I finally got under way today. A few last minute things to do like filling the water tanks, dumping garbage, etc., and I was off. I wasn't sure how much diesel fuel I had left so fueling up was the first priority. There are two marinas on the way out of the Magothy river. The first I knew carried diesel so I stopped there. It is about a half mile up Deep Creek. I quickly found out that Deep Creek is not deep. No real problems but it was close a few times. After carefully motoring up the creek and docking, the marina was out of diesel. I stoped at the second to fill up but they don't carry diesel. Thinking I should have enough to go a while but not knowing for sure, I decided to stop in Annapolis for fuel. Getting in an filling up was not a problem but it took a fair amount of time so I didn't really get going 'till afternoon. The wind was great but unfortunatly was coming exactly from where I wanted to go so I ended up motoring. Altogether I went about 29 nautical miles, only about 15 nautical miles south, and ended up anchoring in "downtown" Galesville on the West River. It was late, and very dark, by the time I got there so I didn't get to see too much.

Nov. 2, 2005

The anchorage was very calm and I was up early on ready to get going. Then I made my first aquaintance with Chesapeake Bay mud. I had heard about this stuff before but everytime I anchored, until now, the anchor would come up nice and clean. Not today. Every link on the chain was filled with this stuff. Once the chain got around the bow rolled and over the deck, the goo started falling off. This black mud smells almost as bad as a holding tank. I put the anchor back and went to find a bucket to wash off the mud. I had to raise about 4 feet of chain and rinse it off and then another 4 feet. So much for an early start.

The wind was from the north today so I got the sails up and started south. It was real nice for a couple of hours until the wind slacked off and I resorted to firing up the engine and motor sailing the rest of the day. Covered a total of about 52 nautical miles, 37 miles south, and anchored at the south end of Lower Hooper Island on the eastern shore. Not a real protected anchorage but shouldn't be too bad.

Nov. 3, 2005

The wind started in pretty good today but unfortunately it was from the south-west. I was anchored at the south end of an island so it was open to the waves. Got a little rough. I thought it would be calmer on the west side of the bay so I started by motoring across from the east side. Wasn't much smoother over there but I headed south. Progress was slow to say the least. I motored until about 11:00 when I put up the sails and motor sailed. My speed went up but the spray over the deck went up with it. At least it got rid of the rest of the mud from yesterday.

I wanted a better anchorage so I stopped earlier in Mill Creek across from Reedville. This is a very well protected anchorage when the wind is from the south as it has been. Not only is it well protected but it came equipped with a beautiful sunset. Why is it that sunsets always seem to be more beautiful from the water? I guess it's just because your on the water. Only covered 36 nautical miles today and got 25 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 4, 2005

I got up a little earlier today and was under way by 6:30. The wind was still from the SSW and was blowing about 20-25 knots so it was another day of motorsailing. The lower Chesapeake Bay is really wide and as a result can get pretty rough in a strong wind. Combine this with the shallow water and you get very steep waves that tend to be very close together, in my case about one boat length. That allows the bow to come down just in time to catch the next wave. It was a wet day but still was some good sailing. I motorsailed with two reefs in the main most of the day until changing to one later on.

There are a lot of boats heading south now. At one time there were eight boats spread out across the western shore, all heading south. Some were under sail, some motoring and some motor-sailing. Bella Vita doesn't point too well so I was one of the motor-sailers.

I sailed until it got dark and then pulled over into the shallows and anchored. Not the best anchorage but the only good ones I saw were about ten miles of the way. That's 10 miles tonight and 10 miles in the morning or about 4 extra hours of sailing. I'll let it rock tonight. I sailed 51 miles today and made 37 miles to the south.

