We own two Sailing Vessels. Cool Hand and Cool Hand Too

June 3rd, 2014 

 We are the proud owners of a Hunter 460 Cool Hand Too formally Desiree. The transition was official on Friday May 30th.  Monday we drove down to Tampa to Westshore Yacht club and took possession of our new boat. Tuesday Terry and Suzanne came up from Fort Meyers and helped us move Cool Hand Too to the Sailors Wharf for repairs. Here are the photos from this move. She is out of the water and will have some bottom work done and a few other yard repairs. We are still waiting for the verdict on what is wrong with the rudder, hoping for an easy repair. Tomorrow we head back to Boca Chica and Cool Hand to await the resolution of repairs.  

Still knitting below are the two scarfs and minion mittens, the latest finished projects. Tom has been doing research on our Hunter.  Weather is getting warm and of course we are now in the Hurricane season and watching all weather channels, watching two areas.

Tom in companion way for the first time as owner

Terry and Suzanne helping to cast off lines

Cool Hand Too arrives at haul out well

of course we have to have one bird Osprey in the blog

Knitting, waiting for paperwork, Tom goes on a Dive.

5/22 Boca Chica Navy Marina, Key West Florida

Yep we are still here. Weather has been windy 15 knots plus every day, but the sun is shinning and it has been from the north so relatively cool and low humidity. Everyone here is slowly getting things tied down to leave for the hot summer. We have been here 2 months longer than we had planned.

Currently we are waiting for the owner of the boat that we are trying to buy to get some paper work straightened out.. We are hoping to hear tomorrow that everything is all set. We have an appointment with a boat yard in St Pete's to do the work on the Hunter and we can get in on the 29th.  That is if we own the boat. Looking for volunteers to go with Tom to the yard, while I drive the car back around to to the other side of the bay.

I finally will get my card, as a scuba diver, however I still need to do two more dives in order to dive on my own. I got cracked on the head when our front hatch slipped and ended up with three staple stitches in my scalp. Dang, seems like something is always stopping me from going on another dive. Tom went out today, first time the wind was not playing havoc with the waves and used my GoPro camera. He got 11 minutes of a video and I took some snaps from it for this blog. 

Still knitting, finished a couple of projects, started several more. Tom is researching stuff for the new boat and we are both putting together tentative plans for moving from one to the other. I will post when it is official. 

Laying back and enjoying the breeze in Key West

Tom and Laura

Another purse finished

This is a beaded yarn knitted into a scarf.

BaBBB. the survey

Today we took Desiree to Lazzara Yachts. They have a large lift so that we could haul her out so that Van could get a good look at her bottom. Here are the first photos of the soon to be new Cool Hand Too. We did take her out for a short sail which was great. She handles well in a light wind. Of course where would a blog post be with out birds and flowers. Tomorrow we are headed back to Boca Chica and waiting for the official survey. There is a small amount of bottom work that needs to be done and two small dents in the bumper rails that need to be fixed so still some negotiating to do.   Keeping our fingers crossed
Tom and Laura

Buying a Bigger Boat, part two

May 6th 

Road Trip to Tampa Florida... After a lot of searching we put an offer on a boat in Tampa. It is a Hunter 46, and is almost perfect. This week we are having a survey on the boat and with fingers crossed we are hoping that next week we will be taking Cool Hand on a bittersweet journey to switch out vessels. 

In the interim we are making lists, checking things off and each day we come up with a name for our new floating home. Current favorite is Cool Hand Too. 

a beautiful Sunset 

Storm is on the way 

this is the neatest spider... but I used my GoPro on a long pole
to get this photo

this is called an Upside down jelly fish 

the chicks have hatched , they are so cute. Tom
says I can't have one 

anyone traveling on the ICW... this is a very good
reference, and just plain fun to read.

latest addition to the knitted animal parade

newest purse
Still knitting currently have three projects and yarn
for a whole boat cover

Tom trying to relax , that is Pepsi in the glass

April 10th, road trip

Still waiting for my ears to clear completely... and Tom and I have been talking about what we wanted to do with Cool Hand, what we wanted to do as far as cursing and found that we had a conflict. We have a wish list, separate showers, a way get off and go snorkeling or scuba diving, heater/ air conditioning, more storage space, larger water and fuel tank, more storage, separate sleeping areas, storage space. We stared to look wistfully on Yacht World. We came across the Hunter 460 and 466 , one in Muskegon and four here in Florida. We took a road trip to see them. We were surprised at the difference of up keep on the boats, but I think we found one that needs a little tender loving care but not deep pockets. So in the next few weeks we will sit down and make some decisions and we will know which direction we will go.

, 

Green Heron that lives in the mangroves by our Marina

sunset it the Key's

another finished knitting projects

possible 

Skyway bridge Tampa