Now we gotta go!

Everything is happening way too fast - except for the projects of course.  Here is what we have been up to!

Presents and Schnitzel!

Our wonderful dock buddies threw us a great going away party. Lots of fun, laughter and gifts.

Plus, Ed and Karen made a huge batch of Jaeger Schnitzel. Our favorite from our Germany trips. We all loved it!

The Beater

We sold The Beater - our car!

It sold to the first person who saw it - less than 24 hours. Amazing.

It's a relief, but now we are without a ride. Good thing we have such a great sharing group here at the dock and have access to the community Car Pool!

Bill and Rise come to visit!

Bill and Rise, great friends from New Mexico, just happened to be in the neighborhood and stopped by for a visit.

We loved spending time and catching up with them.  Hope they meet us again in Fiji!

Barnacle Bill

We are definitely not ready to leave the first of May, but we are making progress.  Here's what we have wrapped up:

Wonderful friends - going to miss them!

• Furler has been rebuilt
• Jib is up
• Life Raft has been re-certified
• New halyards are spliced and put in place
• Lockers have been purged and inventoried
• Provisioning lists have been made and major shopping has started
• Collected a bunch of goodies for Fanning Island
• Sourdough starter is active and ready to make some bread
• And lots more...

Enjoying the sunset

Still lots to do and lots to buy!

We also need to anchor out for a couple of days to make sure all systems are working perfectly.

Our first stop is 10 days away, so we don't want any surprises.

Mystery tree?

If we get out of town by May 15 - we will be very happy.

In the meantime, we are enjoying every minute with out dock buddies.  We are going to miss them and beautiful Ko Olina!

Making progress!

It's been a bit of a blur, but we are making some progress. Here is what we have been up to!

Hope we never have to use it!

 Life rafts are expensive, but necessary.

We had to get ours recertified, which was interesting and informative.

They unpacked it and blew it up.  Now they are checking everything and replacing all the expired water, food, and other products.  All for about $1400 - ouch!

We were excited to see that it worked - good to know!

How many people....

Our new forestay is in place - thanks to the help from our dock buddies.

Now, Doug is re-fitting and servicing the furling system - making sure everything works.

Next, we get to raise the jib.  Almost a sailboat again!

Splicing new halyards

One of the benefits of working at West Marine - great discounts on line.

Doug has been replacing all of our dock lines and halyards.  The new halyards are Endura, which Doug is learning how to splice.

Supposed to be stronger, smaller, and lighter weight. Hope so!

Medical kit - oh my

I have been overwhelmed - organizing our medical kits and ditch bag. There is too much stuff, too many things to plan for, plus too much data to sift through.

But, I am getting close!

When Pigs Fly!

Doug is still working on the re-bedding project. Trying to plug all the leaks before we head out. Plus lots and lots of shopping.

Our list is getting shorter, but we have a long way to go.

We are still shooting for the first of May. Wish you were all here to help!

Moondance is back in the water - safe!

And it was fast - hauled out of the water on Thursday; back in the water on Monday.  Of course, fast doesn't mean cheap.

You have to pay for the haul out/haul in; lay days; plus the actual work.

Humpies off of Waikiki

Like having the bottom sanded and painted, replacing the cutlass bearing, and the really expensive part (drum roll please) replacing 9 seacocks. Ouch!

But, it had to be done. Our seacocks were over 30 years old and we were afraid to touch them (not good).

Ready for haul out

Keehi Marine Center was very professional and took good care of us.

Restrooms, but no shower facilities, and a mini-mart with a really old grumpy guy - avoid him.

The spooky part!

Bonus - L&L Drive Inn (close by) has wonderful egg and bacon (tons of bacon) breakfast sandwiches for $3.40.  Worth a stop!

La Mariana Sailing Club is close by:  food ok; drinks ok; service very slow... But, we had a great time celebrating with our dock buddies!

Burgee party at La Mariana

We were satisfied with the work that MRM services did on our bottom and thru-hulls.

They worked all weekend to get us back in the water and Moondance didn't leak - yeah!

Back in our slip

Glad we can cross that off the list and get busy on the rest of the stuff.

We are very grateful for having our friend's boat to stay on during all of this, plus their vehicle.  It made life so much easier and less stressful. 

Thanks Ed and Karen!

And now, the really good news, I am retired - again. 

Life just keeps getting better and better and our sailing date closer and closer - oh my!