Nov.5, 2005

Up early again today and a little apprehesive about going through Hampton Roads and the Norfolk harbor. My guide for the Chesapeake and the ICW made it sound like a madhouse with all kinds of shipping, the worlds largest naval base, a shipbuilder and four large cities all calling it home. There were several LARGE ships in the harbor though all but one were anchored. The naval base at Norfolk is pretty impressive. It looks like a used car lot for aircraft carriers. Actually going through the harbor was not a problem at all. I only had to take defensive action once when a tug and a large barge were heading my way although he turned into a different channel before he got to me. I stopped and fueled up right at the entrance to the ICW and was heading down the ICW by 11:45. The activity of the harbor stops quickly as you head south and you are soon in the middle of nowhere and I didn't take the route through the Great Dismal Swamp. I love that name and will have to take it someday just to see what it's like. The other leg, the Virginia Cut, is pretty dismal and swampy. The channel is narrow and shoals up incredibly fast along the sides. The depth seems to go from 15 to 5 feet deep in just a few feet. There are several bridges and one lock that you have to wait on so it is difficult to make very good time. I was pretty lucky in that I only had to wait long for one bridge opening, about 45 minutes. Bella Vita was the slowest boat in the group and when we would go through a bridge opening, all the other boats would charge ahead and I would catch them at the next bridge. Since I was the slowest, there was nobody behind me so the bridge tender would open the bridge when I got there and it would start all over again.

One problem with the ICW is that there are very few places to anchor along it. The sides along the channel are too shallow for most boats. The last place to dock for about 30 miles came early in the afternoon and I couldn't stand to waste all that daylight and beautiful weather so I kept going. Having done the channel in the northern Chesapeake in the dark, I was not too worried. By following the lights and closely wathcing the depth gauge, I thought I would be OK. I had not seen a single commercial vessel since entering the ICW. It got dark long before I got to the anchorage I was planning to use. Really dark. I was doing OK until I came to Pungo Ferry bridge. There is a marina there with enough lights to destroy your night vision. I was following another sailboat but lost it in the lights. About that time a power boat came up behind me with a spot light sweeping the channel. Instant blindness again. He went past me but left me unable to see much. I was sort of waiting for my vision to return when I looked back up the ICW and saw a whole mess of lights coming at me. Having no idea what they belonged to, I got over to the side as far a I could and let them go by. They turned out to be four navy landing craft. They sure seemed close when they passed me.

After the navy went by, I started under the Pungo Ferry Bridge. This is a high one, 65 ft clearance, so I didn't have to wait. But just as I got to the bridge another spotlight comes on and was moving toward the bridge from the other direction. I flashed my Q-beam, only 250,000 candle power but pretty bright, just to let him know where I was. Well, the spot light goes off and is replaced by what looked like a Christmas tree. I had no idea what it was except that I could see a red light on one side and a green one on the other so I was pretty sure it was a boat and it was headed toward me. I got through the bridge and took up my normal position along the side while it went through. It was a tug pushing a barge! There was not room under the bridge for both of us either. It all turned out OK and I continued on to the Blackwater Creek to anchor. It was tricky to find in the dark and I wasn't quite prepared for how shallow the mouth was. Bella Vita draws 6 feet and the depth gauge showed 6.5 feet. No problem. Actually it was no problem and once past the mouth it deepened to about 8 feet. It's a great anchorage and I hear nothing and the water is like glass.

All things considered it was a pretty good day. I don't think I will try the ICW after dark again but I covered 52 miles and made it another 35 miles further south.

Nov. 6, 2005

The anchorage last night was so quiet that I got a full nights sleep and didn't even need earplugs. When I finally got up this morning, I looked outside and could see nothing but reeds. They semed so close that I felt I could reach out and touch them. This was the smallest anchorage that I have stayed in.

I finally got under way about 10:00. I only had about 20 miles to go so there was no rush. I motored into a strong headwind, gusts about 25 knots, all the way to Coinjock, NC. There is pretty good protection from the wind at the Midway Marine where I am tied up until tomorrow morning. A friend from Lexington, Bill Morgan, is meeting me here to sail the rest of the way to the Bahamas. We will go down the ICW at least to Morehead City, about another 150 miles or 130 nautical miles.

I covered 21 nautical miles today and made it 14 miles further south.

Nov. 7, 2005

Bill came aboard this morning and we got underway at about 9:12 continuing down the ICW with nothing unusual occuring. Bill handled the helm most of the time and I'll have to say he steered better than the autopilot. We anchored in the Aligator river off Bear point in about 7 feet of water. It was another beauiful anchorage which we shared with two other southbound boats.

We covered about 45 miles and made it about 40 miles further south.

Nov.8, 2005

Up early this morning to get an early start but quickly realized it would not be an early start. Looking outside, all we could see of the other two boats was the tops of their masts. A dense fog had settled in over night making it impossible to leave. We waited about two hours to start and as soon as we made the first turn ran into the fog again. It cleared soon and in another 15 minutes we were under way for real down the Aligator River-Pungo River Canal which is another straight and narrow dug canal. The sides were undeveloped swamp and even though we didn't see any aligators, we did have a deer swin across in front of us.

