Floating

Yesterday was successful on many fronts- the boat was launched, and our Day 5 COVID-19 tests were completed (and negative). And NOW we can begin this year’s journey in earnest! We’ll have to stay within reach of some form of service for the next eight days, as we are required to complete personal health surveys each day for the first fourteen of our time here in the Bahamas, but that should be manageable. (They email us each morning. It’s really quite amazing how locked-in their pandemic plan is.)

Two hours before launch, and Andy was feeling overwhelmed.

Today is for filling water tanks, renewing our cruising permit, a quick shop here at Sid’s in town while we still have the golf cart, returning said golf cart, moving out of the rental house (one last dip on the beach after lunch before we tear ourselves away), and generally continuing to stow and square things away onboard. Add in a few remote classes for the girls and getting the paddle board inflated and ready for a Black Sound ‘cruise’ later this afternoon, and we’ll call it a day. (Violet is dying to take “Sparky”, her kayak, for a spin, so we’ll make ourselves a merry band of misfits in our various vessels. Good fun for poking in and around the mangroves.)

Our cruising plan starts with crossing the ‘whale’ tomorrow (the seas look settled, so it’ll be an easy passage), and then tucking into Treasure Cay’s harbor to wait out a blow coming on Thursday. Friends of ours are working on a house there, and I have to make good on my promise to help assemble IKEA products until my eyes bleed from the instruction manuals and my hands are permanently formed around a set of Allen keys. Nothing like a relaxing Bahamian adventure…

Someone has been practicing her driving skills..

About Salvio.

S-usan A-ndy L-ily (SAL) became SALVio when our Violet was born, both acronyms given to us by dear friends and fellow sailors. While I don't mind explaining its origin here, the assumed repetition of that story to explain our boat name is the reason we sail aboard Chickadee, and not Salvio. However, Salvio sails nonetheless. Having worked and lived aboard sailboats in the early years of our relationship, we knew that it was only a matter of time before we got back to floating. Our ten year plan really was just that, we're proud to say, and here we are, ten years after the itch began again, stealing away for as many winter months as our lives will allow.

About Chickadee.

Chickadee is a 1990 Catalina 34. It took longer than it should have for SALVio (SA, really), to get over ourselves and our Southwest Harbor, Maine, Hinckley/Morris ways of thought to find the right boat for the family, but in the end we did. Production 'plastic' and we couldn't be happier for our current needs- we have two staterooms, and can fit all four of us around the table without anyone having to sit on the other side of the salon to eat: our two major goals. Extra bonuses include a good size cockpit, a solar panel and a walk-out transom for ease of swimming and getting on and off the dinghy.