Living Aboard Kokopelli

Hot hot hot

2011-06-21T09:36:00.001-05:00

We finally put up the sun shades. We have never used them, but they seem to work well!!
It makes a huge difference. Only problem is that there are a few rips just caused by some high winds. Maybe they are a little rotted from sitting around??

Blue Heron

2011-06-14T12:43:00.001-05:00

Trying to figure out why he us posed like this! Is he hot? He stood there for about ten minutes!!

Me at the helm!

2011-06-14T12:41:00.001-05:00

Just pulled the boat out of the slip!!

Sailing in the Gulf

2011-06-14T11:47:00.001-05:00

We are heading home from a ten day trip to Rockport. We got to sail off shore for about 80% of the trip! This is a first for us. On the way down last week the water in the gulf was like glass and even though the wind was on the nose, it was beautiful to motor sail and eventually just motor. We did get to sail for a few hours and it was perfect!!

We tried the Colorado river cut to Matagorda Harbor. It has been silted in but they just spent 29 Million to dredge it. The depths were fine and the trip up the river was scenic and pleasant!
We got two other boats to join us on our way out and we all lived being able to go offshore from
Matagorda Harbor!

Rockport Harbor was lovely as always and we were able to buy two second hand collapsing bikes from a RYC member! We now are more mobile when we at in a harbor!

Sailed back by ourselves. Off shore had some excellent winds. Right now they are a little too much on our stern, but we are managing!!

All in all, it has been a great trip. We are learning more ANC more each time we go! I even pulled the boat in and out of the slip myself!(of course, it was a straight shot with no other boats around!)

Sailing in the BVI

2010-12-01T21:46:00.001-06:00

We finally made it to the BVI! It was a spectacular trip and after hearing all about the islands, we were not disappointed. It was very windy but the temperatures were perfect. We would have liked to sail twice as much as we did, but the others wanted to get to the island more quickly, so we moored about 1:00 each day. We chartered a 50' Beneteau with three other couples. THe company was great and the boat, although older, worked out fine. It sailed well and met our needs. We snorkeled a little, swam a little and relaxed. The highlight was the visit to Anegada where feasted on about 3 lbs of lobster. YUM!! It is hard to believe the trip is over and we are back in chilly temps.

New marina is great

2010-11-17T22:11:00.000-06:00

We have been at Watergate for about two months now. It is working out very well. They have done an amazing job updating the grounds and the docks. It has become a first class facility. The amenities are excellent, especially the laundry room! It is adjacent to the TV room and is a pleasant place to hang out. If you have not been to Watergate lately, come see the changes and stop by at pier 14 and say hi!

When you move on your boat..,

2010-09-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

You just throw the lines aboard, empty the dock box and motor off!!
Here we are in our new slip.

Moved to a different marina

2010-09-12T15:55:00.000-05:00

Here is a view of the nice sidewalk leading up to our dock. We found a
big enough slip across the lake. The marina is beautiful and the piers
are new and safer. The best part is that there are about four other
couples who live aboard right on this dock. Seabrook (where we were)
was lonely and not very scenic as marinas go. There is always a trade
off!! Nothing is perfect!! We shall see how this fits our needs.

Heading to Rockport

2010-06-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

It is easy to leave for a cruise on your boat when you live aboard.
You just throw off the lines and head out. That is, of course, after
you have washed the boat, pumped the heads, added fuel & water and
provisioned to party. If you dont have something, you don't have it!

Because Kokopelli is like a trawler we can motor about 8 knots with no
problem. We caught up with the group in two days and are now headed to
Rockport for the weekend. Yahoo!!

Sent from my iPhone
Deedy
713.458.0359 - cell
Read my BLOG at sailingkokopelli.blogspot.com

Off on another adventure!

2010-06-08T06:12:00.001-05:00

We r headed down the coast once again. This time we will go off shore
and we are by ourselves for part of the time. We will meet up with a
bunch of other people in rockport but the first three days we r on our
own! We rented an epirb and are looking forward to a great sail!!

