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Mexican Night Onboard Moondragon

Moondragon – Thirty-one People Onboard for Mexican Night! The winter party was just down the dock from us on Moondragon, an old Chinese Junk boat (circa 1970). Boaters have the best parties! Never so true as last night with this group of boaters in Victoria, BC. Even though we have only been here two weeks, we felt like part of the family here at Coast Harbourside Marina. Thanks to hosts Dennis and Lynda for a fun night (many margaritas) and to the Jolly Mon Band for the fabulous music and sing-a-longs. Can you spot Jim Favors? [huge_it_maps id="12"]       It was…

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Cruising to Victoria, British Columbia

Destination – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada We left Anacortes, with Skyline Marina in our wake (above), mid-morning for the cruise to Vancouver Island with a final destination of Victoria, British Columbia. We had planned to leave either on Sunday or Monday, depending on which day the weather looked best. We would have waited longer if needed. We don't like nasty weather cruising and by that, I mean mostly high wind and waves. When Sunday arrived, Jim thought Monday looked like the best day, so we waited the extra day. As it turns out it was perfect. It was a little lumpy the…

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Seattle Boat Show in Full Swing – 2016

Lots to see at the 2016 Seattle Boat Show! As luck would have it, we would still be in Washington State during the beginning of the Seattle Boat Show. Anacortes is about 80 miles from Seattle, so it was a nice road trip for the day. Ranger Tugs/Cutwater had a huge presence at the show and a very nice display of all their Ranger Tugs and Cutwater lines. We haven't been to a boat show in quite a while. The last one we were at in Seattle was in 2008 when we spent the winter in town waiting and watching our Fathom…

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Winter Cruising Begins in Anacortes, WA

Have You Ever Tried Winter Cruising? After spending two months at home for the holidays, we returned to Portland, OR for a week to visit with family before hooking Kismet and the trailer up to the truck for the first time this year. Our immediate plan for Winter Cruising is to drive to Anacortes, Washington, on Fidalgo Island, and stay at Skyline Marina until the end of the month of January. We have reservations at the Coast Hotel and Marina in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada for the whole month of February. Fellow Ranger Tugs owner and friend, Bob, on Nellie Too, met…

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Willamette River Cruise to Downtown Portland – Day Trip

Cruise from Columbia River to Willamette River In an effort to get several cruises in before the weather turns on us, we planned a cruise from the Columbia River to the Willamette River. We left the marina with our son, Ross, and grandson, Silas, for Portland within ten days of our arrival. This will be Silas' third boat trip on Kismet. His first trip was when he was just four days old. The second was in Traverse City last summer. We think he is starting to be old enough to appreciate what our tug can do on the water. [huge_it_maps id="2"]…

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Government Island
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Government Island – Friends On Board in Portland, Oregon

Government Island is Just a Short Cruise from Salpare Marina. Having just arrived at Salpare Marina, in Portland, Oregon, at the beginning of October, we didn't want to waste any time getting out on the water while the weather was still good. A good day presented itself and we called our friends, Patti and Eric to come down to the boat for a cruise out to Government Island. It really was a great day, with blue skies, calm water, and a sunny warmth shining down on us. (Glad we did because there were not many days like that during our six-week stay)…

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Salpare Bay Marina – On the Columbia River – Portland, Oregon

Salpare Bay Marina is located on Hayden Island, in the Columbia River, north of Portland, OR, across from Vancouver, WA. Salpare Bay Marina is home for the crew of Kismet for six weeks while we visit family in Portland Oregon. We've stayed at two marinas in Portland over the years with our trailerable tug. Our first visit was in 2011 and we stayed at the Riverplace Marina. While it was fairly exciting to be in the thick of things in downtown Portland, with beautiful walking paths along the river, restaurants, and shopping within a short distance of the marina, our main problem with that…

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Staging Storing in Portland, Oregon

Staging Storing Whenever we plan a major trip, usually once a year if we can manage, it usually involves what we like to call "Staging Storing." We often need to stage our boat somewhere near our intended future cruising area well before we actually start cruising. Whether it be storage or docking somewhere nearby to avoid weather restrictions, to avoid higher costs, or we think we'd like to take in some interesting activity short of our final destination – making plans to stage and store the boat is an important element of trip planning. Our cruising plans for the next year will be focused…

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Coeur ď Alene, Idaho – Last Stop on the Road for Kismet

