And so it begins! We had so many people request that we continue our blog that we decided to share our adventures with you. The map to the left will have each place we stop. You can zoom in or out. This time, there are 2 points on it. Where we started and where we are now.
Samba has been on the "hard" since July, 2018. We did that so she would be safe and secure throughout the hurricane season, which runs from July to late November. When we left her last July, we took all of our clothes, bedding, towels, extra food and pretty much anything else we could fit in the car back home in Indiana. Needless to say, all of that stuff had to make the return trip. Our car was packed to the brim with vacuum-packed linens and clothes.
3 months ago, we had requested that our boat yard, American Custom Yachts, splash Samba first thing on Monday, 1/07. They assured us that wouldn't be a problem. Soo, on our way to Florida, they called & said they had some ill employees & couldn't finish painting our bottom with anti-fouling paint and that we would be delayed until Tuesday afternoon. Argghhh.
Since we were delayed a full day, we took advantage of the time and offloaded all of the stuff from the car to the boat.
Tuesday afternoon, the riggers showed up 2 hours early to pick Samba up & splash her! Carol was getting us some lunch so she high-tailed it back to the yard.
Once the boat is in the slings, they touch up all of the bottom paint to make sure everything is good.
The lift is amazing and, amazingly slow! It took 15 or 20 minutes just to haul her to the water.
Ahhhh! Finally on the water again!
The Harborage Yacht Club & Marina is located almost right under Federal Highway, US 1. At night, the bridge was spectacular!
Our fist order of business was provisioning. Since we plan to keep Samba in the Bahamas for 1 or 2 years and since they tend to not have many good grocery stores there, Carol realllly stocked up on items that could be kept on the boat for a couple of years. It took the better part of 2 full days to get the provisions and stow them.
Also, after sitting in a dirty parking lot for 6 months, we had to get a crew of detailers come to help us get Samba back to decent condition! At one point, there were 6 people all over the boat on the outside washing & waxing.
This view out the back of the boat is of the St. Lucie River, one of the 2 main outflows from Lake Okeechobee.
We plan to anchor out near the ocean on Saturday evening and then head out around 4:00am on Sunday for the Bahamas.
We have a very small weather window where the wind and waves will be OK to make the 80 mile journey through the Gulf Stream to our next destination.
We'll see you on the water!