One little bit of exictment to break up the day. A large power boat was coming up behind us so we pulled over to the right and slowed down to let him by. We were still well inside the canal but hit an underwater stickup. The boat sort of bucked up as the keel hit it but went on over with no problem. Once again I was glad I have a steel boat. Once I get to some clean warm water where I can dive and check out the bottom, I may feel diffently.

We anchored in Campbell Creek just off the ICW channel for the night in another beautiful quiet anchorage with a beautiful sunset. We had covered 45 miles and made it 23 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 9, 2005

Today we did get an early start and stopped in Oriental, NC, to get some diesel and provisions. I don't have a good feel for the fuel consumption yet and didn't want to run of so we filled up. The trip from Norfolk to Oreintal used 18 gallons. I felt pretty good about that since I had expected to use more since we motored all the way.

We left Oriental and crossed the Neuse river into Adams Creek. We would soon be entering the Adams Creek Canal which ends close to Morehead City. There is no place to anchor in the canal and few in Morehead City. It was late enough that we would not make it through Morehead City before dark so we anchored near the north end of the Adams Canal even though it was only about 2:30. Even if we could have gotten through Morehead City, the ICW below there is difficult. It is very shallow in spots and there are extremly limited anchorages. Also, there are no inlets that we could get through to the ocean for at least two days.

The anchorage is just along the side of the channel so it is open and not well protected from either north or south winds. The forecast is for south winds changing to north so it may be a rough night.

We motored 33 miles today and got 22 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 10, 2005

Up early to check the weather to decide if we wanted to leave today or not. The forcast was for gale force northerly winds in the Gulf Stream later today and tonight. Not really wanting to face a gale in the Gulf Stream the first day out, we decided to stay where we are and then leave early tomorrow, assuming the weather forecast is accurate. The northerly winds are forecast to abate by the time we would reach the Gulf Stream and we should have good weather for the next couple of days. The forecast was accurate for today with the winds changing to the north and building. When north winds blow against the north flowing Gulf Stream, it creates very high steep waves that are dangerous even to large ships. No sailing today.

Nov. 11, 2005

Up early again today to check the weather. There are still gale warnings in the Gulf Stream but the forecast is for the wind to abate this afternoon. We can't reach the Gulf Stream until at least late afternoon when the winds should be calmer. The seas may still be a little rough but we decide to go for it. We've got the anchor up and under way by 6:20 down the remaining 15 miles of the ICW. The first thing we encounter just as we are getting back into the channel is a north-bound barge. No problem but boy was he close to us!

The Adams Creek Canal is quite remote and desolate at the northern end but nice early in the morning. We encountered our first dolphins today in the canal. I hadn't expected to see any until we got into the ocean but there were two of them following us for a while. What beautiful animals.

We made it through the Morehead City harbor with only one minor problem. I had us going up the wrong channel for about a 1/4 mile before I realized it got us turned around and back into the correct channel. It gets a little confusing when there are multiple channels coming together and sharing markers. It's all very precise but requires very close attention to detail. When southbound, most of the time the sun is behind the markers and it makes it very difficult to read the marker numbers. A good pair of binoculars is required. We caught the ebb tide going out the Morehead City Inlet and were making 8 knots for a while. That's the fastest I've had this boat going. Luckily there was very little commercial traffic in the harbor. Sailboats will frequently leave the ICW, if southbound, to avoid the shallow portions of the ICW west of Morehead City. Also, the northbound boats will frequently leave Florida offshore and go to here to take advantage of the northward flow of the stream. They will go back to the ICW here to avoid the dangerous waters around Cape Hatteras. With all this coming and going, along with a large fishing fleet, the inlet stays busy. We had a dolphin escort several times today. They would swim right in the bow wave so it would spash on their backs and then swim back and forth in front of us. I could watch them for hours.

Sailing, motoring too, in the ocean is drastically different than in the ICW. Instead of having to watch the markers and stay in the narrow channel, you set the autopilot and let the boat sail itself. That leaves time for relaxing and the ever present working on the boat. Seems like something is wrong in these pictues!

It was a beautiful night with clear skys and a half moon that really lit up the ocean. Not that there was a lot to see but I did see one ship. I used the radar to follow it and the closest it got was about 3 miles. Even at that distance I could make out the shape of the ship in the moonlight.

