Some days are bigger days in life than others, and today is one of them.
After a long drive from Winnipeg, Manitoba to St. Augustine Florida, Matt and I have arrived at our boat. MATTINA is a Lagoon 380 S2 and has spent the summer on the hard.
Where does the name come from? MATT and KrisTINA.We put our two names together, but wait! There’s more. Mattina means morning or beginning of the day in Italian. And my mom was born in Italy. With the start of every new day, there’s an opportunity to start a new adventure. So the name MATTINA seemed like a good fit for our boat.
We’ve owned MATTINA since July 2009. We’ve sailed her from Delaware to the Bahamas and live aboard during the winters.
Our dog Farley keeps us company. He has his own blog on Friday’s so if you want to see how a dog does sailing, Friday is the day.
- Mattina’s Summer Home
So now the work to get ready for the season begins. We decommissioned her last spring and we found in her in great shape this fall.
Today we start the commissioning process. This is our second boat, and over the years we have created a large spreadsheet to keep us organized. We go through each line item and get our lovely boat ready to hit the seas. Checking off items on the list is somehow very satisfying.
Our launch is scheduled for Halloween. So the question is, can we get everything done on time?
This week is the week for changes. Over the summer I don’t blog about cruising, but during the winter, well that’s different. My new schedule for posting is:
MONDAY: Writing
WEDNESDAY: Cruising
FRIDAY: Dogs.
You may have guessed that writing, cruising and dogs take up a big part of our lives. I hope you enjoy the posts and if you are out there cruising, I’d love to hear from you.
Creative Story Editors 
Ah, you are in Florida now. So am I, only I’m about a 4 hour drive from St. Augustine. Beautiful city. Enjoy your stay until you get Mattina up and running again. She sure is pretty.
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We are. It’s wonderful to be sitting under a palm tree again. And oh so warm. I’m feeling pretty happy to be in this lovely state again You’re lucky to live here.
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What a fitting name for your vessel. I look forward to following your days of sailing in the open air as I work from my desk in Seattle. Happy travels!
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Thanks Jill. Can you see the ocean from your desk? I’ve only been to Seattle once, but I remember it had great views.
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From my desk I do have a view of the Cascade Mountains over the Puget Sound. It’s difficult to get a bad view in Seattle. Have you ever sailed around this side of the country?
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I’ve only sailed on the east side. Maybe one day 🙂
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Hi! We are still in Virginia. Plan to leave around Nov 8. We will go down the ICW mostly and cross over to the Bahamas from Biscayne Bay,..sometime before or after the Christmas holidays. Looking forward to catching up with you! Glad to hear you are back in St. Augustine! Love that city!!!! Our blog is http://www.mytripjournal.com/sailinginterlude12 Password: 5oclocksomewhere Keep in touch!
Hugs…Tom and Cathie/INTERLUDE
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Hi Cathie, I’m looking forward to reading your blog and hooking up with you guys again. Sure was fun ending the season with you last year.
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Bon voyage!
I always look forward to finding such pretty pictures in my Inbox, especially as winter rolls around. I love the meaning of Mattina!
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Thanks Kirsten. It’s always nice to hear from you.
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I love wht you guys are up too. Such clever work and coverage!
Keep up the great works guys I’ve included youu guys to our blogroll.
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