Swamped (digitally)...

No, we're not sinking - in the water at least. We've sure been swamped with aftermath from the Miami Boat Show. OceanLines ran a nice story about our new MaxSea/Furuno integration. That's two of the 12 writers on BoaterMouth who have blogged about us. For those of you who aren't aware, BoaterMouth is a nice aggregate place to get the latest boating news from 12 accomplished bloggers. If you want one place to watch manually or through RSS for the latest in boating news and info, that would be the one to choose.

Karen and I have been going through the hundreds of emails we received. We saw more people join ActiveCaptain in the last 2 days than in the last 2 months. Marinas have started updating their own information in bulk. We've prepared 3+ years for this. Bring it on!

As marinas have started looking critically at their own reviews, one interesting thing stood out. The state of North Carolina wrote to me because someone put in a review that there was a rattlesnake on their dock. It's important to note that this facility has a 5-star rating with an exceptional following. They admitted that they do have rattlesnakes but would prefer if I'd change the word "rattlesnake" to just "snake" in the review. Well, we've never changed a single word in any review ever. But I wrote to the captain and asked if he really meant, "rattlesnake". Turns out, he's an expert with snakes - it was a rattler.

So here's the thing. The facility is still excellent. And the review will stand as is. Now cruisers like us with dogs will still go there, but we'll be warned and be a little more careful. To their credit, the state responded back accepting this and will work to warn people better too so they're not surprised.

To me, that is the true benefit of ActiveCaptain. There is just no other place where you can get this type of real, user-written information, critically important to having adventures of the non-emergency type.

Engine Room Checks

My husband is what polite company would call meticulous.  I sometimes have another word for it.  Something he has always insisted on is an hourly engine room check when we are underway.  We do this whether we're out for a day cruise on the Penobscot Bay or heading offshore overnight.  In the beginning I thought he was just "being Jeff" but after discovering some potentially serious issues before they became big problems I realized how important this routine is to our safety.

A week or so ago Jeff did a video about the broken hose clamps he found during our overnight trip to Charleston.  Losing a hose to a water intake could sink the boat.  The engine room checks discovered it when it was just a drip and not a gusher.  He thought the video was a good illustration of the importance of simple safety precautions such as engine room checks.  Apparently others agreed.

OceanLines, the online passagemaking magazine, ran his video this week to emphasize this point.  See what they said at The Underway Engine Room Check: Why You Need It.

Where Did Everyone Go?

The Marine Trawler Owner Association (MTOA) northern rendezvous ended last night with an awards ceremony and party. Karen and I each received a highly coveted ruby pin. By this morning, most of the boats had disappeared.

Our presentation on ActiveCaptain went really well yesterday afternoon. There were some excellent questions and the response was wonderful. It's times like this when we realize that we're onto something important and believe even more strongly that we're headed in the right direction.

Going even further in the "we believe" direction, OceanLinez.biz released a feature article about ActiveCaptain on Wednesday called, "ActiveCaptain Could be the Wave of the Future." Quoting their first paragraph:

Telling you that ActiveCaptain “could” be the wave of the future is probably a little bit like saying the Internet will “probably be a big thing.”  The truth is, ActiveCaptain already is a fantastic resource for cruisers and passagemakers, but it might actually become something huge — a source of real-time, up-to-the-minute information that your navigation system can access while underway.  That’s saying something and the more ActiveCaptain develops, the less far-fetched it sounds.  But more on that later; let’s see why it’s already worth your time to “become” an ActiveCaptain.

The MTOA seminars that we attended were great. We met hundreds of people, ate exceptional food, exchanged sea stories, and made plans for future get togethers with new friends. All of this was exhausting! Today we lounged around, went grocery shopping, caught up on computer work, and arranged play times for Dyna and Dylan with other dogs.

The grocery store in Crisfied is pretty small with few selections. I was, however, able to prevail in getting Breyers ice cream. Karen was seriously considering a type called Turkey Hill and another called PET. I now have veto power over ice cream selection and I draw the line far before ever purchasing something with an animal name or any play-on-words cute names. PET ice cream? That's just asking for trouble!

There are a bunch of DeFever trawlers still here so we're all getting together for a group dinner tonight. It'll be a group of a dozen or so people. Dyna and Dylan were specifically invited and will tag along for the fun. You know, our song was right - it isn't about the boat, the places, or the sunsets. Cruising is about the people you meet.