Summer Breeze soon to be renamed Lady Darcy!

We have very much enjoyed our time on Summer Breeze. She has challenged us in many ways, we have learned a tremendous amount, have had some amazing experiences and made some wonderful lifelong friends. We traveled to the Chesapeake Bay, to the Abacos, to the Florida Keys and the FL loop twice and crossing Florida via the Okeechobee Lake 3 times.  

Meet Robert (Bobby) Kleiman and Michelle Fair, new owners of Summer Breeze!

Their plans are to be full time liveaboards in Stuart, FL. They will be doing their desired updates while at the marina as they prepare for their own adventures in cruising on "Lady Darcy" named after their beloved King Charles Cavalier 15 1/2 yr old pup who is making the trip home with them along with Finnley.

Darcy discovered that sleeping on the floor in our pantry was her spot!

Finnley found his "happy place" on board.

Video of Bobby and Michelle leaving our dock on Tuesday, July 27.

CLICK HERE for Youtube video

They spent several days here with us learning more about their new boat and moving on. 

The dogs were definitely a part of the training sessions.

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The survey/inspection was on July 13-15th.

On July 13, we take her over to the boat yard for the haul out and survey. Inspector #1 does the engine inspection and a sea trial.

The next day we are back there at 8 AM to meet the other surveyor and prepare for the haul out. 

Bella is ready.

She always looks so BIG out of the water! 

Time for another sea trial with surveyor/inspector #2

Bobby takes a turn at the helm with Bruce

On July 15, we take her back to her home dock and we realize that this is our last time to cruise...

 thus our final family photo on Summer Breeze!

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A throwback look when we bought Mar Azul in St Petersburg, FL and renaming her Summer Breeze.

Last visit for Bob and Elaine Ebaugh

Sold! Summer Breeze is ready for her new cruise loving owners!

SOLD

After 4 1/2 great cruising years, it is time for us to change gears and our beloved Summer Breeze is ready for her new owners. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time aboard with our short cruises around Charleston and our extended cruises to the Chesapeake Bay, the Abaco Islands and several trips to the Florida Keys and the FL west coast. We have made some new forever friends along the way and have some unforgettable memories. As time moves on and things change, it is now time for us to go in a different direction.

FOR SALE INFORMATION:

Click link below or "For Sale..." tab above.

Summer Breeze Sale Info 

Sunday June 6, home! 1551.73 miles at average speed of 7 mph

 The seagulls followed us all up the S Edisto River! 

We arrived a day earlier than originally thought and the weather was looking ok for a docking so we headed to the barn!

As we crossed the sandbar about 5 PM, several of our neighbors were out on their docks offering us homecoming greetings!

David Smoak

David Kennedy had a water 💧 hose welcome.

And Doug waving as we crept up to our dock 

Wait! Bella sees more people she recognizes! Her people!

Melissa, Caitlyn and Maya were on our dock welcoming us and being dock hands. 

And they cooked dinner for us tonight and helped us unload the boat. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 

We traveled for 12 weeks and 3 days though we thought we would be out 4-5 months. It was time to come home and it does feel good to be home.  

We traveled a total of 1551.73 miles at a whopping speed of an average of 7 miles per hour going to Stuart, FL, crossing Lake Okeechobee, spend some great quality time with Bryan, Mary and our longtime friends, Ridge and Denise. Then traveling down to Boot Key Harbor and working our way up the east coast. Travel days from Boot Key was 12 though we spent a few extra days here and there. 

H

Thanks for following along 

Bruce, Rosie and Bella 

Summer Breeze 

Sunday June 6, Horses heading to the barn!

 Since we have been on the return trip, it’s like we are horses heading to hay. Time to get home! 

And with the tumble Bruce had, we are not taking the dinghy down and stopping in ports along the way home. He is just too sore to be doing that but he is ok and is getting better. 

Last Friday morning, we started our trip through Georgia and we were armed and ready! It is too rough to travel offshore which is our preference with GA as the winding ICW and huge horse flies are brutal. 

Also this is St Andrew Sound, the inlet between Jekyll and Cumberland Islands which is a beast most days. The winds and seas are generally calmer early so we planned this crossing early. And it was perfect with gentle swells. 

The lighthouse off the northern tip of Cumberland Island, which we didn’t get a chance to stop at this year. 

 

Bella is very concerned about us swatting flies! 

We also bypassed Jekyll Island which is one of our favorite stops but it was way too early in the day to stop. 

Next was Mud River and of course, we managed to get there at dead low tide which means that if you can stay on the right track, there is between 7 and 8’ ft of water. We draw 4.7” it looked muddy! One of us wanted to wait for the tide to rise but the other 🙄 one of us didn’t. 

We got through without hitting bottom though our depth finder lost its readings at 1.6” with Bruce at the helm and Rosie swatting flies. 

We saw a Roseate Spoonbill!

We stopped at Wahoo Creek close to St Catherine’s Island. It was a very cloudy and windy evening. 

Saturday, we traveled again while swatting. Rosie just held her swatter like a magic wand keeping them from landing. Bruce killed a ton of them. Bella is freaked out by these swatters! 

We had thunder storms and lots of local boat traffic (it’s a Saturday) as we traveled close to Savannah. The clouds were amazing.

We were pretty beat by the time we got to Dafuskie and unfortunately were too tired to stop and Bruce is too sore to deal with the dinghy. 

See you next time Tom and Robin!

Happy hour #1, Advil and Gatorade!

 The winds again are very strong. Our flag was straight as a board and of course we were sideways to the current. Not always comfortable. 

