Bittersweet

Last Thursday afternoon we pulled into Olverson's Lodge Creek Marina the place where aCappella will spend the summer. We spent five days here last fall (see our blog post) and the kids really enjoyed the huge field to run in and Cas' treats. Freddie met us at the dock and helped us settle right in. It felt a little like coming home.

So this is the official end of our 2009-2010 winter cruise. We have lists of boat projects - those who have read our blog from the beginning know how we love lists - and a schedule for getting the boat closed down. She's been home for 9 months and has definitely served us well. We will miss her, miss the adventures, and miss the wonderful people we've met. But we also miss our home and good friends in Castine. We will be there in less than two weeks.

Now we'll have to get used to a bigger bed, all the hot water we could want, and a grocery store always at the ready. It'll be a hard adjustment. We're looking forward to going home but we're also looking forward to getting back on the boat again. The kids are just looking forward to supper. Oh, to truly live in the moment...

ActiveCaptain on the iPad

Here are some screen shots of the iPad application to be released in a few days that fully supports all of ActiveCaptain's data offline. No internet connection is needed to view all of the marinas, anchorages, bridges, locks, boat ramps, etc., along with all of the reviews. It works incredibly well and even rotates the chart as your boat is turning.

Enough writing about it - here's what it looks like. Click any picture to see the full size.

Zoomed out view of Charleston (the round red dot is our location)

Zoom in a little to our location

Tap on the red marina marker - up comes a pick list

Select Charleston Maritime Center - displays results in tabs

Show the Services data

Display the Reviews

Move over to the famous Matanzas inlet area - see the yellow hazards

Tap on a hazard and display it's details

Show the hazard's Comments

It all works extremely well right now. Obtaining the software allows you to run it on both an iPhone and iPad at the same time. It works identically on the iPhone except for the smaller screen. The data is identical.

Tap in the (i) icon in the bottom right, select ActiveCaptain, and you can Update your data to retrieve all marker information and reviews that have been changed since the last synchronization.

And of course it follows your position optionally locking your GPS position in the center of the screen, turning the display as you turn.

This is way, way cool...

iPad 3G

Three offshore hops and we're in Charleston at the Maritime Center - one of our most favorite places. Immediately, the air conditioning was turned on to spoil us. Although we intended to stay for 2 days, I paid for 5. Pay for 5 days and you get 7 days - I'm such a sucker for that. Truth be told, the weather wasn't good for us to leave today (Sunday). We need this bad weather to pass over and it looks like things don't clear up until at least Wednesday.

So I convince Karen to walk to the Apple store in the late afternoon. This is one of the advantages of being in a real city - lots of things walking distance from where we are. We had a video cable that we wanted to return and it seemed like a good idea to do that right away. Besides, we needed the 10 block walk.

Upon arriving at the store at 4:50, we find a long line waiting to get in. Imagine that - today at 5:00 pm is the release of the iPad 3G (cellular connectivity + GPS). "What luck!" I told Karen. She didn't buy it though - she knew this was a multi-step plan probably started weeks ago.

So we wait on line for about 20 minutes, get up to the door and are greeted by a set of serious geeky-looking people. Now I'm definitely a member of the geek class but even this set had me wondering where my class had gone wrong.

We're escorted in the door with our own sales assistant who gives us our new iPad 3G. We made the cut. So did 3 people behind us. It was that close.

It's been fun to experiment with it. The screen is beautiful and the apps are mostly working well. There are some bugs that need to be fixed - common with a device so new like this.

The GPS, thankfully, works much better than the iPhone's GPS. It even locks position signals below deck. I can see an anchor alarm in the future with this especially since it manages to have exceptional battery life - 10 hours or more.

We met with our good friends Jeb & Linda who made an incredible dinner party centered around the Kentucky Derby. The dogs remember the dog park across the street and are having a wonderful time too. This is a special place.

Here are a couple of screen shots showing what my iPad 3G looks like. It'll be fun to see how it fits with boating once we get back underway.

