In my 50s, I took up the hobby of metal detecting, specifically on and near beaches. I remembered from my youth, casinos along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
When I tried to access them, I found access closed off, but it was legal to access the public part up to the high water line.
I purchased a 12' Porta Bote and 5HP motor, launched it where accees was available and landed it on the otherwise inaccessible beaches where I searched for old coins and jewelry.
At some point it occured to me that I was enjoying the boat rides more than the actual metal detecting.
I took my wife for a couple rides but she said the seats were too hard so we went to a local boat show and bought an 18' bow rider with padded, reclining seats.
We both enjoyed that, but she complained that there was no "bathroom" so a year later we traded it for a 24' sport cruiser.
That was fine and we spent many days and nights on the boat, but never more than overnight.
We retired and moved to South Carolina where we continued to boat in the sport cruiser.
One day I saw an ad for a used Camano trawler in a local water oriented free newspaper. I asked her if she wanted to go look at a boat and she said "sure, why not"
That brings us to the present with a trawler slipped in a marina and cruises ranging from a few days to a month at a time.
That's how I got into boating.