Sunday, we are on the home stretch. It’s about 73 miles to our home dock and we can get there late in the afternoon though we are seriously considering waiting until morning to dock if the winds are as gusty as they have been and as are predicted for the afternoon. 

Passing Parris Island 

Making good time! Cloudy so it is comfortable and no flies!

Spoke too soon. Had a couple but nothing like GA! 

Yes! We are home! The winds cooperated and we were met at the dock by Melissa and Caitlyn!

May 30- June 3, Jensen FL to Cumberland Island, GA

Sunday May 30

 Leaving Jensen at sunrise with the vessel Pegasus leaving just before us. It was a very calm and eerie cloudy morning which meant rainstorms on the horizon! 

Despite all the holiday boat traffic, it was a good trip to Melbourne with several turtle sightings and a ray that flew out of the water. The storms seem to pop up close by but we managed to stay dry. 

Sunset at Melbourne on Memorial Day eve. 

Miles: 64.  8 hrs, 20 min 

Monday May 31, Memorial Day

We stopped at New Smyrna Beach, FL. We have anchored here at least 4 times over the years but have never gone to town. We had planned to but due to a tumble that Captain Bruce took, we stayed on board. A passing boat came up suddenly creating a large wake causing him to lose his balance on the dinghy deck and tumbling head first down to the deck below bounding off things and landing on his head and back. Thank God, no broken bones or major damage though he is scraped up, bruised up and very sore. 

Miles traveled: 71.6

Bella was eyeing that park with green grass that is "just over there"! 

Onward north! The weather has been nice, cool actually and storms around but none where we are, so we traveled a long day towards St Augustine.

We were only traveling about 20 minutes when an engine alarm goes off. Never a good thing. Seems that the alternator belt broke. So Rosie had Summer Breeze limping along on one engine while Bruce spent time in the engine room replacing it. Thank goodness for spare parts on board!

And the LB Knox Bridge is still only opening one span which makes it a tight opening. It was just one of those days.

But it got better! We had 3 dolphins ride along with us for a bit. 

Click here if you would like to see a video.

Since we were not getting off the boat, we chose to go about 3 miles north of St Augustine and try a new spot to anchor. We always go to the marina there and go to town but not this trip. We passed by the inlet and noticed how "ugly" it is offshore. Looks like it will be rough out there for a while so we get to go the rest of the way in the ICW. 

Miles traveled: 74.5 

Wednesday June 2

We woke up to a rain storm and since it had been cool the windows and doors were all open. It took us a while with many towels to dry up!

And then the rainbow! We could see both ends in the water very very close to us. 

We spent the night just north of the St John's River.

Miles traveled: 34.5, only 5 hours. After several long days, we were ready for some short ones.

Sunset at Sisters Creek.

Thursday June 3

The sea breeze has been coming in strong in the afternoons as well as the storms so today was another short day. We stopped at another new spot on the north end of Cumberland Island at Brickhill River. 

Miles traveled: 44.5

May 25 - 30, Elliott Key, Key Biscayne, Lake Worth and Jensen

   To view in your web browser click here 

RED SKY AT NIGHT, SAILORS DELIGHT! 

Lots of red skies this week and some great photos! 

We left Islamorada on Tuesday morning. Bruce is manning the anchor while Rosie and Bella mind the helm. 

Though Bella was minding that sunrise! 

She was mesmerized. 

It is still breezy though nothing like the last 10 days. 

We had a dolphin catch a ride with our wake for quite a while! I got several videos and photos. 

If the video doesn’t show up, click below.

https://youtu.be/fVkytP_DjmY

 Hope the links work! It was very cool. 

The ride through the Keys in the Florida Bay was nice. Pretty water, lots of shoaling though. 

We stopped at Elliott Key for 2 days. The water is immaculate there, much like the Bahamas. 

Bruce is off to check the anchor. Just like the Bahamas here the bottom can be coral or rock with not much sand to grab. Anchor was set in a good spot. 

During the 2 day stay, we we took several dinghy trips to different beaches and islands. 

Full moon. 

Red sky at night, sailors delight! 

So the saying goes. 

The next day we took a longer ride over to Boca Chica Key. Bella was super excited to see real grass but “no pets allowed” was posted. 

Another red sky night!

And full moon night 

Thursday, we moved about 18 miles to Key Biscayne, just across from Miami. 

We took a walk to the lighthouse. I have painted this one several times and happy to know that 2 out of 3 are in my collectors homes! 

It is on a beach that is frequently listed as one of the top 10. Not this year though! 

Sunset on Thursday. 

With another red sky! Miami in the distance. 

Friday morning, we left at 6 am for a 10 hour run offshore to Lake Worth in the Palm Beach area. The morning sky was beautiful with the lighthouse. 

The seas were predicted to be 2’ or less. I would say they were more but both Bella and I took precautions and we were fine for the long day of dodging 2 ocean going tankers, 2 cruise ships, several small dive boats and a million small fishing boats. We were on autopilot but had to keep an eye out for them and be ready to move. 

Saturday, we lifted anchor at 8am and after hovering/waiting for an opening at the fuel dock, we took on 278 gallons of diesel. That should get us home. Lake Worth is a large port as well so as we left we were dodging some big guys as well as a million small boaters out for the holiday weekend.

 

According to our FL sister, this is the peak of the season for the Royal Poincianas. This one is just stunning. 

We stopped at Jensen for the night and was hoping to meet up with our sister for breakfast but we scouted for good place to leave the dinghy and it just won't work. 😞