Cutting the dock lines

Today's the day.  We have officially left the marina to start our adventure.  We are motor sailing to Aquatic Park in San Francisco where we will anchor for the next couple nights and then on to Clipper Cove off Treasure Island for more anchoring.  David has long wanted to cut the dock lines to indicate our real departure, so the kiddos each cut one.  

Not long after we left the dock, we noticed the oars weren't firmly affixed to the dinghy that we are currently towing (rather than stowing as we will when cruising off shore).  This gave our daughter a wonderful excuse to scamper on board the dingy and make sure they stay in place.  Then of course, her brother had to join her.  

The last couple weeks have been rather busy.  We all had our immunization shots and bought malaria and anti-diarrheal meds from Kaiser.  I had to laugh at the description on the bottle for the anti-diarrheal ones, though I suppose if we experience this ("painful, explosive diarrhea"), we won't be laughing for a while.  Dave and I are catching up on Hepatitus immunizations so we have to stop at Kaiser one more time before leaving the bay.

Speaking of anti-malarial meds, the mosquitos at the waterfront have claimed too much of our hides, so each of our berths now has mosquito netting.  It has been so very nice to not wake up with some critter buzzing in our ears.  The photo below is our berth.  Dave thinks the four of us have too many shoes.  I don't know what he's talking about; we can't wear flip-flops every day!

On the 18th, Dave affixed the lettering for our boat's new name and stenciled the name on the dinghy. We had friends over for a little naming celebration and after dinner, once it was dark, motored out into the slough and motored the boat in a circle three times backwards.  We popped the champagne and our daughter and our friends' son sprayed it on the bow.  She came back to the cockpit with a curious smile on her face and remarked, "I never thought I would be walking barefoot in champagne."

Our first boat was a 1976 Balboa 27' sailboat.  That made Dave think of Rocky Balboa and Rocky the flying squirrel: hence the name Flying Squirrel for the first boat.  When it came time to name this 41' Dehler, we couldn't come up with anything more exciting, but I was averse to calling it Flying Squirrel so it ended up as Flying Squirrel 2.  Moose (Bullwinkle) was an obvious choice for the dinghy and we liked the fact that the sizes were opposite.