First, she compartmentalized everything. She bought plastic storage bins that fit nicely in our lockers and hatches. Each locker has been dedicated for a specific purpose. The things that we are likely to take ashore (cameras, shopping bags, waist packs, etc.) are in a locker near the salon companionway. Food items are stored in hatches and lockers on the port side of the ship, near the galley. The only exception to that are the items that must be refridgerated. They are housed in the big 21 cubic foot refridgerator/freezer that is on the starboard side of the main salon.

Anyway, I said I wouldn't detail all of that. Suffice it to say, everything (including the three loads of stuff from Walmart) has a place on board and we don't feel cramped for space, at all.

We walked the ICW every morning. Yesterday we used the Porta-bote, to explore the canal system around our house. The canals run in a matrix behind the homes in this section of Palm Coast and connect to the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW). An interesting note about the homes along the canals: they seem to be better landscaped in the rear, facing the canals, than they are in the front, facing the streets. That reasonably indicates that most people here spend more time on the water side of their homes than on the street side. Jill and I love the canal side of our house, and intend to spend most of time on that side of the house when we move in.

On Monday night we had dinner with Bud and Diana Berry. Bud and Diana are also sailors. They live west of us on the same canal and own an Endeavor 42, named Island Time. Bud and Diana plan sail Island Time to join us in the Florida Keys some time in April.

Shibumi has two companionways. One leads from the cockpit to the forward cabin. That is where the galley (kitchen), main salon (living room), forward berth (guess bedroom) and forward head and shower (hall bathroom) are located. The other companionway leads from the cockpit to the aft-stateroom cabin (master bedroom and bath). Both companionways had doors that lifted in and out of slots, very inconvenient when moving from cabin to cabin.

Enter Pete Grundvig. Pete is a great wood craftsman. I asked him to build cafe style companionway doors. He was able to get the pair for the forward cabin ready before we left Palm Coast.

Changing lifesytles as drastically as we did, as fast as we did, can be very stressful. So we try to walk along the Intra-Coastal Waterway every morning. I have been teaching Jill the ancient Chinese art of Tai Chi. I am not a certified Tai Chi instructor, by any stretch of the imagination. But, I have practiced it for more than 20 years and find Tai Chi to be an outstanding stress reducer. It will an interesting challenge to continue the lessons within compact space aboard Shibumi.