Homewood Suites Tampa Airport

... to work but we discovered that we needed three new batteries as they didn't have a charge today after being charged all day yesterday. Richard and I are giving each other batteries for Christmas! It was neat to hear the noises on the hull of being in the water. We saw, and heard the snorting of, our Cortez Cove Manatee today as well as lots of mullet. Apparently they're migrating up rivers to spawn ...

... fancy new "Masquerade II" graphics on. And today we ordered the wooden plaque that needs to be mounted in the boat to display the official registration number and net tonnage. There is a Manta 42 sailing cat in the yard with us. The couple live in Punta Gorda but are having some work done on their boat bottom here too. Coincidentally they also have a sailing cat in the North Channel so we were able to compare stories about sailing there ...

Woo-hoo - we made it to the boat today and she looks great! Today was warm and sunny with a light breeze -perfect for offloading the U-Haul and trying to find spots for everything on the boat. There was a little mildew inside but the boat smelled good and I’m sure the Bounce sheets and buckets of Damp Rid did the trick in controlling humidity through the summer ...

After 1450+ miles and three days in the U-Haul van we’ve arrived!

We pulled into the Best Western Manatee Hotel in Bradenton at 5:30 pm bone weary and sore with aches in places we didn’t know we had. However the weather was absolutely fabulous today - warm and sunny - and the U-Haul made it - so all’s well! We even have the same room that we occupied in July

We were too late to see the boat today and settled for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in ...

Trin-i-tee 5:7 As In T57 Did A New CD!! Call Love, Peace, And Joy At Christmas And It's Excited!! I love The Trin-i-tee Look With There R&B Style And The Soul Look I Love Many Of There Songs Like The Christmas Song And This Christmas Those Are My Favorties.

... on this trip :)  Special thanks to everyone that came out last night to wish me farewell. It really meant a lot to see all my friends enjoying my company. Also again I wanted to thank my "Coke" family for making my last two weeks there memorable, I hope you guys can get your little taste of paradise through my entries.  Well until the next entry (which will be from Guatemala!!) stay posted and enjoy the blog.

... norm and when my parents flew in from the Netherlands, lunch at Tropical was a given. During the 6 years we called New Hampshire home, it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Boston's Chinatown that would get our blood flowing and worth the drive. China Pearl's come hither Dim Sum held us in its grasp, and being only a handful of non Asians at this immense 3 story restaurant only reinforced the idea that this was the "It" place outside of Canton to eat these morsels of delight. We arrived ...

... pass by and see it like we normally did when we took route 192, but that we had to drive past it meaning farther than it. He kept insisting that I was wrong and then thought that we were coming from a completely different direction than we actually were, so I was right. As always! Haha! When we got back to the house we all just hung out. Mom and I wanted to play cards but Mike had a headache and didn't want to pla, so mom, dad and I sat ...

... We had three ocean view cabins on the Empress deck, forward port. My room number was E2. I wish I had pictures of the room to show everyone, but I wasn't the best picture taker back in the day. We immediately headed for the Brasserie Bar and Buffet. After a quick and delicious meal, we were off to the upper decks, taking pictures of the Tampa area.
As any experienced cruiser ...

... were in hiding at this time, which he seemed a bit upset about. I suggested he take one of me instead, but he looked appalled at the thought of clouding his lens with anything other than a wild beast. As Jay was putting his camera in a locker, the jalapenos from last night's pizza suddenly kicked in, and I was forced to make a frantic dash for the toilet. I was in there for ages, having one of the most agonising dumps of my life. They had been fairly hot going in ...