Well the good news is…WE ARE IN THE BAHAMAS! The bad news is…wait, there is no bad news! We are in The Bahamas and nothing broke. I’m so used to taking the good with the bad while cruising, that even as we were tightening our dock lines at the marina, I was sure the engine would crap out. Or the dinghy would fly off the davits. Or our bilge pump would break. But none of these things happened. The weather turned out to be just as nice or even milder than predicted. We made great time despite fighting the easterly winds and found ourselves in Bimini in just 9.5 hours. All in all, it was a rather boring day. When it comes to sailing, I’m 100% in favor of boring.
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Exploring the Keys
With strong winds in the forecast, we would not be crossing the Gulf Stream to The Bahamas anytime soon. This gave us the opportunity to spend some time in the Florida Keys.
Marathon—Boot Key Harbor
What a crazy place Boot Key Harbor in Marathon is! At night the sky is full of little lights. No, not stars. These are anchor lights. Each one representing a boat at anchor in the harbor. It is really a city of liveaboard boats. The harbor is conveniently located near grocery, marine, and hardware stores. There are plenty of restaurants and happy hours to choose from. You can take your dinghy to the beach, the gas station, or to do laundry. There’s even the Cruisers Net that meets on the VHF every morning to announce daily events, welcome new arrivals, and barter. Marathon has it all. Well, everything expect solitude.
That Time I Got 2,000 Bug Bites for my Birthday
I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. It was great to hear from so many of you, especially since I spent the majority of the day in a Benadryl induced fog. I was COVERED in bug bites. You might think I’m exaggerating by saying that I had 2,000 bug bites, but I assure that it is an accurate estimation. I started counting and reached 542 by the time I hit my knee on the first leg.
Cruising is a Roller Coaster Ride: Our Trip to Marathon
Rob is at the helm and the pups are taking naps in the cockpit. I’m sunning myself on the bow of the boat when I hear a big splash. I peered over the edge and I see two dolphins playing and jumping right in front of us. They swim with us for a while and I’m smiling ear to ear with excitement. I think to myself, “we have found paradise”.
Cruising Down the ICW
We left the Regatta Pointe Marina on Thursday, Feb 11th at noon. We said goodbye to our C Dock friends whose warmth and helpfulness made the beginning of our journey so enjoyable. Well, as enjoyable as 2 months of boat work can be. It was a perfect day–light winds, 70°F, and sunny.
A Delayed Start
Our lease at the marina ended on Wednesday, Feb 10th. We decided that this would be our departure date. On Monday, Rob pulled me up the mast to replace a lower shroud that was damaged. The only chore we had left to complete before we could set sail was replacing the alternator, which we received in the mail Tuesday morning. We thought replacing the alternator would be an hour long job, then we could relax and enjoy our last day at the Regatta Pointe Marina. Little did we know, Kairos had different plans for us.
Puppy Proofing
Any dog owner can relate to the sacrifices we make for our furry children. They depend on us for everything—food, safety, shelter, affection, water, etc. It’s difficult to see how our pups are related to wild dogs, because these two wouldn’t last a day on their own. Jaela would probably chase a squirrel off a cliff and Baxter would curl up and die without his blanket.
Provisioning for The Bahamas
We have had some windy cold weather recently. Sleeping through the night has not been an issue for me, I could fall asleep standing up. Rob frequently gets up throughout the stormy nights to check on our dock lines or to try to tighten a halyard that is slapping against the mast. Working outside on the boat during these windstorms is nearly impossible. Towels, tools, and dog toys fly into the water. I’ve gotten pretty quick at fishing things out with the boat hook. So during Saturday’s storm, we decided to shop for provisions.
10 Lessons Learned from Life Aboard
We have been living aboard for 10 days now. I can’t believe it’s actually been that long. The time is flying by. We’ve learned a lot of things since moving on board. For example we just learned how to take apart and clean a carburetor. We also recently learned which way the valve handle should be pointed to ensure we are pumping the toilet to the holding tank instead of overboard (oops– fortunately we haven’t really used it yet). But in addition to learning about our boat’s systems, we have also learned (or relearned in many causes) some valuable life lessons. Here are our 10 lessons learned from 10 days of living aboard.
A New Year, A New Home
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’).
And the New Name is…
When we adopted Jaela last year we decided right away that we would rename her. “Jaela” wasn’t as bad as Baxter’s pound name, “Coco Puff”, but we could come up with something better. After two days of reviewing dog (and people) name lists, we decided to stick with Jaela after all. It was just easier.
Operation Cushion Update: Completed
I am a domestic goddess! Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but we finally finished updating the salon cushions and they are divine. After reading Jody’s (Where the Coconuts Grow) DIY Cushions post and watching some Sailrite videos, I was convinced that updating our cushions would be a breeze. They made it look so easy. Who cares that I’ve never really sewn before? My recent throw pillow success had me filled with confidence.
One Step Forward…Two Steps Back
Well, we’ve had our boat for a week now and we’ve already learned that owning a sailboat is HARDWORK. We’ve been working very long days. The good news is that we are becoming very familiar with our boat’s systems. The bad news is that every time we fix something, we discover two more things that require maintenance in the process. We were testing the hot water heater, when our fresh water pump failed. We cleaned out the anchor chain locker only to find that the windlass and raw water wash down pump weren’t working. Thus, our to-do list is growing faster than we can cross items off.
Who Has 4 Thumbs and Owns a Boat???
These Guys!!!
It’s official. We bought a Pearson 39-2 sailboat. We plan to move onto this lovely lady in the Regatta Pointe Marina after the New Year. Until then, we will be dwindling down (and of course adding to) our to-do list. We are looking forward to taking her on some shakedown sails this weekend when Rob’s dad is in town to help.
Goodbye House
Okay, so that blizzard I wrote about in the last post WAS a joke. We didn’t get the 12 inches that was predicted…heck…I don’t think we got more than an inch. But it’s the last snow the dogs will see for awhile, so we went to the park to play.
Packing, Goodbyes, and a Blizzard
Mother Nature has decided to send us off with a bang. A BLIZZARD! It seems fitting that we shouldn’t be able to escape to 80F, sunny days without one last snow storm.