2025 Financial Wrap-Up – Red Shanks Georgetown, The Bahamas, January 5, 2026 LP

Image

2025 Financial Wrap-Up – Red Shanks Georgetown, The Bahamas, January 5, 2026

First off, it has been another great and eventful year (shocker, right?). We started by flying to the west coast to pick up the RV and save her from the wildfires, only about 5 miles from her. Then we drove it down to Key West and low and behold, bought another boat. Having spent a good chunk of our time there in February refitting and re-rigging, we headed back to the Bahamas to spend the rest of the season. Our insurance will not let us go any farther south then the central Bahamas, but it worked out fine.

After heading home from the Bahamas, we had some items to fix and had to have her hauled out. Unfortunately, we could not get into Brunswick, GA so we ended up hauling her out in a fancy boatyard in Savannah, GA instead. It worked out fine, but I was glad we had the RV to stay in at a nearby campground. We visited family and hiked around the east coast for the next few months. When we were in Columbus visiting kids, we moved our storage unit and downsized it again. Specifically, we made the choice to sell our Harley-Davidson, which we took across country a few years ago. It was simply sitting rusting and seemed silly to continue to pay for storage when we rarely rode it and now paid for 6-8 months of storage on the RV. So, we bit the bullet and sold her.

Once we wrapped up the storage unit, visited family in Brunswick again, we packed everything up and headed to Savannah. We spent 3 weeks there fixing water leaking through our windows and then sail drive. Once we got her all set and back in the water we started our sail south, stopped in Jekyll Island, then headed down to cross back to the Bahamas via Fort Pierce by November. It has been calm since then and we have got to enjoy the nice sunny Bahamas weather. So, all this begs the question – How did we once again afford all this fun?

Let’s start with our income. Ron and I still make money through our investments, which includes dividends, interest, etc. This was our highest earning category this year. Secondly, was Ron consulting gig. New this year was the income we got from selling the motorcycle. The last category was a fraction but included everything else.

Our income remained close to what it was last year, but what happened to our spending! Holy smokes we spent a lot! Let’s take a look at the chart and I’ll walk you through it.

So, let’s break it down:

First off, the boat refit was our largest expense by far. This included the rigging and all the water fixes we completed. Our boat budget increased by 34%. Ouch and I am glad we hopefully won’t have to do this again this year.
Restaurants were another big one but since we had the RV we have & boat kitchens we have cooked a lot more. Both of these lowered our restaurant budget nicely.
Travel is fees we end up paying to get onto Jekyll Island when we go, toll road costs, and airlines (which we didn’t go anywhere this year!) so this was down compared to last year.
Our next big one was groceries since that includes all our food not only from this past year and our cruising season but also most of our food till June. We still buy fresh stuff like bread and vegetables but little else our increased budget here is more for 18 months vs. 12.
The dreaded taxes but it must be done
Knowing what we spent on the boat refit we made a specific effort not to spend much money during the off season on the RV and stuck mostly to camp sites with a lot of free hiking.
Gas/Diesel – this was for both the boat & RV for the year and roughly doubled from last year since we didn’t have the boat for long.
Insurance is for everything including the RV, Boat, motorcycle, and our umbrella. Our insurance was also less since we didn’t have it at the beginning of the year and went with a less expensive provider policy. Not too bad since it is fairly cheap for the boat if we don’t leave the Bahamas.
Automotive is for our rental cars anytime we needed one and this was about the same.
Telephone & Starlink were for our necessary communications on the boat and RV and stayed about the same.
Our 2025 boat season includes our customs and immigration fees (which increased from January-June 2025 until November-December 2025 when we came back). It also includes any other misc. expenses that don’t fall into groceries, restaurants, diesel, etc. For example, our Junkanoo Tickets, which we recently attended, and the tickets were $20 each.
Dockage, “Everything else”, and healthcare were consistent with last year, but RV maintenance did go up. We spent a bit of money replacing our clothing & shoes before leaving this year but thankfully no hurricane expenses!

All in all, we used our reduced living expenses to offset our boat refit expenses. It is so nice to have the flexibility to do that. The good news is we are fully stocked for at least a few more months if not for the rest of the season so our living expenses will be very minimal till it’s time to bring the boat back and put her up for storage again. It’s good to be an early retirement nerd!

Can’t Beat the Water – Georgetown, Red Shanks, Bahamas, December 21, 2025

Posted on December 23, 2025 by Sally

Can’t Beat the Water – Georgetown, Red Shanks, Bahamas, December 21, 2025

Friends told us our first year here in Georgetown that we would be back to the Bahamas and you won’t be able to beat the beautiful turquoise water here no matter how far south to Grenada you go. I am here to attest that this is a true statement and at this point we have certainly become “water snobs.” Since Thanksgiving in the Exuma Land and Sea Park we have meandered our way down through the Exuma Islands, including Emerald Bay (which is a lovely little marina to get diesel fuel), Black Point, and Elizabeth Harbor.

There are a couple of downsides we got going for us at this point. Number one, Ron needed to climb the mast to replace the wind sensor we broke off on one of the bridges (El Pablo) on the intercoastal. When we got down to Georgetown, he tried a couple times, but his fear of heights didn’t let him get to the top. Remember the sailing karma we try to create? We got it. The guy Ron ended up helping saw the cable from his anchor was parked right next to us here in Elizabeth Harbor and has offered to climb our mast and replace the wind sensor! Whew! Now Ron will eventually need to climb the mast to polish stainless rigging but it won’t be such a crisis and we can get to this in our own timeline while having a wind sensor (telling us wind speed) in the meantime. Very nice and thank you to Dane from SV Tamika.

Issue number two was that I broke my big toe again. Ugh. I slipped and fell on the back of the boat getting on my paddle board and bent my toes back completely. I can walk in flip flops, but it has turned nicely bruised and I cannot wear tennis shoes or fins. Guess I won’t be hiking much for the next few weeks until I can stand wearing real shoes again. I can still swim and paddle board on my knees but I think we will be laying low here and have decided to move over to a mooring ball in Red Shanks, where we are the only boat in the bay. It offers 360 protection, a nice dose of privacy, and easy access to town for grocery and propane. We are fairly close to turtle bay and plan to head over to feed the turtles and too many large red starfish to count. It is lovely and if we are stuck for bit this is a great place to spend Christmas. Looks like we are attending the lovely potluck planned here on Chat ‘N Chill Beach!

