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Looking Forward While Celebrating 2010
Tuesday, January 04th, 2011 /

As we look forward to what 2011 has in store for us, we reflected on our blessed-beyond-belief 2010. This has been a year of big changes, new beginnings and celebrations galore.

Looking forward to a walk like this soon

The first part of our year was filled with starting more projects than we finished on Kaleo, learning as much as we could aboard, as well as through Seven Seas University courses, and spending a few freezing weekends planning for warmer weather projects.

Spring brought warmer weather, some great sailing in Galveston Bay, the wedding of our dear friends, Amy & Jeph, and Christie’s parents’ 35th wedding anniversary in April.

May was a landmark month as we became officially debt free, gaining financial freedom. We also moved from our 1,400 square foot townhome to a 650 square foot studio apartment to better prepare for our life aboard Kaleo. And, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary at The Joule, were we stayed on our wedding night. Of course, we spent a few weekends completing some boat projects along the way.

With the Texas summer heat came lots of family and friends visiting the boat, marina BBQ’s, and more boat projects. And in June, the “Cyclin’ Sailors” geared up for our 4th annual Urban Assault Race in Austin!

The Fourth of July was shared with the Wilborns by sailing and watching incredible fireworks shows while anchored out in the bay. Then, we jetted to Coeur D’ Alene, ID to celebrate the newest Butchers, as Matt’s brother Jeff married his bride, Meloney. We topped off the trip to the Northwest with an incredible experience of sleeping 50′ off the ground in the boughs of a giant, old Washington Red Cedar Tree at Cedar Creek Treehouse and touring Mt. Rainier National Park. Of course, we spent a few weekends completing some boat projects along the way.

While the summer heat continued to bake us, we enjoyed a shakedown cruise to Galveston with the Kryzaks and a sailing weekend with The Powers. Of course, we spent a few weekends completing some boat projects along the way.

The fall brought a trip to Minneapolis to celebrate Grandma Butcher’s 90th birthday, visit with family and to Trader Joe’s to stock up on our favorite snacks. The realization that we were now within one month of tossing the docklines helped us get a lot of boat projects wrapped up almost every weekend.

October was a big month as Matt took his leave of absence from work, Christie resigned from her job, we moved out of our land home and aboard Kaleo full-time, sold a car and put another one in storage along with our belongings. We soaked up treasured time with loved ones and were given three outstanding Bon Voyage parties. We also got to celebrate the marriage of Ben and Carly (Matt’s cousin) and spent time with family in San Diego. Of course, we managed another trip to Trader Joe’s for more provisions.

November 8th marked the beginning of our cruising life. Before leaving the dock, we met up with some cruising mentors, The Sittons, and celebrated Christie’s birthday with family and a dear friend, Crystal, aboard. The month was filled with a host of new experiences – from adjusting to life aboard to overcoming unknown challenges and navigating new waters to connecting with new friends along the way. We topped it off with a roadtrip from Mississippi to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with family.

The year wrapped up by crossing the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Florida. It was on those passages that we learned to love the open ocean, more fully appreciate warm days and spent time digging our toes into our first white sandy beach. Christmas with shared with family and friends in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida and we were back home aboard Kaleo on New Year’s Eve.

We welcomed the new decade with the most unusual of celebrations for us at this time of year. The clock struck midnight as we pushed two carts down the isles of a 24-hour Walmart. We laughed and shared a little “Happy New Year” smooch in the canned goods aisle and continued provisioning in preparation for the Bahamas and beyond. Yes, really. Oh, the cruising life ;o).

Thank you for joining us as virtual crew along this adventure. It means a lot to us. We wish you peace, blessings and togetherness in your new year!

We’re ready for 2011 and believe the best is yet to come. God has even more amazing things He wants to do in and through our lives so we’re straining to what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Category: Alabama, Boat Life, Coeur d' Alene, Cruising, Education, Family, Finance, Florida, Friends, Galveston Bay, Inspiration, Louisiana, Mississippi, Passage, Provisioning, Refit, Resources, Sailing, Seattle  2 Comments
We’re in Mississippi
Sunday, November 21st, 2010 /

We’ve spent the past few days motoring from New Orleans to Rabbit Island, Rabbit Island to Cat Island (no, didn’t see or hear either creature out there), Cat Island to our current tie up in Ocean Springs, MS. Three relatively easy days with great weather, other than a little fog before leaving Rabbit Island.

