Sail Cutthroat

7 November 2007

Lat N27 00.121   Lon W82 21.830

Englewood, Florida

That’s right; we’re on the mainland now for two months – hard to believe!  The time is just flying by with lots of activities mostly centered around family, friends, and the great weather Florida offer s this time of the year.  I added lots of photos of various activities and will just give you some of the highlights.

Shortly after arriving, Elise took the advanced Scuba certification with nephew, Paul Wagenseil.  Now, we just need to get some specific dives in – the weather has not been good for diving, so that’s hanging out there in the “things to complete” category. 

We met Rob John in Jacksonville for the Alabama – FSU football game.  It was a great weekend in a lovely town.  Jacksonville reminds us a lot of San Diego only on a river.  There is a super active downtown area right along the St John’s River with the sports arena there as well.  Unfortunately FSU won the game, but beyond that it was great spending some time with Rob, and nice to see some other parts of Florida that actually include fine restaurants and a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

A week later we launched up to Orlando to get away for our Anniversary.  This time it was for the actual day of our anniversary, as opposed to our celebration in Hawaii.  It was a total non-Disney/Universal Studios week.  Instead, we toured the area and did a lot of shopping in the vast array of malls and outlet stores they offer.  Orlando also boasts some fine restaurants, so there was a good bit of eating involved as well.  We met up with my cousin Doug and wife Wanda for dinner one night and also to see their beautiful home outside of Orlando.  My nephew, Charlie Wagenseil is a freshman at Stetson University not too far up the road, so we got to see him in his college environment.  It was a busy week!

As soon as we returned from Orlando, we headed south to Charlotte Harbor for a day on the water aboard a Lagoon 38 catamaran sailboat.  We couldn’t have had a better day with solid 20+ knots of wind and beautiful clear blue skies all day long.  The goal here was to get accustomed to sailing and operating a catamaran under power in preparation for our upcoming trip to Tortola and the BVI’s over Thanksgiving.  Pat Moneymaker joined us (one of the Tortola group), Mom- Marie, and my brother Chuck, sister-in-law Lynn, and nephew Paul completed the crew for the day.  What a fun day – and a great confidence builder for chartering the catamaran.  I think we just really needed to get back out on the water…

Roger left for Texas a few days later to meet up for a “boys” weekend of camaraderie and sporting events.  Flying into San Antonio where Michael picked him up, they headed for Austin to link up with David, and then on to meet Rob in Dallas where they camped out at his new home.  The Stars won the hockey game and the Cowboys also outscored the Vikings so it was a highly successful weekend.  Sounds like they had way too much fun and are already making plans for next year’s gathering.

Mom’s 78^th birthday was next on the docket – we turned that into a weekend celebration full of fun and surprises with a birthday dinner for 20 at the house.  Brother/Father Bob and PT joined us, and Doug & Wanda came down from Orlando. 

During our quiet moments, we’ve hosted lots of dinner parties (oh yeah, dinner prep at the house is much easier with the dishwasher, counter space, and a garbage disposal!), went to the St Petersburg, FL Boat Show, attended my niece Kathryne’s horse shows and training events, and saw nephew Rob inducted into the National Honor Society.  After all, these were many of the reasons we were anxious to spend some time here.  I would say things will slow down, but that would be an untruth.  After all, the holidays are just around the corner!

In the meantime, Cutthroat is safe and sound in Hawaii being well cared for.  Our 2008 cruise plans continue to evolve and take shape.  We keep the list of upcoming boat projects close at hand and are constantly managing the parts lists for the numerous items we want to take back with us.  The routing plan is pretty firm – leave Hawaii on or about 1 June headed for Sitka or Vancouver (that is still a little fuzzy – there are some concerns with currents and timing).  We’ll figure that out in the next couple of months. 

This has been a good break for us and allows us the balance we want right now with family and cruising.  This retired lifestyle is pretty darn nice – we highly recommend it!

We’ll send another update after the Tortola trip over Thanksgiving.  Should be a great time and a good look at cruising in the Caribbean…after all; it’s on Cutthroat’s dance card!

Love to all,

Elise and Rogers/v Cutthroat