Sailing Agora

Tag: cruising

  • Hairy legs and a constant state of camp clean

    Hairy legs and a constant state of camp clean

    Cruising life is testing the limits of my vanity (and teaching me new ones). 

    When we lived at the marina, water was easy – we could refill our empty tanks with no issue. Agora is a racer-cruiser sailboat that leans toward racer, so we don’t have many of the amenities traditional cruiser boats do, like solar panels, dinghy davits, or a watermaker.

    We’re extra conscious of water usage – it means minimal soaping, saltwater rinses when possible, and short showers. Shaving is a luxury, and when it happens, it’s logistical. Still, I’ve joked for years with Barrett that I’m a lady of luxury. 

    Here’s the truth about life at sea: we do have hot days, salty skin, and limited water. But we don’t go to bed dirty or forsake hygiene for happiness. We live in a constant state of camp clean.

    It’s kind of like glamping. It’s not “we have company coming” house clean, but it’s not fully off-the-grid middle-of-nowhere living either. (Though it is closer to the latter.) We’d love to install a watermaker onboard someday, but it’s a pricey project we’re not prioritizing yet. Sometimes Barrett and I have to choose between a full French press of coffee or two bags of tea. And that’s OK.

    In the meantime, we get the dishes mostly done every day – and completely done in a big batch the next morning. There’s salt on every surface, but the sun dries things quickly. 

    This chapter is teaching us to be more connected to our bodies and the earth. To feel less vanity and more freedom. I hope it’s doing the same for the kids – though they don’t have the same societal norms burned into their brains yet.

    Messy today looks different than it did eight months ago, but there’s not much in our boat life that looks the same. Most things look better.

    One thing Barrett and I reflect on often is how grateful we are for our time living at the marina before heading out to cruise full-time. That’s how we got to know the boat, its systems, Agora’s quirks, and our rhythms. Our priorities haven’t changed much – they’ve just come into better focus.

  • One shell of a good time

    One shell of a good time

    We arrived in Marco Island on Memorial Day, expecting to stay a few days and find a weather window to make the passage to Key West. When Friday came, we were both pretty worn out from the past week and ready to rest and explore – so we stayed put. Little did we know at the time, we were opting out of a potentially great weather window and ended up having to stick around Marco Island for another six days. 

    In retrospect, we would have left sooner than we did but our time there was good for a few reasons. It forced us to slow down, literally and figuratively – laws mandate idle speed in the bays and waterways of Marco Island. We observed wildlife and lived in the moment. It helped us settle into this cruising life and cherish the wonder on the kids’ faces, enjoying life on the hook and learning how to adapt when the weather has its plans. 

    Here are some Marco Island highlights: 

    • A significant current in the wide channel coming in from the Gulf
    • Beautiful beaches, full of shells worth staring at
    • The joy of fresh water – washing the boat and our clothes!
    • A too-shallow slip assignment in which Agora was sitting on the keel for hours when the tide went out (the marina apologized and refunded the stay)
    • Trouble finding Dolphin Tiki Bar & Grill, only to realize that their tagline is half the fun is finding us
    • Circling to find an anchorage after option one was too shallow and shifty from the river current
    • Manatees and natural beauty & a small-town feeling
    • Dolphin close enough to touch from the dinghy (we didn’t)
    • Canals for days
    • Gold Star rating: the public dinghy dock for boat parking while shopping at Winn-Dixie
  • Agora gets her groove back

    Agora gets her groove back

    After a month of the boat being out of the water for repairs, EVERYBODY here was excited to get back on the move. While we had a bit of a false start with a complicated propeller reinstall, Barrett and the team at Saunders made sure the throttle felt normal before we officially launched again. 

    We spent one night on the water near Orange Beach – for a final round of bushwackers at Pirate’s Cove, and so we could get the remaining mail deliveries on our way out of town. Carla and Keith saw us off in fabulous style with a handoff of packages in the middle of the ICW.

    We waved goodbye and blew kisses, and only some of us cried. (Spoiler: it was me, Susanna. It’s almost always me.) It was a strange, stressful, and surreal month in Alabama. Leaving Orange Beach, I felt the way I expected to feel on our initial launch from Pensacola. Relief, excitement, gratitude.

    We took an exciting trip east back toward Pensacola on Friday, May 16, in which the engine began making strange noises. Barrett diagnosed the issue as a loose (read: very worn and tired) alternator belt. So, as any normal cruising family would do, we turned the engine off and drifted for a little while as Barrett tightened the belt a bit… a couple of times. 

    It was an otherwise calm cruise down the ICW in reverse of our very first trip as a family – and we even landed in the same perfect anchorage outside Pensacola. The Big Lagoon, where it all began a month prior. We had been dragging the dinghy (aka Squeasel), so it was an easy bop over to the beach where the kids played in the surf and new friends were made. We knew the next morning would be the start of more travel, so we mounted Squeasel again, had a sunset dinner, and everyone went to bed early.

