First outing a success

 Uncle Ken said he's been waiting for this day for four months. We finally got the boat in good enough condition to take her out on a test run. Not that it wasn't in sufficient condition all along. It's just as most experienced captains know; a boat is hardly ever in perfect shape, and if you putter around making sure everything is just right just because you have the time (or because you're looking for an excuse not to take her out), you'll find yourself never venturing out of the harbor.

So I spent the morning getting one last thing out of the way --  sending out my freelance writing voucher for the month -- and after that my uncle and I prepared Avalon for her longest trip in over 20 years, down to Grande Dunes -- a wealthy development surrounded by a high class golf course. Want to know how wealthy the people who live there are? They have their own bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway:

Boating past this development, at first I felt like I was somewhere between the Southwest and Arabia. Well, geographically, I guess you can say I was, but the South has little if any connection to Southwestern or Arabian architecture; and that's what baffled me about these houses. They seemed to meld the two styles seamlessly. The smooth facades, elaborate outdoor staircases and open plazas resembled the mosque-like structures of Arabia; and the adobe colors, especially the red tile roofs, resembled Southwest homes. You can even say the arches around the buildings suggested some Roman villa influence.

But then I noticed the authentic southern plantation architecture of the homes: long porches, a plethora of flora, balconies, an abundance of windows. And all of this was just from observing the back of the homes, the view from the waterway. It was an eclectic style for sure, but the homes were anchored in a very subtle Southern influence. It was a very unique style displayed on this northern edge of the subtropics.



Uncle Ken let me steer Avalon most of the way back from Grande Dunes. The trip, a little over five miles, took about an hour back and forth at a cruising speed of about seven knots on average. Coming out of the slip and getting out of Barefoot Marina was the most difficult part of the whole trip. All in all though, Avalon's longest trip in over two decades was a success. When we came back we docked on the outside of the marina, where the water's choppier than within the marina but the view is definitely better.