp outboard motor. My son Mario had his first lesson on proper handling and safety. Soon he was driving around in the harbor at the controls although I was with him. He did pretty good considering he's only 7 years old. Someday he'll go "solo" but not right now.

I finally found a spot for the Magma BBq grill. I bought some clamps and clamped it to the bow rail. It's nice and steady and at a good cooking height and the view is always great!

After two great nights and three wonderful days, we left Boca Chita Sunday night around 8:00pm and arrived back at our club around 10:30pm or so. By the time we were done cleaning the boat it was around midnight.

Club Boat Parade. Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:33:00 +0000

December 16,2006

Thankfully, I didn't have to work. It was a mad dash to prepair the boat for our annaul Boat parade at our boat club. Thankfully My father and my sister help Yaisy and I. We finished just in time. We had a wonderful time and my sister Aleida served up some nice snacks for all of us during the parade. The club served up a great feast after the parade and the music and drinks flowed until late. We stayed on the boat overnight.

Hard to keep us tied to the slip!

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:00:00 +0000

Saturday 2/06,

Spent the day at No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne. The boys played around in the park. Mario Jr. had his friends along for the ride and they had a great time. My father in law Raul brought his Wellcraft along and tied up along side us. On the way out, we saw Golf star Tiger Woods Yacht Privacy. A great time was had by all.

Day 19 The Home Coming.

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:36:00 +0000

November 26, 2006

Just as my luck would have it. last night I decided to put that portable AC in the hatch in our stateroom. But it seems I didn't learn my lesson from the days that I was working on the boat in Maryland. back then, I needed to place a plastic tarp over the AC and the hatch to keep the rain out. Well, like Murphy's law says "if it can it will" and will it did! Around 2:30am I was awakened with a cold splash of cold water right in my face! After the shock and a few choice words I rushed outside and was met by a cold Amazonian deluge. I remembered that tarp I used was packed away under the bench seat on the fly bridge. I race up there and found the plastic tarp, I rush down and forward to the bow and quickly covered the AC and the hatch. I finally made it back inside completely soaked and wet. after drying off I went back to asleep.

Morning came with my two year old who was sleeping across from us on the other side of the V-birth, came crawling around and gave me a morning hug and kiss. After horsing around with him for a little bit, We had breakfast then gassed up with 103.8 gallons. We left Delray at 8:20am. Lots of bridges and lots of traffic and lots of "No Wake" zones. Being Sunday and a beautiful one at that everyone is out on their boat which presents a particular problem which I hadden't encountered before. With all of the boat traffic confined in a narrow stretch of the waterway, it made for a very choppy and rolly passage. It seems that the wake of passing boats bounces off the seawalls and comes rushing back from the same direction that it came from. Delray, Boynton Beach and Fort Lauderdale areas north of Haulover inlet had it the worst.

Port Everglades:
one of Yaisy's company Ocean freighter.

The Mighty Servant loading up another load of Yachts for far away desinations

Once passed Haulover inlet, we pretty much new our way home from there. We wanted to visit one of Yaisy's long time friend who lives about a mile from Haulover inlet. After calling her on the phone, her husband gave me directions on how to get to the canal on which their apartment was located at. After tying up there, we were invited in for some coffee. Soon it was time to go, we said our good byes and casted off.

We started to receive a bunch of phone calls of family waiting at our yacht club, that's when I realized that our wonderful, magical ICW trip of a lifetime was coming to a close. While waiting for the Venetian causeway, our final bridge, I asked Yaisy to stop doing what she was doing and come sit with me for the final turn to home.

We made a hard turn to port after the bridge and headed for our club. I looked at Yaisy with such happiness and gratitude for the wonderful experience we had just had and how much closer we are as a family as a whole because of this adventure.

We made the final turn to starboard and saw our boat club. As we approached My son Mario rang the ships bell with all of his might. What a sight to see my mom at the end of the pier waving a handkerchief and jumping for joy then seeing the rest of my family waiting at our slip for our arrival.
After much excitement we managed to park the boat in her slip. Once Yaisy secured the spring lines and her dad passed the stern lines to my dad on the dock.

I reached for the ignition keys and turned off the engines after 37 miles, it was 4:00pm. At that moment, I closed my eyes and in my mind I replayed our journey backwards to where it all started. I was in awe.

