Weekend raft-ups and more!!

My apologies for the super long gap in blog posts, lately! With me going back to work, life has become a bit more hectic than I was used to. Gone are the days where I wasted the day away, lounging by the pool, soaking up the sun and where the only work that was being done was, me, working on my tan!! Truth is, I was ready to go back to work. Not only do I enjoy contributing to the income, I also want a bigger boat and that my friends, is what I work for, everyday...well, three days a week, anyways! What a novel idea?? "If you want something, you work for it!" Someone should clue in the millenials with that fine wisdom!! 

Labor Day weekend was a lot of fun and an extra long weekend for us. I had five days off work & Joe wound up using a vacation day so he could get four consecutive days off and it was like a mini vacation!

That Friday, we slept in, then got the boat ready to go anchor out and met up with new friends. We rafted up with two other boats (we're in the middle)  as you can see we have our "project" dinghy upside down on the bow. We were basically given the inflatable, but it needs a lot of work. But you can't complain when it's free (another piece of advice for those millenials). It's exactly the type of dinghy we have been looking for and we're not afraid of a lil' work so that is why I have affectionately dubbed it as, 'Project'! In fact, that may very well become its name! 

This was our wonderful view for a couple of days!!! We had never really rafted up for more than a few hours before, but this was great!! Being able to just step aboard your friend's boat and hang out was pretty cool!! 

And, I broke my own rule about only swimming in clear water, where I can see what's beneath me. Ahh well, it was worth it and I only felt something brush past me once or twice...it was probably better that I couldn't see what it was. 

We had planned to stay there for two nights but the winds had picked up and I doubt it would have been a comfortable night on the hook, not to mention that we don't have a generator on board, so it would've meant another night with no air conditioning. So, we opted to go sailing and head back to the marina. It was a good sail and we even saw a couple of dolphins! I don't know what it is about those magical creatures, but I never tire of seeing them!! 

On Monday, we headed back out with a different dock neighbor and went and anchored out in a nearby cove. The water there is a lot cleaner and less salty...still can't really see what's lurking beneath, but we did a little swimming there as well! 

All in all, it was a good time and we can't wait to do it again!! 

Last but not least, here's hubs showing off his mad docking skills....yes, he's driving the boat backwards, literally! One of these days I'm going to video how we dock the boat, seriously impressive how good of a job he does with "parking" our thirty-six footer!!! 

Our first vacation on our boat!

Last Tuesday we left the marina around 10am or so. Cruised over to the fuel dock and filled up with diesel and headed for the Galveston bay. The winds were pretty minimal, but once we got out there Joe raised the sails in hopes we could do some sailing ....no such luck! We even tried to motor sail, but there still wasn't enough wind, so he dropped the sails and we motored all the way to Laguna Harbor. It was a good lil' trip and we saw quite a few dolphins on the way, which always makes me happy!! (they were too quick for me to snap a picture, but I posted a video I shot of them on our facebook page) 

Once you make it down to Galveston, Laguna Harbor is roughly one mile inside the ICW {Intercoastal Waterway aka 'the ditch'}. When we arrived, there were already six or seven boats docked for the night. To the left there was enough space for 2, maybe 3 boats to fit and then to the right there was an open spot big enough for only one boat, but it was kind of in the corner and would've been difficult to dock there. Naturally, we chose the bigger, easier option and had the fenders out on our starboard and were ready to tie up on that side. Trying to make the most of the limited space, the other tmca'ers radio us and tell us they want us to dock our boat in the spot big enough for only one boat. I don't even parallel park in a car, much less a 36' boat, but lucky for me hubs was at the wheel, so all I had to do was scramble to move the fenders and lines from the starboard side over to our port side. That was fun....I had six people on the dock yelling at me to, "hurry up" "move the fenders lower" "throw me your line".....by the time I had a chance to look up Joe had parallel parked our boat like it was something he'd done a hundred times before!!!

That's Irie tucked right in there between that big, beautiful (& did I mention, very expensive) power boat at our bow and another Catalina sailboat at our stern. Hubs did an excellent job docking our boat!!! Laguna is nice stop if you need to split up your trip, but without a car, there's nothing to do. The good thing is, it's all free of charge while they are still developing the houses. We enjoyed the evening, just hanging out talking to new and old friends. 

