Friday, July 26, 2013

Cruising Map Review

....We are at our home for the summer
Reflecting back on our year #2 of cruising, we feel so blessed and so lucky to be living this long term planned dream. Our second year took us down the ICW from Maryland to the Florida Keys where we spent another wonderful holiday time at Harbour Cay Club. From Florida, we headed off to the Exumas with our good friend Jeff arriving in Georgetown where Jeff rented a beach front home. From there we continued south to Long Island and then we began our trek northward to the Abacos. We spent a beautiful month in the Abacos where good friends Wendy and Craig flew down for a visit. From the Abacos, we headed for the Island Packet Yachts Factory in Largo, Florida!

We decided to truck our 1994 IP-35 back to the factory for a full refit and a few upgrades. The factory has started a new refit program and we are the first yacht to sign up. Our boat will be in the factory for 6 months, May to November, 2013. While the yacht is in the factory, we will be spending our first summer in 22 years at our home. Usually, we set sail in June and enjoy sailing to New England. This will be our first summer at home since we started sailing our Island Packet 27 in 1991. This will be a different summer for us.

Once the factory completes our refit, we will re-launch the boat in St. Petersburg, Florida, in November. At that point we will then begin year #3 of our Bahamas explorations.

We manage Google Maps of our yearly sailing trips and here is a picture of this past year... the blue pins are for the trip south to the Keys, the yellow pins are south to the Bahamas, the aqua pins represent our return to the US from the Exumas and the green pins show our way across the Okeechobee Waterway to Largo, Florida.
Team Island Spirit ICW to Exumas to the Island Packet Yachts Factory
Thank you for following along with our sailing adventures. We love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or use the CONTACT US link to send us an email.

Hayden & Radeen.....at HOME!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Tuscany Photos

While our boat is at Island Packet Yachts for ReFit, we are at home...
After our group tour of Italy, we stayed one more week in the Tuscany area to tour the wine country. We rented a condo via RCI in the beautiful hillside town of Loro Cuiffenna with waterfalls and street side cafes and bakeries. From this location, we drove (over 1,000 km.) into the Chianti Region and tour vineyards and hilltop towns from the 11th century! Italy, a wonderful place to get lost...

Here are some photos of the Tuscany Area:

A Cappuccino Girl is BORN.....oh NO! 
San Gimignano, a walled hilltop city from the 13 century
Local restaurant in San Gimignano
Typical Tuscany Meal, meat and salad
San Gimignano meal, Tuscany, meat and beans.....
and you thought it was all pasta in Italy
San Gimignano Piazza, center of town
Our little town, Loro Cuiffenna where we spent a week

Our little town, Loro Cuiffenna looking down the river
Our little town, Loro Cuiffenna and the BROOM MAKER....look close (see next pic)
Our little town, Loro Cuiffenna broom shop
Olive Trees are every where
Typical Tuscany Driving view
Overlook view from a hilltop town
Beautiful architectural details
Oldest wine cellar in Montepulciano: Cantine Redi
1200 years old!
ahhhhh   Montepulciano: Cantine Redi
Walking the streets of Montepulciano
The view from Montepulciano
Montepulciano the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, 1594-1680 A.D.
Montepulciano the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, 1594-1680 A.D.
The street of LOVE :-)
Departing our little town....our stay has ended..
We are sad to leave Italy :-(

This has been a wonderful 24 day adventure. We shot 3,000 photos and shared our best 25 or more. We hope you have enjoyed the photos. Thank you for traveling along with us.


Here is our Google MAP of this trip:
Zoom into ITALY to see the locations.


Our ITALY PHOTOS on PICASA



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Italy Review

While our boat is at Island Packet Yachts for ReFit, we are at home...
We are home from our Italy 2013 tour, reflecting on our wonderful visit and discovery of this fabulous country. Here are 25 photos that progress in the order of our trip. Thank you for traveling along with us and sharing in this adventure.

We flew using Frequent Flyer Miles and they routed us...
Phil - Chicago - Berlin - Rome ! At least it was FREE

Once in Europe, we rode the high speed train to Naples

Walking the streets in Naples is really great

Our first excitement discovering Naples....FUN

Roof top breakfast in Naples

A drive down the Amalfi Coast to Positano

Touring Pompeii

The beautiful domes inside St. Peter's Basilica

St. Mark's Square in Vatican City

The Pantheon in Rome is spiritual

The FORUM in ROME, 312 A.D.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum had stages that lifted and dropped into the floor!

The Trevi Fountain, 1762 A.D., a must stop location

Trevi Fountain Italian Model

Wine Cellar for our first wine tasting

Hayden and Radeen enjoying a wine tasting

Florence....wonderful....Florence

Siena and the Palio, a colorful sight to enjoy

The Palio in Siena with the parade and horse race.
Every contrada or neighborhood participates

The canals of Venice, so romantic

The island of Burano north of Venice, a fishing village

Runing around Venice on a private high speed taxi....FUN

On the water at night....Venice

Lake Como, Northern Italy
Here is our Google MAP of this trip:
Zoom into ITALY to see the locations.


Our ITALY PICASA WEB Albums