Thanksgiving Cruise

Since we no longer have any family memebers in Florida, Kevin and I decided to do something a little different. We set sail Thanksgiving Day for a lovely 4 day cruise and will meet up with Charlie, Pavie and yes Pringle from "Trevier". We both left our ports thursday morning and headed for Cocoa Village to anchor and raft up on the SW side of the 520 causeway. I was doing some cooking while we were under way. I learned a lesson today, never make a pie while underway. I had a pumkin pie in the oven and a nice big sport fisherman boat came by with a nice 3 foot wake and about half of the pie filling slid out of the pie, luckly I had an alluminum foil sheet under the pie. When the filling slid out it also took half the pie crust with it, so it was a very lopsided pie. We all arrived and anchored around noon then started preparing dinner. Kevin smoked a turkey and we had a traditional dinner for Pavie, who is from Sweden and never had thanksgiving.
Friday morning Charlie was up earling and I went out to say good morning to him, he told me about his little visitor last night. About 2:00 am Pringle started barking and Charlie went out on deck to see what was going on, as he entered the cockpit, he heard a splash in the water (thought it was a fish). He then walked around the deck to see if there was anyone or anything to make Pringle bark, nothing. When he got back into the cockpit, he notice a nose and two tiny paws coming up from the dinghy on the the back rail, it was a raccoon. He then proceeded chasing it for about 20 minutes, until it swam off. Who would thing a raccoon would swim out to a boat. We spent a good part of the day walking around Cocoa Village and Pavie was very fasinated with "Travis Hardware Store", it is a very old hardware store that you can spend hours in. Everyone says if you can't find it anywhere else go to Travis. Saturday evening consisted of cocktails and turkey quesadilla's for dinner.
Saturday whe went back into the village for a few supplies then sailed down to Pineda causeway and anchored in the NE corner, since the winds were supposed to pickup and shift. We had a lovely pork roast dinner on Trevier and several bottles of wine.
Sunday morning we were woke to the sound of our anchor alarm, while still rafted. I ran over to Charlies boat and Kevin started the engine, we had drug into the shallows as far as the boats would go. I was at helm and Kevin and Charlie were maning the anchors. In a 25-30 knot wind I managed to manouver both boats, still rafted back up into deeper water to re-set the anchor. We put both ours and Charlies anchors down together and they both set. We all took our time getting up and moving since most of us where hung over. We all headed home around 1300.

Pinedaville 2008

For those of you who have never been to Pinedaville, it is a three day party on the NE beach at Pineda Causeway in Melbourne Florida in the ICW. It is sponsered by ECSA (East Coast Sailing Association) and consisted of about 30-50 boats anchoring and having a lot of fun. Several of the non working class sailors will arrive Thursday or Friday to set up the beach and get the prime anchorage spots. The rest of us slaves to our jobs arrive either Friday night or Saturday morning. Friday night will be a small get together for cocktails on the beach. Saturday the festivaties start around noon. This years theme was "Come as you were when the ship went down". From the photo below you will see there are many views to this theme.





Some of the activaties were a costume contest where the King and Queen are chosen, conch blowing contest, mullet toss (yes you toss a died mullet, the fish), limbo dancing and a lot of eating and drinking.





This year we were with George and Terry from "Serena", Charlie and Pavie from "Trevier" and don't forget Pringle, Charlies cute and loveable dog. Saturday was a lot of fun and the weather was wonderful, until 2100 when the wind shifted from the SW to the NE in a matter of minutes and it became very cold. The forcast stated sevear thunderstorms when the winds shifted, so everyone made a mad dash for their boats. Sunday morning there was a breakfast on the beach, but a lot of people did not go since it turned very cold and there were high winds. We still had a good time and left around noon to come home.

Well as most of you know, I did not do to well after Giza. I spent the next 5 days of our trip in bed and a nice visit to the local hospital (and that is all on that matter). Unfortunately I missed Kristina's graduation, but Kevin did not. They both said it was way too long and hot. So we will be heading home on Saturday, back to work on Monday. Until our next adventure, so long and happy sailing. May the wind Gods allways fill your sails.

