September 1-24  Camden, Maine

   We're getting set to head out today, after several weeks of maintenance and mooching.  We've had some great catch-up time with our boys, Dan's folks and family, and as many friends as we could get together with.
     Dan has put in a LOT of time on projects;  he swapped out our 26' mast for a 30' mast, bought and hard-wired a refrigerator, figured out a second seat in our pilot house (previously only the helmsman could sit down), and got our barn in Camden winterized.  We also sanded and painted our fatty knees to use as our new dinghy.
    The mast went up with little fanfare, but not everything went perfectly.  It took four trips up in the bosun's chair to figure out why the nav lights weren't working, and to fix the problem.  That just gave us a little more time with Joe and Bill, who spent an afternoon troubleshooting with Dan.

     The refrigerator was sort of a last minute decision.  We have a nice Yeti cooler that works pretty well and doubles as a foot-rest or stool in the cockpit, but we found that chasing ice all during the Down East Circle Route got old.  They don't make ice like they used to!!  It's either cubes with holes or blocks with holes, and it melts pretty fast.  Since we're going somewhere consistently warmer than where we've been so far, and because there isn't ice as readily available in the Bahamas, we decided to go with a small cooler-sized refrigerator.  We'll let you know how well it works.  The Yeti is still aboard, should we need it.  

     It's been nice to be back in our home town, but we are ready to leave.  Looking forward to connecting with many of the boat friends we have made, seeing what the Intracoastal Waterway is all about it, and warmer climes.  Stay in touch!  We will try to keep the blog updated in a timely way as we head South.

Camden Harbor