Written April 7, 2005

Well the BoatingTravelGuide site is about to be refined by design to be functional on time. I found a variety of web design folks: the first wanted a piece of the action and delayed the process; the next offered to do it for $8,000; the next for $4,000; and the one with whom Diann has a relationship- $2,000. It does pay to shop around.

Our first Charter Company relationship is with “Let’s Go Cruising” based in Annapolis, MD. They have agreed to work with us in our selection of boats to use / feature and have made their schedule flexible for our itinerary.

April 21st we will travel there to take out a Jeanneau 35 for Friday Saturday and early Sunday. It will be a high mileage trip for such a short time on the water, but it will allow the first article to be written in preparation for the unveiling.

Then we return on May 15th to spend a week on the water on a Gemini catamaran. Since Gemini is currently the “prospective” boat for our short term goals, we felt it made sense to charter one- and that’s how the relationship with Let’s Go Cruising” was formed.

I was surprised the Gemini manufacturer staff was unaware that there are Geminis for charter on the bay. “Why is that ?” Hopefully our charter won’t reveal suspicious motives on the manufacturer’s part.

My Mother, now 78 years young, has decided to join us for this adventure. To that end, she has ordered a SOSpenders automatically inflating life vest with integral safety harness. “You go girl!” She knows how to travel, entertain, and be social.

Diann is at class tonight and is due back at 10:30 +/-. To say she’s looking forward to graduation is an understatement. I’ve told her she won’t want to see another text book for three years!

With any luck, we’ll get to go to the lake on Sunday to reacquaint ourselves to crewing our Catalina 30- it having been about five months since taking her out. We don’t need any glitches during our Jeanneau check ride in two weeks.