Third Annual Safari in the Seafari!

[Bushwacker]

My ol' buddy from Ky. that I grew up with used to ride his bike down here every year for Bike Week, so 2 years ago we decided we might as well take a boat trip while he was here. Went down the St. Johns River from Sanford to Palatka and back, a trip of nearly 100 miles each way, spending 4 days and 3 nights on the boat. Last year we circumnavigated south Florida, running 700 miles in about 2 weeks, which I posted a slide show [http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=69122ef0.pbw [/url] on last year. When planning this year's trip we remembered the first trip on the St. Johns being so much fun that we decided to do it again, only go a little further and stay longer this time, so went for 5 days/4 nights on the water. I should add that the inspiration for both of these adventures was Carl and Jeanne Moesly! They made the both trips years ago in an I/O Seafari 20, except they ran the entire length of the St. Johns, AFTER running all the way up the ICW to Jacksonville from their home in Hobe Sound, between Jupiter & Stuart! That had to have been a trip of over 400 miles!

Last year we were able to meet up with a bunch of great CSC folks, and decided to try that again too. Brian (3rd Day) lives in St. Cloud which is right on the way to Sanford from NPB, so we decided to swing by there on the way. Enjoyed dinner with his nice family and got to check out his 27 Seamaster project! That is one HUGE and really solid 27' boat with an impressive amount of room in the cabin. It will be a great Bahamas cruiser! A friend of mine bought one of these boats new in 1967 and put a 454/Mercruiser in it, so we called him while I was there, and learned that he was able to install a low-rise manifold on it that allowed him to have a flush deck over the engine! I could tell Brian liked the idea of eliminating that big engine box!

At the Key Largo gathering I was showing Patty (Mrs. No Bones) some pictures of our previous trip and she freaked out at a picture of the Blackwater Inn in Astor, saying that's where she and Ken had gotten married! Thought it would be neat if Ken and Patty could meet us there for dinner one night. Turns out Patty had to work, but Ken brought his son along, so we enjoyed meeting Kenny and sharing some fine Ky. Bourbon with them. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of that event, so you'll have to trust me that it happened! Turns out that the owner of the Blackwater Inn is a good friend/client of Ken's, so we were treated like royalty! We made sure that waitress got a nice well-deserved tip!

Ended up running 309 miles and burned just under 70 gallons of gas for about 4.4 mpg overall, almost identical to last year's trip. Topped off the oil tank and it looks like we used about 2 qts of oil and the motor never missed a beat the entire trip. However the BRP tech's on the forum at etecownersgroup.com say you should be able to SEE the cavitation plate when you're up on plane, and mine is nowhere is sight! Took some pics, and it looks like motor needs to be raised at least 1-2 inches, but it's already as high as it can go without modifying bracket. Don Herman says he can easily add a couple more inches to the mount bracket, so next project is to see if I can wring a little more performance out of this rig!

Here's a slide show I put together of most recent St. John's trip. There's a pause button on lower left if you want to stop & start it. Enjoy! Denny

[DonV]

Damn Denny......I'm impressed!!! Very, very nice. Thanks for sharing!! Seeya

[shana]

bushwacker what a beautiful trip can see you had a great time would love to make a trip like that? your pic are wonderful enjoy every min on the water george

[Capt Chuck]

Outstanding Denny!!! I have to do this trip also one day!

At one time, I wonder how much the owners of that old cracker home got paid by the company for the chewing tobacco ad on the side of the house??

BTW: By the amount of Bourbon left in that bottle, you guys waited for No Bones a long time?

Thanks for sharing

Chuck

[NoBones]

BTW: By the amount of Bourbon left in that bottle, you guys waited for No Bones a long time?

Thanks for sharing

Chuck

That was a virgin bottle of Pappy Van Winkle when
Jr & I arrived....
The 'ole men did more damage then the young buck did!
He had all he could do to sip the 1st one down..
It was a pleasure to hook up with Denny & Harry on
their St. Johns trip.

Vows on the dock at Blackwater Inn..


Restaurant reception with family and friends!


The happy couple!!


SeaCraft honeymoon at Cedar Key in the NoBones...


Patti's first pecker Trout..
(keep it to yourself Chuck )


See ya, Ken

[BigLew]

If you ask me, Patti is one GOOD SPORT! Nice catch!

Patti, you do justice to "DA-GLO" orange. It has never looked so good.

[McGillicuddy]

Looks like another great cruise, Denny. Thanks for the slide show.

Looks like you done well too, Ken. Great place to get hitched... If Blondie is catchin', cleanin' and cookin' the fish, too - I'd say you done real well.

Hats off to you Southern Gents.

[Ryan]

Bushwacker thanks for sharing! Ive been up that way, some really fun boating around Lake George and the springs. Look like you guys had a great time.

[Bushwacker]

[QUOTE]

BTW: By the amount of Bourbon left in that bottle, you guys waited for No Bones a long time?

Thanks for sharing

Chuck

That was a virgin bottle of Pappy Van Winkle when
Jr & I arrived....
The 'ole men did more damage then the young buck did!
He had all he could do to sip the 1st one down.. [QUOTE]


Chuck, Ken's right - that was a fresh bottle when he arrived! That picture with me and the bourbon was actually from previous trip! (I cheated a bit with the pictures since I didn't have one of this occasion! ) That batch was 15 yr old high test, 107 octane (proof), and Kenny DID seem to struggle a bit with it! I remember Capt. Brian made the mistake of chugging some of it at the Key Largo gathering . . . he was real quiet after that! Still have about half of it left; saving it for the Peanut Island gathering, so don't you guys go gettin' sloshed on the cheap stuff first! Saving the good stuff for a special occasion!

Nice wedding pics Ken. I'd say you done good indeed! Denny

[Bushwacker]

BTW: By the amount of Bourbon left in that bottle, you guys waited for No Bones a long time?

Thanks for sharing

Chuck

That was a virgin bottle of Pappy Van Winkle when
Jr & I arrived....
The 'ole men did more damage then the young buck did!
He had all he could do to sip the 1st one down..

Chuck, Ken's right - that was a fresh bottle when he arrived! That picture with me and the bourbon was actually from previous trip! (I cheated a bit with the pictures since I didn't have one of this occasion! ) That batch was 15 yr old high test, 107 octane (proof), and Kenny DID seem to struggle a bit with it! I remember Capt. Brian made the mistake of chugging some of it at the Key Largo gathering . . . he was real quiet after that! Still have about half of it left; saving it for the Peanut Island gathering, so don't you guys go gettin' sloshed on the cheap stuff first! Saving the good stuff for a special occasion!

Nice wedding pics Ken. I'd say you done good indeed! Denny