After a few days rest, Kevin and I toured the Pyramids in Gisa. Our tour guide was Andrea (Kristina's roommate). She works on one of the local digs so we were able to see more then the pyramids. On our way to the Metro, Kevin fell and twisted his ankle, so when we got to Gisa, we did what any tourist would do. We road camels all around the site, which was a lot of fun. It was very hot and crowded, so we did not go in the big pyramid, but we did climb up a few blocks. There is also a solar boat museum which was very interesting. They found this one boat disasembled and had a local gentlemen assemble it. I think Kevin liked that the best. I liked the camels.

This is the last day of our tours, we have a very busy day; Valley of the Kings and Karnak. Each area is on different sides of the Nile in Luxor. We will first visit the Deir el-Bahri Mortuary. This temple was one of the first to be ruled by a female and she had to prove her importance, so on the walls of the temple, she shows the conception of he birth with the Gods. Next was the Valley of the Kings and we went to two different temples. Unfortunately we were not able to have the camera's inside the tombs. They were wonderful the way all the color of the paintings are still on the walls. Our last stop was Karnak in downtown Luxor. This is the home of the Obolisck, which was shown in the quarry at the beginning of our cruise. All I can say is everything here is big, very big. Kevin was in love with all the columns (again) and the god of fertility.

This is our last day on the cruise and we have had a wonderful time, except for all the cigarette smoke. The crew was great. Last night after dinner we went back to our room and the crew had made a mummy in my bed. This page will be photos of the cruise

Our next stop on day 3 was at Edfu. We arrive around 11:00am and went on the tour by horse and buggy. Let me clearify, a stinky horse and buggy ride. It was a beautiful temple and Nemo had a ball. For those who do not know Nemo, he is my work mascot. After the temple, we left and had lunch on board as we continued up the Nile and through the locks to Luxor. We arrived in Luxor around 9:00pm. At that time we meet the Chief of police Methat, he is a friend of one of Kevins co-worker. He brought us a few bags of gifts, from one of his shops. We did not go on any more tours. We will see Luxor in the morning. Oh yeah, our tour guide Mark got sick the first day so we then got a new guide name Peter who has been very nice. He is a little intimidated by Kristina.

At the end of day 2 we had dinner then set sail around midnight. We arrived at Komo Obu (means crocodile god) around 3:30am. Our first tour was at 7:00am; which lasted an hour then we were back on board for a lovely day cruise to Edfu. You really get to see a different life style traveling down the nile. There is a lot of farming from rice to corn. There are no big fancy machines, just donkey and hard work. The Nile reminded us of the ICW.

4 Day Nile Cruise

Our adventure started with a 3:00 am wake up call to take a 1 hr taxi ride to the airport. We flew into Aswan and had 2 private cars waiting for us. Our first tour guide "Mark" showed us the "High Dam"; which keeps the Nile from flooding upper Egypt, then "The unfinished Oblisque" where they finished the stone for building the oblisque which are in "The Karnak Temple". We finally arrive at the boat around 10:00 am and had lunch at 1:00. We did not have any other sites for the rest of the day, so we caught up on some sleep then went to dinner and watched a belly dancing show afterwards.

Day 2 was still in Aswan, with a trip to the Philie Temple and the Nubieum Musuem. When the dam was built it forced the Nubieum Tribe to be reloccated and moved into the mountains. Kind of reminded me of how we treated the Indians many years ago. The Philie Temple was on a lower Island which also had to be moved when the Dam was built.

First few days in Egypt 2008

Kevin and I arrived in Cairo around 1230 Monday, 6/9/08. We had a few mishaps getting through customes but managed to get through. After several calls to Bob (Kristina's roommate). we found our cab and went for the scarriest cab ride of my life. There are no lines or signal lights anywhere. The drivers just beep their horns to get around. We got to Kristina's about 1 hour later. The air quality is terrible and we are both suffering with sinus problems. The local pharmisit is next door and medication is real cheap. Nemo did very well on the flight and he was too tired to go to the museum today, but will go with us tomorrow.