Sent from my iPhone
Deedy
713.458.0359 - cell
Read my BLOG at sailingkokopelli.blogspot.com

A great weekend

2010-05-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

We sailed to Galveston once again. We had a group of six boats and were planning on rafting up near Pelican Island but the winds were too strong. So, we headed to Galveston Yacht Basin and got some slips. We had a fabulous Mexican dinner right on the edge of the bay to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It was a beautiful evening. We woke up and shared breakfast....got to see dolphins swim by. It was so wonderful to share the weekend with good friends!

The fly over

2010-05-02T12:22:00.001-05:00

Here are the four planes in formation. Beautiful day here on the gulf
coast!

May is here!

2010-05-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Doug got to watch a fly over of Japanese bombers!! It was part of the
car and boat show at the yacht club.

I am so jealous!!

2010-04-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Here are our friends sailing off into the sunset!! They are headed to
Florida and then up the east coast and to Boston!! Then they are
sailing across the pond to Ireland!! I want to go!!

MOVING CLOTHES

2010-03-28T22:34:00.002-05:00

My "locker" aka closet and cabinet on the boat

The weather has warmed up a little so it was time to move some more of the "winter" clothes to the storage place. We found these great clothing racks at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are 3' wide and hold quite a bit of hanging clothing. We have three of them. Today I moved some of my pants to storage and found a lot of spring outfits. It is fun to find things that I did not remember I had!! Here is the rack at our storage unit.

Our storage unit. (It is about 5 minutes away - a 10x20 unit. We have all the rest of our "stuff" stored with a moving company.

My boating experiences...

2010-03-27T10:34:00.002-05:00

I wrote this for a membership profile...thought it might be of interest to my BLOG readers (of which there are not many.....)

Deedy's boating experience.....

I have been sailing for many years. I started my sailing adventures on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with a 12' Snark. (used mostly to pick up guys in ski boats!) When I married Doug we graduated to a 16' daysailer and then a 20' daysailer, all on Lake Geneva. We then moved to Arizona and around 2000 got a 22' Columbia that we refurbished. We trailer sailed her for several years on Lake Pleasant north of Phoenix and we took her to California, sailing her to Catalina Island. We then purchased a 25' Catalina and after having her on the water only twice, I had a roll over accident trailering her on I-17 in Phoenix. At that point we decided trailering was not for us. (No Kidding!) That summer we chartered a 32'sailboat (Freedom) in Marina del Ray to take to Catalina. (2003) That fall we found our next boat - a 28' Freedom which we brought back to Lake Pleasant. We used her on that lake, staying on her in the marina. We chartered a variety of boats (Beneteau and Jenneau) in California several times and sailed to Catalina Island where we stayed for a week.

We moved to Dallas in 2006 and brought "Free at Sea" with us and put her on Lake Grapevine. Doug started looking for the next boat to put on the gulf coast. We ended up with our current honey of a vessel - our 46' Seamaster which we have lived aboard since January 2010! We have taken several trips down the coast to Port A and have sailed her A LOT in Galveston Bay.

Living aboard is great!! What else do you need???

I am glad I am home!

2010-03-25T17:20:00.001-05:00

My boat/home finally made it back to Seabrook. Captain Doug took me
with him to get it down at Harborwalk. (where else could I have
gone??? He was stuck with me!) Lucky for us Diane came along to help.
We got stuck plowing our way out of the channel at that marina but
after that it was pretty smooth going! The current was behind us and
we got up to 9.1 knots!! Wow! I was glad to see my home port though!!
It took us about 4 hours to get back to seabrook. Yay!! We are home!
(I heard we are headed out again Easter weekend!! I hope the Easter
rabbit can find me!!)
Happy sailing from
Beau the Boat Dog

Having a nice breakfast

2010-03-21T16:22:00.000-05:00

The group settled in for a nice breakfast at the harborwalk
restaurant. Delicious food and good company was a great ending to our
fabulous week!! We will have to leave the boats here in Galveston for
a few days because there is too much wind and not enough water to make
the trip!!

Hunkered down at Harborwalk

2010-03-21T10:10:00.000-05:00

Kopelli in the slip.

