M/V MAERIN

We’ve been spending the past month readying vessel and crew for our migration south. We’re nearly ready, plans at this point are to depart by the end of October. Maerin is freshly polished & waxed, the varnish on the cap rails has been renewed, and several minor maintenance items completed. We’ve been traveling back & forth between the marina and York, bringing the last of what we think we’ll need aboard, and arranging to have the homestead looked after since it has not sold. Not surprising with the crappy real estate market. We’ll play it as it comes.  Attempts to sell the Saturn didn’t generate any interest, so both vehicles will remain in York for the time being.

Molly spent the night at the vet’s last Thursday and was spayed. She was bouncing around like nothing happened when we picked her up Friday, no worse for wear. What energy! We have a trip or two to finish up, and then we’ll be thowing off the dock lines for good, since our slip lease expired beginning of October.

We picked up a couple of current cruising guides at the boat show Oct. 17th, along with a few other things including an EPIRB for some safety margin & peace of mind! One of those things we hope never to use! We also added a second bicycle so we can extend our traveling range ashore.

Folks ask about our destination, the reply is generally “south”, so we really don’t have firm plans. Our travel will be dictated by the weather, and what we find along the way. We’ve done the ICW northbound twice, both times bringing boats back from Florida. Those trips were essentially deliveries, constrained by the need to be back at the marina in time to go to work. This time we plan to stop at several spots we didn’t have time to visit, and spend some time enjoying the trip. The trip this time is the journey, not the destination. Our general plan is to be in Florida by Christmas, and probably head to the Bahamas after the first of the year. We’ll refine that plan as we progress. So check back in a week, we should be under way. There will be frequent blog postings, and I plan to start a new photo album.

Stay tuned!