In our best traditions we through together a dock party and fired up the grill and cranked up the music and helped the beer and the rum flow. A good time was had by all.

Yaisy and I snuck away from the party and walked over to the other side of the dock and sat in the shade in front of our boat. It felt good to steal some quiet time for ourselves and reflect. We sat there looking at the Old Hatt in amazement of how wonderful our trip was.

Home at last:

Soon the party was over, the people had left, we turned the radio off and picked up the mess we made. It was now dark when Yaisy closed the solon doors as I was stepping off the boat, I caught a glimpse of her kissing the door, I didn't say a word.

To put things in prospective, Our old Hatteras isn't just an old boat, it was (and still is) a vehicle for our dreams to travel in. This trip has been like a magic carpet ride that we hoped would never end. As we walked to our car we looked back and noticed the Old Hatt tugging at her lines as if saying "I'm ready, are you?"...

This isn't the end of the story, it's only the beginning...

Mario and Yaisy

Day 18

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:09:00 +0000

November 25, 2006

Early rise to prepare for another nice day ahead. After breakfast and having a nice Cuban coffee on the aft deck couch while enjoying the morning cool air, we departed Vero Beach at 7:40am. The stretch from Vero beach to Delray is a very nice. lots of big, fancy homes.

After 87 miles, We arrived in Delray Harbor Club Marina at 6:10 in the evening after waiting for two bridges with scheduled openings. Yaisy took this time while waiting for the bridges to open to practice her maneuvering skills while using the bridge as reference. Yaisy parked the boat starboard side-to along the dock after threading through a narrow fairway! way to go babe! After a few drinks while reflecting on the days travels Yaisy's parents took us all to dinner at Longhorns Steak House. Wow, was that gooooood!

Back at the boat Yaisy wanted to show her dad that she new how to check and service the engines, I figured that if I didn't take a picture for proof my friends wouldn't believe it. Well...

ICW Part 3, day 17

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:32:00 +0000

November 24, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's the combination of food and family all in one place. We grew up in this same exact environment, lots of food and lots of family enjoying spending time together. Of course food preparation in our family is serious game and rivalries are frequent. Weather it's a Christmas eve roasted pork or a thanksgiving turkey it tends to bring out the experts which happens to be everybody and because of this it usually takes twice as long make. This isn't a problem because we keep ourselves entertained with several games of dominoes or music and dancing combined with an endless flow of beer and rum. In case you didn't know, Cubans tend to be LOUD. We laugh out loud, talk loud, we even use lots of hand gestures in our conversations. This all really comes into play when we sit down to eat. The dinner table has always been the social hub in our family. Here is where we come together to talk and laugh and bond as only a giant family like ours knows how. In the end all the "experts" agree that the food was great but more importantly, we spend our time as a family.

This year Thanksgiving was a little different. We found some free time over the long weekend to go up and get the boat! joining us for this final leg of our wonderful ICW trip is Yaisy's mom and dad. Excitement filled the air as I woke up everyone at 4:00am the day after Turkey day. of course it was a mad dash to get the van loaded with food, clothes and everything else for a planned three day trip. Yaisy's cousin did us the favor and drove us up in his van and dropped us off in Titusville. Raul, Yaisy's cousin actually did me a huge favor and flew me up to Dunn's field in Titusville in a Cessna 172 a couple days earlier to check her out and prep the for the trip home. After checking out the systems and putting up a safety net around the railings and filling up the tanks with 42.8 gallons, we took off and made it back home in time for dinner.

After loading the boat and paying the marina bill, we waived good bye to Raul. we were off the docks by 8:50am. Very nice day with cool temperatures and a nice breeze. My in-laws were fascinated with our boat. My father in law whose name is also Raul really appreciated the boat. Being the gear head that he is and a boater himself he really enjoyed the boat.

Raul was impressed with the Garmin 3210 chartplotter GPS.

My mother in-law Daisy loved the roominess of the interior and the security that the deep gunnels provided for everyone, especially the children.

After 65 miles we arrived at the municipal marina in Vero Beach at 5:50pm. We made it just in time to fill the boat with 80.3 gallons of fuel. Once we settled into our slip, we had dinner which consisted of leftover turkey and all of the fixings that went with it.

