Greetings,

I have purchased a new Spade anchor to replace my Barnacle anchor. That is covered at the end of the Anchor and Windlass Upgrades section of the Construction And Projects page, and also mentioned in the Ground Tackle section of the About DREAM AWAY page.

I have added to the Crew Boat Adventures section under General Boat and Family Pictures page. There is a complete section covering the SEA SEARCHER, which is the boat I am presently operating. I have also started a section on the J. W. BOODEE, which is a crew boat I worked on for a couple of weeks doing spot jobs. That section will be completed with the next update. Please be sure to read through the SEA SEARCHER section, as there are several great pictures of bald eagles.

As of 11/26/12, I am still employed with Y & S Marine. The boat lost the contract that we were working out of Berwick, Louisiana. I moved the boat, SEA SEARCHER, from Berwick to Venice, Louisiana, as Y & S Marine hopes the exposure there may help us pick up another contract. The trip to Venice was done off shore on a very nice, clear day. The only issue we had was a late start due to dense fog in Berwick. This caused us to enter the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River at night. It was my first time there, so I was a bit anxious about it. We made it up the river to Venice, and got tied up at our dock in Venice Boat Harbor around 2100 after stopping for fuel.

Since then, we have worked a couple of spot jobs with the SEA SEARCHER, but so far there has not been a long-term contract for it. A really nice thing happened this past week, I think!! The events were great, but I can’t help wondering what impact it may have on the job. The good news is that I got to spend the holiday with my daughter after all, when we had thought I would be working and it just couldn’t happen. Judy was arriving on Thanksgiving Day, and she and Kitty were planning to drive to Venice to see me at the dock in Venice. I called my boss and asked him if I could have my wife and daughter aboard the boat for a couple of hours to have a celebration meal. My boss then suggested that I just leave on Wednesday night, and come back to work on Tuesday. That is exactly what I did, and we had a wonderful visit, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Judy’s birthday … together and at home on DREAM AWAY.

The boat I am on does not have a job, and in fact another Y & S Marine boat is off contract, so I am sure it was a money saving move! Kitty had already made plans to drive to New Orleans Wednesday afternoon to get some Kosher food for Judy while she was visiting us. Kitty was spending the night in a hotel, and then picking up Judy at the airport on Thursday morning.

So Kitty drove to New Orleans, picked up the food, then checked into the hotel. She put the food into the refrigerator in the room, then drove down to Venice. She arrived around 2000. I had shut down the generator on the SEA SEARCHER, so I was ready to go. We drove back to the hotel in New Orleans, and crashed. Next day, Thanksgiving, we picked up Judy and drove to Delcambre. We had a wonderful meal, and have had a great visit. We drove Judy back to New Orleans yesterday, Sunday afternoon, then drove back to Delcambre via Baton Rouge. Then Kitty will drive me back to Venice tomorrow, Tuesday, to start another two week hitch, I hope.

As promised, I have added to the Kittens Aboard page. Hope you enjoy the new pictures of the additional crew! They are a constant source of entertainment and delight.

I am also starting to work on the section about replacing the cap rail on DREAM AWAY. It was a big project, so it will take some time to sort through all of those pictures.

As usual, please enjoy the new input to the web page. Please, if you see any problems or errors please let me know. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

regards,

jimk

Member Seven Seas Cruising Association

WEB page http://www.dreamaway.net