American Spirit II - Day 481; The Last Day , We See Something We've Never Seen Before, the Welcome Home Party & the Last Log; Saturday, May 2, 2015

Up at 6:00 AM. Darlene is next up at 7:20 AM, followed by Joel at 7:30 AM. Breakfast at 8:00 AM consists of bacon, 3 eggs, chilled pear halves and multi-grain bread. This is the last meal on the boat Joel and I will have after 483 days on the boat. After breakfast Joel and I finish up the pictures for the media that we expect will be at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club today. Then Joel 'dresses' the boat; meaning we put up a lot of signal flags on halyards at the front of the boat and the stern. It was something we did a lot of in our trip in foreign ports. I've received some more emails from around the country. Thank you for your thoughts, Bill from Texas; and Bob from Ohio. I also received an email from Kathleen and Marc from Toronto. I have to post their email here because they've written. read more...

American Spirit II - Day 480; Almost There, Really; Friday, May 1, 2015

Up at 8:00 AM. Coffee. We have to depart the marina by 9:00 AM because a fishing tournament is transplanting us. At 9:00 AM we depart the marina and while heading out of the channel to the bay we run aground in 4.6 feet of water. Who knew?! We're in the middle of the channel. As I learned in Australia, 'No Worries' in backing up and getting off the sand and mud. We then anchor 500 yards, or meters as my European friends would say, from the marina so we can have breakfast.Off in the distance is the Sunshine Skyway, a 200 foot bridge spanning Tampa Bay. Breakfast today is bacon, 3 eggs, chilled pear halves and multi-grain bread. No potatoes as I saving them for dinner tonight in the form of French fries. During breakfast Joel offers some advice on life, what I call 'The World According to. read more...

American Spirit II - Day 479; Almost There & Thank You Log Readers for Your Emails; Thursday, April 30, 2015

One year ago today:I can't find that log in my archives, so there's nothing to report 'one year ago today.' *******************************Up at 7:42 AM. Its cloudy and windy. The forecast, according to Joel, is for winds from the northwest at 15-25 knots. How's that for a forecast? What a big wind spread. There is a free Herald Tribune newspaper in our cockpit. Nice touch Marina Jack. Joel gets up at 8:30 AM.Breakfast is at 10:00 AM. Bacon, 3 eggs, cut up and spiced potato, non-chilled pineapple slices and the last of our cinnamon bread. Darlene has one slice of brown bread with mayonnaise and bacon. At 10:55 AM I send out a log and one email. The Wifi is very, very fast. Amazing. We depart Marina Jack at 11:22 AM. I'm concerned when we leave that the wind will blow us into a piling at. read more...

American Spirit II - Day 478; We Travel from Venice to Marina Jack in Sarasota; Wednesday, April 29, 2015

One year ago today:"Day 116; Tour of Moorea, Albert and His 3 Wives and our Departure Delayed a Day due to High & Building Winds; Tuesday, April 29, 2014. At 10:15 AM we started a tour of the island with Follie a Deux in an 8 person taxi/mini van driven by Albert, who advised as we started the tour that he had 3 wives and numerous children and grand children. Not sure if polygamy is legal in French Polynesia, but Albert certainly believes its OK. His oldest wife is 67 and the other two are 42 and 39. He's 75 and by his own account is the biggest tour operator on the island."*****************************Up at 7:00 AM. Joel and Darlene are up at 8:10 AM. Breakfast at 8:45 AM consists of bacon, 3 eggs, potato, chilled pear halves and cinnamon bread. Darlene had a protein shake.We. read more...

American Spirit II - Day 477; 'Dolphin Day,' We Get Wet as a Front Crashes Thru, & We Make It To Venice; Tuesday, April 28, 2015

One year ago today:"Day 115; Sailed from Tahiti to Moorea in Bumpy Seas; Monday, April 28, 2014. We departed the marina at 9:30 AM and sailed under jib only, and a reefed jib at that, the 10 miles to Moorea. Along the way we encountered winds up to 28 knots and seas of 3 to 5 feet. 'Bad' weather is coming. Too bad. We averaged between 6 and 7.3 knots. One of the galley cabinets wasn't properly locked so its contents went flying out and all over the floor. Paul's Kindle also went flying, but because he had just bought a rubber cover, it wasn't destroyed."*******************************Up at 7:00 AM. At 8:00 AM I checked us out of South Seas marina. At 8:13 AM we left the dock and after departing the marina area headed south, following the channel until we could head east and then get into. read more...