More to Come

We are not giving up nor are we selling her. Our hearts are too bonded to cruising. We'll be paying off debt and saving up money the next couple years

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Please visit our website for updates- blogs, pictures and video along with fun stuff.
www.benevolentwanderings.weebly.com

Updates from Website Blog

Hre are the blogs that I keep on http://www.benevolentwanderings.com/ from March 4th to now...

DECISIONS, DECISIONS 030409

We are still in Mobile, AL. The engine is up and running and we are completing more projects. We've decided to wait for a weather window and cross to Mexico from here, skipping Florida. We like it here, it's inexpensive and friendly.We've been told again not to cross here but Brett and I are ready to head to Mexico. We will wait for the best window we can find and tough it out on the way there. It takes between 6 and 8 days from here. We were told an interesting fact. It's 600 miles from here to Key West and 680 miles to Isla Mujeres from here. But it would take a month to get to Key West. Our funds are completely drained and we want to get going at least to Mexico while we can. Jimmy Cornell is a well respected and famous writer of the "World Cruising Routes" and he recommends the crossing be made in April. We are hoping for a window before then. There are many stories of rough seas and fronts blowing over people at least three times before reaching Isla Mujures. It's enough to scare the bijeebers out of ya. But it's also just 8 days. We've spent a total of two and a half months trying to head South and still we have so far to go. The Gulf is intimidating and waiting on the weather window is key.

The weather has been chilly (low 30s at night) but it's going to warm up today in the 70's! yay! Brett is going to start working on our sail cover and I'm going to work on the woodwork. I am hoping to soak two of our heavy docklines and get them softened up. Maybe I'll even get to washing the deck today.We've met some marvelous people here.

Mary and her daughter and their cat have come down from Kentucky on the river and are headed toward the Bahamas. They are on a 27' Hunter. We shared each other's books. Cat and Bob are on a 37 Beneteau. This is their homeport and they just got back from cruising Florida. She took me to the grocery store which is 3 miles from here. We also met Mark who owns a Cape Dory 30' who lent us his ladder to get onto a boat we were looking at in the yard. We got to meet Sue and her daughter on the 60' Worum Catamaran, they seemed very nice and working as they go, too.So we are taking this opportunity and nice weather to get some more of our projects done. While I was grocery shopping, Brett did the laundry and attached a second latch to the fridge door and a latch for the engine room. Yesterday he also installed a new piece of wood on the bottom of the bathroom door so water wouldn't flow out of it while we took showers. The foam I had installed last year finally came unglued.

He also finally attached an eye pad to the bulkhead and strapped in my guitar out of the way.We played with the sail yesterday, trying to figure out what kind of reefing system they had set up on this boat. (see our Flotsam and Jetsam tab for info about reefing) We went over to West Marine and picked up two reefing hooks. We could have made do with a snap shackle to attach to each of the holes as we reefed but on a rolling boat with high winds, it seemed dangerous. Reefing is done often while cruising and it was a good investment for the right equipment for our safety on deck while underway. Usually when you have to reef, the conditions are NOT calm.I had a lot of fun messing with the sail and lines. We have spent so much time motoring since we left. Sailing is really what my passion is and I miss it and can't WAIT to actually start sailing and using our sailing equipment.

We are yet again having to replace our Garmin GPS. It's a long story but their new replacement unit for our "lost" one they "repaired" is also defective. So here we go again. After an arguement, we arranged to send this one in and they'll send us a new one. Our faith in Garmin is starting to wane as we keep a chartplotter in mind but they are still rated #1 so we will try again with them.

I have been reading a LOT of forums online through liveaboard magazine, cruisers net and SSCA. Learned lots of info and have enjoyed linking to other people's blogs and stories. I am watching Brett set up the sewing machine to finish my weather clothes. I'd better go get to work on something I can do.

PROJECTS AND HAPPENINGS 030609

I just spent an hour writing a long blog and my internet decided to close my programs. Maybe it was telling me it was too long? :) I guess to make my long, fun story short- We're working on great projects right now.

Brett is getting our new "stack pack" and lazy jack system finished up. It's going to be wonderful to not fight that old, tight, worn out and torn blue sailcover that we'd been using. The new one will be easy to use, fit properly, match the purple fabric, and just be wonderful. The lazy jacks will be SO nice as well to help keep the main sail together and into the "stack pack" as it comes down. No more heavy main sail in the water or falling on top of me! I'll take pictures as soon as he is done with it! I am SO thankful Brett is so savvy on the sewing machine!! I sewed the weather clothes and cushions but he does most of the canvas work. He's so much better at it than I am. I do have some small sewing projects still in store such as a vinyl flap to go on our hatch for rainy or rough weather. I am also going to make a bug screen for the companionway and some fabric covers for the turnbuckles on the chainplates. (That hold the mast up).

