Day 13: Nighttime crab hunting

I don't read a great deal of poetry.  Tyler and I have two books of poems that we love: The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart and The Soul is Here for it's Own Joy (both of these books made it on the boat by the way).  Neither of those anthologies have many (if any) poems about the ocean.  I am sure there are several anthologies of poems and prose about the ocean, however.  Walking along the beach with Cyrus, Tyler and Zander tonight, I completely understand why.  I wanted to write something poetic and moving about the ocean in the blog tonight.  Somehow the ocean is completely different at night.  It is magical and terrifying at the same time.  I will not subject you to amateur poetry at this time...
Our crab hunt was a failure as a crab hunt- it was an amazing conclusion to the day though.  Zander (on the beach illegally- but who's going to notice on a Sunday night?) was in doggie heaven- able to run off of his leash and chase random birds, Cyrus was in kid heaven- sprinting through the tide and making sand angels, and Tyler and I were in our happy place- walking in the moonlight with a glass of wine.  We could all get used to this.  I could handle doing this until it becomes mundane.

Sand Angel

Day 12: Gettin Smurfy

Tyler is now sanding the bottom of the boat in preparation for repainting.  This is not a difficult job, but it is also not an easy job. 

This is what the bottom of our boat looked like after being power washed.  This is pretty typical of a boat that has been in salt water and has not had much bottom maintenance since 2008. The patches - called blisters are formed by osmosis through the gel coat (top) layer of paint.  Water gets in and forms a bubble because the water combines with other chemicals and cannot get out.  These areas have to be sanded, and epoxy must be applied before painting occurs. 

This is what Tyler did all day today.  The sander had to be connected to a vacuum because bottom paint for a boat is made to prevent things from growing/living on the bottom of the boat- so possibly, it is not good to breathe in tiny boat paint particles.  As an additional precaution and humidity fashion statement, Tyler also wore a pretty gnarley face mask.

Paint dust still went everywhere, resulting in what we'll call the 'Smurfing' of Tyler.  That blue color on his face was also on his arms, legs and feet.

Tyler has 3/4 of the boat sanded.  I know  things don't look incredibly different at this point- but that side sure is smoother!

Tyler has been working his arse off- he deserved a poolside nap. Notice his hand still in the 'holding a beer' position. 

 
 

 
 

 

 

Day 11: Cyrus and the Ocean

  In the midst of all of this turmoil- driving around Florida to find a boat, the logistics of moving our home from location to location, the difficulties of fixing the boat, routine out the window- the ocean has been a calm constant. Our daily visits to the ocean are therapeutic for the entire family, but the ocean is something very special for Cyrus.

  When Cyrus was three, we drove from San Francisco to Mendocino and introduced Cyrus to the Pacific. Within 30 seconds of seeing the ocean, Cyrus was half naked with a giant smile on his face, chasing the waves.  The utter joy and abandon we saw in Cyrus four years ago was repeated in San Diego, Rockport and again in Florida.  Cyrus is in his element in the ocean.  As a Virgo- an earth sign- maybe he is drawn to the ocean.  When I see him in the surf, I can't help but think if all else fails, at least we brought Cyrus to his bliss. He will be a professional surfer (doctor/human rights lawyer) - I'm sure of it.

at 3- Mendocino

 

at 4- San Diego

at 6- Rockport

at 7- Ft. Lauderdale

Day 10: The boat is out if the water

Although the boat and all the work that goes with it has our direct attention, or hearts are heavy for all the flooding in Colorado.  We hope everyone there stays safe and the rains end soon.

Cyrus and I also took a trip to the Ponce de Leon lighthouse today.  It was built in 1887, and is entirely made of brick! Very cool stairs:).

 

 
 

Day 9: Bridge!

We had to motor our boat to the Seven Seas boatyard today- which is approximately 10 miles north of New Smyrna Beach in Port Orange.  Besides simply making it up the ICW without running into a sandbar, the highlight of the trip was making our first bridge call- which sounded something like this, "George Musson bridge George Musson bridge, this is .....(squeak- pause.. Tyler is waving is arms mouthing turn off the other radio) um.. Sailboat Mirage," "sailboat Mirage this is George Musson bridge over," "we are requesting...(another small pause- To go through? To go under? For you to open?) ... Passage through the bridge (no kidding)."  (I swear I heard a hint of amusement in the bridge controller's voice) "The bridge will be raising in approximately 9 minutes over," "copy that, thank you," ( for not laughing at me over the radio). 

