“You’re gonna need a bigger boat…”

Thus spoketh the good Sheriff  Brody after getting a face full of the Great White shark that had been munching on Amity Island tourists. I’m not a particularly big fan of the movie “JAWS,” but it did have several memorable lines. Rumor has it Roy Schneider ad-libbed that line based on an insider running joke on the set, which just adds to the flavor of the moment.

Kintala is more than enough boat so, as we plot our way back out onto the water, replacing her with something bigger than her 42 feet is not really part of the plan. We are thinking that a displacement trawler might be an interesting choice for our next wandering home-to-be. After making the run several times we have decided that the ICW is trawler country. The regular trips from the Chesapeake Bay to the Florida Keys and back would be a fun filled and easy adventure IF one had an inside steering station with a little heat, protection from the rain (and occasional snow flurry), a solid 80 to 90 mile-a-day range possible in all but the worst weather, and a draft of less than 4 feet. The Bahamas are still an easy reach for such a boat, and we are not thinking of getting much further afield than that. We are also contemplating some inland / river adventures the next time around. A trawler would be a much better choice for such travels.

The reason we are back on land is to fill the cruising kitty as quickly as possible while making the logistics of possibly changing boats a bit more manageable. Spending money unnecessarily isn’t part of the the drill. But strange things happen when one has a hobby combined with a little disposable income.

The hobby, learning some basic music theory while plucking away on a Ukulele, isn’t new. Daughter Eldest and Family got me started a year or so before we had to head back to land. Though one would think being back "at work" would cut into time available for hobbies, the job has, paradoxically, left me with a lot of time to practice. It is something of which I take full advantage, often strumming and plucking away for several hours in a day.

I love the little Blue Uke the kids gifted me for a birthday present, but the “D” on its “C” string is always noticeably flat no matter how careful one tweaks the tuning knob. A slightly larger fret board for my clumsily mechanic’s fingers would also be nice. I play a lot, but I don’t play very well. Maybe a concert or tenor sized Uke would eliminate some of the “thunks” and “buzzes” that accompany most of my songs? Owning two Ukes seemed a modest enough indulgence.

Deb started to take up the guitar a few weeks after we became land bound, playing one gifted to her by Son-in-Law via Daughter Middle. It was kind of big and bulky and she struggled to keep it under control. A few more dollars spent for something she would enjoy seemed reasonable. She found a “travel” guitar on the same shopping trip that led to my new Concert Ukulele; both seemed a good fit for when we head back to the water. Surely there will be room for two little Uke’s and a small guitar on a trawler.

But there is this thing about Ukes; there are two variants. Some have a low “g” note on the top string, and some have an octave higher “g” note for that same string. Both the new concert Uke and "Blue" are "high g," but I like the sound of a “low g”.  Having one to experiment with would be fun, and the larger range of notes would offer up more songs for me to butcher. I struggled a bit with the idea of an amateur player of my thin skills having three Ukuleles but, again, it seemed a modest enough indulgence.

So, last weekend, we went looking. It didn’t appear there were any “low g” Ukes in captivity, but Deb found a Baritone Ukulele hanging on one shop’s wall and brought it over for me to try. They are kind of a rare beast, much larger than most ukuleles, and its four strings are tuned the same as the highest four strings on a guitar. But the sound that comes from its bigger body! And though I’d have to learn new chords and fingering to take full advantage of the lower notes available, a capo clamped across the 5th fret will turn a Baritone Uke into an oversized concert Uke tuned to a “low g”. How cool is that? Two Ukes for the price of one, and something new to play with at the same time.

While I was falling under the spell strummed by the Baritone Uke, Deb was poking around in other parts of the store. Much as she is enjoying her new guitar, it is strung with steel strings. She had heard that a guitar with nylon strings can be fun to play. But while looking to find such a thing she stumbled across a guitalele; a cute little cross-breed of a guitar and a ukulele. It has 6 strings but is tuned more like a Ukulele than a guitar. She was a bit charmed by the odd little instrument, and it's something we can both play with.

So, in the space of just a few weeks we went from having a single, little blue soprano Uke, to having a wall full of musical instruments. Pretty much all of them get used every day, and none are ones we would be happy leaving behind.

So I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat…