Preparing for Summer

Preparations for another annual migration between Florida and Bavaria are underway.

Anticipating any hurricane season requires meticulous attention to mooring lines, cabin hatches, through-hull fittings. . . . Florida’s hot and humid summer also calls for a preemptive war on mold by washing the interior with a vinegar-water solution to kill mold spores. Engine parts need lubrication because rust, like mold, never sleeps.

Outside pesky barnacles grow on hulls year around. They’re tenacious creatures that must be scraped off every month or so. Like lawn mowing, a thriving diving industry is ready and willing to take care of that chore.

I hired a teenager on the dock to photograph my boat every so often and email me the snapshots. It makes me ask, “what’s wrong with this picture?” It feels good when everything looks in order at the pier.

Mother Nature has been going through these seasonal cycles for billions of years with great indifference to my piddling migrations or maintenance concerns.

I anticipate, prepare, hope for the best, and then enjoy the pleasures of two paradises — along the Gulf of Mexico and a small Bavarian village just north of Germany’s Alpine foothills.