Wow! Just a little over a month since the last post - not bad for the unemployed - right? We have sold the dive business and are busy preparing the sail boat for the first "cruise" of many, we hope!!

So many things have been going on, I have to stop and think what we need to write about. In mid-December, we hauled the boat out in the boat yard to take advantage of our friend Capt. Al's expertise. There she remained while we went to Texas for Christmas and we got her back in the water just before New Year's. Projects completed since then include: New bottom paint, new Navy Blue Boot Stripe, new gold pin striping up top, complete polish and wax of the hull (a six step procedure), new cutless bearing, almost re-made rudder. The biggest hold-up on the work getting completed in the boatyard was the rudder - she had some blisters when we bought her and we wanted to get those fixed. After over a week of letting the rudder dry and assisting with heat lamps, there was still moisture behind the fiberglass. We stripped it naked and let it dry as much as possible before re fiberglassing it with some moisture still in there - we don't know how long it would have taken to completely dry out!!!! Anyway we splashed her with 3 days of 2010 left and have not stopped working on her yet. We are completely redoing the teak while we have electricity here at Key Largo Harbor Marina. HOPEFULLY, this is the last time we will have to take it down to bare wood for the next few years - lesson to self - put plenty of coats on the first time and take care of "dings" as soon as they happen. She will be beautiful when we are done!!

The other reason we have not left for parts unknown is that we have some "year end" things to tie up before we leave the country. Yes, we intend to be gone as soon as all the pieces and parts get taken care of - destination Bahamas. Departure date unknown. Stay tuned here and you will learn of our whereabouts.

While we are still close to the house, we have moved KC (pronounced Casey) the Kitty Cat on board. This is a trial run for all of us that we just did last night. So far, KC has done pretty well. Roxy isn't happy having to share her bed, boat, and us with anyone. Biggest hurdle is getting her used to indoor living (ie cat box) and then transitioning from that to her using the head for her duties. Darrell has renamed the boat Noah's Ark!! LOL

While here at the marina, we have made some new friends and gotten to know some "old" ones better. We are parked next to some people from Connecticut that we met last year when he did his open water dive certification at Island Ventures. They are some great people and we hope to get to see them many more times in our future travels.