The beginning

Well Matthew has just about sorted out the money side of things and in the meantime has taken off the mast and taken the engine out ready for shifting her out of the boatyard down to a block of land at Kinka Beach which will hopefully be her home until she's sea worthy.

Here are a few snaps which might scare the living daylights out of you or it might just make you glad that it's us embarking on this crazy project and not you.

Looking towards the stern of the boat - there's a lot of deck space up the front.

I call this the wheelhouse.  It's what you see when you first step inside.  To the left of the wheel is the companionway to down below.

The galley.  It's a bit of a mess!

The cabin on the starboard side.  It has it's own heads but they're too yucky to take photos of.

Looking forward to the forepeak cabin.

So... who wants to help??

The offer on Calliope is accepted!

This is all about Calliope. A 48 ft motor-sailer whose previous owner sank her by leaving a sea-cock open. She has since been salvaged and has been sitting up on the hard at the boatyard where Matt has been working. The insurance company, after paying the old owner, put her out for tender and Matt (having now fallen in love with her) put a ridiculously low offer in, which was laughed at by pretty much everyone and not taken seriously. Apart from the insurance company, who did take it seriously and have now accepted the offer (24th March, 2010)!
Calliope has come into our lives with some very, very poor timing! I have stopped working (and earning a full-time wage) for the year to do a diploma at University in teaching. We're also getting married in June and so it's down to Matt to try and support us both and pay for a wedding and now pay for Calliope!

That said, it somehow feels right and so we will be starting this journey with all that we have, which is faith. We have 14 days to come up with $15,000. Some of which we have, most of which we don't. Wish us luck or pray for us - whichever takes your fancy.