Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

6-18
We went to church at 9 at the Merritt Island Ward (I think). It felt very American and a normal church. The people were very nice. It was also Father’s day. We rode to church in the Westers RV. The older kids all went to class together for Sunday School. Kelsey was so brave as always and went to primary by herself. They first put her in the wrong class then had her move up. She said the teacher was yelling at all the kids then when she walked in, turned to her and said, “oh hi sweetie how are you?”
There was a newly married and baptized couple who had recently come from Columbia there. They were just learning the gospel and it was cool to see. Barry and Gail shared how the gospel had affected them.
We came back and had lunch then went to Ron Jon surf shop. Someone had an alligator that we got to pet outside. It was a bit chaotic shopping. We were able to replace the skim boards, which was nice. We lost it during the storm. We met Nomoya at the beach. The kids surfed and surfed. They had a great time. We swam in the water next to them.
Barry and Gail came back and picked us up and we went to their campsite to watch the rocket launch. We went out on the pier. It was very cool. So loud and such an amazing thing.
Barry dropped us off and Gail is going to ride with us to Ponce. As soon as we got back, a huge storm hit us. It was crazy lightening and howling winds. We watched the lightening from the windows downstairs. Several looked like they hit the cruise ships around. One looked like it hit a couple boats over us. The lightening app showed it was 0.0 miles away.
6-19
Cale didn’t feel good about the weather so we stayed another day. It turned to be a very exhausting day in every way. We got up and started doing some cleaning. Gail took the kids to do laundry and play in the game room, which is really great. As I was doing dishes, Cale called St Augustine where we were hauling out to change our date from Tuesday to Friday. It quickly turned bad. We found out they couldn’t haul us out until the 6th of June. We got off the phone in shock. Now what? We decided to call a marina here in Cape Canaveral that has the capacity to haul us out. They said they’d let us know so we contacted insurance to see if that would work. We started thinking we would just be hauling out here. We kept cleaning with that in mind then we decided to go walk over and asked them. The lady said they didn’t have space but we would know for sure tomorrow. Hmm. Then we were even more confused. We don’t have an option now except to get to St. Augustine and hope we can get a sooner date or worse case wait until the 6th. The kids were pretty bummed. They were starting to get ready to head back and this will cut into their summer. I needed a minute but I know it will be okay. We went to get some food and we ended up at Steak and Shakes. They were really good.
We then went back to Ron Jon for more. Gail got Cole a birthday day shirt.
We came back and gave some stuff to Barry and Gail to drive back. It might not work for us to drive back together. They might need to go to Iowa to get their camper fixed and we don’t know what the plan is. We will either leave the boat in the water and drive or fly back with the kids or just wait here with the kids. I think we will need to take it one day at a time to figure it out.
We were about to go to bed after a family talk about options and reading scriptures when we got a tornado watch and severe storm warning. Cale and I weren’t sure what we should do but we thought we should seek shelter so we made a run for it. We were running in the pouring rain with lightening all around on a metal dock… we ran into the laundry room of a metal building. Our best decision thus far, probably not… but we didn’t really have time to think through our plan and once we got there the storm hit in full force so there was no going back to the boat until it was over. It took about 40 minutes and the bulk of it passed. I have never experienced storms like the ones here. They are so intense. The thunder grumbles and roars over and over and the lightening fingers extend across the whole sky.
It’s been a day but we are learning to trust in God and his timing and just have faith that he will be with us and he will help us get to where we need to be. It’s teaching us all a lot of patience and how to handle change, disappointment and not being in control all the time. I kind of feel like the next step is going to be determined like a plinko game. It could go any which way at this point.
6-20 Another morning of checking weather and deciding if we should move or not. There seem to always be big storms building on the SE of the US and it’s hard to want to go out into the middle of them. We opted to wait, especially because we were supposed to hear around 12 if they had a spot for us at Cape Canaveral. The kids went to the game room and played air hockey and hung out in the AC. I did some laundry and worked on cleaning out the hygiene items under Cole’s bed and going through books. Barry and Gail came around lunch time. They were very helpful getting things wiped down while I helped the kids pack their clothes. We have made a lot of good progress. We got news no room here. As stressful as it’s been I think it will be best to be in St Augustine. It’s more protected…hopefully.
And so we wait. Around 3, Barry and Gail took the kids thrifting. I kept working on the boat and got cleaned up. Cale and I walked over to try and see a boat we heard about in the other lot but it was locked up. We went to dinner at Fish Lips. They served the food in cool baskets, the food was so so. The kids were pretty revved up. Maybe just feeling the anxiousness or maybe just from boredom. I’m not sure.
We got an ice cream treat at twisty treat. It was really good and a good price. There are more storms coming but we are going to wake up at 3 and watch the rocket launch and look at weather.

