Teresa – MV Simple Life

Teresa Arrives

Teresa arrived and we were excited to start our trip south but first we had to finish the maintenance projects such as…

I burned through two Dremels using cut off wheels.

It was not all work this summer. If I was not watching Cozi TV with my Dad I was probably enjoying “Dinner & a Movie” each night with my brother Eddie and his wife, Doreen. They are amazing cooks and I eat well while I am home. Dad & I Celebrated his 90th birthday with a visit from his sister Maybelle and her husband, Armand. Dad’s is 90 years old and I’m still hearing new stories from my auntie Maybelle about when they were young growing up together. It was nice to see the three of them together. I wish I had taken more photos but here are a few…

Dad’s 90th Birthday

Cozi TV makes me smile as I watch the Six Million Dollar Man or Little House on the Prairie and it’s like it’s 1979 all over again.

As the morning temps kept getting colder the marina was empty under a full harvest moon.

We watched as friends also set sail in search of warmer weather.

Saucy Fox Departing Warwick, RI for points south

We found some time to catch a small striper

Finally we untied the dock lines and cast off. It was a great feeling to be sitting in the pilothouse as we pointed Simple Life south.

I wanted to top off the fuel tanks so we stopped in Newport, RI at the Newport Yaching Center.

The New Simple Life has 4X as much power and 2X the speed but also consumes 4X the fuel. Even with the fuel tanks more than half full a top off of the tanks means 890 gals.

Soon we were passing Misquamicut State Beach and running the inside of Fisher Island.

As the sun was getting low we decided to tuck in behind Fisher Island for the night. We arrived at our chosen anchorage and found a CG Cutter anchored so we dropped next to them.

Below you can find a walkthrough Video of the CGC COHO

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/776029/virtual-tour-uscgc-coho-wpb-87321

As soon as I dropped the anchor and started paying out the anchor chain… it stopped… Hmmmmm.. Better go check the anchor locker. I found a dreaded “Chain Knot”!!!!

We spent some time untangling the anchor chain before making dinner and relaxing in the salon for the night. We will retire tonight and in the morning decide where we are going? Winter 05, Leg 001 looked something like below.

While it’s unusual for me to spend so much time in one place rather than to keep moving… I was having too much fun to depart to other destinations. My winter was spent in Cape Coral, FL.

Cape Harbour Marina

The marina I chose was Cape Harbour in South West Cape Coral. I had a great location along the boardwalk.

Every morning I would make my coffee and walk the boardwalk. The cafe on the boardwalk would often have live music.

Flashed back to high school when I heard Fire & Rain

Galley Action

Upon returning from my walk, I would often griddle me up something to eat and pack the fridge with leftovers. Cooking is something I enjoy doing but when you are cooking for one I often find myself cooking large quantities. I love leftovers!

What is interesting about food provisioning for my boat… I often stick to non-perishables that store without refrigeration and last a long time. Lots of rice, bean, pastas, oats, can goods, etc. Nice to know if I shove off… food is not going to be one of the things that will force me back to a dock. When I’m in port and plugged into shore power I’m usually close to a grocery store. Those are the times I enjoy my steaks, fresh vegetables and of course mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Oreo Cookie Pie crust with MCC ice cream

Tiki Bar

When you run out of ice cream it’s off to the V.O. Tiki Bar around the corner for a beer.

Angela

New Years Eve

It was nearing the end of 2019 and the 2020 New Years decorations were being put into place.

Star Wars – A Space Opera

The last Star Wars movie had recently been released to theaters.

Star Wars in chronological story-time order

A friend asked me, “Are you a fan of Star Wars?”. “Of course!”, I said. He then asked me… “What is your favorite Star Wars movie?”. His question caught me completely off guard. Hmmmm. I tried to think back of all the different Star Wars movies I have seen in the past and I simply blurted out “Return of the Jedi”. I have to admit in that moment I simply could not recall the details of the individual movies and simply gave him an answer to avoid dead silence or him believing that I was not truly a Star Wars fan. We then made plans to go see Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) in the local theater. It was in that moment that I realized I needed to re-watch the whole Star Wars series of movies in what I’ll call “story-time order” so that the SciFi space opera makes sense.

This was quite an undertaking but when I got to the last Star Wars movie I realized that the answer I had given earlier was 100% bullshit. Return of the Jedi is the worst of all the the Star Wars movies. Return of the Jedi is like watching The Muppets and it was full of cheesy dialog that just doesn’t fit the drama unfolding.

The best Star Wars movie is a toss up between two of the stand-alone movies, Rogue One & Solo. Note that these two Star wars movies were not part of the original trilogy, prequel trilogy or the sequel trilogy which form the base of the Star Wars story (shown on the bottom of the story-time timeline pictured above).