Author: Ron

Start of a big week in that we have the family flying in to gather and celebrate Pat Reimann's 90th Birthday. We have the grand plan of flying Pat, escorted by our daughter Lisa, down to visit her Applewood friend for a few days and then cruise to Captiva Island later in the week to … Continue reading A Week to remember

We tucked the boat away in Gulfport as we prepared to leave to go back to the tundra in Minnesota for Christmas. But before we flew out, we did some boat maintenance. Ron used his new hose-end wand to actually do a thorough cleanse and rinse out our holding tank which was a really crappy … Continue reading Boat maintenance, barnacles & bays

We spent a week downtown in St. Petersburg and were equally "wowed" by the city as we were by the beach. One of the fastest growing cities in the US with an average age of the downtown resident being 35. Only 7 original homes left here, as the land is too valuable for just a … Continue reading Christmas in the city

So Nancy found and took a chance on this out of the way dock, not at all on the normal radar for loopers. We both decided we were a bit crazy to try getting in here, without really knowing what the place was like. But it ended up being my favorite stop of the entire … Continue reading Our home on the Bayou

Thanksgiving and my birthday have come and gone, and so has my son Brad who flew down to join us for a few days. He was there when we left the dock at Afton on September 15th and now he joined us 2300 miles later. Lisa participated in the traditional Thanksgiving back home, where everyone … Continue reading Florida Follies

After the run across the Florida panhandle and the Crossing, it was great to spend a week at a newer marina with concrete floating docks and some time to explore. Our home for a week at Clearwater Harbor Marina A big surprise was when a bunch of our St croix yacht club friends were in … Continue reading Clearwater hang time

If you want to get a sense for what it was like heading out on the gulf for a 176 mile open water trip, here are a few casual video clips we recorded to remember the experience, mostly chronological. https://videopress.com/v/KOjYOQ0q?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata A cup of hot coffee and off we go at 6am. 6am departure in the … Continue reading Video from our gulf crossing

This is made out to be a big deal, and it is a pretty big deal. It's just a corner of the Gulf of Mexico, but typically it takes about 20 hours to get a cross this path so most loopers leave in the afternoon, travel all night in the dark, and arrive the next … Continue reading Rough Gulf Crossing

So we got a great side tie at Treasure Island Marina in Panama City, Florida. Not easy to find anywhere to tie up for the night but this worked out. Turns out this was only a few blocks from the Gulf so for the first time, finally, we had our feet in the white sands … Continue reading Depth finder says 1.5 ft

Mobile Bay was not happy when we crossed with our friends on Side Piece. Following seas from a north wind, with spray, but we made it ok. First time to see salt on everything. First time on the ICW and first dolphins. We landed at The Wharf marina and for the first time we were … Continue reading On the ICW towards Florida