Later we grabbed our clean clothes and headed for the showers. In here lies a funny story, we put our 2 year old in his stroller on the dock next to the boat with Daisy their with him. As my father in law Raul readies to jump over the side deck onto the dock, he first places his clean clothes bag on the floor in front of my 2 year old. Of course in the best traditions of a 2 year old, he promptly kicked the bag right into the water! After the Chinese fire drill to fish out the sinking bag we headed for the showers and the laundry room.

My son Mario wanted to show his grandfather his new found fishing skills. Would you believe that as soon as he baited his own hook and casted out he was hooked up with another fish! This time he knew what to do and promptly landed his fish. Raul couldn't believe it.

Day 16

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:19:00 +0000

November 12, 2006

Well, today is the last day for part 2 of our ICW trip. We got to go back to work and the kids back to school. We planned to last night to move the boat a little closer and park the boat in Titusville. We got up before dawn, had breakfast and we were off by 6:45am. We enjoyed our last leg immensely. Again, lots of Dolphins accompanied us along the Mosquito river for most of the way. We made Titusville Municipal Marina at 10:50am after 24.4 miles traveled. We unloaded the boat and washed her down while the boys stared in amazement of the 5 or 6 Manatees that had swam over to our fresh water hose. We rented our car and got on I-95. On our way home, Yaisy and I couldn't believe how great it has all been, how much fun we've been having and how time flew by. but most of all, we realized we have been blessed.

see ya in a few weeks.

Mario

Day 15

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:09:00 +0000

November 11, 2006

We had little sleep last night. My mom, stepfather and my sister Aleida showed up at our boat at 2:00am. They were tired from a 5 hour road trip from Miami. Of course, we had to give them the "grand tour" of our boat at that time. after a few laughs, Yaisy helped them set up the convertible sofa and get their bags put away. After a few more hours of sleep it was time to get up. Yaisy as usual, made a great breakfast for everyone. My mom helped with the cleanup and my sister kept an eye on the boys while I went to the dock office to inquire about fuel. After about a half an hour wait, we took on 130 gal of fuel. I filled up the fresh water tank. We left the St Augustine at 7:45am. New Smyrna was our goal for the day. What a great day to cruise. The sun was out, the temperature was in the mid 70's and everyone was having a great time and enjoying the comfort of the boat.

There is a lot to see along this stretch of the ICW. Many beautiful homes mixed in with the marsh lands. We also saw lots of dolphins. as a matter of a fact, I couldn't of imagined all of the dolphins that are in the ICW. I have seen countless numbers of dolphins here. Way more that I have seen in the ocean.

After 61 miles of travel we pulled into the City of New Smyrna Beach marina. We made a great Surf and turf on the BBq and while we waited for that we cooled ourselves with a few drinks. I sat back in the couch on the aft deck to relax and watch my 7 year old son Mario fish. He had been working on catching his very first fish all week but we have been moving most of the time with little fishing time allowed, and when we were fishing we weren't having much luck. My son Mario kept saying "I'm going to catch a fish". And then it happened, just before night fall he casted out his line just off the bow and waited and waited then all of a sudden, POW! he was hooked up! he was so shocked he looked over at me with a "now what" look on his face. I damn near fell over trying to get out of my seat while yelling "REEELLL UM IN"! He cranked and cranked and cranked while the fish struggled against the line. He was really focused on landing his fish. Finally after a minute or so my son lifted the fish over the rail. My son had caught his first fish all by himself with no help from no one. He was the happiest boy in the world at that moment. I was the most proudest dad in the universe. Until this moment, I only dreamed of seeing my boy fish now I got to live it. I love my life.

Day 14

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:20:00 +0000

November 10, 2006

After a good restful night we got up early and waited for the Hampton River Club on Little Simmons Island to open up so we can pay our bill then we we're off for St. Augustine Fl with a tech stop for fuel along the way. We finally departed at 7;45am. After about an hour and a half we arrived at Golden Isles Marina on the Frederica river, St. mile 675.
Great marina with excellent staff and a great jumping off point for an offshore run to Florida. After taking on 114 gal of fuel and Yaisy buying a Georgia flag for our collection, we set off for Florida. It was a perfect day with a perfect forecast of light and variable winds and seas 2' to 3'.

