Week 1

One week in

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October 1, 2014

We have been underway for one week and we are all beginning to settle in to our cruising routine. We have tried to break up long days of cruising with either a day at anchor or a short leg to keep from working the crew too hard. So far the crew is performing beyond the Captain’s most optimistic expectations. Ryan, Randy and Patton all got a very close look at a 3′ stingray as he cruised silently a foot or so off the beach in Pelican Bay the other night. Leaving Pelican Bay, we had planned on transiting one set of locks on the Okeechobee waterway and then tucking into a quiet cove in Rialto for the night. As is often the case with cruisers, flexibility was required because the cove we planned on anchoring in had been marked off with no anchoring signs. Not to worry, we motored on and found a quaint little harbor in LaBelle where the boys met their first “boat kid”, Nina an 8 year old fellow Calvert home schooled little girl who is living aboard a 45′ Catamaran.

Boat kids in LaBelle

Boat kids in LaBelle

After a quiet evening in LaBelle we pressed on through two more sets of locks. The boys are becoming old hands at dealing with the lock transits and all of the lock tenders have been very complimentary about our crews performance. As I am writing this we are tied to the dock at Roland Martin’s Marina in Clewiston, FL. We got in last night in time to watch the Giants win the National League Wild Card game in Pittsburgh so the Giants fans aboard are indeed happy. Today we will cross Lake Okeechobee and spend the night in Indiantown on the east side of the lake. Not much of a hurry on our transit at this point as the weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream is looking like it may not occur until at least early next week.

October 3, 2014

We left Clewiston yesterday and crossed Lake Okeechobee, transiting the Port Mayaca lock on the eastern edge of Lake Okeechobee around sunset. It has been amazing to watch how quickly the boys have gotten into the routine and duties of very capable deck hands.

The lock tenders at Port Mayaca were so impressed with how they handled themselves that they rewarded the boys with a sack of ice pops as we cleared the lock.

Ronan Franklin lock

Ronan at the Franklin lock

Deck Hand Ryan making preparations to lock

Deck Hand Ryan making preparations to lock

(Lake Okeechobee Waterway Locks)

We continued east to the Indiantown marina to spend the night. We are going to spend a couple of days in Indiantown, taking care of boat stuff and getting ahead of the home schooling program. At this point it looks like we may have to wait until later next week to get a suitable weather window to cross over to the Bahamas so we are truly getting ourselves adjusted to the concept of island time. In the meantime, we are respectfully steering clear of our local Okeechobee Waterway neighbors like the Alligator below who has been loitering about just off our starboard side.

Alligator off our starboard side

Alligator off our starboard side

 

Week 1

Week 1

Theresa & Randy at the helm

We are underway!

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Saturday September 27, 2014 0800


( The boys cast off)

The day has finally arrived and we wasted no time as everyone was up early, eager to get underway. We left Port Tarpon Marina with a full contingent of marina neighbors aboard our friends Bob and Dietland Coan’s Sea Ray to escort us out of the Anclote river.

Bob, DeeDee, Bruce & Myra escorting us down the Anclote River

Bob, DeeDee, Bruce & Myra escorting us down the Anclote River

(Pilots Discretion underway at 29 knots)

Once clear of the Anclote we turned south and headed down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) for Venice. As it turned out, nature wasted no time providing us a spectacular preview of the the wonders that await us in our new world of cruising.


(Dolphin in our wake)

A pod of dolphins took up station on our bow wave less than an hour into our trip and the boys got a front row seat as the dolphins took turns gliding just below the surface in front of our anchor and then breaking off to jump clear of the water and trail us in our wake. We did have a brief encounter with a few afternoon thundershowers while crossing Sarasota Bay but that really only served to give us a free freshwater wash down.

The first days run was completed in 10 hours after which we dined aboard and all hands slept like logs, exhausted but full of anticipation for the journey ahead. I am putting up a screen shot of our route with this post and we will create a subcategory within our blog to archive each days travel so that you can reference each leg of our trip as your curiosity warrants. Thanks to all of you that have sent along well wishes.