We got up the next morning at 5:30, checked the weather and talked to the boaters who were planning to go offshore. The winds were predicted to be 15 knots with 2-4' seas, we automatically added a little to their predictions, because you know, they rarely get it right {meteorologists have the best job security}! I was a little anxious at the thought of going offshore for the first time in our boat, but we both wanted to get out there, so we decided to head out with the three other boats that were going that way. 

We left at 6am and took the ICW back towards Galveston. Wanting to save a little time, we cut through a ship anchorage instead of going all the way over to the ship channel. Let me tell you, our boat becomes incredibly tiny when you come up along side this guy....just wow!

We made it to the jetties shortly after sunrise and that is when our story really begins!!

We've been told, sailing through the Galveston Jetties is like sailing in a washing machine. It was absolutely insane getting through there! The waves were coming at us from every direction (think the agitation mode in the washer) and they were between 10' to 12' high....this went on for awhile. I was sitting at the lowest spot in the cockpit with my back on the companion way doors and facing Joe, who was at the helm. He said, "this is fun!!" so I got up and looked one time and sat back down....looking at those wave motions must've made him delusional. We both thought, I would be the one to get sick so I tried not to watch the waves head on. Once we were past the jetties, the waves were only 6' to 8' high and the wind was 18 with gusts up to 24. Hubs actually was the one who got seasick...poor guy! I kept looking around wondering who was going to captain the boat now, and guess what, it was me, white knuckles and all! But we managed somehow and I'm really proud of how well our boat did in those conditions. It was an incredibly tiring day, and after fourteen long hours at sea we arrived at Pleasure Island in Port Arthur. It was still a bit breezy when we docked at the marina, but with the help from a few people, we got the boat tied up and were thankful we had made it. We both took Benadryl and went to sleep! 

Thursday came with a great news when my doctor called to tell me the biopsy I had had the week before came back benign...Yay, no cancer!!! What a relief!! ...The winds continued to increase so Joe and some other volunteers spent the whole day helping other boaters dock as they came in. 

Friday evening was a Hawaiian themed dinner so we dressed in our best aloha/island looking clothing and despite the rain and cooler temps, enjoyed a nice meal and luau!!!

The winds became increasingly worse all day and by Friday night we had sustained winds of 32 mph. One of the guys down from our boat clocked a gust of 52 mph from the top of his mast. The boat was rocking so much at this point we couldn't even sleep. I heard a loud pop noise on the outside of the boat, jumped out of bed, went and looked to see what it was and found that our spring line had snapped in two. We were lucky that only one line broke, but all of them are so chaffed and worn down, we will have to replace all our dock lines. This is what the snapped line looks like now. 

Joe and I, plus about six other guys from our dock stayed up all night watching the boats, tightening the lines and replacing lines as they broke. By 4am the winds started to shift a little and we were not getting hit as badly. We had triple lines at our bow & stern and one long line from our port beam about 60' across tied to the next pier over. We finally went to bed at 5am and got a little sleep. 

Saturday was pretty uneventful, but we gladly took that after the week we had been having! We actually got to relax a little and start having fun....

The Pirate Picnic was Sunday afternoon after a brief memorial service that morning! Against his will, I convinced Joe to dress up like a pirate with me so we could enter the pirate costume contest. I found a Spanish pirate costume online for me & he agreed to wear a white shirt and a hat...so, I did a little diy'ing and mixed & matched a few things and he took home the 'most authentic pirate' award, while I got the 'sexiest pirate' award!! 

Monday we woke up early to head back home. We left at 6am and decided to go via the ICW this time around so we could experience both routes. It was definitely a slower route, but it gave us time to enjoy the trip and see the sights, which were mainly cows and barges, but hey, we were ok with slow and steady this time around. Our friends captured this photo of us on our boat as the sun was rising behind us....isn't it just gorgeous?!

It was another long day back but we made it safely back to our marina around 8:30 that night and felt relieved to be back home....even though technically our home was with us the whole time! 😉

There's something to be said about a safe, protected harbor and boy, do we ever appreciate it now!!! 

