Southern Venture

[Legacy]

Terrific journey. Can't wait to see the next batch of photos. If you want me to Fedex down a space heater let me know!

[RicM]

Here are the pictures from Rialto Marina. We hated to leave. The people were soooo nice and it was the most peaceful beautiful place.....
Miss K by the stables....


These next 4 make up the panarama from TaT




That's a 72' Marlow behind us. You meet a better class of people here than at Roland Martin's Bass Hell


TaT at the Rialto dock


A classic A27 in beauriful shape on the Okee Waterway:

[Veebyes2]

I was cruising in new to me grounds, the TE threads, & came across your trip logs.

What is the planned route? Doing The Loop in reverse?

[RicM]

I'm afraid you will have to read back in reverse.... this is much too complicated, and insane to explain.....

[RicM]

Ok boys and girls, listen up 'cause Captain Ric is gonna tell you about why we go to sea. Today we left St Lucie Inlet at 830 AM looking for sailfish. We fished long, we fished hard, and just before pulling the plug at 2PM, our most excellent mate, Justin dives to a rod and starts doing what he does yelling "Sail in the spread". Miss K was up, stepped forward, and was strapped in to do battle with an excellent sailfish.


Miss K fought the fish with panache & style, bringing it quickly to the boat, which was handled expertly by Bob Schepis, father of RobS that you all know well. Justin & I gloved up for the picture session




We then returned the angry, armed creature back to the sea. The fish was about 6 feet long, estimated to be 50-60 lbs. Seeing one of these animals up close is a thrill that makes me wonder why I even concern myself with so many of the small details and problems of life. These are the moments when we are most alive, when all involved have the most to loose (believe me this animal can and would kill you in a most painful way if it could), and the most to gain, when we count coup on the dangers in life and both parties release their death grip on each other to fight again another day. An extraordinary day. A reason to be alive above all others. Oh, and Bob caught a sailfish too.

[RicM]

Back in the cold for a few days now, and I'm dealing with the realities of life and making a living. I found myself thinking "This is not so bad" as I was driving to work Thursday and Friday morning in the pre-dawn cold. This is in marked contrast to my attitude of previous off seasons, which was "This sucks". While I still have not decided if this "Southern Venture" will bear repeating next year I am beginning to fear I may not be able to do without. While I worried beforehand about whether I could afford it, I have found ways to make it pay and finagled ways to pay for it. The challenge of paying for it has made me work harder and smarter. It's a challenge, but I'm enjoying the challenge as well. I really appreciate everyone's comments and affirmation, and to those who may think that I'm rich guy having fun and bragging about it, let me assure you that while I have been VERY fortunate in being able to do this, it is, indeed all based on hard work (which I do love) billed one hour at a time. As I look back at my life and career I am realizing that I actually could have done a lot more if I had taken more chances, and could have accomplished greater things if I was willing to dream bigger dreams. No regrets about the past, but me thinks there will be more adventures and bigger dreams to come. The "Southern Venture" has taught me that.

[Legacy]

Ric. Have thoroughly enjoyed your images and stories. You have inspired me to do a similar journey next Winter should the economy turn and my business get back on its feet this year. Keep posting your thoughts!

Rick

[RicM]

Well here we are, ready for the February chapter of "Southern Venture", and once again the weather gods are chasing me up and down the East coast. My flight at 6:15AM tomorrow, connecting through Baltimore, has already been canceled and I'm rebooked on a later flight connected through Philly. I have my doubts about that one as well, but I'm going with the flow for now. Wish me luck y'all!

[jcollins]

Well here we are, ready for the February chapter of "Southern Venture", and once again the weather gods are chasing me up and down the East coast. My flight at 6:15AM tomorrow, connecting through Baltimore, has already been canceled and I'm rebooked on a later flight connected through Philly. I have my doubts about that one as well, but I'm going with the flow for now. Wish me luck y'all!

Let me be the first to say "good luck" on your trip south this week.

Wednesday
Snow. Snow may be heavy at times. Total snow accumulation of 12 to 18 inches. Blustery with highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Gusts up to 35 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow near 100 percent

[RobS]

Ric,
Matt Hanna, myself and our significant others ventured down to the Atlantic City Boat Show this passed Fri to Sat in the in the midst of the Mid-Atlantic Snow Storm without issue. Hopefully you have the same luck. Catch a ride with Dave?