I am sanding the wood to prep it for a new coat of varnish. Being in a marina with expensive, spotless boats has us motivated to try and do a little cosmetic work. With all the vital projects done, we are able to work on the cosmetics now.

I have reopened a jewelry shop on Etsy, http://www.kylacorbettdesigns.etsy.com/ so I can sell some earrings I had brought with me from my inventory that I haven't worn. We are very low on funds and I was hoping to be able to sell at least earrings. I miss jewelry and my polymer clay a lot. I am excited to be able to at least post some earrings back on Etsy. I put a new tab on our website that links to it, too.

I had a new cruising friend lend me a "wonder wash" to try out. It seems to work really good for manually washing a small load- I still have to wring out which is my least favorite part of hand-washing but it gets the clothes cleaner than I can. They are only $45 which is about a month's load of laundry. So it would pay off. That's why I reopened my jewelry shop, I am hoping to save up to buy one. Laundry is one of my hardest tasks to deal with.

It's warmed up here- 70's. Thank goodness.We're waiting on a weather window to hopefully cross the Gulf and head toward Mexico. We've heard lots of horror stories about crossing here but we've heard of nightmares in Florida too- We can't really afford to go around Florida either. This week would have been a good week to cross but we just couldn't finish some needed projects before heading offshore by then. So we're patiently waiting for the next window- They become more frequent the later it gets in the year. April is generally a great time to go but we are hoping to leave sooner than that.

Another new friend took a look at my computer to see if she could get the camcorder to work on it with the new firewire card I bought. No such luck but they were able to get some errors on my computer repaired and it is running better. So I am very thankful for that! She has also been gracious enough to let me get rides to the store with her. The nearest store is 3-4 miles away and I can't walk it alone. We had people staring at us, honking at us, slowing down by us just walking to the hardware store over the bridge. And that was with Brett! So I haven't been able to escape much.

Hop y'all are doing well and staying healthy. There are some bad viruses out there right now. I am finally over my nasty cough. Thank goodness.Love y'all and miss everyone everywhere terribly much.

THE PALACIOS PLUM STRIKES AGAIN! 030809

Brett got the stack pack and weather clothes up on the boat. They still need to be finished but they are up. It's rather hidious with the blue paint on the hull but it's nice to have an efficient sail cover and protection from the waves with the weather clothes when we are offshore. I guess we'll never have a problem finding her in an anchorage. She definitely "sticks" out.

I worked on woodwork a little yesterday. I met some more people around here. Katt and Bob left yesterday morning, we missed saying goodbye to them. First morning I slept in. But I had been up at 4am the previous morning.We ran out of propane last night so we have no coffee this morning or tomorrow till we can get some. EEK

Mary gave us some lovely bread that she bought at a local bread shop down the road. She got a ton of it for almost nothing! My friend back in Oregon sent me my jewelry so I can post more of it on Etsy while we are here. I may turn to local stones and shells, etc when we head out of the states. That way I don't have to worry about duty, etc. with other countries. I really want to do my clay jewelry again but my supplies are pretty heavy and I am not sure how to have them shipped...Today I am hoping to get the rest of the woodwork sanded and start varnishing tomorrow.

CANVAS CRAZY AND FLYING FISH 031009

Brett spent the day using up the last of the sunbrella, making sheetline bags and halyard bags. Yesterday he made an awesome forsail bag that the genoas go into while still hanked onto the forstay. I have spent the last few days sanding and varnishing pieces of the boat's woodwork. I baked cookies on Sunday. I haven't made chocolate chip cookies in years! It was fun and they turned out great. I love my propane oven. Mary lent us her car and we were able to stock up on more groceries at Walmart. I also picked up some new kind of pine pellet litter for Benny that is supposed to be cheaper, smell better and more biodegradable than the clump litter we've been using. WE"LL SEE!I have put my earrings and anklets on Etsy again, hoping to make some money. I had a friend mail back my jewelry so it should be here soon to add to the shop. We are watching the weather and we might have a long enough break next week to try and make our crossing to Mexico. While cooking hamburgers on our grill tonight, we discovered one of the mullet (that jump out of the water all the time) ended up in our dinghy! It was a big one! We're steadily getting things done but I am starting to go stir crazy. Can't wait to get underway again.I got out my good camera today and took some pictures. I have posted tons of new pictures on our Picasa Web Album.

We had to send our NEW Garmin in that they sent us as a replacement for our original one. It was defective. They treated us pretty poorly on the phone and broke their promise of sending us the new replacement unit when we shipped ours. Now they are saying we have to wait until they get ours. So we might lose our weather window thanks to Garmin. After dealing with them on this long issue, I am hesitant to ever buy another product from them. They are getting onto my list with Dell of NEVER AGAIN.