Have to admit- it was kinda cool to hold up traffic- I hope no one was in a real hurry. :)

 
 
 
 
 

Day 8: Learning curve? How about learning WALL!

Before I begin, I'd just like everyone to know that we do NOT have mice in our current little bungalow space. At 6:00am today, Tyler announced to me that there were mice underneath the wicker drawers and they were getting into the beach bag.  This prompted a whole series of actions: my insistence that we purchase clorox wipes and I hand clean the floor, my asking the housekeeper to get some mouse traps- which prompted some strange looks and my being completely creeped out most of the morning. Then, this afternoon, we discovered that the little scratchy sounds coming from the beach bag were coming from this shell:

Actually- from the hermit crab that lives in this shell- whom we shall now call Hermie.  Apparently Hermie was not pleased that we transplanted him to a beach bag and was trying to make his way back to the ocean.  We have now returned him to a more appropriate environment....although I was kind of liking the idea of having a Hermie on the boat.

I return to the learning wall:

Back in Denver, the most common question that followed, "What are you guys going to do?" was, "Have you and Tyler sailed before?" or sometimes more of a statement: "Oh- so you and Tyler have sailing experience." 

The answer to that question/assumption is yes AND no:

Honestly- Tyler has some sailing experience. He sailed smaller boats as a teenager and in his early 20s.  He has operated both power and sail boats in not-so-easy conditions: in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers in New Jersey and off the coast of Florida.

I have no sailing experience.  This is not really a problem, however, just like when I started to teach Mariachi, there will be mistakes and messy moments on the way to amazingness. I'm okay with that and so is Tyler.  

Sailing experience is not really the issue when you are purchasing a sailboat, needing to motor it to a boat yard, haul it out of the water, survey, paint and fix it and then move aboard with (an awesome) 7-year-old and a dog within the next 5-7 days.   Tyler and I both vacillate between utter panic, being totally overwhelmed and knowing that all will be well...

Speaking of utter panic, remember when you were 15 and just had your learner's permit to drive?  And maybe, if you're like me, you talked your parents into letting you drive yourself to clarinet sectional rehearsal only to be stopped by a police officer within 30 seconds and then drive, crying, horrified and shaking back home.  

Well, in that same hopeless-newbie spirit, we went on a short family motor in our new boat today.  We decided to travel the same path up the Intracoastal Waterway that we had taken with Bonnie and Brian on Saturday.  We thought we would simply motor a while, practice anchoring, grill some food, and then head home. Somehow, when you are completely on your own in your boat for the first time, the clouds look more ominous, the current is stronger, the waterway becomes filled with sandbars and the engine sounds different. Tyler kept saying things like, "If we lose the engine, we're going to drift into a sandbar and have to get a tow," and, "I really hope that storm blows over."  I didn't want to move an inch out of the channel because, of course, we had no suitable charts on board and our collective recollection of Saturday's route was not as clear as we had thought.  So we headed back to the dock after about 30 minutes- and then came the moment of sheer terror.  It wasn't the weather, or a shark, or Zander going overboard (he was on his first boat ride today).  We had to dock the boat in the narrowest slip in the United States.  Yes it was the same slip we left earlier...yes we knew it was coming....yes we almost smashed our boat and/or the boat in the next slip....and no, I can't- even after almost 3 years of Crossfit- hold a 10,400 lb boat off a dock.  It was like slow motion parallel parking a space shuttle.

Nothing was smashed though. The boat is great- and we had reality handed to us.  Learning wall indeed.

Zander on board

No matter what happens, evening beach time makes everything ok.

Day 7- technical difficulties

Well- I tried to get my post in yesterday, but wireless said no and I couldn't get the page to load on my phone- BUT! I found an app this morning that I'm trying out right now.looks like it's working!