We bought a boat

Part of our original retirement plan included a fishing boat, and we can check that off now – we bought a boat! Not a big boat; this is a personal-sized fishing boat that is also comfortable boating in Islamorada, Florida, and on sunset cruises with visitors. Bill loves to fish, and I like to eat fish. Living in Islamorada, the fishing capital of the world, both will be more frequent now.

During peak Covid, used boats were in short supply. So, we waited and kept an eye on boattrader.com. Recently, supply eased, and the perfect boat was for sale nearby – a 22’ Robalo center console with a Yamaha 200 motor. The sea trial went well, and they delivered our new-to-us boat to its new home on April 14th!

We do not live on the water, so our boat will be in a marina 1 mile down the road. With a few hours’ notice, she’ll be in the water, ready to go fishing. I’m looking forward to many Grouper, Yellowtail and maybe Tuna dinners! So, it’s free, rather than going to a fine dining restaurant and paying $35 – 40 for dinner, right? Let’s think about the cost of the boat, the GAS!, and the maintenance? Well, it’s maybe not less expensive, but boating in Islamorada is a fun afternoon with a fantastic meal or two.

Boat Delivery Day

The boat was delivered. Or, should I say, Bill and his friend Dave picked it up and drove it to its marina home. I dropped them off and then picked them up later. As Bill likes to say, there’s a fine line between excitement and fear. He did a good job staying on the excitement side and spent the afternoon studying and practicing docking.

Changing A Boat’s Name: The Boat Renaming Ceremony

Some say it’s bad luck to rename a boat, but Ethel B is just not me. Then, I did some research and found there is a procedure –

Once you are certain every reference to her old name has been removed from her, all left is to prepare a metal tag with the old name in water-soluble ink. You will also need a bottle of reasonably good Champagne. Plain old sparkling wine won’t cut it. Since this is an auspicious occasion, it is a good time to invite your friends to witness and party. https://www.boatsafe.com/renaming-boat/

It goes on a bit and involves even more champagne if you need to resume the process later. Appeasing the great ruler of the seas and oceans is serious business! The warning continues – Do not under any circumstances carry aboard any item bearing your boat’s new name until you have completed the purging and renaming ceremonies!

Shhh, the boat’s new name will be OaSeas!

Since our building in Islamorada is named The Oasis, I thought The OaSeas would be an appropriate name for our first boat. Bill’s not sure and suggested we leave her nameless for now. What do you think?