I had a great time in Hong Kong for Louis' wedding. A small group but a very nice ceremony.  Hong Kong is a great city.  Busy but very manageable and I'm a sucker for cities built on water.
   Back in Fort Lauderdale John was in a good mood, having found people he thought could really get some things done on the boat that he wanted.  Unfortunately nothing moves quickly in the boat world, so we're still in the Marina on April 1.  And its not April Fool's.
    Since I havent much to relate as to our travels, I thought I'd give a tour of the boat.  It is turning out to be a perfect boat for us, and we've been on it together without traveling, for 2 weeks!
     To get on the boat there are two options.

The back door is perfect, if the dock is long enough and floating.  Then its just an easy step out and onto the dock.  With a floating dock, the boat and the dock go up and down together with the tide.

At Cooley's Marina in Fort Lauderdale the tide  doesn't change too much so we are on a short, fixed dock which doesn't move, so we have to use the ladder

Once on the boat, if we come in the back door we are in our screened patio.  A lovely place for morning coffee.

Stepping from sun deck into the main salon through our French doors we have a comfortable recliner and our dining room

The table opens out for the two of us for dinner, but not much more, though we used it to serve drinks and Hors d'oevres when my sister Laurie and and her friend John visited last week.  There is a very convient pass through to the galley and a kitchen that is bigger than the one Louis and Rachel have in Hong Kong.

We have a full size refrigerator that is wonderful as long as we have power.  We will usually be hooked up to power at a marina and have a back up generator if not, but John did turn the power off for a while when we were in Flamingo without shore power.  Turning the power back on   without emptying ice maker makes for a big solid mass of ice in the freezer.

Across from the kitchen is the office.  Usually John's lair, but I get to use the computer once in a while

Behind the galley and the office is our stateroom.  My Colorado quilt was here for a few days till I took it to Hong Kong for the newlyweds to remind them of Colorado.  The bed is really high off the floor because we have batteries and tanks and storage underneath.  I need a foot stool to get in.

Above the stateroom and up the stairs from the salon is the pilot house where we spend all of our time when the boat is underway. 

I spend most of the time we are traveling sitting on the bench where I can get up to look at the charts and make sure John isn't going off course!!  John of course gets the captain"s chair.  This is another good place for morning coffee since we have windows all around and can see the sun come up where ever it chooses.  The table goes down and extra cushions makes this area into a pretty private second bedroom with a queen size bed.  And out that door is the ladder for getting on and off the boat when we're at a fixed dock. 

That,s the tour of our home for the next year.  So far it is turning out to be just perfect. Of course if we don't get the screens back on the port lites that we set out to be fixed it could get either really buggy or really hot inside.  Oh, but did I mention the air conditioning!