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Lee & Mandee of Chasin’ Minutes arrive at C-Dock ready to stock up for their next voyage!

Addendum -Saturday Dec 13

Lee & Mandee meet Bob of Seguay II at the annual Dock Walk celebration.

Of course, deliveries still rule for lots of stuff!

Addendum – Saturday Dec 13

A new statue of St Carlo Acutis is dedicated at St Matthew’s Church this morning.

School children raised the funds for this, and they each took turns reading faith-filled quotes posted online by this young man before he was called to his eternal reward at 15 years old; so early in his days.

Bishop Feilipe also told us that Carlo’s parents were not Catholics; the seeds of his faith were planted by his nanny from Poland who helped his parents raise him!

This a big week for Mary on the liturgical calendar. Today she learns that she has found favor with God and she has been chosen to become the mother of God incarnate!

Friday we celebrate her feast day of Guadeloupe.

One of the many miracles we celebrate on that day is how Our Lady of Guadeloupe effectively united all the indigenous peoples of Mexico with all the Europeans into One People.

The food was expertly catered. They did a great job. And music was by Vibe RW. (He’s gonna do a gig at the oldest bar in Florida tomorrow afternoon, The Palace Saloon, Fernandina Beach, 2:00 to 6:00pm.)

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This new sheath is made from Bolivian Rosewood and Wenge, crafted by Ray with some help by dock mate Peter Roach and his CNC Laser!

They were willing to pay our fee for the “Nickel Tour” aboard Shellerina this afternoon!

They have their eyes and hearts set on a Mainship 430 Sedan cruiser with twin Yanmars which is in a slip further up Ortega River’s “Marina Mile” here in Jacksonville FL. They are on the AGLCA Forum and appear to have a sound plan! We’ll watch for a boat named Traveller, and watch for all your news on the Forum.

We wish you well Jenn & Jon!!! Let us know if all goes well this week.

The weather and temps were great all day! But temps went down markedly later on with the sun.

Best Buy $65.

Insignia 0.7 cu microwave oven, 700 watts.

Next, we need to dispose of the old unit! That can cost more than buying a new one!

Fortunately, in Jacksonville FL, there is a municipal HHW (household hazardous waste) facility where residents can drop off old appliances for free!

Taylor Maid # 1840 90-pound, 20 inch Stainless Steel lift supports.

Note: 90° mounts were needed up top. FLAT mounts were used below. Screws were adequate… no need to bolt-through IMO.

You might ask, “Is 90 Pounds the recommended strength?” My short answer is, “Yes!”

It’ll take more lift strength than you think to hold up the bed+mattress.

The finished project will still require some beefy lifting to get it started. But, the weight load quickly gets easier as you lift the first few inches.

The admiral likes this. She can get in-and-out without calling me down each time to lift the foot of the bed.

“There’s no such thing as 50-Grid sandpaper, Gene.”

That’s what the salesman at West Marine and I told Gene yesterday.

Well.

We waz WRONG!

BBQ grillin’ with friends at the north edge of the Ortega River:

The normal rise ‘n’ fall of the tide here is only 18”.

So … in all, we are stacking the deck in our favor with regards to safe harboring in Florida.

Addendum – Sept 26

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Addendum: September 30, 2025

Addendum: October 6, 2025

Another North Atlantic threat models a track out to sea!

Fortunately, this marina has tall concrete pipings and concrete docks. Tall pilings have a characteristic of being more resilience to the high waters of big storms. Normally, the tide only rises and ebbs about 18” here. So the tall pilings are not usually necessary, rather they remind us of a sort of insurance that we may someday benefit from.

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Addendum – Tuesday 11:00pm

I estimate that due to the mechanical DIS-advantage of a lever, this “fulcrum” is likely exerting 3 or 4 times more load than the 120 pound outboard out on the end.

Below, a new genny track is mounted to the bottom of our lift boom.

Loaded up with the weight of the outboard, this track system enables me to slide the hanging outboard “out” to the dinghy OR back “in” to the storage bracket on the transom of the mother boat!

Dock Mate “Mike” of Sharona Two shows how genoa tracks on the sides of his boat enable him to position his aft fenders in just the right spot! Genny Tracks are very versatile for a variety of applications.

Update Friday a.m. Aug 15

That’s a good thing.

Shelly and I are full-time live aboards.

These things are from our first-hand experience:

In 2015 we downsized from a house we owned for nearly 30 years to move into an apartment. In 2021, we downsized again to move on to the boat full time; ever since then we have no “dirt home”.

After 4 years, we STILL carry more “stuff” aboard than we need!!! About 20% of the living space on our boat is stuffed for storage of things we never use. We call it the “VIP Stateroom” but there is no room for anyone to even sit, never mind sleep! Storage space is valuable on a boat.

