Pearl Comes Out of Her Shell

At 3:05pm on June 6th we picked up Pearl's lines and made our way out of her slip in Essex, CT to start our amazing Big Loop adventure.  After 3 years of planning, dreaming and imagining we are finally off.  Brian's brother, Bob, and his friend Christer joined us on Friday the 5th to help out in getting started and will be with us till the 10th.  They've been incredibly helpful in doing many of the small jobs still outstanding aboard Pearl -- from balancing the dinghy on it's lift to cleaning the decks!  It's good to have talented unpaid labor aboard!  Today was filled with activity from Ellen driving home to drop off the car and then be picked up by our daughter Brianna who then returned her to Essex.  Brianna is also in for quite an adventure as she is taking of our very active cat Charlie at her home in NYC.  Charlie is an outdoor hunting cat who will spend the next 6 months living in a two bedroom apartment in Manhattan.  He's in for a rude awakening!  While Ellen was doing the car return Bob, Christer and I took Pearl out to test all of her systems.  We checked the temperature on the engine; ensured everything from the navigation lights to the head were in good working order.  Fortunately everything worked perfectly.  It feels good to commence a trip of this magnitude with everything working well.  First night is in Westbrook, CT -- just a short way from Essex and then tomorrow off to Long Island just outside of NYC.  It's really happening!