Day -1

Here it is - the day we have been anticipating for the past six months! Judy, my wonderful assistant and Ralph's housesitter, came over yesterday to get acquainted with Ralph and some of our routines. Our friends Jan, Alan, Linda and John joined us for a pizza dinner. Judy spent the night and Harold and I slept on the boat. Ralph was a good boy and slept in the bedroom with Judy, so that is a positive omen! Harold and Judy and our neighbor Shirley walked Ralph this morning and that went well also. We did some more walkarounds with Judy this morning. I'm sure her head is swimming with our various routines! While she went home to gather up the rest of her things, I cleaned the inside of the boat one last time and Harold power washed her. The plan is that while Ralph and Judy are walking tomorrow morning, we will power up and be on our way! We will spend tomorrow night at a marina at Lake Worth Inlet and have dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. Then an early night and an early morning and across the Gulf Stream we will go! The weather gods say Wednesday will be the best day for crossing. so for once, things are looking in our favor!

I bought an international air card which is compatible with the cell phone company in the Bahamas, so we will see how well I get internet connections. If you don't see a post for a couple of days, you will know why!

Getting closer!

We are getting much closer to our embarkation date of June 1! Harold has been working really hard on the boat, replacing a lot of drain and bilge lines as well as changing oil and coolant. The electronics guy was here this week to tweak a few things and make sure all was working correctly. The same day the fuel truck came. After pumping 120 gallons into the aft tanks, the guy noticed that the deck plate said DIESEL. He was pumping gasoline! They got it pumped out and the fuel company was very apologetic, but it was a long day!

Yesterday was the last day of school!! Now I can finish cleaning the house and start provisionong the boat. My dining room table is currently burdened with what I hope is a month's worth of dry and canned food.

Today our last big purchase arrived. A hookah! No we are not going to start smoking dope - it is to go under the boat and be able to breathe. We tried it out in the pool.