Plans . . .
March 14, 2015
It's getting a bit late in the evening. I'm seated in my comfy deck chair inside the screened enclosure on "Blue Heron's" stern cockpit. It's a peaceful night. The wind has died down, but there is still a gentle breeze blowing in the oak trees lining the shore. It's been a warm day, but the temperature tonight is in the mid 70-degrees F, just about perfect. The chilly Vero Beach, Florida, winter is just about past, and it's time to start firming up plans for Summer and next Fall.
I contracted with a commercial shipper to haul "Blue Heron" up to the Chesapeake Bay in April. I'll be keeping the boat at Anchorage Marina in the Canton section of Baltimore on the Patapsco River just east of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I chose that location as it is a short water-taxi and light rail ride to BWI Airport. Also, Anchorage Marina has gated parking and is within walking distance of a Safeway grocery store, a Starbucks, and a West Marine. I'll be using the marina as a home base, and hope to spend most of the summer cruising the Chesapeake.
Good cruising is something I have missed here being tried up at the Vero Beach City Marina all winter. I've pretty much given up on the idea of cruising over to the Bahamas in the winter as the north winter winds are too strong and the ocean too rough. Winter brings a few calm days here, but the calm days are surrounded by weeks of strong northerly winds and steep seas in the Gulf Stream. Experienced Florida boaters visit the Bahamas in late April and May when calmer conditions prevail and before the hurricane season begins in June.
Next Fall it looks like I might be shipping "Blue Heron" to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Planning to bring my boat to the Caribbean was the culmination of a winter-long process of considering various ways Brian (Canadian friend) and I could do some island cruising. We considered buying a Nordhavn 43 (they are like small ocean liners and about as costly), we drove to Miami to look at a Beneteau Oceanis 40 sailboat (no more sailboats for me, thank you!), we considered chartering in the British Virgin Islands for a few months (at $5,000 per week -- yeah, right!). We even looked into having a new steel, Diesel Duck 382 built in China (sweet boat!) Shipping my Rosborough to St. Thomas turned out to be the most sensible option -- at very little cost, we can see the Virgin Islands and see if we are still friends after cruising together for a winter! Maybe afterwards we might conside a larger, blue water power boat. By-the-way, the best quote for shipping the Rosborough from Florida to the USVI was from Sevenstar Transport -- $7,400 one way. They will load the boat from the water onto the deck of a freighter in Palm Beach and offload it back into the water in St. Thomas harbor.
It's been a peaceful winter here in Vero Beach, but I'm looking forward to doing some cruising. If the Caribbean plans for next winter fall through, I'll probably ship "Blue Heron" to the West Coast of Florida where there is more varied cruising.
It's getting a bit late in the evening. I'm seated in my comfy deck chair inside the screened enclosure on "Blue Heron's" stern cockpit. It's a peaceful night. The wind has died down, but there is still a gentle breeze blowing in the oak trees lining the shore. It's been a warm day, but the temperature tonight is in the mid 70-degrees F, just about perfect. The chilly Vero Beach, Florida, winter is just about past, and it's time to start firming up plans for Summer and next Fall.
I contracted with a commercial shipper to haul "Blue Heron" up to the Chesapeake Bay in April. I'll be keeping the boat at Anchorage Marina in the Canton section of Baltimore on the Patapsco River just east of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I chose that location as it is a short water-taxi and light rail ride to BWI Airport. Also, Anchorage Marina has gated parking and is within walking distance of a Safeway grocery store, a Starbucks, and a West Marine. I'll be using the marina as a home base, and hope to spend most of the summer cruising the Chesapeake.
Good cruising is something I have missed here being tried up at the Vero Beach City Marina all winter. I've pretty much given up on the idea of cruising over to the Bahamas in the winter as the north winter winds are too strong and the ocean too rough. Winter brings a few calm days here, but the calm days are surrounded by weeks of strong northerly winds and steep seas in the Gulf Stream. Experienced Florida boaters visit the Bahamas in late April and May when calmer conditions prevail and before the hurricane season begins in June.
Next Fall it looks like I might be shipping "Blue Heron" to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Planning to bring my boat to the Caribbean was the culmination of a winter-long process of considering various ways Brian (Canadian friend) and I could do some island cruising. We considered buying a Nordhavn 43 (they are like small ocean liners and about as costly), we drove to Miami to look at a Beneteau Oceanis 40 sailboat (no more sailboats for me, thank you!), we considered chartering in the British Virgin Islands for a few months (at $5,000 per week -- yeah, right!). We even looked into having a new steel, Diesel Duck 382 built in China (sweet boat!) Shipping my Rosborough to St. Thomas turned out to be the most sensible option -- at very little cost, we can see the Virgin Islands and see if we are still friends after cruising together for a winter! Maybe afterwards we might conside a larger, blue water power boat. By-the-way, the best quote for shipping the Rosborough from Florida to the USVI was from Sevenstar Transport -- $7,400 one way. They will load the boat from the water onto the deck of a freighter in Palm Beach and offload it back into the water in St. Thomas harbor.
It's been a peaceful winter here in Vero Beach, but I'm looking forward to doing some cruising. If the Caribbean plans for next winter fall through, I'll probably ship "Blue Heron" to the West Coast of Florida where there is more varied cruising.
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