Cruising the ICW

We took delivery of the boat at the owners house, and then moved it a couple of miles to a nearby marina.  I handled the boat a bit during the sea trial, but this was my first experience leaving the dock, doing a 180 in a narrow canal, transiting thru shallow water, and the docking.  And docking meant backing in, stern to, in fairly windy conditions.  Having twin screws makes a big difference, but still very much getting used to it. All went well, although I needed a dry shirt when it was done! Wind really blew overnight, so very happy to be secure in a marina. Morning dawned bright and warm, and wind much lighter, but t'storms expected later in the day.  After preparing dinner last night and breakfast this morning, we had a good idea of what we needed to add to the galley equipment, and initial provisions required.  We have a car for a few days so ventured off to West Marine, a Kmart, and Publix grocery store. In the afternoon, the DOT vessel measurement fellow, and his wif

Today is the start of our grand adventure. It has been a long process getting to this point. Today we take possession of our "new to us" boat, to cruise the US east coast via the Intracoastal Waterway. The genesis of this idea came a few years ago as I was contemplating plans for retirement. I was flipping thru one of my Pacific Yachting magazines one day at Christmas, thinking about all the time I had spent in New York, Boston, and other east coast cities over my career, but never really getting to enjoy the usual visitors reasons for being there.  I wanted to go back and enjoy the cities, but I couldn't stand the idea of going back and staying in a hotel.  Seemed too much like work. Staring at a boat magazine gave me the idea, "Do it by boat". The plans evolved over the following couple of years, as I got more familiar with the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW) and the restrictions of hurricane season. Originally the plan was to buy a boat in the Northeast, an