Hi everyone, sorry for the long time between blogs. Carolyn and I have been working feverishly to finish preparations on Moondance in order to leave for Florida around mid Nov. I'm having trouble downloading pictures but did manage to get three .Moondance in her slip and ready to go.

The Palacios Yacht Club

Serindipity Marina in Palacios, Tx.

Carolyn and I want to thank everyone for their support and good wishes for our trip. Our trip will bring us to the Florida Keys and then to the Bahamas and south. We are presently waiting for a weather window which should open up tomorrow behind this large front that is passing over now. We are going to sail directly to the keys from here provided the weather is good. Of course we have a plan B which is south to Mexico or plan C which is north to somewhere along the Gulf coast. We will update the site when we get to the keys.

Carolyn and I have successfully hauled out Moondance and Carolyn gave her a bottom job while I pulled the shaft and replaced the stuffing box hose. We got her in the water and went for a ride and Steve and his wife Pam came along but unfortunantly the the stuffing box was still getting hot. This was a problem before. Well to make things short Steve, Charl and I spent time trying to figure out why it would run hot and between Steve and Charl the solution was found. It was a combination of the shaft not being centered in the shaft tube and rubbing on the side and being slightly out of alignment. After it was all done everything was running cool and straight. Just one more step closer to cutting the dock lines. With luck we will be sailing off in the beginning of Novenber.

Had a very interesting day today. We went to the Independence Seaport Museum and went aboard the Olympia and Becuna. The latter being a WWII submarine and the Olympia an old 1892 steel warship. In 1898, the Olympia's guns fired on the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines and the Spanish-American war began.
We saw Independence Hall and had a beer from George Washington's recipe at the City Tavern, where the founding fathers had a beer are two with their meals.

I'm taking a break from the land of nautica and went to Philladelphia for a short vacation with a friend. I am trying to get a little history education in and fulfilling my friends bucket list wish at the same time. Will return to the boat in a few days.

We have been in Bastrop, TX. getting away from hurricane Ike. We stayed with an aunt and uncle and their 6 dogs. We also brought along Pam and Steve from Zephia who live right across from us in the marina. It was a good trip and we all really enjoyed the food, games, TV, hot showers and most of all, the company. Thank you Sissy and Sandy.
Everyone in the family made it OK except our son's inlaws who live in Johnson Bayou where there was a lot of flooding and we're waiting to hear from them.
The Galveston/Houston area took the eye of Ike and did not fair well. We also have friends in the Houston/Clear Lake area and heard that they did OK but sustained some damage to their boat. So goes life on the Gulf coast. Each year we all look forward to the end of hurricane season.