It pretty much stayed as predicted until the late afternoon. The seas started to pick up. The swells were around 3' or 4' but widely spaced. The wind picked up to around 12 kts and made the sea a little choppy. I really didn't want to slow down because I was expecting a nightfall entrance into the St. Augustine inlet. We kept the speed at about 10.5 Kts which made the boat very wet. The analogy that the infamous surveyor Dave Pascoe said of Hatteras Yachts throwing water like a busted fire hydrant was an understatement.

Although the ride was very wet we stayed very dry and comfortable. Which brings up a good point of the difference between traveling by motorboat or under sail. Sailors have to wear lots of foul weather gear and spend most of their time outside where as motorboaters spend most of their time in the comfort of their wheelhouse with a different kind of foul weather gear.
As an example, let me show the intensity of concentration we power boaters require and the foul weather gear we dawn:

sweat pants and my green, John Deere socks. nice, dry carpet

The Boys stayed entertained most of the way by playing with each other or playing with their collection Hotwheels or looking outside and spotting dolphins.

Mario Jr. keeping watch:

We passed the St Augustine inlet at 6:45pm and tied up to our slip at the Conch House Marina by 7:00pm. Tomorrow, my mom, stepfather and sister Aleida are joining us for the weekend. 100.6 miles traveled. dinner, shower, laundry, engine checks, and a good nights sleep capped off a great day.

Day 13

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 22:51:00 +0000

Thursday, November 09, 2006

After taking on 114gals of fuel, we departed Hilton Head for Georgia. After just 3 hours into the trip we were already in Georgia. Our mission today was to find fresh fish somewhere along the way. Not to many ports of call on this strech of the ICW. Actually there were few homes, mostly rural. We saw lots of dolphins again and one was swimming on our wake. This time I left the helm, I wanted to see the dolphins up close.

We spotted a fishing boat along the way, a real big one too. We slowly approached them since they were not listening to their radio as we hailed. The fisherman were all in the back working the nets. Mario on the helm and I went to the Bow and asked the fisherman if they would trade fish for beer. They immedietly stopped the boat and said yes of course. I gave them a six pack of beer and they stuffed a 12 pack soda box full of fish and shrimp they just took of their nets. This was the freshest fish we’d ever had.

We started realizing the next marina was but 40 miles away and the sun was staring to go down, we may have to anchor out. At around 5:17pm we approached a mean low tide. This was no easy task. We decided if we hit bottom we will just anchor out and fry our fresh fish. Just as we were getting ready to put down the hook, we found a small boat club on the other side of the river. The problem was that to get to them was another 3 miles and the sun was setting. So with Yaisy on the bow, we slowly continued. I must admit, I didn't feel good about continuing in the dark in such a narrow and shallow river but we were getting closer and Yaisy was spotting the day markers with the spotlight and I was steering with the chart plotter. We finally made it to the marina way past dark. It was very exciting but scary at the same time. Been there, done that, but I won't do that again. The sunset was the most beautiful I have ever seen. Don't belive me?

Day 12

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:16:00 +0000

Wednesday, November 8 2006

Departed Charleston at 7:45 am nice 85.8 mile run. We arrived at night into Hilton Head SC. We stayed at a really nice marina called Harbor Town Yacht Basin on mile marker 564. the place was closed when we arrived but we had called earlier and got a spot on the fuel dock. We entered the marina through the entrance markers and found the dock. During the day, the marina shoulden’t be to hard to find because it has a red and white striped light house. Once inside, Waiting for us at the fuel dock was a welcome package with a nice letter, a 50amp splitter they let us borrow and a bottle of wine! We showered and did the laundry. Dinner was grilled lamb chops for me and grilled pork chops and bratwurst sausages for Yaisy and the boys. Later, I did the engine checks. Fuel will have to wait until morning.

Day 11

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:15:00 +0000

Tuesday November 7, 2006

Departed Hague Marina at 5:30 am under dark skies and rain. We stopped at Bucksport Marina for fuel. While there, the trawler in front of us on the gas dock flagged us down as we were pulling out. The interesting thing is that they were literally flagging us down with a Burgee of our yacht club! What a great surprise to find members of our small club in such a remote place. The nice folks were Elli and Chuck on their MY Rachel. They said that it’s been about 3 years since they have been down there. I guess they travel in a different direction.

