Yikes Ike

At the beginning of last week hurricane Ike was dead-on for Palacios. As the week progressed we watched as Ike slowly began to turn more North/East towards Houston, and the 'cone of death' left our direct aim. Tom secured a few more lines before he left on Wednesday for Austin to spend some time with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. He returned today to find Refugio floating fine. The water level is still pretty high and we did have a few lines come loose, but Refugio rode out the hurricane fine. In the last photo you can see some debris on the grass, so during the storm the water rose to over 5 feet. We are fortunate and are extremely happy to still have our boat intact. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were not so fortunate throughout this hurricane.

It's a Wrap!

We are back home in Kentucky and what a fantastic and industrious summer we had. We managed to get more done on Refugio than we had anticipated and planned for, starting with the haul-out and various paint jobs. Tom’s glassing of the pilot house went very well. The back wall, of the pilot house, stills needs to be completed, which he intends to do in September when he returns to Texas. We did find a color we intend to paint her next summer, as you’ll notice on the new pilot house. Neither of us has enjoyed having a “stark white” boat, when the sun is out - the glare is a killer; so she’ll be off-white. Tom also installed clear vinyl as temporary windows. We were also privileged to have our boat name hand-painted on the stern, by our dear friend and fellow cruiser, Kyla. We especially like the palm tree!

Brett and Kyla recently began their own sea adventure, be sure to check out their blog to watch their travels.(http://www.benevolentwanderings.com/) Kyla also makes and sells fantastic jewelry (I should know I've purchased lots of it!!) Help support their journey and buy some - www.kylacorbettdesigns.etsy.com
Next up we're off to Florida to baby-sit our Grand-daughter, Stella, while her Mom & Dad enjoy a vacation in Costa Rica.

Until next time - fair winds and happy travels.

Dolly

After a wonderful weekend of enjoying Wendy and her family and celebrating Kenny’s 2nd birthday we sat back and anxiously watched the weather.

Personally, first hand knowledge of a hurricane is something I never want to experience. Thank you Mother Nature and Neptune,I didn’t have to. Not knowing which way this storm was going to turn, we secured Refugio with more lines and installed the back wall of the pilot house. WOW It’s great to see what the pilot house will look like once it’s painted and windows (albeit plastic) in place.

The gulf appeared to empty out of boats yesterday as we watched a constant stream of shrimpers come in. So many that they had to raft them together in the basin (rafting means tied together side-by-side). Torrential rains began in the wee hours of the morning; fortunately we did not get the wind speed we thought we might. I doubt we'll see the sun all day and the bands of rains are less frequent than expected. This is the closest I'd ever like to get to another hurricane.

We are doing fine, Tom is enjoying his last day of work at Serendipity and I'm hankered down in the motor home needle pointing a christmas stocking for grand-daugther #2 (Alice) expected late in September. We hope to finish up the pilot house windows, some engine work and securing Refugio this weekend then leave for Kentucky monday.

Work, work, work

I figured out why I’ve been having such a difficult time sitting down to update our blog; it’s no longer a fun travel-log, but a lackluster labor-log. I’m not sure I can make this narrative truly interesting to any that read it but since you’re here, I’ll update you on our summertime goings-on. Ok, it’s safe to say these past few weeks have not totally been about boats (mostly) and we have thrown in some R&R outtings.

One such outing was a drive to check out Matagorda Beach. We had read and heard it was a unique place, and so it was. On this beach cars are allowed to drive right onto it. There were plenty of activities the day we were there, a couple of ultra-lights continually buzzing overhead flying up and down the coast line, we saw a couple of horses being unloaded as we left and some folks brought their 4-wheelers to torture the dunes directly behind the beach. We too joined in the fun and amused ourselves by getting wet. After we left the beach we drove to the local pier and walked the length of it. It is at this location you can see where the Colorado River joins the bay and hence empties into the gulf. We had been to Matagorda before, aboard Refugio the day before we arrived in Palacios. It was interesting to see it from this perspective.

