Days 141 and 142 - Virginia Lee — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $45, daily high temperature 64*f

Priscilla and I enjoyed our first day on the boat alone since Christmas. Dale and Andy are enjoying the winter weather in Chicago. A low temperature of -3*f. I didn’t check the windchill.

We took the dingy up and down the New River. There are so many homes, marinas and boats to see along the way. The only thing missing is a fuel dock. We need to fuel up the boat and the dingy before we go to the Bahamas. I ordered a pump out for the boat. That is usually free at the gas dock or if the marina has a pump out system on the dock it is $5 per tank. However, this Marina has no pump out facility so I had to order a special pump out boat to come along side and pump us out for $40 per tank = $80. That might be equal to all the pump out fees we have paid for the entire trip. We will have to order a fuel truck to come to the marina and fill our fuel tanks. Things are done differently in Ft Lauderdale.

The New River is so narrow and winding that the larger yachts use tug boats fore and aft to control their trip down the rivers.

Our friends Holly and Fritz Hanselmann are visiting Holly’s parents Bev and Dave on Cloverleaf for five days. They drove from Chicago to compete in the Sunfish sailboat North Americans and Masters Regattas in Stuart, Florida next week. They are also visiting several Florida communities to find a place to spend the winter. Their plan is to rent for a year before they decide to buy. They will continue to spend summers in Chicago.

The remainder of the week will be spent at the Miami Boat show pursuing my second career.

This is the salon on a 92′ Westport named Virginia Lee. The owners have only had the boat for one year and she is for sale. They thought that by buying a mega yacht they would meet other mega yacht owners. It turns out people that can afford mega yachts treasure their privacy and do not want to socialize with other mega yacht owners.

If you need a little extra horse power. This boat has four 527 horse power Corvette outboard engines.

The bonus photo is a video of Elvis the wonder dog on lizard patrol.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“The waves of the sea help me get back to me.” – Jill Davis.