6-21 We woke up at 3 for the rocket launch but it was canceled. We checked the weather. We were on the fence. There are always huge storms coming and it’s hard to know which will hit. We were in and out of sleep and checking weather for several hours. It was a pretty rough day. Everyone is feeling ready to do something. By the time we got going we didn’t have a ton of time. Barry and Gail came over to say goodbye. They are going to St Augustine. Hopefully we can meet them there.
The kids swam, played in the game room and hung around. Around 4, a big storm hit. There was one more around 8 we waited for. Once it was clear we felt like we had our window. It’s still frustrating that we won’t be able to haul out right away, but at least we are one step closer. The big storm came through around 8 and after debating some we went for it.
6-22 There was lightening in the distance as we first left. Cale stayed up there from 9-2. I came up until 5. We were able to make great time, about 7 to 9 knots. We had a great wind angle and waves and current helping us out. I woke everyone up for the 5:18 rocket launch. It was quite far away but we could see it well. It went up and then turned. It almost looked like it was coming our direction. Cale stayed up at that point and I went back to bed, then he went back to bed in the morning. It was a fun motor sail. We would ride the waves and then get as fast as 10.9 knots as we rode them down. We saw shark or fish jumping clear out of the water. It looked like a feeding frenzy or something. We caught the very edge of the storm that was hanging over the pan handle. It looked like it might rain and we had pretty strong wind when we came in. I didn’t end up raining until about an hour later. We couldn’t have timed our trip any better.
We got fuel and had a little tricky time getting tied up. The wind was blowing us right on the dock and our fenders started out high. We switched stuff around and got set up on port for the marina slip. We spent the rest of the day cleaning, packing and more cleaning. It’s surreal. I can’t believe the end has come. I’m pretty sad mostly. We made good headway and then took a load of stuff to the rental. It’s nice. The kids are funny. They feel like they have so much space. They loved sprawling out and watching TV on the big couch.
We had dinner and then Cale and I went back to the boat. We emptied out more food and brought more stuff to the house. I’m so grateful for Barry and Gail’s help and driving us all around. It has been so nice to have the help. It easily saved us an entire day of getting ready to leave. We still have some big things like the sails tomorrow, but are hoping to be ready to move to the mooring ball by Saturday and then leave. I hate not sleeping on the boat. It’s very weird for me.

6-23 Barry and Gail stopped by because we thought they had Cole’s bag. They ended up taking us to the marina and Cale to get the car. We worked and worked. Finished cleaning all the rooms, fridges, floors (inside), putting stuff away, and taking down the sails. It was a long, busy day. Kira and Cade were super helpful. Cole was on and off. Kelsey struggled. She just wanted to go back to our rental house. About 3:30, we called it and went home. I made dinner. Surprisingly, we are eating up most of the leftover food. We had reserved a SUV but were really worried about fitting our stuff. Even with everything Barry and Gail took we still have a lot left. Cale saw the SUV and realized it wouldn’t work. As he was standing there looking online for another option someone returned a van. It was a small miracle. We took it without it being cleaned and for the same price. Cale took Kira and Cole to clean it out once we got home. When they got back we had dinner. Everyone was super tired but we went for a drive around the town. We also went to the beach and Cole and Cale got flip flops. The owner said his house was hit when Matthew came in 2016. It damaged much of the area with flooding. Hopefully, nothing this year.
I’m finally to the end of so much boat laundry. We have a general schedule for our cross country drive. I’m so sad to leave CAVU.

6-24. The day we left CAVU. Sad for everyone. Cale and I got up and took the clean laundry and some extra food. The boat is a mess with the cushions all over and sails in the galley. I went back and got the kids up, packed and the car loaded. We spent until around 11 cleaning the decks. We scrubbed them good. The boat looked great. We had to move the boat forward to get water. We needed to get through the draw bridge by 12. We made it just in time. It was a nice wide one, although we had plenty of wind coming behind us. We got moored and then Kelsey, Cade and I had Cole bring us to the dock and we walked to the rental car. Cale, Kira and Cole secured the boat and got ready to leave.
As they left Cale set off the bug bombs and the fire alarms were going off as they left. We could hear it on the EUFY for awhile. Total miles on boat 2414 on our journey from Grenada to St. Augustine.