My iPad screen background:

Looking at the blog (looking at itself!) in Safari:

Three Days Offshore in Video

Three long offshore hops:

1. Cumberland Island, Georgia to St. Simons Sound (Brunswick), Georgia

2. Brunswick - Port Royal Sound (Hilton Head), South Carolina
      a) Rougher weather in the beginning
      b) Calmer weather as the day progressed

3. Hilton Head - Charleston, South Carolina

4. Dylan's traveling position (photo)

Cumberland Island, Georgia in Video

A Dinghy Lesson

I'll get right to the lesson. If you're near your dinghy and you don't have a pocket knife tucked away somewhere inside, stop reading this and go put a knife onboard now.

We have unlimited Tow Boat US membership. It costs $149 per year (minus MTOA discounts!) and insures me on whatever boat I'm on for full towing expenses. You gotta know that any blog entry that starts off talking about knives and Tow Boat US is going to be a good one...

So we pulled into Fernandina and there were no moorings available. We anchored instead on the Amelia River in a beautiful spot - beautiful as long as you didn't see the paper mills which are incredibly ugly. Still, it was one of the nicest nights at anchor yet. In the morning a municipal mooring freed up so we grabbed it - we thought we'd take the dogs into town, do some shopping, and just walk around. On our way to town, Dylan decided to make his move and dive in after a sea bird swimming near the dinghy. Unfortunately for Dylan, he was leashed into the dinghy. So he's flailing around the water, Dyna is trying to jump in after him, and we're moving forward. It was a wonderful time.

The dogs walked all around town and it was time to head back so we piled into the dinghy once again and headed back to the boat. As we approached the boat, I put the dinghy into reverse to slow our motion toward the mother ship. As soon as I did this, the engine stalled. Karen reached out for the boat but was about 2 inches too short. With 7 foot tides, there's good current in the harbor and it was now taking us for a lovely ride down the Amelia River. No amount of rowing could counteract the current - we were only able to steer the boat toward the far weeds. The engine would start but as soon as it went into gear it stalled.

We drifted for about 20 minutes and grounded on the far uninhabited side of the river. Tilting the engine to keep it from digging into the sand revealed the problem - we had wrapped our own stern line around the prop. What a bone-headed thing to do.

We always have communications capabilities onboard - even on the dinghy. So we called the marina and asked if someone could come and help. They promised to send out their boat immediately. It was about 45 minutes later when we realized that no one was coming.

We tried to cut the line with things we had onboard but nothing would do it. I guess in a real emergency we could have used a flare to burn through the line carefully but we weren't at that point yet.

Although the dogs loved the idea of being surrounded by the tall weeds on the river's edge, it was getting a bit annoying. I pulled out my iPhone, looked up Tow Boat US, and called. Within 5 minutes they were there and handed me the biggest knife I've ever seen. One slice cut the line and allowed it to be unwrapped. They pulled us out from the weeds, the engine started, and went into gear just perfectly.  All was well.

The towing and rescue service total came to $165. My bill - $0. For once, my Tow Boat US membership paid for itself. This was the first time I've ever called them.

So the lesson here is to keep a knife onboard. I put a nice combination pocket knife in a sealed baggy and placed it under the seat. While I was at it, I threw in some hose clamps in case a fuel line ever breaks.

Of course, there's another lesson here too. Call the Pro's if you need help. Anything less is just a waste of 45 minutes.

MTOA

There are four boating organizations that we belong to. BoatUS because I'm pretty sure it's a federal law that if you own a boat you must be a member. They also have great towing service which we just used for the first time but that's for another blog entry. DeFever Cruisers because we own a DeFever and it's nice to know other boaters with your boat. Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) because their members have the widest breadth of cruising experience throughout the world. And Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) because they embrace the trawler cruising/liveaboard lifestyle best.

If you own a trawler and are not a member of MTOA click here, now and join. Not only will you meet some great cruisers and make some wonderful friends, you will become part of a family that will be there when you need them. There are many reasons to join including savings on your boat insurance, one free night's dockage each year at Olverson's, and access to yacht clubs. They have port captains at major ports of call that will help you with a car, local knowledge, just about anything you need. And then there are the rendezvous and the pins. The coveted pins.