I finally got a cheap headset to use on the computer for phone calls through Skype. All the cruisers use it - It was only $2.95 a month for unlimited calling to landlines so I signed up. Our cell phone was costing us a ton of money. I picked the wrong headset, it's very hard to use but at least I have something now to use with Skype.

Hope everyone is doing well. Make sure you go check out our pictures :)

A VISIT TO BELLINGRATH GARDENS 031409

Mary invited me yesterday to go to the Bellengrath House and Gardens with her and her daughter. I dug through my nice clothes and finally found a skirt that still fit. We had a wonderful time, the flowers were beautiful! The whole garden smelled heavenly! We had perfect weather for it. (Today it's POURING rain). We toured the Bellengrath house FULL of antiques. It was GORGEOUS. I drooled over the beauty and of all the antiques. The gardens offered me unending photographic opportunities. We strolled through Azalias, Orchids, Pansies and Camelias, talking about anchoring and dinghies. It was SO nice to have another woman to talk boats with! I realized I have never really toured anything like that before- It was such a treat to get away and enjoy the beauty with other "girls".

Mary lent me a wonderful book and article that I am reading before they head off. We are both planning on heading out after this front passes, probably Wednesday. I am hoping to leave together, at least down the bay until she turns to the ICW and we head to an anchorage at the mouth of the bay. From there, Brett and I will start our long journey towad Mexico. We'll head out to the "100 mile fathom curve" and then follow the currents that parallel Florida- We're hoping to make Isla Mujeres in 6-8 days without stopping. But if we do need to stop, we'll head toward Tampa. I have made preparations for rough weather on the way. I am so excited at the possibility of making Mexico soon. We're hoping to arrange for Benny's health certificate on Monday.

Today, some old friends surprised us and took us to Dauphin Island. We had a marvelous lunch with them at the "Crusty Crab" / "Pelican Pub" restaurant and bar. It was wonderful food and nice atmosphere. It was great to catch up with old friends, too.

I have spent the last two days posting loads of jewelry onto the Etsy shop, http://www.kylacorbettdesigns.etsy.com/ and hoping to sell it to continue our voyage. I have posted lots of beautiful pictures from the gardens under the PICTURES tab! If you are interested in a 4x6 or 5x7 (possibly an 8x10) print, let me know- I would love to start offering my photography to you in prints to enjoy as much as I have enjoyed them!

CHANGE IN PLANS (03/16/09)

We've decided to head out tomorrow toward Florida. We will be sailing along with some friends that are also headed that way , at least to Pensacola. From there, the fronts should pass and we will head out into the Gulf.

Last night we invited a solo sailor over for dinner on our boat. He had just pulled in last night by himself after a 9 day passage from Key West. With no restaurants within easy walking distance, I offered him a hot meal of burritos. So he came over and we enjoyed dinner while talking sailing. He had the same name as a friend of ours in Serendipity and so we'll never forget his name.

I have shopped like crazy for groceries and have us stalked for about a month! We will be concentrating on anchoring from this point forward so as not to dwindle the money I got from selling my photography equipment and jewelry. I'll update when I can.

MOBILE BAY, AL to PENSACOLA BEACH, FL (03/17/2009-03/20/2009)

We left on St Patrick's Day from Turner Marine in Alabama with Mary and Coleen on their boat. The both of us wound our way through log debris and light chop out of the Dog River Channel. We'd NEVER seen anything like the logs that were surrounding us! It was scary and the rolly polly chop didn't help. After reaching the Mobile Ship channel, we put up our sails and cruised around 3 knots for a couple hours, both of us trying "wing-on-wing" where you have the main sail and the head sail out as far as you can while going downwind. After figuring out that we'd not reach the anchorage until 10pm, we both set our motors and and reached the ICW quickly.

It was very familiar as soon as we entered the protected part. Mary and Coleen had never been in the ICW before.We went by LuLu's restaurant (Jimmy Buffet's sister owns it) and continued on to the anchorage. We decided to pass Wolf Bay anchorage and head toward the more popular, Ingram's Bayou anchorage. While going through the glassy waters of Wolf Bay, dolphins finally emerged and Coleen got to see her first dolphins. The sun set on us and it was gorgeous. We anchored at twilight, with just enough light to see. Both of the boat's anchors grabbed quickly.I made a feast of grilled cajun-seasoned chicken breasts (which Brett grilled), fried red potatoes, canned pears and grilled cheesey garlic bread. I also had a large glass of my special milk before it went bad. The fridge couldn't be on while anchored. Dinner was YUMMY. The weather was beautiful with little wind and stars everywhere.