Having never stopped in Coeur ď Alene before, during our travels across the northern part of the U.S.A., we decided it was high time we stayed at least a night near town and had a look-see. It is so much fun driving through parts of Montana and Idaho. The mountainous vistas and open skies are inspiring and entertaining, perking up the weary bodies near the end of our cross-country trip. Mid-afternoon, our RV Park app directed us to a park on Blackwell Island, located just across the Spokane River from Coeur ď Alene. Nice looking RV park with a great location near the downtown area. With…

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Montana RV Park Stops – On the Way to Portland, Oregon

Miles City and Cardwell – Our Montana RV Park Stops Miles City, Montana RV Park was our next stop while driving to Portland, Oregon. In this part of the country, while driving west on I-90, we look on one of our RV apps to see what place is closest to the Interstate. We don't need to drive way off our route to get to an RV park. We aren't necessarily looking for a primo park, our requirements are very simple. We like a pull-through if possible, our rig is a total of about 55 feet (35 feet for just the boat and…

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Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Medora, South Dakota

Taking a Break at Theodore Roosevelt National Park Well before we take off on a cross-country trip, Jim always does some research and tries to line up something fun to do. It breaks up the monotony of sitting in the truck day after day. Usually, it's a visit to a national or state park. This trip was no different, he picked Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota. He timed our travel days to get to an RV park just outside of Medora. That way, we could get up in the morning and get to the park early. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, named…

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Shower Facilities at RV Parks Can Sometimes Be a Hit or Miss

Sometimes we just have to forgo a daily shower for a day. Not our favorite thing to do, but sometimes circumstances pop up that preclude us from our regular bathing routine. Our choices for boaterhoming, while driving across the country, are sometimes limited to what's available off the Interstate. Our first night on this trip found us in Oconto, WI, at Holtwood RV Park. When registering, we were told that the showers were coin operated and while that would have been doable (we’ve experienced coin-operated showers all over the country while boating, especially in Canada), after further inspection of the facility, we…

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Off to Portland Oregon, with Kismet in Tow

First North, then West to Portland Oregon After months of packing, planning, and organizing, we finally headed out this morning. First to 131, driving north to the Mackinaw Bridge. After we crossed the bridge, Kismet's bow was turned west towards our final destination of Portland Oregon. Not only will we get the boat out to the west coast before the snow flies, but we plan to spend time with our son, Ross, and his family, in Portland for several weeks before flying home for the holidays. This is just the beginning of a year-long adventure in the Pacific Northwest. Because of the…

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Tugnuts Group
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Day Three – North Channel Presentation, Boat Crawl and Pizza Party

Day three began with another broadcast of the Little Current Cruisers' Net at the Anchor Inn for those who missed it on Monday. Jim and several other Tugnuts went back and helped Roy log in the names of vessels calling in. We were also very fortunate to have another North Channel Presentation, again this year by Roy Eaton. Thanks, Roy! After the North Channel Presentation, we had another fabulous creation for lunch, by Kelly and the Anchor Inn. Lunch was followed by a boat crawl. We all opened up our boats so that we could take a look/see at what improvements, changes,…

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Day Two – Featuring Roy Eaton’s Little Current Cruisers’ Net

Day Two Featured a Visit to Roy Eaton's Live Broadcast of the Little Current Cruisers' Net! Breakfast on day two was proceeded by a short walk from the marina to the Anchor Inn downtown. Roy Eaton's live broadcast of the Little Current Cruisers' Net (LCCN) was about to take place. We filled the room with mostly Tugnuts, but other boaters visiting the town docks that day also joined us for the broadcast, the room was overflowing. Roy (below right) started his career as a marine radio broadcaster while boating in the Abaco Islands in 2001. At that time he provided Canadian news to…

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Ranger Tugs-Cutwater
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DAY ONE – Thirty-Seven Tugnuts Arrive in Little Current for the 2015 North Channel Rendezvous

2015 Ranger Tugs-Cutwater North Channel Rendezvous. Fourteen Ranger Tugs and two Cutwaters arrive for the rendezvous in Little Current, Ontario. All boats were secure in their assigned slips by late afternoon, except for one that arrived during cocktail hour. Half of the boats are from U.S.A and half are from Canada. Half are repeats of the rendezvous, half are first-timers. We are all here to share in the camaraderie of the friendly community of Ranger Tugs-Cutwater owners. We are also here to exchange stories, help one another with boat issues, trade boating knowledge, and acquired skills, and cruising interests. The term "Tugnuts" refers to the popular…

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Upside of Downsizing to a Trailerable Trawler
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Upside of Downsizing to a Trailerable Trawler – Book Review