Last week we attended the MTOA Southern Rendezvous in St. Augustine, FL. It was three days of seminars (several which we gave so you know how good they are), good food, dancing, boat visiting, and the final awards dinner where members received their pins. Green pins for working on a committee, red pins for speaking, and so on. Trust me, don't you dare try to steal a member's pin, walking the plank is the only fitting punishment. So we each added two pins to our collection giving us each a total of four. There are members who have enough pins to set off the metal detector from the airport parking lot. We hope to have enough years of boating ahead of us to do the same some day.

We're Pedaling as Fast as We Can!

Over a week ago we promised you video of Dyna and Dylan's fabulous evening with their buddy Duke in Vero Beach (Jim is Duke's person and he was there too). The week here in St. Augustine attending the MTOA Southern Rendezvous has been fun and busy. As we plow through the email, comments, updates, and other items that have been on the back burner, I pause to fulfill that promise. We'll fill you in on what else has been happening as soon as our feet catch up with the pedals...

Enjoy!

Velcro Beach

In the cruising community Vero Beach has the nickname Velcro Beach because it's so hard to leave. There are lots of reasons for that and having been here many times we know it's true. There's the great free shuttle bus that will pick you up at the marina and take you to the grocery store, hardware store, restaurants, you name it. There's a fun Saturday night potluck, a beach within walking distance, as well as the shops and restaurants along the beach. The mooring field and dinghy docks are well done and the cruisers here are very friendly.

Of course, for us the dog park is a major draw. On Saturday there was a 14 week old yellow lab puppy there who ran underneath Dyna when some of the big dogs began picking on him. I guess her mama vibes are still felt by puppies.

We were out every night - Friday dinner at the Lobster Shanty with Bill on Spray, Saturday dinner at Gene and Kathy's, Sunday night a cruisers' Easter Potluck dinner on Bonnie and Ray's Compass Rose (Bonnie played the part of the Easter Bonnie, I mean, Bunny), Monday drinks with George and Mary on Summer Slopes, and Tuesday night the grand finale, beach and pool swimming followed by dinner with Duke and his person Jim. We'll upload some great swimming video when we get a faster connection.

So this stop we only stayed five days, not because we were ready to go, but because we have obligations up the road. We know we'll be back - it's not just Velcro Beach, it could also be called Boomerang Beach.

Old Friends

This morning we left Miami Beach. Last evening Dyna and Dylan had their final romp in the Miami Beach dog park. It's a wonderful group of dogs and people, and it's amazing how quickly one becomes attached. On our first dinghy ride back to the park Dyna and Dylan began crying as soon as we passed under the bridge and the park came into view.

So Dyna and Dylan said goodbye to Dewey, Annie, Sterling, Oliver, and many others. We lingered longer than usual, not wanting to say goodbye to the dogs or people. Some hugs, promises for next year, and we pulled the dinghy away from the dock.

When we left Marathon we started our trek back through the places we'd been. For Dyna and Dylan that means getting to play again with some of the dog friends they've made along the way. In Marathon they met up again with Riggs from Spray and Godiva and Cassie from September Song and swam on Sombrero Beach.

They'll look for Duke and Holly in Vero Beach who they played with at the beach and then in a pool (watch the video). And Carly and Andy who took them to a beach on Sullivan Island (watch the video).

And of course there is Goose and Huck from the Charleston Maritime dog park.

Cruisers love to talk about the wonderful people we meet along the way. And it's true. It's also true for our canine crew.

Delivery Diesel

It's hard to believe that we've always passed by Miami Beach. Especially the anchorages off the Venetian Causeway. This is an exceptional area. You can get anything you want here within just a few blocks - multiple Publix grocery stores, every type of restaurant imaginable, hardware, Post Office, 18-theatre complex, an Apple store, Office Depot, etc. The dog food we use is a speciality brand that we have to order on the Internet for delivery. But here there's a store 6 blocks from the dinghy dock that stocks it. Together with the dog park at 5 pm, we didn't think it could get any better.  Then we met Leon.

Peterson Fuel has always updated their diesel prices in ActiveCaptain. We like that. It's good for them and it's good for our captains. Peterson has 2 barges - one in Miami and one in Ft. Lauderdale. In our 8 transits through both areas we'd seen the barges before. Boats would pull up and get fuel - seems like a nice business. Here's what I didn't know - if you need 250 gallons or more, they'll come to you. Delivery Diesel!

