So we’ve spent a week so far in the mooring field here in Stuart. It’s the longest we’ve been away from a dock and we’ve sure learned a lot.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend. It wasn’t until we tied up on the ball that we looked around and saw that we are on the very next ball from our pals on kid boat Piper. It’s been great fun hanging out with Lisa and Tripp and their awesome kids.

April had her first occasion to solo in the dinghy, and of course, to experience the rite of passage that is flooding the outboard. I came out to help her and tried the old wide open throttle trick to hilarious effect. Our Mercury has a mechanical interlock to prevent pulling the starter in forward, but throttling up requires putting it in forward. I took the cover off and held the the interlock up with one hand while yanking the starter with the other. You can just imagine the result.

Later I was trying to get back to Lark through the school of kiddie kayaks clustered around the gunwale. I overreached and went head first into the drink. I’m happy to report that our new swim ladder is a pleasure to use and those little phone dry bags really do work.

Audrey and Loey have been really getting in to kayaking with the Piper kids and Loey is finally going to have a kayak of her own for Christmas.