The first moments on our new catamaran (#2)

Hello everyone and welcome back for our second blog post! Thank you very much for following us on our adventure! We hope you enjoy reading about our first moments and days on our new catamaran.

The handover ...

On Tuesday we got the news that the next day at 9:00 a.m. they would do the handover. So we would be sleeping in the camper for the last night, kind of a strange feeling. It was really about to happen now. You can imagine we woke up early the next morning excited to go to the dock.

Our first step on the boat was such a special feeling, and the first of a lot of firsts to come in the following weeks.

We received a full tour of the boat with an explanation of how everything works. And once the practical side was finished and we were handed the keys of (now officially) our boat we couldn’t wait to start moving our stuff. A lot of boxes and bags had to get dragged up and down the steep ramp (due to the high water) along the pier. I was very happy that Roy, our broker, offered his help on this hot summer day. Late in the afternoon we finished moving, all of our stuff was on the boat… and it definitely looked like we had packed too much. Ooops… where were we going to store all of this?? I managed to unpack some boxes with necessary supplies but the rest would have to wait until the following days.

It was time to celebrate!!

We opened a bottle of champagne, our gift from Lagoon, before we had a nice dinner at a seafood restaurant in the port. In the evening we continued the party on the boat a little too late with a little too much wine so the next day we got to experience…

The hangover ...

After a very good night sleep we learned a valuable first lesson: don’t get drunk on a boat! The movement of the boat added up with the amount of alcohol still in my body made it a very hard morning. It was a memorable first day all right.

The test sail ...

After we had sobered up a little it was time to take the boat out for a test, to see if everything was working properly.

We stopped by the gas station first to get fuel for our dinghy; this also needed to be tested later.

The day was perfect for this first try-out, the sun was shining, there was enough wind to get us going and the waves were only mild. It was an amazing feeling to be sailing on our very own boat.

The insecurity ...

After dreaming about it for a long time it was really for real now. The sailing trip yesterday was an eye-opener for me, there are still so many things I need to learn. It made me feel very insecure… would I ever be able to handle a large boat like this? Steer it into the port, dock it, manage the sails and the lines, stay on night watch alone, read the charts, … and live on a boat under all kinds of circumstances. All of these questions kept me awake the first night and even caused a small panic attack. I’m not the person to freak out easily but you have to admit this is a huge change in our lives and a lot of things that are needless to think about when living in a house are so much more complicated on a boat. So the first few days were with ups and downs. I’m pretty good at concentrating on the positive side of things and we had a lot of amazing moments ofcourse, discovering everything our new boat had to offer. But in between the busy moments, every now and then an uncomfortable feeling snuck up on me. And even though I was confident that we would have an amazing time on board and we would experience so many amazing things on our voyage, I believe that the way there will involve some hard learning moments for me. But I think it’s true that: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small (- Richard Branson)

The new lifestyle ...

For me, as for most people I suppose, it’s fun and exciting to settle into a new place. But on a boat it’s sooo different… ofcourse you also get to do the unpacking and decorating, only now with the constant feeling of being drunk or actually… motion sick. Even though in the port there aren’t real waves, the boat is constantly moving a bit and especially at the weekend when there is a lot of traffic you can definitely feel the movement. No need for alcohol here… lol.

Something else to get used to are all the new sounds. Especially when we are in bed we hear so many unfamiliar noises, the water hitting against the boat when another boat passes, the ropes screeching against the hull, the wind howling through the port and some other sounds that I haven’t figured out yet. Everything sounds so much louder inside the boat like Nova walking around or even dewdrops falling on the deck. The first nights we woke up a lot of times. These restless nights together with the active days caused us to be pretty tired after a few days.

A nice benefit of living on a boat is that there’s no need to work out here to stay in shape, we get a lot more exercise here than we did working at home. For starters we walk almost everywhere, it’s not a quick ride to the supermarket anymore, we go on foot and carry everything back to the boat. Only for heavy stuff we take the camper (for as long as it’s still here) but also then we have to carry everything from the parking lot to the boat, which is quite a walk. I think it’s a good excuse to eat more chocolate lol.

The life in the port ...

After a few days we had all of our stuff unpacked and although we still had a lot of things to take care of before we could leave, we had some more free time to really enjoy life on board. We got to enjoy some amazing Indian summer days and beautiful evenings with the most wonderful sunsets. A few times right before the sunset we took the dinghy out at sea and had a mini sunset cruise, the kids absolutely loooooved it!!

I have always loved the atmosphere in a port, and this one is no different. The sounds of the seagulls, the smell of the sea, the sight of all the boat masts, the lively bars, the friendly people, … an amazing place to live, isn’t it?

And we got to meet some interesting people and share some fun moments. I could definitely get used to this life.

Stay tuned for our next blog post where we prepare everything for our departure in Les Sables d’Olonne and take a quick trip to Belgium before we head off to Portugal.