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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

First couple of weeks with Lady J

As stated in my last post we brought Lady J home Easter weekend and proceeded to clean her out and fix her up.  We spent a couple of days simply cleaning out the previous owners stuff and then scrubbing everything down and getting rid of the mold. (Probably one of my least favorite jobs on a boat.) We did though enjoy a couple beautiful sunsets during those days.  Another thing that was so much better than the last time we re-habbed a boat was that we live only a mile from the boat, not 3 hours like we did before.
Gorgeous sunsets at the marina

Happy Boaters to finally be on our own boat.  

Miss Millie getting the hang of being a boat pup.

After only having the boat for 2 weeks we participated in our Yacht Clubs Commissioning Day and what a beautiful day it was.  We invited some friends from church to join us for the festivities.

Victoria and I, my first friend that I made while living here in New Bern.

Mike and Paul guiding us through the inner harbor.

Me, Mike, Victoria and Paul.

Commissioning Day/Blessing of the Fleet was so much fun.  Last year we participated but were on the Stateham's boat, not our own.  What happens during this event is we all (35 boats) gathered in the Neuse River and then proceeded to parade back through the inner harbor to Shoreline Marina, where they had clergy blessing the fleet.  A little Pomp and Circumstance for the day.  Afterwards they had a small ceremony swearing in the new officers, remembering members that had died in the past year and to celebrate the starting of the boating season for 2018.  


Some of the past Commodores 

A view from our boat, yes the ceremony took place out our little marina so we had front row seats.

The ceremonial laying of the wreath, remembering those that have passed .

Blessing of the boats

Beautiful music

Some of the boats hanging out in the inner harbor before heading back to their docks.

The crowd.

Us enjoying yet another beautiful sunset

This past weekend we participated in our first Yacht Club Cruise for 2018.  They called it the Shakedown Cruise.  We only cruise up to Bridgeton, about 8 nautical miles away and spend the weekend.  This works out great because it helps you figure out what you might have left off the boat or what might be fixed.  Since our boat was so new to us we decided to leave my truck up there in case we needed to head out to get something.  Glad we did since we came back twice.  Well at least we know now the boat is pretty well stocked.

Millie did a great job cruising over to Bridgeton.  She wasn't sure about the life jacket, in fact it made her calmer and not walk around so much.  But most importantly it kept her safe.




After arriving at the Bridgeton Marina Millie decided a long well deserved nap was in order.



Sunsets and sunrises at Bridgeton.  This is what I missed about not cruising.  So happy to be back at it once again.


A little peek inside Lady J

The Galley


The Salon

Beautiful morning shot of the boats at the marina.

Mike decided he wanted to turn the boat around, thank heavens for helping hands.

Morning Fog rolling in.

Each night the club had a "splash" (drinks and snacks) which this particular evening the Splash part was true, the wind had picked up and was bringing the waves right over the dock.


During the day on this particular weekend, Mike worked on the mechanics of the boat and I continued to work on making the inside like home.  Below I spent part of the day working on a piece that would we will hang in the stateroom.


Miss Millie certainly has gotten used to just hanging out.

Mornings on the boat are my favorite.

Heading home

Our Commodore John Jax took this photo as we were leaving Sunday morning.

Downtown New Bern, just a beautiful site from the water.




Our dear friend Lynn Stateham took this photo of Lady J as we were returning home   I have since made this our photo on our boat cards.  It was a GREAT weekend.  Can hardly wait to see what will be next.  







Friday, April 13, 2018

Easter weekend and the Lady J

First we will start off here with some photos I took at Shoreline Marina one evening.  I never get tired of this view.  



It has been over 6 months now that we have been without a boat.  We still like though coming over to the small marina where we kept our last boat at to enjoy the water and the views.  But this night we were looking at the dock where our next boat would come to stay.  Yes on Easter weekend we were going to be bringing home our next boat.


Okay before we get into the specifics about that weekend I am going to share some shots of the spring that has been finally popping up in our yard.  From what the locals tell me this has been an unusually cold spring.  










Okay enough with the flowers, on to the boat.  Mike had been searching for us a new boat for 6 months now, ever since we sold the sail boat.  After almost 2 years of living here in NC we have come to the realization that we needed to get back to a trawler.  So Mike found us the perfect boat.  It was a used 1978 Mainship Trawler, 34 feet.  It needed a little work, but considering the age it was in great shape.  Nothing like the Gulfstar we bought back in 2012.  So after months (literally months) of negotiations and going back and forth with the owner we finally reached an agreement and the boat was officially ours. 


On the Saturday before Easter some dear friends of ours, the Bacons came up from South Carolina to help us bring the boat back to New Bern from its current location in Belhaven.  


Sandy and I dropped Mike and Jeff off at the boat as they would be spending the day bringing it back to New Bern.  Us ladies well we headed back to the house to get a little art time in.  


Wow art room is hopping with activity.

Sandy making me a letter "B" for my alphabet wall.  Love it!!!!

Around 3:00 p.m. the guys phoned and said they had arrived at the Harbor.  So Sandy and I headed down to the Marina.  Oh what a lovely site seeing Mike once again drive his own boat.



During the Bacons stay they spoiled Miss Millie something fierce.  She just loves them.


On Sunday we decide to take the boat out for a little cruise up to downtown New Bern.  The boat handled just great and it was a beautiful day to be on the water.














Just love this lady!

Our Easter was spent with some Awesome friends. We did receive though some great photos of the kids and Grandkids back home.  Love, love, love getting these photos.  I thought it was so cute that the 2 older boys were dressed alike even though they never even saw each other that day.  What dapper looking cuties they are.



So we now have a boat and the work has just begun, but so has the fun!