Spring is here at long last. We have unwrapped the boat, taken the insulation off the floor, put on our new sails, and started to wake up from our winter hibernation.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Maine winter and I must say that doing it on the boat with the wrap was a bit tougher than I expected. And not because of the cold. Because of the lack of sunlight and sky.

Still we got a lot done this winter. Starting of course with our new solar. We now have 1,000 watts of solar and it should be more than enough to take care of us, with more solar going on as we get saving up for an electric engine. We also ordered some new cushions, a new GPS, an external GPS antenna for our AIS radio, and through a bit of an accident we ended up with a TV that runs off 12 volts that is now mounted in our salon.

With Portland Maine being such a food city we decided to limit ourselves to just one restaurant visit a week. It also helped get us up and going to church since we chose lunch on Sundays to be our restaurant visit. Initially we were visiting a different restaurant each week but started to fall into some pattens.

One of which has been Butcher Burger on Union Street. Liam and I especially. After having everything on their menu other than the burger with lobster meat and the kids burger I ended up settling into a routine with my favorite. Their “Bacon Bacon” burger and a side of Salt and Vinegar Fries. So very good.

I was able to keep up with work, even get a bit ahead with a few work things which will come in handy this summer when I’m able to leverage that time I’ve freed up. Which makes sense because I didn’t want to do anything this winter. So I just sat at the Nav Desk and worked.

My goals for the summer are three fold. Boat wise I want to get our windlass properly mounted on a new fiberglassed in mount. Work wise I want to stay ahead of my work so that I can work with less stress. And health wise I want to get out a LOT more. Kayaking, hiking, and biking. I need to get my health dialed in and this winter of sitting has not been good for me.

Our wall of winter projects is down to just 12 and there are a few that I don’t think we’re going to get to. Mostly because of some unexpected surprise expenses. Mainly a new laptop. The cat had jumped on my laptop over the winter and broke the screen. The laptop was 6 years old so I decided to replace it rather than repair it. So I don’t think we’re going to have the cash to wire in our new 3000 watt inverter before we leave for Provincetown. But I still want to mount it and have it ready.

And we’re counting down the days. We’re hoping to leave in ten days.

The plan at this point, which as always is weather dependent, is for us to move to Jewell Island for a week or so and then head to Provincetown Mass for the summer where Liam has a job lined up on a yacht that does day charters.