We met on the lawn of a Jimmy Buffett concert, in the summer of 2003. After a year or so of dating, we moved in together, and then got married in August of 2007. We happily puttered around the Chesapeake Bay in our 1982, 34′ Mainship Trawler, and relaxed in our little house on a cove, just off of the bay.

In the winter of 2008, Scott signed up for a class in marine surveying, that is only offered in Stuart, Florida. We decided to take our trawler there, in lieu of him staying in the campus dorms. After traveling six weeks down the Intracoastal Waterway, we stayed in Stuart for two months while Scott was in class. Once he finished, went on to Key West for a few weeks, and then headed north, back to Baltimore. You can read about our winter travels on our blog www.mcgoniglewaterlog.blogspot.com.

That’s all it took to catch the bug for me. I suggested that we work toward living aboard and cruising. Since we don’t have children, I liked the idea of cruising while we were still younger, and able to scramble around to do boat maintenance and everyday activities. We started shopping for a larger boat/home, sold our Mainship, eventually the house, found Sea Life, brought her north for a refit… and here we are!