L'ORIENT Update
It's been a while since our last post. As our loyal followers in Latvia and Eastern Europe would demand nothing less, it's time for an update...........
First off, we still live on L'ORIENT. We have not bought a house, condo nor an apartment. We're a long way from being ready to give up our boat life.
We've actually made some friends here in South Beach (we're usually not that social). B-Dock in the Miami Beach Marina is a little piece of Italy.........specifically, Bologna. Some Italian live-aboards have become our "besties". Allesandro (Italian plastic surgeon), Lucetta (gourmet cook wife), and Blu (adorable 4-year old daughter) are frequent guests and co-conspirators. They have exactly the same boat we do........an Amel Super Maramu 2000, so Allesandro and I share boat projects and ideas. A superbowl party, ski trip, and sailing are all planned.
We continue to work on L'ORIENT to improve her, and the tempo is accelerating. Spare parts arrive every week. New canvas, electronics, and tools are aboard. The lessons we learned in the Caribbean are being applied.
Work has been, well..........work. Kirstin and I are both back at the our old company. The travel hasn't been great. The biggest drawback of having a travel job in Miami is the fact that you can't get back mid-week.........it's just too far from most places. So it's usually a Monday to Thursday trip instead of the daytrips we enjoyed when we lived in Washington, DC.
OK, I know nobody feels sorry for us........we live in South Beach, afterall. We can walk to the beach, the restaurants, the gym, and the stores. The only time you have to wear pants here is when required by a restuarant or club; it never gets below 70 degrees. Today I'm flying out.......packing for a big temperature differential (in DC it's around 20 degrees). Brrrrr.
So what's next ? Our plan is to return to the Caribbean.............some kind of semi-retirement arrangement, perhaps. When ? We're not sure yet. The time-table is evolving. More to come.
First off, we still live on L'ORIENT. We have not bought a house, condo nor an apartment. We're a long way from being ready to give up our boat life.
We've actually made some friends here in South Beach (we're usually not that social). B-Dock in the Miami Beach Marina is a little piece of Italy.........specifically, Bologna. Some Italian live-aboards have become our "besties". Allesandro (Italian plastic surgeon), Lucetta (gourmet cook wife), and Blu (adorable 4-year old daughter) are frequent guests and co-conspirators. They have exactly the same boat we do........an Amel Super Maramu 2000, so Allesandro and I share boat projects and ideas. A superbowl party, ski trip, and sailing are all planned.
We continue to work on L'ORIENT to improve her, and the tempo is accelerating. Spare parts arrive every week. New canvas, electronics, and tools are aboard. The lessons we learned in the Caribbean are being applied.
Work has been, well..........work. Kirstin and I are both back at the our old company. The travel hasn't been great. The biggest drawback of having a travel job in Miami is the fact that you can't get back mid-week.........it's just too far from most places. So it's usually a Monday to Thursday trip instead of the daytrips we enjoyed when we lived in Washington, DC.
OK, I know nobody feels sorry for us........we live in South Beach, afterall. We can walk to the beach, the restaurants, the gym, and the stores. The only time you have to wear pants here is when required by a restuarant or club; it never gets below 70 degrees. Today I'm flying out.......packing for a big temperature differential (in DC it's around 20 degrees). Brrrrr.
So what's next ? Our plan is to return to the Caribbean.............some kind of semi-retirement arrangement, perhaps. When ? We're not sure yet. The time-table is evolving. More to come.