In the morning, I peeked out to see if our anchor was still in the right spot. It was completely foggy, I couldn't see anything. I looked up and found Mary's anchor light, the other sailboat's anchor light and the lights across the ICW and knew we were good.We left the anchorage around noon and headed for Big Lagoon. We led this time with my printed charts off of the NOAA site. Brett laughs at my "disposable charts" but they work.

When getting into Florida, the water turned greener and the boat traffic increased. It was so beautiful. Colorful buildings and white sandy beaches lined the green water. One boat's wake had us rolling worse than the ocean! I took lots of video and pictures on our way to Big Lagoon. We found our anchorage and set anchor. It didn't set well so Brett put out the other anchor, too. In the afternoon, all of us dinghied to the beach on Perdido Key. It was the first time either of us had dinghied away from our boats and beached. The scenery was heavenly! It was warm with a light breeze, green blue waters and pure white beaches. PERFECT. We all talked about how this was what we pictured cruising to be. Brett flew his kite a little but there wasn't enough wind. Coleen and I discovered a kite on the beach and she adopted it. It was amazing how fast she was able to fly it! As Mary sunbathed and Brett sat, Coleen and I played frisbee, flew her kite and gathered hermit crabs into her pail. It was so fun! Mary, Brett and I talked about boats and the sailing we'd had the day before.

That evening, Mary invited us over to her boat for spaghetti and bread with salad and wine. It was great food and we had a great time talking more about boats. When we got into our dinghy, Brett pointed out the phosphorescence on the oars. It was cool! It sparkled and glowed as he moved them back and forth. We rowed back to our boat in the dark, in awe of the beautiful stars and glowing oars. It was very eerie to come up to our boat in the dark, with only our anchor light on.

We spent a restless night looking at the anchors as the wind and current clocked us around. The phosphorescence glowed on the anchor lines, making it easy to see. The moon came up and shone across the water. It was magnificent.

I got up later and struggled with the main sail halyard. the wind was knocking it against the mast and i couldnt sleep. After struggling for 20 minutes, I finally got it tied away from the mast (in my PJs). I got back below and found it to be 6am! Grrrr. I made coffee and got on the computer. I noticed the battery said it was dead! I was shocked- We still had the anchor light on and the other lights so I didn't know what was going on. I switched to our second battery and began studying our books and making a chart of amperage hours and all of our equipment. We spent the day taking naps and cleaning. Then I went over to the beach for awhile while Brett took a nap, he wasn't feeling well. Mary and Coleen met me over at the beach. I had been wading in the water, it was so warm. I finally went back to the boat and started making banana bread for them before we left.

We decided to head to a marina before the wind hit - we wanted to stock up on supplies (Brett had run out of cigarettes and I wanted ice). Then we would be ready and rested to maybe head out to the Gulf on Friday. I said goodbye to Coleen and Mary at the beach and we motored out of the beautiful anchorage. We wound our way through the lagoon, confused by the markers. As we entered the narrow cove between the Pensacola Bay and lagoon, the water turned turquoise green. We made our way through the beautiful water and found the Gulf on our starboard side! It was the most beautiful color green I'd ever seen! There were boats EVERYWHERE and fishermen and Navy planes. It was very busy and absolutely stunning in color. We passed the Gulf and headed toward the marina on the other side of the bay.

We changed our minds and went to a closer marina near the ICW. It was the same one that Mary was going to head to on Friday (today). The dockmaster was extremely friendly and it ended up a beautiful spot. We had laundry, the yacht club, a grocery market, lots of restaurants and stores on the other side of the road. It was perfect.

I watched in amazement at how accurate TV was with FLorida- Old women walking together with earphones on, palm trees lining the streets, colorful buildings blossoming all over, white sand instead of mulch. The temperature was perfect. We walked two minutes to the grocery market. Brett grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk and a pack of cigarettes while I plucked two pounds of coffee of the shelf. We also bought a smoked chicken and a bag of ice. We went back to our boat. We enjoyed a fun banter with a friendly sailor next to us. he was hilarious. It was fun. We ate dinner and then walked to the convenience store nearby for pop. We found ourselves in the middle of Spring Breakers, with dozens of young kids walking around all over the place. It was HOPPING!

We made our way back to the boat, enjoying the beautiful weather. I went to bed early, again exhausted from lack of sleep from the previous two nights. We found ourselves in a norther this morning and cannot leave here even if we wanted to. It will drain our funds staying here but it's for the best anyway. They are predicting high winds and huge swells for the next few days in the Gulf. Mary and Coleen should be here today, I can't wait to see them. I saved them half the banana bread for a treat when they arrive. It was SO incredibly fun to cruise with them. Mary is awesome and Coleen is soo smart! Mr. Kitty is pretty cute, too. It was really fun to be with them as they experienced the ICW for the first time. I wish they'd left with us yesterday to come here as the winds are high today and the channel is very shallow. I hope they make it ok without getting too seasick. I wish we could continue down the ICW with them but our mast is too tall to make the next bridge.I took tons of pictures and video!