The Crossing– Great Harbor Cay, The Berry Islands, Bahamas, November 16, 2025

Posted on December 21, 2025 by Sally

The Crossing – Great Harbor Cay, The Berry Islands, Bahamas, November 16, 2025

We started off from Vero Beach where after an eventful morning we got started. Our neighbor, who was looking to jump over to the Abacos, started their day off by getting their anchor chain caught on a one inch underwater cable. Since they had moved around with the tides overnight, it was wrapped around their chain several times. We watched for a few minutes and watching them struggle, Ron decided to be a good Samaritan and go over and help. He took over our angle grinder which seemed to work much better than the hack saw he was using. After a several minutes and a few battery packs, they were free. Hopefully the karma gods are watching!

We started our crossing at about 5:00am and left out of Fort Pierce, Florida. We planned to go a bit farther and head back to check into the Berry Islands. We had hoped to get more than the typical 90 days and the good news is we made it over they gave us 120 days before needing to check in with the immigration office again. Timewise it took us about 28 hours and we sailed overnight getting in around noon the following day. Weather wise the wind were about 10-15 kts but on the beam which made for a rolly ride at times. The temperature was COLD! It was definitely time to get south since 55 degrees on a boat was cold and our heat was minimal. I drug out our warmed pink blanket to help.

The only issue we had with the boat was loosing an engines. Not good. Typically this is a fuel related issue so the first step was to change the fuel filter which we changed before we left. Imagine crawling down into the engine bay sitting on a hot engine while you change a filter while dodging a rudder post swinging a few inches away. The filter looked new which was unexpected. Next step is to restarted the engine and see what happens. 40 minutes later the engine died again! Plan B was to check the fuel pick up in the fuel tank that was really all that was left. This was easier said than done since it was under the master bed which weighs about 150 lbs. Once that was all wrestled out of the way Ron made quick work removing the pickup. Sure enough it was completely clogged. In a past life this tank had a diesel bug issues which was supposed to have been taken care of by the prior owner. When they polished the tank they missed one major step and that was cleaning the pickup. 60 minutes later and we are back up and running both engines.

The rest of the trip was uneventful other than the vast amount of shipping traffic we needed to navigate in the dead of the night. Thankfully radar and our AIS system made this less stressful. All in all we passed 60 + large cargo and cruise ships.

Much like a video game with no life’s left.

We stayed in the Berry Islands for about a week to recover from the passage and be sure both engines are fully back online. The beaches here are truly beautiful, however, the water was still pretty cold. This drove us to head as far south as we could as early as possible since we wanted to get in some snorkeling and paddleboarding. After a nice week of hiking and beach walking it was time to move on, and we ended up at Shroud Key to meet up with our Sailing Buddy Ben.

Ben needed a Star Link, and we picked up a Star Link mini before leaving Florida and brought it with us. Boy, do we wish we would have gotten one for ourselves. The downside of our current Star Link is we have an older version and do not have the Mini which uses much less power than the new Mini they have come out with. This will likely be a future upgrade since we could use the power savings on both the boat and RV. Unfortunately, with all the other upgrades and funds we have spent, it is on the back burner till our next year’s boat budget starts.

Once our weather window opened up, we high tailed it down to the only place with any protection in the Exuma’s, directly to the Land and Sea Park and Ben tagged along. You can’t got wrong here and we were finally able to do some snorkeling. This is one of those places you just cannot skip. We were also able to hike everyday and picked up plastic from the windward side of the island. Luckily we got invited by the staff to attend their huge thanksgiving potluck. It was a wonderful event and we met a few friends on the vessel “Mystic.” Definitely a great way to spend the holiday with friends if we couldn’t be home.

Warm Weather Fairy – Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA, November 3, 2025

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Sally

Warm Weather Fairy – Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA, November 3, 2025

The last couple of days in Savannah had suddenly dropped from the high seventies to mid-60’s with remnants of Hurricane Melissa. Being connected to the dock when it dropped to 45 degrees at night, it was no big deal since we have heat. However, this makes for very cold passage weather. It’s time for go south and we decided to ride the intercoastal down through Jekyll Island for a few days in search of some warmer weather.

This year we decided on a new addition to the boat – plants. Mom & Dad helped with a few starts from theirs then we picked up some lettuce, spinach, and herbs as well. Ron is much better with this than I am, so I am hopeful. I have always had a bit of a black thumb. When the guy at the plant store tells us “You can’t kill this one,” then I know – this one is for me!

After a couple of lovely days in Jekyll, it wasn’t getting much warmer and this means it was time to continue our quest south for warmer weather. We said our goodbyes and headed down the intercoastal waterway.

Unfortunately, as much as we wanted to go on the outside, the wave heights were just too much so we decided to knock off about 50 or so miles a day for the next week as we head down to Vero Beach and stage for our crossing to the Bahamas. This means we had to anchor in the intercoastal which is always a treat. Last time we did this the anchor chain got wrapped around the keel. We got lucky Ron didn’t have to jump into the alligator infested waters to unwrap it and the tide and current move us just right the untangle. Our first night south this time was south of Fernandina. The current and wind was against one another which rubbed the chain on the bottom of the keel chipping off the bottom paint. Check out our anchor tracking for the evening. Hope it get better as we go than this!

Hole here, hole there – October 22, 2025, Savannah, GA, USA

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Sally

Hole here, hole there – October 22, 2025, Savannah, GA, USA

Yes, we are still in Savannah. Not only did they find the major hold in our hull but a secondary one as well. Our fiberglass guy is good and has done a good job drying out the hull after they pulled out the sail drive. Ron prepped engine, and as long as they are pulling the sail drives, he inspected the seals, and they looked pretty good. They hope to finish our repair and have us back in the water by Thursday. We then plan to sit on the dock for a week to ensure all is well not only with our new repair, but the rebedded windows and sail drive install.

Once this was taken care of Ron got to work reinstalling the engines and then it was time for splash day 2.0 – fingers crossed there will be no leaks. The contractors were great, and Ron managed them well. Our “project manager” there did nothing but bill us for work we know they didn’t do because Ron did it! Anyway, we will be out of Thunderbolt Marina soon and onto the dock there. The dock is managed much better, and their office has been very flexible with us based on our recent issues.

