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First night at Anchor Since June !

Anchored for the night after escaping the clutches of Twin Dolphins Marina, been there since October 5, it's time to stretch our sea legs again. If all goes well were headed for the lesser Antilles, BVI,Grenada and Trinidad!



Pic off the back of Discovery facing west, Christmas Day sunset


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Pic of Wild Dolphin, our buddy boat going down to Marathon, it'd a Island Packet 40.

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Location:Pics from Elliot Point, Bradenton

Well episode 3 of the S/V Discovery mission to go places we never gone,see things we've never seen, explore galaxies we've ..... Oops that's another series . Well we have left the marina and are anchored at the mouth of the manatee river ready to head offshore to run down to marathon. Ultimately are destination is Miami and we appear to have the mother of all weather windows! Let's hope it holds, Christmas 2014 will be remembered for a easy exit from the marina and a quiet nite o our new super anchor, PM as we call it short for Preying Mantus) has quite a bite! Will sleep safe and secure knowing he's on the job! Merry Christmas everyone! More soon


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Location:Discovery is off on another adventure

New Year.....New Adventure

Caribe .....here we come

Looks like we are headed this winter to the Caribbean

 WOW! But more on that latter, first things first?..

Well the holidays will be here before you know it, and it's time to turn our attention to the next chapter of our adventure on Discovery! It's been a busy 5 months since we put Discovery on the hard in St Pete and set off on our summer tour to reconnect with our family! Thankfully our visit with our kids, parents, aunts, sisters and brothers all went very well and we found everyone in good spirits and good health!
We returned to Discovery in early October and got there in time to see her bottom get a fresh coat of paint and her cutlass bearing get replaced! After some touch up on her boot stripe she was splashed and we motored her across Tampa Bay to Twin dolphins marina where we began the process of  putting all the gear we stowed for hurricane season back on her. Boy was there a bunch of stuff to put back together, dig out of lockers and carry up on deck to make her a fully functioning cruiser again! Thankfully the buckets of damp rid we left below decks did the job and we didn't come back to a mold farm like I worried about while we were away!
After a week of endless trips up and down the companionway steps we finally got Discovery back to the home we remember, but then the dreaded to-do list popped it's ugly head up..... All the things that broke during our last trip to the Bahamas, all the wish list items we wrote down last season, all the deferred or reg maintaince that needs to be done to systems on the boat, all take their place on a seemingly endless list of things that need to be completed before we once again cast the dock lines off here at Twin Dolphins!

With only about 3 weeks to go before we fly back to Ft Worth for the birth of our daughters first child, we set about punching each of about 30 items off that list!

It's a girl!!

Our Daughter Alissa became a mother one week ago today! Little Lilly Renee Bloch came into our lives weighing 6 pounds 2 ounces at 6:35 AM! We are currently in Ft Worth soaking up baby time. The adventure will continue sometime mid December we will be back on the boat heading to Miami and a crossing early in January!!

















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Return from the Bahamas

After our kids flew home from Staniel Cay we bounced around the central Exumas for a few days till our friends on Stargazer and Casa Blanca and Tis Good returned from the Turks and we had a reunion at Big Major! We all messed about around Big Major and then spent a few days at Cambridge Cay on the moorings! It was early May now and we all were ready to head North and point our bows to the good old USA! We jumped off from Normans Cay and sailed to Nassaus' west bay? We spent one night anchored there and then off across the New Providence channel to Frazier Hog.

Again one night at anchor and then head east for the over niter to Bimini, we anchored up on the west side just off the beach hoping for a good nite sleep and then the jump across the Gulf Stream to Miami. Unfortunately the wind and surge prevented much sleep, so at first light we were off, it blew 25 knots from the south east and we sailed with 5-6 ft waves on our stern quarter, our most exciting crossing so far and our least comfortable. All went well though and we hit Biscayne channel at about 3 pm that afternoon and were anchored up on the west side of Key Biscayne and enjoyed a calm nights sleep finally!


Next morning it was off to the Dinner Key mooring field and the delights of a Coconut a Grove, one of our most fav stops on the east coast.

After a week at Dinner Key we were ready to continue south to Marathon, our plan was to hang out on a ball at the mooring field and then continue or journey back up to Tampa where we planned to leave the boat for the summer while it waited out hurricane season and we visited friends and family in the SUV we left at Twin Dolphins Marina. While in Marathon I was able to arrange to have all 4 of our house batteries exchanged for new ones at West Marine. It worked out well since the boatyard was right next to the west marine. It's great to have 4 fresh batteries to start our next journey!

Eventually we got a window to head north. Like last January we made the overnite trip from Marathon to Venice and spent a night on the face dock at Crows Nest.

We were Refreshed after a good night sleep and the first day hooked up to shore power in 5 months! (It was hard to believe we had managed to spend only 2 nights in a marina since we left twin dolphins Jan 7th!) And the two nights we spent in Nassau we didn't hook up to the shore power!

We got up the next morning to a strong wind so we decided to use the ICW and head for Sarasota and their mooring field. It was only a 3 hr trip and we got the ball with no issues and put the dink down and off for lunch and shopping in Sarasota.

Next morn we set out for the last leg of our adventure, the trip back to Twin Dolphins! It was non eventful and by lunchtime we were safely back tied up at twin dolphins in a slip just one boat away where we left from, over 2 thousand miles slipped under our keel since that morning 5 months ago!

At this writing were busy washing the accumulated sand and rust that a boat builds up after 5 months in the tropics!

Playing golf living in air conditioned comfort and running errands in our car is a real adjustment from the life we just left in the Bahamas!

Below are some more pics from the last parts of our trip






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The last Barracuda caught on the trip, this one between nassaua and Bimini








While in Marathon the wind cooperated one day and we took the dink the 2 miles out to Sombreo Key light and had a great snorkel trip, the reef and the water were every bit as good as the Bahamas .







Out with the old in with the new, batteries that is!










While at the boatyard in Marathon changing the batteries we were busted by these guys, we always see Manatees in the boatyard there!







This trip to Marathon we rented a car for a day and went up to key largo and islamoralda, we spent a few hrs at the dolphin research center, the dolphins there are amazing and they preform almost constantly,could have taken hundreds of pics!








While in marathon we caught up to friends from Kemah, on Daddys Money a 57 ft Nordhaven, they were dock mates of ours at waterford marina, Joe is pictured at breakfast with his drink of choice while at the stuffed pig, the bacon Bloody Mary !






Sunset on our way from Marathon to Venice.



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After the Ragged Islands

We returned to the southern Exumas after our 3 week adventure in the Jumento and Ragged island chain. Our friends Mark and Kathy from Nancy Lu joined us on a week of exploring Cambridge Cay area! After they left for Eluthera we bounced around the central Exumas between cambridge and black point until our Daughter Alissa and her hubby Jason flew into Staniel for a weeks visit. We had a great time showing them our favorite spots around the central Exumas. We visited Wardrick, Cambridge, Staniel, Big Major, and Black Point. Had a great Time! Pics below













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Above pics are at the Staniel Cay Yacht club, just walked back from the airstrip after the kids flew in!














Pics from a snorkel trip at Cambridge Cay! These were taken at the sandbar that's next to the aquarium snorkel sight at Cambridge! Alissa found some beautiful conch, and her and Jason posed with the squall in the background. That squall had just finished dropping a water spout!



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