One of the challenges with working full time and living full time on the boat while roaming without a home base is that sometimes there are work obligations that I need to adapt to. This September that included the need to fly to Nebraska for a few days.

Luckily I knew about the trip months in advance so I was able to make a reservation at Constitution Marina in Boston. This is one of my favorite marinas since the people are so nice and the location is, well Boston.

Constitution Marina

Constitution Marina is located as far up the Charles River as you can sail. All the way past the Coast Guard station and you guessed it, right by the USS Constitution.. The marina is one of the more inexpensive options for Boston but still expensive, and they don’t mess around. They charge 100% at the time they confirm your reservation. So I am always careful. Booking this stay the day after I received my bonus from work. For us it’s about $1000 a week to stay.

The marina has clean bathrooms, convenient laundry that you can pay via card on the machine, and they have a pool. All of this in addition to being walking distance from everything in Boston and just a water taxi ride away from the airport.

The hope was that the boys would have a fun time while I was gone but the news quickly started to talk about Hurricane Lee’s approach which put everyone on edge. I requested a 3rd week in Boston and after I returned we sat through the oppressive heat waiting for the storm.

The Hurricane that Wasn’t

I joked with the marina staff as they tied an absolute ton of extra lines on everyone’s boats that the more they prepared the lighter the winds would be and that’s what came to pass. The day of the storm instead of having 80 MPH winds we had 20 which made it a good day to go for a walk through the city. Unfortunately with the extra cost there wasn’t money in the budget to do much of anything other than the work we had to do. Some electrical work, some bolts needed changed, propane refilling, and the big one was taking my clock and barometer to Chelsea Clock Company for an estimate. I said that if it came in under $1,000 to have them fixed I’d do it. The estimate came in at $950. That one I put on a credit card.