New Orleans to Rabbit Island

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Secluded Rabbit Island anchorage

Rabbit Island to Cat Island

We were greeted this morning with a thick fog that reduced visibility to about 100 feet. That was a no-go for the first couple hours so we took advantage of the time to leisurely enjoy some breakfast and reading. By about 10:00 a.m., the fog lifted and we were on our way to our anchorage for the night at Cat Island. We were treated to some wide open waters of the Mississippi Sound and our first sights of sandy beaches (versus mud banks). A great change of scenery from the narrow channels we’ve been navigating thus far. Once at Cat Island, Christie dropped the hook and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and moonrise in near absolute silence of the glassy Mississippi Sound.

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Morning fog at Rabbit Island

Cat Island to Ocean Springs, MS

We pulled the hook up early and headed for Ocean Springs, motoring along with dolphins joining us for much of the way. The jib sail was unfurled for the last couple of miles into the harbor and Kaleo was running at 7 knots with the sail full. Dolphins again playing all around the boat. We cautiously navigated into the harbor as the depth meter told us of ground just inches below the keel. After pulling into the best looking slip we could find, the boat yard manager said we were welcome to stay the night for free as the office wasn’t open until tomorrow. Bonus! Our growling bellies told us it was time for lunch and conveniently enough, the marina had a highly recommended restaurant right above our slip. While dining on meals that lived up to their reputation, we met Norm and Jan, two other full-time cruisers and swapped sailor stories, advice and laughs. The evening wrapped up with an invigorating 6 mile jog/walk along the beach and over the Biloxi Bay Bridge with some local musicians playing bongos next to a large bonfire on the beach.

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Taking a break on the Biloxi Bay Bridge

Category: anchoring, Cruising, Louisiana, Mississippi, Sailing  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment
Navigating New Orleans
Thursday, November 18th, 2010 /

The day started early as we untied from our dock in Lafitte and made our way back through the Barataria Waterway to rejoin the ICW on our way to New Orleans. We were met with a morning storm passing in the distance along a spectacular sunrise.

As we neared the Port of New Orleans, we could hear and feel a consistent thundering overhead that soon revealed themselves as circling fighter jets. Must have been some training exercise or important activity in the area because we also saw gunships (heavily armed helicopters).

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Passing storm and rising sun along the Barataria Waterway

Before getting into the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans, a series of nautical obstacles must be overcome to be granted access.

First up, the Harvey Lock.

Last night we had thoroughly read up on all the steps and protocol and were feeling confident as we approached. While we were hoping to be the only vessel in the lock (or at least one of a couple), we found ourselves being instructed to jam in alongside a barge and three tugs, on our port side. Our port side?! We were prepared to tie up on our starboard side as all the guidebooks instructed.

After hurriedly switching the bumpers to the other side, Matt slowly maneuvered Kaleo inside the lock and close to the wall where we attached a line to a built-in cleat. After specific instructions to watch for prop wash from the tugs (which could push Kaleo quickly into the wall), we were given our exit order and before we knew it, the water had risen the two feet needed to meet with the river.

The doors on the other end of the locks opened and there it was, the mighty Mississippi River!

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Inside the Harvey Lock

Once exiting the Harvey Lock, we had the sight of New Orleans’ skyline in our view. We’ve gone under many bridges so far, but going under the Crescent City Connection was impressive with a clearance of 170 feet.

We passed under the bridge and cruised alongside The Riverwalk, downtown New Orleans, Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the river boats along the bank, and the French Quarter.

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Approaching the Crescent City Connection

Soon we were at the entrance to the Industrial Lock.

We tried hailing the lockmaster several times with no response as we inched closer to the lock entrance. When we heard a number of other tugs hailing the lock without reply from the lockmaster, we knew we were going nowhere fast.