We decided to stay on the dock 5 days to a week to ensure there were no water intrusion issues and everything was tested including the windows, the sail drive box, the engines themselves, and the water maker remount on the starboard side. I am glad we came down early since we have done a lot more to this boat pre-launch than we anticipated. We have only lost a week, so I still feel lucky.

In the meantime, we have completely put up the RV, moved everything onto the boat we needed, cleaned and vinegared the RV and driven her up to storage for the remainder of our sailing season. It means we didn’t have anywhere to stay, and we have become much too familiar with the Best Western near the boat yard. We used any time not working on the boat to complete our provisioning so that by the time we have our leaks tested, we are truly ready to go. I had someone ask me why we grocery shop for 6 months before we leave and not just get everything in the Bahamas. The answer to that is things are about 3-4 times more expensive. Example, a case of beer would cost about $18-$22 here in the states (cheap miller lite beer), is about $55-$65 in the Bahamas. Even if we don’t drink what we pack, it makes an excellent item for trade! So, at this point we are about as full as this boat could get!

Our next stop is Jekyll Island, GA for a few days with my parents. I don’t anticipate us coming back to the states for a while so it will be nice to see them again before leaving.

Day of Sadness – October 21, 2025, Savannah, Georgia, USA

Posted on October 21, 2025 by Sally

Day of Sadness – October 21, 2025, Savannah, Georgia, USA

It’s Splash Day. This is normally a very exciting and happy day. We have been working non-stop to prepare for this doing boat work, provisioning etc. We were first on the schedule to be in the slings and splashed and they showed up, got us lifted, and splashed into the pit by 10am! Yeah! We had reservations just across the channel at Thunderbolt Marina (which is fantastic by the way) and we were docked there before lunch.

That was when the first hammer fell, the bilge pump started going off about 2 hours after we were launched and then continued to go off every 6 minutes for the next two days. Uh Oh, now we have a problem and it’s a big problem. We immediately got ourselves back on the haul out schedule, but they had no time on their schedule or space to bring us back until Wednesday. Our bilge pump was in good shape, we had 5 spares on board and if shit gets really real, we had a crash pump. So, we wait and count bilge pump cycles.

Then the second hammer fell. Our second issues was when we arrived at the boat, we started our normal routine of cleaning and getting everything put away again from the RV and found that our master bedroom mattress was soaking wet. Not to mention it was pouring rain and had been for a solid week. The rest of the day consisted of drying out the mattress and trying to determine where the water was coming from. Leopard Catamarans have a known issue with the windows delaminating and we knew ours were going to need redone when we bought the boat but hadn’t had an issue till now. While we were waiting to be hauled out the weather cleared up and we decided to take that time to recalk the eyebrow seems and rebed all four side windows. It would have been great if this was the only issue with water ingress we had, and this would fix the bilge going off, but it didn’t.

We also spent our time picking up our sail from the sail maker since the repair was completed and getting it up and back on the boat. All our pantry provisions and beer provisions were also all put away, the entire boat was prepped by being cleaned and vinegared. We were really ready to be splashed, finish up some last-minute items, and take off heading south to stage for our crossing to the Bahamas. Instead, we got hauled out again on Wednesday to find the source of the suspected crack in our haul and rebed one of our exit valves which we found was leaking.

Unfortunately, when we got hauled, there was no obvious crack, but it took the boat about 2 hours to drain out all of the water on the starboard side. It was a mystery, so it needed to be ground out to hunt for the crack around the sail drive. Sadly Thunderbolt Marine is not a “do it yourself” yard and Ron is not allowed to do any of the repairs himself. This means we are dependent on their team and timeline. All day Thursday was burned by having the fiberglass team grind out the bottom which left us no closer to finding the issue. We felt very beaten at this point so the team suggested we flood the bilges on the inside now that it had been ground out so they could see where the water was coming out.

Having spent the last two days drying things out we weren’t thrilled with the suggestion but had little other choice. We flooded the inside of the boat on purpose, and nothing dripped out around the sail drives. Now we were truly beaten and called it a day. The only upside was we met a very nice couple on a 55-foot catamaran having work done on their boat parked behind us and spent a lovely night in historic Savannah having drinks and dinner. It took the edge off the depression from not knowing what was wrong. The only thing we knew at this point was that the core was dry and there was not a crack on the seam of the pontoon. Other that that we had no idea what to do next so Ron reached out to a few other Leopard owners for their thoughts. Ron couldn’t prove his suspicion that there was a crack in the sail drive box because it isn’t accessible unless you pull the sail drives out. That in itself isn’t a terrible job, and Ron had done it on our prior Leopard, but we were not allowed based on the yard rules.

Friday morning, we finished dying out the bilges and Ron found a way to prove his suspicion of a sail drive box crack. He drilled a hole in the box then I took the shop vac to blown air into the box while he went to the bottom with soapy water to see where it would bubble. Finally, success! The next step was getting on their schedule, and they said they could pull the sail drive on Monday. Well, I guess that was better than nothing and we will likely only lose a week by the time the sail drive is pulled, and the box gets its fiberglass repair completed. We are grateful this didn’t come up after we had taken off or during a passage. Ron wants to do the repair himself but even then, this is the next best-case scenario to have it fixed before we start the season. Hopefully we get launched again by next Thursday but they have started the repair.

Secret Life of a Sailor – October 12, 2025, Skidaway Island, Georgia, USA

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Sally

Secret Life of a Sailor – October 12, 2025, Skidaway Island, Georgia, USA

Ron and I have had a fairly unexciting life for the last several months – hence my lack of posts. We have been staying in the RV, bopping between visiting family, (which was nice seeing all four daughters in one place) and working on our latest weight loss project! We both lost 20 pounds and walked or hiked 7-10 miles a day. We also have also had a nice time visiting & helping my parents with a few projects and visiting siblings.

We enjoyed staying in the Midwest in places like upstate New York, Letchworth (the Grand Canyon of the East), and Savannah, Georgia where we hauled out the boat. Skidaway Island has a nice campground about 10 minutes from the boat.

We have been essentially killing time until hurricane season is over. Which speaking of hurricane season – where are all the hurricanes this year? It has been a very strange year for the storms. It is a blessing since we are parked along the east coast and has given us some extra time to take on some boat work.

