Across Lake Okeechobee a couple of times.

 When I last spoke we were in Moore Haven wondering if the batteries had enough juice to crank the engines over. Our concerns were warranted but we managed to get them running and move Freedom to a dock for the overnight. After quite a bit of thrashing we had Freedom ready to run over to Stuart Fl. where we intended to make ready for the crossing to the Bahamas. We were exhasusted after a long drive, the launching and stowing. But it all went well enough and in the morning with the fog lifting we were happy to realize that two days of charging left the engine starting bank in good shape. The engines spun up and fired quickly.
 Around 7:30 A.M. we ventured out from the marina into the canal with the bridge enclosure all dewed up and difficult to see through. It didn't matter that I had shammied them a couple of times. The moisture settled on them immediately making it a difficult transition into the canal with reduced visability. However no one else was out on the water except, the alligators.
 They were frequent acquaintences along the trip to Clewiston Fl.. We'd see some "debris" floating in the water out in front of us and as we approached it would suddenly dissappear below the surface leaving rings in the water. Alligators are certainly a bit more intimidating than dolphins jumping along the side of Freedom yet they are fun to observe from a safe distance. Without question they are easily scared away by objects larger than themselves.
 The channel leading out to the lake from Clewiston is lined with markers and many of them were occupied by Cormorants and Ospreys. The Ospreys were more amusing due to their animated head bobbing to get a good viewing angle of us as we passed them by. Light winds prevailed and the Okeechobee crossing was smooth. Along with this there was no traffic except for a 52 Egg Harbor that blew by us relatively close enough to rock us a bit but no harm was done. If anything the passing broke up the monotony of an otherwise slow crossing of the lake being followed by gulls.
 We passed through the Moore Haven, Mayaka and St. Lucie locks easily with the light winds and small elevation changes. Arriving at Sunset Bay Marina we backed into a slip, tied up and were greeted by friends we had met in the Bahamas back in 2008.
 After a Looooonnnngggg day on the water, we cleaned up and met Mads and Lani for dinner at the restaurant here and thoroughly enjoyed it. Soon enough we were out cold for what seemed like minutes. The alarm rang at 6 A.M. and we hustled to get off the boat by 6:45 AM since M & L offered us a ride on Dauntless back to Moore Haven so we could get out car back! As they say timing is everything and with our arrivals coinciding at Sunset Bay Marina, a great facility by the way, it spared us the drubbing of renting a car, driving out to Moore Haven and returning in separate cars. A full day of driving was turned into a smooth ride back over the lake with friendly conversation in an air conditioned bridge.
 The fun ended when we they took Dauntless into the marina and there were no easy access spots enabling Debbie to hop off without concern. So Mads ably maneuvered the bow (also the highest egress) of Dauntless to the lift pit where three of us grabbed Debbie by the limbs waist and back while she slid off the bow with a life preserver on. Not exactly graceful but we "got 'er done". After I hopped off we were informed that this was a first for the marina. No one else had ever pulled a stunt like this before. In spite of the notoriety, I'm thinking Deb doesn't have very fond memories of the event....
 Regardless, we were grateful to get a ride, and assisting with the locking was a breeze. Thank you team Dauntless!
 And now the cleaning and preparations begin in earnest.      

Freedom Floats Again, and it's for the Ta Ta's...

