a long overdue update

I can't believe its been almost two months since my last entry! whoooops! I promise to write in this much more often now, as a few of my friends have made it apparent that I am lacking in the updating department! :)

Life here in Florida (despite the fact that we live in a retirement community) moves so quickly! So much progress has been made on the boat....I looked at pictures from my first day and it's hard to imagine that almost 4 months ago we were given a shell of a boat, weather worn and broken in so many ways, only to bring it back to life and give it an entire makeover! All the crew cabins have been finished, as well as the aft hed (downstairs bathroom). The salon is near finished as well, but we are waiting to complete the electric before we secure the ceiling. We have refiberglassed almost the entire outside of the boat, as well as built an incredible outside bench (which was also fiberglassed) and a hug throne/captains chair for the helm, complete with a fish tank! The last few days we have been sanding the outside of the boat, preparing it for a brand new paint job, which will make our boat look spectacular. Sanding is a hell of a job though... we are using electric sanders, but bending over all day sanding fiberglass not only makes your muscles and back hurt beyond belief...but you are so itchy from the fiberglass dust that it makes it hard to sleep at night! We have all learned to just power through it though, as the thought of our departure comes closer and more vivid in our mind.

In the last 2 months I have become extremely accident prone (or i guess i always was accident prone to begin with) and have suffered a major knee dislocation, a three degree burn on my hand, lacceration on my face and a broken toe...and those were just the major ones! I can't tell you the number of bruises and cuts that appear out of no where every day! All of them have good stories though (except for the broken toe...that I was literally just walking in the rain and slipped) but... I'm sure they will serve as funny memories for years to come. Or at least they will be good battle scars.

Our days off are so appreciated around here, and we have been so fortunate enough to be able to have adventures on all of them! We have swam with manatees, gone on our first 3 day sailing trip (where we caught 2 sharks!), gone to concerts, visited beaches, and most recently, swam with dolphins and participated in a traditional cuban pig roast (Will write more on this later...what an experience!).

We also have gained 3 new crew members! Graham joined us afew weeks ago, and is someone that I knew from San Francisco, as we were on the SFSU health clinic advisory board together. He is a great asset to our family and brings such a great sense of humor to the group! Our other 2 new members come in animal form : Giles McCoy (our boat dog) and Tweak (our boat cat)! Giles was named after a man who survived the USS Innapolis sinking. He said that as he was in the ocean, watching his friends get eaten by sharks, he prayed to god that if he survived, he would become a doctor and dedicate his life to helping people. He died afew months ago, but we heard his story at the Palm Coast Veterans of Foreign War group, and we said that if we ever got a boat dog we would name him in memory of the real Giles McCoy. Giles is the sweetest puppy in the entire world, and already is adjusted to the boat! Tweak is a crazy kitten, full of energy, and has many quirks (like loving to sleep in the crockpot). He and Giles are finally getting along, and will eat out of the same bowl, sleep on the same bed and even play together! Its so nice to have animals around the house, and we adopted them knowing that it won't be easy, but many sailors have told us that boat dogs and boat cats are great assets and protection on the sea and in ports.

One of the most exciting things that has happened is that CNN sent out a camera crew to film a special piece on us! They interviewed Ben and Sky and then picked 2 crew members to be interviewed...and Nick and I were chosen! I had my interview at sunset on the boat, and they asked me a lot of questions about the survey that I am writing and how I will be conducting it. I talked about how we are looking at not only disease and demographic data, but at the perceptive attitudes of the communities that we visit. They asked a lot of great questions, and I can only hope i answered them somewhat elequently....but I always get so nervous on camera! They filmed us the next day while we were working and asked us afew more questions about our work on the boat. I can't wait until it airs! I will definately post the link on here (it will be online first and then if we get enough views it will air on tv!)

Life here is so amazing and I haven't felt this happy in a long time! Being here has given me some of the greatest adventures of my life and this is only the beginning!

much love to you all....
-J