Floriana

September 1, 2024

We decided to take two, maybe three weeks, and sail the islands of the northeast that we love the most; Block Island, Newport, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. We decided to leave on September 1st.

The planning and prepping began…..provisioning, bringing clothes aboard, checking that all systems are GO. Two days before the planned departure, I was feeling confident that, apart from minor last minute things, crew and boat were ready to sail. And then it happened….the batteries died, the water system wasn’t working properly, the impeller had to be changed….but the most stressful news came when the cat lady canceled!

The batteries had to be hauled out of the belly of the boat (they weigh 160 lbs each!), driven to Bay Shore, exchanged for a new pair of batteries, lowered back into the belly of the boat (did I mention they weigh 160 lbs. each!?) and reconnected.

Because the batteries were taken out, for a short while all electrical impulse was lost…and the electronics lost their memory! So we had to reboot the chart plotter, the AIS system and GPS. Of course, Claudio left that to me. He just handed me the manual and said, “See what you can do!”. You must know, in the world of tech dummies I’m known as the brain dead tech dummy. But I got it up and running again! WOO-HOO!

The water system fix and the replacement of the engine’s impeller was easy enough….except that it took Claudio half a day to accomplish because he had to access various areas of the boat to do it!

But the most pressing problem would be the cats….the cat lady had to cancel 3 out of the 9 days she said she’d cat sit. OH NO! Who would look after my fat boy, Nero?

And what about “You don’t have to tell me…I know I’m handsome” Schizzi?

Then my neighbor and TRUE animal lover, Andrew, came to their rescue…and MINE! He immediately volunteered to take good care of the two cats for the days that were not covered. Have I thanked you enough Andrew? Thank you again…and know that I miss my kitties AND I miss my buddy Oakley

Sunday finally came and we FINALLY cast off from our dock. That day we stopped at Sore Thumb, just short of Fire Island Inlet, and enjoyed a quiet evening and our first dinner onboard the boat.