Our secret life isn’t always sunsets and beach happy hour. We have spent a crazy amount of time working on the RV recaulking all the seams, waxing the exterior, and screwing in all interior panels which have somehow come apart. The quality of the RV isn’t nearly as good as the boat. Then once we got to the boat, the project list just got even longer. Major item Ron has been able to knock off have been getting our sail repaired, correctly mounting the water maker and creating a nice new panel for all its gauges.

We also started to do all of our non-refrigeration provision runs. This included Ron building out shelves in one of our cabin closets so we can store all these items in a more accessible way which has worked out REALLY nice!

It has been alot of work lately and we are excited to get splashed and actually start to sail again!

Ghosted – Sackets Harbor Lake Ontario, USA, July 14, 2025

Posted on July 15, 2025 by Sally

Ghosted – Sackets Harbor Lake Ontario, USA, July 14, 2025

Yes, I have ghosted you. Sorry. It has been a busy two months and we have managed to haul out the boat and put her away for the season, pick up the RV and get her up and running, visit my parents, have dinner with my brother, spend July 4^th weekend in Columbus, Ohio visiting daughter #3, and now…we are on our way to Maine! Thus far this season we have had three storms, but only Chantal has hit the states as a tropical storm. Being that this is mid-July I feel pretty lucky!

As far as RV work, Ron has managed to change the oil, touch up the paint, reseal the outside to fix a small leak, and a load of service items that were due to keep us on the road. Doing this work in a campsite lot is a bit tricky since you’re not permitted to do any major work on their property.

We picked up the RV in Brunswick, GA and after a few days with my parents we headed north stopping along the way though South Carolina, North Caroline, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and now we are in New York. While it is beautiful here, our hike in NY ended up being dive bombed with deet flies. Unfortunately, my “perfume” (OFF!) made no difference what-so-ever. In addition to being snorkel snobs I think we are hiking snobs too.

We managed to hike our way up the coast without a bug issue till we got here, and it is slightly reminiscent of Upper Peninsula Michigan except there are mosquitos that are a nuisance. Oh well. I guess we had better get used to the new things we are going to see and experience since Maine and most of New England will be new for us. I am excited to see the sights the next couple of weeks before we turn around and head back to Ohio to hopefully see daughters #1, #2, & 4. Exciting times here on Mariposa.

Running from the Devil: A Battle with Nature – June 8, 2025, Somewhere on the ICW, USA

Posted on June 8, 2025 by Sally

Running from the Devil: A Battle with Nature – June 8, 2025, Somewhere on the ICW, USA

Sailing is a game of trade-offs. You make decisions with limited information and hope your gut is right. Sometimes there’s no “right” choice—just a better gamble. And this time, we were gambling against a storm.

We were sailing with a line of squalls forming to the north west. Our best shot? Reach a nearby anchorage within 30 minutes—get the hook down and ride it out from a safe spot. Easy in theory. Fifteen minutes later, nature flipped the script. The storm shifted south—fast—and came right at us.

We pulled into the anchorage as the sky broke open. Wind screamed in at 50 mph the moment we dropped anchor. Sally dumped every foot of chain we had. The boat spun violently, circling like a toy caught in a whirlpool. But the anchor dug deep into the clay—and held. For now.

As the squall passed, the wind settled, but something felt off.

A low grinding sound echoed through the hull. Not normal, but with shifting tides and strong currents, I figured it could wait until morning.

It didn’t.

At 2 a.m., I snapped awake with a gut-punch realization: what if the anchor chain had wrapped around our rudders or keels during the storm’s chaos?

Visibility? Zero. Water? Mud brown. Wildlife? Full of alligators. Diving in to investigate was not a pleasant option.

So, I tested the rudders from the helm. Port—no issue. Starboard—jammed halfway.

Houston, we have a problem.

If the chain wrapped the propellers, we were in serious trouble. I started one engine, then the other, slipping each into gear with my breath held. Miraculously, both ran fine. Huge relief. The chain hadn’t tangled in the props—just the rudder.

That meant one thing: we had a shot at solving this without going for a swim.

In pitch black and dead silence, I began raising the anchor—slowly, nervously. Foot by foot, the chain came in, and the boat began to turn with it, swinging like the hand of a clock. We were unwinding ourselves. It was working.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the anchor broke the surface.

We were free.

But suddenly, another problem—we were drifting in the dark. No anchor, no direction, and no margin for error. Without hesitation, I dropped it again, securing us to the clay bottom just a few hundred feet from where we started.

We were safe. Again.

And I was grateful Plan A had worked—

Because Plan B? That involved me, a dive light, and way too many alligators.

Long Lost Friends – Hope Town Harbor, Abaco, Bahamas – May 23, 2025

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Sally

Long Lost Friends – Hope Town Harbor, Abaco, Bahamas – May 23, 2025

Ron and I have really been taking out time and enjoying the Bahamas. We got as far south as White Point Cay, just south of Black Point ironically. Since then, we have started to slowly make our way back via Eleuthera and now we are back to the Abacos. We have forgotten how beautiful the Bahamas really are and the fact that there is so much to see. The paddle boards have offered us a vehicle to turtle watch. The dinghy gave us a vehicle to travel through a couple of the bites, like Spencer’s Bite, where we saw more huge sea stars, hundreds or turtles, and even a few sharks.

You can not see it but there are a dozen turtles here

The weather here is starting to turn so we took advantage of our chances to make a few open ocean crossings through the Exuma Sound, and then Northwest Providence Channel. The Abacos offer a lot of good protection from the squalls which have started to come through and still lots to do. We took one of our nice weather stretches to check out Pelican Cay and snorkel Sandy Cay. This was some of the best coral we have seen since Hawaii, and we even had the gift of swimming with 3 spotted eagle rays! They are stunning.

Being back in Hope Town we visited the historic lighthouse again. I also had the awesome chance to reconnect with some friends whom I have not seen for nearly 20 years. They were chartering out of Marsh Harbor. What a blast from the past and a great opportunity to see them again. Thank you Rick & Sonya for reaching out.