Do you like to stroll through cemeteries? I do and always seem to seek them out no matter where we travel. It always interests me to see how old someone was when they passed, or perhaps there is a small story associated with the deceased. It’s generally very peaceful, and quiet. On this particular day (it was Sunday, usually not a typical day for a funeral service) we thought we had stumbled onto a burial service, but what it turned out to be was an anniversary of some kind with many folks gathered to pay their respects. We found several special engraved headstones, either by implanted pictures or special carvings. One showed a picture of a married couple on the day of their wedding on “his” headstone, and another picture taken perhaps 60, or so years later, on “hers”- sweet. Another gravesite, of a young boy, had cards and letters tucked in behind his cross, (to be read at a later time) and many toys laying on and encircling his plot. All very respectful and yet thought provoking.

Wendy (#2 daughter) and her family relocated to Austin this summer. Seeing that we were already in Texas, I was fortunate enough to pick her and #1 grand, Kenny up at the airport, meanwhile her husband, Keith drove down from San Francisco. Wendy, Kenny and I spent a few days touring Austin and checking out surrounding areas, including their new home. It was wonderful to spend a few days with Wendy and Kenny.

Enough R&R talk - let’s talk boat. After seeing how fantastic our new green boot stripe looked on the hull we decided to paint out the blue on the hull as well. It was relatively easy to pull the boat along side the dock, tape and paint, and then turn it around to paint the other side. Along with the large accent stripe on the hull we painted two smaller ones along side. Finally, I painted the eyebrow of the pilot house. This entire painting process took well over a few weeks and the boat looks GREAT!! Better and better every day.

Unfortunately, it did cut into Tom’s work time on his pilot house windows, but he’s back at them now and talk about looking wonderful. It’s going to be unbelievably great, a true pilot house trawler, when the windows are finished.

What's Luck got to do with it?

I truly surprised myself as I watched our boat get hoisted out of the water for our first haul-out today. It was thrilling as I observed the bottom of our boat slowly appear, yet terrifying to see our 40 ton vessel just hanging there by a few straps. I also never knew I could be so excited at seeing the bottom of a boat, above the water. Ours was pretty clean, with just a few random barnacles. On the other hand, the rudders and propellers were quite encrusted with the little devils. Fortunately, they are easy to scrape off when still wet, so immediately following our power wash – that was the first thing we did – scrape barnacles. A few larger mussels wedged themselves into whatever tight little place they could find and they proved a little bit harder to dislodge. Those that came off easy got a trip back to the water (as promised). Got to tell you though, it’s very intimating being under the boat as it’s propped up by a few blocks of wood and 6 metal stabilizing tri-pod jacks. One of Tom’s primary goals was to remove the old, sporadic operating transducer, which he did by cutting it out. Yipes! Yup, a nice 2” hold in the bottom of the boat. He constructed a new fairing block out of a block of wood by slicing it in half (at a hull-angle) then drilling the proper sized hole, installing the new transducer, slapping it back on the hull, and then fiber glassing over it. Not as easy as I make it sound, but Tom has a way of making things work, and work WELL! After being painted it looks great!

Throughout the next week, along with the help of our friends, Steve and Cissy, we scraped, taped, sanded, blasted and banged our way to a clean, freshly painted bottom. To help prevent corrosion, the underside of our swim step was also treated and painted. Also under our corrosion control department Tom replaced 6 “sacrificial” zincs on the props, shafts and rudders.

Hanging around a boat yard for a week proved very colorful and enlightening for this novice. It was interesting to watch a pilot boat replace their experimental ‘bumpers’. A couple of crews came and went with little progress being made on their respective boats, with the exception of shrimp boat, Texas Rose, and her captain, Robert. They completely replaced the bow rail of the ship, along with the installation of a nice angle iron at the very front tip of the boat and were beginning fiber glass work when we left.

It was a pleasure to meet the captains’ son, Brandon. He’s off for the summer and will be attending high school next fall. He was a very engaging young man, as we spoke of many things. He seemed mesmerized with Refugio and it was our pleasure to have him assist us with our ‘splash’ back into the water and join us on our trip back to the marina.