Low tide

2010-03-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

We tried to leave for home Sunday morning. The tide was so low that
doug and Curtis headed out in the dinghy to do depth soundings. Yep!!
It was low! There were new beaches all around! We draw 6 feet and most
of the soundings were in the 4 foot range.
To top it off the temperature was 37 degrees when we woke up!! With
the wind that made it 29 degrees wind chill!! Brrrrrr we are not going
anywhere for a few hours!

Dragon's Lair crew is prepared!

2010-03-21T08:38:00.000-05:00

Beau gets rained on!

2010-03-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

Beau did not mind the rain!!

Break out the foul weather gear!!

2010-03-21T08:35:00.000-05:00

A front moved in and the rain hit just as we reached harborwalk. We
got tied up and hunkered down to weather out the storm. Winds were
about 25 and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. We had a great
dinner in the dining room enjoying the company of our boat partners.
Three sailboats made this journey. Kokopelli was joined by Wind Dancer
and Dragon's Lair.

Beau - I am right here on my boat!

2010-03-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

Where oh where did my Sophie go?

2010-03-20T11:06:00.001-05:00

Beau and Sophie

2010-03-20T11:06:00.000-05:00

Beau and his beau

2010-03-20T11:05:00.000-05:00

Beau and Sophie are eyeing each other. They are officially "engaged"
but from a far!!

Doug in his dinghy

2010-03-18T18:14:00.000-05:00

We took a two hour dinghy ride in aransas bay.

Sunrise in the gulf

2010-03-18T07:43:00.000-05:00

We headed out from port a at 7 AM and caught this sunrise photo op. We
have light winds and cool temps. We decided to sail out in the ocean
back instead of motoring in the ICW. Let's hope we have wind!

Yes - there were blue skies!!

2010-03-17T22:24:00.001-05:00

Fresh shrimp!!

2010-03-16T17:41:00.000-05:00

We got to port aransas just as the Polly Ana shrimp boat was coming
in. We bought 5 lbs of shrimp that had just been swimming in the gulf
- heads and all!! Diane and I cut the heads off, boiled it up, and
boiled it. Shrimp cocktail here we come!! Yum!! Here we are working in
the shrimp!

Happy crew

2010-03-16T10:01:00.000-05:00

Even though it us raining our crew is happy!! Diane made us yummy egg
sandwiches thus morning which made the 6:30 AM departure a little
easier. It is raining so we are back in the ICW instead of going
offshore. Last night we stayed at St Christophers in Pt O'Connor. We
had planned to dinghy down to where the rest of the group was but the
winds were high and we chose not to get wet -it was 5 miles from us.
We did not stay there because it was shallow the past two times we had
been there. (the sanctuary at casa grande)
We walked two miles to a restaurant for dinner- got our exercise!!
Hoping for sunshine the rest of the week!!

Sunrise in Matagorda

2010-03-15T07:26:00.000-05:00

Heading out of the Colorado River Locks at sunrise. Six sailboats and
three powerboats woke up in the dark to get through the locks by 7 AM.
It was dark but when the sun came up all was good!

Beau's adventure

2010-03-14T15:05:00.000-05:00

Our Bichon Beau is a good boat dog and now is a happy one too!
At the Bridge Harbor Marina he had a very exciting life event. He
somehow jumped off the boat onto the pier and joined me as I was
chatting with our boat neighbor who had two female cotton de touliese
dogs (small white mops). Beau and Sophie started sniffing and circling
and Sue announced that Sophie is in heat. She says, "Oh, it's okay!
It won't hurt anything. Just let them do it!" so I let Beau mount
Sophie (How do you stop a man on that mission!?) Before we knew it
Beau was attached to Sophie and they were perpendicular to each other!
They were stuck!!
Sue reached down and shouted, "He is really big! He can't get out! I
think we are going to have to take them to the vet!" Someone else
shouted, "Spray them with cold water!" I am thinking, "No way! I just
had him groomed and spent $60!" A few minutes later I was holding a
hose and was spraying clod water at the point of "attachment." About a
minute later they "popped" apart! His little member looked like a
cherry popsicle but he was not complaining! I dried him off and tried
to fluff his coat. Sue kept asking whether I was sure he was fixed. I
told her I was pretty sure he was since he was a rescue! If there were
puppies I told her I would send her our bill for stud service!

