It's not all fun and glamor! Today we scrubbed the entire boat and waxed one side. Ugh! We also raised our Great Loop burgee which signifies that we are "Loopers". Finally!!

Back on board! We are staying on the Mara Beel again for awhile. Yay! After grocery shopping yesterday we went out briefly to practice docking. We had a wind on the port side as we pulled into the dock which made things tricky. It took several attempts, but Mark was able to land eventually. In the process, 7 or 8 onlookers gathered to grab our lines and to encourage us rookies.

Mara Beel, green canvas

Going under the Oregon Street bridge- no need to raise it for us.

We grilled and ate dinner with new friends Clay and Sally who just bought a boat and are docked here as well. I need to snap a picture of them!

Our galley is small but efficient!

Day's End

 We accomplished lots yesterday!  For example, the electrical panel at first was very intimidating to me-- so many switches! Then there are shore power, generator, and house battery settings and gauges for all of it. Yikes! But it all makes sense to me now and I can pretty much run things- including connecting and disconnecting the big power cords on the dock. Plus, I have a handle on monitoring our power consumption rates. This is better brain food than crossword puzzles!

Mara Beel's electrical control panel

 The Captain took his first official nap after supper-- it was successful! 

Meanwhile, I enjoyed a beautiful sunset beyond the Steel Bridge.

Dinner On Board

 I have been thinking that the boating world needs a cookbook called "Healthy Cooking On-board" or something similar. I have found plenty of 'cooking on a boat' cookbooks, but most use a lot of pre-packaged, processed ingredients. We try to avoid such things in favor of natural ingredients, a la Food Rules by Michael Pollan.On a boat the selection of ingredients is probably more limited than at home. I did not bring spices and seasonings with me this week, since we are here for just a few days, and such things quickly deteriorate on a boat. 

So at supper time yesterday I found myself with a package of chicken breasts and not much else. A quick search of our food stores produced a bag of dried fruit and nuts and a bottle of Dijon mustard. I concocted a recipe for "Dijon Chicken with Cherries and Pecans." Sounds very gourmet-ish, right? It received rave reviews for the Captain. Here's the brand new recipe:

Dijon Chicken with Cherries and Pecans

Serves 2 with leftovers

Ingredients: 

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup dried cherries (or any tart fruit)
• 1/4 cup pecans (can substitute walnuts or almonds)
• olive oil for sauteing
• salt and pepper

Cut chicken into cubes and season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add chicken and saute until no longer pink. Add mustard and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add fruit and nuts, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Chicken and sweet potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Onions

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 large yellow onion, cubed
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Place potato and onion on a cookie sheet and toss with olive oil. Bake at 375 35-35 minutes until soft, or linger if you prefer crispy. Stir halfway through the cooking time. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Our family members who are not especially fond of sweet potatoes love these.

Dining at the Captain's table

More Milestones

Today we achieved a couple of important milestones! First, we were able to use our own shower!! That was oh so nice-- much more convenient than walking across the boatyard to the Captain's Lounge facilities. We decided to flush out our two 80-gallon water tanks on Tuesday. The book we read recommended adding 1 quart of bleach to every 50 gallons of water, which is what we did. We then flushed the water tanks out twice. At that point there was still a LOT of bubbling and bleach odor coming through the faucets. I was afraid I would emerge from the shower with blonde hair, so I opted for the facilities in the boatyard until today. Yesterday we flushed the water tanks several more times with plain water -- we must have the cleanest tanks in the Bay! In hindsight, I think we were a bit aggressive on the bleach/water ratio.

The second major milestone was taking our boat out in Sturgeon Bay for the first time! Terry, our broker, was kind enough to ride along with us and advise us on running the twin diesels (Caterpillar 3208's if you are into that sort of thing), turning, backing up,pulling into the slip, etc. Mark did an excellent job of docking! We are getting a small taste of what our cruising life will be like when we do the Great Loop-- it is challenging and FUN! Dealing with the small spaces and minor inconveniences is so worth the adventure! Can't wait to get started, sometime in 2013. In the meantime, we will take short trips to learn more about the MB and the cruising life.

View from the flybridge

Captain Mark takes the helm

Being 6'2" is not an advantage in our engine room

The Fireboat coming through the Steel Bridge

Tuesday May 29

Since we are spending a lot of time at the dock, we get to see some interesting sights. For example- big boats enter and leave the water via a ride on a travel lift like this one. It was fascinating to watch this boat- about 50 feet long, maybe- gently lowered into the water. The guys make it look so easy!

How fun would it be to drive this baby around the parking lot??

Slings go under the boat. The man on the right is driving the lift.

May 28- we arrived in Sturgeon Bay, WI,  this afternoon to spend nearly a week on board. It's "spring commissioning" time- which means cleaning and repairing. After spending 1 1/2 years in storage, the MB can definitely use a bit of tweaking. We brought a trailer load of stuff to put on board-- pots & pans, bedding and towels, everything needed to outfit a small apartment.  Luckily we got it all carried on board before the sky turned dark over the Great Lakes Yacht Services marina!

Some of the stuff we brought to the boat.

Scary-looking skies!

Meanwhile, our kids were enjoying the River!