ENJOYING PENSACOLA (03/21)

We decided to stay at this marina a week until the high winds and large swells subside next week. Mary and Coleen came in yesterday after a detour to sailing in the Gulf out the pass we went by the day before! Mary had a wonderful time and is HOOKED on offshore sailing.

I gave Brett his birthday present early. I found some boat shoes that were on an incredible sale that were decent (Sperry TopSiders) at Boater's World. He was extremely pleased with them and they fit well. I took a picture of him putting them on. He has had a 25 year old running joke that there was boats in San Francisco that they couldn't step on unless they were wearing "Sperry Topsiders"! He never thought he'd have some. It was fun to give them to him.

The marina has a bar and yacht club and open veranda where they have live music on the weekends. So we met Mary and Coleen at 730 up there and enjoyed music while talking boats.

Today, I started the day by posting more jewelry online to help pay for this costly stop. At around 1130, Brett noticed HobiCats racing around in the bay across the main st. We made our way over and found ourselves on another gorgeous beach! I had brought my good camera and took pictures of the boats and parrots. It was cool. We watched an UN-experienced guy rent one of the hobicats and make mistake after mistake in the 30 knot winds. We were flabergasted that the company rented out these fast, tippy boats to just anyone! And he even had to ASK for a lifejacket! He ended up turning the boat over after being blown to the other side of the bay. We watched the young worker jump on his waverunner time and time again to go help the guy. Brett pined to go sailing on the Hobicat but it was just too cold to be out there without a wetsuit.

We laughed as we walked around in fleeces while hundreds of young people strolled in bikinis and shorts.

We split lunch at Surf Burger and then meandered down the beach and across the boardwalk to the other side of the island to the Gulf. I took shots of the crowded beach as we walked the pier for 2.50. I also snapped shots of surfers below the pier! After the leisurely stroll, we finally headed back to the boat.

After returning, Brett rebuilt the windsurfer sail and was soon sailing our little Knot Yacht around our Little Sabine Bay at a slow 1-2 knots (KNOT YACHT- ONE KNOT YACHT). I sat in the sun and played around in my acrylic paints. Mary and Coleen headed to the beach just before Brett returned. They asked me to go with them but I stayed and painted and washed dishes, agreeing to meet them for dinner later.

I got up the nerve in the calm winds and got into the dinghy with the sail myself. After a few instructions from Brett, I was able to successfully tack and steer the dinghy without Brett telling me what to do from the dock. It was uncomfortable to sit in and try to move around when tacking but it was nice to finally to do it by myself. After I made a perfect landing at our boat, we left to the beach to find Mary and Coleen and head to dinner.

We sat on the beach with them, talking more boats and watching the hundreds of college kids and families playing volleyball, flying kites, and sunbathing. Dozens of beer cans overflowed in the trash cans onto the white sand. I had never been on such a crowded beach- it was a trip. The water and beaches and weather are so incredible here. And the people are much nicer than I anticipated.

Jerry, the dockmaster here at Sabine Marina, has been incredibly accomodating and friendly. He has helped us with anything we need and recommended to eat at Peg Leg Pete's. (On our list for lunch tomorrow). With groceries, stores, restaurants, locked gates, laundry, bar, and yacht club and of course the incredible beaches, it's the PERFECT place and I recommend it to anyone! Oh, and did I mention that it's cheaper than any other marina in the bay?! If you come here, make sure to deal with Jerry- He's the BEST.We noticed people were anchoring right out front of the marina, too- It's just a few feet from the marina- They dinghied up to the marina and enjoyed the bar and music! What a great idea! Well I've got to get back to jewelry. Enjoy the pictures.

Engine is Back in Business!

With the transmission off, we started the engine yesterday- It was smooth as butter. Well... Maybe more like smooth as cracker jacks but it was still good :) We had gone back to the hardware store with a bolt that fit into the holes- They didn't have the size so we took a cab to ACE. for the $30 cab ride and $5 for the bolts, we got away very inexpensively on this fix. This problem could have ruined the fly wheel. It could have ruined the $800 starter. It could have ruined the crank shaft which cost more than an engine to fix. We are very blessed that there was no damage to anything other than the bolts. They had used such soft bolts and didn't use locktite so they just sheered right off. If that happens again, we will have damage to the engine. We bought hard bolts and brett used locktite to hold them in. It shouldn't happen again.

