sv Bella Rose

Hello our friends,

Just a quick post this July 4th. I snapped this photo with me iPhone (wonderful technology) and wanted to share it. Bella Rose proudly flyin' the American Flag on this July 4th, 2010.

Rob

Wow,

I'll be the first to admit I have done a bunch of dumb things in my life, but one of them is NOT dropping anchor right in the middle of the channel, and no light on to boot. This sailboat, looks like a Morgan Out Island 41, is anchored literally right in the middle of the ICW, Intra-Coastal Waterway.

Just a few minutes ago a pusher barge with 3 or 4 loaded barges passed by sounding her horn. She passed on this side, between the sailboat and the no-wake marker. That sailboat is very lucky if you ask me...

CaptRob

Part of my DNA, what motivates me, is taking on new challenges. I like to pick something new to do. Then I research the challenge, study and learn all I can, and then complete the challenge myself.

There is a wonderful magazine focused on living aboard a boat and it is a reader-written magazine, the information is truly the voice of experience, and it is appropriately titled Living Aboard.

Living Aboard started life as a newsletter in 1973. It developed into an every other month, six issues per year magazine. The magazine changed leaders a few times, and in 1997 Fred Walters became the publisher. In May 2010, Fred passed the magazine on to Bob Bitchin and his Lats and Atts family.  What is that saying? "The only constant in life is change…"

Anyway…I strongly suggest you subscribe to this wonderful magazine. I received our July/August issue yesterday July 1st. This is a special issue for several reasons. It is the last Fred and Linda created issue. It is the first Bob and Robin created issue. Most important, it contains a well-written article by yours truly! Arrr.

Yep, starting on page 26 is a great article titled, Publishing a Book, and it is about sharing your story with the world. The article is about writing and publishing a book. 

I decided I wanted to write a book about two years ago. Or maybe I should say I started to get serious about writing a book about two years ago. I dreamed of writing a book for a long time. So I got serious and started writing. As you know, with any challenge, it is difficult to stay on task. Life has so many distractions. Long story short, the book was sidelined. In August of 2009 I again decided to write and finish my book. So I picked up where I left off, and made the commitment to finish the book, no matter what. I focused on the goal, a completed book, and let nothing distract me. For a month, yes an entire month, from the moment I got up in the morning until I went to bed at night, I worked on my book. It’s kind of a blur now, I honestly don’t remember much of August and the first half of September 2009. In October I published Sail the Seven Seas of Freedom. During the winter I added an ISBN, and purchased a distribution package so Sail the Seven Seas of Freedom is now available through the normal book channels like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The point I want to make, what I want to share with you. Subscribe to and support Living Aboard magazine and keep learning and doing new things. Little things or big things, keep doing something, keep learning, and keep tackling challenges.

Capt Rob Lee

Author of Sail the Seven Seas of Freedom

P.S. The July/August issue is certain to be a collecter's item.  8) 

Ahoy!

Yesterday, Sunday, Cheri and I had a "date" day.

First, we kinda loafed around, not doing to much of anything in the morning, just relaxing. I did do one load of laundry. Around 1:30pm we headed to the Cobb movie theater for the 2:15 show for Knight & Day, the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz movie. We both liked it. Yes, it is predictable, and most of the best scenes are in the trailer (advertising), but it is an entertaining fun film. 

After we got out of the movie, we went to Dairy Queen for dinner. I had a medium Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard and Cheri had a large chocolate dipped cone in a cup. We shared a lemon-lime head-freezy thingy for a drink.

Then we went to the beach to checkout the oil and tar balls. It is pretty bad right now.

Here are a few photos we took yesterday.

The first two photos are (obviously) of the Hangout right on the beach at the end of highway 59.

The next three photos are the oil and tar on the beach. If you look very carefully at the waves you can see the oil in the water. The water has orange areas in it. The last two photos are the tar balls on the beach. All the dark brown spots are tar balls. Most are very tiny, pea sized or less, with several in the quarter to half dollar size, and an occassional big tar ball.

Rob

Ahoy!

