Happy New Year everyone! We are officially liveaboards! We said goodbye to our very colorful beach apartment on Friday and moved all of our belongings on board Kairos. This was by far our most pleasant moving experience to date. It’s not such a dreadful and daunting task when everything you own fits in your car. Once on board we spent the remainder of the day organizing and developing storage solutions. We were both pleasantly surprised with how much we were able to bring on board. We still have some unused storage on the boat, which I plan to fill with new shoes and bathing suits (just kidding…kinda’).
With our things safely packed away, we had our first dinner on the boat. This was my first time cooking in a galley (yes, everything has a different name on a boat–it’s like learning a new language). I love cooking. It is one of my favorite things to do. When asked what people miss most from land life when they move aboard, most say their showers, bathtub, or garden. For me it will be my kitchen. Our galley is perfectly adequate to prepare meals, but I’m going to miss my enormous counter space for prep, garbage disposal for easy clean up, my large John Boos cutting block, and my natural gas stove with hood.
But even without the comforts of my old kitchen, I was determined to prepare a nice meal for our first night on board. I made Asian lettuce wraps. It’s a very easy recipe and it’s a healthy meal (gotta’ work on our beach bods) we both enjoy. The propane stove will take some getting used to, but I was just happy it turned on. It is very rare for something on our boat to work the first time we try it. Night 2 on the boat was just as successful (baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and kale salad). The oven also turned on the first try. We’re starting to think that we got rid of all the evil juju after we did the renaming ceremony.
Dinner and drinks in the cockpit were very relaxing and for the first time since we started this adventure, we got a taste of what we set out for. All this hard work is really starting to pay off.
One night aboard and I’ve already discovered how to get an amazing night’s sleep on a boat. Solution: drink a bottle of wine before bed. I slept like a rock. Unfortunately, drinking a bottle of wine every night is not good for my health, so I will need to find a long term solution. We’ve had a couple of cool nights here in Florida, so sleeping hasn’t been difficult. I am a little nervous for the hot and humid nights. Kairos does not have AC.
Before we said goodbye to 2015, we were able to take Kairos out for her maiden voyage. Rob’s parents were in town and with their help not only did Kairos take her first sail, but the dogs did too. They were both nervous and confused, but overall did really well. Baxter absolutely loves being on the boat. His excitement made him very thirsty, which caused him to drink a ton of water. Then he had to potty on the bow two hours into our sail. I’ve ordered a turf pad to place on the bow for them and we’ll probably start potty training next week. I was pretty nervous about the potty training, but Baxter proved when they have to go, they will.
We took Kairos out twice while Rob’s parents were here. Rob was able to back into the slip and avoid the concrete wall of death both times. We are getting more comfortable docking and sailing. We are starting lessons this week to better prepare ourselves for all situations.
Life aboard looks a little different. Sunday at 11:00 AM in Denver we’d be drinking bloody marys and watching football with friends. Right now Rob is troubleshooting an electrical issue on the mini-fridge, while I squeeze in some blog time before shocking our water tanks again. Boat work has become our full time jobs and right now we are working overtime every weekend. But sunny sailing days like Thursday, relaxing nights listening to music in the cockpit like Friday, and seeing Kairos transformed into a home, makes it all worth it.
However, some things never change. We will find a way to catch the Green Bay game tonight. Go Pack!
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