2007 Life in the Keys

2007 was filled with teaching for me, friends coming to visit and Angela coming down every other week. During our weekends together we spent time diving, learning to spearfish, searching for lobsters and anchoring out at the different islands around the Keys and basically getting a taste what life aboard a boat will be like full time.

Here was the first marina I was at in Boot Key Harbour Marathon, FL. In addition to the tight turn around to get the boat out we also had to go through this bridge each time we wanted to go sailing.


To the left is a picture of me teaching a Live aboard class taking students down to Key West. To the right are two of my students, a father and son from Denver Russ and Ryan, one evening at sunset.

In 2007 we learned to catch lobsters while diving with a "tickle stick" and net. To the left was our catch one afternoon. We also took spearfishing lessons and this was our kill during our first lesson.

In June of 2007 Skip and Jimmy came down for a week long cruise out to the Dry Tortugas. We fished along the way and visited Key West as well as Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. The following are pictures from the trip with the boat in front of the Fort Jefferson, some of the fish we caught along the way, Skip, Angela and I in Key West, and Jimmy, Angela and I looking out of the windows of Ft Jefferson.

In October of 2007 we decided to move the boat to a new marina where it would be easier to get out and we would not have to deal with any bridges to go out sailing. This was also a "real" slip without all of the "locals" that hung out at the City Marina where we had been for over a year. Instead we now have the ocean to look at off our back deck!

To the left is the walkway down Marathon Marina which is our new home. To the right the boat in slip #85 at sunset.

It was a great year in the Keys in 2007, no hurricanes, beautiful weather, lots of visits from friends and a few lobsters and fish along the way. On Thanksgiving weekend we decided to run Hakuna Matata in the Annual Boot Key Harbour Thanksgiving Regatta. Angela did not want to race at first but as we left the start line in FIRST place she started to REALLY enjoy the competition. We ended up in second place for our class and it was a great end to a great year.

The one and only "racing" plaque that Hakuna Matata will most likely ever see!!!

December 2006 Time to move again

After 4 months with Offshore Sailing School, completing my US Coast Guard Licence and receiving my US Sailing Instructor Certifications I got a promotion to Branch Manager down in the Florida Keys. Angela at this time was visiting Fort Myers about every other weekend, trying to sell her house and living with her sister Christy in the "big house". Both were getting a crash course in caring for a pool and dealing with "house issues". Luckily my dad and some other friends were there to help out.

We decided since I was moving to the Keys it was time to move the boat and go full time living aboard Hakuna Matata. The boat of course was land locked in Texas and had to be moved back to the ocean and then back across the Gulf of Mexico.

The boat loaded up to move to to Kemah and heading down the road.

When the boat got to Kemah I enlisted my dad, Rod Duncan and David Damm (friends and boat owners from Lake Texoma) and my old high school and college friend Chris Martin to help me move the boat across the gulf. It was a spirited ride but we made it across, seeing 20' waves throughout most of the trip and winds around 30 to 40 knots!

To the left is the sunset we had leaving Galveston Island. To the right is one of the many oil rigs we dodged throughout the day and night.....many of them which were not lit!

To the left Rod Duncan and Dave Damm relax on the back deck with harnesses attached in the middle of the gulf. To the right Chris Martin takes the helm on his first gulf crossing.

To the left sunset on the gulf and calmer seas. To the right Captain Craig re-fills diesel tanks after the first 500 miles.









To the left dad relaxes in the gulf with his safety harness....trip #2 for him so now he is an old salt! To the right Dave catches a Spanish mackerel and he and Rod fillet it and make the back deck look like a crime scene!


To the left Captain Craig on night watch the last night before we arrived in Florida. To the right is the boat safely tied in the Marina in Ft Myers after the 800 mile trip.





With the boat in Fort Myers the crew headed home and Angela came down for the final run from Fort Myers down to the Keys. Dad also stayed to help pack up the apartment, fix some things on the boat that we broke during the delivery, as well as move my truck down to Marathon.

August 2006 changes in lattitudes.......

So in August 2006 Angela and I decided to put the plan into action. I made a huge life change and left my job at AVHQ after 15 years, sold most of my belongings, and moved to Florida to start a new career as a sailing instructor for Offshore Sailing School (http://www.offshore-sailing.com/). Angela was to keep her job, sell her house and move into the "big house with the pool" for the interim while we both decided if we were not crazy.

Of course everyone at AVHQ needs an "excuse" to have cake and a party so this was my party on my last day.

I arrived in Fort Myers the first week of August 2006 and started work with Offshore. These photos are the view from my apartment on Fort Myers beach as well as the school on Captiva Island.

Sailing with a spinnaker in Fort Myers beach as well as teaching classes at Captiva Island.

Skip was of course the first to come visit me in Fort Myers Beach after my departure from Dallas. He sailed with me on a Colgate 26 and also found a "Pirate" during one of the festivals we visited during the weekend.

2004 and 2005 Deciding to leave the "REAL" world

After meeting in September of 2004 and deciding we both had a passion for sailing and a dream of going cruising, we started to focus on making this dream a reality.

Craig was the Vice President of Operations for AVHQ, where he had been working for almost 15 years and Angela was working as a IT consultant after 18 years of working as a ER Nurse. Both of us were traveling too much and getting tired of our corporate lives.