Todays adventure was riding the Metro (subway). Kevin had to ride a seperate car from ours (the womens car). It was about 20 minutes into the city and then we ventured to the Museum for a wonderful private tour. Kristina needed to go over to the school, so instead of crossing 6 lanes of highway, we went back down into the subway and crossed under the highway then back up to other side to the school. Kevin and I will have nice strong

quads when we get home, all we do is walk and climb stairs every where. The trip today was wonderful.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?UV=747755448935_608284474209&collid=29590596309.496574474209.1213113244054&page=1 view more photos at

Monday morning was very quiet, we had a brunch around 1030, it was a mixture of left overs to make breakfast burrito's. Charlie hitched a ride from shore to sail back with Dennis and Gay on "Tranquility". Kevin unrigged "Rose Bud" and she was not happy at all, when he tried to start the motor she ran just long enough for us to let the line lose and then it quit. He proceeded to drift down river trying to start the motor, Jerry and Karen came to the rescue. "No Agenda" was the first to leave around 1200, then the rest slowly followed. Kevin and I were the last of coarse, since we were the anchor boat. We had a beautiful sail back and arrived into port around 1400 (2:00pm). It was a great weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend Sunday 2008

We had wonderful weather today for swimming, sailing and kayaking. The boys got "RoseBud" rigged and took her for a sail, several times. While we were rigging her this really cool dragonfly landed on the deck, it was huge. I tried out my new float that was given to me by Brenda M. @ Osler, as a gift for helping with their annual family picnic. Brenda it works great, thanks. Later Karen and Jerry came over with the Kayaks, so Terry and I had to give them a try. They were so much fun, I think Terry will be shopping for a Kayak next week, so will I. If you want to have a good laugh; put 2 grown men in a dinghy, after several gombay smashes and let them raise the sail. Then sit back and have a good laugh, I wish we had a video camera. Charlie and Pringle left us today, he had company coming in. So George sailed him and Pringle to shore after breakfast, we may see him on Monday. We had a wonderful dinner, Gay made a pork roast with black beans and rice (this was great), everyone else brought side dishes. We all sat out after dinner and seperated on different boats, its was a quiet evening. Around 2200 (10:00 pm), Jerry and Karen went back to their boat and the rest of us watched "Sahara" on Serena Rose.

Memorial Day Weekend Saturday 2008

We all got a late start and had a huge breakfast of sausage, pancakes, fruit, hashbrowns and lots of coffee. I think it took about an hour to prepare and 10 minutes to eat. After breakfast, we decided to pull anchor and head to the other side of the bridge. Once we arrived on the South East side, we meet up with Jerry and Karen on "No Agenda". We spent the rest of the day dodging the rain storms until about 1800 (6:00pm). We then started happy hour and then happy houred again. Dinner was Chicken stir fry (complements of Charlie and Gay) with veggies and salad from Terry and myself. Karen and Jerry brought shrimp appetizers and more wine, thank god I thought we may have been running low (hahahaha, never). After dinner we all went to the front deck for more air and a firework display started near PAFB, it was wonderful. Around 2200 (10:00pm) after many gombays and bottles of wine we then decided to have ice cream, lots of ice cream; which was served throught the distroyer portlight (very carefully). I think the party ended around midnight and there was a very long discussion about viagra, not quiet sure how it started either. Hey we were all drinking and most of us were over the age of 50 so yeah there is always some conversation that leads to viagra, and I guess there is even a song.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - Friday night

Friday night Kevin and I were the first to arrive at NE corner of Pineda causeway anchorage, so we were in charge of dinner. The boats to raft with us were; "Tranguility" with Dennis, Gay, Charlie and Pringle (Charlies new puppy), "Serena" with George and Terry. They both arrived around 2100 (9:00pm). We had a lovely dinner and Kevin made several pitchers of gombay smashes, even Pringle got to sample them. No one was moving too fast Saturday morning. After dinner we all just relaxed on the back deck and watched a wonderful lightening show off in the north, near Cape Canaveral. It was great to see everyone again.