Moody Gardens Raft-Up

What started out to be a raft-up at Pelican Island, Hosted by Curtis and Diane Eddigton actually turned into a Moody Gardens Raft-up.  Three other boats joined them.  Ahoy Mon - Pat and Diane, Dragon's Lair - John and Diane along with Doug Payne, and Al and I on the Cambria.







On the trip over, the winds and currents were out of the north and made for wonderful sailing and speed.  Since we knew that no one would believe that our Cambria could go that fast we took a photo to prove it.  Actually, we saw 11 kts... but did not capture it!



When we arrived and got settled we decided to dinghy over to Boudreaux's for an early dinner.  There was a gigantic motorcycle rally going on that weekend and we were afraid that if we did not get there early we would not be able to get a table.  So instead of docktails before dinner we opted for Deserts on Deck.  Everyone seemed to think that worked well.

As with all trips...as Al always says "the adventure does not start until something goes wrong"  Well, this time it was Too Much Fun.... she sprang a leak in her packing gland.  She was taking on water... but not anything that the bilge pumps could not handle.  Everyone had a turn at trying to tighten the frozen gland, but it became apparent that it would not budge.  Curtis made the decision to just watch it and wait until he got back to deal with it.



Sunday, we woke to a magnificent sunrise.


As we take more and more of these trips I am discovering just how beautiful the sunrise and sunsets are from our cockpit!  What a special cup of coffee they make!

Breakfast was a feast!  Everyone brought out delicious dishes from fruit to tacos!

Once everyone had their fill we headed home to Kemah

First Off-Shore Solo

It was going to be a beautiful weekend so we decided it was time that just the two of us ventured on out of the bay and tip-toed beyond the jetties.

We left KBH with no problem. Motor-sailed down to Galveston and played around the rose area... then we left the Jetties -headed toward Flagship Hotel turned around at Flagship and headed back.

We decided to go through the Galveston Ship Channel since we had never been that way.  So, we lowered sails while in jetties turned into Galveton Ship Channel through Pelican Island  Bridge through Galveston Causeway RR Bridge set anchor in Offatts Bayou Just in time to see the magnificant sunset.

 We had leftover spaghetti and enjoyed the evening at anchor. We set anchor alarm on chartplotter and on handheld GPS.  Anchor alarm went off on handheld once in the night but we were still set.

We woke to a beautiful sunrise, enjoyed coffee and cereal and just hung out on the boat doing some organizing.

We raised the anchor and move in closer to Boudreaux's and reset the anchor then took a dinghy ride to Boudreauxs for lunch.  After lunch we raised the anchor again and headed back to Kemah.  We were escorted by some dolphins!

What a great time!

Jacob takes his first cruise!

 You can't start too early to learn to sail.  Well, maybe 10 months is still a bit young to man the helm, but with his capable Paw Paw at the helm we decided it was indeed time for Jake to take his first cruise!

Angela and her friend Billy from Waco came along. 

                       All snug in his cute little life-jacket we provisioned the boat and set sail to Galveston.

The weather was good.  We had a nice wind and were able to motor sail most of the way down.  We got into Moody Gardens Marina with a little help from some TMCA members who were there just before us.  The water was pretty rough.  Too rough at least for us to dingy around with an infant on board.

We got all settled in and took a walk to the hotel to register and went to some of the attractions there.  Billy's mother, Donna, who lives in Galveston joined us on the boat... we prepared a nice little dinner on-board and enjoyed a wonderful evening just visiting.

Jake had a great time just hanging out in the boat!

The next morning there was a beautiful sunrise and we had breakfast and then headed back to KBH.  We had a nice motor sail back and :we can report that Jake's first cruise was a grand success.

Added attraction: Here is just a few photos of Jake and Angela taken on earlier visits to the boat:

Grammy and Jake Hanging Out!

Jake at his 1st Dock Party

Angela and Jake in his New  Life Vest....He was not liking it!

Grammy feeding Jake while at sail!

Labor Day at Moody Gardens

Well, Al and I have been up since about 4:00. We are "too excited" to sleep. We are ready to head down to Galveston with our new radar and AIS equipment installed. Looks like we just might have an opportunity to use it to track weather since it's storming outside right now (6:30). We hope to leave around 8:00 if the weather cooperates. Hopefully this will pass through quickly.

Amanda's Birthday Cruise

My long-time friend, Rhonda Morgan, and her family were guests for cruise which we set up for her daughter's birthday.  Amanda Klostner was celebrating her birthday.

Her husband Adam, brothers Aaron and Andrew.



 Rhonda and I have been friends since we were 6 years old and we share the same birthday.  We have always laughed that we will always be best friends because we know too much about each other.  It was a great day.

Adam and Amanda.  Awwwwww

Amanda helped me get the sails ready.    Amanda was at the helms and appears she is a natural sailor.  Rhonda and I pose at the bow.  Here is the Morgan Clan.

Troy Finishes our woodwork

Today Troy Finished our woodwork. He did a great job on repairing the leaking window and replacing the wood. He also built shelves, a wine rack and installed a bracket for our television! We are so pleased with his work~

Beason Park

Another trip to Beason Park.  This time we actually stayed at the marina.  It is nice, with a great pavillion.  However it was shallow... but we had no problems. But several boats did so we were out in our dinghies helping to guide them in.