We have had some rain on and off but it gave us a chance to find all the leaks we now get to fix on the boat. Unfortunately, our wind sensor also died on our latest crossing. It is intermittent and Ron thinks when we installed it in Boot Key, Florida, it wasn’t sealed enough and has now gotten wet. This means he must go up the mast which he is less than happy about. In a couple of weeks (or sooner) it will be time to make our way back to the states. So today it’s time to snorkel Tahiti Beach!

All Black and White – Exuma Islands, Bahamas, May 1, 2025

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Sally

All Black and White – Exuma Islands, Bahamas, May 1, 2025

It seems the world is full of uncertainty these days. With the stock markets falling, wars in not only Ukraine but also Gaza embroiled in multi-year conflicts, and the US alienating nearly all the rest of the world. Here in the Bahamas on Mariposa, it is much more certain. We have been sitting at our new favorite anchorage between Black Point and White Point. The water is clear and beautiful blue. We paddle each day watching the turtles swim by us. Snorkeling is cold but at least we see some nice coral and fish. There is only one large barracuda that has been a bit of a nuisance. There are even sharks that swim by in the evenings during happy hour looking for a snack. I have to say it is lovely here and we could not be happier we made the jump back to boating life and the Bahamas.

It has been a quiet few weeks and we have had some much-needed time to chill and recover from the big push getting the boat ready to go. We spent one day in Staniel Cay refueling, grocery shopping, and hob-knobbing with the rich. You see Staniel Cay is where all the super yachts (50 feet+) live. Easter week was very busy for them. At any time, we have between 15-20 of these big guys parked near us. Just for fun we looked up what it would cost to rent one of these for the week and WOW – it is how the other half live. It costs approximately $250,000 per week for 12 guests and 11 crew members plus expenses. These yachts have jet skis, a large dinghy, their own floating dock, completed by a blow-up slide. It’s incredible! I realize we are on the brink of a recession but there are still plenty of people out there that have too much money.

Sadly, they all want to go and swim with the pigs at Big Majors Pig Beach. This I will never understand, but there are boats packed with tourists lined up to drop folks off there. Average cost for this tour is $150-$250 person. Then, you get to discover that there is a lot of piggie poop and invasive birds attacking you for their share of the pig food. No thanks.

As the wind here is about to change, we will make one last stop at Staniel Cay for our last stock up, to take care of our trash, and then plan to move north to Cambridge Cay. We will have about 6 weeks to make it north and back to the states where we have a spot in Savannah, GA to haul out for hurricane season. The wind will be shifting from the south and sadly our place here off the coast has little protection for that. It is time to say goodbye to our lovely anchorage at least until next year.

Waiting on Weather – Wardrick Wells, Exuma Islands Bahamas, April 12, 2025

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Sally

Waiting on Weather – Wardrick Wells, Exuma Islands Bahamas, April 12, 2025

Simply put, the last 2 weeks have left us doing a lot of waiting. We took the first window available to make the crossing and then the southern winds took over. There have been 5 days sitting in Royal Island and then another 7 days waiting in Hatchet Bay. These are the two most protected places. And the weather did not disappoint, since we had a major storm and 35% of the boats in Hatchet Bay drug. Once again, we were up at 4am hoping not to get hit since two of the boats who drug anchor were next to us. Ron did amazing job of seeing these storms coming. We were there days before they hit, our anchor was set, and then like clockwork we got a slew of new boats who came into the bay an hour before dark and plopped the anchor 50 feet in front of us. All inexperienced cruisers from Georgetown. It is one of our least favorite parts of cruising.

Clear the cut and find a place to drop the hook.

After one beautiful night near Rock Sound, we had a chance to cross the Exuma Sound and now sit in one of our favorite places – Exuma Land and Sea Park. It is an extremely protected little bay and one of the most beautiful places on earth. It makes the last two weeks’ worth the wait. On our first snorkeling adventure we were quickly reminded how ripping the current is! In these types of conditions, we typically tow the dinghy with us. The Bahamas is known for their wild currents between the islands and this place is that on steroids. In the evenings though we can sit and watch the turtles and rays swim by the boat. It is incredible.

Hiking here is also a plus. This small park has a few hills and stunning white sand beaches, so we felt the need to go back to Booboo Hill!

The next day was my birthday so we took a nice long snorkel with the turtles! It was nice to relax here but the rolly overnights and close calls with the charter boats trying to fit through the narrow channel of mooring balls made that our last day here. We are heading south while the winds are calm to Pipe Cay. It’s nice to be somewhere warm and lovely!

The Crossing – The Berry Islands, Bahamas, March 24, 2025

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Sally

The Crossing – The Berry Islands, Bahamas, March 24, 2025

Now that we are officially offshore, the rigging and solar are working great. The main was raised and functioning perfectly. As I mentioned in our last post, this is the second longest passage we have made and our first one on this untested boat. It has been 32 hours and 198 miles across the Gulf Stream and onto the Grand Bahama Bank. We took the southern route this time, which is new to us, and ended up in The Berry Islands. We have never been here either and were keen to try it out. We heard that it is very shallow on this route and the Berry’s, specifically. They were not kidding.

As we exited the Gulf Stream onto the Bahamas Bank, there were times we only had about 2-3 feet under the keel. Leaving about 8:00am from Marathon, Florida and we approached the bank after dark so we could approach the Berry’s and get ourselves anchored by sunset in Great Harbor Cay on the east side of the largest Berry island. This meant that it was Ron’s shift once we started the bank to ensure all was well before I took back over. It was the smoothest trip across the Gulf Stream we have made yet. Whew! It’s nice to be back.

Great Harbor Cay is a port of entry, and it was necessary for us to make a stop to check into customs. They were very pleasant and efficient. The trick is to go to the marina here, which is through a very narrow cut. It was good to know, in case of any weather events, that is one of the most protected harbors in the Bahamas.

We could have stayed here but, after checking in, we moved over to the east side of the island to stage for some incoming westerly winds. The winds here tend to make the anchorage outside of the harbor a bit on the rocky side. The water temperature here is still a bit cold, and we are hoping to move a bit farther south so we can do some snorkeling. The next hop will be over to Eleuthera, which is a short 60-mile jump. They are expecting the wind to come in the next couple of days, making The Berry’s uncomfortable to stay.

