As we has previously stated, Brunswick was not a planned stop for us. We were only staying a couple of days but as we have learned marina's seem to all over promise and under deliver. So, we decided after the first day to pay for the month and leave when we had everything ship shape. (Paying for a month was cheaper than paying for 6 days.)

After a wait for parts we had spent ten days in the marina and had planned on leaving before the hurricane season, but as all plans go that didn't happen. One of our dogs, Phoebe, started having seizures on almost a daily basis, after taking her to the vet, they felt she had a brain tumor and that she would most likely not get any better. We did not want to be off shore or even in the ICW if something happened to her. In addition we had two weddings in Aug to attend and one in Sept so a trip back to Chicago was also in the cards.

With the decision to stay we started looking at boat projects. The daily temperatures were in the mid to upper 90's, with high humidity so the real feel temp was in the triple digits. We could work until 10 or 11 am then hide from the sun. Needless to say, we weren't getting a lot done in July. We left for Chicago on July 29th, of course neither wedding was held but it was good to see family and hang out. Then in the early morning of August 5th, Phoebe had three seizures between 1 and 3am and never really came out of the last one. A trip to the emergency vet was a sad time for us but we didn't want her to suffer. She couldn't even hold her head up by the time we got her there and decided it best to euthanize her.

We stayed in Illinois until August 17th and took a couple of days heading back to the boat. Did I mention that July was HOT? Well end of August wasn't any better. The weather finally cooled off a bit by mid September so we were able to start working outside on the boat. We most likely accomplished more in two weeks than in the previous 6 weeks. You can check out some of the projects in the photo section.

Amy did a lot of sewing: installed new strataglass in the dodger, made new winch/coaming box covers, water jug covers, and new cockpit cushions. We also rewired the running lights, replaced interior lighting with LED lights, replaced the A/C sea strainer, installed a new sink and faucet in the head and rebedded the chain plates. Next is the brightwork. Well, we will let you know just how crazy we get here in the next week.

Storm season is just past its peak and as you may know it has been very active. Being true to its claim, Brunswick has not had any real storms. Sally did give us some rain and high winds (61.9 kts) but nothing like the Gulf Coast experienced. We are itching to get moving again, but of course the Atlantic is still active and we have the holidays coming up. We do plan on exploring the SE coast a little more before leaving the boat for a few weeks for the holidays.

I know it has been a while since we posted any updates, we will try harder in the future, unless of course we're scraping, sanding and varnishing. Open invite for anyone who wants to come down...bring old clothes!