From Retirement to Cruising: The Prep

And they’re off!

After several years of plotting and planning, we (Frank and Mary Marie or “Ems”) are about to execute on our plan to cruise the US east coast and the Bahamas/Caribbean in our 41′ sailboat for the next 2 years. Since Frank retired April 1, 2013, friends and family have been inquiring about our preparations. So here is the pictorial answer to the question, “How do you prepare to go cruising and when are you leaving?” Here is OUR answer as it pertains to the last month.

Step 1: Retire. (Party!)

Install some more “stuff” on the boat . . .

Pack . . .

Take a bunch of your furniture to the kids . . .

Move out of the old place . . .

Clean and prep the new place . . .

Move into the new place . . .

Install MORE stuff on the boat . . .

Haul the boat . . . (bottom paint, you know)

Have lunch at Pusser’s . . .

Put the boat back in the water . . .

Have a drink . . . (especially after watching your boat flying around in a sling)

Stock the boat pantry. . .

Go cruising!!!

We essentially moved onto the boat May 7th, spent a few days doing prep and provisioning and set sail on May 12th. Our “launch” will happen in three stages:

1) Spend the month of May cruising the Chesapeake. We still have a slip in Annapolis through the end of the month. In late May, we will “take the lines with us.” This is in quotes because Frank has often said that, when he has a problem going to sleep at night, his substitute for counting sheep is to picture us pulling out of our slip and “taking the lines with us,” so that will be a BIG moment.

2) We will make our way through the C&D canal to Cape May where we’ll spend some time in Frank’s old stomping grounds and birth place. Then we’ll head north and anchor outside of Atlantic City, NJ for a couple of weeks to spend some time with our families and take care of last minute details. This will also allow Mary Marie some good practice time in the ocean vs. the confines of the Bay.

3) In the second half of June we’ll look for the right weather window to make our first big journey from Atlantic City to Block Island. That will be the third and most official part of our launch. Then we’ll hop our way along the coast of New England and head to Maine.

For those who are interested, we will use this blog to chronicle our travels. We’ll try to make it somewhat fun to read and will include a bunch of pictures and stories of the good, the bad and the ugly. If you just want to come here when you’re out of ways to procrastinate working on what you really should be, bookmark us and come when you feel like it. If you want to know that we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth on a regular basis and think you’ll forget to look up our page, there is an option on this page where you can enter your email address and get an email notice each time we make a new blog entry. Your choice. Or . . . never looking at this site again is an option, too. Totally your call . . . but we hope you’ll visit us from time to time! So, here we go!