The Boat Arrived Safely

Abreojos arrived safely thanks to the effort, skill and experience of Warren Moger of Moger Yacht Transportation. In speaking with him, we learned that the State of Texas routed him very differently than the route we took. He had to follow the western edge of Texas as far south as Lake Amastead before he could turn east towards Corpus Christi and Rockport. Warren and his pilot vehicle driver, Mike, did a great job avoiding trees, wires, and other low hanging objects along the way. The boat was dirty when it arrived, but not a scratch, ding, or dent otherwise. The yacht transportation business is shrinking. At least as far as truly experienced operators are concerned. If you ever decide to ship your boats overland, make sure you call Warren Moger first. I know certain yacht brokers who will try to convince you that it's ok to hire some "mom and pop" moving company. They are NOT yacht transport experts. So, you may pay a little more, but when it comes to your home and your love, it pays to hire the best.

This is the travel lift at Rockport House of Boats that would lift Abreojos off her trailer and place her gingerly into the Gulf of Mexico. It is old looking, but it certainly did the job.

Now, the lift is positioned over the trailer.

In Marina Del Rey, it took 6 guys to handle moving the boat onto the cradle. Here in Texas, it took only 2. This is Randy. He had the rather dangerous job of pulling the straps under the hull. You might notice that the pads holding the boat in place are gone. Now, Abreojos is resting on her hull and two small pads under the back. Note, the wind was blowing 20-30 knots, gusting to 40. You could not have paid me to go under the boat as she was so unsupported at this point.

This is one of the tires on the travel lift. You would not likely ever see a tire in this condition on a lift in Los Angeles or Ventura. Ok, so I was a little nervous. I did not get a chance to photograph the holes in the steel ramp on which the lift travels over the water with the boat.

Ok. Now she is off the trailer and heading towards the water. Recall I mentioned how the wind was blowing that day? The boat was rocking back and forth and side to side in the slings. Ok, so perhaps I was a little more than a little nervous. I think I smoked a whole pack on one match.

Well, the old girl is getting her first dip in the Gulf of Mexico. The water is war,, around 76 degrees F. We are at the sevice dock right behind the causeway. It's a good spot. However, when it was blowing so hard the other day, the boat was covered in sand and other dirt blosing out of the yard.

This is the electrical service we are currently connected to. It is rather spartan, but it seems to work. We have popped the breaker a couple times doing laundry, but other than that, it seems to be working just fine.

So, nearly 24 hours, a lot of sweat, cut fingers, banged knees, twisted backs, etc., etc., we are now cruise ready. Ok, my head, neck, shoulders, back, legs, knees, and feet all hurt. My hands are swollen from all the little nicks associated with wire work. There was certainly more than one occasion where I was about ready to throw tools over land and overboard. But we made it. Brenda did a great job getting the inside of the boat back together. So, now we are ready to go - TEXAS STYLE!

Unfortunately, we cannot leave just yet. Brenda has to fly to Detroit for a couple days. She has a ticket to and from Corpus Christi. Originally, we planned to cruise up there and get a slip for a couple days. Unfortunately, because the boat was delayed leaving Los Angeles for a week, those plans got trashed and we just don't have the time to get up there. I suppose we could, but we have weather coming tomorrow and it was just not worth taking the chance of getting stuck somewhere and Brenda missing her flight. This is an example of a land based enterprise interferring with cruising. Let me explain. When you are cruising and someone askes when you will be there, your answer is generally, "Oh, gosh, I'm not entirely sure. It could be sometime next week." This kind of lifestyle, also known as living on Island Time" is not at all compatible with dirt timing. So, if you're getting married, bar mitzva'd, confirmed, circumcised, whatever, we probably will not make it because we just cannot be certain where we will be when. Sorry.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Hey, Can you find Waldo in this photograph?

Yesterday, the final thing we had to do was to put the dinghy in the water. There is a launch ramp across the parking lot from House of Boats, so we attached the wheels to the dink and then wheeled her down the ramp and into the water. I'm sorry, but you can't just put the dinghy in the water and just leave her there. No, you have to take a little cruise. The following photos are from the short cruise we took in the dink.

Here you can see where Abreojos is relative to the yard.

There are a lot of Egrets around here. This one was particularly large.

He got spooked and took off.

An odd crew chilling on a rock pile.

Anyone know what these long beaked birds are called? I think they are Oyster Catchers.

This dude was standing on the bottom while fishing. The GICW is pretty shallow in many places. We hit the bottom in the dink!! I pulled out my Droid and opened the Earth NC Navigation Program to see where we were and it would appear that if you do not follow the pink line, you are bound to hit the bottom. The pink line represents the dredged channel. I'm not sure yet how deep it is, but there are lots of commercial tug boats and barges plying the GICW, so there has to be deep water somewhere.