We motored 98 nautical miles today and made it 90 nautical miles further south. For the 24 hour period from when we left we covered 127 nautical miles.

Nov. 12, 2005

Still motoring south today to get through the Gulf Stream. We entered the gulf stream sometime between midnight and 3:00 am today. We could tell we were in the stream because of the low fog, called sea smoke, that frequently comes of the warmer water and because of the floresence in the water. There are organisms that live in the warmer water of the tropics that give off light when disturbed. The stream carries enough of them this far north that you can see them in the wake. Also there is a marked increase in water temperature when crossing the north wall of the stream. I jibed to the east to cut across the stream in the minimum time.

One other ship seen last night but it never got closer than about 6 miles. Radar sure is a valuable device when at sea. We had a pretty rough ride across the stream. The wind was light and variable so we couldn't keep the sails full so we motored without sails. Without the sails to stabilize the boat, it rolled a lot in waves that were on our quarter. The south/south-east wall of the Gulf Stream is not as defined as the north so we couldn't really tell when we out of it. The seas were confused with waves coming from the northwest and from the northeast. Sometimes two large waves from the two directions would combine creating one much larger wave. It wouldn't last very long but if they happened to combine under your boat, it made for an exciting ride.

Lots of dolphins today. They were playing in the bow wave as normal. We were moving along at about 6 knots and I stood at the bow and taped them.

Warning: This clip is about 5 mega byte.

A total of 100.3 nautical miles today from midnight to midnight and 73 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 13, 2005

We motored-sailed until about 7:00 this morning and then put up the genoa and shut off the engine. Blessed silence after two full days of motoring. The winds were great and we sailed all day. This is what I was looking forward to. We were making 7.5 knots at times in seas that were gradually smoothing. A great day of sailing. During the night, the wind got a little too strong and I dropped the genoa and continued under main alone. Our speed dropped from almost 6 knots to about 3 but it was much more comfortable and safer.

We saw our first flying fish of the trip today. In the higher winds, they could cover a longer distance than I had seen before. There was one that had a rather unsucessful flight. Apparently it was flying at night and ran into the mizzen mast. We found it the next day and gave it the proper burial for a flying fish, over the side. I hope we're not in a no-discharge zone!

A fair amout of ship traffic today including one navy ship on a practice run. He hailed me on the VHF to tell me they were there, what they were doing and where they were going. Very condsiderate.

We covered a total of 113 nautical miles today and made it 104 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 14, 2005

It was 75 degrees when I got up this morning! Unfortunately the temperature dropped during the day but it stayed in the 70's. The water in the tanks is significantly warmer now than it was in Annapolis.

We put up the Genoa again this morning and were making great time for a while, doing about 6.5 knots. The boat was over canvased and I dropped the Genoa and raised the #2 jib on the inner stay. This was a little on the low side for sail area but it certainly was more comfortable. The #2 and full main took us through the day and late afternoon I put a reef in the main. During the first watch, 6 to 9 pm, Bill woke me up and said that we lost the reef. The first reefing block had broken so there was no way to use the first reef anymore until I fix it. I put in the second reef and continued on this way. Again a little low on canvas but more confortable. I spent a good portion of the 3 to 6 am watch dodging squals. They would show up on radar about 12 miles away and I missed all but the tail end of one of them. There was no lightening in them and the rain was actually pretty pleasant. I did feel better knowing that I can dodge most of them and hopefuly I'll be able miss the bad ones on future trips.

The seas had built to about 10 feet on the port beam so the ride was getting a little rough. I think we have been on a port tack since we left Morehead City. It's amazing to me that a boat as heavy as this one can move so fast as it rocks and rolls on the waves. After several trips forward for miscellanous tasks and some rough hours at the helm, I'm getting more comfortable with the boat. It's not been a comfortable trip with sleep difficult at times but I've been confident in Bella Vita's capabilities. Some of the systems are old and not up to current standards, like the reefing, but she's a solid boat.

Today was a bit of a milestone in that I have now covered 1,000 nautical miles in Bella Vita.

We covered 92 nautical miles today and made it 62 miles further south.