Later in the morning it really started to rain. It came down really hard and reduced the visability to about 100’ or so. I brought the boat to a slow idle but soon found that I could not navigate by visual reference! All I had was my chart plotter for direction. A few minutes later it eased up enough to at least see the next markers. It rained for most of the trip into Charleston SC and we chopped up a crab buoy along the way (no damage). We entered Charleston Harbor just as sunset approached, but we were still about 40 minutes away from port. The problem was that due to all of the rain, fog was starting to develop. About 5 miles out of the marina, visibility really started to deteriorate, just at that time the “marine warning” feature of our GPS (XM weather) informed us of the fog. We finally picked up the entrance markers into the marina and arrived in Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina at 5:30pm after 85 miles traveled on this leg.

We pulled up to the fuel dock, took on 106 gal.of fuel and received our slip assignment. We parked the boat next to the aircraft carrier USS York Town, How cool it that! The marina is on Hilton property but the docks are run by another company. The marina staff were real nice and helpful but the hotel staff were a pain in the ass. The facilities were first class none the less. A very exciting and challenging day for us. We are loving every minute of it.

Day 10

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:14:00 +0000

Monday November 6, 2006

We woke up at 5:30am, we learned our lesson about the sun by now and the marinas deal. I started to make breakfast at that time while everyone else was still asleep and just as I am getting ready to start my scrambled eggs the power goes out. I wake up Mario have him go out side and he said there is nothing he can do because the breaker on shore was bad. So he turns on the Bar-BQ for me and that is where I warmed the hot chocolate and finished the scrambled eggs with ham onion and red peppers and toast. We took off at exactly 6:30am. We were happy to have gained another hour and a half of sun light. It was a nice ride all along. Just before Carolina Beach we heard on the radio someone had fallen off a ship just 2 miles from us and they were giving heads up to look out, although a helicopter was already in the air. They had a system called EPIRB. This is an emergency locator, which once activated tells the coast guard where you are how many people aboard and your type of vessel. I want one of those I told Mario. Around Carolina beach there were a lot of small boats fishing on the jetty and I mean a lot. It looked like a fishing tournament of small 10 foot fishing boats. We also saw a family of 6 deer right off the beach (pic). The houses along the way were beautiful. There were several boats along with us also heading south. One of them was going a little further down to BVI. Later, we heard on the radio of the boat with the missing person was later found. These VHF radio is a lot of fun for me. It was like hearing a soap opera on the air hearing all these people along the way arguing and cussing, because of boats going too fast with big wakes or others were cutting each other off ect. Mario Junior did home work and I emailed his teacher to get more of his school work faxed to me at the next marina we’ll be arriving at. This seems to be working just fine we also found out there are two days this week with no school, and that worked out even better.
Around 10 am we called a Marina in South Carolina and booked our selves for tonight. As the day progressed and since we had a lot of current helping us along we made it too early so we cancelled the RSVP and started to look for another marina about 20 miles past which was as much day light we had left. We got lucky again and found one. We stayed at the Hague Marina on Mile Marker 368. They had a gas station but no gas so we just filled up the water tank and although this marina is in the middle of the woods they have a laundry and shower .We hear there should be more gas stations a little further down which we will catch tomorrow morning. We plan to get up just a half hour earlier. Speaking of showers, the showers here was a disaster! the tub was leaking all over the place and the washer leaked too and the dryer would not dry even after $5.00 in quarters. Well Junior and I went for a dingy ride he was a little frightened the water was really dark and all kinds of animal’s noises were coming from the forest. The whole ride lasted 10 minutes.

The boys playing with the marina dog and picking pinecones:

The kids went to bed early and Mario had a scotch on the rocks and I had it with ginger ale. We saw the movie “Grumpy Old Men” on DVD. We stayed up until late in the evening. This marina cost us a whole $30 with power. Arrived at 4:30pm. Fuel unavailable

Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:12:00 +0000

Sunday, November 5, 2006

We woke up at 6:30am and by the time we were done with breakfast and the engine checks, and on our way, it was 7:45am again. The trip was the most amazing we had with dolphins swimming with us almost through out the whole trip. When I say swimming with us I mean it, they were surfing along on our bow wave.

