This past weekend, Blue Turtle and crew + Corey’s cousin, Nicole, headed to New Pass to anchor for the weekend. Also accompanying us on our cruise was Ned and Beth aboard their boat, All Bright at Sea. Ned and Beth had never anchored there and wanted to tag along to check it out. Needless to say I was pretty happy to finally have another girl on board for the weekend since I’m usually outnumbered by boys. With the kayaks launched, Corey and Nicole had the run of the place.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was a little windy on Friday evening and Saturday a.m. but otherwise picture perfect. The days were spent relaxing on the boat or at the beach and evenings were aboard All Bright at Sea enjoying Ned and Beth’s great company.
On Saturday, Beth had out her yoga hammock that was attached to their crane on top their boat. It was really interesting to watch the different poses as she dangled from the boat. I got to try it out later that day and managed to successfully pull off an upside down pose. Later in the evening, we went over to Ned and Beth’s for drinks and Corey and Nicole got to try it out. I decided I would get into it to show the kids how to hang upside down (this was after a few drinks of course). After I got my feet locked into position, I slipped right out of the hammock and splashed into the cold water. Shocked, embarrassed and tired from paddling against the strong current I made it to the boat. We all had a good laugh and I old the kids to not do what I just did. Anyway, it made for some great entertainment for everyone on board.
On Sunday, Corey’s mom came mid-day to pick up both Nicole and Corey so Randy and I had the afternoon free. We decided to take the kayaks on a paddle in the backwaters from New Pass to Big Carlos Pass. It was a beautiful day and I brought along my new zoom lens to stalk some birds. It has been years since I’ve paddled and taken photos of birds and it was wonderfully peaceful. After our long paddle, we stopped over at the dog beach for a beverage and pet some pooches.
It was so great to get off the dock and we got to test out our generator. Randy has been working out a few issues with it and we want it to be running well in a couple weeks when we head to the Keys and Key West for Corey’s spring break. We are bringing along my sister and 2 nephews on that trip and we are all very excited about it. More to come…
That was soo much fun Kim! Thank you and Randy for letting us tag along with you ! We had such a good time with you guys! I’m ready to go again!
Anytime Beth! It was a great weekend!
Another great post! Nice colors on the bird pics too. Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks Kam!
Awesome pics as usual! What are your thoughts on the pros/cons/tradeoffs of real world functionality of sundeck versus double cabin layout?
Thank you Ken! There are pros and cons to both sundeck vs. double cabin (aft cabin) layout. While we love our aft cabin layout in Blue Turtle, we’d love to have a sundeck style boat. The sundeck is wonderful since you have a covered “back porch” suitable for furniture and it’s great in the winter months down here. We really never use our back decks unless we are on hook or underway. I tell Randy I’d love to be able to sit on the back under cover and work vs. being indoors. Sundecks style boats seem to give you more livable space and we love that they have a hardtop which is perfect for storing kayaks, dinghies, etc. I have heard that sundecks can be difficult to dock or hard for the captain to be able to see around it. While we love the sundeck boats, our aft cabin style layout works great for us since we have kids with us many times and we are all active. We have plenty of space for fishing and when we are in the Keys it works out great when we go diving and snorkeling. A sundeck style boat would be very difficult to fish or dive off of since there isn’t the space and you have a longer climb down to the swim platform. I’d say if you plan to be very active on the water, the aft-cabin layout is best and if you want that extra space and outdoor patio the sundeck would be the way to go. I sense maybe a blog post about this might be coming….