As scheduled on our 7th day we went back to the boat yard to pay up and ship out. As Keith, the yard manager approached our boat while operating the travel lift one of the hydraulic lines burst, sending a fine spray of fluid all over our bow (yuck). It took him the good part of the day to repair/replace it so we opted to return the next day for our SPLASH. Once in the water and before Keith removed the slings, Tom attempted to start both engines - NOT. After sitting for a week, and without being charged, neither engine cooperated. So Tom started the generator (love that generator) jumped and charged both engine batteries – and “botta-bing, botta-boom” we have ignition, and backed out of the craddle.

Refugio is now safely tucked back into her little estuary at Serendipity Bay Resort awaiting our next project.

I’ve learned more than I care to know about the bottom of a boat, it’s no longer just a welcome sight to this weary scuba diver.

And so it begins

It’s hotter than a fire cracker on the fourth of July and it’s only June. Tom seems to slide right back into this environment so easily; however, it takes me a wee bit longer. It’s great to be back on the boat; I’ve truly missed sitting on the back deck enjoying the gulf breezes, cries of the gulls and pelicans and watching the ‘happy fish’ shoot out of the water and back in again.

During our first weekend together we helped friends celebrate the renaming of their sail boat with a joyful party at the yacht club. Neptune (aka Captain Brett) carried out a fabulous presentation of ritual and rite, with libations, during the renaming ceremony. Brett and Kyla have been working on their boat for more than 2 years.

We were happy to share in their joy along with old friends from California; Steve and Cissy. Tom and Steve worked together for more than 20 years at the City of Glendale and have been revisiting the past this week. With no destination in mind we managed to take a quick little spin out into Matagorda Bay. It was a short jaunt enabling them to experience the flavor of cruising aboard Refugio.

Summertime

We’re back on the boat and it’s about time for an update (or two) on our mariner adventures. Frankly, there’s just not enough of it!

This paragraph was written by the captain last summer and I thought I should share his perspective. "After a few short weeks at home we turned around and headed back to Texas. Then Sue flew back to Florida to retrieve the motor home and have another short visit. Once she delivered the motor home back to Palacios, First mate Sue left the vessel to secure the home front in Lexington. Meanwhile I've elected to continue living my dream by staying here on the Texas gulf coast for the summer. After a two day career at Wal-Mart in Port Lavaca, Dennis, the manager of Serendipity Bay Resort offered me a job at the marina/RV park. It is so much more convenient and in keeping with the plan to have the boat, motor home, my old truck and a job all at the same place. But even more pertinent to the vision is having the means, time and resources to make Refugio the vessel of our (my) dreams. Admittedly, I never envisioned 10 hour days of physical labor in the intense heat and humidity, but I am acclimating. It's a great way to work-out, but maybe not so great for one of my age; time will tell."

Tom spent 5 months puttering on the boat and working for the folks at Serendipity. I did return to Lexington and got a job at Transylvania University (to pay for the boat). One true benefit of Tom's arrangement with Serendipity was the free RV site, which afforded him a place to cool off during the sweltering summer heat of south Texas. During his time in Texas Tom was able to ward off the continual march of mold, and take care of many repairs on our boat.

We have been asked (many times) if we had named our boat after Refugio, Texas, or perhaps we were FROM Refugio, Texas. As I mentioned earlier on in this blog, our boat name, Refugio, comes from the state park on the coast of California, where our family spent many a wonderful night camping out, hiking the cliffs and gathered around the evening campfire; warm memories for us all. We were intrigued and set out to find this place - Refugio, Texas. As it turns out the town is about 80 miles south-west of Palacios, nice little town with a history of Irish immigration and battles.

Tom’s Mom and brother joined us for a few days, along with their dogs, Bruno & Annie. I thought the boat was big until their dogs came aboard for a visit. They were very brave in spite of being surrounded by water – which neither dog is fond of.

Our son, Brian, was able to take some time off work, drive down to Texas and check out the boat. We tested our live-well as Brian did some fishing and actually caught a big ole fish, which was later released.

Towards the end of the summer Tom moved Refugio out of our end slip to a small outlet. It’s in the same location the owner keeps his 44 foot shrimp boat.

It’s been a year and summer has come around again. Tom has already returned to Texas and I've got a couple of weeks till school is out and I can join him. I'll be updating the blog a couple more times so keep checking back.