View Larger Map
Well its great to be back after our short hiatus. Kim and I have been celebrating our 25th Anniversary and haven't been aboard Maya in a month or so. That is all about to change as we are planning our very first 'fun' cruise next month.
In the past, most of our cruises have been 'work' cruises. We were either positioning Maya further south or doing some kind of chore while aboard. Other than a cocktail or two in the evenings, we weren't doing all the fun things that you can do while cruising.
Our itinerary includes a trip up to Cumberland Island, Georgia. Cumberland Island is one of the largest uninhabited islands in the United States. It is a National Park as well. Located just at the boarder of Florida and Georgia, its a one and half day cruise from Palm Coast.
We are looking forward to this trip because for the most part, we will be outside the cozy confines of the Intercoastal Waterway and out on the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. By going this way, we eliminate
much of the hassles of dealing with bridges and 'no wake' zones that dot the inland route. Besides that, on the way down, we saw lots of areas that were pretty shallow (depth wise). We don't want to mess up our perfect record of not hitting the bottom! Anyway, an offshore excursion is an excellent way to miss all of that trouble.
Our boat was designed to cruise out in the open water and this will give us a chance to really give her a workout.
We have only been offshore twice and we want to do it again. No worries though, we will always be in sight of land and if something bad were to happen, Kim could swim to shore and get help.
Last week, my dad and I flew down to Orlando and drove over to visit Maya for two days. I had a project I wanted to complete and dad offered to tag along. While we were there, we took Maya out for a short spin. During that trip, we noticed another vibration coming from below. Like before, it was more pronounced at higher RPM's, indicating that there was some kind of obstruction on the propellers or running gear.
My guess is that we have a major build up of barnacles on the props. Here is a shot of what I expect to find when I go have a look next month. Most likely we will hire a diver to go down and clean that stuff off. My last jelly fish adventure has me a little gun shy right now. However, this fall I am headed south to the Keys to get my Scuba certification and will be able to keep the bottom clean all by myself. Woohoo!
