Departure Frustrated!

Here we are, all dressed up and nowhere to go! Okay, obviously that's not quite true. We have the inside passage and southeast Alaska to go to, but alas, we cannot leave yet! Oh, it is soooo frustrating. We have only "niggling, can't complete until we are walking out the door for the final time" tasks left to do, but events are conspiring against our departure. We have to wait until Thursday, 4/28, for Brad's prescriptions to get filled and possibly even 4/29 if the Chapter 7 trustee doesn't withdraw his objection to our motion to withdraw on a case that should have been closed two years ago, because if that mean old trustee doesn't, then Brad has to appear in court Friday morning. THEN we can leave. Aaaaargh!

So, to pass the time, here are a few pictures of our boat in case you haven't seen what we'll be cruising in. In case you didn't know, our boat is called an Island Packet SP Cruiser, and since the boat (and ourselves) are a little different, we named her "Abby Normal".

At least these first pictures are stock sales photographs, so they aren't actually OUR boat. (Ours is full of lots of crap (Brad calls it "useful equipment") that we added after the purchase. When buying a new boat all you get are the bare essentials to keep you from sinking. You gotta pay the big bucks to get the boat truly useable!)

The first one above is where I wish we were cruising to instead of the inside passage: Florida, where it actually gets warm (and downright hot) in the summer. In Alaska and BC, we'll be very lucky to hit 70 degrees all summer (not to mention the unending rain)!

This is what we lovingly refer to as "the hot tub". While it literally cannot be used as such, the seats surrounding the common footwell do remind us of one, hence the name. This is where I hope to sit on all of the lovely, sunny days I am wishing for on our journey, while Brad drives the boat from inside.

Here's a photo of our cockpit, or the salon, if you prefer. This is where we will eat all of our meals and spend 99% of our time, especially if it is raining. We have a 360-degree view from here. (In case you are wondering, we have window shades on all of the windows and in this photograph, the front window shades have been pulled down.)

This is our forward stateroom, which is where we will be sleeping. The aft stateroom has twin beds and a very low ceiling so obviously we won't be sleeping there, unless of course the water is just too rolly since the aft stateroom is the more stable of the two staterooms. (Sorry, no pictures of it are available.)

This picture is taken from the doorway of the forward stateroom looking back through the galley. The stairs lead to the cockpit/salon.

Here's the interior diagram to give you the full understanding of the boat's layout:

I've loaded the boat to the gills with lots of food and provisions while Brad has stuffed it with lots of spare parts and emergency gear and charts and god knows what else! We're so full that the boat is waddling a fair bit!

Now if we could only go....