Time Out

Many apologies for the lack of blog updates.  A series of technical difficulties, culminating in the complete loss of function of the laptop space bar, have made blogging more difficult.  That said, we also just had a lovely visit with my parents on Harbour Island.  Much merriment was had by all- eating, drinking, beach-bumming- so writing was clearly not a priority when any free time and wifi was available.

The end of the holidays signifies a change in approach and priorities for our adventure, however.  Since leaving Seven Seas marina in October, our clear goal was to make it to Eleuthera by Christmas.  Our traveling approach will now change to moving according to the wind and our will.  Our desire to visit new coral reefs or see a new island will become our new goals.  Our attention is also now shifting toward adventure: Chapter 2.  Our boat and budget are only large enough to sustain us through the Exuma islands, after which we will be deciding what is to come next.  Pull anchor or try to continue?  We love the water, cruising and traveling, but always knew that we would have to go back to "real life" at some point.  As I write this, Cyrus and Tyler are riding in a fellow cruiser's dinghy- playing in the harbor.  How will we retain and implement the lessons we have learned through this adventure?  How will we continue to make joy, play, nature and living in the moment a part of each day?

I will post more about our journey through Devil's Backbone and Harbour Island before we move out of wifi range.  

Chub Cay

After running aground off of Stirrup Cay, we moved our boat to a slightly less rolly anchorage and tried to recoup a bit.  After coffee and a swim, we checked our weather window for traveling north to Sandy Point on Abaco.  As luck would have it, the best day for sailing was that very day.  We considered the possibility, and then changed our route to Eleuthera- opting to go south to Chub Cay, cross to Nassau and then make a last 35-mile trip to Spanish Wells.
We anchored in Bullocks Harbor and left at first light, in a light rain, for Chub Cay.  This route was actually back-tracking a bit, however, back-tracking is simply not the same in cruising terms.
We arrived in Chub Cay at around 3:30pm- with 5 other boats already anchored in a tiny curve in the beach away from the tidal surge and wind.  Luckily, our boat only draws (length below the waterline) 4 feet 4 inches, so we can sneak in a bit further than other boats.
We tucked into our spot, set the anchor (in 2 tries) and then SWAM!!!
Cyrus insisted that I swim with him.  At first, I was hesitant because I was tired and brain-dead from a long trek- but, as you may know, Cyrus usually gets his way.  We played and swam until sunset- finding giant starfish and pledging to repeat the swim first thing in the morning.
That said- Chub Cay has nothing but a marina with an over-priced restaurant (not uncommon in the Bahamas)- so Tyler's dream of a burger and beer was replaced with homemade spaghetti bolognaise and red wine....such is the life!

Swimming with Mirage in background

Starfish and our anchor- notice it is sitting on it's side- not really how it is supposed to work
thank god for 100 feet of chain- Thank you Keath!

Stirrup Cay

It is 10:40pm and everyone on board the boat is snoring...including Zander- the perfect time to write a blog post.  When I started the blog, I had hoped to be able to somehow update every day.  The realities of data roaming on a cell phone and ability to connect to wifi have set in, however, so I will try to update as often as I can.  Honestly, I wish I could update more often because I tend to write more about observations and less simple rehashing of our travels....
Much has happened since the last post!
  We sailed around Little Stirrup and Great Stirrup Cays- where the large cruise ships pull in early in the morning and their guests explore an "island paradise."  Ironically, the beaches on these Cays have been bulldozed to create a fake Bahamian paradise.  We anchored on the other side of the Cays from the cruise ships, hoping to spend a couple of days swimming and relaxing before sailing north to Sandy Point....

   We were wrong.

As we were sitting on a small (real) beach watching the sun set, Tyler said, "I think our boat has hit the ground- Just look at the water line (painted on the boat)."  I told him he was being paranoid, but after a few more minutes, I noticed the boat was rocking much more than it should be on the waves...

Mirage had run aground.

