Plot Twist Yacht

We started this chapter living out of a hotel room, driving back and forth to a dusty boat yard, and wondering—more than once—what we had gotten ourselves into. 😂 From day one, we knew our girl had stories to tell. She’d never reached her max RPMs and had a noticeable shake. The survey mentioned some shaft pitting… which turned into a completely new shaft . And honestly? Thank goodness we pulled her. What started as a “might need some work” situation quickly became a full fix—and while we were at it, we converted to a dripless seal . One of those upgrades you don’t see, but absolutely feel better about every mile underway. That kicked off bottom work with the absolutely amazing John Williams—and I cannot say this loudly enough—if you need someone to work on your trawler, this is your guy. He didn’t just fix things; he showed us exactly what was wrong, explained why it mattered, and earned our trust every step of the way. Then came the engine work.
Daryl stepped in and immediately st...

  Leaving Stuart for Fort Pierce felt like the calm after the storm—or maybe the calm before the next one. Either way, Plot Twist was headed for haul-out, and we were determined to arrive on time…  We eased out onto the ICW and almost immediately found ourselves questioning our choices. Or rather, questioning the missing buoys . For a brief moment, we were pretty sure we were about to make a wrong turn and end up in the inlet instead of the waterway. A little chart-checking, a little staring at the horizon, and a whole lot of please let us be right later, we figured it out and stayed on course. Crisis one: avoided. Once we were pointed north, we did what every trawler captain dreams of doing—we went full speed . Yes, that’s laughable by most standards, but for us it meant something magical: we were finally moving over six knots . Turns out not fighting the tide makes a difference. Who knew? After our dramatic bridge exit from Stuart (see previous post), we were a little ...

  Last time we left off, the big question was how and where we’d meet our kids for Christmas. Answer: beautifully. ❤️ Christmas was everything I hoped for—getting to spend it with all three of my boys was a gift I’ll never take for granted. Then it was time to shift gears. Back to the boat. Back to reality. And off to Fort Pierce for haul-out . I wasn’t nervous about leaving Stuart—we had a plan. (You already know where this is going.) We gave ourselves 5 hours and 30 minutes to make it to the marina, even though the trip should’ve taken about 4½ hours . Plenty of cushion, right? We glided off the mooring feeling confident… until we reached the double trouble combo : the drawbridge and the railroad bridge that sit so close together they both have to open to get through. I hailed the bridge. Nothing. I waited. Hailed again. Still nothing. Finally, a very kind woman monitoring the channel politely informed us, “The bridges are on Channel 9.” Yes. I knew that. Also...

Our stay in Stuart turned into a holding pattern we hadn’t planned—but quickly learned to appreciate. We scheduled our haul-out for a few weeks later than expected when the marina couldn’t take us right away due to maintenance in Ft Pierce. Boats, like life, rarely follow the calendar you carefully create. Before we could pivot to land life, though, we tackled a round of boat chores. And while there were many things on the list, my happiest moment came with a bottle of cleaner, a rag, and pure determination. I finally removed the awful glue left behind by the guy who installed our lettering. Before   After If you’ve never tried to remove sticky residue from a boat that has just traveled from Ft. Myers to Stuart, let me tell you—every no-see-um between those two points apparently found it irresistible. The glue had turned into a bug magnet of epic proportions. But after some elbow grease and a small victory dance, it was gone. And honestly? I think it turned out great. With the chor...

After four days crossing Florida on our great Okeechobee adventure, we pulled into Stuart on fumes—emotional, physical, and probably mechanical if we’re being honest. Once secured to our mooring ball we grabbed a quick breath, and immediately collapsed into the kind of nap that can only be described as   medically necessary . When we finally resurfaced, blinking like moles seeing daylight for the first time, we went ashore to officially check in to our mooring at  Sunset Bay Marina & Anchorage … and instantly wondered why no one had warned us we were about to fall in love. Because listen—this place? 
 A cruiser's dream.   A Marina Worth Writing Home About *Before I start gushing, my heart will always belong to Snookbight Marina due to the people we left behind. Now, about Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage. It spoiled us instantly: •             Free laundry  (yes, FREE—boat people understand the joy) •  ...

  Day four of our Okeechobee crossing began like all great boating stories do: in the dark, at 4:00 a.m., with something just unsettling enough to jolt us fully awake. Plot Twist had swung completely around in the anchorage—nothing unusual—but considering the anchor had already proven to be more enthusiastic than reliable, we weren’t exactly comforted. We lay there for a while, trying to drift back to sleep, but the kind of rest you get between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. The day ahead felt big. We knew we might need to anchor in a windy bay, and with an anchor we didn’t trust, uncertainty makes itself very comfortable in your mind. Rumor also had it that the lock operator we’d encounter next was, reportedly, “downright mean.” Nothing like a little morning dread to go with your coffee. Before we even raised anchor, a boat motored up the channel and hailed the lock operator. We quickly hailed to be second in line. A third boat slipped out from the campground and marina across from us. Then a...