 The last week has been a whirl wind of selling the condo, moving into storage, driving South, acquiring driver's licenses and registrations, and launching Freedom. It should have taken a month. But we managed to get all of this done in 6 days.
 But she is afloat, rather grudgingly but she is floating. The crew here at River Forest Labelle did a great job with class equipment getting her in the water. And that is where the fun stopped.
 The main engine batteries were not properly charged because well, the boat was not plugged in enough. Even though we paid for it, the boat was down on charge. Fortunately the port engine spun up as usual but the starboard engine needed help from the house bank. I'm really glad I decided to put in a switch to combine the house bank with the starting banks when I installed the inverter. It was the first time I had to use it and it payed many dividends. Tomorrow we will see if the charger will manage to pump life back into the starting bank. Once tied up at the dock we learned that the satellite tv tracking system went down and needs to be replaced, not fixed. But the real pain showed up when the Radar Chart Plotter we had upgraded by Furuno died. All of this adds up to quite a bit of concern given the itinerary we normally ply. So when we move to Stuart tomorrow, hopefully we don't learn more about what failed over the Summer.
 That's the bad and it probably isn't done showing itself yet.
 The good? She started up, moved out of the slings, spun around smartly and pulled into her new slip running smoothly. She even revved up a bit without complaint. Next time I will remember to turn on the fuel valves. Yes, I did that. I forgot to open the supplies to both engines. But she ran long enough anyway. I'm not sure what that says about the valves but I am sure glad they ran given all of the expensive hardware in the marina right now. Freedom is nothing but a glass bauble in comparison.
 Anyway, before we arrived here at Freedom we stopped in at Green Cove Springs to register the car, acquire our driver's licenses, and register the boats in Florida. It was probably the best experience I have ever had with any department of motor vehicles. Florida really has it's act together. You bring your papers of identity etc. and they enter it into the system. If you qualify the job is done. It took the nice lady named Geri two hours to get all of our processing done. And she worked diligently all that time, non stop.
 And, she did it with a smile, spoke perfect English, and in spite of all the non stop work, she remained professional and courteous. Now for the fun part. You may be wondering about the title of this particular entry in the blog.
 All the while I was standing in front of a glass divider that had one of those holes you pass information through. On the outside of the divider there were cancer walk-a-thon cards stuck up with tape filled out by donors.
 One of them stood out. I kind of laughed to myself without being too obvious but Geri noticed  being the sharp lady she is. She could not read the writing because the card was taped to the outside of her window facing out. So she's typing away and I draw Deb's attention to that particular card. She leans in, reads it and starts laughing.
 Now Geri is really getting nervous and wondering just what is so special about this card that was stuck to her window. She can't read it and obviously never looked at it prior to the contributor sticking it up.
 Being a good sport I waited about 15 minutes and eventually bust out laughing. Deb and I kind of outwardly didn't hide the notion that this was on her window and would be embarassing, but we didn't tell her promptly and let it fester for a while. But then it happened. Yes, I bust out laughing because the cancer walk-a-thon card had an in memory heading filled in with "It's for the ta ta's" along with an anonymous contributor. At the point I fell apart laughing Geri in calm Florida Cracker demanded to  know what that card said. So I peeled if off her window and turned it so she could read it. It was a moment of controlled astonishment for her but being a good sport she shared it with all of her coworkers.
 It was a good moment.
 Having been there, through all of this, she asked if we would be organ donors and we said yes, we will. In spite of all the time spent standing outside her window, it went very well, and we all had a great time.
 And tomorrow we move to Stuart traveling across the State of Florida.

 
   

Buh Bye New York State

 This topic is about one of those large changes in life. It's time to move on. Up to this point both Deb and I have spent all of our lives in New York State. It's a wonderful state full of great attractions and wonderful people to make them all that much better. We have so many great memories of times spent here. Good friends, terrific times, great laughs and bittersweet experiences. Life. Good life. So much to let go of. None of it easy to leave behind.
 But there comes a point in time when we know it's time to cut and run. The state has too many obligations to fill and too little base to fulfill the financial needs required to sustain the infrastructure. It's a damn shame. NYS is now number two with regard to tax burden and given the political climate it will surpass New Jersey quickly. Laws are being enacted to bypass tax levy increases enacted at the state level. Politicians are getting aid to build hotels on their property instead of pursuing money for infrastructure that will make the state a place people want to live in. Low income housing projects demand more attention than keeping us safe.
 All around NYS has what it takes to draw people in for a life experience. Summer beaches, Fall colors, City life, Winter Skiing, Museums, and on. But it's falling apart. Bridges such as the one between Kingston N.Y. and Port Ewen are rusting to pieces. The walkways should be condemned. They are not safe. Pumps are stationed in mid town Kingston in the middle of Broadway to pump waste or sewage because the system can no longer handle the flow. Roads are full of pot holes tearing up our cars and gangs fueled by low income housing and drugs are taking over the streets with their colors.
 Why should we stay?
 In spite of losing a significant investment in our abode we are calling it quits. We just don't see the support required from elected officials to maintain this state at a level commensurate with the level of taxation.
 It's really disappointing. We have a great view off the deck overlooking the Rondout Yacht Basin which has been our favorite escape from drudgery. I have to admit there were many hours of hacking code for main frames spent here, and looking out at a sunset after a full day of debugging or coding was very gratifying and soothing. Even though we worked many additional hours having the view tempered the sentiment that we had to maintain status with this extra effort.
 Family and regular dinners out at Ship to Shore and other establishments, let alone the home cooked meals have been a large part of life here.

 But it has come to this.

 Good bye New York State. You are asking too much and returning too little to those that are footing the bill.

Where did the good Summer weather go?

 I thought Summer meant calm weather in the North East United States! Wow, how wrong can you get? We had Hurricane Irene and flooding that wiped out the New York State canal system, and then the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee about a week later. No one had a chance to recover from all of the water that Irene left behind before the down pours from Lee arrived.
 The Rondout Creek crested at a new record but thankfully all of the marinas survived in good form. Catskill was not as fortunate and suffered extensive if not total damage to all of the creek side facilities. I suspect that the Erie canal is done for the year, and probably will not open until Spring. There is so much damage resultant from the flooding that some marina operators that survived have closed up shop for the season early, asking their guests to haul out. If the flooding did not adversely affect travel plans with closures I am convinced the debris left behind did. It choked marinas and bent running gear all along the Hudson.
 There are rumors about the Internet that boaters trying to make their way South are going to gather in Toronto where they will meet a ship to bring them South. They originally intended to get this done in Oswego, but the Jones Act has prevented this from happening in the United States. Hopefully this works out and these folks only suffer an inconvenience as opposed to a total change in their Winter plans.
 Anyway, Freedom seems to be riding out the Summer, on the hard, in relatively good form. With any luck she will be ready for us to re float her early in October when we head South. Once afloat and provisioned we will head over to the Bahamas again hoping to rekindle friendships and enjoy the hospitality of the locals.
 Our prayers and well wishes are with all of those that were unfortunately dealt a cruel slap in the face by Mother Nature and we hope the emotional and financial injuries heal quickly.  

