Not Yet!!!

Trying to sort out everything and prepare to manage from afar proves to be more work than anticipated. No surprise, but here we sit, still at the dock.
It really is a good thing we were here, Friday night winds were 20-30 gusting to 40 mph!!! It was a wild ride and we were up every couple of hours lashing down stuff that was not secured.

At 5:30am the staysail (small sail just forward of the mast, aft of the jib) came unfurled and we had to take it down in crazy winds. No fun wresling a heavy piece of canvase with ropes and hard rings attached. No damage done, but a boater on the next dock was not so lucky as his jib was shredded during the same winds. Probably cost $500-$700 used, yikes!!

Great strides have been made and we will be out of the house tonight. On top of everything else, I have a cough, runny nose and no energy.

Bottom line, we will be heading out mid week . . . I think.

Going Away

We just had our bon voyage party and we are overwhelmed at the love and support of people we have met along the way. It was amazing how many people came and I believe a testament to the power of a dream coming to fruition.

Friends and family brought crayons, colored pencils, and construction paper for us to give to rural children and schools. Generous lot, our friends.

We are truly blessed by the many people who have touched our lives over the years. Thank you all.

Electronics We Got Electronics

So we now have:
computer
VHF radio
hand held VHF
stereo
MP3 player
GPS
S.P.O.T. gps check-in/emergency locater
chartplotter
autopilot (Thanks CPT autopilot!)
solar panels

This list seems shorter than I thought it would. Keep in mind I also need to make sure they function properly, and that WE function properly in unison with them. Make sure the maps are correct, we have batteries, and chargers for everything.
Oh, and they all have to "talk" to each other! Exciting to have new toys, but a little overwheming to get them all together!

From what I've seen, most cruising boats have MUCH more in the way of electronic devices, but that is just much more to go wrong. Now that we have our autopilot, we are pretty comfortable with how the boat is outfitted. It would not be fun to hand steer the boat all the way to Mexico.

Provisioning

Went to Costco yesterday, I had a budget in my mind of $100 to do a little provisioning. Not everything, just some things to get started. The $100 is because I am working on being a cash only person. It is pretty easy to use and ATM or credit card, even if there is no money in there, I have overdraft. Makes it too easy to NOT keep track of expenses.

So I think I'm adding up the cost of things, it seems EVERYTHING in Costco is either $5+ or $10+, and I know I have a little more than $100 to spend. I think I'm being careful, and the total is . . . $199. !!!!! Should have known.

Have I mentioned Marcus and I have different views of things? I get home late and it takes several trips to bring all the stuff to the house. He thinks we are bringing 5 days of food and buying more along the way as we need it. I think we need 5 weeks of food and will supplement as we go along. He thinks I have bought too much, I think I have bought too little. What ya gonna do?

Well, I'm gonna go shopping, I need some canned chicken . . .