So we are back on schedule!!! We hope to leave Tuesday after this storm passes and make our way to Pensacola, FL. From there, we'll hop to Apalachicola. Whoo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Engine Troubles Not So Bad

Brett found the five bolts that hold the transmission to the fly wheel were all sheered off. Apparantly they were not tight enough and so it banged and banged till it finally weakened the bolts. We are fortunate that having the fly wheel come loose didn't tear up the teeth on it or the starter. Everything looks ok so far! Very happy about that!!!So we are on a bolt-hunt. They are an odd size. But we are so relieved that it could be an inexpensive fix. Brett spent all morning yesterday taking the transmission and fly wheel off. It will be a few days before we find the bolts but we are hoping to have the engine put back together hopefully by TUesday. There is nasty weather coming in tomorrow and Saturday and really bad on Sunday. But we could be back in business next week! WHEW. God takes care of us.

Last night, as we were sitting in the cockpit, we saw a large cutter coming in. As it slowly made the turn into Turner Marine, we noticed flashing police-like lights. The large vessel was being hip-tied towed by Sea Tow into our marina! They slowly and expertly parked the large sailboat along "the wall" where they had told us to go. We had shouted to them "What's your draft?" so they wouldn't get grounded like we almost did. They said it was only five feet. I hollered to them that we came in with no engine yesterday. They said that they had lost their rudder. NOT A GOOD THING, especially in the MObile Ship Channel at night!! I have never seen a boat towed in and it was so ironic cuz that could have been us the day before.

In Mobile, AL with Engine Trouble

We awoke in a roll of light chop. As the winds increased, we discussed our options. Pensacola was 55 miles East and mostly offshore which meant rough seas for about 10-12 hours. A Norther was to blow through on Sunday. We decided to pull into Dauphin Island Marina. I called them and they said our draft was too deep and that we'd have to go into Mobile Bay. I called the Dog River Marina but it was as expensive as Biloxi so I called around. I found Turner Marine Supply at half the price so we decided to head North 25 miles from the island to Turner Marine Supply on the Dog River in Mobile, AL. Ironically, this was also the marina where a friend of ours has her boat that she wanted us to possibly deliver so we started feeling like maybe it was meant to be that we ended up in Alabama.

While preparing to head out, we discovered the VHF on the fritz. It kept switching back to 16.We edged our way through the shallow bay where we'd anchored on the West side of Dauphin Island. Swinging around the wrong marker, we found ourselves bumping on the ground. Brett expertly swung us back to deeper water and we found the channel. The next hour continued in intensity as I navigated our route to Mobile Ship Channel through a narrow opening between "spoils" (where a dredge for the channel piles the mud along the sides of the channel that was in the channel) After finally reaching Mobile Ship Channel, we kept an eye out for huge, fast-moving tankers. When we turned North down the channel, the huge rollers we'd been slamming into were now on our starboard side and rolling the boat every few seconds. The large rollers were unexpected and proved challenging to move around inside the boat. At this point, the winds were East and we were headed North and could have put up the sails but with the large rollers and intense navigating in the ship channel, we decided to continue motoring.

After awhile, we spotted a Navy ship with escorts of USCG and Alabama Marine Patrol surrounding it. We swung starboard out of the markers and as they got closer, we identified ourselves on channel 16. With no response, the USCG escort drew up to us and in back of us. I waved but the serious crew kept watch on our name and homeport. After determining that a lady with a pink poodle hat was no threat, they continued on with the Navy ship. It was intense- No communication from them at all. I was too scared to even take a picture! LOL.I layed down as Brett continued to steer down the channel.

After a bit, he noticed the engine changing sounds. It got louder and louder. Black smoke started pouring out of the exhaust. After investigating, he couldn't determine the cause. I recommended we switch to the leeward side of the channel so if we lost our engine, we wouldn't drift into the huge tankers bearing down on us. He slowly made his way across the channel. The tanker behind hailed us on channel 16. "THis is....., we are heading North in the Mobile Ship Channel doing 12 knots and you are in the middle of the channel in front of me. What are your intentions?" I responded to him quickly that we were basically getting out of his way. A ship outbound also hailed and confirmed we'd pass him starboard to starboard. We maintained our course slowly on the West side of the markers where there was 15 feet of water and plenty of room away from these huge ships. Brett changed the gears, trying to figure out what the problem was. He discovered it sounded like the transmission not the engine. After a few minutes, the engine seized up. Brett turned it off.

I steered us along the markers as he prepared the genoa sail (foresail) to be set. then we slowly sailed at 2.5 knots down the side of the channel, thankful there was deep enough water before we hit the "spoils".

