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Welcome to our big, nautical adventure!! I am posting later than I’d planned, and am still figuring out this site, and how I want it to look, so bear with me.

After two hellish years of a complete refit of our trawler (check out our Our Floating Home), we planned to set off on Tuesday, September 1st. I wish I could tell you that the last few months were spent leisurely visiting friends, and gathering last minute things. The reality was a manic state. We were trying desperately to finish as many boat projects as possible, while plugged into power, and close to West Marine, Home Depot, etc.  We saw many doctors, and had many test, making sure all is well as possible for the next three years. Things were ordered online, and bought at various stores in the area, making for full days of errands and doctor appointments.

We squeezed in as many friend and family parties and visits as possible during the last few months, in between errands, doctors and boat projects. Thanks so much to everyone, for being flexible and making time to see us! Time with you was a welcome and much needed break from the stress of our pending departure.

The final days were a flurry of craziness: On Monday August 24th, the clutch on Scott’s Land Rover went out, on the way to storage. It’ll take a few weeks to fix, so the shop will tow it to storage for us, once it is ready. That Thursday, Scott went in for an emergency root canal, an all day process. He now has what is essentially a dead tooth, so we have to figure out how to get a crown done somewhere before we cross to the Bahamas.

Friday evening, Scott woke up with severe pain in his left testicle (yes, we’re sharing all in this here blog). By Sunday, we were in the emergency room, after a phone conversation with an on-call urologist. Tests showed nothing wrong..ugh! He followed up with his regular urologist on Monday (a BIG thank you, to our friend, Colin, for being Scott’s driver all day!), and it seems that Scott has a cyst, inflammation and an infection in his testicle. He left with a strong antibiotic and anti inflammatory, which wreak havoc on his innards.

So back to the Tuesday the 1st. It was our “blast off” date for the last year, and Scott was going to keep to it, come hell or high water (or infected testicle)! Our weather was beautiful, the bay forecast was great..waves flat (something you almost NEVER hear) and our friends Perry, Stephanie and Paul, Amy and Joe,  and Ted took time out of their morning to come and see us off, which meant so much!!

Thank you to Stephanie and Pattie, for their great photos of our departure!

Day one was an easy four hours across the bay, to Bay Bridge Marina (except when I almost sunk our boat on a bay bridge piling!). We met our friend, Kirk, for dinner and had a wonderful visit. We were both in bed at 8pm…the last few months have taken a toll! Yesterday (2nd) we traveled to Herrington Harbor South, the marina resort where we were married (http://www.herringtonharbour.com/herrington-marinas/south/). We’ll be here until tomorrow am, when we’ll head to a slip off of the Potomac River, for a visit with my parents.

With Scott less than 100%, I’m thankful that our first week will be quiet and easy. He’s feeling better every day, and we’re grateful that we lucked out with all of this happening while we were still at home port….and not Guatemala!

PS…a BIG, BIG thank you to my sister, Sally, who helped me get this crazy blog idea up and running!

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”