July 5 - The Arc's Nature Cruise with Passengers

The weather finally decided to cooperate a little on the 5th of July and we were able to fulfill a commitment we made to RethinkEnergyFlorida. Carter donated a nature cruise up the St. Marks River for the silent auction at their annual Energy Ball. Although it was a bit cloudy, it was a nice day for a cruise and we welcomed the Edwards family aboard for a 3 hour tour! Now if I can just get the theme song from Giligan's Island out of my mind!

We actually got to see alligators, turtles, and an osprey not to mention the beautiful, serene picturesque scenery.

This looks like the same guy on the same log we saw last time.

 

 

 He moved while we were up river and we saw him again on another log on our way back.

 

A cypress tree that has to be hundreds of years old.

The turn around point at the bridge.

The Osprey nest...but I didn't catch the Osprey.  He was there ... just not in my picture.

The sunken boat with circular staircase at the end of the run is still here.

4th of July Celebration!

Well you know we can't stay away from the boat for very long.  We had such great plans for the 4th of July but ... it rained ... and rained ... and then rained some more.  We arrived on Tuesday night with the idea of maybe cruising down to Apalachicola to join in the 4th of July celebration there but ... it rained so we drove down instead.  On the way there, along the road, Carter spotted this cool bone yard of old cars and trucks.  We had to stop and snap some pictures.  You sure don't see this everyday!

 

   

We had fun checking out this superb display of vintage autos and trucks wasting away in the Pan Handle. 

We pushed on to Apalachicola for the 4th of July celebrations. 

Typical site in this fishing town.  Fishing boat coming back in to port.

The Apalachicola Maritime Museum

Let the 4th of July Celebration begin!

The rain held off just long enough to get to see the parade. We have to admit that it was a bit different than any other parade we've witnessed but true to the expression "when in Rome" ... when you are in a golf cart community ....  you see golf carts! 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 What fun!





Summertime Updates to the Arc

We always try to continue implementing our ideas anytime we get free time so just before we left for the summer we painted a section of the salon.  Our idea is to create an undersea/aquarium look.  Carter painted the upper section a dark blue to simulate the water and we plan to collect fish and such, on our travels this summer. 

Pretty sure it will need a second coat.

I put together my first piece of sculpture on our 4th of July weekend trip to the Arc. 

Carter liked it and I'm happy with it too!

This is a piece of driftwood I picked up from an anchorage near Pensacola.  The large fish on the wall is Carter's from a trip to the Bahamas many years ago and the smaller fish are from a gift shop in Apalachicola.  Carter added the parrot(fish) that he found in a little store we visited near Panacea, FL on on our way to Apalachicola on the 4th of July.  This is just the beginning and we have the entire circumnavigation around Florida to add to it.  I'm sure we are going to come across some pretty cool stuff to work with.

Carter worked on another project this past week that we have been talking about for a while now.  We want to enclose the cockpit and have decided to use the spindles that we prepared two seasons ago. We where going to support the entire lifeline with these but later decided to go back with the original stainless steel stantions and just use the spindles in the cockpit area. This will be stirdier and easier to install and maintain. We think they look pretty good so we will incorporate them into the final design when we take the boat into the yard next fall.

View from the port side on the dock.

Carter is finishing up the starboard side with Radar supervising.

Starboard side as seen from the water.

Also, if you notice, Carter put the sticker for our first sponsor, EV Drives!  A major upgrade to our website is forthcoming with details about our propulsion system supplied by EV-Drives.

Thanks Carl, for your support.