Outboard Motor

A 'small' outboard motor repair turned into a larger project. I now
know the tender's outboard inside and out!

Merritt Island

Nicholas and Alessia came to visit last week. One trip took us to the
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Nice beach, and lots of
wildlife. Got to see Manatees and Aligators, a sucessful trip.

They're off

We've shared our corner of the boat yard with several other live
aboard would be sailors. Of the four boats, John and Lyle are the
first of us to get launched. It was wonderful to see them
successfully leave the hard and splash. It gives us remaining sailors
hope for our own future water life.

Neighbors

The boatyard is full of lost boats that have been beat up, run down,
and left behind. Many were victims of the hurricanes,but others have
just been abandoned. "Dragon Lady" must have been quite a boat in its
day, but now she just sits quietly.

We have a new name

We got the name on the boat yesterday. We are officially 'Amante'.

We have arrived!

Got to Fort Pierce on Friday afternoon, and moved on to the boat. Some progress has been made in transferring our lives from the car to the boat. Amazing how much stuff we managed to pack in the car for the trip down. But also amazing that this pile represents all our possessions.
Work moving ahead on the boat. Lots of little things to take care of before we splash and sail away. We have lots of company in the boat yard. Many people have been working on their boats for months. They face major problems; replacing masts, patching hulls, etc. We are fortunate that our projects seem minor in comparison. It's a beautiful boat.

Our trip south

The following pictures were taken during our trip south. We are currently in Atlanta, leaving tomorrow (Friday) for Florida. The pictures are posted in reverse order.
Vince and Maria

A view of the backyard at the 'new' house.

We next travelled to Atlanta to visit Maria's parents. Here they are in front of their 'old' house.

LEXIE!!!

We had a wonderful visit with Maria's sister Liz, her husband Nat and the amazing Lexie. Lexie is the star in satin.

During our stay in DC, we visited the Conservatory on the Washington Mall. It had been recently redesigned by our friend Mark Hawry. (It looks gread Mark!)

We then travelled along the C&O canal through Maryland, stopping at the Great Falls park on the Potomac. The river was high from recent rains giving us a dramatic view of the falls.

On the way to DC we stopped at the new Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. The SR-71 blackbird was very impressive.

Our first stop on our way south was with Vince's brothers in Western Virginia. Here he is with (left to right) Nephew Tory, brother Tony, brother John, and Vince. Had a nice visit with Tony and Joanie before heading to DC.