Pilots' Discretion track on day 1

Pilots’ Discretion track on day 1

The crew of the Pilots’ Discretion
Randy, Theresa, Ryan, Ronan and Patton

One day to go

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As this is being written we are finishing up our last minute to do list. Tomorrow is go day and we are ready both in a preparation sense and emotionally. All of the planning, prep and provisioning is done. This past week has been filled with farewells, family and friends and a mad scramble to deal with the inevitable “boat stuff”. I want to thank the guys from Pitman Yacht Services, Doug Bruce as well as James Cleveland from Cleveland Diesel for hanging in there and helping us make sure the last minute maintenance items all got taken care of.

On a personal note, the boys got to see their grandparents this weekend and we also had the pleasure of a visit from my friend and mentor, retired airline Captain John Davis ( US Airways 757 Captain).

Capt. Davis and Randy

Capt. Davis and Randy

All in all, the support from family and friends as we have gotten ready has been nothing short of amazing. I am sure some of them must think we are crazy to undertake such an ambitious trip but they have been there to help out in any way they can.

 

 

We especially would like to thank our boat neighbors at the Port Tarpon Marina, Bob and DeeDee Coan, who graciously hosted a “Bon voyage ” party for us at their home. You guys have been great and we will miss visiting with you while we are gone. There are no goodbyes associated with our voyage; only until we see you again.

Bon Voyage!

Bon Voyage!

 

Today, we ran the boat one final time to verify proper systems functioning. I was very pleased as everything worked well and we observed a top speed of 29.5 knots which indicates the hull and running gear are clean and the engines are making rated power. I have attached a screen shot of our track as depicted on our Delorme satellite tracking website so you can see what to expect as we travel on our voyage.

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Our next post will be after we are underway. To say that we are all excited and looking forward to the start of our voyage is an understatement.

A Quick Trip up the Anclote River to have Pilots’ Discretion hauled out

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Pilots' Discretion being prepped for bottom paint in the Travel Lift

Pilots’ Discretion being prepped for bottom paint in the Travel Lift

With literally days to go before our departure, we still have a few open items on our list of preparations. The largest of those items is to have our boat hauled out of the water to have a new coat of bottom paint applied. The bottom paint protects the hull and running gear from barnacle buildup which in turn can have a dramatic effect on overall boat efficiency ( think 33% reduction in fuel mileage in extreme cases.) It also provides us one final opportunity to go over all of our engineering systems prior to departure so it is an effort worth the cost and labor. Yesterday morning, Theresa and I were at the marina early to get underway for Pittman Yacht Services, a dry dock facility that is equipped with a travel lift crane of suitable capacity to literally pick up our 45000 lb boat and place it on a set of blocks out of the water to facilitate our maintenance efforts.

It was a beautiful morning on the river and although the trip was brief, we enjoyed the opportunity to take Pilots’ Discretion out for a quick trip.

PD crew cuts

It is official, we are aboard!

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The end game or the first day is in sight, depending on your point of view. We finished up moving out of our home yesterday. Today, we will go over and clean up the house and make final preparations so that our new tenant can move in this weekend. Yesterday was Theresa’s birthday and we celebrated it in grand style at the marina restaurant (Davidson’s Dockside). We all are finishing up our vaccinations regimen, Patton included. The Captain issued his first standing order that all male crew members aboard Pilots’ Discretion shall have appropriate high and tight haircuts before putting to sea. Our very capable deck hand, Ryan pointed out to the Captain that it was the Captain that was in need of a proper grooming. That leads us to here; in the video below you will see that all hands pitch in when there is a task that needs accomplished. Ryan served as the ship’s barber and now the Captain is groomed to the ship’s standards. Next week we will haul the Pilots’ Discretion to have a fresh coat of bottom paint applied. After that, our Caribbean adventure will begin with the first favorable weather window. We can’t wait and we hope you will come along with us via this blog. Standby, the adventure begins now!

 

PD crew cuts

PD crew cuts