Since we won’t have much time here, hopefully we can keep this on our list to hit once we come back through here in June. At that point it should be warm enough to do some exploration on these beautiful little islands. Even though it is already so late in the cruising season, there should still be enough time to stop in here before making the jump back over to Brunswick Georgia for the start of hurricane season. These islands are stunningly beautiful and made the crossing worthwhile.

On our first cruising season there was one of the many cruisers we met who said, “this is the most beautiful place. You’ll be back, even if only for the water.” After sailing all the way down to Grenada…they were right. The only other place that holds a candle to this place is Hawaii. It’s good to be back to the Bahamas!

Getting It Up – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 20, 2025

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Sally

Getting It Up – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 20, 2025

Still sitting on the dock in Marathon, Florida we finally finished the rigging replacement and solar arch! It has been about 6 weeks since we took possession of the boat and the list of projects has been long but is now complete. The crane showed up and the mast was put back up today. It took four guys to wrestle the boom and main sail back on and I am glad it was something we did not have to do ourselves. Our amazing rigging guy Anthony did a great job from Onboard Rigging. Thank you. He was a lot of fun to work with and I think Ron really enjoyed the process more than expected.

Since we have been in the keys for nearly 6 weeks and simply in Marathon for 3 we have had a chance to make some new friends from Dockside Bar & Grill, where the $2 beers were great! First off, the bartender “generator” & her husband were a lot of fun, then there was Mark and Rick, our two Michigan friends and fans. Rick comes down for 6 months each year and I think Mark is a sheriff here. Each time we went there the banter once he found out I was a vegetarian got intense and then when he found out I was an OSU graduate it got even worse. By the time we were ready to leave I had a little going away present for him. I found a t-shirt online that I simply had to have. It said “Meet Dick, Dick is a Michigan Fan” then on the back it said “Don’t be a Dick.” I wore this to Dockside on our last night just to even the score on all the references I took to bacon and OSU. Anyway, we had a lot of fun with these two and now have two new friends.

Once again, per our nomadic lifestyle, it was time to go. Our project list is complete and a weather window to make the jump has presented itself, so we are going directly from Marathon, Florida to the Berry Islands, Bahamas. It will be our second longest sail, 198 miles, and 32 hours. It is also our first test sail with the new rigging and solar. We are leaving on Saturday Morning.

Removing the Mast – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 17, 2025

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Sally

Removing the Mast – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 17, 2025

Replacing the rigging was more of a process than we expected. The first trick was Anthony’s dock was down an extremely narrow canal. It was roughly 4 feet wider than our boat with other boats lining both sides. This means only two feet on each side and if you screw up, we take out someone else’s boat. Yikes! Then the real kicker was you would have to do this all while backing the boat through the canal and into the slip. Yeah, not a chance. Anthony had a captain who does this for him each time and the boat here before us as a 44 foot which is wider than we are. This means it’s possible, but Ron was willing to let the other captain do this one since he has done it many times.

Ron and I had spent the time to prep the boat and disconnect all the wiring in the mast and remove the head sail. The next step was to remove the boom and main sail which Anthony, Ron and his guys did since it is too heavy for Ron and I to do ourselves. This leads us to the fun part. Anthony must remove the mast based on how our rigging is laid out. Apparently, the spreaders where the diamonds come together often corrode and are impossible to remove while the mast is upright. We played it safe and just pulled the mast which was the safer option. So, he brought in a crane and after about an hour, it came down.

Why is it always windy when you remove a mast? Asking for a friend…

It was a bit nerve wrecking to watch the mast get removed, but it was clear this was not his first rodeo, and it was without incident. What we found was unfortunate. In addition to the cracked swages (which we knew about), the radar cable was in very poor condition, and much of the rest of the rigging was also in poor condition. This made us feel better about making the decision to replace everything. Unfortunately, the prior owners did nothing to maintain this boat including the rigging, which is why it should not have needed this now, but this is our reality. I am glad we negotiated this into the purchase price. In addition, the bonus of allowing us to do the solar install and arch at a reasonable price makes this all worthwhile. This is the final project we have to do and still hope to be able to jump to the Bahamas in the next week or two.

DIY solar arch 1700 watts should do just fine.

Seashells and Sunsets – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 15, 2025

Posted on March 16, 2025 by Sally

Seashells and Sunsets – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 15, 2025

I know I write a lot about all the awesome places we travel to but there is another side to sailing and travelling that is noteworthy. It’s not all seashells and sunsets. This lifestyle does have its set of sacrifices I should discuss. First off, being nomadic and not really having a true permanent address. When trying to do things like vote, register the boat or RV, receive packages, BMV, etc. We hover between a few address when we can. We also use Amazon pick up boxes, and the occasional marina office when we can. It can be a logistical challenge, and we do tend to spend more time considering what we need and where to have it sent based on our location.

The second challenge is the small space. Ironically the boat seems very large now compared to the smaller space we have come from in the RV but most other folks coming from a house would consider this a very small space. This creates a struggle to store provisions, spare parts, clothing, and of course beer. We tend to stock up heavily before heading to the Bahamas since everything is a cost factor x3. An example if a case of beer is ~$20 in the US and ~$60 in the Bahamas.

Rationing of water and power is item number 3. We do have a water maker on board, but it requires the engines to be running in order to use it consuming diesel. This means we are more careful when we do laundry (which I now have a proper washing machine – yeah!), don’t have a dishwasher (which some may consider a sacrifice, but I don’t mind this one), or even shower. For power we did upgrade the batteries to lithium but have not yet added additional solar panels yet, so we tend to run the generator for now to keep things properly charged.

Then there is the simple issue of not having a car and doing everything via Uber, Avis, or on foot. Overall, the cost of owning a car would be more than what we spend on the occasional car rental or Uber on an annual basis. Then there is the logistics that the car would never be where we needed it when we needed it so owning becomes impractical for our lifestyle. And the upside is, we like to walk, and our dinghy is the closest we have. The downside is we carry every bag of groceries on foot which forces you to carefully consider what you buy and make multiple trips.

For me the upside of this lifestyle outpaces any “sacrifice” we tend to have. But then this week we got the final kick in the pants. We had a professional rigger come out (Anthony) and tell us we could fix our rigging issue (the one the surveyor found when we went through the boat buying process), however, he said it would need new rigging within a couple of years based on its current state. His fix would cost 50% of what getting all new rigging now. This led us to the decision to go with new rigging now since we were planning to keep the boat for more than a couple years and would pay this cost anyway. Why not get it now and ensure it was safer and in the long run cheaper?