The delivery area includes, you guessed it, the area we like to anchor in for Miami Beach. So I called Peterson and arranged for a fuel fill up right on the hook. Honestly, how cool is that?

They called me this morning and told me which half hour they'd arrive. Right around the scheduled time we saw the yellow barge coming down the Venetian Causeway access on Biscayne Bay.

We met Captain Leon who eased the barge against aCappella, tied up to us, and set the spuds to lock us both in position. Leon is a true pro - a licensed captain with a tanker endorsement. He's on the barge 6 days a week doing this type of diesel delivery.

Leon handed over the nozzle and hose (extremely clean) and worked with us to adjust the flow. The pumps onboard the barge are high speed - 140 gallons per minute - that he can adjust to any rate needed. We prefer between 20 and 40 gallons per minute.

We completely filled our rear 2 tanks and topped off the front 2 ones - about 490 gallons total. It was simple and I really enjoyed monitoring the fuel sites in a nice, cool engine room.

After filling up and putting all the hoses and equipment back on the barge, Leon invited us onboard to tour the barge. Because it's a licensed fuel barge, we had to provide picture ID's and sign into the ship's log. Leon showed us around the well-kept machinery. The barge holds 10,300 gallons of diesel and they often pump it dry on a busy day.

In the blink of an eye, the lines were untied, spuds lifted, and we were waving goodbye to Leon as he set off for the ICW and more boaters looking for fuel.

This is the first time we've gotten fuel away from a marina. It's a nice option. Peterson has an excellent fuel price. We considered getting fuel in Marathon but ended up saving about $250 on almost 500 gallons. There is a $0.10/gallon discount for cash/checks too.

Leon told us that although there's a 250 gallon minimum for delivery, he'll often go into an area where a few boats all need fuel and their combined total will be over 250 gallons.

Peterson keeps their fuel price very up-to-date in ActiveCaptain. I'm glad we noticed it and checked it out.

So there are services that will deliver food to your boat, pump out boats that will remove your waste, and now fuel barges that deliver fuel right to your anchored boat. Find me a delivery dog walking service and we'll never have to leave the boat!

Long hot showers...

We're almost ready to leave Boot Key Harbor.  We've been doing the last minute things to get ready - filled our dinghy gas tanks and cans, cleaned the water line, last minute grocery shopping, etc.

One thing we haven't taken advantage of here at the marina are the public showers. With two showers on the boat, it's much nicer to shower there. But on a mooring, we're always conserving water so the showers are brief.

Today we decided to take advantage of the really nice public showers at the marina. There's all the water you want and it's as hot as you like it. The showers are single person but we snuck in together, probably breaking the official rules.  Heck, we're operating under the same marriage license so it's allowed.

It was fantastic...

Next we're turning north and east and starting the slow trip back to the Chesapeake and Maine.  Miami Beach is the next major destination for us.

Dinghy Ride 101

Most people have morning routines - a cup of coffee, completing a crossword puzzle, watching a morning TV show. For us in Boot Key Harbor, we have a morning ritual too - Dinghy Ride 101.

Dinghy Ride 101 arrives daily at Sombrero Beach or the Marathon Park depending on weather conditions. All passengers arrive well-rested, happy, and with wagging tails.

LRA - Larry's Remote Anchoring technique...

Our dinghy weighs about 800 pounds. She's a rigid inflatable with a 40 HP engine. It's our family car when we're cruising and we put a lot of demands on her.

So I was telling Larry how much of a hassle it is when bringing the dogs to the beach. Beaching the boat ends up pushing the whole boat sideways on the beach with oncoming waves and can become very difficult to re-float it when it's time to leave. Instead, we keep going back every 5 minutes to push the boat back into the water.

Larry had a solution. He always does. And this one is a doozy.

"You don't know how to use the trip line on the anchor to remotely anchor the dinghy?" Larry asks. Well, no, I don't. I've never seen anyone ever do it. With that Larry gives me the specs for what I need and explains exactly how to do LRA - Larry's Remote Anchoring.

First, the equipment and deployment.

