March – June 2023 – Local Trips & Purchase of BenjOllie

I have not updated the blog for quite a while.  So let’s update the past few months.

March — Quite period as Carey was finishing up the Breast Cancer treatments.  We’re almost through the effort to ensure Carey is cancer free.

April – We continued effort to ensure Carey’s cancer treatments are complete and started thinking about boating and our life ahead.  We decided to sell the Maxum we have and buy a Grand Banks Trawler as we were not through boating.  We found one that proved on survey to be unsatisfactory.   After declining to buy that boat we found Shangri-La, a beautiful 1990 42 foot Classic Grand Banks that we purchased.  We spent the month surveying her and after the contract was completed and we owned the boat, we worked to get her ready for us.

May — We worked to conclude all work by 30 May on Shangri-La.  We renamed her BenjOllie, after our two grandsons, Benji and Oliver.  Carey and I brought her up to Colonial Beach at the end of May and we’re off to a lot of fun on the boat.  We moved our current boat, a 37 Maxum to Kent Island and put her on the market for sale.

June — In June we participated in the Potomac River Festival on 9-11 June, including running the Boat Parade, part of the festival, that culminated in 32 boats in the parade — the largest in recent memory.    The next weekend we left on a week cruise that started in Coles Point, traveled to Delta Ville, Onancock, and finally Point Lookout, then returning to Colonial Beach.  Great trip on our new boat.  We are now back in Colonial Beach working to get the enclosed canvas up and working on BenjOllie, plus getting the boat ready for cruising throughout the summer.

A few pictures of events of these months follow.

Grand Marshall of the Potomac River Festival Boat Parade Jimmy Wilkerson and wife Alice in foreground. Judges Chris Smith, Bill Millison, and Jim Schaklette.
Nice sunset
Phil and Carey at Restaurant in Onancock, VA
Group of friends on trip having dinner in Onancock

We’re having a great time and defining how we’ll live the rest of our time. We’re going to enjoy!