The kids were super exited. I was driving so I only got to see them in the pictures. Except for the dolphin pods I saw away from the boat. We started calling Marinas around 4pm again, we did not learn our lesson. We must have called about 5 marinas to get space for the night and they were all full. We finally had two choices staying in one without power, or staying in one with power but no showers or laundry. We opted for the power, we rather warm at night than cold, besides, we have a shower onboard. Not a bad choice after all, we stayed at Bridge Tender Marina in Wilmington, NC. The marina turned out to have a wonderful 5 star restaurant. Tonight, I am not doing laundry, so I am not cooking either. Mario did not think about it twice he and I had been craving seafood since we got to the boat. We had a great dinner but of course the baby was busy throwing toys around. But the more wine I drank the more of an angel face he had to me anyway. Mario was having beer so he never stopped seeing the baby’s little brat side.

Anyways we turned the heater on and had a nice and warm night of sleep. Traveled 71.4 miles and took on 91.7 of fuel. Strong cross-current in narrow fairway into marina.

Day 8

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:00:00 +0000

Saturday, November 4, 2006

It’s now 7am, since Mario did the engine checks last night, it was all about making breakfast and putting plenty of clothes on to start our trip over to Beufort Docks in Beaufort NC. The kids were still sleepy so right after breakfast they went right back to sleep. When I went outside to return the heater to Ted I realized the boat was full of ice and all around the dock. The dock was white instead of wood color. It went down into the low 30s over night.

At 8:00am we started our trip. Then it got a little windy the seas got up to 4-5 foot waves. It got a little rough but she hardly felt it. Around 4pm we checked the celestial chart page on the GPS and realized in about an hour and 15 minutes the sun will be going down. We quickly looked up a marina where to spend the night and the first place was a place called Beaufort Docks on Statue mile 200. We called in and literary got the last slip available. They gave us a tip of advice call on the phone ahead of time tomorrow for your next stop because everyone is heading south and the spaces are going fast. We realized we were the last ones in when we got the slip next to the fuel dock. But since it closes at night it was no problem. Beaufort was beautiful, with homes dating back to the early 1700s quaint shops, museums and many good restaurants and delightful scenery. At the bar owned by the dock we received 4 tokens for 4 free beers. Although it was very cold they were much needed. I started to look for the car keys which had our last spare of the boat’s door keys which had a pad lock. I coulden’t find them. I told Mario I am sorry I have no idea where they can be, I must have given them to you and he said that is easy to say. After looking around I found a set of lock keys laying around that belonged to a lock, I put them on my pocket and said Mario we are ready to go the taxi is waiting. He said yeah who cares about the house. All I care about is the boat and this trip. we’ll worry about finding the house keys when we get to Florida. We called a cab after words and went to Walmart. We purchased our own heater and others supplies for the kids like gloves, jackets and things of that nature they’ll rarely use again in Florida. A taxi picked us up and took us back to our Boat. Just as I tried to open the lock I realize it is not the right key. Those I found laying around were the keys to the bike lock. Now we have our hands full of groceries, we are hungry, tired, cold and can not get into our own boat because we are locked out. We tried the windows on the port side with no luck. All the screens were locked. We tried the windows on the starboard side and the last one we tried was the only one not locked. So we send Mario junior inside since he is the skinniest of the three and once he’s inside, he stands at the door and looks at us and says now what? Then I realize I need to get through the window to try to find the keys since there is nothing open around where they would sale a bolt cutter to cut the lock. Well once inside and by a miracle of God I remembered I placed the keys inside my make up bag for whatever reason. We had a nice steak from the BBQ, French fries, white rice and black beans. The showers at Beufort Docks Marina were not good at all. They had no laundry room and the pile is adding up, with kids changing clothes every hour. The kids fell asleep early and we spent the rest of the night relaxing and looking forward to spending another day in North Carolina. To tired to do the engine checks, we’ll do it in the morning. Arrived at 4:15 pm, 86 gals fuel.