I use a grappling hook type of dinghy anchor. LRA is real anchoring so I created a special rode of 5 feet of chain with 8 feet of 3/8" line. I attached a clip to the end of it so it could be attached to the bow eye of the dinghy close to the water.

The critical piece of equipment is 100 feet of 1/4 inch nylon line on a spool. That gets attached to the trip line eye at the bottom of the anchor.

With that all ready, this video shows the equipment and deployment at Sombrero Key.  We land in about 2 feet of water and push the boat out to anchor in 4 feet of water. Turn your sound up - it's hard to hear - lots of dogs hanging around the "studio".

The magic is in putting all of the equipment on the bow which is easily popped into the water by a slight tug of the trip line. The trip line is the retrieval device and an emergency line in case the anchor fails. It isn't good enough to hold the dinghy in a gale, but for going to the beach, it's plenty good enough.

Retrieving the anchor is just as easy.



It's all pretty easy to do. I strongly suggest using chain on the anchor if you're going to use this technique. Total cost for this was about $25 plus the anchor which we already had.

Now Larry, how about a trick for rinsing and drying off wet dogs before they get back onto the boat?

Sombrero Beach swimming...

The weather has turned perfect - 75 degrees, sunny, calm - just perfect.  We're starting to get boat projects done (sealing every deck intake, cap rail renew, water line cleaning, dinghy chock painting, lazarette cleaning, rudder packing adjustments, gel coat fixes/polishing/etc). There's also a tremendous amount of ActiveCaptain development, legal work, and writing as we start to roll out our upcoming Co-Op capability.  Much more will come out about that in the next few weeks. It's incredibly exciting!

None of this gets in the way of our 7:00 am dinghy ride to Sombrero Beach for some serious dog swimming. We go almost every morning. It's much nicer with the warmer weather although the water has always been a nice 70 - 73 degrees.

First up - Dylan retrieving by himself:


Next - Dyna by herself - take 1. She can be a bit stubborn:


Dyna, take 2:


And finally, the team together:

The Worst Job On The Boat

Today was not the day we were expecting when we woke up.

Last night we got a call from Bill and Sheila our friends on Spray to come over for breakfast. Remembering the wonderful frittata Bill made for us in Charleston, we eagerly accepted. Just as we were about to leave this morning the forward head wouldn't stop running. Figuring it was just a seal needing to be wiped off, we shut it off and planned to deal with it when we returned.

We had a wonderful breakfast featuring Sheila's Fried Polenta and stayed much of the morning enjoying good company and talking about boats. The day turned out to be beautiful and sunny so we thought we'd take the dogs to shore for a walk and check out some of the day's events -- a new thrift store was opening across the street with a ribbon cutting ceremony by the mayor and a festival of gospel music was happening in the park next door.

Things didn't turn out the way we expected. What we did instead was tear apart a hanging locker to reach the vacuflush pump for the holding tank so we could dissemble it to replace four worn duckbill valves. Now if that is all Greek to you, then all you need to know is that the pump creates suction to pull "material" from the toilet to the holding tank. If there's no suction, there's no material movement. My sweet husband ended up being the one in the hold while I played gofer - neither job was pleasant but I think I got the better deal.

You will be happy to know that all is well and that we refrained from taking any pictures.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and less windy. We plan on taking the dogs swimming early and going to shore for some hamburgers at Annette's. At least that's the plan...

Dyna and Dylan Famous?

We had mentioned in an earlier blog that I had been asked by Nor'easter Magazine to write a column about our cruising. Well the first column has appeared in this month's issue. You can read it online on the Nor'easter website, the article starts on page 10. But the best part is that Dyna and Dylan are mentioned 3 times! Not only are they mentioned in my bio and in my article but the editor also mentions them on page 5. Now if this doesn't increase their readership by at least 300% then nothing will. I guess we'll be dealing with the paparazzi and autograph seekers now. I'll have to buy them big hats and sunglasses...

Red Sky at Night...

As the sun sets into the western horizon, the sky turned ablaze in deep reds. The sounds of amateur conch shell players applauded the color and the 300+ boats started turning on their anchor lights creating a new, low-in-the-sky constellation.