And to think we thought, parallel parking the boat was going to be our big feat of the trip! Now I understand what people mean, when they say they need a vacation from their vacation!! It wasn't the most restful, relaxing vacation, but we did have fun! I'm glad we had the experiences and no, it doesn't make us want to sell the boat and move back to land {sorry moms}! 

Our first overnight anchoring!!! :)

For the first time in I can't remember how long, Joe and I found ourself on the cusp of a great weather weekend and we both had off work!!! It was the perfect trifecta!!! 

At about 8pm on Friday, he says to me, "you want to go out on the boat?" To which I reply, "sure! most people probably go out before sunset, but yeah, let's go!!" So, we untied from the dock, motored out into the channel, watched the most amazingly beautiful moonrise and decided to do a little night sailing!! It was perfect! Our first night sailing experience and we were blessed with a gorgeous full moon....it was so incredibly peaceful and I wasn't near as nervous as I always presumed I would be sailing at night!! It was so great out that night that we decided to drop anchor and spend the night out in the bay. 

        Sorry the photos are so grainy. :/

Everything was going great, Joe cooked us some dinner, we watched a movie out in the cockpit and then around 1:30am we decided we were ready for bed. But wait! I was having so much fun on our spur of the moment sail/anchor idea, that I forgot to get in my exercise challenge. (Ugh, why did I wait all day?) Squats are hard enough on land, but there I stood in our salon, trying very hard to keep my balance while at anchor & did all 112 squats for that day....I think I deserve extra credit for pulling that off. Next, it was my daily dose of ab workouts & I was done. I crawled into bed, and thought I was going to get some sleep. But because we just anchored out in the middle we were not protected from the big rolling waves each time a ship would pass by, therefore the trampoline effect began to happen. We laid there for a few minutes and both sat up about the same time and said, "this isn't going to work!" For any non-boaters reading this, sleeping in the vberth usually is not a great idea because the movement of the boat can make you quite nauseous. We thought about sleeping in the aft, but it wasn't much better so we pulled up anchor and motored back to the marina. We got the boat back into our slip at 2:25am and we're finally back in bed at 3am....what a night!!

The next day, we went out in the afternoon. Of course, there was no wind at all on Saturday, so we put down the sails & cranked up the engine and motored all the way out to Redfish Island. 

We made it there about 4 o'clock, dropped anchor and just relaxed a bit. I laid out while Joe took a nap. Then I cooked us up some oven nachos and we watched this incredibly gorgeous sunset take place!! 

I absolutely love how this looks. And     no, it was not photoshopped to be half color/half b&w

Obviously, we were awake in this next photo, but after two attempts with a super bright flash, we decided to show you, how great "sleeping" in the cockpit can be!! 

We took some interior cushions and made a makeshift bed and slept outside! It was an absolute wonderful feeling sleeping under a blanket of stars with the moon shining down on us! It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, but we made it work. And I am so glad that we did because this was the first thing I saw when I woke up:

I jumped up and went and got my fancy-pants camera and spent the next 30 minutes capturing one of the most magical sunrises I've seen in a long, long time! There's just something about a sunrise over water that will make me set an alarm to make sure I'm awake for!! 

These clouds were just phenomenal to look at

We also saw quite a few ships pass by us. Being this close to something so big & mighty, sure makes a person feel small!

And, I wouldn't be my geeky, sailor self, if I didn't get at least one shot that included a winch. I don't know what it is about that big hunk of metal, but man does it ever look good!! :)

We plan to do a lot more night sailing as well as anchor out more often!! After all, that's half the fun of living on a boat and we don't have to spend money on a weekend getaway!!

Silent prisoner, no more!

For me, President's Day started at 6:52am when hubs called to tell me he was home from work. He's been working different shifts and the night before, he had to work 6pm-6am. You might be wondering why he called to tell me he was home vs. just walking into the boat unannounced, and if that's the case, let me explain. See, all this started back before we lived on a boat. Hubs used to work night shifts and in order for me to feel safe at night and for him not to worry {as much} about me being home alone, he bought me a gun. So that if the need ever arose, I would be able to protect myself. Well, one night he got sick in the middle of the night (at work) and rather than calling to tell me he was coming home early, he just showed up....in the middle of the night! I awake to the sound of someone opening our front door and you better believe I grabbed my revolver and met him at the door. Luckily, there were no injuries, but the lesson was learned and obviously made a huge impression because he doesn't ever walk in unannounced anymore.

