I was relieved to see the boat actually sail away from our dock, considering the tonnage of food and supplies we stowed on board. Take the real demand of our protracted 3-month food needs, combine it with this Italian cook's worst fear of never having enough chow, and we are talking epic amounts of food.

Beyond the nautical nomenclature, make no mistake, the task of provisioning eclipses that of normal grocery shopping. Now charged with provisioning for 3 months - despite never having cruised for even 3 weeks - I started to get overwhelmed (was it generalized provision anxiety disorder, GPAD?) What's an anxious galley wench to do but resort to her go-to coping skill - I started to make lists - meticulous, multi-paged spreadsheets detailing what needed to be purchased where, in the weeks and days before the trip. How much food are we talking about? I do not know pounds but I do know dollars. The Costco run at $1200, provided the foundation - huge boxes of cereal, towers of tuna, paper goods out the whazoo and, of course, copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil. Costco also was the source of those most vital staples: meat (36 chicken breasts, 6 lbs. of jumbo shrimp, dozens of New Zealand lamb chops, tenderloin steaks, etc....yummy ) AND, not to be forgotten, booze (cases of beer & wine; gallons of distilled spirits). Additional visits to Publix for general groceries and Food & Thought, Whole Foods, Wynn's for produce and specialty items packed another $800 punch; Final damage, over $2000!

As the pounds and gallons of dry food were amassed in the back hallway of our house, the garage-overflow-refrigerator also nearly overflowed. The day before David's departure, when we finally started to stow this stuff on board, our very limited cabinet space meant all but the everyday staples needed to get stashed somewhere .... and I needed to remember where that was. My method to manage this - you guessed it - more lists and, this time, photos too. The photo above of the final food inventory provides a visual for the 4-page excel spreadsheet (yes, that's right) of Andiamo's load. (How generous of me to reveal how nuts I am in such a public forum! )

Phew! With the inventory completed, the toting started. It felt like moving day I was so bone-tired, what with carrying not only the food but also months worth of multi-season clothes, toiletries and supplies down to the boat in the sweltering summer heat. As the clock ticked, we melted and space ran out, we got creative with our stowage. Food was stashed under bunks, under seats and even under floor boards. Who knew you could stow wine bottles in bins in the bilge area - bilge booze anyone? I guess we could consider it ballast.

So one might wonder, why all the bother? It's not like while cruising the Eastern Seaboard, the most populated area in the States, we would ever be far from a market. But you see with the SUV behind in Naples and us on foot in every port, the rule is: you only eat what you kill, I mean, carry. We want cruising to be more than just schlepping food in exotic ports, which it has too often been on past charter vacations. So apart from the produce and dairy which we will routinely need to replenish, if it is HEAVY (liquids), SCARCE (organic meats), or COVETED (Costco's La Dolce Vita Classic Biscotti) our goal was to bring it from home.

Sure, I look forward to serendipitous finds in local wine shops, gourmet stores and lobster shacks and, if the luck of the lure brings us fresh fish for dinner, the thawed chicken can certainly wait, but mostly I like to know the meal is covered. After all, what better way to end a long day of sailing, exploring ashore or just reading in the cockpit, than playing music, drink in hand, grilling off the back of the boat with my honey. Yes, it is much ado about food, but to this Italian first mate, it's close to everything.