Adam and Molly Go To Catalina

We’re here!! After several months of planning, list making, repairs, provisioning (nautical term) and imagining, last Friday we tied up loose ends at the Marriott Marina, and said goodbye to Slip B33, Grand Slam’s home for the past 12 years.

The Catalina plan was an idea we’d been toying around with for a while. We figured if I hadn’t found a job by this time, and Adam was still able to do his work remotely, that we could move the boat to Catalina for a few months to: a) save some money, b) to shake down (nautical term) the boat and crew for a longer trip someday, c) to have an adventure – opportunities like this don’t often come knocking.

By the way, if you’re wondering why I can’t stop myself from saying “nautical term” even though I could easily edit it out of the blog (but refuse to), it’s because whenever I use a nautical term I giggle a little to myself thinking about a quote from one of the greatest movies of all time:

Pirates of the Caribbean.

And here’s the quote, since I’m quite literally made of time –

Will Turner: We’re going to steal a ship? That ship? Jack Sparrow: Commandeer. We’re going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term.

Priceless. Anyway, moving on, here was our departure schedule, illustrated with photographs.

Friday, Sept 10, 2pm

After buying produce and water, washing down the boat and filling the car with things we’re not taking to Catalina, Adam started up the engine (to Dana’s dismay), pulled out of the slip on his way to the Fuel Dock in Shelter Island.

I took the car over the Shelter Island where I met up with the boat, we filled up on fuel and propane and took the boat nearby to the Shelter Island Police Dock – where they have transient slips where you pay per night. Mom and Dad were there waiting for us, along with their dinghy “Luana”, that they’re letting us b0rrow for the trip. Luana is the sabot that my dad took to the South Pacific in 1974 and then again to Hawaii with my mom after they got married in 76. Here are some pics of Luana, the early years.

Dad, rowing bikes to shore – Hawaii, 1976

Mom sailing solo – British Columbia, 1976

And because I can never get enough of these Hawaii pictures we dug out of the shed and digitized a couple of years back, here are a few more.

Thanks to my dad and his mad boat skills and unwavering willingness to help, he fixed up Luana who had been in sitting in our back yard and brought her down to Shelter Island where we put her in the water and all took turns taking her for a test drive.

Then we pulled the boat up on deck and secured it with lines for the trip out to Catalina.

Laurie met us down at the boat and we had happy hour together during the prettiest part of the day when the sky turned orange and the water sparkled the brightest.

After a lovely dinner at Miguels, we said our goodbyes and Adam and I went to sleep, awaiting a 2am departure the next morning.