ICW Part 2 day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:48:00 +0000

Thursday, November 2 2006

I was in the middle of a Seminar my company asked me to attend called one Crowley and the phrase of the day was Be Here Now. That could not have come at a more perfect time. My husband calls me during my break and tells me “when are you getting out, I have the kids showered and a car rented full of winter clothes. I said, what? Where are we going? He said to get our boat. Immediately I asked the facilitator of the meeting how long before we are done because I needed to “Be Here Now” for my family. Well at 5pm I was going South on I-95. I made it home in 30 minutes from Port Everglades. Sure enough when I got home the kids where showered, dinner was done and the rental car was ready to go. I was super happy to see the kids so excited about the trip. They were all dressed up as if it was 30 degrees in Miami. We started on the road trip to Greenville North Carolina at 8pm sharp. The kids slept all the way through the night. The next morning at 7:30am we were in North Carolina. Needless to say we drove all night non stop. The marina we kept the boat at in Dowry Creek in Belhaven, N.C. had the best service we’d ever experienced (thanks Ted!). The marina had a ride waiting for us at the place we dropped off the car in Greenville airport. We arrived at the marina after being awake for 26 hours. We were excited, the moment we had been waiting for had arrived and there she was waiting for us. Our boat, sitting patiently like a grandmother waiting for her grandkids, looked good considering a 55 mile an hour wind storm had just passed through the week before. The only damage was to the blue, aft deck shade top Mario temporally rigged up which he fixed. The batteries were dead, we realized this after the DC lights would not turn on. Apparently the two batteries were drained when the shore power was lost for a few days after the storm but by the time the marina staff noticed and put the power back on, the batteries where dead from bilge pump use. Mario said “no problem Baby, this is why we carry spares”. He took out the dead batteries but when he went to put in the new ones he noticed that they sold him the wrong batteries! He bought 12 volt deep cycles but they delivered 24 volt group 27 batteries which look the same. Mario shrugged his shoulders and went to the auto parts store and bought the correct batteries and an extra battery charger just in case and I needed to do the groceries. The marina gave us a courtesy car and some advice when on the road to watch out for black bears and deer. Sure enough we saw a couple dead deer on the side of the road while on our way to get groceries. As far as the black bears we were only able to see them in pictures recently taken by the owner of the marina a few weeks back on his way to do his groceries. We got back and filled up the refrigerator with fresh food, the lower cabinets with lots of candies and the upper ones with plenty of booze for the big kids. The marina loaned us a heater for the night, they said it is going to get really cold. We tested the engines or the “ladies” as Mario affectionately calls them now. They started at the first try! Their sound was telling us “Sweet dreams guys see you tomorrow morning”. We went to bed around 830pm we were dead tired.

Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:34:00 +0000

Sunday, October 1, 2006

Today was a major bummer for our ICW trip. We got up at sunrise and prepared for another early departure. We had breakfast then we departed Dowry creek marina at 7:52AM. It looked like another beautiful day was on the horizon. Once we rounded green 15 we came into cell phone range. We had six missed calls and 2 messages. Yaisy went to work on getting the messages as I was making my turn to the south. We were already about an hour out of the marina where we were at and south of Belhaven, NC. Yaisy told me we had bad news, I had a call from my job that my DC-10 check-out was Monday the 2nd at 7:00 am. I called my boss to confirm. Anyhow, we decided it would be faster to turn around and get a ride from the marina to the airport. We didn’t want to back track an hour so we thought about leaving the boat in Belhaven since it was almost abeam us. But Yaisy called River Forest marina to compare their monthly rates. Well, I’m happy to say that Dowry Creek Marina is $200 cheaper than River Forest marina and power is included. And the folks are really nice too. Ted the guy in charge there is super nice and he really knows how to host cruisers. We arrived back at the slip in Dowry Creek at 9:30 am. We took about an hour to ready the boat for an extended stay and got a ride to Greenville airport. This portion of our ICW trip has been absolutely wonderful for us rookies. I hope that our second half of this trip will be just as fun as the first half. I hope to be back soon.

Here's a picture of me in my new office:

Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Mario Gonzalez) — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:11:00 +0000

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Beautiful day, calm waters, had breakfast then we were off by 7:52 am. Crossed the Pasquotank River and the Albemarle Sound averaging 7.8 kts. We did a tech stop at the Alligator river marina located at the NW corner of the swing bridge just before mile 85 where we put on 80.8 gal of fuel.

There was no fuel dock in Elizabeth city for some reason. Nice trip all the way to Upper Dowry creek and to Dowry creek marina where we are now. We took on 65.2 gal of fuel. Total distance traveled today is 75 miles.

I cooked up two nice rib eyes on the bbq and Yaisy made up some mix salad and some fried up some French fries. I did my engine check before dinner that way we are good to go in the morning with no hassle. The boat is running good. I’m happy, Yaisy is happy and that’s all that matters.