The first words spoken to me when we arrived on our mooring were, "welcome to paradise".  Who's to argue with that?

Postcard from Miami Beach...

Two-thirds of these dogs are ours. Can you tell which ones?

Thanks Ivan (Dewy's dad) for sending the pictures from the Miami Beach dog park!

Dog Collar Relay

Having two water dogs on a boat is great. They love swimming, dinghy rides, and just watching the water. But sometimes they love the water too much. Both kids have taken unplanned entries into the water from the dinghy. As anyone who has tried can tell you, lifting a wet dog out of the water can be a challenge.

For years we've kept our canine crew in a harness whenever the boat is underway – be it the Whaler, the dinghy, or aCappella. That way we have a handle to grab should one go over. The problem is a harness is about the worst thing to use when walking a dog, especially big dogs. The strap across their powerful chests gives them too much pulling force.

So whenever we take the dogs to shore we have a routine – on the boat the harnesses go on, on shore the harnesses come off and the collars go on, before getting back in the dinghy the collars come off and the harnesses go back on. We've done it hundreds of times.

Apparently when we made our last trip to the dog park in Vero Beach something went awry. Maybe someone was chatting with us, maybe the dogs were misbehaving, maybe Jeff was singing me a love song – it could happen. We left one of the dog collars on shore. Now this wasn't just any dog collar. These are beautiful, matching nautical collars we purchased at a small marina in Maine during my birthday cruise two years ago.

We discovered our mistake on our first dinghy ride into Stuart. Our hope was that it might still be there when we came back through on our way north.

The day before we left Stuart for Miami Beach we received a call from David Allen. He was on his boat in Vero and had found our dog collar, could we meet? Unfortunately, they were heading west through the Okeechobee, not south. No problem, he had a buddy, Don Perkin, heading to the Keys and he'd give him the collar. About a week later while we were anchored in Miami Beach Don called. He was heading in the Miami inlet, could we meet him on our dinghy? Jeff had the dinghy at the boat show. I told him we'd catch up with him in Marathon.

This week we talked to Don again, he was in Marathon but heading out the next day to Key West. A quick call to our friend Bill Corbett aboard Spray, also in Marathon, and another hand off of the collar was made. Finally, we joined Bill in Marathon today and the collar is back on Dylan's neck.

The return of a dog collar is no big deal – we have spares. It's just a small example of the wonderful boating community we belong to. The stories are endless. Medical situations, needed spare parts, help with emergency repairs, assistance in a family crisis, advice of any kind, a potluck or a party and this community of boaters is always there for you. There are no strangers, only friends, just some you haven't met yet.

Coco-Nuts...

Who knew? I mean, we could have guessed that Dylan would like ripping into a coconut just for the joy of shredding it. But Dyna too?

The drama onboard aCappella has increased significantly since Dylan realized that puncturing the top of a coconut inner shell releases a great-tasting liquid and coconut meat to eat. How many toys actually turn into treats?

Dyna hasn't missed out. She'll let Dylan have his fun. But as soon as there's something to eat, she usually takes it away from him. It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog...

Swamped (digitally)...

No, we're not sinking - in the water at least. We've sure been swamped with aftermath from the Miami Boat Show. OceanLines ran a nice story about our new MaxSea/Furuno integration. That's two of the 12 writers on BoaterMouth who have blogged about us. For those of you who aren't aware, BoaterMouth is a nice aggregate place to get the latest boating news from 12 accomplished bloggers. If you want one place to watch manually or through RSS for the latest in boating news and info, that would be the one to choose.

Karen and I have been going through the hundreds of emails we received. We saw more people join ActiveCaptain in the last 2 days than in the last 2 months. Marinas have started updating their own information in bulk. We've prepared 3+ years for this. Bring it on!

As marinas have started looking critically at their own reviews, one interesting thing stood out. The state of North Carolina wrote to me because someone put in a review that there was a rattlesnake on their dock. It's important to note that this facility has a 5-star rating with an exceptional following. They admitted that they do have rattlesnakes but would prefer if I'd change the word "rattlesnake" to just "snake" in the review. Well, we've never changed a single word in any review ever. But I wrote to the captain and asked if he really meant, "rattlesnake". Turns out, he's an expert with snakes - it was a rattler.

