Scott and I joined the Seakeepers Society last month to celebrate World Ocean Day by volunteering for a Miami Beach clean up hosted by Clean Miami Beach. They only had space for about 125 volunteers and we met at the beach near 22nd and Collins Avenue. The event started at 10am and ran until 12pm. It was so brutally hot and I’m not sure why they didn’t start the event earlier.
Celebrating World Ocean Day
As part of the clean up a variety of educators and artisan vendors were exhibiting their goods. Here we found artists who turn garbage into jewels.
Beach Clean Up
I bought garden gloves for Scott and I to use (they refrain from using anything rubber or disposable). The group also discouraged bringing water bottles, but instead asked everyone to use non-disposable bottles. They did provide buckets (Scott and I shared one) and we each had a garbage stick.
The beach clean up started right at 10am and off we went! The group encouraged everyone to try and pick up the small pieces as that is what the fish and birds digest. In addition,they did have a contest for most garbage and most unique garbage.
It took us two hours to pick up three pounds of garbage. It doesn’t look like much, but we probably picked up 300 tiny pieces of fabric, plastic, plastic ties and cigarette butts. Most of what we picked up was actually felt and we figured out it is probably the felt found on a floaty air mattress that was destroyed by the sea.
Successful Beach Clean Up
When we returned to the main tent, they weighed your garbage and then had a team sorting each bucket. It was alarming to see how much garbage we picked up in just two short hours.
Scott and I are looking forward to joining Seakeepers again for another great cause. Help do your part and join your local clean up crew.
As always, thank you for following our blog and our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our channel (see link below) and follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. We are heading to the Exumas in two weeks, so we are excited to bring you more boating adventures.
I’ve lived in the PNW for most of my life and it seems we never get used to Seattle’s rainy weather. With the gray skies, dark streets and wet roads, it’s a chore to get anywhere when it’s pouring down rain. Scott and I did spend one blustery night on the boat a few weeks ago, but I have to admit that the boat is the last place I want to be when it’s cold and rainy. In some ways, I am a fair weather boater. I enjoy spending time on the water and soaking up the sun. Fighting gale winds and 4’ seas are not my thing. But I digress. Back to surviving Seattle’s dreary winter.
Since we know we’ll spend almost all of the nice weekends this year on the boat, we need to take advantage of the bad weather days and get some things done. Believe it or not, Spring is just 35 days away and we’re hoping for great weather this year. We’re done with Seattle’s dreary winter!
Planning for our BVI trip
Last weekend, we tackled a list of projects and accomplished a lot. We headed up to Snohomish (where Ally and Ben went to High School) to meet Ben and Maria for lunch. When the four of us get together, we always have such a great time. Typically, we’re crying from laughing so hard! I can only imagine what it will be like in the BVIs!
The four of us discussed our provisioning options and determined we still need to do a little more research. The Moorings offers provisioning, including packages. However, our concern is that we won’t need everything included in a “package” and it would be a waste of money. We’re better off buying our supplies ourselves at the local store and where prices are very competitive. For me, it’s not necessarily about the pricing. I just don’t know if I want to haul around a bunch of groceries on the day we’re leaving. In talking to other cruisers, it looks like we can easily hail a taxi and get back to the marina with our groceries.
We also discussed the cruising itinerary. Up until this past weekend, we had only glanced at the options. The must sees are Norman Island, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda. Everyone is telling us to visit Anegada, which is about a 26 nautical mile trip from Tortola. We wouldn’t stay overnight there, so it’s a day trip only. With only 5 days cruising, we’re considering scratching Anegada and spending more time at Jost Van Dyke. Weather will also be our guide as to where to go, so we have to be flexible. After meeting for lunch, we agreed that we need to do more research on the places to visit.
photo courtesy of Islands Magazine
Over the next few days I spent time scouring YouTube and Instagram trying to see what the different anchorages & mooring fields offered. In hindsight, we should have planned on 7 days to get everything in, but we also wanted to spend time on land to explore. As we get closer to our trip, we’ll share with you what we’ve decided to do. If you have chartered in the BVIs, please share with us your advice and feedback.
Stairs, Drones and Power Washers
Imagine our surprise on Sunday morning when we woke up to bright sunny skies! I’m training for the Leukemia Big Climb on March 22nd (climbing 69 stories / 1350 stairs), so we headed up to Richmond Beach Park, where they have 180 stairs. I climbed them five times, while Scott was planning on getting the drone up in the air. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get it to connect so we didn’t get footage of the beautiful views. I managed to capture a couple with my camera phone. It was actually great to be enjoying the outdoors, since we’ve been cooped up during this dreary winter.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Big Climb event is dear to my heart, as three of my close friends are battling this cancer. If you want to support my fundraiser, you can donate on my Big Climb Page at: DONATE HERE.