Nov. 15, 2005

A little calmer last night so I think we both got a little more sleep. We were still under #2 Jib and second reef in th main until about 8:00 when I raised the full main. Speed went up about 0.5 knot. We will probably reach Spanish Cay tomorrow and clear customs there. Then we'll head down the Sea of Abaco toward Marsh Harbour. Barring some unforeseen problem today, we should have plenty of time to rest and recover before Bill leaves on the 22nd.

We covered 96 nautical miles today and made it 51 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 16, 2005

We continued south taday in good winds. This is our 4th day of strong S/SE winds, sometimes over twenty knots. Twenty knots is not too bad but when that wind blows for days across the ocean, it gets rough. The last couple of days we have had seas that at times were at least 12 feet. We have been able to make pretty good time even though we reduce sail at night since there is only one person on watch and a squall hitting with full sail up could do some damage. The SE winds were OK but it would have nice to have a little more east than south. We ended up a little further west than we wanted and had to spend some time to get back east.

We reached the Bahamas today! The islands are right where our charts showed them too.

We sailed along the coast for a while and could watch the waves breaking on the reefs while we were still in water so deep that the depth finder could not find bottom, over 400 feet deep. We had planned to stop in Moraine Cay and clear customs in Spanish Cay. We reached the Moraine Cay Inlet early this morning and with the clouds and a squall over the inlet, we were afraid that we could not see any coral heads in the inlet so we continued on planning on entering the Sea of Abaco at the Powell Cay Inlet. By the time we reached here, the wind had picked up significantly and was blowing swells arcoss the inlet. We didn't like the looks of that so we continued on planning to enter the Sea of Abaco at Manjack Cay Inlet and then clear at Green Turtle Cay. By the time we reached there, the winds were sill strong so we put up sails and motorsailed all the way to Whale Cay Channel. I had been through this one before and it loooked much more promising. We did enter there and had no problem at all. Once inside the inlet and into the Sea of Abaco, the water was basically calm with no waves at all. It was right at sunset so we stopped right inside the channel and anchored in Baker's Bay. After 5 days of constant rocking, rolling, sliding off waves, banging into waves and general mayhem, it was such a relief to be able to walk on a floor that wasn't at a 20 degree angle and moving rapidly in several directions at once.

Baker's Bay was at one time a day stop for cruise ships and had a very well marked and dredged channel. The cost of dredging was excessive and the cruise ship operation abandoned the area and moved elsewhere. The property has been sold and considerable new developement is taking place now.

I put up the quarentine flag and we settled in for a pleasant evening and a good nights sleep. We'll clear customs in the morning.

We covered 58 nautical miles today and made it 36 nautical miles further south.

Nov. 17, 2005

After a great night's sleep in a very still boat we got up to a beautiful calm day. After breakfast and a few chores, we motored into Marsh Harbour to clear customs and immigration. We anchored in the harbor and I dinghied ashore to do the formalities. My guide said that only the captain was allowed ashore before the boat was cleared so Bill waited while I went ashore. Not only can the entire crew come ashore, they have to in order to sign the immigration forms. So it was back to the boat to get Bill and then back to Customs and Immigration. No problems and we were soon offically cleared in and off to see the city.

I have been to Marsh Harbour several times before and found it to be about the same as before. A few more buildings have gone up but the character of the town was the same. We ran into Captain James yesterday on the street. James is the captain we hired to show us around via boat the first time I was in Abaco about 10 years ago. He hasn't changed much and is still doing the tours along with working with the Baker's Bay developement group. I also went by the time share where we had stayed a few times and where John Byrne and John Schmidt and I had stayed for a while after hurricane Floyd. The manager Chris was still there and we had a nice little chat. The time share has been spilt up and a group of units sold of as condos. They are planning and new 79 unit construction on the remainer of their open land.

There was a large fire in Marsh harbour last night in the Haitian refugee village. James said one woman died and about 2,000 are now homeless. They had very little before the fire and have now lost that. When John, John and I were here during hurricane Floyd, the village was wiped out by the flooding and then shortly after that there was a fire that detroyed the area again. They are having a very difficult time here but I don't think any would want to go back to Haiti.

This is the end of the trip for Bill. He is flying out from Marsh Harbour on Tues. I plan on saying here for a couple of weeks to finish a few repairs on the boat and then head south through the 'Far' Bahamas. From there, on south.

The trip so far has been a chain of new experiences, mostly enjoyable. The crossing from NC was rougher than I think is normal but the winds allowed us to make pretty good time. We reduced sail at night for safety so that cut into our daily progress but spent many hours at 6 knots.