Do our possessions possess us?

They costs us to acquire them.

They cost us to maintain them and to keep them waxed or cleaned of mildew and mold. We’ve spent thousands just this year on this kind of thing, and it’s only August.

Most of us require the purchase of insurance to protect against loss. Some require the payment of property or excise tax every 12 or 13 moons. Some people buy firearms to “defend” their dearest possessions.

Most items depreciate in value; very few possessions appreciate in fair market value. But even one’s real estate is only ours for a time.

Use them both wisely whist they are yours!

I admit I often go to a hardware store because “it’ll take too much time to find the thing I *might* have stored down below. In this way, relying on the inventory of local stores is often more efficient than my own inventory!

Goodwill and Salvation Army stores used to come to your home to take unwanted furniture and things you wanted to donate. Have you tried in recent years? Guess what: We learned we now have to PAY “Mr. Junk” or “Randy Recycler” to haul stuff away. There is no market for used stuff anymore! (Most places).

Quite literally, “You can’t give it away!” ((Actually if you try, if you expend some TIME, you CAN find friends or folks who truly need it.

The poet says:

Everything we’ve acquired will be given away one day.

“Give whist we still have time to give.”

Investors know that Self Storage facilities are easier to get a mortgage for than a home! The banks know those types of businesses will make money!

Conversely, most people who rent a self storage unit are “upside down” in a year or two … having paid more for storage than the fair market value of the stuff they stored.

Our boat was uncluttered and beautiful when it was new.

But today it is “adorned” with two outboards and dinghy davits and solar panels and fishing rods and nets, boat hooks and mops and buckets and scrub brushes. It’ll never look as beautiful as when it was naked and new.

After our final sunset, only the love for and from others will endure.

As for today, let’s all contemplate those family and friends we love most … and then contemplate just a little on how our possessions TRY to possess us!

Worry not for long, as we shall certainly be freed of the possessions one day. And we will only know of real value.

FMI:

https://towndock.net/tropical/atlantic-tropical-storm-outlook

However, the Pacific is responding to tsunami threat today due to an 8.8 quake off the coast of Russia.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/russia-japan-tsunami-earthquake-hnk-intl-07-30-25

Seismic Activity elsewhere…

Oddly, this is happening in Yellowstone National Park.

Dear friends of ours doing their Loop had this poem to share of a significant tragic event in their lives, a fire devastated their home and business. But their response to the tragedy included the purchase of their beautiful vessel and new home called Lemonade!

They finally broke free to begin their Great Loop adventure earlier this year, and are currently westbound on the Trent Severn Waterway in Ontario!

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IT CAME ONE NIGHT

It came one night
On the 27th of July

What a frightful sight
That awful orange sky

It was the last time I would ever see
That which stood there, will no longer be.

It devoured with a hunger so great
Burning our beautiful north state

Blazing, roaring, trees snapping
Scorching, eating, houses collapsing

Sirens sounding, breaking ground
Men running, sweat dripping down

This hungry beast is awake
The destruction it will make

The painful cries
The many sighs

What a frightful sight
It came one night

On the 27th of July
That awful orange sky

• Narissa Lidster

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Shelly has been monitoring the boat via our streaming cameras this week.

We should be back on board by 9:00pm after a drive from Savannah’s SAV.

Addendum August 5, 2025

Black box covers the gas tank so heavy rains don’t go in through the vent cap.

Above, you can see the end of a fender whip which could potentially combine with other debris to cause a clog.

Fortunately we were aboard.

Unfortunately we did not know the aft deck was flooding, and we also did not know that water was making its way into our aft bilge thru a lazarette cover.

Fortunately, we installed a bilge alarm in the aft bilge!

Water WAS gushing down the port walkway from up forward. There were several inches of water on the aft deck by the [clogged] drain.

I moved the boat hook and broom handles from the corner. Water started to forcefully exit the scupper.

The upper “sun deck” drains down inside that vertical support pipe, so keeping that scupper and the drains clear is also critical.

After a big wax and detailing job, double check for rags and paper towels that may be hiding. They could easily be washed down a drain hole and cause a clog.

Aboard Gypsy, a trailer-able, comfortable Cutwater. Very nice inside!!!

They are heading north from here at Jekyll Island to their home port in Williamsburg VA.

They hope to meet more Loopers! So don’t be bashful if they are in your area. They ARE on Nebo.

Carolyn & Bill with me; Jekyll Is. bridge in the background.

Check out their blog:

https://gypsylooper.blogspot.com

Scroll down to 6/11/2023 and everything that follows to read about Bill’s favorite post and some of his childhood memories on the rivers around NYC.

Normally hurricanes early in the season start near Africa, cross the Atlantic, and forecasters try to figure out if and where they will make landfall.

But currently there seems to be a “home grown” system called “Invest 92” growing from right here in the southeastern US.

Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
800 AM EDT Friday July 4 2025 

For the North Atlantic…Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico): 

Near the Southeastern United States (Invest 92): Showers and thunderstorms have increased in association with an area of low pressure located about 100 miles off the northeast Florida coast. Environmental conditions are forecast to be marginally conductive for further development, and a short-lived tropical or subtropical depression could form late today or on Saturday while the system drifts northward. This low is expected to move inland over the southeastern U.S. Saturday night or early Sunday. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is possible across portions of west-central and southwestern Florida through early Saturday, and across coastal sections of the Carolinas beginning later on Saturday. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system later today. 

* Formation chance through 48 hours…medium…60 percent. 

* Formation chance through 7 days…medium…60 percent. 

Forecaster: John Cangialosi, National Hurricane Center/Beven 

Longer term, nothing is happening yet from across the pond near Africa where trouble usually starts in early season.

As for my direct observations, 9:00am here at Jekyll Island GA, there is a fair amount of blue sky, but mostly cloudy (mixed types), calm winds and sea.

Addendum:

I explained to them, “You’re not supposed to feed them; that attracts them to humans! It is probably illegal too.”

Their dad thanked me.

Help in properly identifying the species here:

https://shellerina.com/2024/10/14/species-id/

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Locals tell me the gators are actually more afraid of us than we are of them. So, the gator I saw *may* stay clear of a group of kayakers like this… (but not if humans FEED them!!!)

Sheree Amore will stay behind, next to us, as they fly direct fr Miami to Lisbon Portugal on Wednesday.

We shared some of Shelly’s home made pizZA (“ZA” for short with them Monday night.

Here is a video showing its characteristic feeding motion, side to side. Very effective!

We also saw a Black Capped Night Heron which we liked watching during our years on the south shore of Long Island NY. As I recall July 1 was the typical arrival date of this interesting looking fisherman.

https://shellerina.com/2018/07/02/fred-our-black-capped-night-heron/

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The 12 vdc battery arrives tomorrow.

If you own a Mainship 390 and you are finding wet flooring at the foot of your bed, there are 4 possibilities to check.

1 & 2: Remove the mirror at the front-most bulkhead or “headboard” of your bed.

See more pics here:

https://shellerina.com/2021/06/25/at-her-berth-in-erie-pa/

There are two through-hull fittings that can be inspected / serviced there.

Starboard is the drain for your anchor locker, (shown above).

Port is the forward A/C unit’s seawater return.

If either of these plastic thru-hull fittings are cracked, which has been known to happen, then seawater will come in when you are underway. The problem won’t manifest itself “at rest” as the fittings are 12-18” above the waterline.

It is an easy and inexpensive fix.

3: A third source for water showing up at the foot of your bed is a clogged drain hose from the condensate tray under the forward A/C.

If water spills out/over this condensate tray, in minutes it will find its way to the floor at the foot of your bed.

A clogged drain hose is distinctly possible after 20-25 years. Snake the clog from the lower end to prevent MORE water from coming out on your floor.

Clean the interior of the hose and unclog as best you can.

Once the drain hose is working, you have fixed the problem!

Removing the slide-in storage boxes under the foot of the bed will give you all the access you need.

I brought a charged garden hose down to surgically clean the condensate tray, and the aft bilge, pump, and shower sump.

While working on this, consider replacing the shower sump, or cleaning it if it has recently been replaced.

More pics of that sump system:

https://shellerina.com/2025/03/18/new-shower-sump/

Years ago, the cracked through-hull fitting caused this on our boat. It took weeks to figure out the source of the water! AND I know of others who had suffered the problem without knowing “Where is the water coming from?”

4. From Peter G: a leak in my forward wash down hose caused water at the foot of the bed too. Thank you Peter.

These are DIY projects IMO.

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Sunrise Sunday morning June 1, taken by Capt Jordan via our aft streaming camera.

First time putting some miles on our spare (3-blade) prop. It has some vibration, but otherwise it performed about the same for speed+RPM as the main prop does.

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I thought I solved the forward A/C unit’s problem yesterday by reverse flushing fresh water thru it and cleaning out the strainer. It worked fine yesterday after that. But the circuit breakers tripped twice this morning indicating the problem was still with us!?!?

I ran a gallon of this stuff through a “closed loop” for about 90 minutes. Followed by two flushes with fresh water.

Hopefully this keeps us going this time! If not, a new unit is in order, about $2500.

12k BTU.

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Anna Sirois of Portland Maine.

Day Two

These “animals” showed up for day two at 7:20am.

After yesterday afternoon’s torrents, they said they’d be back to finish today. They were nonetheless pleased with how much they got done before the rain.

Everyone on this “C-Dock” is asking them for a business card, and telling me how impressed they are.