November 1...

....is our revised departure day!

Hurricane Sandy has come and gone and we are okay.  Actually, the worst of the storm hit north of us and the major damage occurred along the South Jersey Shore and up into New England.  South of Jersey, we experienced tropical storm winds and rain.  So we were very lucky.

So today is the day we are getting La Dolce Vita really ready to head out.  We plan to leave tomorrow morning.  So my next post should come from Harrington Harbor South, or maybe Solomon's Island.  We can't wait to get to some warmer air.

Follow us on Spot.  I'll post the link on this blog tomorrow.

Big Delay.....

We had planned to leave by 7:00am today, Thursday October 25. However, a tropical depression formed in the Caribbean on Monday morning, and it became a Category 1 hurricane by Wednesday afternoon. Sandy is heading due north and the forecasters predict that the Mid-Atlantic and NE coast will be in for some severely nasty weather by the end of the weekend and into next week. Since we have absolutely no desire to start our adventure sailing into a hurricane, we will wait at home until the thing passes and it is safe to leave. In the meantime, we still have some work to do on the boat, so we will do it at home instead of while cruising. So all is well, and we are happy! Besides the weather here in Annapolis has been gorgeous, so we have been enjoying that. Hopefully my next post will be to advise that we are on our way!

Getting ready.....

With a week and a half to go before our target date to head south, the weather has turned cool and breezy...just hope it holds a little longer for us.

We have been very busy getting the boat ready and stocked for the trip, as well as getting everything we can think of done prior to leaving Annapolis.  At the current moment, we plan to be living on the boat for about 6 months.  We have targeted Marathon Key in the Florida Keys as our primary destination.

Among the things we're doing to prepare for the trip:

• Servicing the cars; recruiting a neighbor to drive them occasionally for us.
• Absentee voting.
• Flu shots.
• Stopping the newspaper, making sure all of our bills are coming to us electronically, recruiting another neighbor to collect and send our mail to us once we've arrived in Florida.
• Downsized the storage unit from 10x10 to 5x10 (saves $100/mo in storage fees!).
• Stocking up on dog food & treats for the trip....they eat specialty items not available just anywhere.  That means 100 lbs. of dog food, plus a dozen or so bags of treats.
• Visit to the Vet to weigh the dogs and get updated records.
• Recruit yet another neighbor to water my houseplants.
• Getting the boat salon cushions reupholstered.
• Ordered, and still waiting for, new swing doors to replace the hatch boards.
• Got the sails cleaned and serviced.
• Got the bottom painted and the hull and deck waxed.
• Stocking up on non-perishables.
• Organizing, and reorganizing where we put things on the boat.  Finally made a list of "what was where", since we can't remember where we put anything.
• Got a spare engine key (important!!!).
• Had an onboard, private lesson on diesel engine maintenance.
• etc. etc. etc.

Many of our wonderful friends have been giving us gifts and inviting us to join them for dinner so that they can spend a little time with us before we leave.  They say we'll be missed.

We are both really looking forward to this adventure.  Living on the boat and sailing to the Keys!  Wow!  I think it's really finally going to happen!