Catching up

Hello to family and friends-

We have been busy and that's my lame excuse for not updating sooner.  I'll try to do better in the future.  Since my last entry we have had the Belle out several times.

Wednesday, 1/19  went out at 11:00 am and headed straight west.  A couple of miles out we ran into fog.  A good thing because it gave us a chance to use the radar and learn how things look using that tool.  Wonderful to have Dan on board for his experience and teaching skills. Visibility was about 1/4 mile so it was not dense fog.  We identified and passed two sailboats.  Radar is cool!!  We were back at Port Hudson Marina at 1:29pm according to the Ship's Log and our run was 9.17 miles long.

Friday, 1/21 Mary, Graham and Erin were our first guests on board for a cruise.  The weather was not great but the company was.  We were only out for 1 1/2 hours, cruising at a lightning average speed of 5.4 knots!!  When we returned to our slip we had steaks on the grill, delicious... and exciting since the grill handled the steak juices poorly and caused a little bit of a flare-up.  Kerm and Graham had a game of cribbage and I forget who won.  It was wonderful to have family here to see our new home.

Yesterday, Monday 1/24.  Left the marina at about 4:00pm and cruised down to Port Richey.  Longest cruise so far, about 20 miles.  Dan contacted two boats on the radio...a large Coast Guard barge and a Casino boat which passed us in the narrow channel.  The Casino boat pilot slowed down as he passed us to minimize his large wake and complimented us on our nice boat. (picture me beaming with pride)   Dan is great on the radio and I learned a lot just from these two quick encounters.   I am also learning how to steer so that I don't wander all over the course.  It's harder than it looks.   Saw dolphins...always a joy.

Today a storm is predicted so we are battening down the hatches.  No cruising today.

Every day we are getting jobs done.  Departure date is anticipated to be on or about 2/23.  Kerm is heading north for his annual snowmobile trip on Feb 11 and will be gone for about a week. Dan and I will stay here and wrap up preparations.  Exciting stuff!!

Signing off for now with love to all,
Christie