Hurricane Season Haul Out in St. Augustine

Today is a big day! Haul out is at 8:00 am here at St. Augustine Marine Center. We finish unloading Mystic of all our personal items then moved over to the haul out slip. There were two workers waiting for us. One was a young man who caught our bow line. He tied it off as I ran for the stern line. We remained on board Mystic while the hoist raised us above the slip wall. We stepped off and get our first look at her hull, surprised to see it is cleaner than expected. After a good scrubbing, we followed as Mystic was carried to her resting place in the south end of the yard just past a row of catamarans. The hoist operator was good at his job; careful and gentle. The crew placed Mystic on stands and blocks. We'd paid a whopping $400 for four hurricane straps to be added. It's a lot of money but it's something that you don't need until you need it! We decided take the financial hit and have peace of mind!

Our empty slip looks lonely

Raise her just a little

In the Cradle ready for bottom cleaning

Scraping barnacles off the bottom

Reaching to get every inch

Barnacled bottom, but not so bad

Prop needs cleaning too

Zinc holding up well

Barnacles spreading everywhere

Mystic on the move

Rolling over the puddles

Making her way around the boats

Slow and Steady

Ready for Blocks and Stands

Mystic's resting spot

Tucked in with neighbor boats

We have additional cleaning to do and Dave still needs to strap down the kayaks, boom and solar panel before we leave. We ran to the store to pick up straps and some toilet bowl cleaner to clean Mystic's mustache and hull dirt. We've heard that it works well which it did, however, it was quite caustic and we would never use it again. When we returned an hour later we were alarmed to see fire ants crawling up the starboard side; a long trail of tiny feet, marching one by one, up and then down. Why the heck are they trying to board our boat? We called the Yard Manager, Mark Robinson, and asked if we could put ant powder out to stop the attack. He gives us his permission. We are glad that we noticed this assault. Returning to a boat filled with fire ants would be a huge issue!!!

Dave cleaning her hull

Boom and Kayaks strapped down

Custom hatch cover to protect the teak

Solar panel strapped down

Our decision to haul Mystic out for the summer is an easy one. We've been cruising for 10 months, it's time for a break and time for us to figure some things out! We left Minnesota last fall with a garage remodel that was 80% complete. We plan to side the garage while we are home. I'm pretty sure our neighbors are tired of looking at an unfinished, house-wrapped garage. Dave has two shows coming up, one in Boston and one in Santa Monica and he's finally ready to look seriously into hip replacement surgery. Our summer will be busy and will pass quickly! In the fall, we plan to return to St. Augustine, revisit with friends, then head south again. We'd like to cruise the Keys and the Bahamas before heading North to 'cross our wake' on the Great Loop.

Our garage ready for siding

Mystic is settled safely at St. Augustine Marine Center. Mark Robinson sent us photos of the Hurricane straps holding her snug to her land berth. We will miss our simple lifestyle and our friends. But like many Loopers, it's just a detour on a journey of a lifetime! We'll be back!

Mystic strapped down