The bonus we are getting from Anthony is he has a free dock with free water and power. Secondly, he has a shop and is willing to let Ron use it to build our solar arch and install solar panels. He will sell us the panels but said he doesn’t really like to do this work since the ROI is better for him to do another rigging job vs. building and installing solar. Yeah – this saves us about $15,000 and we won’t have to wait til we get to the Chesapeake this fall. Guess we found our next project on Mariposa.

Balls in the Air – Ramrod Key, Florida, USA, February 27, 2025

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Sally

Balls in the Air – Ramrod Key, Florida, USA, February 27, 2025

Well, we made it! Ron has done nothing but battle logistics of trying to get all the work done and pick up all the items we needed to launch. In addition, we have battled the weather once again. Since we took possession of Mariposa on February 10^th it took us 16 days to overhaul the boat into something we can actually sail to the Bahamas. In that time, we have completed the shockingly long list of projects:

Acid washed, sanded, and painted the new bottom job
Buffed the entire boat
Fixed the fiberglass issue for the crack we found on the port side
Attending the boat show in Miami
Bought and picked up a new dinghy, dinghy engine, and life raft in Miami. The only rain we saw in Key West was when we arrived back to Key West from Miami and needed to unload our provisioning, dinghy, dinghy engine, and life raft. Imagine here we come with a pickup truck 110% loaded up and Key West got 6’ – yes 6’ of rain and completely flooded. Not only did we drive in it we got to unload in the rain too. Top that off with traffic which instead of a 3-hour trip from Miami to a 5-hour trip from Miami. It was a very very long day.
Tested the windlass and remarked the anchor chain
Completed registration of our new dinghy, picked up our running papers, and transferred the title of the old dinghy to the new owner
Sold the old dinghy, stove, grill and house batteries.
Overhauled the kitchen, wired and installed a new induction cooktop, air fryer oven, and new outdoor grill
Defrosted the fridge and freezer and completed multiple provisioning trips to prepare ourselves to not buy much food in the expensive Bahamas
Wired up the washer space and made it ready for when we pick it up (not here yet)
Cleaned and organized the entire boat
Serviced the sail drives and Yanmar Engine
Added 1400 hours of lithium batteries replacing and reselling the old AGM batteries which increases our power ability by a factor of x5

Much nicer and cooler than a propane stove.

Not too bad for a couple of weeks but to get this much lined up and complete (all of which was DIY) has been nothing short of a miracle! The only thing we have left to do is fix some rigging and complete a solar arch. We need to outsource both items and will not do in Key West. The rigging must be done before we head to the Bahamas (since we cannot sail at all until we do so). The solar arch we are going to save for a future date and likely not complete til we get to the Chesapeake where it can be done much cheaper than either Florida or the Bahamas.

So, after all of this, we launched yesterday! After living on the hard in the boatyard, it is so nice to be back on the water. It was an early launch, which gave us time to move out of Key West (very shallow, poor holding on anchor, expensive, and crowded). Moving a couple hours north gets us closer to Marathon, Florida (where we hope to get our rigging done) and we are in a nice little calm anchorage with no one else around. It’s been a wild ride so far!

Opps, We Did It Again – Key West, Florida, USA, February 19, 2025

Posted on February 21, 2025 by Sally

Opps, We Did It Again – Key West, Florida, USA, February 19, 2025

Now that we are new boat owners it has been a busy first week on Mariposa 2.0. The first four days were spent simply cleaning everything and taking inventory of what the prior owners left. Ron was going through parts, fixing and testing the water maker, and looking over the engine and other electrical systems which were unfortunately wired incorrectly. For my part I organized our side of the boat unpacking, cleaning the closets, drawers, and laundry. Then I got to attach the kitchen washing every dish etc. It’s nice to know I am now the owner of a first-rate garage sale set of dishes including tin silverware. Yippee. My mother always says there is no cleaning like moving and she is right.

Let’s back into the haul-out pit this time.

Of course, there is good with the bad, so we got right to work on a couple key projects. First off, she needed a bottom job which means we needed to haul out. Ron got us scheduled to get hauled at Robbie’s Boat Yard in Key West. This meant that Ron had the awful job of sanding off the first coat of bottom paint. Luckily, there wasn’t much left, so he was able to complete it all in one day. Excruciating but at least it was done.

We had a couple of days to kill before our bottom paint arrived, so we decided to go to Miami and attend the boat show. This proved to be expensive, but we got a great deal on a new dinghy and dinghy engine. Then we managed to find a life raft (which the boat currently lacks) that we can pick up in Miami in about a week’s time. The show was a bit disappointing since there were not as many vendors as we had expected but we still managed to spend our money. We spent the night in Miami and used the following day to provision. This was worthwhile since it was so much cheaper than Key West grocery shopping and then we also didn’t have to do the 3-hour drive twice in one day.

When we returned, all of our amazon orders had arrived, and we started the bottom job. Between the two of us painting we got this knocked out in one day too! She looks so nice now with her new black bottom. The only bad thing is we found a crack on the back port side hull which had been incorrectly fixed. This would require the fiberglass to be redone correctly, and we were pleasantly surprised to have a fiberglass guy here at the boat yard who could help us out this week!

Next project on the list was converting the kitchen from propane to induction (electric). Ron removed the old oven and cooktop, and we had ordered the same ones we had on the first boat to replace them. When he placed them on Facebook, we were able to resell the old appliances too! Yeah. He was able to wire the stove and cooktop pretty quickly and get our new stuff installed. This means every time I want a cup of coffee, I won’t have to worry about singing the hair off my arms to do so. This makes me happy.

The last major thing Ron had been juggling is adding a new washer. It has not been delivered yet so we may install this on the water. Hopefully We can get it on board before we launch. Speaking of which our current plan is to launch on Wednesday the 2^7th and head straight to Marathon, Florida to get our rigging fixed. Things are moving quick, but the boat is really starting to feel like ours.

