This is it! The final leg of our Shakedown trip to the Dry Tortugas. I drove down to Ft. Myers Beach from St. Petersburg with our friends, Josh and Jessie. I had a terrible cold, but I knew that being on the water was a better option than lying around at home. Nick was also under the weather, but he captained on. 🙂

We started our journey with a short sail down the ICW to Cabbage Key. We left around noon and arrived around 5:00 pm. Just in time for happy hour at the Dollar Bar! I wasn’t feeling well at all, but I figured a shot of whiskey and some food would do my cold good. We also wanted to check and make sure the dollar was where we left it two weeks prior. Sure enough, there it was next to our friends Ohana. When we got back to Satori, I decided to make it an early night, I knew we had a long sail the next day, and I wanted to enjoy it.

Nick and I woke up at sunrise, and I was in really bad shape! He sent me back to bed for more rest. Josh and Jessie were still asleep. Nick pulled the anchor up and put the sails up by himself. It’s impressive to me that he can do this and with such ease, it seems. As soon as he does all the hard work, our friends wake up. They missed all the fun! But at least our Captain gets some breakfast out of it.

I woke up in the late morning and started to feel human again. I laid around a lot and tried to rest. After all, I had to go to work the next day, yikes! We had a nice relaxing sail from Cabbage Key to our home dock in St. Pete. It took about 13 hours. We lounged, fished, made food, played with dolphins, and threw in a couple of Facebook Live feeds while we were at it. Those were a little rough, it was our first time, and none of us had a clue what we were doing. It was fun though.

As the sun was setting, we had a Conch blowing ceremony. I did not participate because I figured no one would want my cold germs! Nick dressed as the captain that he is with a special surprise underneath his coat. (hint hint….speedo!) Leave it to Nick to take the fun to the next level, always. 🙂

Stay tuned as we prep Satori and get ourselves ready to be full-time cruisers!

Video Transcription

Intro (Blowing the Conch Shell)

That’s it. Yeah! Woo!  Look at all those likes. Keep ‘em coming. Yeah! Thank y’all for joining us have a good night. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Sailing up the ICW (Blowing the Conch Shell)

This is it, the last leg of this amazing journey. Yeah, it’s only been a shakedown trip, but it has been quite the adventure. For these next couple of days, we’re lucky to have our friends Josh and Jessie on board. They’re joining us as we motor sail up the ICW to Cabbage Key to drop the hook for the night. At sunrise, we’ll set sail for the final 12-hour run to St. Petersburg. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Cabbage Key (Blowing the Conch Shell)

How to set an anchor from Nick to Kelly. And of course, we had to make another stop at the cabbage key dollar bar to make sure the Satori dollar was still next to our friends Ohana. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Last Run to St. Pete (Blowing the Conch Shell)

It’s sunrise, Sunday morning.  I got Josh and Jessie on board, their down there sleeping. Kelly’s sleeping. Got one last run today, 12-13 hours up to St. Pete. Battling a little bit of a cold that I got some time in Key West, I think. Keywestitis. Kelly has the same thing. She’s uh, she’s in rough shape, so we’re letting her sleep as much as possible today. Just getting the engines warmed up. I’m gonna pull up anchor and motor out of here. Get out into the Gulf, and we’ll head north. It’s supposed to be a nice day so let’s hope so. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Anchor Tip (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Here’s a tip; in calm conditions, you can hoist the anchor with only the windlass. Just take in the catenary or slack of the rope and let the weight of the chain pull the boat forward. Just be sure not to pull the boat with the limits. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Under the Weather (Blowing the Conch Shell)

So now that all the hard works been done, now they get up. Now they’re up. We’re alive. I don’t know how you slept through the motoring but once we start sailing that’s when you get up. Well, the motoring, that subtle hum just puts me to sleep. Is Kelly up? No, she’s in bed she ain’t feeling too good. She’s rough this morning. I, she got up, but I told her to go back to bed. Josh, what can I do to make you Successful? I would like to make the Captain a coffee. Yay! Yay! Coffee it is. All right! Coffee on deck. Now, this is what I’ve been waiting for all week, last two weeks. We haven’t had good sailing the entire time. We’ve been beaten; there’s been no wind. We’ve been beating into the wind the entire time. Now we get a little bit of wind behind us about 120 degrees, and we’re just like moving perfect, super calm. Yeah. This is why I do this. Full sail, full main, full jib. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

