On the Boat Again!

We are in St.Petersburg, Florida living on Thistle!!

It’s been a journey – Thistle was trucked from Branford, Ct. to Ruskin, Fl. Coordinating the move of a boat is exhausting. Eric and I spent a week packing the boat. It’s like packing your house to go 60 mph. Every item has to be wrapped and secured either in or on your boat. We purchased ratchet straps, cargo blankets, and a lot of tape.

The trucking company picked her up a day earlier to be ahead of the storm.

Thistle arrived on January 8th. Everything was intact and in great shape. The receiving yard was challenging to deal with… we spent 4 1/2 days getting Thistle ready to be launched. The yard used a fork lift to put the mast in. Thankfully, CSYC friends Champ and Loren were there to help. We have been spoiled by having Tim Sarns and others smoothly get the job done in the past.

The yard would only allow us to stay one night and we had to leave by 8 a. m. The water in the area is quite shallow and we had the tide against us. Thistle needs 5 feet of water and we ran a ground in 3’ 4”. When we reached St.Pete, Thistle had touched land 6 times. A 2 hour trip took 8 hours between getting unstuck and waiting for a favorable tide. At one point, Champ and Sharon were bouncing on the bow trying to get the boat unstuck. No pictures of that activity.

Before our arrival in Florida, we left Michigan and stopped in Branford Ct to pack the boat before heading to see Eric for Christmas. It was a quiet holiday but we hiked and cooked.

We made a quick stop on the way south in Marblehead to see Eric’s cousins. They had a perfect tree – but the group photo didn’t turn out. We played Blank Slate which is similar to Match Game and I haven’t laughed that hard in years.

We joined CSYC south in St.Pete, Nina and Champ arranged a studio apartment for us instead of staying on a boat. It’s been cold here and Sharon was sick when we arrived. We’ve had fun exploring the city since Sharon hasn’t been here in 30 years.

We’ve enjoyed the company of Champ, Nina, Loren, Kara and Doug. Ken is on his way – let the party begin.

Sharon’s Best Books:

7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

House Rules

Going Infinite

Book Lovers