April 30, 2025 to May 13,2025

We split our drive home into two days and arrived on Friday night before Easter.

The miles and minutes went by slowly. Maybe I was just checking the waze app more frequently 😉 So strange to be on land yet wonderful to be home. Our favorite pizza was dinner – yum! We celebrate Easter with Kelly having a grilled dinner. She is very crafty and has taken on the task of lettering our throwable life ring buoy with the boat name. She immediately started measuring and scheming.

In our quest to keep local medical professionals gainfully employed, we have 9 appointments scheduled PLUS a major A/C repair (it wasn’t working when we arrived home). You know how they say stuff happens in threes? Well that was #1. Alan also finds time to clean the snap-in-place carpet cover from the boat salon. The admiral inspection confirms the captain does good work.

It is Enterprise one-way rental time again and we head to Norfolk for the AGLCA Rendezvous event May 2-5.

We are not in the photo because we are at the bar. The event is held at the Waterside Marriott, walking distance to the Chesapeake, restaurants, bars, and sightseeing. Many have asked what are topics are covered.  Here is the agenda for the event.

Specifics of various portions of the Loop are conducted in parallel with topics such as Weather, Locking, Tips for boat buying, Diesel Engine maintenance tips, Anchoring, Marine Electronics, Tablet Navigation, Cruising the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. There are times when we separated in order to absorb two topics scheduled concurrently. Many attendees arrive by water and are docked at the marina. The Looper Crawl is essentially an “open house” event and is incredibly helpful for those learning about what type / size boat will work for them. Conference attendees get to tour boats of current Loopers who have graciously opened their water home for viewing as well as answering questions. A past looper crawl event is what persuaded Alan to consider a smaller vessel than what he initially desired.

Visiting the Battleship USS Wisconsin is our choice for our free time.

It is a huge vessel with deep history spanning from 1944 to 1991. It is truly a floating city with medical office, surgery, dental office, cafeteria, laundry, library, even a spot where fresh donuts were made on a conveyor! Sleeping quarters and personal storage space are minimal, as expected. Alan finds the brig and where they served ice cream to the sailors.

We head south to the boat and pick up our repaired isinglass panel on the way. The repair looks amazing. Nauti Nerds is right where we left her and we are happy to get back on board. There are so many fish near the dock and boats. They are skimming bugs from the surface. When you walk by they scurry to dive deep and make large splashes. Always makes me jump, thinking something scary is lurking in the water.

We woke up the next day noticing the air conditioning was not working in the master stateroom. Yep, this is #2. The coil on the unit is covered in ice and the thru hull discharge is not as strong as it was (for those unfamiliar – sea water is used to cool the system and is then discharged over the side thru hull discharges). The marina office provides some names of possible businesses to assist. On our way back to the boat we see a couple guys wearing matching business shirts walking down our dock. We strike up a conversation with them and they show us how to clean the strainer. The sea water used for cooling goes through a strainer before getting pumped for cooling. Turns out Florida waters are notorious for clogging strainers due to sea grass, algae, small marine life and great growing conditions for all. Alan cleans out the strainer. It helps but not enough. We employ the company to flush out the hoses for all 4 of our a/c units. Improvement continues BUT our master stateroom a/c unit is still freezing. This unit and the thermostat are original equipment from 2008 (others on the boat have been updated). The decision is made for us – a/c unit needs to be replaced while we are docked at a great marina with a company who is able & available.

 (B.O.A.T. = Break Out Another Thousand)