Getting started

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Finally, after months of selling homes, packing stuff, moving mom, and a few breathers in Florida between moving experiences, we headed back to Virginia in early May and moved aboard the boat. As we packed Sally's stuff for storage, we grabbed things we thought might be useful and filled up a few boxes with clothes and odds and ends like art, clothespins, and spatulas. We had a few days to get settled, and puzzled a bit in the what goes where category. The biggest questions, were how the Pfeiffer (aka Pifford or Piff) and Miss Marple (Marpie, Mipoo, Mips) were going to handle life afloat. We had a deadline to meet, as we had a hired gun from the Manta, Capt. Joe Hanko, coming to spend a week with us to get us ready to cruise. We got most everything aboard, and found that Lora's CRV works well as a rotating on-the-fly storage locker. Of course, that's in addition to the two PODS and storage unit we've got crammed to the brim. But we somehow managed to cram stuff somewhere, and felt ok about it.... that is until Capt. Joe arrived and gasped at our low waterline.

We'd invited our friend Steve to come along with us since he was interested in cruising and getting certification for chartering. Steve picked up Joe at the airport and when they arrived it was clear they were already comfortable with each other. We knew this was going to be good.