I started a journal in June 2005 when Anneke and I decided  it was time for us to radically change the course of our lives. We were ready...MORE than ready...to simplify our lifestyle...sell homes, sell cars, and sell most of our other worldly possessions...and to retire.  We  were looking for a "getaway" boat...one that we could comfortably live and cruise aboard full-time. Our plan was to find the right boat and do some extended cruising for as long as it was FUN.

Thanks to cruisers Chuck and Andrea Wistar (more about this special couple later), we identified the PERFECT boat! I starting reading the logs of their Selene 53 Celebrate...got hopelessly hooked...and had to find a Selene Ocean Trawler for myself! They couldn't say enough good things about their boat. After a three-year sabbatical out cruising the East Coast and the Bahamas, the Wistar's formed Selene Annapolis...East Coast dealership for Selene Ocean Trawlers.

I was surprised to find a 2003 Selene 53 Ocean Trawler listed on YachtWorld...Selene listings are RARE...especially a 53! Reverie was in brokerage at the Virginia Yacht Brokers...only 500 hours on the twin Cummins diesel engines...fully LOADED with electronics and toys...virtually brand new! Anneke and I flew into Norfolk...drove out to the Atlantic Yacht Basin...and fell in love. Team VYB...Chuck Grice, Bob Starr, and Michelle Sulzer...made the purchase ALMOST too easy! We were proud boat owners again...

The Delivery Log details the purchase, preparation, and delivery of our Selene 53 Ocean Trawler Prime Time from the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge, VA to the Waterford Harbor Yacht Club Marina in Kemah, TX. This delivery cruise occurred in September 2005...a DYNAMIC time for weather all along the East and Gulf Coasts. Team Prime Time had three MAJOR hurricanes to manage. Hurricane Katrina (the sixth most severe Atlantic hurricane EVER recorded) had already come ashore and devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Hurricane Ophelia was a lingering storm that challenged the Prime Time all the way from Virginia to Florida. And finally...Prime Time chased Hurricane Rita (the fourth most severe Atlantic hurricane EVER recorded) as she made landfall on September 24, 2005 on the Texas/Louisiana border. It was an ADVENTURE...one I'll NEVER forget...

We were at the Waterford Harbor Marina in Kemah, TX from September 2005 until December 2006. We used this time in Texas to close a lot of loose ends and to prepare for our extended cruising adventure . I've included some of those experiences at the end of the Delivery Log. Some of these entries are of a technical nature...some are personal. It was very much a transitional period in our lives...

Our "cast in cement" plan is to leave Kemah, TX on December 1, 2006 and just go CRUISING! We'll keep the Prime Time Log...a daily (I hope daily...maybe daily...we'll see) chronicle of what we're up to "Out There". I want to share everything...the people we meet...the places we go...and all of the peaks and valleys we experience...

Thanks for taking a look...and please let us hear from you. We welcome your comments...SEF