Tears welled up in both of our eyes. This was not a good thing. A transmission was an expensive fix. It meant almost certain death to our dreams with our low funds...As I cried, I made us sandwiches and juice for lunch. Even Brett's eyes were welling up. The marina was still thirteen miles from where we were and a challenging narrow, shallow channel had to be navigated to get into the river.

Also, as this was happening, our depth sounder decided to stop working as well. When it rains, it pours. We finally reached the channel and quietly made our way down, struggling to find the next markers. The depth sounder had kicked back on luckily. After a couple of mishaps, we actually made it to the bridge. We had been determined that we'd have to call TowBoat US to tow us to the marina but we hadn't grounded yet. I called the marina and got specific directions for reaching the marina from the bridge.

As we neared the bridge, Brett had me drop the genoa sail and we sailed under bare-poles at 1.5 knots under the bridge. Turner Marine was just past the bridge on the right. A fishing boat came up behind us. "Where y'all from?" he asked enthusiastically. We told him and he replied "Welcome to Alabama!!"We told him about our engine. He offered to hip-tie us to his boat and get us in but we declined. The wind was in the perfect direction for us to coast into the marina and sometimes hip-tying to boats can be dangerous. He happily followed us in case we needed him for help. He told us his friend had engine parts at the marina across the river and probably even had a transmission for us. As we slowly made the turn into the marina, a guy on a boat tied to the wall we were passing also offered to help. We told him we were headed to the "wall" and he said we were too deep for it. He pointed to an empty slip and said to try and make that one.

He offered to jump aboard but we were too far away from him. I got ready to fend off the boat next to the empty slip as Brett expertly wound our way between the pilings. Before I knew it, we were fending off and tying up our boat with only a scrape on a piling. We seem to leave blue paint everywhere we go! Amazed, the fishing boat waved good bye to us. The gentleman from the boat walked over with his son to talk to us. He ended up being a worker at the marina. We made our way to the office to register.

Never thought I could park a 37 foot sailboat under sail at a marina! It was crazy! But all went well thanks to Brett's expertise in handling boats under sail. He said he fakes it well but he does know what he's doing. I am so relieved we were able to do it and not have to call TowBoat US.

Brett's abilities continue to amaze me with his natural talent at manuevering boats. He's kept us from grounding imultide of times and steered us out of harms way more than once. I didn't actually do too bad either this time. We had been struggling this last week while in Biloxi but on the water, we made a great team. It was great to succeed at parking Benevolence. She took care of us.

So far Alabama has been extremely friendly and helpful to us and we feel blessed to end up here.

This morning, I am working on the blogs (obviously) and have a mess to clean up inside the boat.

Brett took the transmission off and discovered that it wasn't the transmission. The bolts used to bolt the transmission to the fly wheel that were installed when the engine had been rebuilt were not the right kind of bolts and had sheered off the fly wheel. He has to take the fly wheel off the engine (yikes!) and see if there was damage to it. The starter could also be damaged from this problem. A real mess we are into....

This may be the end for us depending on the extent of damage and cost...

Turner Marine has been wonderful and we feel fortunate to have ended up here.

Please keep us in your prayers as we face this new challenge.

FEB 24TH- Made it to Dauphin Island!

Catching up on the blogs...

We got up at 7am and left by 930am. Immediately leaving the protected harbor, we faced SE winds with chop. As the waves increased as we got closer to the open part of the sound, things started looking "green". With some ginger pills and armbands, I was able to barely put off getting sick. Brett was a trooper and kept watch as the autopilot expertly steered us on our course. We both maintained an eye on the chart on the computer and I made kept him filled with hot coffee. We put our foul weather gear on, it was cold! Benny got sick, even with dramamine, but was fine afterward and slept most the rest the way. We were both having flashbacks of our trip on a friend's boat in the Matagorda bay with the boat pounding against the water and the water splashing over the boat into the cockpit. Thank god for Brett's dodger!!!

After several hours, we noticed the seas lighten as we made our way pass barrier islands. Only when there was a break in the islands did it kick up again. It was a long slog but we came out shining. We anchored at Dauphin Island just as it was getting dark. Our new Manson anchor set quickly and held fast. I discovered my side of the vee berth soaked and we discovered a leaking stanchion base. Brett went outside to inspect. We had had a fender (bumper) fall off the deck early on and the force of the water on it throughout the day had pulled the stanchion loose from the base, causing water to pour in. So we have our first Gulf injury on the boat. But all in all, Benevolence performed marveously. She didn't pound near as bad as some boats do (only a few times did I think the keel was going to push up through the floor!). She plowed her way through.