Reading this e-book, I couldn’t help but wonder how many cruisers might be tempted to follow the example set by Jim and Lisa Favors, a couple with thousands of miles of Great Loop cruising experience who, after five years of full-time living aboard, gave up their comfortable 40-foot trawler for a trailerable 27-foot Ranger Tugs. Like many other PassageMaker readers, I’ve gone aboard boats like this at boat shows, asking myself whether my wife and I might someday want to downsize and try to squeeze into a smaller boat. A trawler yacht that can be towed over the highway and cruised in many different areas each year, avoiding long passages over water. After all, it’s a whole lot faster and cheaper to cover the distance between, say, Ft. Lauderdale and Halifax or San Diego and Seattle at 60mph, compared to displacement speeds. “One of the beauties of this plan,” the Favors wrote as they were planning their move, “is that we’d be able to cut out a lot of long boat travel days by driving to the heart of a spot and dropping the boat into the water.”

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Keys Disease in Full Swing for Crew of Kismet

Suffering from Incurable Keys Disease! When trailering our boat to the Keys, we had the added benefit of having our truck nearby, making it easier to stay a distance from downtown Key West. As we've mentioned many times before, our favorite spot is Key West Harbour Marina, on Stock Island. The best of both worlds when visiting Key West. Keys Disease is kind of like a virus that once caught stays in your system forever. It shows up like clockwork as soon as we hit the string of islands south of Florida.         Taking the Conch Tour Train was…

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Parrot
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Key West Harbour Marina – Stock Island

Staying at Key West Harbour Marina affords us the best of both worlds. We've stayed at Stock Island several times before. We keep going back to Key West Harbour Marina because it just makes sense. We usually stay a month in the Key West area and the downtown marinas are too expensive to stay long. Not sure we'd appreciate the crazy activity of downtown Key West for more than a few days. Staying at Key West Harbour Marina affords us the best of both worlds. Because we trailer our boat to Florida, we have transportation while in the lower Keys. So, we…

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Ranger Tug and C-Dory
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Ranger Tugs, C-Dorys and Rosboroughs – Marathon, Florida

Ranger Tugs, C-Dorys, and Rosborough's are everywhere! The number of small trailerable boats on the east coast of the United States is growing. During the past ten years, while we've been extensively cruising the eastern waterways, we've seen this movement snowball. Ranger Tugs, C-Dorys, and Rosborough's, and a few other, small live-aboard-type trailerable boats are everywhere. During our almost month-long stay in Marathon, we were surprised at how many "pocket trawlers" there were scattered at the marinas on the island. There is a certain amount of excitement among the boaters we've met recently and that of course translated into a casually organized cocktail party at…

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Blackfin Resort Marina – A Diamond in the Rough

We left our anchorage in Curry Hammock to face a fairly windy day cruising to Blackfin Resort Marina in Marathon. This is our first stay at Blackfin Resort Marina. We walked through the marina when we were visiting the Keys before because we are always on the lookout for places to stay. It helps with future trip planning. Blackfin is a fairly rustic and laid-back establishment, but it's big on delivering an authentic Keys experience. We had all the amenities we needed for our month-long stay. The marina is within walking distance of the local shopping area. We enjoyed a heated swimming pool, clean shower…

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Keys Eco-Tours? John Pennekamp State Park
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Keys Eco-Tours? See Captain Sterling – John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Looking for Keys Eco-Tours? See Captain Sterling at Everglades Eco-Tours Our first stop in the Keys this year was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Time for another Keys Eco-Tours. This was a new stop for us and we're glad we had the opportunity to check it out. We left Boca Chita while it was still quite windy, but manageable. When we got to where the waterway narrowed down a bit, we passed under the Jew Fish Creek Inlet and Bridge, in Key Largo, Florida, and passed the Anchorage Resort and Marina. We've stayed there in 2010 when we helped the…

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Kismet Docked at Boca Chita Key, Florida
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Boca Chita Key — Safe Harbor Before the Start of the Keys

Boca Chita Key, an Island Paradise! Kismet is on the wall at Boca Chita Key. Twelve miles south of Key Biscayne sits this beautiful Bahamian-type island. It is part of Biscayne National Park and consists of 32 acres of land, a beach, and a harbor. It includes a beautiful 65-ft. ornamental lighthouse that sports an observation deck overlooking the beautiful harbor, nearby islands, Key Biscayne Bay, the ocean, Miami, and Key Biscayne Island. Down below the lighthouse sits an old canon salvaged off a nearby shipwreck. There is a nice hiking trail and picnic facilities with several grills. There is a little campground, an open-air pavilion, and saltwater restroom facilities. This island always…

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