We're on a float

Yesterday I arrived at the marina to find our house transplanted. It had been moved onto the water on Wednesday afternoon (with only a few minor hiccups) and attached to a mooring out in the bay. While it was definitely exciting to get out on the water, I was faced with a whole new set of challenges and adjustments.

In the morning, Berg and I loaded up the boat with some crates along with a battery-powered radio and some water pumps. Essentially, everything we've been doing (culling at the house, CWB back at the shop) has been streamlined and instead of carting crates from one location to another, everything will happen on the float. That means oysters come right out of the water, onto our culling table, and from there get washed (with sea water which gets pumped up with a tiny, gas-run pump) and bagged on the float. Our only transfer happens at the end of the day when we take the bags back to the shop to put them in the cooler.

This also means that we are out on the water all. day. long. Except for a few shuttles back and forth for lunch and our bag drop (read: bathroom stops), I spent the whole day out there. The views are so much better -- instead of staring at a falling down building, we've got 360 degree views of the Duxbury Bay and the beaches. The moored end of the house faces the wind, which for now is coming from the northeast, while the opposite end is protected and faces the south and looks directly at the Oyster Dude's summer house.

We've still got some wind to deal with out there so it's not all sunny skies just yet. I was freezing for the better part of the morning but we've got a heater and the hardest part, as promised by Skip, is the boat ride out in the morning. By afternoon, it was nice to be washing out in the sun.

Cory came out to help since A2 had the day off yesterday so we got our bags done by about 4. What better way to celebrate our first day on the water? A case of Buds and a party on the float. After we loaded our bags onto the truck, the suits came out to join us for a beer, as did some of the growers, like Graham and Don Merry plus a few of our friends from the Maritime School. It was a great way to kick off the summer... which suddenly feels like it's right around the corner.