We had lots of fun watching and helping the boats get into their slips.  We have been to double bayou several times but this was our first time to use the marina.

The only unfortunate things was a bum that hung around all the time.  We gave him some food.  But he was too drunk to eat it.  He was wandering around the boats and got into an altercation with one of our members. Tom Taylor... and got hauled off by the cops.  The next day Al found his billfold and got it back to him through one of the cops's kids who was hanging around.  Evidently he was well known around there.  We dinghied around from the marina to Marker 17 and that was really fun.

2010 TMCA Cruise to Nowhere

Well, Last night had many "Firsts" for us. They occurred on our TMCA Cruise to Nowhere.... It was our first venture outside the jetties and our first cruise at night and our first cruise in a storm... Wow a triple whammy!

Diane and Curtis Eddington were along as crew and we were ready for an overnight adventure.

The day started with a forcast of calm, boring weather. It was suppose to be a boring cruise without wind and many actually opted out of the trip.

We headed out with 3 other boats and under light winds and full sail we headed down the HSC taking time along the way to sail around the moored ships at the crossroads in Galveston.

We exited the jetties just before dusk and we could see clouds building up in the east.  We headed west toward the flagship along the Galveston coastline.

About 3 miles out we started getting heavy winds and about the time we decided to lower the sails all hell burst loose.




We were already a day late and a dollar short.  Curtis got out his computer and started to look for weather reports.

As Al and Curtis, all tethered to jack lines, went up on deck to fight the wind and get the sails down, Diane was holding on tight and Kay was at the helm.  And the storm is coming!  With Galveston in the background the sunset as the weather approaches is spectacular.

Kay tried her best to keep the boat into the wind... but with little success as the boat listed port... she says 45degrees... and almost thru Al off the boat... only to slam    to port causing everyone to shudder.  Al shouting "keep the boat into the wind"...Kay of course doing the best she could... until Al realized that she did not have enough throttle going to hold it into the wind and ordered her to 'give it more throttle'.... Having headed his command... the boat settled down and they were able to lower the sails and get back into the cockpit.  No time was lost then for Kay to throw up her hands and abandon her post!

When the other boats decided to abandon the trip we were none to disappointed.  We thought we had had enough of our first storm.  Actually it did not even rain!  Thank goodness. I can't imagine how horrible it would have been in rain.

We made our way back into the bay.  Taking a detour around a dredger who blocked the Galveston Channel passage, but make it safely back to our slip in the wee hours just before dawn.

The most positive thing I can say is that we made it... and lived to sail again.  I've been told that we will look back on that and say "That was nothing".... I can't imagine now what could possible take its place!

First Anchor-Out - Judges

Well even though we have practiced anchoring this was the first time we have every gotten to anchor out for the night.  It was so much fun... but expensive!  We sailed around the bay and headed to anchor in front of Judges for dinner and overnight stay.  When we took the dinghy over to Judges and decided to pick Philip up as he was by himself and did not have a dinghy... Our problem was that we only had 2 life jackets.  Bad Mistake.  The Parks and Wildlife department stopped us and gave us a little present!


After our episode with the Parks and Wildlife department we made our way over to Judges for fun and food.  loads of people showed up and we even had a visit from Willie Nelson.

However, getting to anchor out made it worth it.  The sunset was magnificent.

 What fun!  We dinghied over to Waltzing Matilda for a visit and then when we went to take the Roz and Fern back to Judges to get their car would you believe the P & W showed up again?  We were ready for them this time.

With a beautiful sunrise to finish of the trip, even though it was not far from home our first anchor out was a great time still a great time.

First Sunset Sail - Kay's Birthday

What a great birthday!  My present.... We took our first Sunset Sail on the Cambria tonight.  It was so wonderful.

The sunset was not as 'perfect' as the first one we had on Too Much Fun... but since it was just Al and I,  it was perfect for us!  

The night was clear and cool and we had a wonderful time.  We got to use our running lights for the first time! 

And the beautiful full moon as it came up as the sun was setting was spectacular

Cool!  Can't think of a better way to spend a birthday!  Thanks Captain Al!!! I love you.

Fish Fry - Marker 17

Al and I make it to our first TMCA Fish Fry - Channel Marker 17

Well we almost had to cancel our trip before it started.  We had a water leak at one of the rent houses and had to go back to town.  But, we were able to get that taken care of and headed back to the boat.  We got a later start than the others but we made our way by ourselves with no problem.


                                                                                                                                                                                            
But once we got there we had a blast. We were the last boat rafted up at Marker 17.

                      

 We got up early "Fish-Fry" Day to a beautiful sunrise.

Time for Fish Fry fund and so much fun.
Dancing and food galore!






We had a great time at the Fish Fry, however, and met some new friends Steve and Bron Lee and their friends Bob and Clair Perkins.

We partied and danced all day and all night.... some more than others!

Conga line on a boat?  Really?















Since we rafted up at Marker 17 we were able to just walk back to the boat without dinghy-ing over to Beason Park. We were right there for the food and fun.  So When Deana Jones "Called" everyone to dinner with her conch shell... the fish fry was 'on'.




 Going out on Sunday the winds were horrible. There was lots of damage to some of the boats when this trip was all said and done. But we did not have near the trouble as others did.  I believe that 4 boats had to be towed by Tow Boat US .  We rocked and rolled all the way home!