Boat Yard

Thought I would post some pictures of the boatyard. Not your typical yard that’s all asphalt, boats lined up on stands, sanders constantly running, big office/chandlery, travel lift to pull and splash boats. No, it is more like a clearing in the woods at the end of a dead-end road that even most locals don’t know about. Everyone from the pizza guys, UPS man, even the Police (whole nother crazy story) have to ask if they have the correct address. We like it this way.

There are seven of us living here, three on boats, one in a shack, one in a motor home, one in a room on the ground floor of the “Tower”. The Tower consisting of ground floor living quarters (no bathroom), second floor wood shop, third floor is half patio and half TV room for the owner. The owner being an old hippie who resembles a wizard complete w/ long white beard, very low key. There is a stairway that circles the tower to access the different floors, then continues up to an 8×10 deck above the roof. One bathroom at the tower accessed from outside. Flush toilet w/ buckets of seawater. Rain water is collected from the eaves, stored in a cistern, and pumped to barrels on the roof. This supplies the shower and sink. We are on the Atlantic Ocean though it is obscured by Mangroves. Unless you climb to the top of the tower.

Looking back to the yard. Our area is to the top right behind April’s car, obscured by pines. The open-air shop/hang out area to the left.

Our boat shortly after arrival.

An actual Cuban Vessel at our dingy dock. It was used by Cubans to come here. They landed south of here a few miles. A friend of a friend brought the boat here for some unknown reason.

I thought I had a few more pics uploaded here but don’t see any. Next time.

Update

Been a while since the last post. No excuse, haven’t been all that busy.

First off a shout out to Mike. Thanks for the comments!! Good to know you are still thinking of us. My phone took a shit and I lost my contacts or I would have called you a while back. Now my new phone did the same thing (screen went out). Will have to get your number when I get things straightened out.

Not back to work yet, should be in the next few weeks. Unit 4 EPU at Turkey Point is scheduled to start around Nov 1st.  We are living on the boat, in a boat yard, in Key Largo. Actually it is a small yard in the woods at the end of a lonely dead-end street on the ocean. Most locals don’t even know where it is. We still have the 26′ sailboat that we bought last spring and it is anchored in Tarpon Basin. Both boats survived T/S Issac. We stayed onboard Gone in the yard for the storm. Took a couple large tree branches on deck that sounded huge when they hit but did no damage. Pretty cool to see the island vacant except locals and businesses closed and shuttered for the storm. Glad Issac didn’t reach hurricane status till after leaving the area.

April had Bariatric surgery in Miami about a month ago and is doing well. We were fortunate to be offered a cottage at Key Lime Sailing Club for the first two weeks of her recovery. Sooo nice to have a kitchen, bathroom, air conditioning, comfy bed, quiet atmosphere, etc. Big thanks to KLSC. Downside has been that she has not been able to be in the water. Lots of time on our hands but no snorkeling, fishing, sailing.

Just realized that the pictures I want to post of the boat yard are still on my tablet so I will have to get them uploaded first. In the mean time I will post some of moving the boat. We didn’t have a home when we brought her down and spent a couple of nights at Key Lime. Then part of a week in the warehouse parking lot owned by the lady whom we rented our apartment from last spring. We were not allowed to live aboard at the warehouse so were homeless for a time. Spent a couple nights in a cottage at Key Lime, a night in a camper, and a night at a friends apt on his dog bed. Happy we were to find Robbie’s boat yard and get settled in. And at a monthly price that most yards charge per week.

Loaded up and ready to hit the road

We picked up Sailing Dave from Tennessee along the way. He was returning to his  boat in Key Largo after a visit home. Here we are taking a break in Georgia

When you see a cow that big you just have to milk it, April and Dave

 

Backed into the yard at Key Lime Sailing Club

At the warehouse

1600 trouble-free miles. I had a total of 6 spare tires for the trailer, two mounted on rims. I had jacked all axles and removed all tires before leaving so that I knew they would be free in the event of a break-down. Snapped a cheater bar in the process so it was good to have done. They had not been removed in at least 4 years. I kept saying that if we had a flat in the middle of the night, during a rainstorm on a mountain in Tennessee, I wanted to be prepared. Well there was a time of tension when, at approx. 0300, outside of Chattanooga, it started to pour. I thought I had jinxed myself and waited for the doom. Thankfully it never came.

Will get some pics of our home at the boatyard up in the next post.

 

Another Sailboat-Oday 19

It was driving us crazy to be on this island called Key Largo, literally surrounded by water, and not have our own means to be out on it. Dylan works at Key Lime Sailing Club, and when he came home to tell us that Paul (owner) was selling a few boats, we had to check them out.

We picked out an Oday 19 that was mostly complete and when Paul told us to take her and pay later how could we refuse?! We spent about 8 hours one Sunday cleaning and retro-fitting a rudder and towed her home.  Hope to splash her sometime next weekend and see how she floats. Need safety equiptment, new running rigging (lines that raise/control sails), replace the compass, and a bit more cleaning. A small motor would be nice but till then April has some new fins. 🙂

Here she is sitting at the apartment:

April and I agree the name will change, w/ proper ceremony of coarse, but have yet to decide to what.

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CLMF!!!!