The auto pilot did most the driving and worked maginficently. We ended up motoring the whole way due to East winds right on our nose the whole day. UGH. But the motor is also working brilliantly, especially with the alternate prop we had on hand. Whew. We had a successful trip and are getting closer to warmer weather and clearer water. Hopefully calmer water too!

Our next stop will be Pensacola.

FEB 23RD- Biloxi, MS

Catching Up On The Blogs....

We've spent the last 4 days in Biloxi, MS. The first three days we had no power but last night a different person watching the marina rented us an adapter. Good thing, it was under freezing last night.

Saturday night, we strolled part of the man-made white sandy beach. We ate at the Grand Casino's buffet. It was absolutely fanstastic. Brett got to dine on unlimited crab legs! I took the bus yesterday to Walmart again while Brett prepped the boat for offshore.

Last night, we walked to the Beau Rivage Casino to eat at their buffet but it was $20.99 each so we detoured to the Waffle House instead. I discovered the laundromat around here was also gone so I tried to do laundry in our shower basin. Not very successful, I dashed to Walmart and picked up a couple more pairs of the cheap, light khaki's on clearance. I also got a couple of long sun-dresses and coverup blouses to wear when we go somewhere half-way nice. Today, we're going to finish up our preparations and head out tomorrow (On Mardi Gras!)

We'll head to Dauphin Island in Alabama to stop and provision before making the trek across the Gulf to somewhere in Florida.

FEB 21ST- Drop Back and Kick

Catching up on blogs...

It only took 2 1/2 hours to get to Rabbit Island from Oak Harbor Marina in Slidell, LA. We had a 1 1/2 knot current that helped drive us down the Rigolets.

Brett pointed out the white sandy beaches as we went to our anchorage. We dropped the new anchor and spent the afternoon making sure we didn't drag and listening carefully to the weather report. There was a railroad right next to the anchorage.

Our friend, Sue, had anchored there before and told us about the old oil platform. It was a great landmark for us to reference to.The sunset was once again beautiful as we sat watching the sun go down. The wind was to be pretty strong for the evening.

I made a cherry pie. Then, for dinner, I put together a casserole on my own without a recipe using the food we had- canned chicken, red potatoes, onions, cream of mushroom and seasonings. It turned out pretty yummy, especially after I topped it with Parmesean Cheese. I have started logging what we eat in a journal with pictures. I noticed you don't read too often about what cruisers eat and I wanted to change that. That night, as the temperature plummeted, Brett got up routinely to check on the anchor. In the morning, we found that we had only drug a small amount. When he pulled up the anchor at 730, there was a ton of mud and grass on it.

We started out early to cross the Mississippi Sound to Gulfport. The waters got choppy as the day progressed. After awhile, it calmed down again. I didn't even have a hint of getting seasick during the choppy parts. I made us pancakes about 1000. When nearing Gulfport, I called the marina that the waterway guide said would be there. They told me that they hadn't finished rebuilding yet and that there was no marinas in Gulfport to tie to! I had arranged to have important mail sent to the Post Office there and wasn't sure how'd we get it now. After several frustrating calls that day, I was able to reach Small Craft Harbor in Biloxi, thirteen miles from Gulfport, and get a slip. Many things went wrong yesterday, it was miserable and I am trying to recoup from my bad attitude about it. We ended up here, for 2 nights till the norther passes on Saturday night. This harbor charged us $40 a night and we have no power. They only have 50 amp service and no bathrooms and showers, claiming FEMA is to blame for all of this mess from Katrina, THREE years ago. ok. drop back and kick. We're staying here, under our blankets, and exploring the town. I can already tell we're out of Louisiana.

On Sunday, we might sail back to Gulfport (thirteen miles) and anchor out and dinghy to shore so we can get our mail depending on what the post office tells me this morning. Last night, when we were pulling into Biloxi, Brett proudly exclaimed that I had experienced my first time offshore and I didn't even know it. He was very excited for me. It was calmer than the waters we'd exerienced twice in Matagorda Bay and in Vermillion Bay.

We visited the Hard Rock Casino next to us last night. There was tons of signed guitars, shirts, etc of famous singers like Madonna's black bust, lots of Elton John and Beatles things. It was cool. I had a Starbucks coffee for the first time in a month. We blew a little money on penny machines and then ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Neither of us had eaten there. It was fun. THe food wasn't great but I had a yummy fruit drink.Today we plan to walk to Home Depot and then possibly visit West Marine, Walmart and Hobby Lobby, all on the same road about 5 miles from here.We are making preparations to jump from here clear to Apalachicola, Florida which is an overnight trip offshore. It's about 30 hours from here. There are a few things to get done on the boat but can easily be done the next three days. Being offshore doesn't seem near as scary to me as trying to find a place to pull into a strange city every night and forking out a ton of money to them just to tie up our boat.