Past Experience - other trips and raft ups

Past experience - other trips and raft ups:  Since that first "we'll love it or kill each other" experience, the Captain and I have gone on a variety of boating vacations.  We have been up north to Martha's Vineyard, MA and Block Island, RI.  We've been as far south as Annapolis, MD having covered most of the Jersey shore multiple times (Cape May, NJ is a favorite).  We've explored Long Island's south shore as well as Long Island Sound including both Long Island north shore and parts of Connecticut.  The furthest west we've traveled was to follow the Erie Canal to the Finger Lakes to visit our older son who was attending Cornell University in Ithaca, NY at the time.

Somewhere along the way, as I mentioned in an earlier post as 1999, we upgraded from our fishing boat (we dont' fish) to a Mainship Trawler.  It was the equivalent of upgrading from a pop-up camping trailer to a full-sized RV motor home.  No more dropping down tables to turn into beds.  No more feet hanging out of the V-berth.  No more making toast in the morning to generate heat - this trick we discovered on our Lake Champlain trip.  Even though it was August, we would wake up to a chill and I would insist everyone eat toast as that was our only means of generating heat on our first boat.  Now we have a central A/C unit that doubles as central heating.  My oh my am I spoiled!  I no longer feel like a pioneer when I go boating.

Some of our favorite and most memorable boating experiences have been "rafting up" with other Mainship owners at various destinations.  When we purchased the boat, the Captain learned about the Yahoo Group for Mainship Owners.  Through that group, we heard about raft ups in the Barnegat Bay area in South Jersey as well as trips planned by the Northeast Org out of Long Island / Connecticut.  Usually a raft up occurs on a Saturday and the ones we have been to have been anywhere from 3 (albeit a very small raft up) to somewhere around 25 boats in Sag Harbor, NY.  When you tie 25 boats together such that you can walk from one to the next all the way from one end to the other, the raft up of boats starts to form a semi-circle.

Rafting up is a lot of fun and a great way to get to meet new boaters.  Typically the guys compare engine sizes while the women bring on the food.  We've made lasting friendships with some of the boaters we've met.  Unfortunately with the economy the way it is, folks are hesitant to spend the money on boat fuel, so planned excursions have been limited in the past couple of years.