My "go to" morning exercise is fast walking. In the summer I alternate with rowing my little cold molded rowboat.
The spring like weather continued later than usual around Annapolis this year. While mornings in late May and early June are usually warm enough to row, they were not so this year. Finally on Monday I got out on the rowboat. It was windy and my path was shorter, but it was great! My shoulders are sore to prove it.
Early June can be hard to predict, weather wise. Sometimes it is full on summer and sometimes nice. The Canadian wildfire smoke added complexity to our planned club cruise to Harness Creek.
As it turned out we had a great weekend! the bad air from the wildfires lifted after a particularly bad Thursday. The overnight temps stayed in the 60s, making for nice AC free sleeping. The cruise leader, Koralina McKenna applied her creative "teacher" skills to a three stop rotational happy hour and dinner among three boats. As they say: "a good time was had by all".
Nice weekend cruise to Chestertown with AYC. 19 boats and almost 50 folks enjoyed happy hours, tours, a wine tasting, ice cream and meals of course in this well preserved historic town.
Just back from the ICW north trip, we had our house rented during USNA Commissioning Week. We have done this for years and, as ususal, we had a plan to stay aboard the boat in downtown Annapolis. It is a great week to be in Annapolis. There are lots of people and lots going on, including the Blue Angels practive day and performance day. It never gets old!
Over the last two weeks, the crew of Winsome Winn has covered 1200 miles of ICW, beginning in Stuart FL and ending in Annapolis and home.
Our trips up and down the ICW follow a simple formula: drive the boat, click off some miles, stop in the late afternoon at a marina and head ashore for dinner. You will understand it this way: “happy crew = happy captain”.
In pursuit of our trip formula, the crew of Winsome Winn may stop at almost any marina that also has a restaurant. However, the preferred stops are towns and small cities with multiple walking distance restaurant choices, other shopping options (maybe grocery, pharmacy, etc.). Ice cream shops are a very important consideration, of course!
You can read more about our favorite small town stops in the July issue of PropTalk.
It has been warming up in south Florida. In January and February there are occasional winter days when we "snowbirds" may put on a long sleeve t-shirt. They are the same days that the locals sport sweatshirt hoodies. Those days are fewer in March and essentially gone by April.
Also gone or going in April are some of our fellow live aboard snowbirds. The marina is less full as the month progresses. Some have found a window and headed to the Bahamas. Some have started a leisurely trip north. Some have put their winter home up for the summer in local yards and headed to their northern home, many with another cruising boat!
We are leaving our boat in town but flying home. In early May we will return to begin a projected 12 day trip up the ICW to the Bay.
Living aboard this winter has been great fun. Living in a small space is a challenge, for sure. I wrote about some of these challenged in the May issue of PropTalk. We will do it again (and keep working to improve our storage, etc to meet the small boat living challenges).
back from our mid winter cruise up the ICW and home, on the boat, for just a couple days before flying to Annapolis for a week of meetings, etc.
On Wednesday, after stops in Ft Pierce and Vero Beach, we headed to Cocoa. The runs were short on our itinerary and so we arrived before noon. We waited for a launch at the Cape which was delayed, so we headed to a local BBQ place, Cryderman's, for lunch. It was amazing though not inexpensive.
Thursday was a lay day. We were rewarded with an afternoon launch that went of exactly on time.
Friday we headed to Melbourne. There is a Cuban restaurant there, El Ambia Cubano that is always a favorite stop. It did not disappoint.
Saturday was a return visit to Vero for the local and very impressive art show.
Sunday meant it was time to head back to Stuart. Without our friends initiative we would have just hung around the marina and missed some great memories. Moral of the story: use your boat!
Our winter respite in Florida has been interrupted by flights back to Annapolis for work, doctor's appointments, volunteer activity and grandkid duties. It is all good. The winter has been mild in Maryland and going to the cold reminds you why you are in Florida anyway. On our last flight down we went from around 32 degrees as we boarded an early morning flight to 82 degrees when we landed in Florida.
This trip down was the start of an actual cruise on the boat. We are in Ft. Pierce as I type. Having not moved the boat for four months, since arriving in Florida via the ICW, I was happy to see all systems working just fine. The trip from Stuart to Ft.Pierce was just 90 minutes but it was great to be back on the water navigating.
We have friends with a new to them boat, a Jenneau Nc 895. They were anxious to use her and so we devised a week long cruise up the ICW to Cocoa and back. Last evening we had dinner with them and another couple, friends who live in Ft. Pierce. We enjoyed a nice meal at the Second Street Cafe and a good time was had by all.
Back to Florida for just ten days. Annapolis beckons again. This is to be followed by a short trip home then a return to Florida and a six day cruise on out boat!