Bella Vita had done well and I am confident in her strength. When charging through the 10-12 foot seas and off of those waves, there was no shaking or any signs of being overstressed. There are a few things that I need to improve but overall things went very well. There were no problems with major systems. One of the VHF radios is having a problem but I think it is an antenna problem that I should be able to fix. The usefullness of the Radar surprised me. That is one system that I probably would not have bought if the boat did not come with it. The ability to monitor the heading of other traffic and storms is very useful.

We covered 10.3 miles today and made it 9 nautical miles further south.

Since leaving Gibson Island, I have covered 919 nautical miles and made it 753 miles south.

Nov. 22, 2005

We have stayed at anchor in Marsh Harbour since we got here. We did some of the normal tourist things since Bill had never seen the Abacos. We walked around some and ran into two people I had met before and then had lunch at the Golden Grouper. I highly recommend their BLT and Macaroni and Cheese.

We took a ferry ride to Man o War Cay one day and walked around the island. There seems to be less on Man o War than when I had been there before. The Albury Boat Builders shop is still in business and the Albury Sail Shop is still turning out some beautiful bags. They don't do any sail making anymore which was a disapointment since I was hoping to get some supplies there. We didn't even stay for lunch and caught the ferry back to Marsh Harbour for lunch.

Sunday we took a ferry to Hopetown on Elbow Cay. This is one of the prettiest of the out islands. We got there mid-morning and walked around town for a while. Being Sunday, nothing was open so we didn't spend a lot of time there. I had never been to White Sound on Elbow Cay so we decided to walk down there. It was only a couple of inches on the map and since it's a small island, it couldn't be too far. After about a half hour of walking and no sign of White Sound we were getting a bit hot and tired. Suddenly an oasis appeared in the form of On da Beach and they were open. Starting off with a cold Kalik, we decided to try the daily special of Chicken Sousé. This is chicken and potatoes cooked in a spicy broth until the chicken falls off the bones. Served with grits and a flat bread, it was really good. Somewhat revived we continued on to White Sound which was about 4 miles from Hope Town. It's a pretty little place on the beach, of course, with the ocean on one side and the Sea of Abaco on the other.

Other than that, it has been work on the boat with occasional trips ashore. Bill left this morning and of course the winds were 20-25 knots with gusts to 40 kt when it was time to leave. The wind was blowing directly in the harbor mouth and there were whitecaps in the harbor. My dinghy is not a heavy weight and I was more than a little concerned about getting him to shore without swimming. We put his bag in the middle of the dinghy with him stradling it and me in the back and headed to shore keeping the wind to our stern. I was trying to match the speed of the waves so we wouldn't take on water over either end and it worked quite well. We got to shore and were almost dry and only about half a mile from where we wanted to be. Another stop at the Golden Grouper and Bill was off to the airport and I was left with a nasty trip back to the boat. I headed directly into the wind and was bouncing around on the waves but made back with no incident. About then the winds started to abate somewhat.

I had hoped to be in the land of T-shirts and shorts and although I think I'm close, it's still a little chilly here today. Low 70's but the wind makes it seem cooler. I'll probably stay here for a few days and then start down the Bahama Islands. There are 700 of them and while I'll probably miss some I expect to see several.

Nov. 30, 2005

I am still here in Marsh Harbour enjoying the warm weather and doing some of the boat stuff I didn't get to before I left MD. It has been swim suit weather recently with temp's in the 80's. The harbor has really filled up recently. There was a series of cold fronts that came off the US coast that made the passage from FL tough. As soon as the conditions improved, there seemed to be a mass migration.

One of the cruisers decided to have a party a couple of days ago. His boat wasn't big enough so he talked a couple on a 54 Irvin into hosting it. He then went around the harbor and invited everyone on a boat to the party. Most showed up and there was about 20 dinghies tied to back of the host boat for a while. It's pretty amazing how many people can fit on a boat that big. There was a wide range of people there. Some had been on their boats for a couple of months, like me, and others had been living aboard for up to 25 years. One of the most intresting couples to me was a Canadian couple who have been on their boat for about 20 years. It was a steel 46 footer that the man had built. It is a ketch with a round bilge, smooth hull like a fiberglass boat, with a 46,000 pound displacement. I thought Bella Vita was a high displacement boat at 24,000 pounds. Iinteresting couple and an interesting boat.