Sunday Summary #101

Gold Looper Q+A and Goodbye Islamorada!

Hi ,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 101st Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written aboard PIVOT who is anchored in Islamorada, Florida

For the next few months, you can expect to see our Sunday Summaries bi-monthly instead of weekly 😊

Last Month.

Enjoying our time in Islamorada, Florida. We’ve gotten into a nice routine and are about to pick up our camera for the first time since February 😳 This time spent in the same spot, not filming (read: not adding to our backlog of videos to edit) has been exactly what we needed for both our business and our own health and wellbeing. Our email inboxes are no longer in the triple digits, we’ve completed a few of our big goals including opening the store on our website and releasing consistently on YouTube. Lastly, our mental health is in a much better spot and we’ve gotten into a healthy exercise routine. Our goals for Islamorada have been a success! 💪

Our last guest aboard PIVOT while in the Florida Keys was Jen’s college friend and roommate, Jeff. We visited with Jeff earlier this year near St. Pete, Florida, and were happy to enjoy more time with him in the Keys. We enjoyed our time spent hanging out and catching up.

Last week we wrote and began filming a project we’ve had in the backlog for months… a course on anchoring! Anchoring was and still is a critical part of boat life for us and how we planned to financially do the Great Loop. It quickly became an integral part of our Great Loop experience and is how we met some wonderful people. In the course, we’re going over ground tackle vocabulary, our 5 Steps to Anchoring, different approaches to anchoring, what to do when things don’t go according to plan, maintenance items, and the different considerations (ground conditions, current, tide, etc.) for anchoring along the entire Great Loop. We’re super excited about this course and everything we’re sharing!

The past few days have been spent preparing to leave Islamorada after spending 10 weeks here on anchor. Our last load of laundry, final provisioning run, filling up our water tanks, cleaning the hull from the growth we’ve acquired, and doing some maintenance on our generator including an oil change, fuel filter change, and zinc change. It feels so good to have many of our chores done for the trip ahead.

“Progress has little to do with speed, but much to do with direction.”-Unknown

This Week.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be going north toward northeast Florida. The focus for us moving north besides safety as our no. 1 goal, is to balance working and cruising so we expect to cruise for half the day and work the second half. We have a lot of loose ends in the background, so we’re not quite ready to share what our next adventure is. You can rest assured, the next chapter includes travel.

 Videos. 

In case you missed it, here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

LAST LOCK OF THE TRENT-SEVERN (Hello, Georgian Bay!)

ENTERING GEORGIAN BAY (Beausoleil Island, Georgian Bay Islands National Park)

THIS IS GEORGIAN BAY (GORGEOUS CRUISING and CRYSTAL CLEAR FRESH water)

The SMALL BOAT CHANNEL to PARRY SOUND (to Killbear Provincial Park, Georgian Bay)

DODGING ROCKS through HANGDOG Channel (Georgian Bay)

The INSANE 30,000 Islands to Bustard Islands (Beautiful Georgian Bay!)

Dinghy Exploration through North Georgian Bay (Bustard Islands to Bad River)

A Day on Anchor in Bad River, French River Provincial Park

 Gold Looper Q+A. 

One of the videos we’ll be filming in the next week or two will be a Gold Looper Q&A. If you have any questions for us regarding our Great Loop, please respond to this email and we’ll be happy to answer them in the video!

 From the Eyes of Ollie. 

It’s getting pretty hot down here. My parents have been trying to keep me cool on our walks. They give me lots of water and sometimes carry me. I love going on so many walks. My morning walks set me up for my afternoon nap on the flybridge where I listen for dolphins. I spend all of my time upstairs in the shade. Sometimes I’m even watching the stars at night. I know all the best spots on the boat and where to find some shade with a nice breeze. I'm ready for some cooler weather though.

 Gratitudes. 

There is a part of us that’s sad to leave Islamorada. We’ve called this place home for the past 11 weeks and have gotten to know some of the locals, enjoyed sundowners with other boaters, have fulfilled our goals to establish a healthy, sustainable routine focused on daily exercise, working, and breaks to enjoy company with friends and family. We’ve experienced some wild weather windows which included a boat coming within 10 feet from our bow as it was dragging anchor. Thanks to Elliot for calmly walking that captain (on his first night alone on his new boat) through the scary situation of resetting your anchor during 30 knots of wind. The following day the captain dinghied over to our boat to thank us for the help. We’ve also witnessed some incredible sunsets here in Islamorada and have enjoyed countless opportunities to jump off our boat into the clear blue abyss below us. We’ve enjoyed work breaks to use our standup paddleboards and explore the mangroves where we’ve seen Nurse sharks, rays, sea turtles, Anhingas, Pelicans, Green Heron, and a lot more wildlife. Islamorada has been very, very good to us.

There’s also a part of us who are ready to move on and begin the next chapter of our lives. With each season of life or location we’re in, we try to be present and enjoy the things that season or location has to offer. There are many things we’ve enjoyed about being here in the keys for an extended period of time.

Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot