Sunday, July 28, 2013

St. Louis Cardinal Game Trip

Not everything we have been doing in the last few weeks has been work!  We took a couple of days off and drove up to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play.  The Cardinals beat the Padres 9 to 3, so it was an excellent game. 
Riding the Metro to the Stadium


Blake, share your Nachos!!!



 

 
15 seconds of Baseball Magic!

What have I been doing for the past three weeks?????

It seems that everyone that I run into these days ask me how I am enjoying my vacation!  Well, I have been working my tail off trying to get everything ready!  There has been a few moments of relaxation, but leaving the country, and trying to outfit everything you might need (fitting into two suitcases) is a lot of work!  Below are a few of the things that we are doing to get ready to go:
  • Cut and split firewood for the house. 
  • Cut down a tree next to the cabin that died this year.
  • Sold our Blue Chevy diesel truck :(.
  • Sold 3 rail fencing and tractor auger.  (helped finance our new laptop!)
  • Ripping movies into hard drive!  This is amazing, as we are taking our 100+ DVDs and ripping them into a 1 TB hard drive!  Ready for those rainy days on the boat!
  • Finish projects at the house.
  • Rented out our Lake Property RV Site!  Welcome Amber, Jim and kids!
  • Sold tractor spray and seeder rig.
  • Set up new accounts for IRA roll over.
  • A 1000 tasks at the house!
  • Traveled to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play! (this was a fun task)
When I was cutting down the tree close to the lake cabin, I decided it would be great for my brother to film the whole event!  Just in case it hit the cabin, it would make a great video, and maybe evidence for the insurance company.  Well, my brother freaked out just when the tree started to fall, so the video is a little lame.  He was instantly fired from him position as head camera man!  In his defense, if the tree fell toward the cabin, I would have freaked out too!  The tree fell perfectly where we wanted, so no damage done.  Here is the link to the lame tree cutting video!

    
       
Boat buying tasks
  • Set up new company in Delaware: MokaKat Sailing Inc.  (I am now President and CEO..too funny!)
  • Hire a marine document expert to perform the closing and validate clear title.
  • Find insurance for boat!  This was a lot of paperwork and we had to create a hurricane plan!
  • Establish a closing date.  This seemed easy, but there were a lot of variables.  The boat was moved back to Guatemala to install the new rubber boots on the saildrives.  We now have agreed on August 9th for the closing date!
  • Sign off on the refit from the Moorings.  This will happen when we arrive and validate that our punch list has been completed.  We have high hopes with the local Moorings team and looking forward to a good relationship, as we will be staying at their marina for a couple of months.
Things we have bought to be ready:
  • New snorkeling equipment!
  • Charts for Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
  • New boat laptop.
  • 2 handheld VHF Radios.
  • 2 underwater LED flashlights.
  • Courtesy flags for Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala (also one for Colombia...special for Maria Paula!).
  • New US Flag.
  • TRX Workout kit - Thanks to www.ZerotoCruising.com!  This will allow me to workout on the boat without a lot of weight or equipment! 
  • USB Hard Drives for Laptop backups and movies.
  • Spices for cooking.
  • Extra sunglasses.
  • New underwater camera.
  • Cruising Guide for Mexico Yucatan, Belize, and Guatemala.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Drum roll.....Yes, We Have a CATAMARAN!!!!!!!!!!

I guess you have noticed that I haven't mentioned anything about our catamaran buying activities.  Well, since we were in negotiation, and things can be a little complicated, we decided not to mention anything about a boat, until the negotiation was complete!  Plus my broker, Gary, threaten me if I blogged anything before it was finalized :)!  Gary, thanks for keeping us safe!!!!  
 
So, if you remember, we had originally been negotiating on a catamaran in Belize, a Leopard 40, owners model.  Well, when we couldn't come to terms, I found the Lagoon 380 in the Bahamas.  Well, after rejecting the Lagoon, I was able to look at a couple of Leopards while I was in the Bahamas.  After looking at the Leopards, I knew that this was the boat that we wanted!  We then offered on several 2008 models that were being sold, but missed out.  We had also made a backup offer on the original Leopard 40 in Belize, if the first buyer decided to back out.  Well, it turns out that our back up offer was accepted, as the original buyer decided he wanted a newer boat. 
Our 2009 Leopard 40 Owners Model
Gary traveled to Rio Dulce, Guatemala, where the boat was getting surveyed and refit.  The boat was in excellent shape, except for some keel damage.  The damage was completely fixed during the refit!  Gary videoed the survey, so if you have time you can see the boat inside and out!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=fos7FnQoaQk
The Moorings has agreed to fix our list of items during their refit, so we should have a catamaran ready to start cruising. 
 
We should close in the first week or so of August!  My mother and I will travel down to Belize and enjoy the country down there until after hurricane season.  There are some great reefs there, and we should be able to snorkel and dive and enjoy time on the boat.  We will have to watch out for hurricanes, as Belize can sometimes get them.  I understand that the Moorings new marina is 'huricane proof', so we will have a plan if one comes our way.  We then plan on sailing up the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and then to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  We will then do a refit for cruising, and head over to the Bahamas for the start of the 2014 cruising season. 
 
Caper sitting on a mooring


Caper, soon to be renamed MokaKat!
 

More 4th of July pictures

Addtional pictures of our week at the lake!


Sunset at Beaver Lake
Pepper eating watermelon
Only picture of Kathi....not sure what happened!

4th of July and Beaver Lake

We spent most of the 4th of July weekend at our cabin on Beaver Lake.  My sister, Kathi came up and we enjoyed spending time eating, catching sun, and riding the jet ski!  It wasn't all fun and games, as I have a large list of items that I am working on each day to be ready for when we can head to a catamaran.  On July 5th, I had to go into work and clean out my office.  It almost took the whole day to clean it up, shred 2 large boxes of notes and Walmart confidential papers, and pack up all of my personal items!  I believe it took four boxes of personal items! 
My office before the packing
I didn't take a picture after I was done packing, since it was too depressing!  A lot of memories went into those 28 and a half years!  I will miss everyone!
Dinner at the cabin
We always eat good at the cabin!
Augie, Pepper, Jonathan, and Blake
Blake waiting for a catfish!
My Mom, Pepper, Maria Paula, and Cony(from Bogota)