Our Blazer has been sitting idle and unused for many months. It appears we may need it for a while so I have been "re-commissioning" her. Today I repaired the right rear brake. About three years ago, while Cheri was driving to Tennessee to get Tiki, the right rear brake "stuck" while she was driving through the mountains. Making a long story shorter, I repaired the frozen/stuck caliper three years ago. The down side, the outside of the rotor was severely worn. I kept a box of brake pads in the vehicle and frequently changed the right rear brake pads.

Since Cheri will be driving the Blazer for a while, I was VERY concerned the right rear brake might fail when she was driving. So the repair job today. Yesterday, while we were up in the city, I purchased a new rotor. This is always a challenge because for some weird reason, the information on this year Blazer is not very accurate. For example, in this case the guy at the auto parts store insists the rear brakes are drum breaks. I say, "NO our Blazer has disks on the rear." He looks at me like I have two heads...

So anyway, today I replaced the right rear rotor and put on new pads. Thankfully, no big problems. A couple of bolts were kinda frozen, but I was able to get everything apart. The biggest challenge is compressing the caliper piston so it will fit the new fat brake pads and rotor.

Here are a few photos of the entertaining event. Hey, it's better than watching the news on TV! Arrr.

Ahoy,

I took this beautiful sunset photo and want to share it here. One of the benefits of life on the water.

Rob

Ahoy our friends.

Yesterday, after getting home from the hospital, after Cheri's car accident, this cool Pirate Ship was tied to the dock. It is pretty darn big! They pulled away as I got my camera out of our boat.

Pretty neat thing to come back to...

CaptRob

Ahoy,

Sami asked me to explain a bit more about this area to help people not familiar with the local landscape, and therefore how the BP oil spill is effecting this area. I used Google Earth and generated three (3) images of this area.

The first is a broad picture, showing the opening to Mobile Bay to the west, about 30ish miles, and Pensacola Pass to the east about 15 miles. Perdido Pass is in the middle of the photo.

The second photo is zoomed in a bit. The point I am making, this area is an island. There is a small tide along the gulf coast of approximately one foot. Often the wind raises or lowers the water more than the tide, north winds push the water out and south winds blow water in. The "back-waters" in the photo are salt water.

The third photo is zoomed in on Perdido Pass. My point here, Mobile Bay is 30 miles west and Pensacola Pass is 15 miles east, Perdido Pass is the ONLY access to the back-waters between the two. The Coast Guard insisted this pass had to remain navigable. There were booms in the area but the pass remained open. Note that near the bridge you can see in the photo the pass is less than 700 feet across.

Now that oil has made it through the pass, the Coast Guard has agreed to closing Perdido Pass. This will take several weeks to accomplish and the oil is damaging the inland areas. If they would have closed off this MINOR pass weeks ago all of this could have been avoided.

I hope this provides more detail to help you better understand the area and the effects of the BP oil spill on this area.

CaptRob

Ahoy our friends,

The BP Oil Spill is now inside the Pass. Interestingly, now that they have waited TOO long and the oil is inside the pass the local officials now have "permission" from the Coast Guard to close-off the pass (and BP will pay the tab).

"It was a very discombobulated and discoordinated effort," Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon told al.com. "They've had five weeks to plan this."

Of course, in my opinion, it would have made sense to close the pass BEFORE the oil got here. But what do I know, I'm not an expert! Again, the local officials have been trying to get the pass closed and Coast Guard spokesman, Cmdr. Chuck Diorio, said there are a number of considerations when closing a navigable waterway like Perdido Pass. Now that the oil has made it inside the Coast Guard agrees to close the pass.

We have some new neighbors at the marina. They arrived about an hour ago. Here are a few photos. The experts are here to save the day.

Hmmm, is that diesel?? LOL

We have a serious environmental crisis in this Country, it WILL effect everyone sooner rather than later. We have no leadership in Washington DC, nada, none.

CaptRob

Ahoy,

Each year Cheri plants a boat garden. She is very good at it! Here are a few photos of this years garden. We just picked a few tomatoes and peppers.

So, no matter where you "live" you can have fresh veggies!!

CaptRob