    Just one night in Pensacola, where we replaced the jib roller – the last repair from damage done on the passage, then it was on to Destin for a night. We were finally able to put the sails up for a part of the trip there. It was everyone but Barrett’s first real experience offshore, and the boys both had funny tummies. A little bout with seasickness followed by lots of rest time, but everyone was OK at the end of the trip. Destin Harbor was busy and loud during the day, but quiet and lovely during the night. Entering the channel there was our first sight of clear, turquoise water. The kids noticed, and one said, “This is the most beautiful water I’ve seen!” The entrance to the harbor has some serious shallows and shoaling, but it all turned out well coming and going.

    Following one short night in Destin, we moved right along to Panama City, where we needed to pause and spend the work week. Or at least our current work week. Since Barrett works three days a week, and I have flexibility in my work, we arrived on Monday afternoon and left on Thursday morning – so, it was also brief, but beautiful. 

    Knowing we’d stay put for a few nights, we launched the dinghy and the paddle board in Panama City for some sandcastle creations and snorkeling practice. The Lower Grand Lagoon Anchorage is nestled up against St. Andrew’s State Park, and we loved it. Quiet and still when we needed it to be, but full of nature (dolphins, hermit crabs, osprey, starfish, stingrays, and countless moon jellies). Plus other fun observations like tiki-themed pedal parties, sunset cruises, and live bait boats moored nearby. Truly a unique location. 

    We lived along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida, one day at a time. From our return to a familiar anchorage in Pensacola to a hot minute visit at what felt like Disneyland for boaters in Destin, then paradise in Panama City.

  • Sweet Home Alabama

    Sweet Home Alabama

    Greetings from Orange Beach, Alabama! The skies really are so blue here, where we’ve been waylaid for just over a month.

    We’ve worked hard lately, as parents, as partners, and as professionals, and while we knew a haul out mid-April would entail some critical boat repair, neither of us ever thought we would spend so much time in Alabama. It sort of feels like we got stuck before we even got off the starting line for cruising this year. This is all part of our life, and we wouldn’t be doing it if we weren’t flexible and able to roll with the punches. The reality is we wanted to be looking at the Florida Keys right now, and instead, we’re looking at getting past Destin.

    It hasn’t been easy, but it has been fun!

    We’ve spent hours at the beach, spotted dolphins at sunset on several occasions, dyed eggs for Easter, and celebrated Mother’s Day. We found ourselves always birdwatching, getting snuggled up on rainy days to watch family movies, and returning to a wonderful local playground and waterfront park. We have a favorite hiking trail here now, and we experienced several impressive versions a bushwacker.

    Agora spent exactly a month at a shipyard with the crew at Saunder’s Yachtworks, on the hard and getting some TLC after the delivery passage. After all the events Barrett shared in his previous posts, we needed a new cutlass bearing, a new propeller shaft, and a new shaft log. We had the pros install an emergency swim ladder, and we upgraded the bow roller to improve our anchoring system. Thankfully, the mystery engine issue worked itself out with all the prop and shaft repairs mentioned above.

    While we’ve been here, Barrett single-handedly (with phone-a-friend support, thanks Bill, Keith, & Steve) repaired the damage done by the anchor coming loose. He totally crushed the fiberglass work on a project we got an initial $10,000 quote to fix. Way to go, Barrett!!

    Agora was put back in the water on May 15 and needed time to sit before testing to make sure all the work below the waterline settled properly. We spent one night in Gulf Shores at Homefront Marina, which is connected to Lulu’s, a vibrant restaurant by Jimmy Buffett’s sister on the ICW with great live music, tasty food, and a huge sand playground for all ages.

    On the sea trial the next day, the engine seemed fine, but something still wasn’t right with the throttle. So, Agora was hauled out two more times to tweak the feathering prop, a complicated installation that apparently everyone learned something from. The third time really was the charm, and we threw the dock lines yet again!

    There are no words to express our gratitude for our Houston family friends, Carla and Keith, who happen to be living in Orange Beach at the same time as our detour here. We’ve been fortunate enough to feel at home in a little compound of two casitas and gazebos – perfect for our family of four. With access to two pools, laundry facilities, and reliable Wifi, there is truly not much more we could ask for. Thanks to our dear friends for their hospitality, including a loaned golf cart (land dinghy!) to get around and a borrowed Jeep when we needed to visit the shipyard or they insisted we explore places a little further away (hello, Flora-bama!). We are forever grateful.

    As we prepare for our biggest adventure yet, we find ourselves planning where we’ll go now – and what’s next moving forward. Stay tuned!