September 1, 2012.

September is upon us. How in the hell did that happen? Every other year the summer has literally dragged by as we work towards autumn looking forward to the moment we can once again head south. This year, BAM, summers gone and there’s only 399 days left to departure.

As you all know we're making the most of the opportunity and giving the Veranda a major refit. The first draft of our “To Do” list is pretty extensive.

Some of the items are necessary while others have made the list due to convenience. We'll be off the boat for a few months so I’ll be able to really tear the boat apart rather than to try and work around us living in the boat.

Removing the generator and replacing the engine are the biggies. We'll tackle those once we're out of the water. In the mean time we've started addressing what we can. The new mattress is in place (we might as well be comfortable while we're here) and the new stove now lives in the galley.

The old anchor chain is now gone from the locker. Once the anchor locker has been repainted there will be 200 feet of new 3/8ths G-4 slipped inside.

So we've knocked a few of the smaller items off the list but every journey starts with a few steps....