|
| |
| Jeff working on his new laptop in Night Heron's saloon. The saloon table has been cut into pieces to turn it into a drop-leaf table, although the mechanical hardware to hold up the leaves hasn't been installed yet. | Greta and Jeff at the bar/restaurant in the Holiday Inn, which is next to Tidewater Marina. We were all having dinner during Greta's first visit to Night Heron. |
 |
|
| CiCi and Jeff at the small boatyard operated by Full Throttle Marine; you can see the blue Travelift they use to haul boats. To the left of the boatyard is the Holiday Inn; you can see their sign in the background. |
While I was helping Jeff with boatwork before CiCi arrived, we would frequently head over to the Holiday Inn at quitting time to take advantage of the daily special at the bar/restaurant. Some nights they would have music, some nights would be quiet, and sometimes a group of people would regularly meet. On one such night, a bunch of aging single baby boomers had gathered to socialize and learn some new dance steps. I have to say, some things are better done when you're young, and not when you're 60 years old. As the recorded music played, all the tired old folks would move their arms and plod their feet in unison, while slowly counting aloud the steps and shuffling around the dance floor rather gracelessly. As we watched the crowd stagger around robotically, Jeff and I found the performance to be rather amusing (a few drinks encouraged our humor). The more we watched, the funnier it became, and we both thought it looked like a scene from "Night of the Living Dead" where the zombies plod around and attack people, eating their body parts. We joked that we'd have to lock the hatch tonight. Anyway, you had to be there, but laughing at aging baby boomer zombies at the Holiday Inn is what passed for entertainment while we were chipping away at the to-do list.
To tell the truth, when I first arrived to visit Jeff and Night Heron, I didn't think all the work would get done in time. The work was all doable and we could still leave for the Caribbean, but I thought we would probably be late leaving. Even after weeks of effort had passed, I still didn't think we'd by ready by November 4. But to his great credit, Jeff pulled it off and everything on the list was completed in less than two months (kudos to his credit card, too). That's not to say the boat was perfect—no boat is ever perfect and there's always more work to be done.
In the next section, we finally get to leave for the sunny and warm Caribbean.
Here are three recommended books about outfitting a cruising sailboat (you can also visit the authors' web sites):
Information about some of Night Heron's new equipment:
| Previous Page | Next Page | Contents Page | Sailboat Cruising Page | Home Page |