The Adventures of King Arthur (Blowing the Conch Shell)

The Adventures of King Arthur. Look at King Arthur as he begins to demonstrate the most severe punishment set forth by his majesty. This unsuspecting peasant in the king’s village was unaware that the royal spies live and breathe amongst the common man. A few too many pints and a slip of the tongue in the public house can prove to be fatal. Our king has no tolerance for any mention of stature at his expense. For a moment Arthur looks as though he has remorse for his overreaction. Snap out of it, king. You must display your dominance. Hmm. That’s right. What our good king lacks in size, he makes up for in sheer terror. If one has ever wondered if size really matters, it is best not to ask around the king. Mmm. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Fishing (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Fish shot on one side, Kelly serenading dolphins on the other. Is he still here? He just went over there. Oh, he did? Why’d you scare him away? I don’t know. My cold scared him away. Maybe. You have a fish on. Do I? Yeah, maybe a little one. What is it? That’s a Spanish Mackerel. Yeah, a little, little Spanish Mackerel. He’s a little small, I think. Yeah, yeah put him back. Oh. See you can eat Nutter Butters and have a body like this. Yeah, like one day out of the year only. What are you doing? Dancing stuff. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Facebook Live Feed (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Ah! Hey! We’re live on Satori, where we’ve had a long trip. Satori’s back from the Dry Tortugas and Key West, Fort Myers Beach, Cabbage Key. We’re on the homestretch here, about to turn into TampaBay. About to pop this cork. About to pop this cork. Champagne celebration, we just wanted to invite ya’ll, to hang out with us for a little bit. We’ve never done this before. This is our first time, and I don’t know if anyone’swatching us. Well, whatever. Can’t really tell. They’re still spreading the word. Alright, well Cheers! Cheers! Cheers! Woohoo! Well, we’re gonna log off. We’re gonna have a conch blowing ceremony at sunset as we pass under the sunshine bridge. So, what, about 7:40 pm, 7:45 pm. 7:30 pm. Yeah. Come back. Or not. Thanks for logging on guys. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Making the Turn into Tampa Bay (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Yeah, you see how you see the shadow of the one behind it on the other side of the sail. See how they’re both fluttering, and they’re kind of being pushed straight back by the wind? It means you have a nice flow of wind across and sail on both sides. That’s what you’re looking for. Gotta find the best balance you can. I think it’s actually pretty good right there. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Facebook Live Conch Blowing (Blowing the Conch Shell)

That, that pose. Anchor good? Okay. Let’s go do this. Yup, here we go. It’s just about sunset; we’re gonna wait a minute or two, get some people on board. We’re just getting our drinks ready. A little conch blowing in a second. Sunset ceremony. Beautiful sunset right now, we’re just gonna wait a minute. Boaters blow it at sunset. Yeah, I mean all the boaters usually blow it at sunset, so we’re gonna blow it too. It’s a goodbye to the sun. It’s kind of like a goodbye to the sun ceremony like Josh said. Jessie show us how you blow the conch. Yay! Oh, impressive. Well done. Joshua. Give it one more go. Tuba player here. Not too bad. Also, a smoker. Not too shabby.  And our captain. That’s it. Look at all those likes. Keep ‘em coming. Yeah!  thank y’all for joining us. Have a good night. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Full-time Cruiser Preparation (Blowing the Conch Shell)

As we sailed into the night, we were only an hour from our home slip, and now the hard work begins. We only have four months to prepare for life as full-time cruisers. (Blowing the Conch Shell)

On the Next Episode (Blowing the Conch Shell)

Next time on Sailing Satori, get to know Nick and I a little better. (Blowing the Conch Shell)