The ReFit location for the Misty Lady

While the Misty Lady is a beautifully maintained boat, she does have some warts and we will be working her over in a few weeks to clear up things, including her complexion.  When we finally take possession, expected the second week in May, we will start her engines, take our leave of the marina where she was home berthed for several years, in Dundalk, MD.  We will motor out of that waterway, past the entrance to Baltimore Harbor and on down to Annapolis, MD and up the South River to the shipyard we have chosen to do the upgrade and facial for our lady.

At that point, the Bride (oops, the First Mate), our two fur babies and myself will hie ourselves to a hotel outside the town of Edgewater, MD and oversee the work on our yacht.  Unfortunately, the 1st Mate will have to miss much of it, because she will have to fly off to a professional education conference for five days.  By that time, me (the Captain) and the two newly named Sea Cats, Penny and The Duchess will have hopefully taken residence on the yacht, even while the external work is continuing.  The girls have both indicated with their attitudes (they do not deign to speak to lowly humans unless absolutely necessary), that they are most displeased with the changes that are occurring.

The Misty Lady will have some important upgrades and some safety maintenances at the outset.  She will receive new holding tanks (the waters in our home port do not allow any discharges overboard), the fire suppressant system will be evaluated, weighted and recertified.  Our portable fire extinguishers will be checked and their certifications ascertained.  Then the new teak flooring will be installed in the salon and perhaps in the master stateroom.   We will have a new sofa and at least one side chair delivered once the flooring is installed in the salon.

A TV antenna and an Internet connection antenna will be installed on the Arch over the bridge.  We will be removing the 20 foot antennas from both sides of the upper superstructure and will replace them with new digitial high gain antenna “sticks”.  This will improve the overall look AND will eliminate the need to lower the antennas when we go under bridges that to not have enough regular clearances.  The new washer dryer combo unit will also be installed at this time as well.  We have not finalized the plan for other appliances or the installation of quartz counter tops in the galley.

Once these upgrades and safety items have been accomplished, we will put the Lady back in the water and then launch her toward her new berth at the Capital Yacht Club on the Washington, DC waterfront.

Also, I was required to take a Boating Safety Certification course and have a passing grade to be awarded a certificate.  This certificate must be available on demand by the DC Harbor Patrol.  This old man is proud to say that I ACED the course.  I was shocked.  But proud.  Now the certificate will be inserted in the Misty Lady’s log book for display on request by the authorities.

We are trying to move our condo sale closing date back a couple of days to enable enough business days to record all documents AND free up the funding for my accounts.  Then we will transfer the final payment for the Yacht Closing and finally take possession of the boat.  Her name will be changed to The Misty Lady immediately for the Coast Guard Documentation Process, but we will still hold a renaming gathering after she is back in the water.

 

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Author: harv1941

Just a summary, I am 84 years of age, retired in July 2013 and settled down to promoting the dangers of bacterial meningitis, which killed my beloved son, Mike in 2009. My wife, Charlotte, and I embarked on an adventure of live aboard cruising, aboard a large Blue Water motor yacht. While our beginning was rather fraught with hurdles, we continued to look forward to the day we moved aboard the Misty Lady and cruise the eastern seaboard and associated waterways. After more than four years of life aboard this Bluewater Motor Yacht, I developed an advanced problem due to interaction with medications and experienced rather frightening balance problems. Therefore, getting on and off the yacht was fraught with danger of falling between the docks and the boat's hull. Walking the docks was also problematic considering that our yacht club docks were all floating docks and my balance problem was a danger during the walk from our yacht's docking slip to the clubhouse or out to the DC Wharf facilities and our car housed in the yacht club's reserved garage. SO, we had to regretfully put the Misty Lady up for sale and move back on shore. We moved on shore, first into a condo apartment in Alexandria, then after two years there, we relocated to the city of Newport News, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Our original desired location was in the city of Hampton, Virginia, which is the oldest English-speaking settlement in the United States having been established originally in 1610. My ancestors came to this country through this settlement in the mid 1600s and lived in that area for around 100 years before beginning a migration of one portion of our family toward the west. I looked forward to moving back to this area and exploring the roots of my family, both maternal and paternal ancestry, but we found a great house in the Newport News area and became ensconced in the terrific neighborhood of Kiln Creek. My wife, being still actively employed, received a substantial offer in a position with a government contractor firm back up in Northern Virginia. So we put the Newport News house up for sale, receiving and accepting an offer withing two days. We then relocated back up to the city of Alexandria and into another high rise condo. My wife reached a point where considerations for retirement were becoming very important. She indicated that she really didn't want to retire in Alexandria, so once again we began a house search in the Tidewater area, this time in the City of Williamsburg and in a community restricted to 55+ age owners. We found the ideal location, initiated the sale and closing for our retirement home. We then put our condo on the market. Alas, the market was not as robust as before so we had to change asking price a couple of time, but finally the Alexandria Condo was sold. Now we are set to enjoy the great locations found here in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area, considering that we are history buffs and there are literally hundreds of historical sites in this segment of our nation. Of course living in Williamsburg is the epitome of history living life. So, now we are in our retirement home, in a great retirement type community. A great clubhouse with a fine dining restaurant, a grill/pub, an award winning PGA designed golf course and miles of walking trails. Looking forward to my wife's eventual full retirement and the two of us visiting all up and down the east coast historical spots.

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