After a few phone calls and two hours later, radio chatter with the lockmaster in attendance commenced. Hearing barge after barge check in, with the latest being at position 19, we were finally answered and granted a position for entering the locks. Luckily, it was position number three and after waiting for one barge to lock across to our side, we entered the Industrial Lock along with one other tug (much roomier than the Harvey Lock).

A couple lines were tossed down from a lock attendant and we secured one to the bow, one to the stern as we snuggled up to the port-side wall. It was then that we learned that the past two hours of radio silence had been caused by an impromptu union meeting of the operators.

The water in the locks dropped a foot and a half around us, the other side of the doors slowly opened and we were on our way. To a bit of anxiety as we could see a lift bridge (not lifted) less than 100 feet away. Again, the bridge operator was MIA as we requested an opening. Finally, after idling to lessen our distance her voice crackled through the VHF to ask where we were and when we needed it opened. Here and now.

This is really starting to feel like an unforgiving game of frogger out here.

Next up, the Florida Avenue Railroad Lift Bridge. Because of our delay at the previous bridge, this bridge operator let us know we had better get up here as he was lowering this bridge because a train had been waiting to cross for the past five hours. We throttled up to max speed to get through as quickly as possible. Just as we crossed under, the bridge started lowering and moments later we heard the operator announce that it had gotten stuck at 34 feet (pretty much in the middle). We were pretty grateful to have not been stuck between those past two lift bridges for the entire afternoon.

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Inside the Industrial Lock

Because we have both already spent time in New Orleans, we had hoped to just pass through to an anchorage further down the ICW for the night. With the delays of the morning, exhaustion from the obstacles, and not enough daylight to reach the anchorage, we decided to stay at a marina close-by at SeaBrook Harbor Marine.

After tying up, we spend the rest of the evening stretching our legs with a great walk around the area, washing down and organizing the boat, checking in on finances via Mvelopes, making dinner and some pretty heavenly pumpkin spice bread with Cranraisins and walnuts.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Rabbit Island with plans to get to Biloxi, MS by Monday or Tuesday for a roadtrip to spend Thanksgiving with family!

N 30° 01.47/ W 90° 01.93

Category: Boat Life, Cruising, Louisiana, Resources  Tags: , , ,  2 Comments
Barataria Waterway
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 /

We woke up in Houma this morning to lower tide levels than expected and needed to wench Kaleo out of the mud a bit to get on our way to Lake Salvador to anchor for the night. For the next 37 miles, we motored along for a relatively easy cruising day. Believe it or not, we haven’t tired of the bayou’s beauty as each new day brings a varying landscape of trees, water hyacinth, and wildlife (eagles today!).

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Bayou La Fouroche (“La Foosh”)

Lake Salvador turned out to be potentially too shallow to anchor and more exposed than we were comfortable with, so we ventured through the Barataria Waterway (very pretty) to C&M Bayou Fuel & Dock. Although this added another 16 miles to our trip, we decided to chase the daylight for a more secure place to tie up. The sunset alone was more than enough treasure left along the legendary waterway from the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte. We wrapped up the evening by cooking jambalaya and watching a movie.

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Sunset along Barataria Waterway

N 29° 39.37/W 90° 06.55

Category: Cruising, Louisiana  Tags: ,  Leave a Comment
Morgan City and Houma, LA
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 /

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Hanging out in Morgan City for the day

We took advantage of the rainy day today by catching up on a little rest, finishing some engine work and ran (walked) errands while docked in Morgan City. Here’s how we spent it:

