It has turned out to be a very interesting, sometimes frustrating, summer for us. Twilight Time had been ”on the hard” having some repairs done. When she was ready, in mid-July, we returned from our home in CA to North Carolina. It was our expectation that we were going to cruise from NC north into the Chesapeake Bay, then on to CT in August. Unfortunately, Captain Harold decided that he did not have time to spend aboard Twilight Time until late September.
We decided that we never again wanted to be in a position of being dependent on someone else’s schedule to do and go where we wanted. So in early August we began a 2-week, intensive course at the Annapolis School of Seamanship.
It was an unbelievable amount of information and initially we did not think that our (older) brains could handle it. We spent every day in class for 8 hours and then every night studying for another 4-6 hours and much time wondering what we had gotten ourselves into! But in the end we both passed the Coast Guard exam required to get a Captain’s license. Before you congratulate us we have to remind you that there are many other Coast Guard hoops to jump through! For example, First Aid/CPR classes, TWIC cards including fingerprint/background checks, physicals (passed) drug testing (passed). The list goes on.
Meanwhile, we are having a good time in North Carolina, working on the boat (there is, of course, no end to projects.) and we have been working with another captain on some very specific maneuvering practice.
We plan to return to CA mid-September then in early October head to Maui for 6 weeks or so. Life is good!
