Bridges and Beers - Great Loop Adventure

 It has been a year since I purchased the Dorothy Scott and set out to do The Great Loop. Unfortunately, sometimes we are not successful in the endeavors we set out to do. After spending a year and a great deal of money and effort, I have decided it is time to end the adventure for now and refocus back in Austin. I have put the boat up for sale in St Petersburg, FL and am preparing to move all my stuff back to Austin. This trip has been filled with some great moments and some very low points that challenged my character and my resolve. In the end, I think the boat is just too old to reliably go on a year long trip around the loop. She is much better suited to live in a marina somewhere and give her owner many great memories in local bodies of water. I thought I would share some highlights and lowlights from the trip. Pretty much everything I shared on social media was highlights. I tended to hide many of the lowlights as I was trying to stay focused on the positive. Highlights I ha...

 I arrived back in Miami on Friday from spending a week in the Keys. The view coming in from Biscayne Bay is amazing. This picture doesn't do it justice.  I cruised into town just before dusk and tried to find a good anchorage. Everything was full that was in a location that was close to where I wanted to be, so needing to find something before dark, I anchored next to a 90+ foot mega yacht near the channel. I jumped in my dinghy and went to meet my friend Skye who happened to be in town. When I came back to my boat, the mega yacht was gone. I was a little concerned that I was anchored in a spot where you are not allowed to anchor, but I needed to wait til the morning to move. I woke up and the generator wouldn't start...again! I have to raise the anchor by hand without the generator, and that is very difficult. I also cannot use the lift to get my dinghy out of the water without it. After spending all morning troubleshooting, I finally figured out that it was just a bad conne...