After spending hurricane season safely tucked away in Salt Creek Marina in St Petersburg, Florida…. SV Sanitas is back in the water where she belongs!

We left Sanitas stored in St Pete while Capt. Mike and I visited friends and family in New York and Colorado in July and August. Then we returned to hot and humid Florida and spent two months working six days a week in the dirty boat yard to repair and maintain our boat, and to get her ready for another cruising season. She was in pretty good condition when we returned, however we found a few leaks admitting water and slimy mold, and we had a list three pages long of things we identified last year of “Must Dos” before we ventured forth on our 2nd season of cruising.

I admit, I’m a little nervous. I may have gotten soft over the summer – too used to long hot showers, comfy beds, and cooking in a kitchen. In the next 24 hours, we’ll be moving aboard again, somehow trying to fit everything that’s currently in our storage unit, and everything that’s in our rental apartment into a 37-foot monohull sailboat. (Spoiler alert: its not going to fit. We have several trips to Goodwill in our future).

We need to start paying attention to weather and battery charges again, and go back to small, simple living. But … we also get out of the boatyard, and are able to start looking forward to winter in The Bahamas. We’re off the Salt Creek for the last time; to install a new battery bank, inspect our mainsail, and to move to the St Pete Municipal Marina. Wish us luck!