We ran the dinghy back to the boat just as the sun slipped away at 5:30 and the bad news was that low tide was not to come for another 2 hours.  Tyler sprang into action trying to get Mirage to heel (tip to one side) so the keel did not bare the load of the boat each time it slammed into the ground.  We put out the sails and took turns leaning off the port side of the boat to tip it as far as possible.  And then, we just waited.  At about 9:30pm, Mirage started to drift loose bit by bit and as the tide came back in, she was released and we were able to pull up the anchor and find deeper water.  To make matters worse, somehow our dinghy came loose during the commotion of anchoring and started to drift away.  Tyler had to make a mad dash for it using the kayak.  I offered to go after it, but he wouldn't let me- saying something about this is how people get lost at sea and killed...which I know was meant to protect me, but left me thinking...EXACTLY!! Where are you going??

After a very rolly night, we decided to head back to Bullocks Harbor and rethink our travel plans- which led us to Chub Cay and then Nassau...but more about that tomorrow- time for me to snore too.

Connected

Today 12/8, we are in the Berry Islands, happily connected to wifi.  The long lapse in communication was due to our trip across the Great Bahama Bank from Bimini to the Berrys, and then anchoring outside of Bullocks Harbor.  Our wifi antenna is almost completed- Tyler did his part and now I have to make all the components talk to each other...I hope I can make that work!
Details of our trip:
After leaving Alicetown in north Bimini, we anchored and played in Nixon's harbor in south Bimini.  We snorkeled together for the first time and were able to see the anchor under water.... not sure that really made ME feel better... but it is cool to see how the anchor actually works.

This sea star was actually super huge... he was hanging out near the anchor

After a very rocky night in Nixon's harbor, we pulled anchor and visited Turtle Rocks nearby.  We were a little shy about snorkeling around a shipwreck in the seas we had, but we were able to dinghy around and take some cool pics.

Shipwreck!

Turtle Rocks was great for some shallow snorkeling, and we began our new photo series entitled "See those tiny white things- those are fish!"

I swear there are fish in this picture and the one below...

We spent the night in Honeymoon Harbor- had a very nice sunset snack on the beach and managed to leave Cyrus' snorkel gear on the beach...bummer.  We had a much calmer night with great protection from the wind, and awoke at 5am to begin our journey across the bank toward the Berry islands. 

We knew that we would not be able to make the trip in one day (sailing only in the daylight) and hoped that we would be able to anchor near the shallows in the twilight and have a pretty calm night before heading in to Bullocks Harbor on Friday.
We motored into a head wind the entire day with waves bashing against our bow- Cyrus had a great time sitting at the front of the boat for the roller coaster ride- but those waves also meant that we barely made 5 knots- a 50 mile trip at less than 5mph...we soon realized that we would be anchoring in the dark.
Traveling over the sea at night is actually quite beautiful.  The stars are amazing and even the sliver moon is bright.  Anchoring at night is not beautiful- nonetheless, we hooked up and rocked and rolled all night- our theory about the shallows killing the waves was not correct.
The last leg of our trip took us northeast 20 miles to Bullocks Harbor.  Because of our new heading (not dead-on into the wind) we were able to sail the entire leg.  Tyler set up his fishing rod for trolling and...success!!.. he caught a rather large mackerel!  The whole family was in the cockpit as we tried to haul the fish onto the boat, remove the hook and then....we weren't sure what to do.  We ended up "storing" our catch in a bucket until we made our destination and then Tyler used his fish cleaning skills (learned on an Alaskan salmon boat) and we had a terrific lunch.

Tyler caught a 25 inch Cero Mackerel en route to Bullocks Harbor.



Mackerel fillets!

While in Bullocks Harbor on Great Harbor Cay, we have explored the island a bit while staying in the marina for a night.  We rented a golf cart- which provided some entertainment for all of us...

Cyrus driving the golf cart

 Perhaps a foreshadowing of the future (teenage years), Cyrus accidentally started the golf cart while waiting for Tyler and I at a restaurant.  When we heard the golf cart motor start, Tyler and I leapt from our table to the restaurant doorway- nearly getting stuck as we both tried to get out the door at the same time.  Karma was good to us, and Tyler was able to stop the golf cart before hitting a house or the restaurant.  Heart. Attack.
Cyrus was able to safely drive the golf cart later that day... even staying on the left side of the road.

Finally, we met another sailing family last night at dinner.  We had a very enjoyable night chatting about sailing misadventures while Cyrus played LEGO video games with the kids.

We plan to move on from the marina today, anchoring in protected water and hopefully snorkeling an airplane wreck.  If all goes well, we will make a passage from the northern part of the Berry islands to Sandy Point in the Abaco islands on Tues, Wed or Thurs this week.