Spending the day at the marina
It was still early the in day, so we headed to the boat next to flush the watermaker and check on the lines. But when we arrived, the sun felt amazing and everyone was on their boats cleaning them. Knowing our starboard side (north side) was covered in algae, Scott decided to power wash it and take advantage of the great weather. The port side, which faces south, is perfectly clean!
I couldn’t believe how much algae grew in just a few months!!
When I entered the salon, I heard the smoke detector beeping – yep, time for a new battery. I walked over to the fuel dock and luckily they sell the 9 volt batteries individually. Turns out they were almost sold out because everyone was coming back to their boats to discover that their detectors were beeping too.
What was also crazy at the marina, was the water was murky and full of silt. We assumed it was due to the wind storm, but instead it’s due to heavy rains over the weekend that washed sediments into the Duwamish River. It has been over a week and the water is still murky. Hopefully it cleans up soon.
Just a little vitamin D will do the trick!
Scott did a great job getting the algae off. Don’t worry,
this power washer is mild and the boat does need waxing already (we had a few
people caution us on using the power washer). In fact, the marina was full of boat
owners power washing their boats. We did
happen to trip a fuse, so use caution when you plug in higher watt usage items.
Working on the boat, we also noticed that we need to remove all of the outside caulking and replace it. Algae has started to grow under it and that’s a project for another sunny day. While cleaning algae might not sound fun, it felt great to be on the boat and soaking up some sun. Let’s be honest – most of us buy a boat to spend warm sunny days on them, not cold rainy days. Just spending a few hours in the sun, boosted our mood and spirit. It was also great to have the boat shiny and clean again!
Over the next two months, we plan on anchoring with Ben and Maria to hone in our skills. Let’s hope we have warm sunny days to make the task even better. The countdown has begun – only 75 days until we’re in paradise! Knowing we have sunshine coming our way, keeps us motivated and uplifted.
As always, thank you for following us! Find us on social media on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram @BoatingJourney. Be sure to also check out our YouTube channel at @BoatingJourney and subscribe for future episodes.
Scott and I love boating, but we’re also very committed to different philanthropic organizations. One thing I love about boaters is the comradery amongst them. Most boaters will help out anyone in need, whether it be help docking, borrowing a tool, towing a boat or sharing a beer.
Over the past ten years, I’ve read more stories about boaters and organizations coming together for a cause. One story, was about a sailing couple from Bellingham, WA. They were sailing the Caribbean and visited the island of Dominica. When they went ashore to provision, they were shocked that there were virtually no fresh vegetables. After that, they started a foundation to give seeds to farmers in poor Caribbean islands. Hopefully they are still active, but I can’t find anything on the web about them now.
Five of Our Favorite Philanthropic Causes
Hands Across the Sea
Sailors visiting poor islands, realized that children and schools were in need of books and educational materials. When they first started, they would collect books from other sailors and deliver them. Today, this a full-time organization dedicated to improving literacy rates in Eastern Caribbean countries.
Anyone who has spent any time on the water knows how therapeutic it is. This organization is dedicated to getting veterans with injuries (physical or mental) out sailing to help improve their lives. Sailing is a great way to learn teamwork and build strength. Warrior Sailing Program also offers a variety of camps. If you know a veteran that could benefit from time on the water, please tell them about this program.
A vast majority of cruisers on the West Coast, go to the beautiful Mexican town of La Paz. It’s ideal weather and location in the Gulf of California is one of the reasons cruisers flock to this tropical destination. Sadly, La Paz has also seen a huge increase in stray dogs. Many cruisers who are wintering in La Paz, volunteer their time to help Baja Dogs La Paz. They are dedicated to reducing the over population of dogs and finding them new homes. In fact, our neighbors adopted a dog from La Paz!
This organization has one purpose and that is to educate us and protect the sea. Three quarters of the earth is ocean and right now it needs our help. Just Google, “garbage, ocean, plastic bottles”. Did you know that there are floating ISLANDS of garbage out there? It’s time we all got together to help our planet, the oceans and the sea life that lives in our oceans. This is a great organization and they need not only our donations, but our support to raise awareness of the situation.
Cruisers from all over the world head to the South Pacific islands every year. What many people don’t realize is how remote these islands are. With the help of volunteer vessels cruising to the South Pacific, this organization is dedicated on helping communities thrive. They provide low cost (or free) service delivery platform to support the remote island health, agriculture, education, infrastructure, economic and ecological initiatives/programs of these South Pacific islands.
One of my dreams has been to create a foundation “Ally’s Kids” and help kids with educational materials, similar to the organizations above. The difference is, we would target islands not currently getting any support. Perhaps someday when we get our catamaran we can finally fulfill this dream.
Local Philanthropic Events / Organizations
Local groups and events are always looking for support. These range from regattas for cancer, to ocean conservation clean up days to helping those less privileged go boating. Talk to other boaters about how you can get involved.
What’s your favorite charitable organization that is involved with boating? If so, please share with us and we’ll include it in our next blog about sailors helping out causes. Cheers, Scott & Ally
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