Change in Our Cruising Plans!

Al and Kay on M/V Cambria and M/V Last Trade had plans to go back to Orange Beach/Florida area again for several months around the September/October time frame.  This year's hurricane season was not good to us and kept postponing our departure date, changing our plans.  We were really looking forward to heading out to white beaches and clear water!  Who would have ever guessed that most of our cruising spots along the gulf coast would be damaged and some destroyed.  I am so glad we were able to enjoy Port Aransas back in March because it will be years before the area is back the way it was for boaters.   

 

It's funny how life plans constantly change.  It just so happened that Al and Kay found a "land" home to buy and are busy with that.  Josh and I have been looking for a new boat for some time now and our new boat finally came along.  We are now Defever 45 owners!  The only problem is that it's in Canada!!!!! It's kinda like things worked out this way for a reason because most of our local cruising areas have been destroyed from the storms so it's time for new boating territory.  Our new boat came on the market at just the right time.  It was meant to be, kinda like if you dream it, it will come!

 

 

Canada - where boats have to be pulled out for the winter.  Yup, we will not be able to see or use her until around May, 2018.  Yes, it will drive us crazy! 

 

 

Stay tuned for our new adventures!!!!! The plan is to spend some time getting used to our new boat around the Lake Ontario area going towards Kingston and the Thousand Islands.  Around June 1st we'll start the Trent-Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay and then on to Chicago.  We will then come home to take care of things and then go back and continue on to Tennessee.  After another break we'll then do the Tenn-Tom to Mobile.   Yes, I will finally get to do the Tenn-Tom!  We will eventually end up in my happy place, the Orange Beach/Florida area. 

 

Sure hope Canada has a mild winter because I am so ready to start this new adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

March, 2017 - Port Aransas Trip With Friends

As with any trip you have nice weather and you have some not-so-nice weather.  This trip started with some fog!  On March 9th, we headed out of our home port to our first stop, Harborwalk Marina in Hitchcock.  This was a short day. Included on this trip were 4 Heritage East 36 boats (Last Trade, Cambria, Water Therapy and At Last), one Selene (Island Gypsy) and one sailboat (Morning Star). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second day, March 10th was to Freeport City Marina.  Our sailboat traveler had a mishap and decided to head back to home port so that left just the five trawlers.

 

 

 

 

We stayed an extra day in Freeport because of rain and wind.  On March 12th we headed out to Matagorda and then stayed an extra day there due to dredge/lock issues.

 

 

 

On March 14th we headed out to Costa Grande in Port O'Conner.

 

 

 

March 15th. Port Aransas here we come!  The City Marina was rebuilding some of their docks and did not have room for all of us so we had to go to our alternate, Island Moorings Marina. 

 

 

Bike ride to Farley Boat Yard in Pt. A.

 

Happy hour!  The new owners of M/V Hearken, another Heritage East, came by to see us. Their boat is in Florida and they will be doing the loop before bringing her back to Texas.

 

 

 

Our original plan was to move over to Redfish Marina in Aransas Pass for a few days but the wind just would not cooperate with us.  It would have made for some not so comfortable sleeping so we decided to just stay where we were.  Some in our group had plans to leave their boat to do side trips before we all started heading back, so with only three boats, the Pt. A City Marina was able to squeeze us in.  On March 22nd Last Trade, At Last and Cambria moved over to City Marina to stay until it was time to start home. 

 

 

 

I noticed that Teak was constantly wanting to go potty and was having problems.  This has never happened before and I was getting concerned. More on that later...   

 

 

On March 25th we started our trip back home.  

 

  

Our plan for the trip back was to stop at the same places except for Freeport Marina.  We decided to stay at Surfside Marina instead.

 

 

By March 27, Teak was really not feeling well so I called both of her vets for information on what to do.  Both said that I needed to get her in to be checked.  One vet (who we have used from the time we moved to Clear Lake back in 1995) I will never use again.  All I can say is that you expect your vet to work with you during situations like this, not to be rude to you and charge you extra for a short notice visit.  The vet I will continue to use, Dr. Adams, went out of her way to accommodate us.  She told me if I could find a vet close by to have them call her for any information they needed or if I could get her in to her office they would stay open and wait for us.  Our good friends Ross and EJ Heard drove to Surfside Marina in Freeport to pick us up so we could take Teak in to see Dr. Adams.  A big thank you to Dr. Adams and her staff for taking care of our baby and to Ross and EJ for coming to get us and then taking us back to our boat the next day.

 

 

 

Island Gypsy and At Last headed back home a day before us.

 

Another great trip!

 

 

October 5th - 26th, 2016 Port Aransas, Harvest Moon Trip

October 5, 2016 - Clear Lake to Galveston, Harborwalk Marina

On this trip we had a couple of construction areas to contend with.  The first one was the dredging under the Galveston Causeway Bridge.  The bridge was closed to all boaters until 7PM when construction stopped for the evening.  Knowing this, three of us headed out from Clear Lake to anchor by the bridge until it opened, two other boats waited to head down later in the afternoon and the one sailboat went offshore a day earlier to meet us in Port Aransas. 

 

As we were settled in our anchorage we were seeing many small fishing boats going through and wondered why they were allowed to pass.

All of a sudden we saw a big offshore fishing boat go through.  

 More boats!

Yup!  Why are we anchored waiting when no one else is?  We pulled up anchor and headed through.  

We made it into Harborwalk before dark!

M/V's - Last Trade, At Last, Cambria, Awesome One, Beachcomber

 October 6, 2016 - Harborwalk Marina to Freeport City Marina

October 7, 2016 - Freeport City Marina to Matagorda

Our second construction zone was at the Brazos Locks.  Kay (M/V Cambria) was in contact with the lockmaster and when she called before we headed out he said we could come on through.

October 8th was calling for some stronger winds than we liked for crossing Matagorda Bay (open water).  The three twins decided to hang out one more day for a better trip.  M/V Awesome One and Beachcomber decided to go for it because they already had confirmed their paid reservations in Port Aransas. 

October 9, 2016 - Matagorda to Costa Granda

October 10, 2016 - Costa Granda to Port Aransas

 All tied up and time for docktails!

 Others boaters from Clear Lake came over to join us!

 

October 11, 2016 - Port Aransas

Bike ride to Whataburger for breakfast!

October 12, 2016 - Port Aransas

Yup, that's Josh!

Dinghy trip out to the Port Aransas Lighthouse!

October 13, 2016 Port Aransas City Marina to Island Moorings Marina

The Harvest Moon Regatta takes over the city marina for the big weekend so we had to move out of our slips.  We shared rental on a golf cart to get us around during the weekend

October 14, 2016 Port Aransas Harvest Moon Regatta Weekend

The group went down to the jetty to watch the Harvest Moon boats come in.

October 15, 2016 our young son and three of his friends came down for the Harvest Moon party.

October 18, 2016 Island Moorings Marina back to Port Aransas City Marina

October 22, 2016 Port Aransas to Home

A coyote was walking along the bank just before Bridge Harbor Marina in Freeport 

Harborwalk Marina

October 26, we had to leave Harborwalk before dawn to make it through the Galveston Causeway Bridge before construction work started at 7:00 AM.  Not fun traveling in the dark but one of those things you have to do sometimes!