Mirage from afar- on my kayak:)

Bahamas!

At approximately 2:30pm yesterday, we arrived at Bimini island in the Bahamas!

 
Our journey began at 6:45 am as we left No Name Harbor and turned southeast toward Fowley Rocks. 
We turned toward Bimini an hour later in 15-20 knot Northeast winds and 2-3 foot seas.  Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful, minus the thrill of seeing cargo ships appear on the horizon, grow larger and larger...and larger, and then pass safely in front of u
Our total time on the water was just under 8 hours.

Clearing immigration and customs was another small adventure because someone (Tyler) was honest and answered "yes" to having a pet onboard and someone else (me) did not have the exactly correct paperwork....no surprise there.
The bureaucratic gods were smiling on us, however, and I was able to solve the situation with a last minute email this morning.  Lesson learned.

Now what?  We are very excited to anchor around Bimini today and snorkel and explore.  We may attempt a longer passage (71nm to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands- the longest passage we will make until 2014) tomorrow.
For now...as Cyrus said this morning, "Day 1 in the Bahamas has passed...Day 2 in the Bahamas has come!"

Making an attempt

Today we are making our attempt at crossing the Gulf Stream and going to the Bahamas.  My suggestion to offer Zander as a virgin sacrifice to Poseidon was met with sneers... 

Hopefully I will be able to recount our journey for the blog this evening- but wifi may be a problem.

Bad pic of the Florida channel lighthouse

Sunrise

Lots of boats out today!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

A windy, but beautiful day on Key Biscayne...

 
 

 
 
 

Lessons

On Sunday, we pulled into Biscayne Bay just as one of the worst northerners (multiple days of high winds and some rain) hit the Miami area. 

Lessons we learned from Sun-Tues:

1.  When a review of a mooring says "no protection from northern winds," they're not kidding- you'll rock and roll and wonder why you're paying $22 a night to be so uncomfortable- like roller coaster in your bed uncomfortable... Well the bad kind of roller coaster in your bed...

2.  It's not a good sign when you have to use your manual bilge pump on your dinghy in order to pump out the rain water from the night before.

3.  Miami has the best food in Florida- hands down.

4.  Trust your instincts about anchorages, moorings etc - and never (or try to never) arrive in a location so late in the day that you don't have time to make a good anchoring choice.

4. I love dog-friendly, covered, coffee shop book stores with free wifi.

 

By Tuesday we had had enough and we ventured across the bay to the Bill Baggs Florida state park and anchored in No Name harbor.  The water was calm, the anchorage was protected from strong wind and there was a great Cuban restaurant at the end of the harbor.

Lessons learned from Tues- Thurs:

1.  Trust your instincts about anchoring (theme?)

2.  Just because other people haven't anchored by sunset doesn't mean they won't show up at 9:30 at night and try to anchor right next to you in the dark.

3.  Golden silk spiders are super creepy- but generally harmless. ( mostly they're creepy because they make giant webs in the trees and hang out right above your head...shiver*). 

 

4. Don't needlessly suffer through rough weather- find a better shelter if possible.

Fort Lauderdale to Miami: ICW: Bridges of Dade county

After spending a calm night in Fort Lauderdale, we decided to motor south on the ICW to Miami and Biscayne Bay.  Predictions of 25-30 knot winds kept us from the ocean and we needed a mental break after our ocean experience.  

The ICW between FtL and Miami is a tour of multi-million dollar homes, yachts and draw bridges.

Bridge 1:Las Olas- opens once per hour at quarter past the hour

Bridge 2: 17th street bridge-a tall draw bridge which requires no opening (for us).

Bridge 3: Dania Beach bridge- opens every 30 minutes on the hour and 30 past the hour.

Bridge 4: Sheridan Street bridge- notice the timing - it opens on the quarter hour- so you have to time your arrival from the last bridge to make this bridge neither too early ( sitting and waiting is difficult) or too late (wait 30 more minutes).

Bridge 5: Hollywood Boulevard bridge- opens on the hour and 30 past- same timing issue...

