We owned a boat.  We were to take possession in 2 weeks.  We needed a plan and fast.  And insurance.  Insurance would probably be good.

We had heard horror stories about boat insurance-that companies are refusing to insure older boats and refusing to insure without ridiculous conditions.  Undeterred, I started calling and emailing.  The horror stories turn out to be pretty true.  Progressive and Geico wouldn’t touch us-the boat was too old.  A couple of independent brokers were not optimistic.  We did get a quote from one broker:  for $6,000 a year, we could get insurance-if the boat was on the hard for 10 months of the year.  Ummmm, no.  Thank goodness for State Farm.  We were planning to move the boat to a yard in Georgia for refit.  I called the State Farm agent locally and she quickly got us set up with insurance.  It would only cover US waters, but we weren’t leaving the country for at least a year, so we were good to go.

Insurance in hand, we planned.  We decided we would fly down the day we took possession and then get up the next morning and move her to a local marina.  We were getting kicked out of her current berth at the private marina-no grace period.  I reserved a slip half a mile away and off we went.  In a truly genius move, I purchased a BoatUS membership 3 days before we left for Florida (foreshadowing!).

We arrived at the marina in the dark and it was HOT!  We got on board and started turning stuff on.  The A/C worked, at least, so that was good.  The lights came on-a plus.  But the refrigerator?  Not so much.  Never mind that it had worked during the survey 2 weeks prior.  Ah well.  It was late.  We were tired.  We went to bed.

Bright and early the next morning we prepared to get under way.  We started coiling lines, picking up the electrical lines, and going through the dock box for any serviceable goodies (alas, no).  I called the destination marina for instructions and we were ready.  Kim and I on a new-to-us boat that we had been on for one day during the survey.  WHAT COULD GO WRONG??!!  We fired up the engine-so far so good.  It started easily and was pumping water.  Let’s go!  We untied the lines, left the slip and motored out of the marina.  Now, this marina is small.  And it has one entrance/exit onto a feeder channel to the Intra-Coastal Waterway.  And it’s well marked-you can’t really leave the marina except by following the channel.  A more astute observer might have noticed the dredging equipment moored in the marina.  Astute we were not.  I kid you not:  five minutes-FIVE MINUTES-after leaving the slip, we went aground in the middle of the marina exit channel.  Are you kidding me??!!  I tried backing her off-no luck.  Then the engine temperature alarm went off.  YIKES!  I immediately shut down the engine and went to look.  That seacock I opened must not have been the raw water intake.  After searching around the entire engine compartment, I finally found it lodged in a corner-how convenient.  It was closed.  I opened it.  Hopefully, problem solved.  Next problem:  back to the first problem: we’re aground. As in stuck. As in not moving at all. As in “keel stuck hard to the mud”.  Thank GOD I had that 3-day-old BoatUS membership. It includes free towing service!  We called them up and 45 minutes later, the tow boat arrived and pulled us off.  Whew!  Did I mention it’s an unlimited towing service? So no matter how dumb we are… Anyway, having now been towed to the middle of the channel, we restarted the engine. It still runs!! Hooray!! Off we went and arrived at our new marina slip 20 minutes later.  We managed to dock her without catastrophe and breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.  First voyage over with one serious mistake narrowly avoided (know your seacocks!) and one humiliation under our belts (got a tow!).  What’s next?  Oh yeah, we have to get to Georgia. 180 miles. On the ocean. PIECE OF CAKE!!