Not sure how this happened … And, not sure we believe it, BUT

We accidently SOLD the boat, huh, what???

Let me back up … everyone on the Loop knows we bought the boat to do the Loop. Which means we have always intended to sell the boat when we finish the Loop. Those who know us from off the Loop (i.e. family, home, work, etc) know we go through boats more than most people. We arrived in Punta Gorda, Fl on Dec 1 intending to stay through the first few days of Jan 2018. Most Loopers ‘winter” in Florida as you do not want to start up the east coast until late March or Early April, when the weather is nicer in GA, SC, NC, etc. Punta Gorda was chosen for Cally due to the parks & harbour walk as well as proximity to Long Boat Key where my brother would be over New Years. Since Mike lives in Iowa, I don’t get to see him & his family very often – we had to take this opportunity to see them AND while it wasn’t in Iowa in January, aka frozen tundra.

Knowing it is hard to sell a boat in rural eastern NC, we thought we might test the market once we got to Florida. The market found us! I had joined a Facebook group about selling trawlers. One person mentioned how nice the Monks were. I replied back, we had a Monk and she would be for sale soon. One thing lead to another; they wanted to see the boat over Christmas when they were in Florida.  Rip replied to them back in November. Around the same time, 2 people posted on the Monk Owners group forum they were interested in buying a Monk.  Rip decided since we already had someone coming to look he would contact those 2 by direct email (and not post to the list).  One of those 2 alos wanted to see the boat over Christmas.

One couple came by to look at the boat on Dec 23rd. They were truly very nice and seemed to like the boat a lot. The other couple came by on Dec 24th.

They REALLY liked the boat (can’t you tell by the smile on her face?) and asked a lot of questions. Later that night they,

Fred & Robin, asked to come back on Christmas Day. Well, what the heck, we weren’t doing anything (except morning brunch at the hotel across from the marina) and no one was around the marina. Fred & Robin stopped by after lunch; it became very clear they were here to negotiate for the boat. We started working out something acceptable to us all.  A plus for us, they want the boat right here in Florida. A hand shake sealed the deal until we could get it properly written up on a sales contract. Later that night, couple #2 offered full price, but they want the boat in NC. That means we could finish the Loop in this boat, but also means we could get home with the boat and the buyer have the absolute right to walk away leaving us to sell the boat in Eastern NC. We honored the hand shake deal and moved forward.

Bye, Bye, sweet boat … you have treated us SO WELL on the 5000 miles of the Loop we have done together!!

SO, WHAT NOW???

Well, after the boat was surveyed on Jan 10th, 1 repair completed by us on Jan 19th … the buyer Accepted the Vessel yesterday Jan 20th. They have to close on or before Jan 31st, but we expect we will close mid to late this week. If so, by the weekend we will be boatless, for now.

SO, the packing begins. Since we live on the boat, we have to take everything we want off the boat with us. Rip believes it will all fit in a rental mini van (including the 3 of us). We plan to drive across the state and a bit south to visit family, then turn north and head home. Sounds like we may stop and look at a potential replacement boat on our way.

FEAR NOT … we will finish the Loop!! Just not in the Monk 36. The next boat will be smaller; probably 25’ … what is called a “Trailerable Trawler”. In particular, Rip is looking at Rosborough RF 246. The plan is once we find the right one, we will bring it back to Laishley Park Municipal Marina in Punta Gorda, FL, and put her in the water from the boat ramp here and continue on our merry way to finishing our Loop and becoming Gold Loopers.

 To all our Looper buddies … we won’t be wintering in Florida or the Bahamas with you next month, but we will finish the Loop a bit later than expected. Until then, remember we have a home on the water, just off the ICW, in North Carolina just north of Oriental NC. We are on Campbell Creek, a popular Active Captain anchorage – We expect to see each and everyone of you there!!

35^o 16.777’N    76^o 38.685’ W

Looks like there will be an empty slip just waiting for you all!! Even if we fill our slip at our pier soon, there is still plenty of room for more boats on the T and anchored off the dock. About the only knock on Campbell Creek is a lack of shoreline to take dogs ashore (lowlands) and the boat ramp is a long ways up a side creek. Feel free to use our dinghy dock to come ashore and land your pups, too!!

Until then, HERE’S TO THE LOOP!!!