Dinghy part II

So Rob has been busy working on the dinghy. Here are pictures of the latest upgrades. The details are Mahogany insets no less. 

Looks awesome!

A new dinghy

So Ryan wanted a new dinghy. Not just any dinghy but the perfect dinghy. How do you get the perfect dinghy with all the bells and whistles that you want? You build it! This is a photo log of the process. It serves two purposes: 1) so that we can see that we are making progress; 2) so that Ryan can show it off. 

And as a bonus if we still have any followers..you got a new blog post!

Thanks to everyone that has been (and still will be) 'Tom Sawyered' into helping. Especially Rob, without your expertise, hard work, and shop this would never be completed.

Start with: The plans.

Step one: pieces of wood

Step two: wire pieces of wood together.

Step three: start fiberglass work

Bucket list...checked

Well Ryan has declared Sunday to be Funday, which means, he is ready to play tourist and see everything he has been missing by working ALL the time.

Our first Sunday was an unexpected declaration "I want to play today." To which I immediately dropped everything and said "Okay, what are we doing?!" 

We decided that since it was beautiful flat calm seas and weather we would go exploring/treasure hunting/snorkeling. We went to Honeymoon Cove on St. John. Which is where Ryan goes everyday that he works. :)  [baby steps]  

Upon arrival I jump in the water and begin looking for treasure, Ryan grabs a scraper and starts cleaning on the bottom of the boat. Sigh, he may be further gone than I thought. Oh well he is in the water and he is happy, good enough for me. So I continue exploring, the visibility is incredible today, I see something different on the bottom, so I dive down, and find an octopus "nest" (they collect pretty things and surround their space) totally excited I come up and tell Ryan then head back down, upon looking closer, sure enough he's home. I have been wanting to see an octopus for a long time and suddenly when I least expect it, there it is. (I have snorkeled this spot A LOT and not seen him.) Ryan is excited too as this is his first octopus. Considering ourselves lucky we continue on with our explorations which leads us to another beautiful spot, Lovango Island, which was a first for me. It is such a perfect little spot that I can't wait for our next company to come stay with us so that they can come see this place! Perfect protection from the waves, clear beautiful water, and live colorful reef.

Fast forward to next Sunday Funday. Again beautiful weather and flat calm seas, today Ryan has decided that he wants a new stamp in his new passport. He said he doesn't like having all those blank pages :) so we are heading out to Jost Van Dyke. What a perfect day to make the trip! On the way we called the Mom's and wished them a Happy Mother's Day. Without them we wouldn't be us, and we definitely feel blessed to be us. 

We had fun, had lunch, and visited with friends. It was a good afternoon. On the way home we saw dolphins! Ryan stopped, threw on a mask, and jumped in the water. Four of the dolphins swam right up to him!! He says they smiled and seemed to be curious. I went camera crazy and tried to get lots of pictures. Unfortunately only one shows how close he actually was. MY TURN, MY TURN! In I go. And right off the bat I have three dolphins right below me! And one is a baby!! It is so awesome. I can hear them talking. And like with Ryan, they seem more curious than afraid, mine didn't come as close as they did with Ryan, it could have been that they had the baby with them and were being more cautious, but it was still an incredible rush.

 

Bucket list, we haven't forgot about you, we have been busy, but thanks for reminding us that you are there. We have declared every Sunday to be Funday and we can't wait to check more things off.
Readers, we haven't forgotten about you either, we have been boring, but hopefully with four Sundays a month we will have fun things to share with you again. Thanks for sticking with us!

As always we miss you all terribly and wish you would come visit! We have so much to show you!

 

A few other pics of us enjoying ourselves.

 

Well most of us are enjoying ourselves.

 

Looking for a good read?

Are you land locked?

Wondering what life on board is like?

Or maybe your on a boat but want to know you are not alone. 

 Well look no further!*

 Have I got a blog for you! 

(*Okay so you will have to look a little further but not too far.)

I have family and friends always asking..."the blog is behind. Why don't you write more? How am I suppose to live through you, if you don't keep the blog up?"

 I'm sorry folks but the plain truth is that no matter how hard I try I can not for the life of me figure out how to make work, grocery shopping, laundry, and everyday boat maintenance interesting. I have tried, I promise. But I'm sad to say "that dog don't hunt". But lucky for you all, my talented friend Barbara does know how to write about those things, and in an interesting, fun to read way. In fact, most of the time she takes the words right out of my mouth (if I had been able to think of them in the first place). Plus she writes MUCH more frequently than I do. BONUS!!

So I would like to thank all of our readers that are sticking it out and keep checking in with us to see what's new. We are here! We are just not very interesting. 

So to get your fix until our next blog just click on this link to hop aboard 'La Luna' http://hartsatsea.typepad.com/  that should satisfy your wanderlust (and buy me some time) for a little while.

Thanks Barbara for letting us "hijack" your blog, keep up the good work. (Pictures also from her blog.)

And faithful reader, Thanks again for checking in.

We miss and love all of you back home!

Love,

The lazy bloggers on Sandy Dreams

I'm so handy!

I have been there done that and have the t-shirt pants to prove it!! LOL ok so maybe not ALL that but I do feel pretty productive.  I have been pretty crafty lately and I'm showing off my skills.

In no particular order here are some of my previously unblogged achievements:

Exhibit A: 

Before - our window hatches.

After - window hatches.

I made screens/window shades for them!

Now the sun and the bugs stay out!

Exhibit B:

My friend Mary asked me to help her put decals on a boat.

Not too bad if you ask me (Paint overspray wasn't us!)

Exhibit C:

Ryan wanted a new bag for carrying all his captain stuff around. The zippers on backpacks kept corroding and falling apart.

This is proto type one, it is holding up okay but bag two is on the drawing board and will be bigger and better!

Exhibit D: 

Baskets for our beach treasures. 

They are Made of rope :)

Exhibit E:

I changed the light in the closet.

And I didn't shock myself or burn anything down! The ends are soldered and everything.

Exhibit F:

A bug screen for the "front door"

It's actually just a curtain hung up but it works great.

Exhibit G:

Shelves

Lots and lots of shelves

The boat had several large cabinets and hanging lockers but it was wasted space for us so I started adding shelves. 

Now we can fit more stuff!

 Exhibit H:

I painted Ryan a picture of his little gremlin.

Exhibit I:

I have been studying herbs and the property of the different plants. I am not near as knowledgable as my friend Sarah but I am really enjoying learning and reading about everything.

Our little garden on deck. The snapdragons are just because they are pretty. We also have chives, rosemary, parsley, peppers, and aloe with several other seeds waiting for pots. Oregano, lavender, basil, cilantro, mint, chamomile.

Exhibit J:

A divider for another anchor system in the chain locker.

Ryan actually helped but if he wants credit for everything he's been doing then he should write his own blog ;)

Exhibit K:

Peeled wallpaper in the forward cabin. (Yes, we still have wallpaper but slowly we are getting it all)

Exhibit L:

Selling Photographs printed on canvas

Ok, so I have blogged about this before but it doesn't hurt to plug myself again. :)

Exhibit M:

Tshirt pants

Yes I can make pants...out of t-shirts! 

I know they're AWESOME! LOL 

The internet has the best ideas.

Thanks Eric for the shirt!

Okay, I'm done. 

Thanks for letting me brag.

We miss everyone and hope that you all are safe through the tornados and other weird weather going on. We are getting ready for hurricane season here and have the boat moved into the mangroves. It is hot and the Mosquitos are terrible, hence the need for screens on the doors and windows, but those are small to having the boat safe and secure.

No other news here. Take care and come visit us!