So, back to Monday morning.

6:52am | hubs calls & I wake up....well, I start to wake up

7:13am | I actually get out of bed and get dressed

7:33am | we untie from the dock and motor over to the boatyard for a bottom job on the boat

7:45am | we arrive for our boat to be hauled out 

8:35am | we spend an absurd amount of money on three cans of paint. seriously, I didn't know paint could cost that much!

{luckily, I only had to climb this ladder once, before they found us a different ladder to use}

8:42am | finally. I have my first {& only} cup of coffee for the day. and we also got  some breakfast sandwiches and of course Joe had his coffee....aka a Coke. 

8:55am | back to the boatyard. 

We had originally planned to stay at a hotel while we had this done. But, because we opted for the better quality (longer lasting) paint, it wound up costing us more than we had budgeted for. It all worked out though, because the owner knew we lived aboard, so he said we could stay on the boat in the boatyard while they did the bottom job. Bonus!

9:01am | they tell us they will be sanding the boat today and dust will be everywhere, so we can either stay on the boat (with everything closed up) or we had to leave the boat for the day. Since Joe had just pulled a 12 hour shift and I had the day off work, we opted to stay on the boat so hubs could sleep. 

9:13am | the sanding & blister repairs begin. lots of tapping noises start up. 

9:27am | Joe just starts to fall asleep when I hear tap, tap tap....Hmm, do they need us? nah, that's probably just them working. Then they yell for Joe. I guess they do need us. He's now awake, but tells me to go deal with it. I try, but no! They want him.....I'm starting to think people see me and automatically think a delicate flower that couldn't possibly pick up a sixty pound paint can with one hand, much less handle a boat problem. Granted, this particular situation I would've been lost as ever, but that's not the point, this guy didn't know that {or did he}? Anyways, the point is, I'm stronger than I look and I do know most, some boat related things!

9:39am | the outside noises begin again, louder than before. I download a white noise app that lets hubs fall asleep to the sound of wind blowing through palm trees with distant thunder in the background. seriously, the best noise! I almost fell asleep a few times...and I had just woke up! 

With hubs sleeping and me trapped inside the boat there wasn't a lot I could do that didn't make even more noise. I watched a movie {with earphones}, played a few games on my phone and took a nap, after awhile it just became boring. 

I felt like a silent prisoner of my own boat and worse than that, it was a warm sunny day and I couldn't go outside. But they made excellent progress, because that afternoon when we were finally allowed off the boat, they had already sanded the whole bottom and applied the first coat of paint. This is what Irie looked like at that point! 

We had to tie the ladder to the boat so no one walked off with it & left us stranded....of course the next morning, we were ladderless anyway. Joe jumped off, but I waited for them to bring me a ladder before I got down. 

Day 2 went a lot like day 1, without the absurd amount of money being spent on paint! And best of all, I was able to come and go more freely. 

They had to reposition the stands so that they could finish the painting. 

We're making progress!!

Day 3 | everything was just about finished, but we had to wait for the paint to dry before they would put her back in the water. 

Fresh coat of bottom paint, all done!!

Getting Irie ready to go back in the water...I gotta tell you, this whole process made me a little nervous to watch, but there were no issues....these guys know what they're doing! 

By 11am, we were back in the water and ready to head back over to our marina! 

What an experience! :) Glad that's over and done with, now onto our next project....also known as, find and purchase a dinghy! 

The story behind the {almost} shiner....

I feel like I should start a "You know you live on a boat, when:" segment to the blog, or maybe just the Facebook page. 

A few week's ago, I told you how my scrabble words were all boat terms, this new entry Is even better! 

If you saw my amateur video clip last week of the walk through on our new boat, I briefly mentioned my near hit & miss. Well, here's the whole story on that almost black eye! 

Apparently, when I dream, I really live in the moment. One night I was dreaming we were at a restaurant and Joe's coke got knocked over and was about to run off the table into my lap, so I quickly stood up {in my dream}. But in reality, I sat up really fast in bed and smacked the side of my face and corner of my eye into the roof/wall/window of the boat. 