  • Slept in till 8:00 a.m.!
  • Made a mega Migas breakfast
  • Visited with our new friend, Hank the shrimper (incredibly nice guy who went out of his way to help us)
  • Took a sloshy tour around Morgan City to hunt down some Wi-Fi, starting at the library but was a no-go with stationary computers that were too slow and no Wi-Fi. A local library goer turned Morgan City tour guide offered to walk us about two miles to the nearest McDonald’s to try theirs. After meandering the miles in the rain, James, though his friends call him Jimmy, was ready to camp it out with us at Micky D’s (and aboard Kaleo had we let him) so we bought our new friend, Jimmy, a soda and tried to get going on catching up on all things digital. Wha wahhhhh. Faulty internet at Ronald’s house. We gave in and pulled out our Hilton Honors card and walked next door to relax in the less greasy aromas of the Hampton Inn lobby to quietly tap into Wi-Fi (all that work travel is starting to pay off).
  • Worked out the kinks in our onboard internet service and are back up and running. Whew!
  • Got a call from our former marina neighbor, Steve, who happened to be passing through Morgan City for work. He stopped by the boat to visit, sign the guest book and let us know about a little treasure of a Cuban restaurant just a few blocks away. We planned to go there for dinner but the restaurant didn’t answer their phone to confirm they were open and it was dropping buckets at dinner time. We opted to stay dry and made dinner at home while watching a LifeChurch.tv service.
  • Received a call from the mechanic we had been working with remotely at about 8 p.m. (surprising as it was after work hours). He was responding to a message left earlier in the day about working the kinks out of our oil pressure issue. Matt stayed up a few hours completing his suggestion, talking with one of his dad’s friends and ended up with a list for the parts store in the morning.

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A visit from our former marina neighbor, Steve of s/v Ebb Tide

Tuesday morning came, still cold but without the rain, and Matt began his trek to the parts store. The only one within walking distance didn’t have what he needed and after talking with Hank, it was decided that his wife would drive Matt to the store across town. A short while later Matt was back with the parts, the engine was put back together and the high oil pressure we experienced coming into Morgan City was resolved. Whoo hoooo!

We were back on course to our next destination of Houma (pronounced Home-uh), Louisiana. It turned out to be a gorgeous day with 10-15 knots of wind from a direction our sails could use. We rolled out the jib sail and clocked 6.5 – 7 knots for most of the day. Morgan City to Houma is the most scenic section on the Louisiana GIWW. Majestic cypress trees line the banks, their knee-like roots protruding from the water surface to breathe, and the Spanish moss romantically hangs from tree branches.

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Cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss along Wallace Bayou, east of Morgan City, LA

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Enjoying the gorgeous day. In my flippie-floppies.

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Matt assembling our new shower bench that he and his dad made

We arrived to a wonderfully quaint dock just off the ICW in Houma, tied up and walked to the laundromat (sailors have to wash clothes too).

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Docked at the Houma Downtown Marina

After laundry was put away, we set out for a date night on the town. Some local joggers led us to discover Café Milano in historic downtown Houma. To say the least, we had a FEAST. (Started with lobster & shrimp bisque and jumbo lump crabmeat in a creamy herb dressing atop fresh avocado garnished with cherry tomatoes and sherry balsamic reduction. Next up were Stuffed Filet, Filet filled with shrimp & crabmeat mornay stuffing, topped with sautéed mushrooms, served with oven-roasted potatoes & sautéed vegetables. Matt had the Pork Chop Belanger – All natural pan-seared Bone-in Pork Loin Chops finished with blackberry demiglace served with a pork confit and sweet potato mousse (BEST EVER), accompanied by sautéed vegetables. Ah, and the bottle of Ausi Pinot Noir and Chocolate Terrine, Frozen chocolate mousse glazed with chocolate ganache, with raspberry, chocolate, white chocolate and passion fruit sauces for dessert). Wow! We might have gone a little overboard (pun intended).

Part of this adventure for us is about new experiences. And at the dinner table, we each committed to a specific promise that would expand our perspectives. We’ve coined them, “Café Milano’s promises” and are holding each other to them as we continue forward. We’ll reveal them as they’re kept. As you can see, we had plenty of time to pontificate through the dinner courses.

We enjoyed (and needed) the brisk walk back to our floating home, took showers (loving the hot water heater!) and fell asleep with a full and restful day behind us. It’s back on the waterway tomorrow to Lake Salvador for the night and then on to New Orleans and beyond.

N 29° 34.88/ W 90° 43.03

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Category: Boat Life, Cruising, Inspiration, LifeChurch.tv, Louisiana, Sailing  Tags: , , , , ,  3 Comments