The sage continues

I want to catch you all up on things!
You can see by the picture that we finally got our new name put on her. She is now officially Nauti Nell. On Easter Sunday, we finally got a chance to take her out. We were a little nervous about her "maiden voyage". Okay, maybe it wasn't her true maiden voyage, but it was under the name Nauti Nell and it was the first time for me! And you know, "if it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there!" In fact, Mike was so nervous that when he tried to start the boat, the keys wouldn't turn. He tried several things to see what the problem was. Finally, I suggested that maybe he had the two keys reversed, duh! Switched them around and "voila" - she started right up! We spent the afternoon out on the Chesapeake Bay. It was a beautiful day. We had a great time. We still have a hard time believing we're actually doing this!

The picture of the guys with the fish were some from a charter boat at our marina. This is what they come in with almost all the time. Although some of the fish are even bigger than these. These are the rockfish that we call striper. They are on several of the menus around here.

We've been doing some shopping. The couch and chair that came with the boat was pretty worn. We bought a nice leather recliner and a great rattan loveseat. This one fit through the door, thank goodness! NautiNell is starting to really take shape.

There was a little excitement tonight. we heard choppers go out and could tell they were hovering close by. They were up for quite awhile. Finally a Smith Point Rescue Boat came into the dock pulling a small fishing boat. It turns out that the boat had ran out of gas. Then of course, they ran the battery down trying to start it. Without the battery the bilge pump didn't run, so then they began taking on water. A 911 call went out and the Coast Guard sent out choppers to access. They lowered a diver on to the boat to access the problems. They stayed there in the air until the rescue boat got to them. The rescue boats are volunteer. It was really interesting to see everything in action. It's good to know they're out there, if you need them!

We're leaving to go back to Joplin in the morning. We'll be there until May 3. We need to tie up a few loose ends and bring the truck home. When we get back here, we will truly be "boat people". That will feel a little strange. We will stay at this marina for another week, then head south to Norfolk. We'll stay at Waterside Marina for about a week and will atten the AGLCA Rendouvous. Finally, around the 17th, we plan to start the Great Loop and head north. I'm excited and ready to get going!
While this area is very pretty, we're out in the boondocks and pretty secluded!

To those of you in Joplin, I hope to see you all soon!

Until next time!

Admiral "C"

p.s. Thanks Ashley for your help in the Nauti Nell design!