We got a good laugh out of this and Beau had a memorable experience he
will never forget. He got back to the boat ate his dinner and took a
nap!! A happy tired pup!!

Curtis at the helm

2010-03-13T10:12:00.001-06:00

Diane on deck

2010-03-13T10:10:00.001-06:00

Putting up the burgees!

2010-03-13T10:09:00.001-06:00

Doug on the bow

2010-03-13T10:08:00.001-06:00

Shooting some photos!

We be sailn'

2010-03-13T09:35:00.001-06:00

We are undersail off Galveston Island - yahoo! We motored from Clear
Lake to Galveston Yacht Basin last night. Left about 4:30 PM and
arrived at our slip at 7:45. joined up with our group and relaxed and
partied. Got up this morning and headed out to the Gulf - beautiful
day!! Heading to Freeport tonight.

Inviting berth

2010-03-10T22:58:00.000-06:00

We have a beautiful v berth for our guests. We will have another
couple on board with us for our spring break trip. I cleaned out the
area that was "my room" and it is ready for our guests. Some of the
stuff us in the car and the rest is in the aft cabin with Doug's stuff!

Making more room

2010-03-02T20:19:00.002-06:00

When we moved aboard I was worried about missing my "stuff." Well, I have not really missed anything yet! In fact, I removed a bunch of things from the V-Berth. I had brought on some of those plastic drawers filled with who knows what. I had some travel sized shampoos, etc and I put them in large ziplocks and tucked them in a little storage area. I took some of the sweaters off in hopes that we will warm up! Spring/summer clothes take up so much less space.

I have tried sleeping in the V-berth and that mattress is A LOT more comfortable for me. It is hard going from a king sized fabulous mattress to a just OK full-sized one - especially when I have to make room for a large man and a 16 lb dog!

Now if we can leave the ports open all night it will be perfect!

Out on the water-finally!!

2010-03-02T19:57:00.000-06:00

We finally made it out. The wind was blowing about 20 and we were
going about 7 knots. It was great to have our new dodger - kept us a
little warm!! It is amazing that there is still a chilly wind and it
has not gotten over about 65!! Brrrrr - sure hope it warms up in time
for our spring cruise down the coast to Port A. We are leaving March
13th!

Open hatches!

2010-02-28T16:42:00.001-06:00

Finally the weather is nice enough to open the hatches!! The sun is
out and it is about 65 degrees! We did the windows and wiped off the
decks. We are heading out for a sail. Now to figure out what needs to
be stowed when we sail!

The Galley

2010-02-25T21:29:00.001-06:00

Here is our galley. So far it has served us well. There is only room for one to be cooking! The refrigerator is huge and keeps thing very cold....a little too freezing at times. The stove and oven work well! We have not starved and eat in at least four nights a week.

Bridget on the boat

2010-02-13T20:35:00.003-06:00

Bridget and Nancy spent the night aboard Kokopelli. Here is Bridget with Beau. We converted the salon table into a bed by lowering the table and putting the cushions on it. They could watch TV and relax and then were able to get a good night's sleep.
Nancy said it was a combination of the cottage and a Winnebago!! A few steps above camping!!

Breakfast on the boat

2010-02-13T20:27:00.002-06:00

Doug and Beau having a yummy breakfast on the boat!! It has been very chilly. Can't wait to have breakfast in the aft cockpit - outside watching the sunrise!!

Rain rain go away!

2010-02-03T23:17:00.000-06:00

The rain keeps coming! With a high tide that means potential flooding
in the parking lot. The last time we had this much rain I could barely
get the car out of the marina! So, we have checked in the local
LaQuinta.
I have a field trip tomorrow at school and the threat of being
"flooded in" Doug decided we should be on higher ground. It is 11PM
and i threw a bunch of stuff in my bag and am hoping I have what I need.
Another adventure...although one I could have lived without!

