Marina Life...Thoughts after 1st week
This weekend marks our first week living on our own boat! In a few days, we would have surpassed our boat-living record, albiet now in a far more comfortable fashion. We have been shopping for odds and ends, and slowly personalising our space. The kids have been finding their little areas too, and making their cabins their own. This is also the first time all the kids have their own separate spaces, and there is still some adjustment to do. Cruz will still stomp over to Mom and Dads cabin early in the morning, as usual...
So while the living space is slowly being transformed to our comfort and familiarity, Dad has been tinkering around with the boat, taking notes on his computer and has already started fixing things. He broke the latch on the rubbish bin cupboard door, and made an inappropriate word sound.. Thankfully the previous owners had a spare, not quite the same, but worked. He needed to use a few different tools to fit it, which he seemed really happy about...
We have met a couple of the other families, and spoken with a few other boat people and liveaboards. Not quite the community we were expecting, as there are not too many kid boats anymore, but it is also prep season for heading north, so everyone seems really focused and busy on their boats. The weather the last few days has not been great, but we know of one boat (Kuhela) that was our neighbour, and have left a few days ago for Fiji.... I hope they will have a safe passage, it looks to be blowing pretty heavily for a couple hundred miles north of NZ.
Otherwise, I think we are all a bit keen to head off too - I see Dad sitting on the Helm seat, dreaming of his upcoming passage as skipper. I think we would all like to leave.
But, we have some NZ Cat1 safety requirements to take care of, and finalise our crew. (We have to take an experienced sailor with us on our first ocean passage, for insurance and NZ clearance requirements).
Living in the Marina so far has been pretty easy, you are connected to power and water, so it is a little closer to what you might expect at home, without the resource rationing. The water around the boat is a bit yuck though, so we don't like using things that circulate the seawater into the boat. Our Poppa (Dad's Dad) is coming up for a visit to see the boat soon. It will be the first time we exit and re-enter the marina slip by ourselves, so will be a little stressful probably. Hopefully it all goes to plan, and we have a fun time with Poppa.
It is Mothers Day in NZ this morning! Thank you to all the Mothers all around the world, for the (often thankless) tasks you do in the home, keeping the family running smoothly. Thank you Mum, Our Nan and Lola Freda and GG, The mothers and Grandmothers in our lives.
