February 13, 2019

Today’s the day we finally put SV Wild in the water and leave the boat yard!

We woke up to a rainy, cold and dreary morning. With some winds, we didn’t expect the boat yard staff would actually get us in the water, and so our neighbors in front of us were surprised when the travel lift came to pick their boat up. We quickly helped them throw everything left outside into their boat, unplugged them from shore power, and away they went. Next was our turn.

We grabbed one last lunch from the food truck lady that drives through every week day, and then our boat was flying very slowly through the air to be put back in the water.

As soon as the boat touched the water, I dove into the hulls to make sure our new through hole was not leaking, nor the compartments that had previously been completely filled with water. So far so good. Then Eric went to turn on the engines, but nothing happened.

One of the marina employees hopped onto the boat and started the engine by whacking it with a screwdriver. Once the engines warmed up we pulled the dinghy back onto the boat, and navigated the narrow shallow channel into waves and wind. We dropped anchor just a couple of miles away from the boat yard in an area sheltered by mangroves, next to our friends Parallax.

We made it – we’ve WON at the boatyard!

We heat up some tea, watch the driving rain, and enjoy a beautiful sunset. This is cruising.

February 14, 2019

It’s my birthday, and I’m celebrating my 30^th back on the water. Thanks to the sunny morning, the upgraded solar array is charging my laptop and our new lithium batteries.  We are readjusting to life on the water.

For my birthday we took a long dinghy ride to town and visited the aquarium to learn about the local ecosystems. Heading over to the town proper, we spent the afternoon at the Sailfish tap room for drinks and wifi connection.

At sunset we put-putted back to the boat, only to find out exactly how little fuel our dinghy engine holds. We ran out of gas about halfway home. Eric tried rowing against the strong current, making very little headway. Thankfully we called Jesse on Parallax, and he towed us back to SV Wild. We will need to carry extra gas in the dinghy from now on.

Happy birthday to me, I’m in for a really wild year.