Our First Journey

Annie and I made our first journey together from Indiantown Marina, Indiantown, FL to Nettles Island Marina, Nettles Island, FL... 34 Nautical Miles! Annie did great... I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck!

My anxiety stemmed from a number of things; my limited experience on Florida waterways, the unknown condition of Annie's engine and questions as to how it would perform running eight hours straight, unknowns, and other unknowns, etc..

Annie proved me wrong on her engine. She ran like a top, 6.6 knots at 2000 RPM's. I varied the speed during the trip to stretch her legs and she danced gracefully on the water for the first time in five years! What a girl!

The overall trip was uneventful with the exception of docking. Due to the dock orientation, Annie had to be backed in... She doesn't like to back up. I guess when you weigh 20,000 lbs. backing up is unnatural. After a couple of "in and out" attempts, she was secured to her new home and rocked gently in her slip as if to say she was happy in her new slip and glad to be back in the water.

Thanks to Dice and Jessie for help on-board. Thanks to the Dickersons and friends who came to the locks to wish us well.

Fair seas and God bless!

Here are some pics from the trip.

Leaving Indiantown Marina

Waiting for our first bridge...

Jessie James!

Jessie..."I'm the king of the world!"

Dice... "Me Too!"

Dice and Jessie manning the lines at the St. Lucie Lock

Salt Water... I could almost hear her say..."AHHHH!"

A new slip...A New Home!

 

A New Name and A New Beginning...

Today, "s/v Domina Mari" officially became "s/v Dreamboat Annie".

When I started this journey I thought I had this whole name thing all figured out. She would be called "Domina Mari" which is Latin for "Lady of the Sea". It sounded sophisticated, smart, and worthy of a blue water boat like the Westsail 32. Still, tough I posted to a blog bearing that name, something just didn't feel right about the name. It didn't really fit in some way...

Then, back in early October I was feeling nostalgic and was listening to one of my favorite bands of the seventies - Heart. One of the songs that popped up in the YouTube selection grid was a song called, "Dreamboat Annie". It was one of their early songs but being a child of the seventies, I remembered it. After listening to the lyrics, I immediately knew... "DREAMBOAT ANNIE" is the name. It fit the boat, the dream, and me... (The lyrics to the first part of the song are below).

Heading out this morning into the sun

Riding on the diamond waves, little darlin' one

Warm wind caress her

Her lover it seems

Oh, Annie

Dreamboat Annie my little ship of dreams...

The re-naming ceremony consisted of writing all her former names on a stone and then casting that stone off the stern into the sea giving those names back to the sea, (or back to Neptune if you believe in the Roman gods: Poseidon if you believe in the Greek gods). I even included "Domina Mari" though that name was never official. Then she was christened with a whole bottle of champagne while declaring her new name and allowing all the champagne to run over her bowsprit and into the sea in order that the sea could join in the celebration of the vessel's new name.

The old blog, http://dominamari.blogspot.com/ will remain in place for the sake of history and reference. 

From this day forward, all new postings will obviously appear here. The Domina Mari blog will not be updated any further.

Follow me from here as Annie, "My Little Ship of Dreams", and I ride on diamond waves.

Fair seas and God bless!

Both previous names were given back to the sea.

Alex coming to get  her (everyone knows how long she has been on the hard).

Waiting for her ride back to the sea

Strapping her in!

Only 200 yards to go...

SPLASH!