Some Christmas pictures

They go all out decorating here in Fort Lauderdale!

Even decorate barges for Winterfest as a friendly Alligator! :)

Our Christmas tree aboard the Esperanza!

Sea Trials

Ruth cast the lines { she is getting very good with the boat work and learning fast} off we went down the river, steering and expensive bow thruster working great. It is winter fest here and i will let My Honey describe that to you. We are in Lake Sylvia still waiting for that weather window.

We tried to download pictures but this $1.00/day Internet does not seem to allow any extras...kind of like Dollarama!! Well, there definitely is money in the U.S. and we think it is all in Florida (probably thanks, in part, to innocent boaters from up North - lol). Hopefully, we will get pics on later, meanwhile I have to tell you my jaw dropped at the expenditure and opulence so many times I had to close it so I wouldn't catch too many flies! Fake snow, lavishly decorated houses and boats, Santa's swinging from Palm Trees, tables set out along the river dressed in Christmas finery waiting for Guests to arrive to watch the Winter fest Parade of boats down the waterway this evening. One of the barges was well done - it looked like an Alligator! They really go all out here and no snow and it's warm!!! All good!

so you want to be a live aboard?
I say yes 
and Ruth too
have to love it!

When it rains in Florida

Yes sometimes it rains in Florida heavy rain off and on for most of the day. But mine started at 9am when Ed Ruff arrived with my bow thruster motor. I was in the engine room looking at another potential problem when Ruth yelled to me. Crawling out i was presented with a bill for 1057.00 my face dropped to the engine room floor. The motor was completely rebuilt but my god what a price.
At 3PM we went up to the office to pay for three days at the yard and one hour of service total $500.00 now I am just waiting for my generator pump  to arrive and we can leave tomorrow. We decide to go and get some more supplies before leaving. When we returned my pump was waiting - you won't believe this $288.00 for a pump that you can hold in a child's hand.
So when I say it rains in Florida it pours!!!
On the bright side the bow thruster and steering are all working.

Day 2 - Living In a Boat Yard

Life isn't so bad living in a boat yard. Everyone can find you - especially at $1.50/ Ft. - not a bad rate for Fort Lauderdale. In a boat yard you do not have the amenities of a Marina, so we still have to shower on board and today we took our laundry to local Laundromat...the Skipper did a wonderful job of doing laundry while Ruth shopped - got awesome new sandals!!! :) Also found a few Christmas decorations and made a wreathe for the Esperanza tonight!

After a lovely supper out last night at O'Connor's Irish Pub, it  was a quiet night and 8:30 AM today, Ed arrived from Rough Marine to inspect the Bow Thruster ....out the motor comes once again to be rebuilt and hopefully we'll have it back tomorrow. Fellow came and fixed the Hydraulic Steering - all a go on that end! Ordered a new Water Pump for the Generator - 3rd one in 3 years - and hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. The weather window does not look good until Wednesday of next week so cross your fingers that we can cross to the Bahamas then. Meanwhile, life in the boat yard is fairly peaceful and people are friendly! After dragging anchor Tuesday night and having an interrupted supper, I asked Ruth to make the same supper tonight - curried stir fry shrimp with egg noodles - God it was good (Editor's note: Can you tell he is spoiled???) Update tomorrow! Goodnight! :)

Off to th Bahamas....Not!!!!