Survey and Sea Trial – Key West, Florida, USA, January 27, 2025

Posted on February 14, 2025 by Sally

Survey and Sea Trial – Key West, Florida, USA, January 27, 2025

It’s our first day back on the water for the survey and sea trial of “Greenlights.” That is the name of the boat we are looking at. She is a 2018 40-foot Leopard. It is a 3 cabin, owner’s version and for only being a couple feet wider and longer than our prior Mariposa, quite spacious! Captain Ron did a lot of homework and got us the best surveyor in southern Florida – Jonathan. Not only is Jonathan a good surveyor but he is also a rigger and will do our rigging inspection as well today. He started out the survey by simply going through the boat and testing every single system looking for any issues. We have formally put in an offer which we would have a chance to edit before a final agreement can be reached.

The upsides and why we like this boat are the layout is much bigger, there are low hours on both engines and the generator, she has never been chartered, majority of the upholstery work has already been done (except the dinghy chaps), She is a Leopard and not a Lagoon (which is know for having major issues to its bulkheads), we have a front door and wider decks which will be safer in stormy weather.

Thanks to Jonathan’s diligence, here are the main issues we found:

It had a grounding early on in its life and had both sacrificial keels ripped off and repaired. Thankfully they were repaired properly.
She needs a new bottom job. This is one of Ron’s least favorite things to do but this should be better than the last one he did as it only needs a light sanding this time and a couple coats of bottom paint which we can do ourselves in Key West.
Several windows in the kitchen are starting to delaminate. We had the same issue on Mariposa and it is a known issue on Leopard boats.
While it is equipped with a propane stove and oven this is something we will take out and switch to induction. We are also going to replace the grill with the same Weber one we had on the other boat.
The batteries are lead acid batteries and not much solar. We will immediately invest to upgrade her to lithium and eventually add more solar when we get somewhere Ron can weld up a solar arch which needs to be added.
The dinghy is old and in poor condition. It does work and you never want the prettiest dinghy on the dock, but we will essentially drive this one for the first year and plan to replace it soon. The good news is Ron is happier with the Yamaha engine since our last dinghy had a Tohatsu he hated.
Our generator and both fuel tanks leak.
The water maker was pickled so we didn’t get to test this and are going on the honor system for this one. I am glad it has one we are just hoping it works.
The radar doesn’t work properly. Ron is hoping he can fix this by cleaning up the connections, but we need to be prepared to replace this if necessary.
There is no life raft on board which we will need to purchase to go offshore.
The standing rigging needs a lot of work and was the biggest surprise we found. Essentially the rigging needs completely replaced before we can even raise the sails. Having lost one boat to being demasted, this replacement is at the top of our list.

We made edits to our offer based on the new information from the survey and now we wait to see if they will agree to lowering the price to cover the issues we found. The overall process is much like buying a house. It is nerve racking, and the pushy owners made it as difficult as possible. So, while we were waiting for the final survey document from Jonathan, we headed back to Jekyll Island to visit with my parents again. After a week and a half, I think they were ready for us to go! Thankfully, we got through the boat buying process with all the paperwork and wire transfers completed and we pick up the boat February 10^th.

Ron found a place to store the RV in Brunswick, Georgia so we spent a few days at Mom & Dad’s cleaning it out, waxing the exterior, and wiping down the inside with vinegar. Whew! Changing homes again takes quite a bit of work! We ended up dropping off the RV to storage and picking up a rental car in Jacksonville, Georgia. On the morning of the 10^th we said goodbye to Mom & Dad and drove the 10 hour trip to Key West to pick her up! Mariposa 2.0 here we come 😊.

2024 Financial Wrap Up – Key West, Florida, USA, January 20, 2025

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Sally

2024 Financial Wrap Up – Key West, Florida, USA, January 20, 2025

It has been an eventful year, and I always like to do a review of the year to see what worked, what didn’t, and how to set us up moving forward. So here goes. This past year we had two daughters graduate from college (yeah!), sailed the southern Caribbean thru April, bought the RV in May, lost the boat in June (and nearly everything we owned on it), travelled to Grenada twice, Hawaii once, learned A LOT about insurance, and covered the rest of the US via camping. I don’t think we have to worry about being bored in retirement. Financially speaking, it was another good year for us too. Ron had a large consulting project he worked on between camping and Hawaii and it was a good year on the stock market (Thank You Biden!). Inflation has cooled, which is good but also lowers rates a bit. Now that Trump is coming into office, I expect rates to be steady or start increasing again like they did in his first term. We will see if I am correct or not as of today…inauguration day.

Let’s get into the specifics starting with income. We increased our income year over year by 17%! This is in part due to Ron’s consulting work but also our investments have grown well as the stock market continues to break records and the interest rates have remained high. The other piece of good news is our investment income is now the primary generator of our income and is currently not invested in any individual stock (except one) so when/if there is a down time in the market, it should not affect our income. This also helps in that as Ron’s consulting income fluctuates it should not affect our lifestyle that much. We also had an increase since we now have the cost of the boat invested, which has increased the investment output.

Ron and I like to live by the motto “Cash Flow Positive.” We monitor this very closely every month and there have only been 1-2 months over our entire retirement where we have spent more than we have made (even in retirement!). The Empower App has been a fantastic tool to track not only our cash flow but also our overall net worth.

Moving on to our expenses for the year, which have increased but not as much as I would have expected. Overall, we only spent about $10K more than last year (not including the initial expense of the RV). Not too bad considering all that has happened with the hurricane etc. In addition, we have set ourselves up to live more leanly next year while still enjoying our travel lifestyle. We now have the RV which is much cheaper than an apartment or an Airbnb in our hurricane season. We have also identified a boat which is cheaper than land life for our Caribbean lifestyle.

Reviewing the expenses over prior years there wasn’t anything too surprising. We spent more on rent/camp sites because we were on land instead of the boat this fall. The other side of that is we spent less on boat dockage, insurance, storage, and maintenance, etc. We did have some deductions and travel expenses due to Ron having to travel to the boat several times due to the hurricane. We also spent less on auto expenses since we were driving the RV or motorcycle instead of a rental car for a good chunk of the year. Outfitting the RV was a chunk because we added lithium and solar to that, but it is a onetime expense. The everything else category also jumped a bit since we had to replace some of the items we lost in the hurricane like clothing etc. Overall, I think this year was a success because even though we had higher expenses we had a significantly higher income to compensate. Our cash flow positivity was double what it was last year, and this is a key indicator in how we are doing. Here are the details.