It's that time of year

It is that time of year again.  It is getting colder the wind is blowing and the rain is starting to come down.  Rich got out the Christmas lights and decorated me, today.  I have a Santa, a spiral Christmas tree (with a star on top) and a wreath on my stern and there are lights on my railings and hand holds, of course red lights are on the port side handhold.  A number of Rich's friends asked him when he was going to decorate me, I guess people look forward to the season, for me it is just time sleeping in the cold Cape May water.  Salty Susan, a 50 ft Ocean fishing yacht down the fariway from me, told me that her owner was going to decorate her this year, we will see.  I don't want to win the title of best decorated boat in the marina by default, again this year. With the timer tthe lights will go on each night, until Rich takes them down, after New Years. 

My Great Adventure

Rich and Carol tell me that they are going to take me on a great adventure next year.  They have taken me to New York, Boston, Nantucket, Martha Vineyard and all over the Chesapeake and we have had great times.  We  saw a whale off of Plymouth, MA, and I had the bottle nose dolphins play in my bow wake off of Cape May, NJ, those dolphins can swim fast. 

Rich tells that we are going to do the trip outlined on the map to the left, that looks a lot longer than the trip to Boston.   Ron and Eva Strob of Raven Cove Publishing have been kind enough to let us use the map in this blog.  I heard that the route is about 6,000 miles long and we may go to three different countries.  I have a lot of computers so I figured that is more than 36 million revolutions  for each of my engines to go that distance. They bought me some new electronic equipment and tell me we have all the electronic charts that we will need.  Rich is getting those spare parts together that might be difficult to get on the route.  The guys at Canyon Club's service department put me to sleep for the winter already but they told me that I will be awoken early in the spring to get ready to leave.

Rich and Carol are looking forward to seeing their friends, Wayne and Francine, Ross and Nancy as well as Pierre and Suzanne.  I am looking forward to seeing "My Way", ODDYSEA, and Pierre's 480 Sea Ray that was built in the same factory as I was.

Salt 'n Sand

Salt 'n Sand is a 2001 Sea Ray 540 Cockpit Motor Yacht, I was built at Sykes Creek, FL.  My hull number is 8 of approximately 30 that were built in 2001 and 2002.  I am powered by two Caterpillar C-12 diesel engines that produce 700 horsepower each to move my 60,000 pounds and 55 feet through the water at a cruising speed of 22 miles per hour.  There are two helm stations from where Rich can drive me from, either the fly bridge or from the pilot house, away from the elements.  There is a 20kw generator that powers all of my electrical needs.  The hydraulic swim platform makes it easy for Rich to launch and retrieve the dinghy.