Today was a good weather window so up at 6:30 AM to head to the Bahamas....within 2 miles of pulling anchor, approaching our first bridge, Esperanza decided to have a hissy fit and had talked with the Bow Thruster....they decided to mutiny!!!! Suddenly, all steering was lost...OMG....beautiful yachts all around and a bridge,  and 2 knot currents pushing us to bridge we weren't sure we would clear! Dropping anchor in the middle of the channel. and calling Tow Boat US and placing a security alert to Channel 16 that we were blocking the bridge and channel. Keeping the boat in reverse, our Skipper tried to maneuver the boat to the nearest dock or Bridge Fender. Ruth dropped Boat Fenders, just instinctively, having never been in this situation before! Ruth's ballet came in handy as she leaped to the fender with a line in hand, managing to hold this vessel against a 2 knot current while Skipper Scottie tried to attach a spring line to the fender.
Tow Boat US was 15 minutes away......when we finally got lines on, we ended up ripping the light off the bridge fender....while Ruth politely apologized to Bridge Keeper, Chris, and with very little damage to Esperanza. We had a scary tow up narrow waterways and Ruth could not believe we didn't hit another Yacht or Bridge..."me nerves were rubbed raw"!
Arriving at our final destination: the Riverbend Marina and Boatyard...where we are currently living  - lol....we decided to have ALL repairs done so the Bow Thruster and Steering would not mutiny again!!! We met a lovely lady, Lori, in the office there who invited us to join her for the Winter fest events this Saturday, if still here, and a Pig Roast at her Brother's....most people are sooo nice...life is good!
Skipper's Note: after 1 week, Ruth has become a very valuable First Mate. Very calm under stressful situations and handles everything very well. We will let you all know when repairs are completed and heading out again. I still want to show Ruth the beaches and waters of the Bahamas.

Bah Humbug Bow Thruster

Ruth arrived last Wednesday. Picked her up at West Palm Beach Airport in a black convertible...yahoo! Had an enjoyable ride back with top down....scenic route after getting lost few times. Lol. Made it back to the Marina in Stuart.
Before Jim left, he took Bow Thruster battery to NAPA and it was good....so I decided to take Bow thruster motor out and have it tested...seemed to be fine. Next, I had Diver John (according to Ruth a cute, young thing) come out to boat - he cleaned the bottom and the dreaded Bow Thruster. After the cleaning and hours of work, still no improvement in Bow Thruster performance.....Bah Humbug!!!
Donald and Susan - "Old Sam" - were planning on leaving Stuart for Lake Worth on Saturday so we fueled up and joined them. Anchored in Lake Worth expecting to leave for Bahamas Sun. AM but before we managed to raise anchor, new acquaintances from Trawler: "Time & Tide", Gary and Christine, radioed that they had started at 4:00 AM to cross to West End Bahamas but had to turn around due to "beam sea". Susan and Donald continued on and had a rough trip but arrived safely!
So, Monday AM we attempted to leave with our New "Buddy Boat" - Time & Tide, and after about 7 miles our predicted 2-3' seas, were 3-5' - making very little headway, we decided to turn around and come back. We all then travelled down the Inter coastal Waterway to Lake Boca Raton where we dropped anchor for the night. Ruth is becoming very good at steering the boat, reading charts, and helping with lines, etc.
Today we continued South down the ICW to Fort Lauderdale hoping it will make for an easier crossing from here. With the Gulf Stream pushing us along we hope to leave tomorrow AM for the Bahamas.
Ruth cooked a beautiful curried shrimp stir fry tonight that was interrupted by a dragging anchor and fellow boaters yelling at us....
My new nemesis is going to be the Bow Thruster...spent all morning working on it and talking to the factory to no avail so..."Bah Humbug Bow Thruster" and off to the Bahamas tomorrow...cross your fingers!!

This pic is just before turning back - 1st Gulf crossing attempt.

Breakfast on Esperanza.

Bow Thruster

On Thursday before leaving Jim took the bow thruster battery to napa thinking it was bad. They tested the battery and it is fine so reinstalled and tried the thruster again. It was still doing the same thing after 10 seconds it was losing torque like the battery was going dead. While operating it Jim noticed sparks at the top of the motor could be bad brushes. So today i removed the motor and took it to a motor rewind shop. They put it on the test stand and it ran fine so back to the boat and reinstalled and you guess it its running fine god knows what i did. but I now no how to take apart a bow thruster.
so Feet up and relax for the rest of the day, and off to don and sue boat for dinner