Tuesday December 29: Christmas in DC!

What a perfect opportunity - fly from Ft. Myers to Washington DC to celebrate Christmas with family - and not just our immediate family but nieces, nephews and their kids!

Turns out that Nora (from Charlotte NC), Mary (from Philadelphia PA) and Christy (from St. Louis MO) and their families were gathering in DC the weekend after Christmas.

Most of them we hadn't seen in quite a few years - and some of their kids we'd NEVER seen! It gets more difficult when families begin to spread out and move out of Ohio ....

We met them at the Gaylord National Hotel - situated on the Potomac River a short 15 minutes from where Matt and Wendy live. Perfect location. Although the weather was quite balmy for DC at this time of the year, the inside venue was very enjoyable.

The Dozzi, Torack and Fuchs crew!

One of the highlights was the Holiday Ice Sculpture - hence the group picture above ;-)  All of us in our matching winter coats. And those coats were REALLY needed! Inside it was 9 degrees - by the time we walked through the exhibits, my hands were turning blue - literally ..... well at least they felt like it.

The exhibit itself was quite amazing - basically the story of how the toys were saved from the evil burgomaster trying to stop Christmas.

The final exhibit was a full size nativity scene in ice. A total of two million pounds of ice was used in the whole ice sculpture - truly amazing!

It was really nice seeing everyone even though it was for just a short afternoon.

Monday: we sent Becky off to LA and send Matt and Steve off to the Military Bowl in Annapolis. Navy vs. Pitt.

Great game with Navy coming out on top to finish one of it's best seasons ever!

And Matt scored with a photo opp with Billy the Goat - Navy's mascot!

Sadly the unseasonably warm weather left the day before the game and it was a long and cold 3 hours watching the game. But the guys persevered while Wendy and I took the opportunity to enjoy some down time at the house - where it was nice and warm :-)

Wednesday it was finally it was time for us to head back to Ft. Myers. It was a great time in DC - with Matt and Wendy both going all out to make our stay enjoyable - including having flannel sheets on our bed ;-)  What a great family time with them and Becky!!

December 24: Traveling With a Competent Crew!!

So we had a plan! And since Becky had earned her Competent Crew certification on the sailboat trip to Greece, it was a stressfree trip for the captain ;-)

Truthfully, she has been a competent crew member her whole life having grown up boating - starting at age 2! And the plan worked great.

After spending Monday night at Burnt Store Marina we headed out with the state park at Cayo Costa as our destination.

Steve of course was trolling as we traveled and was rewarded with a perfect appetizer size cero mackerel. Nice job of netting by our competent crew member :-)

Weather was overcast but still plenty warm and we ended up just staying at the dock at the park instead of anchoring out.

This made it easy for Steve and Becky to take a bike tour of the island - about 6 miles worth!

A bigger plus though was being able to fish from the dock after 5 pm. Steve had memories of the delicious sheepshead he caught a couple of years ago (not to be confused with the Lake Erie fish named a sheephead!)


Sadly no sheepshead - but even better was a grouper!!

First grouper Steve has ever caught when it was in season! Excellent eating for sure ...












There was talk of swimming but I thought I was going to have to peel Becky's fingers off of the railing :-)

Eventually they both were in the water - but it was NOT warm. I think the swim lasted all of 5 minutes.

This is not the Keys with it's warm waters!


But the sunrises are just as good as the Keys ...





The next two days are mostly pictureless - camera lens broke :-(  We still had a good time though at Ft. Myers Beach on Wednesday. Road bikes to the beach and pier.

Thursday it was time to move to Sweetwater Marina on the Caloosahatchee River north of Ft. Myers. This is were we would leave Yesterday's Dream while we traveled to DC to visit family. Nice little marina and not too far from the airport in Ft. Myers. Becky would then fly back to LA from there.

As we were tying up the boat, Becky was trying to figure out what landed in her hair - turns out it was the cutest little tree frog!

Good thing he was quick to jump or she might have accidentally squashed him :-)

And our second time to use UBER. Mmm ... maybe not. We kept getting - "not available". But then it WAS Christmas Eve (about 5:30 or so). Maybe we didn't plan so well .....

In the end all was well as a nice young man answered the call. He was even nice enough to turn around and go back to the boat when I discovered I neglected to bring my wallet with ID. Fortunately we weren't more than 5 miles or so away ..... Hard enough to fly these days without trying to do it without an ID :-)

Sunday December 20: In the Water - on to St. Petersburg

A few more jobs to do and we would be ready for the boat to be put in.

On Steve's list was the fenders. How to get them back to their original form of nice and white?? After trying numerous cleaners, he decided to try bleach! Couldn't hurt anything so might as well go for it.

Results? EXCELLENT - as is evidenced by the newly cleaned fender.
What a difference! Of course it may have shortened the life of the fenders but definitely worth it. We'll see how much longer they last ...

Friday it was finally time to move out of our very comfortable condo we rented for 9 days through Airbnb. Great value (less than any hotel around) for a fully equipped two-bedroom place.

Of course it was pouring down rain as Steve hauled all of our stuff out to the car (first day of rain since we arrived).

The guys at the marina said they would start at 8:30 and they were right on time! Steve was just coming down the ladder from the boat as the hoist was being backed into place.