I had just purchased Hakuna Matata in February of 2004 and moved it across the Gulf of Mexico from Punta Gorda Florida with my dad and Captain "Bill". At this early stage I was not comfortable with the 800 mile delivery myself.

Dad and Captain Bill on left. Dad sailing the gulf for the first time on the right.

After a few months with the boat in Kemah, Texas and dealing with a 4 1/2 hour drive to go sailing I decided to move the boat closer to Dallas to Lake Texoma. After meeting Angela in September we started spending time up at the lake sailing and spending time with some good new friends on the docks of Highport Marina.

Left picture is Angela at Lakefest (sailboat race on Texoma). On the right is Angela her sister Candy and my friend Brian Grothe from AVHQ enjoying a afternoon of sailing aboard Hakuna Matata on Lake Texoma.

Angela and I also started doing some sailboat charters "down island" over the next couple of years when we were not both traveling for work. The first was a trip was to the British Virgin Islands in June of 2005.

The picture to the left is Angela at Norman Island and the one to the right is Craig sailing in the Sir Francis Drake channel.

The picture to the left is Cane Garden bay at sunset and Sandy Cay.

In 2006 we also did a charter to St. Vincent and the Grenadines with another friend from AVHQ Jimmy Klinke. Photos here show Angela and I enjoying the sailing, Jimmy and Angela enjoying the water and some end of the day "sundowners" and Jimmy raising the Texas flag on our boat.

These are some of the beautiful islands we enjoyed. The island to the right is one you may know from the movie "The Pirates of the Caribbean". This is the island that Jack Sparrow was marooned on and asked, "but why is the rum gone..."

It was soon after this we decided it was time for a "plan" and that if we were going to go we needed to do it soon. We decided to follow the old cruisers motto, "set a date and stick to that date, if you don't you will never cut the dock lines and realize your dream".

About the Boat

Full Specs for Hakuna Matata:

BUILDER/DESIGNER:Builder: Morgan Yachts (Purchased by Catalina Yachts in 1986)Designer: Charlie Morgan

DIMENSIONS:

LOA: 41'3"

LWL: 34'

Beam: 13'10"

Displacement: 23000

Ballast: 8500

Draft: 4'10"

ENGINES:

Main Engine: YanmarModel: 4JHBEEngine HP: 44

Generator: MasterVoltModel: Wisper 6000 Size: 6kw

TANKAGE:

Fuel: 85 gal

Water: 215 gal

Holding: 45 gal

ACCOMMODATIONS:

6'5" headroom. Sleeps four in two staterooms plus dinette sleeps two and settee sleeps one.

Coming aboard a Classic 41 is a treat. The cockpit, a primary socializing center, allows eight to sit comfortably. Below decks, she is a model of spaciousness and livability. Open and airy, she has 17 opening ports and five opening hatches ensuring excellent ventilation at anchor. The master cabin is a true stateroom with athwart ship double berth (with custom made mattress), two double hanging lockers, and ample drawer and shelf storage. The private head has a separate shower stall with seat and a large vanity with plenty of storage. Walking forward, you have excellent access to the engine room through double doors and a workshop space with storage behind and shelf over.

Main Salon to right and galley to left.








Teak bulkheads and cabinets and quality upholstery set off a voluminous main salon. The dinette can be bulkhead mounted for ease of entertaining or can be configured for an additional double berth. The teak & holly sole throughout the salon makes for a cozy atmosphere. To port is a large settee with storage outboard and under. Storage is identical to both port and starboard with twin lockers and fiddled book storage between. A large hanging locker is on the port side. The guest stateroom has a large V-berth with filler, shelves to port & starboard, a nice hanging locker and a privacy door to the separate guest head which makes the forward cabin a luxurious stateroom.

Left is the navigation area. Right is the guest state room.

Left is the walkway to the master cabin and to the right is the master cabin.

Optional Equipment:

Electronics:

(2) Chart plotter/Radar displays (one at helm and one at nav station) both interfaced to laptop.

(1) Backup Chart plotter which also interfaces to computer.

Autopilot

VHF radio with separate station in cockpit

Satellite radio

406 EPIRB

Stereo/multi-disc CD player and MP3 players with over 250mb of music

Flat panel TV and DVD player

Charging System:

House Bank: 750 amp hour AMG batteries

Starting Bank: 100 amp hour AMG battery

Engine alternator: 150 amp hour

Solar Panels: 250 watts from 4 panels controlled by Blue Seas system controller

Inverter/Charger: Heart Interface Freedom 25

Battery Monitoring: Heart Interface Link 2000 R

Creature Comforts:

Fully enclosed cockpit

(2) Air conditioning units

8 GPH water maker

Ice maker

Microwave

12 volt refrigeration/freezer (keeps ice cream frozen!)

Anchoring Gear:

(1) Rocna 55# primary anchor with 300' of chain

(1) Fortress FX-27 secondary anchor with 50' of chain and 150' of nylon rode

Lewmar 1500# anchor windlass

Water Fun:

Windsurfer

(3) Full sets of dive gear

(4) Dive tanks

(6) Fishing poles

(2) sets of lobstering equipment

Spear gun