We're off-edited 12/20/14

We have finally started our journey with a 3 day sail to Fort Pierce Florida ,beating all the way.  We had lots of prep and electronics repairs to do. Luckily I have a good I.T. guy.  Some dolphins joined us for a while and were swimming and jumping in front of the boat. I saw a huge school of large jelly fish going by flowing in the edge of the Gulf stream.  On Gregs watch he saw two large cruise ships go by. 
Chopper didn't go potty until the last day finally.
We are taking the ICW for the trip to Lake Worth.

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Delayed departure!

Well we had to come back to NY for the month of Nov. Chopper doesn't like the snow flurries either.
We were hoping that Gov.Cuomo would have signed the Veterans buy back bill. Unfortunately he vetoed it.
     Meanwhile I was at the boat for a week and had to close it up by myself. I managed to break a seacock let sea water flow in. We'll a few hundred dollars later and a very nerve racking few hours, it was fixed. I had to call on a couple we met in S.C. , a diver, and a marine repair guy.  Lesson learned that we have to oil the seacock annually, and turn them once a month, it really wasn't my fault, it was defective. Sonia, a previous coworker and friend from Dr Ruchlin's office said I did Greg a favor.  :) could have happened or at sea.
    Not good when a boat sits with out tlc, we have been doing a lot of general maintenance. Greg got some experience with electrical when the breaker didn't kick off and he had to replace it and the end of the shore power line. 
     All in all, small electrical fire,taking on water, and a delay in departure hasn't deterred us yet!  Lol, just makes us smarter. 
We now plan on leaving by mid December, it's getting too cold on S.C. as well.

We are now in SC

     We left NY last Thursday and did our goodbyes, very hard to do. We couldn't personally say goodbye to all our friends but we hope to see you again!  We are getting the boat organized and prepared for our sail to the Caribbean in Nov.  Lots of scanning documents into the computer to do.  Thanks to Greg's mom helping, we completed all the scanning into the computer of photos and sentimental drawings from our kids. Mom will keep them safe on land for us.
    Today Greg was cleaning the bottom of the boat with Ivan from coastal diving. Rinsing his scuba gear out was a marine biology experience, lots of tiny shrimp, crabs and unidentified creatures!
      Chopper is acclimating to his new home well. He just can't find his spot to lay, he moves from the couch to different spots on the rug and back.  I am training him go potty in the potty box.  He just stands in it. Yes, I say "go potty" , must be from when the kids were little. But he will get the hang of going on the potty box, especially when we are sailing for 24 hrs or more and no grass in sight.
      Greg and I had a nice dinner Sunday night at The Boathouse restaurant.  We watched the Jets lose. Greg says no wearing Jet's jerseys next time, everybody wanted to stop and make a comment. Lol.

Packed up and almost ready to leave ny

We finalized the sale of the house, sold the trimaran.  We had our last days of work, and now we are ready to travel down to S.C. to get Lady Valkyrie ready to sail to St Croix by Nov. The craziness still continues.  Just have to sell the car. 

Still in NY

Just an update.  Yes we are still in NY until the house sells. It's been work, work, work on the house and boat.  We took some friends of a potential buyer for the tri ,out for our first sail this season. We sailed to Point breeze for dinner and had a great time. Praying they loved the boat and the buyer does too.
Our plans are to sail down to St. Croix after hurricane season in Nov. So far its been a great summer to get us acclimated for the weather. Hopefully we will get to enjoy a little of it before we go. We will have more time to get Lady Valkyrie  ocean worthy.
Another plus is we get to spend some time with Shamar and Shinya before we go.

Gonna have to get get a blow up pool for the deck of Lady Valyrie so chopper can stay cool

Greg installed the big screen t.v.

This trip  to the boat was alot of organizing and getting the boat ready for our ocean voyage to the usvi. This included the life raft inspection and taking the chafing guard to a metal shop to have more made. Greg used the blades from a rocket he shot from the cobra when he was in the army, as a backing to mount the big screen t.v. Now my job is to polish them up. I also have to do some canvas repairs of the enclosure to the cockpit when I get my heavy duty sewing machine. It was a busy trip, but we are getting closer. We even saw dolphins on our sail in the sound, a good sign.

Pictures below of the t.v. extending into the cockpit. The blades from the rocket. The bins of stuff we brought to the boat. 

Our house is on the Market

Valentine's on our boat

Valentines day on the boat. 

Wed Feb. 12th,Our flight was canceled in Baltmore so we decided  to drive the 9 hours to Hilton Head, that turned into12 due of the winter storm.  Our 4 bags filled with gear didn't get to Charelston until 2 days later. A 2 hour drive from Hilton Head.  :)

Hoping for April to come quick.
We can then start moving our life long belongings to the boat.  I am having a hard time deciding on what to keep and what to get rid of.
Chopper is not so sure about the boat yet, the stairs are slick. We will need to cover them so he  and I don't slip.  :)

We found a few things that need repairs.  A chafing plate on the starboard railing fell off during the high winds.  It keeps the lines from rubbing into to the boat. 

We are going to add some hatches near the stern steps, by a professional,  to give us more storage space.

I hope or next trip down is in nicer weather. 

Our Drive To The boat

 

A few days later

Chopper enjoying the sun

New Year 2014 on Lady Valkyrie

Celebrating on Lady Valkyrie, Happy New Year.

We had a great time on the boat, learning where everything turns on, especially the heat. I even cooked a few times in the gas oven. Greg took some time measuring how to get the big screen tv on board. Not in front of my beautiful windows! It was nippy though, the first few days it rained and the temps were in the 40's and 30's at times. Yes, I know, not as bad as Rochester. The visit definitely gave us an urge get the ball rolling faster. Hopefully we will be in the USVI  this year, we know it has to be a permanent location that is further south than S.C, it gets too cold there, or maybe the Flordia Keys! Unfortunately the chopper wasn't able to join us this trip, maybe next time.

Our website: mermaids.dontexist.com

Capt. Ouida :)

Headed to our boat!

There she is!

Opening her up as the new owners!

Dinner with my handsome husband!