May 12, 2021 We have sold BeachQuest

The End.  Its no longer our boat.

It took several months.  Many boat tours by interested people over the course of the last 4 months, but Art and Virginia really liked the boat and bought it!

 We brought it back to Hammock Beach Marina from Huckins boat yard in Jacksonville, our last cruise. We exchanged ownership, they toting stuff on board as we, in turn took our stuff off. Smooth operation! And of course after getting everything just right, the boat ran better than it has ever run. Smooth as silk. So we sold it! So now on to the next adventure ... where the heck are we going to live? ... (In a townhouse in Vero Beach as it turns out)!

 Some stats beginning in March 2013 and ending May 2021

 

    Total miles traveled was approximately 30,000 miles. 

    Fuel used: 12,331 gallons (average cost per gallon of $2.96)

        Anchored (Days)......... 442   15% 

        Free Dock (Days) ........ 75      3% 

        Marina (Days) ......... 1,518   52% 

        Mooring Ball (Days) .. 127     4% 

        Boat Yard (Days) ....... 206     7% 

        Travel to WI (Days) ... 571   19% 

         

        Non-Stop (overnights) . 6

January 2020-July 2020

I've lapsed into blogger lethargy. I have lots of notes and pictures but seem to fall prey to procrastination which leads to a rather boring, static blog. Apologies to anyone still looking back at here.

 In short, we were in Marathon until May, made it up the coast during the Covid lull and at the moment are a few days away from Hampton where we'll sit for a few months. We need to be in WI early September. We'll be back at the boat by October and off we go south. In the meantime we have put the boat up for sale, survived not a few storms and were unable to get back to the Bahamas. Long Island called but we weren't listening thus condemning us to a long trek up the ICW only as far Hampton.

These last few weeks in July have been hellishly hot. So hot in fact, we've gone soft and are doing marinas every night so the AC can run all night instead of the 4 or so hours every evening.  So in a nutshell, we are selling the boat and once that is accomplished we will be living on land. Somewhere. But I'll post small snippets about that adventure as it unfolds.

I did add a rudimentary web page of many of our ICW stops over the years and the mileages.     Well, ok.  It wasn't exactly an effort to endear me to thousands of cruisers plying the ICW, but more for my benefit because I never remember how far it is between these common stopping points.  So if anyone else finds it useful, I can claim at least partial community service.  See  this link here

November 2018 - December 2019

Leaving Huckins we headed to Hammock Beach Resort and Marina.   Later in January we headed south to Marathon and after a few months headed back up to Huckins for boat repairs.

Mary scheduled her new knee surgery and after we were situated in Salt Ponds in Hampton,VA.  Uncle Dan passed away a few weeks after we arrived, meaning a trip to WI.  And then later after we had returned to Salt Ponds, we again drove up to WI for Mary's new knee.

After a month, I left Mary in the care of our eldest daughter and returned to Salt Ponds where My cousin Kathy joined me and we took the boat down to Brunswick.  Kathy had to fly back to WI so I took the boat to Huckins, solo.

Meanwhile Mary's other brother, Gordy passed away.  Mary's knee rehab is going slow but we still plan to be back on the boat in early December, and repeating our usual Hammock Beach, Marathon winter trek. 

As for early spring the specter of the Bahamas looms large.  We'll see.

Trying out a minimalist blogging style on our more detailed blog 

August - October 2018 New England and back South

We spent a great few months exploring Long Island and Cape Cod Bay.  Boston, Providence Town, Sag Harbor, Montauk were a few of the many stops we made.  Great trip!

On the way back down we made a stop at Great Kill and met up with Wayward.  We spent several days there waiting for a weather window and finally took advantage of a marginal one.  The alternative would have been to stay at Great Kills for at least another 4-5 days.

We tossed around a bit on the less than light seas (forecast models all disagree and are rarely accurate) but we made it to Atlantic City, then Cape May and up the Delaware River and the C&D Canal to Chesapeake City were the seas and weather seemed to moderate.

We anchored along the Chesapeake (Wayward managed to snag a log  anchoring up the Sassafras River) and made stops and Annapolis, Solomons, St. Michaels,  Olversons, and down to Salt Ponds for a day or so before heading down to Norfolk and on into North and South Carolina.

We made it into Georgia and finally here in Brunswick where we are staying for few days before heading to Huckins boat yard where we leave the boat for a month.  Per our usual arrival here, we almost beat a rainstorm while docking.  Almost ...

We have a group of great friends here!  But the downside is all the boat maintenance I've deferred while playing over the few months.  They have now come to the fore, thus I will me digging in the engine room for at least a few days this week.

For details, one can berate me for not updating our our detailed travel blog.   Probably wont do much good but I'm devoting at least a day while we are here in Brunswick to putting something up more recent than last year.

July-August 2018 Up to New York and New England

We did the now routine trek up to Norfolk, and through the Chesapeake.  We stayed for over a week in Baltimore having never stopped there before.  Fun Place.

The usual stop in Chesapeake City was a surprise becasue they have dredged the entrance!

We went through New York (13.5 mph through Hells Gate!)  and loitered around Long Island for several weeks stopping at Port Jeff, Port Washington, Cutty Hunk, Vineyard Haven among other places.  We did take the ferry to Nantucket for a day.  Wow!  What crowds!

Then it was up through the CC canal to Boston where we were joined by my daughter and their 2 boys for a week of Boston history.  Fun, even in the rain.

We left Boston and stayed in Gloucester for a few days and saw friends then headed to Provincetown in Cape Cod where we are now.  Weather permitting we hope to get over to Long Island again and maybe Hyannis.  Then Montauk for Labor Day before joining up with Dave and Joann for the trek south.

Lazy ass that am., the details, while recorded, have yet to be posted.    But our travels and current location can be found here.   The map is clickable.

April - June 2018

We made it up to Norfolk, then Hampton, VA, leaving the boat at Salt Ponds Marina before driving to WI to see family and doctors.  We even made an excursion to Minnesota to see our daughter.

Back at the boat after a month up north, we spent a week doing boat maintenance and entertaining our son and his son for a few days.  We left Salt Ponds on June 21, bound for New York by way of stops along the Chesapeake Bay.

Our first anchorage was Little Bay just past the Rappahannock River.  Its a little different than when we stopped here in 2013.  But the dog enjoyed the beach.

Rain storms tonight!

February-March 2018

We loitered and played in Marathon until mid March and then made our way up the Bay side through Miami.    I was able to enjoy a few games of Pickle Ball, a first for me.

A stop in Tarpon basin anchorage for the night allowed us to see Dave and Darlene.

Moving north we anchored at Oleta Park with the next few days looking promising for an outside run.   And we took advantage of it, Miami to Lake Worth then again outside to to St. Lucie Inlet.

No blue stripe on the side any longer.  Hard to see, but it really is shiny

We pulled into Fort Pierce the following day after anchoring near Jensen Beach to avoid the strong southerly winds.

A few days after we arrived in Harbortown Marina, we went over to Cracker Boy boat works and were hauled out.  Manuel and his gang started sanding the next day and we had a newly painted topsides a few days after.  So shiny and new looking.  The downside is we will have to wax the rest of the boat so it appears to be somewhat uniformly shiny.

Next its on to Norfolk where we'll leave the boat for several weeks as doctors probe us and scold us.  And we see grand kids.

Once back on the boat we're off towards New York and Long Island Sound.