John,
You looked very well equipped in that photo to handle the winter weather

On a side note,
The show was downsized further from last year and very quiet (a combination of economy and weather forecast I imagine) but of course we managed to have a great time in AC. The best part of the show was when the 4 of us were standing in the cockpit of a 34ft $350K express cruiser and the salesman asked what boats we currently have. When we told him Albin 28's, he replied "A 28 Albin, now that's the boat my wife and I really want!"

[RicM]

Rob,

That's an interesting comment by the boat salesperson. I've really stopped going to the boat shows, there's really not that much I'm interested in when I get there. I know when we get around to moving south for the winter we're going to want something bigger, but I can't bear the thought of giving up the 28 (hopefully I won't have to), because it's such a great boat for so many things.
Been e-mailing Bob and we have reserved a slip at Harborside Marina in Stuart for Friday & Saturday nite. We are getting pushed out of Four Fish for the weekend, the place is filled up for a regatta, all slips and rooms at the Inn are taken. Hopefully Bob can join us for dinner and a day on the water or two. I can't complain, they let me use any empty slips for free when I'm there. Friday looks like a fishing opportunity (3-4' with chance of showers). Gotta get there first! Dave's already down there, he's arriving at Four Fish tonight, and supposed to pick me up at the airport tomorrow.

[RobS]

Rob,

That's an interesting comment by the boat salesperson. I've really stopped going to the boat shows, there's really not that much I'm interested in when I get there.

We spend 90% of the time with the vendors selling accessories and stuff. 5% of the time looking at the boats and talking about how much we love our Albins. And the other 5% buying beer

Been e-mailing Bob

He's probably at PBI trying to get Karen (a.k.a. Mom) on a flight today, she's supposed to fly back to NY tomorrow and they are trying to switch it to beat the storm. You should call his cell. Without Karen I'm not so sure he'll know how to check his email. He'll be a bachelor for a week so I'm sure he'd look to get together, on or off the water.

[RicM]

Southwest has cancelled my first flight and my rebooked flight, and then there was no seats left until Monday! Normally I would just bag the whole thing and wait until next week, but Dave is sitting in the motel down there waiting for me. I cancelled with Southwest and rebooked with JetBlue out of Boston at 5 this afternoon, arriving at 8PM. It's a direct non-stop, so no connections in Balt-Philly area should make better. A lot more $$$ and I have to drive to Boston in the snow this afternoon. I have really done something to piss off the weather gods. May have to sacrifice a goat or something.

[RicM]

Goat sacrifice proved ineffective and detrimental to the goat. Switched to a direct non stop on Jet Blue out of Boston at 5 this afternoon, and now that's been cancelled. Next available is Sunday(!) on Jet Blue or Tuesday on Southwest. US Air had a couple of seats on Sat but wanted $1200 round trip! Poor Dave will have to entertain himself for a few days I'm afraid.

[RicM]

It's Tuesday and I am just collecting my thoughts on the February chapter of the 2010 Southern Venture. Once again I learned a lot this trip. Of course there was the weather complication known as "Snowmageddon". My flights were delayed by 4 (!) days by that mess, and it ended up costing me twice what it normally does to get down and back within a reasonable amount of time. Normally I would have just bagged the whole trip and tried again the next week, but with Dave sitting down there in the motel waiting for me (he drove down a few days earlier), I couldn't really leave him high and dry.
Dec, Jan, & Feb are great times to be down there, but not great times to have guests. Winter in South Florida is still winter. Stormy, chilly, with occaisional nice days that hit the upper seventies. March April and May (I'm told) are the great months for weather and fishing. The winds start to slack off. It's warmer and there are more sunny days and the fishing just improves month by month. Guests arrive this time of year with shorts and bathing suits expecting beach weather and it's just not there, at least most of the time.
Four Fish Marina has been great to me and I really like the people. Dave and I did some exploring, however and I could get better accommodations for A LOT less money. We looked at a place called "Harborage" in Stuart that was spectacular for $10/ft/mo. Yes that's $280/mo for an Albin 28 TE. I'm paying $400 at Four Fish. The Harborage is wet slips, fixed docks, but with a beautiful shore facility. There are the requisite "luxury" condos but slip renters get full use of the condo facilities, gymn, 2 restaurants (one casual, the other upscale) exquisite showers and locker rooms, pool, hot tub, captain's lounge, rec room, etc. The dock guys walk the docks twice a day and will contact you if there's anything amiss with your boat. Free WiFi and cable TV. Electric is metered, but not a big deal for Time After Time. If I do this again next year, and with Miss K having more time, the on shore facilities will become much more important. March is already looming. I'm due for some good weather luck and the current plan is to take TaT on a little trip to the Keys, Islamorada to be exact.....stay tuned.