Ever since I was a young lad I have always enjoyed being near to water; either being on it, under it or more than often in it!! As a family we always seemed to spend our summer holidays by the seaside or on a hire boat on one of the many rivers which made up the inland waterways of the UK. So it was no surprise I showed a keen interest in joining the merchant navy. I spent just under 2 years at college studying for my HND in nautical science and towards the end of my course was accepted by the Ocean Fleets company, based in Liverpool, to join their fleet as a navigating cadet. At the same time, my parents wanted a change of direction with their lives and decided to buy a small passenger boat business. To cut a long story short, I joined them in the business and spent 20 years doing what I enjoyed the most--playing with boats. When Kay and I decided to take early retirement we talked about buying a holiday home somwhere abroad but this changed when buying a boat came into the conversation so this blog and map shows what we have been upto since we bought Salutation in 2005