Bridge 6: Hallandale Beach Bridge- draw bridge

 

Bridge 7: William Lehman Causeway bridge - fixed

Bridge 8:Sunny Isles Causeway bridge- draw bridge

Bridge 9: Broad Causeway bridge- draw bridge
 

Bridge 10: Venician Causeway bridge- on demand draw bridge and gate to South Beach

Bridge 11: MacArthur Causeway

Success! Miami skyline from Biscayne Bay

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale

Our rainy Thursday was redeemed by Friday's purchase of a new sea kayak and a wonderful drinks/dinner at World of Beer with Keath and Dieter and Karin- all of our new friends in one place!

And, after watching the weather very closely for a week, Saturday became the day that we ventured south to Fort Lauderdale via the ocean.  

Going out into the ocean (in our boat) is much like getting ready to go on a full-day, high altitude hike: wake early, full day's work in the elements with the promise of some earthly reward (beer) at the end.  

Our day began at 3am- because that's when Tyler and I woke up...and couldn't go back to sleep.  We managed to push away from the dock at 4am- just in time to catch the 4:15 Flagler Memorial draw-bridge opening.  After venturing north for about 5 minutes, the following exchange took place between me and Tyler: Tyler, "I can't see sh*t," me, "I know, sunrise doesn't happen until 6:30 I think," Tyler, "well, I don't want to go out into the ocean in the dark," me, " then why did we leave at 4am?," Tyler, " because everyone leaves at 4am..."  At this point, for the voyage and our marriage, we decided to anchor for a while, have some eggs and wait until first light.  

At approximately 6:45, we were underway, headed out Lake Worth inlet and into the big wide-open ocean. 

The wind was about 20-25 knots from the east and the waves were 2-3 meters high- which, we soon learned, is a little bit uncomfortable on our boat. A little bit uncomfortable= no one went below except for dire bathroom needs- and that was at their own peril, Zander lost his cookies 3 times, Tyler was at the helm almost all day ( I only had the guts to try steering our boat for about 20 minutes).  Our tiny boat did almost 7 knots the entire trip, if the waves had been smaller, we would have gone faster- we were actually moved off course every time a wave rolled in behind us and Tyler would have to counter steer to accommodate for the change.  

We did get to see a ton of flying fish throughout the trip- that was cool... I've never seen them before!  Cyrus also did very well after an initial bout of seasickness.  He was comfortable enough to be bored- which is a good sign.

What would be a trip out on the ocean without engine trouble though?  As we made our final turn upwind to douce the main sail, Tyler pushed the gear shift to forward and... No go.  He tried again and it would not engage. The sequence of events that followed was like the scene in A Christmas Story when the furnace blew up and the dad went downstairs, swearing up a storm, smoke billowing, tools clanging, but add in a rolling sea and rain.  After about 10 minutes, Tyler emerged successfully and we were able to put the boat in to gear once more. 

But wait, there's more!  

As you can imagine, inlets for large cities are very busy.  They are full of commercial and recreational boats- especially on the weekend.  Inlets also have handy little walls called jetties that come out maybe 100 feet that help keep the inlet from changing shape/ eroding/shifting.  As Mirage headed into the inlet and approached the jetties, a cargo ship began to exit the inlet.  We moved enough to clear the cargo ship, however, a mega yacht was also creeping up behind us.  I admit I've never been the captain of a mega yacht, however, I feel as though I would not try to squeeze tiny sailboats between my boat and a cargo ship...ever.  The captain of the yacht actually radioed us to make sure we saw that he was behind us (and going to overtake us) and to make sure we knew that he was close to the jetty wall.  I tried to point out that we were also trying to avoid a head-on course with a cargo ship... Funny how when you release the radio button, you can add all kinds of nice words to the end of your communication. 

We eventually found a very calm anchorage in a beautiful part of Ft  Lauderdale.  

I noticed a bride getting her pictures done at the hotel next to our anchorage and thought about the partnership our ocean journey (and this whole adventure) requires.  Patience, trust, communication, empathy, love- every day.  

This 50+ nautical mile trek taught all of us a great deal.  Not only was this distance very similar (actually a bit further) to our planned crossing to the Bahamas, it was by far not a perfect sailing day.  Things went wrong, the sea was big, Zander puked... And we were successful. We are the better for our trials. 

Rained out

The last 24 hours have been nothing but rain and rain with some showers mixed in.  We actually saw lightning and heard thunder for the first time in FL last night.  