Out from under the "shed" that shielded Yesterday's Dream from the worst of the sun and on the way to the water.


Total time: took one hour until we were at the dock and tied up.

Time to head to Bradenton and Terri and Scott's place to spend the night. It was again nice to see them - best part? I redeemed myself and won both games of Can't Stop :-)

Becky arrived Saturday late afternoon from LA. A short drive to the Tampa airport for us from Terri and Scott's place so that worked out great (plus there was time for breakfast out!).

Two places were on the agenda for St. Pete's; the Dali Museum (where the picture at left was taken) and the Chihuly Art Center.

No disappointments as both were well done (although we missed having a tour available at the Chihuly displays - it was much better with the docent explaining the displays).



Terri and Scott drove up and joined us for part of the day. Three time in week to see them has to be a record! Very enjoyable for sure.

Suddenly it was Monday and time to head back to the boat and take off. Not sure where the time went.

Back to the marina and off by noon for a 2 1/2 hour trip across Charlotte Harbor to Burnt Store Marina.

We'd been here before - an added bonus of a special docking fee of $1.00 a foot!

Plus fishing supplies were available. Steve had high hopes for trolling tomorrow on the way to Cayo Casta!

Tuesday December 15: Hull Painted is Complete!!

The prep work is definitely the hardest part of painting the hull.

Sanding the entire area to be painted and then wiping down with acetone.

Steve did a nice job :-)  You can see the mud-embedded paint that is the problem we are looking to fix.

The "before" picture

The "after" picture

The humidity is really not conducive to using this paint but ... no choice if we want to get this painting done. The later in the day the better so that's what we did.

The pictures don't really do justice to how much better it looks. The best part is it will stay white with minimal cleaning now for a couple of year.

Definitely glad this job is done!

A fuzzy picture to give Steve credit for cleaning up the prop as well as changing the shaft zinc and the rudder zincs.

Credit to me :-) for having the zincs in our spare parts bin!








Steve's sister Terri and husband Scott came down from Bradenton last night to visit and spend the night. They brought a torture game with them called "Can't Stop" - everyone won a game except me. I pleaded being brain dead from working on the boat. Not sure they believed it .... regardless it was nice to see them again. It's been a while since we've been able to get together.


The area here is apparently home for many gopher tortoises. There are a dozen signs across the street from our condo indicating the location of the tortoise burrows. I'm assuming this means to stay away!

Kind of interesting creatures. For more info on them, click here.

Particularly interesting is how the sex of the young hatchlings is determined: by the temperature of the ground!!

Sunday December 13: Progress

Florida folks certainly do love their flamingos! Almost all of the bridges we drive over in this housing development where we are staying have a cute flamingo to the side. It's festive even when it isn't the Christmas season!

Progress is being made on cleaning up the boat but what is nice is we aren't really pressed for time.

The condo we rented until next Saturday is very comfortable with all the conveniences of home - including a washer and dryer in the unit.

Makes it easy to wash anything that sat in the boat for the past 7 months.

Day 1: Steve worked on the outside. Flybridge, sides of the cabin and walk around decks.

I worked inside and started with the front cabin. It's kind of like spring cleaning - only it's in the winter!

All surfaces are wiped down, upholstery is cleaned with a spray cleaner and a good vacuuming.



I'm quite certain I had the better of the deal working inside instead of out. At least most of the boat is in the shade even though the sun is quite low on the winter horizon.

Day 2: Since the walk around deck was nice and clean, we decided to go ahead and get the deck painting done. Raptor truck bed liner is a two part paint that wears like iron and is pretty easy to paint on. A coat or two of Brightside paint will finish the deck.

It looks so nice when finished!!





Later that evening we drove to Port Charlotte to visit some friends from Banana Bay. George and Nancy had called and invited us over for dinner and a dinghy ride around the canals of Punta Gorda to see the Christmas lights.

Some of the homes had not only the house decorated but the boat as well!

Apparently it's quite the thing as there are 3 or 4 large tour boats that also traveled in and out of the canals. Really nice lights - but still weird to me without the snow :)

Day 3: Steve finished washing the outside of the boat. He said this boats gets bigger and bigger every year. I think perhaps we are just getting older and older every year :-)

So tomorrow: paint the first coat of paint on the hull. It's easy to tell when it needs repainted as the water stain (kind of a muddy brown) just won't come clean. The paint becomes porous and begins to adsorb the muddy color. Takes about two years for this to happen so we'll be good to go for a while!

Thursday December 10: Finally - Back to Yesterday's Dream!

Early December and it was finally time to head back East.

It was kind of sad to be leaving the land of the sunny days, cool breezes and super blue waters of the Pacific. But definitely time.

We waved goodbye to San Diego through the plane window as we turned over the Bay to head east to Cleveland.

After a week in Ohio it was finally time to head south to west coast of Florida where we left Yesterday's Dream.

Surprisingly, the boat looked pretty decent - considering it had been sitting in the Florida humid summer. Seven and a half months worth.

Where did the time go?

Today was the recon visit to figure out what we needed to get our cleaning going. First off was to find a ladder!

An 8' aluminum step ladder will serve us well - and it fit in the car! I love that most back seats fold down these days :-)


Start for real tomorrow getting the inside surfaces wiped down and the outside cleaned. More on the work as we go :-)