Chaos Castle– Somewhere on the Intercoastal Waterway heading South, Florida, USA, November 5, 2026

It has been complete chaos since I last talked to you but not all of it bad.  In fact, much of it was lovely!  My youngest daughter got married the past month, which required some travel but first, let’s back up a bit.  We spent two weeks on the hard after being pulled out at Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah, Georgia.  We got pulled out then left for Ohio for the wedding.  Unfortunately, they could not work on our fiberglass issues since it had started to rain.  It rained for 10 days straight!  The good news is that since Ron upgraded our solar, our refrigerator had enough power to keep running, even with limited sunshine.  This was important because we were no longer plugged into shore power like we would have been on a dock space.  I am glad we dodged that bullet.  Our time in Ohio was great as we got to see our daughters, my parents, my sister, and the wedding overall was lovely.

When we got back to Thunderbolt, they fixed our fiberglass issue, we stayed in a hotel, and we were able to get launched back into the water again.  Then Ron had to spend the next two weeks arguing between the insurance company and the boatyard to get everyone on the same page about what the repair cost and which travel expenses they would and would not pay for since our repair required us to have a hotel and not stay on the boat.  They didn’t make it easy on Ron, but he was triumphant and got our claim settled appropriately and paid out.  Whew!  Good thing he understands this process (after losing Mariposa 1.0) and could stand his ground.  The was the second third of October and we immediately tested out the repair by moving down the Jekyll Island Marina.  We wanted to spend a few weeks with my parents, complete our provisioning, and wrapping up the last few boat projects. 

Hubby worked on replacing the foam on all our cushions, completing the rest of the engine work replacing oil, filters, and exhaust elbows.  Then, we found a major issue…the rudder on the port side leaks.  So, he identified the leak and replaced all the chalk.   He went ahead and repaired both sides even though the starboard side didn’t leak.  Once something breaks on one side of the boat, the likeliness of it breaking on the other side is usually pretty high.  We ended up staying in Jekyll for three weeks, it was extremely windy and the travel window has been terrible.  In addition to all of this there have been flooding and king tides which meant the tides have been unusually high and our mast could not fit under any of the bridges.  We wanted to do a direct trip to Vero Beach, Florida but with an untested rudder, this was not an option.  Yesterday, we finally got an opening to head south and decided to travel the intercoastal and we took it. 

The hope was we could travel down to Cumberland Island, Georgia, while testing the rudder, then head offshore to either St. Augustine, Florida or the Bahamas directly (assuming the rudder, wind, and waves were all cooperating).  Then we got a nice dose of reality.  We have the perfect travel window; however, the rudder still leaks.  We cannot safely take the boat offshore without fixing this issue.  It only leaks about a cup every few hours right now but would be much worse in rough sea conditions.  Ron decided we can keep up with the minimal water leakage while we travel the intercoastal and make it to Vero Beach, Florida over the next several days.  Once we get to Vero, he will be able to permanently fix the rudder leak by fiber glassing in the place he re-chalked, and this would fix the problem.  So, we are slowly making our way to Vero and will stay there long enough on a mooring ball until both rudders can be fixed and another weather window opens.  Vero is a better place to stage for two reasons.  First off, it is a much closer place to jump to the Bahamas and will require a shorter weather window for us.  Secondly, we have a super El Nino this year which has triggered several storms much stronger than usual this year and a very strong cold front is heading our way.  Jekyll was much too far north and will be too cold to stay, but Vero will be warm enough for us on the boat.

Because the hits just kept coming, we lost one of our three freezers this morning.  Good news is we caught it before we lost anything.  Bad news is we have been playing juggle and jam with the other two freezers to try and fit everything else into two freezers.  Ron is trying to fix this while shop vacuuming out our leaking rudder and driving down the intercoastal.  It’s not boring!  You may be asking yourself, “Why do you put yourself through this?”  And I will tell you the beautiful intercoastal view, dolphins, and our constant need for excitement has led us here.  Never a dull moment and we are certainly living by our retirement moto “Don’t let your comfort get in your way.”