What happens on a boat when it rains like crazy?  Well-we all lived in very close proximity the entire day, that's for sure.  Cyrus worked on school work and Tyler, bless his heart, did a boat project.  Have I shown the picture of what happens to a boat during a boat project? 

If that looks messy, it's because it IS messy.  When something must come out from a locker (storage space) in the boat, everything else that is in the way comes with it.  Or, when a space is needed to work on the engine, bilge, etc- everything that's in the way gets moved- not necessarily in a great place.

I'm happy we made it through the mess and the rain... 

 

Play

http://youtu.be/C8KfxhuOmh4

Marina slow-down

Much like when summer begins for teachers, when you tie off in a marina, your head is full of plans of what will be accomplished during this "break."  And similarly, actually accomplishing everything is much more difficult.  I'm not sure what access to actual laundry facilities and showers does, but it seems to slow one down- as evidenced by the slow down in blog posts.  Granted, we were waiting for an engine part and a few items ordered on Amazon, and I went and had a birthday in the middle of everything, however, 9 days in a marina is quite enough (and a little expensive). 
Today, however, is the day we leave the marina and go to an anchorage nearby.  Our plans are to stay a few more days in North Palm Beach and then sail south offshore to Fort Lauderdale and then Miami.  From Miami, we will sail to Bimini island and enter the Bahamas! 
A new friend, Keath, spent some time with us and our charts last night and gave us some excellent tips and advice about the crossing and features of Bimini to look forward to- especially the road to Atlantis and the Fountain of Youth. More about that soon...
I should mention what was accomplished during our stay at the marina:
1. Purchased: 50 feet of anchor chain, new anchor, depth gauge, child's sea kayak, EPIRB- google that- they are pretty cool, Bahamas charts, 35 lb kettlebell and ankle weights, RAM iPad mount for the binnacle, tethers, wifi solution for the boat- more about that soon
2.  Fixed engine gasket
3. Entire boat cleaned inside and out
4. 40th Birthday celebrated!!
5.  New friends made and played with
6.  Laundry done repeatedly
7.  Outboard motor repaired (leaky gas fitting, and clogged jet)
8. Zander shaved

Lovely cake from Karin and Dieter- I am still hoarding the leftovers

Cyrus and his new sea kayak- hopefully I will get a matching kayak on Thursday

Tyler and Keath talkin' Bahamas charts over beer and pizza

 

  

 

40

Although the day was blustery and rainy, we managed to celebrate with champagne, dinner and a very silly cake!

 

 

Dipping our toes in the pond...the big pond

    Palm Beach is close to one of the nicer/tamer (I hear) inlets on the eastern coast of Florida.  Many cruisers choose this area to sit and wait for a calm weather window and cross the 50+ miles to West End in the Bahamas.  We may also cross from here as well, however, before we can run (definitely a metaphor here as we usually sail slower than an average runner), we must crawl.  And crawl we did today- meaning we took our very first sail in the real for real ocean.

Cyrus fought off seasickness and finally joined us in the cockpit

Our fearless captain

   Passing through the inlet was not difficult, I imagine it could be a harrowing experience if a large freighter were moving through the inlet at the same time, but we only contended with a few of the usual $250,000 "fishing boat."  Tyler and I are learning to move with the tides and use the technology we have on board and we chose a time of 'slack tide' when the tidal current in the inlet is weaker to pass through to the ocean. Once we were out of the inlet, the fun really started.
  The waves just outside of the inlet were pretty confused- not big consistent rollers, just big almost ski mogul type lumps of moving water.  Our 30 foot boat was rocking and rolling and there was little to do about it except keep moving out to sea.  I know our boat will not roll over.  Boats with keels are built to right themselves.  When you are being pushed around by waves, it is difficult to remember this fact and the instinct to panic and try to steer to "fix" the motion of the boat is STRONG.  We persevered though, and found calmer waves about a mile from shore.
  Tyler managed to walk to the mast and release the mainsail and we tried sailing- Tyler encouraged me to try different movements of the boat- jibing and tacking, to get a feeling for what happens to the sails and I was able to walk forward to the bow of the boat to release a caught line without panicking too much.  We were able to put Mirage through a decent test and she performed well.
  Other than mother nature, the scariest part of going out in the ocean are the other boats.  When you are sailing, powered boats must give you the right of way if you are headed toward each other.  There are no rules, however, about creating giant wakes which rival the ocean waves and come from any direction.
  I don't want our first jaunt into the ocean to sound terrifying.  It was more like driving on the highway or an amusement park ride for the first time.  It is thrilling and beautiful and just scary enough to keep you very aware of your surroundings.  Our next window to sail in the ocean is Saturday- and we'll be there for sure.