Here's a Summary of the last 8 months

 Enjoy the show, it runs about 30 minutes. Turn off the screen saver and crank up the volume.

http://www.photodex.com/share/danmapes/ap4b9mg4

The Deed is Done

  We hate to say it but Freedom is on the hard. This was like having a tooth pulled. It was back in October of 2010 that we moved aboard and while that starting point seems quite distant, it tends to lend insight into what we have been about for the last eight months.
 As far as the act of  having the tooth pulled goes we have come to the conclusion that setting aside one day to remove items, and finish cleaning up is totally insufficient. It's not as bad as moving from one apartment to another excluding furnishings, it's worse. The reason being we are the landlords and we know what we need to have when we return. It's not like we can give up a month's rent in security when we walk away (not that anyone would want to do that these days). So when we go down this path again we'll make sure we have at least two days set aside to unload. Note this does not include washing her down, changing oils and all of the other mechanical preparations for storage. Adding all of that up will extend the time required significantly. But as they say it is what it is, and Freedom is taking a well deserved break.
 We put 158 hours on the engines this year and all things considered it went extremely well. Freedom covered roughly 1200 nautical miles over all sorts of water. That translates to an average of about 7.6 nm per hour. Not bad for a 25 year old boat with ancient Detroit 6-71TI technology driving her. Most of it was shallow but we had the deep big water also. You know it's big water when you see the U.S. Navy heading out into the Atlantic and points East. You also know it's big water when the swells come at you and there are no harbours to duck into. We got to know this feeling well on our way to Royal Island from Little Harbour in the Abacos.  This was probably the most risky passage we had given its distance from the States but the risk was mitigated by the notion we traveled with others we knew. At least most of the way. Well, ok, it was only over the most remote sections. Anyway, it all went well and fortunately it went well for those folks also.
 But it's all good. We had a great time traveling. As long as one studies the available forecast data and looks out for changes the chances are quite good that a pleasant passage will result.
 This year we ran into many familiar faces in the Abacos and rekindled several friendships. We spent hours on beaches without another soul around and found many unique shells to add to our collection. We also finally reached the Exumas on the third attempt. It seemed that Freedom was not ready the first two years and she groaned a bit this time but whenever we called on her to deliver she did so without hesitation and most importantly she did so with ease. In spite of some rough water between Fleeming Channel and Nassau, water spouts of West End, and shallow water around the Florida Keys, Freedom kept plodding along smoothly.
 Along with Freedom being such a good sport this year, the weather turned out to be exceptional. We found that out of the last three years, this year was best. Many folks that have Wintered over proclaimed this year the best out of the last five! We'll take it!
 But now it's time to turn our attention up North again. And with that, we'll probably slow down the rate of updates until we get back to Freedom. So with that we'll see y'all later.

Naples up to Fort Myers

 Our ride up to Fort Meyers was prefaced with the notion that we could be in for some rough water. Having been tossed around between Fleeming Channel and Nassau we were concerned for what lay in store for us on this portion of our trip.
 But we've had a couple of good nights in Naples at the City Marina. It was located convenient to many places within Naples, well run, and the fuel was well priced given we got a 10% discount having purchased 200 gallons. Actually it was 197 but the attendant was very understanding. Given our average speeds were a bit high to move us through some rough water, we received reasonable economy from Freedom.
 However our concern regarding the weather on the GOM was not warranted. As long as we stayed within a mile of the shoreline we had calm seas with a light breeze keeping the bridge at a comfortably cool temperature. So we chugged along on a holiday in the U.S. expecting to be confronted by crazed boaters getting their last run of the Summer in. Yet again we were pleasantly surprised to have nothing but pleasant encounters with other boaters. Everyone was well behaved making the passage easy.
 Ft Myers is home to several points of interest including the Edison and Ford vacation homes. Considering their wealth I have to admit they lived in what would appear to be modest accommodations. The settings the dwellings find themselves in is very appealing being riverside and Edison had a penchant for importing many different varieties of plant life and trees. The tour of this attractive site is informative and well worth the stop. I'm sure everyone will learn something while enjoying the scenery. By the way did you know that Edison was Ford's mentor? Just how far this man's creativity went is amazing. 
 Arriving in Ft. Myers signals that our trip is at an end. The 2010-2011 boating season is over and we will be putting Freedom up on the hard for the Summer. If it wasn't for the threat of Jury duty I have postponed already we probably would have stayed aboard even longer this year. At this point we'll have less to talk about with regard to boating but that doesn't mean we won't be working the subject. We're already considering the "honey do" list Freedom is demanding.