We need a haul out and work to be done on the boat in Fort Lauderdale, which means a delivery trip from the west coast of Florida, around to the east coast. Mahi leaves the marina tomorrow, where we had been renting a slip. Helping Joe with the delivery trip is our wonderful brother-in-law, Dave,…
Category: Preparing for Cruising
New Dinghy and Motor!
Today, our brand new dinghy and motor arrived by freight truck. This is progress! Why am I so excited to get my order, you might wonder? For a cruising sailboat, a dinghy is basically your car, a way of getting from your boat to land, or to visit sites and other boats. The truck driver…
Traveling Coast to Coast
Packing complete, it was time to load up the U-Haul trailer and head for Florida from our home in California. Can you say, “Long drive with a 4 year old in his car seat?” Actually, Ethan did just fine, except for those moments across Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas, when he declared he needed to go…
Packing Day!
Today, we are packing up the U-Haul trailer with everything we intend to bring on board the boat. The plan is to drive across the country, from California to Florida, in order to move onto the Taswell 43 sailboat. We will be making a short stop in Missouri to see my father, Carl (yes, I…
Laundry Aboard
As we pack and prepare to move aboard, friends and family have been naturally curious about what exactly cruising will be like. How will we cook, do laundry, provision, and all the little things that are much easier to do living on land. Let’s begin with laundry. Fortunately, we start out in a marina, so…
Cruising Transition Stress
The cruising books that do so much to lure you in to the dream of tropical locations, warm waters, sunny skies, for example, do not prepare you for the “emotional impact” of deciding to go cruising. You see, you dream about this for years, then when it is actually happening, the stress of all the…
Using a Cruising Mail Service
How do we receive our mail and packages when we are out cruising, traveling place to place? Fortunately, there are special mailing services that sailboat travelers can use to ensure you receive your mail. Joe and I signed up for St. Brendan’s Isle, a well known cruising mail service located in Florida. Specifically, we went…
Sailboat Buyer Beware
The number one tip I can give to anyone searching to buy a boat by looking online at sites such as Yachtworld or Sailboatlisting, is to take the photos with a grain of salt. Do not, do not, fall in love with a boat online by looking at their photos. Trust me on this. I…
Transition to Cruising
For so many years, the thought of cruising was a far away dream, something that would happen one day. Even while we were boat hunting, it still felt like it would happen way down the road. It was not yet real. Then, all of a sudden, the dream becomes real and time runs short. We…
Deciding What to Bring On Board
Moving from a nice sized house to a 43 foot long sailboat means you must leave stuff behind. Sadly, It just won’t all fit on the boat. So, you have to be disciplined and pick and choose what you absolutely cannot live without. That is where my problem begins. You see, I may have gone…
