Monthly Archives: July 2011

It seems that each weekend has brought rain lately, so we decided that since Ben can work from anywhere he has an Internet connection and for the fact that Blake and Carol are on summer break, a Tuesday sounded like a good day to hoist the sails.

We sailed over to Little Sabine after departing the dock about 8am CST on Tuesday.

Blake was ready to cruise.

Carol suited up for the cruise as well!

Blake and Carol smiling for the camera.

It was such a calm day with wind only around 5 knots, we poked along at about 1.5 knots of speed with Blake at the helm.

This fellow appeared to enjoy the calm water.

There were a few other sailboats on the bay.

It turned out to be a fantastic evening.

Dinner is served.

Wednesday was spent with a lot of swimming, though we don’t have many pictures from this day. We stayed at anchorage and did take care of some maintenance such as polishing the hull and stainless.

We awoke early as usual on Thursday and weighed anchor about 8am CST to head back to the marina.

On the sail back we were treated to a show of our military running training exercises.

We had a great family trip over to Little Sabine. We’re planning a trip over to Pirate’s Cove, Ingram Bayou, and The Wharf toward the end of next week. We will be accompanied by 2-3 other sailboats, so we hope the weather is nice!

It typically gets crowded at the Blue Angel Air Show, so we tend to go over the day before in order to grab a good spot for anchoring.

We headed out Thursday morning and sailed for about an hour till the wind died completely causing us to deploy this iron sail.

Ty and Kiki followed us over to the beach on s/v Shooting Star.

Sailor cruising to the beach.

Ty and Kiki under the Bob Syke’s Bridge.

Captain Ben at the helm.

Father and son.

Blake and Pogo.

The parachuters were out.

Ty and Kiki rafted to us for the night.

Blake and Carol discovered a stowaway frog in the anchor locker.

We dinghy’d over to m/v Fantasea for evening cocktails and Captain Coy’s birthday celebration, but didn’t get any pictures, though had a really nice time visiting.

The next day the beach began to pack out.

Fat Albert!

The United States Blue Angels!

Stunt planes.

United States Coast Guard keeping an eye from above.

Other folks enjoying the Friday air show.

Ty, Ben and Blake lounging.

Ben hanging out in the hammock on the bow of Monomoy.

Carol and Pogo lounging behind Monomoy.

Our Friend Bill sailed in on s/v Times Aargh Changin. He docked up against the beach pier.

Ken cruised in on s/v Private Stock.

Ben and Blake went to the dock to pick up Carol’s mom who joined us for cocktail hour.

Carol and her mom enjoying a little mom/daughter shot of tequila.

Blake went for an evening row.

Ty and Kiki decided to head back to the marina and Carol’s aunt/uncle niece showed up at the beach to have dinner with us.

We had a really nice evening, then headed in for a good night sleep.

We awoke early on Saturday morning ready to defend our anchor line as the hoards of boats came cruising in.

Jody and family cruised over and brought Carol’s aunt/uncle/niece. Jody went straight for the hammock.

Ben and Blake playing in the water.

Keeldover anchored nearby, but it was so busy we never had the chance to say hi to Aaron and Aja.

A large storm brewed over Pensacola and appeared to threaten us, but changed course and headed East.

Carol was feeling patriotic.

Brice and Ashley along with Ashley’s brother and his girlfriend showed up and rafted to our other side.

We enjoyed a second air show.

Boaters at Quietwater enjoying the show.

Kelly and Jerry on Caribbean Dreamz arrived and anchored nearby on Friday, so they were up and at ‘em for the show.

Private Stock and Caribbean Dreamz.

Carol taking pictures of the Blue Angels.

Kelly and Jerry dingy’d over to say hi.

Ben, Blake and Pogo relaxing in the water.

Ken picked up some ladies on shore and was taking them back over to his boat when the Marine Patrol checked his life jacket count; he was all good.

We dinghy’d over to Bill’s boat to enjoy cocktails with his friends and family.

Another calm and quiet evening at anchorage.

Overall it was a fantastic few days at anchorage with family and friends; the weather spared us and we returned to the dock on Sunday to get Monomoy cleaned back up.

After a couple of gorgeous days on the water, we decided to head back to the marina and get the boat cleaned up and ready for the Blue Angel weekend coming up on the 8th-9th.

Great Escape crew having breakfast.

Carol took a dinghy ride around Little Sabine to get better familiar with our dinghy Sandy Cheeks.

We weighed anchor and headed out to sail for a bit, then return to the marina; s/v Great Escape departed a bit after we did and motored by.

Blake relaxed while playing his DS.

Carol tried her hand at fishing.

Other sailors enjoying the bay.

Time for a bikini change and a cocktail.

The wind picked up to around 9 knots, so Carol took the helm and carried us up to 6.8 knots cruising across the bay.

This fellow was in the middle of the bay paddleboarding.

Our friends Rich and Carol on s/v Blue Ocean cruised by.

Our friend Bill Carnley on his boat s/v Times Aargh Changin was also cruising the bay.

Shortly after the last photo was taken, the clouds darkened and lightning appeared, so we headed on back into the marina.

We’ll be heading back out this coming weekend for Little Sabine and the Blue Angel’s Air Show; looking forward to it!

What a gorgeous Friday!

We started off with a breakfast scramble cooked on our Fagor induction cooktop.

Blake loves the stuff.

After breakfast, father and son had to discuss navigation tactics; OK, they were looking up how to beat a level on Super Mario Brothers for DS.

What a morning!

Blake decided to row over to s/v Great Escape prepared with a water shooter.

The s/v Great Escape crew and the s/v Monomoy crew all went to Hooters for lunch, but for some reason none of us took any pictures while actually at Hooters. After lunch, a little shopping was done and Blake picked out a new stuffed pet.

Carol looking pretty.

We all went back to the boats, so Ben could get some more work done, then it was time to swim.

It was another great day on the water with good friends!

Our friend’s Conrad and Roxanne are in town with their daughter, as they get their s/v Great Escape ready to begin extended cruising in the fall.

They decided that after so much work getting the boat prepped, it was time to take a break, get away from the dock and go swimming, so we joined them and sailed over to Little Sabine.

Blake was happy to be away from the dock.

The US Air Force was out performing training exercises.

Other sailors were cruising the bay; it almost looked like a weekend at times.

Ben relaxed and happy to have the sails up!

Here’s Carol smiling as she always does; the tattoo is one of those fake ones that Ben was sporting a week ago.

The wind was perfect at about 5 knots, so Blake took the helm.

As we approached Little Sabine it was time to drop the sails.

Once we set the hook, we looked up to see s/v Great Escape entering Lil Sabine.

Once they set their hook, they loaded up into their dink and proceeded to head our way with loaded water shooters.

Ben had work to get done, so the rest of the gang went swimming.

That water shooter must have one serious kick to it.

After Ben completed what he needed to work on for the moment, he joined everyone for a cocktail on the water.

Great Escape and Monomoy.

Great Escape crew getting back aboard.

We’re still anchored and plan to just stay through the day, so Ben can work and the family can swim all day; what a life!