Kids!

Who said you can't have new experiences in a marina?  Over the past two days, two children (11 year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy) have adopted us...well really just Cyrus and the boat.  When we had a house in Denver, we often had 2-4 other children running around..running amok, but having 3 kids running around our boat is completely new- and not quiet.  

If you can imagine a boat from a child's perspective, it is the perfect fort: hatches, ropes, lockers, a steering wheel: translated into adult that's: finger killer, dangerous, messy and breakable.  Needless to say, we (eventually) had to lay down real ground rules.  Kind of a no-brainer, but Tyler and I were taken completely off guard by the energy 2 additional kids add.  

Overall, however, the added thumping and shouting has been worth it. We have taken 2 trips to a nearby park with a beach (1 mile away- which is just far enough to tire everyone out). The kids have played together for almost 8 hours each day.  We'll take it because when you're at anchor, children are rare.  I'm hoping this is a trend and I'm sure Tyler will be less freaked out by children on the boat in a few weeks.  

Update 11/9/13

We haven't posted a story update in a while.  This is partially because finding a decent wifi signal has been difficult, partially because we've been in the same spot for some time.  We used the time to pick Cyrus up from the airport and play with him for a couple of days, enjoy West Palm Beach and wait out some weather.
We had planned on moving south yesterday, which we did... sort of...
As we were discussing plans over coffee yesterday, Tyler peaked his head out of the companionway and said the words we'd been dreading for the past four days, "Oh my god, we're dragging."
As you can imagine, dragging at anchor is a bit of a hazard for boats and there are many tools to try to assist with anchoring and alert you to dragging your anchor.  We, of course, had just turned off our drag alarm because we were awake (and presumably aware).
I had peaked out the companionway and windows just 10 minutes before and did not notice any movement, so this episode of dragging was very surprising.
After Tyler's announcement, we sprang into action, turning on the engine and moving to a safer spot....and this is where the fun of the day began.  Because of the current and the wind, we could not dock successfully at the South Palm Beach public docks- so we decided to simply start our adventure south.  Simply is the key word here.
Traveling south of Palm Beach on the ICW, "the ditch", requires passing through a draw bridge every 30-60 minutes.   These bridges run on a schedule and very much dictate your pace travelling the 40-ish miles to Ft. Lauderdale. After successfully passing through 3 bridges, we came to the Lantana bridge, which is currently under construction.  I had heard many boats attempt to hail the bridge during the day with limited success- and ultimately it became the end of our travels south.  The construction worker on the other end of the radio informed me that the bridge was scheduled to open in 4 minutes (we were not going to be there in 4 minutes) and that he did not know when it would be open again and they are not on a schedule.  After beginning the day with a dragging anchor, unsuccessful docking and a harrowing incident with a yacht wake (which interfered with my coffee drinking....don't mess with my coffee), we decided to turn around and head north.
We ended up a few miles north of West Palm Beach, ironically, at the North Palm Beach marina.  The plus side of the marina was showers, laundry and a good night's sleep without worry of dragging.
We plan to stay here for a few days and wait out some weather, continue boat repairs/improvements and order some essentials.

More pictures today

Cyrus playing the the West Palm Beach fountain

A rare kid and dog nap!

One of many Dad and Cyrus projects- probably one of the best things to come of this adventure

Yes- that IS a Broncos flag - in FL

Our hero!

Hooray! technical difficulties gone

Technical difficulties gone- at least with blogging!  I swear the best technical advise is unplug the computer or delete the app and plug it back in or reload it.  Anyway- we have a back log of pictures...

Tyler at the top of the mast

Our cockpit at sunrise

Doggie drinking fountain in West Palm

Mirage at anchorage

Our neighbor- Diamonds are Forever- mega-yacht.. A cool $450,000 for a week aboard.

Cyrus is playing somewhere in the fountain 

Blue crab visitor on our swim ladder

Last Supper tailgate- I'm thinking about a boat rendition 

More pics tomorrow because Tyler is using my phone right now..