Sent from my iPhone
Deedy
713.458.0359 - cell

Chilly

2010-01-31T18:52:00.002-06:00

So, I thought the Gulf Coast of Texas was supposed to be warmer than this! It has been very chilly here. Today it never got above 45 and the sun never came out. Yesterday was the same thing. I can't wait to be able to sit out on the back of my boat and have a glass of wine!! Right now we are in the salon watching a movie....with the heat on. :-)

Dinner aboard Freedom's Wing

2010-01-30T19:54:00.001-06:00

Doug and James waiting for dinner aboard our friends' boat.

Cooking aboard

2010-01-30T19:50:00.001-06:00

Yes! It works to cook a yummy dinner aboard. Here I am in the galley
preparing spagetti. A perfect meal for a chilly night!

Spectacular sunset

2010-01-25T18:11:00.001-06:00

Space on a boat....by Doug

2010-01-24T13:03:00.004-06:00

How much space do you need? As I think about the eight houses Deedy and I have owned since we were married and how we used them, and I think about the space on the boat, I find I am very content with the space available. The kids are gone now and rarely visit, when we are with freinds we are mostly out somewhere, or boating. Rarely entertaining at home. When we lived in our house in Seabrook how did I use that space? I used the bathroom for normal activities, I had a desk and office I didn't use that much, we dined most often on two little stools under a high counter and we watched TV together where I laid down on a pretty short and realatively uncomforable love seat. Frankly, the rest of the house hardly got used. The dining room - almost never maybe 5 times in 18 months, the kitchette dining area, hardly ever, the outside patio dining table, also never. We used the pool maybe 10 times in 18 months, etc. You are getting the idea. It was a beautiful home, Deedy did a great job decorating it. But how much of it did we really use? It all had to be maintained and there was considerable expense keeping it all up. Either a big payroll to have all the services provided or quite a few hours of our time each week to keep up with it all. At this point in our lives, who needs it! I like the boat and am happy as a clam.

Walking Beau

2010-01-24T12:45:00.001-06:00

moving previous blog

2010-01-23T17:06:00.000-06:00

So, I thought it would be easy to use my Mobile Me account to blog about living aboard our boat. It was easy for me but hard to find the link and to follow it. Here is the link to that start of my blog. I will now move my thoughts and photos to Blogspot!
Mobile Me Blog

Freezing Cold

2010-01-09T17:11:00.001-06:00

Record breaking temperatures were an exciting addition to our first week of living aboard. One idea was to take a shower in the evening and then I would be able to get out of bed later to get to school. With freezing temps at night, that did not seem like a great idea. So, the shower on the boat was the answer and it works really well. We carry 300 gallons of water and the water heater works great! It is amazing how you make things work!

We had to fill up the water tanks because at noon today the marina turned off the water and closed down the bathrooms. Pipes and plumbing are just not insulated down here on the Gulf Coast. All we heard about on the news was the hard freeze that was coming.

The Journey has begun...

2010-01-01T17:10:00.001-06:00

The adventure has begun! We are living aboard. It seems like such an easy thing to say, "We want to live on a sailboat!" But, in reality, it was a lot of work and a bit scary. The first step was to sell our house. We put it on the market on November 3rd and in two weeks it was sold. The fourth couple who looked put in an offer and journey began.

Planning involved what to do with our "stuff" and how to organize our lives. We had downsized down twice in the past few years, so the routine was familiar. The rule was that if it had been not been touched since it was unpacked 18 months earlier when we moved to the Gulf Coast, it was gone. I filled several boxes of kitchen items that qualified. Doug, on the other hand, has a little more trouble with that concept. He has cut down the "stuff" in the garage and attic and worked to get it down even more.

How do you manage clothes and things like suitcases and shoes? What if you need something like that and it is all packed away in long term storage? We consulted with several friends who are living aboard and even visited a storage facility rented by one couple who has been living about for almost 15 years. We scouted out a very clean, easily accessible storage unit nearby and purchased three clothing racks with plastic covers in which to hang clothes.

We planned how we would arrange the storage unit which is 10x20. It is a drive up facility which makes it very easy to get in and out of. It is heat and humidity controlled and there is a secure gate.

Friday, January 1, 2010