By Shannon
Our first trip, two years ago, was to determine if the live-aboard lifestyle was for us or if maybe we would just enjoy the occasional sailing/beach vacation and needed to look elsewhere for our retirement plans.
You can guess how that went as many of you had to suffer listening to us go on and on about sailing ever since. Now here we are again only with different goals. I was very excited about the classes we registered for at Cruisers University. I spent Wednesday morning learning from Dr. Stephanie Sadler, an ER Veterinarian, on how to keep Henry happy and as safe as possible on this adventure. Then I joined Don for a fascinating afternoon learning from John Herlig about the many ways to enjoy the often overlooked areas of the Bahamas, as well as how to safely and legally sail the country.
While Don spent many hours at the booths that provided all the essentials and many nonessentials for the different systems that run a boat, I spent my time looking for products and tools to help make our life onboard a bit easier.
We greatly enjoyed talking to Tanner at the Sailrite booth as he demonstrated their most popular heavy duty sewing machine. We also spoke to the designer of Further Customs about an inflatable dog ramp for Henry.
Speaking of Henry we checked out several life jackets for dogs from Firstwatch & Mustang Survival and other safety equipment for ourselves. I did find a raincoat for myself as well as some Turkish Towels from Marmara for the galley. My favorite purchase however was a bag from Ugo. They make various waterproof bags for your phone, essential paperwork and a new design for your laptop. I can’t wait for it to arrive!
However the biggest impact of the show is the people you meet. There is so much knowledge, learned and lived, to be found and so many who are happy to share. We tried to take advantage of the short time we had to gain any and all insights as we enter the boat shopping stage of this adventure.
Annapolis is a beautiful and historic town. We both enjoy a good meal and many were to be found. My favorite is the fish & chips. Walk into any restaurant downtown and they have an excellent offering. My personal favorite being the Dock Street Bar.
On Saturday I left Don to the booths of the show and I browsed the shops of downtown. Finding myself on a side street with shops overfilled with art, pottery and antiques, I had a wonderful afternoon wandering. Conveniently, Galway Bay Irish Pub was squished between shops and I enjoyed my last fish & chips of the trip.