While it was sore for a few days, it never actually discolored my face, which I was very happy about. But man it hurt so bad I was sorta shocked it didn't bruise. In case you were wondering, that is not the way I ever want to wake up again. Ouch! 

So, that is one of the reasons why we are now sleeping in the vberth. But really, hubs is the main reason we made the cabin switch. See, I made him sleep up against the wall in the aft cabin and there are apparently a few more obstacles on that side of that bed, so he was always hitting his elbow or knee or both. 

After a couple of nights in the vberth I was convinced that he was right {don't tell him I said that} about this vberth being bigger than on our last boat. So hopefully we won't have any disputes about it, like last time. :/

Ahh, the joys of living on a boat! :)

And because I don't like posting a post without any pictures...here's a shot of last night's sunset {that you may or may not have already seen} but I think it's beauty is worth repeating!!!  

Our beautiful boat!!!

I don't know what we're more happy about....to have a boat again, or to be out of the box!! I'm telling you, that box life was not for us, at all! There's a reason why I never took an interior picture of the place, {which is odd for me, because I usually document everything with photos} but this was one area of our life that we don't care to remember. They said when I rented it, that they don't usually recommend our cabin size for couples, because they go in talking and leave not speaking to each other. And though that wasn't the case for us {we're not your typical couple}, we are both extremely happy to be out of there!!!

Now, onto what you're really here for....pictures that you really want to see!!! :)

Remnants of the sunset and our boat, front & center!!

Can I just say how much I love our new to us boat!!! Ain't she a beauty?!? Okay, okay, more pictures.....

Hello there beautiful, walk-thru transom...no more crouching over the side to climb aboard!!

The salon area....

Six foot bigger may not seem that much to everyone, but when you live on a boat....6' makes a world of difference!!!! It's not just longer than our last one, she is also 2' wider! The floor plan is mostly the same as our last boat, but one noticeable difference is the two cabins, complete with real-live doors for actual privacy {when guests come visit}!!

Here's a peek into the aft cabin, where we sleep!

The head {bathroom}....it's so much bigger than our last one, you could spin around in there, if you wanted to....that would be weird, though!! 

The v-berth, where our guests will most likely be sleeping {yes, we'll remove the extra cushions first...probably}! Most of this is usually kept in the cockpit, but when it rains the v-berth becomes the storage area. Let's hope it doesn't rain when you're here visiting!! ;)

And speaking of noticeably different.... My new galley is much more spacious!!! I now have all galley items {food & dishes} actually in the galley, versus stowed in every nook & cranny like on our first Catalina! I didn't waste any time getting back to cooking either! I have been cooking every day & even as I am typing this, the boat is filling up with the aroma of banana bread baking in the oven....man, I've missed my "easy-bake oven"!!!

Friday, we moved the boat into the Marina. Saturday was spent going back & forth to get our things out of storage and by Tuesday we were completely unpacked....{all my cross country living & moving came in handy}! For the last two days I've been decorating & making it look and feel like a home!! We have now been on the boat for exactly a week and all it wants to do is rain, so no sailing just yet....I guess it's time for a movie marathon in a really clean & organized boat!!!

And just in case I missed anything, here's a shot of the floorplan....

After being homeless for two months, we are ecstatic to be back on a boat....our boat!!!!

So, what do you think?!

We bought a boat!!!!

It's officially ours, but due to paperwork and work schedules, we are unable to go "pick her up" until tomorrow. :[ I'm like a kid at Christmas, I'm tired of waiting and I just want it to be here already!! But just because we have to wait another day, doesn't mean I will make all our readers wait to find out what we bought. 

Now, onto what you're really here for....all the boat deets and pictures!!!

She is a 1995 {7 years newer than Irie} 36' {Irie was a 30'} Catalina {same as Irie}. 

Looking in from the cockpit....

The galley {kitchen}....

The aft cabin {1st bedroom}....

The v-berth {2nd bedroom}....

We got what we wanted....a bigger, newer boat, ok, I wanted the newer, hubs would have been happy with almost anything! We are both so happy to have a boat again!!! 

So, what do you think? Who's going to be our first visitor to see the new boat?