Here we are in Georgia, almost to Ft McAllister. If you have read enough of these long winded posts, you know Ft McAllister is where we bought Yume in November 2013 and started this journey.
In Dec 2013, we left for the keys in Fl, then back past here to DC, then back past here to the Keys in Jan and now back past again heading for DC. And you are caught up! Or dizzy.
As I steered the boat for 10 hours today (well technically I have an autopilot but I have to watch and make the changes) I had a thought.
I wondered how you (the reader) wanted me to write. Then I wondered if it really mattered since I am the one who has to write after all.
But, I would be interested, if you are interested enough to respond, how you would prefer these posts.
Currently it seems I manage a post every couple of weeks.
Would you prefer shorter posts more often? Less pictures or more? Less words or more? Less videos or more? Less personal thoughts or more? What else?
What would it take for you to tell someone else to read this? And what would make it more enjoyable for you.
Just asking… Send an email to coachmiami@gmail.com or reply to this. Thanks.
We are three days north of St Augustine. First we went back to Fernadina Beach to drop the hook in afternoon thundershowers, then up to St Simons Island and Fort Frederica which was way cool.
Then today we had a very enjoyable day to Kilkenny Creek, Ga. The weather has been perfect. The bugs are certainly enjoying it.
We have had the fly swatter out for the first time ever slaughtering horse flies and tiny vicious biting flies. All of us are below at dinner time, with the screens in and swatter handy! Add in the fornicating love bugs that seem attracted to open mouths and it is much more comfortable below!
Last night we motored up a three mile side trip to drop the hook at Ft Frederica founded by Mr Ogelthorpe of Savannah Ga fame who sailed to England twice! to get money to build and arm a whole town against the Spanish hordes certain to attack from St Augustine. They did attack on 1742, and the greatly outnumbered English (4000-1000) simply waited until the Spanish stacked their muskets and proceeded to eat dinner to attack while hidden in the woods in the Battle of Bloody Swamp (so called as the swamp ran red with Spanish blood).
This is all that is left of the little fort, but the town (surrounded by a mile long earth berm is easily seen. It is a great place to see! The live oaks are amazing…
Obviously I love history and am greatly enjoying forcing this stuff on Ryan and Shelly!
We very much enjoyed our stay in St Augustine as well, although the mooring field by the Bridge of Lions can be rough, especially with the afternoon thunderstorms. None of the varnish work got done, but there is a great used sailing gear store where I got teak and parts to finally fix the rubrail, and electrical parts to split the house battery bank to try and figure out our usage issues. We seem to have a real problem using way too much power and way too much internet bandwidth.
Shelly and I explored a lot of the old town, taking a different route twice a day as we walked, or road bikes with Goose tagging along. This is another historical part of the U.S. and well worth the time to get off the tourist streets back into the old town itself. The old Ponce De Leon hotel built by Flagler for the rich way back when is now Flagler College and a beautiful structure to tour.
We ate lots of fresh shrimp and fish from the local boats too.
Ryan and Shannon had one more week together before we head back north. We enjoyed a pizza with her Dad the day before we left.
Tom had some good stories to tell as he is a marine biologist who works specifically with right whales.
We packed up the bikes in the dinghy, took once last sunset picture of a front coming through and we were underway again. Great feeling to be moving!
This morning we stopped in Altamaha Sound at the ocean to walk the deserted beach with Goose. We both keenly felt so grateful as we had just passed Broughton Island where we lost Goose for three days in January. Imagine the pain if we had to pass that island having not found him…
But we did and we are so appreciative of all the people who helped. (If you missed that story read it http://miamiphillips.com/sailing-life/how-the-town-of-darien-helped-find-a-lost-goose/)
And so it goes.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms who keep the world running!
Hello old friend, any update is good update. Recently I have acquired a ’73 Yukon Delta. I am curious to here more of your green energy practices. Have you heard of of experimented with continuous solar power? What are your thoughts on the 1250 Yeti-Goal Zero solar powered generator w/ solar panels?
Hey Brent,
I would love continuous solar panel, but it is not feasible yet for us for two reasons.
First the initial cost for panels, wiring and controllers is high for an unemployed boat bum. π
The next issue is the real estate on a boat to place the panels. It takes a lot of room to gather enough sun to convert. I have one 20 sq ft panel over my dinghy David that produces about 15 amps at 13v in the middle of the day on a sunny day. Panels cannot have any shade, and the more direct the light the better.
That helps but is nowhere near enough for our power hungry family. Ryan’s high power laptop computer charger draws an astounding 8 amps alone!
On a car roof? Different story. But being green? I am not so sure.
Good luck with the car! Great to hear from you.
I love reading your posts Miami! The pictures are great and stories always interesting. I especially like to hear about the small everyday things that are different living on a boat, that you may even think insignificant. Mostly I just want to hear what you are all up to because I love you guys!
Hiya Lisa!
Thanks for the note. We think about you guys (especially when I am out trudging from bar to bar looking for a gig!) and wonder how you are doing.
The comments help. At least I know someone is reading!
We are very happy to be here. It is a sunny, stunning morning, with a soft breeze, and we are moving our home through the water at 6 mph, (costing about $4 an hour) towards Savannah where we need to stop long enough to restock a few grocery items (milk and paper towels) before heading on up to Hilton Head Island.
Life is good! Sty in touch please!
Miami and Shelly
I second Lisa. I enjoy your posts, pictures and videos. I can feel your adventures and pains and successes through them. Keep’em coming. And I also miss you guys! π
I love reading your posts and always look forward to seeing them pop up in my news feed. My favorite parts are reading about all of the cool places that you visit and seeing your beautiful photos, family photos included. You guys are living the dream life and I get to live a little part of it through your blog posts. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming!
Hi Celeste! Thanks for the comment…
We love writing (well sorta) and are super happy to hear someone reads them.
Love to all in Dallas!
Miami
The Yukon Delta is a 25′ houseboat not a car, silly. You inspired me to learn how to survive on the lake and deep rivers nautically before venturing to deeper waters.
Ah. So sorry! Cool – sure you can get enough panels on that thing to make it self sufficient. Does it have electric motors?
You have all the real estate in the world on top of that house for panels – and hopefully enough room somewhere for a bog bank of 6 volt golf cart batteries!
Runs it all day!