So here's the thing. The facility is still excellent. And the review will stand as is. Now cruisers like us with dogs will still go there, but we'll be warned and be a little more careful. To their credit, the state responded back accepting this and will work to warn people better too so they're not surprised.

To me, that is the true benefit of ActiveCaptain. There is just no other place where you can get this type of real, user-written information, critically important to having adventures of the non-emergency type.

The Miami Boat Show

After three busy days, the Miami Boat Show is over. It was an exceptional showing for ActiveCaptain and moved us into the second phase of our business - the place where other companies start using our data. MaxSea/Furuno's use of ActiveCaptain for their point-of-interest data is a big step for us. And it came out great.

We posted a newsletter to all of our captains this morning describing the news. Tomorrow an email goes out to every marina describing the new reach of our data and what is means to them.

At the show we met with a variety of other companies. There is a lot of interest for other companies and other products to integrate with our data. This will all help to fulfill the vision of an interactive cruising guidebook capable of assisting boaters with planning for their own adventures.

Today the top marine electronics blog gave a recap of the Miami Boat Show.  The first thing Ben mentioned was the use of ActiveCaptain data by MaxSea/Furuno. It's a big deal and these are really fun times as we watch our baby grow into adolescence.

Just another day at the dog park...

Why I like overnights...

A few weeks ago, Karen made a posting about her experience with overnight passages. A couple of days later she said, "why don't you make a posting about overnights too." You and I both know that there's something else she was after with this, and I think it's the F-word: feelings.

There was a time when we didn't ever do an overnight crossing. Much of that was due to lack of experience but it was also about wanting to see everything. We wanted to slowly pass by ever port and see all of the sites. The ICW was new to us and there was something different around every bend. By the second time back and forth along the ICW, the bends were becoming familiar. From then on, I didn't feel like I really needed to walk the streets of Beaufort, NC or meander through the shops of Beaufort, SC. Our cruising turned into going somewhere and enjoying a single area for a longer period of time. Cruising between the ports is somewhat mechanical. Overnights allowed us to put miles on quickly and get to our destinations.

But there's more to it than that. In the fifteen or so overnights that we've completed (including 2 double-overnights), I've grown to love an element about them that can be described in just one word: trust.

When you head off through an inlet and into an ocean, there are a variety of types of trust you need to have as you watch the sun setting along the horizon. First, you have to trust your equipment. You have to know it and have experience with it and believe how it's going to work for you. You have to have trust in your backup equipment and safety gear. Given the coastal cruising we do, our dinghy is most probably our safety vessel if the mother ship ever sinks but we also carry a full survival liferaft with provisions along with a fully stocked ditch bag with safety, medical, and other emergency provisions. We have an EPIRB that will send a transponding signal to the Coast Guard if we're ever in serious trouble and we now have a SPOT Messenger that will also alert an organization if we press the 9-1-1 button.

Trust in the equipment and experience with it are easy to obtain.  There's another type of trust that isn't easy to obtain - trust in your crew. Some of that comes with experience too but some is just the crew itself. I know that Karen is extremely capable and safe. I know that we work together well as a team and I know I can rely on her in any situation under any circumstance. That's trust.

When we were doing our last overnight between Fernandina Beach and Cape Canaveral, Karen took over the watch at 3 am and I went to sleep. Sleeping after a watch is some of the most enjoyable sleeping you'll ever do because you're tired and you know that you've done your part and can just sleep. At 4:30 am, Karen woke me up because there was something on the radar that she didn't like. The first rule about getting woken up is "wake up happy." I knew that Karen wouldn't get me up unless there was something going on that she needed help with. I wasn't upset about being woken up. I was glad that she did it. That's trust.

And of course you need to have trust with the rest of your crew. I know that Dyna and Dylan are healthy, stable dogs, able to handle a variety of different situations. During an overnight, they are quieter and stay together, often sleeping together. I'm sure it's more comforting for them because it can't be easy for them either. When we pull out of a harbor, they don't know if we're staying out for an hour or multiple days. And yet I know that they'll be OK. After all, they trust us too.