Jan. 11, 2021 Monday. I will apologize now for any goofs I make on our newest blog. The format is much different from 2010-11 when I did the first one! But here goes:
We’re southbound for another trip to the Bahamas...or the Florida Keys. So much has gone on since we bought SIMPLICITY in Punta Gorda, FL back in August 2019. Same name, different boat. Our new home is a 2000 380 Lagoon.
She’s pretty unique in that she has a sling seat with mega reinforced Bimini and arch.
It’s pretty nice since you can read or sleep when it’s nice out!
But I’ve jumped ahead in time. For anyone interested and wondering how we got here since we had moved back to Washington here’s the quick version. 2012 we bought our dream retirement home and moved to Gig Harbor, WA to take care of David’s mom. 2014 We moved to Bellingham, WA and bought Bellhaven Yacht Sales and Charters. Great business selling boats and managing a small charter fleet. We decided 2019 was time to get back onto a boat so sold Bellhaven. We learned a lot about small businesses and how important they are. We met some amazing people and hope to stay in touch with them. I know we dropped off the radar but my goal is to keep this log going. So, that’s the past....here’s our new home.
We have an Owners Version which means we have our own “hull” with a cabin and full shower/head. Reasonable salon and the other hull has 2 cabins. We use the forward cabin for storage and the aft cabin for family and friends. One of the unique features of the boat is our sling seat in the cockpit and the super strong bimini frame. Here are a couple of pictures:
Our friends in Gloucester, VA, Ronnie and Renee Powell not only offered us a dock WITH power, water, TV and a tiki bar. Ronnie crafted the cabinet above for us! Wasn’t sure if we would have been able to get it so THANK YOU Ronnie😘
So, that’s the boat!
TRIPS!
2019: We bought the boat in August, hired a captain to help get us down the Gulf side of Florida, around the Keys and up to Palm Beach. We started up the ICW to Beaufort, SC and Lady’s Island Marina until mid-December when we grabbed a mooring ball in Vero Beach with our cruising friends from our 2010-11 trip. Bob and Francie Sadler on BAREFOOTIN we’re here as well! We both left mid-January and crossed over to the Bahamas and spent some time in the Abacos.
We fell in love with the Bahamas back in 2010 but the Abacos we found in 2020 were devastated and heartbreaking. To say the islands went through hell is an understatement. Hurricane Dorian was a Class 5 storm that sat over Marsh Harbor and surrounding cays for 3 days. The government doesn’t know how many people got washed out to sea and claim the death toll was 60 people in Marsh Harbor and 10 on Grand Bahama. It’s mind boggling to think about thousands of people living in tents and shantytowns surviving. Marsh Harbor is still decimated and in need of everything but remains one of our favorite stops. We are confident it will come back stronger than before - it’s just going to take time. The following pictures don’t really show how devastating the storm was.
I’m not sure how to move pictures around yet so bear with me. The following are pictures from Green Turtle Cay and Hopetown on Elbow Cay.
Hopetown
Hopetown, Elbow Cay
Green Turtle Cay
Truman Major and Bob Sadler. We use Truman’s mooring balls in Hopetown. He spent 7 hours in his house before going to the shelter. He had sent his family to the States when it appeared the storm was really going to be horrific. Truman is the happiest man in spite of the trauma he survived.
Hopetown, Elbow Cay
Hopetown, Elbow Cay
The public dock at Green Turtle. You can see the direction the wind came in at. It was unreal trying to walk the dock. Our dinghy has the green bunting. I found it up in a tree on a walk around Hopetown. After we left the Abacos we headed to Eleuthera and staged ourselves for the cross over to the Exuma Land and Sea Park. We fell in love the Park on our first trip so we knew we wanted to do some more exploring. And what we found was beautiful! Shroud Cay has so much to offer. Here are a couple of pictures:
Shroud Cay
Shroud
Shroud
So many sea turtles!!!Looking back on this trip I realized how depressed we were because of what Dorian had done. It’s hard to put into words and pictures how destroyed the Abacos were. I now realize that was the main reason I couldn’t do the log. How could I be so excited about being there when so many people lost loved one and ALL their worldly goods? The more I keep track of the people of the Abacos I realized how resilient and strong they are. That’s how they stay focused on recovery from all the hurricanes that try to knock them out.
So, this trip was a short one. We only got to spend 3 months there before COVID hit. We crossed back to the States on March 29th and stayed in Vero for a week then headed back up the ICW headed to Deltaville Boat Repair in Virginia. We actually took our time going North and got to Deltaville on July 8. The boat was on the hard for 75 days, we had the engine problems from hell but got lots of Fiona time in Annapolis. We had left our car with daughter, Stephanie, so it was nice to be able to get it and use it while we were there. Sept. 22 we started the trek back to the ICW with stops in Beaufort, SC and Lady’s Island Marina.
As of today, Feb. 8, we are in Vero Beach on a mooring ball. We got here Jan. 17th. We feel very comfortable here. The city has a free bus that takes us to the shopping area where West Marine and Publix grocery store are across the street from each other. It’s about a mile walk to the beautiful Sandy beach and restaurants! Cruisers call it “Velcro Beach” since once you get here you always come back! I guess there are worse places to be.
Hopefully, in a few days - WP (weather permitting) we’ll be headed to Ft. Lauderdale to get our covid tests THEN...head to the Bahamas.
I wanted to get this out as an update to everyone since I was such a slug last year. If you would like to follow the log you will get an email from the following address. If you prefer not to get the email just let me know and I’ll adjust accordingly!
kingscruisinglog .blogspot.com.
Until the next time - please stay well - “this too shall pass.”
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2/8/2021
