Adventures on Beannacht

So we’ve actually done it. Tonight we’re sleeping on our very first boat for the very first time. I have moments of pure excitement, pinch me to wake me up, freshly ground Columbian dark coffee first thing in the morning. And then I swing to terror, somebody get me out of here, we really don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into.

And that’s the point. We don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into, how could we. But we have prepared as best we can. We’ve saved our pennies, or at least not spent all the pennies we were fortunate enough to collect. And now it’s time to cast off, to step into the unknown and embrace the danger as well as the pleasure.

It’s really just camping on a grand scale, with 12v electricity and the equivalent of a porta potty. But it brings with it deep relief, and the possibility of an exit to the Bahamas in the near future.

We’ve had a fabulous time in Deltaville so far, and Jill and Don our hosts in Sanderling House have gone out of their way to provide a homely welcome and an insight into the culture of the town. They run the premiere B&B in Deltaville (I say, therefore it is so), we awoke every morning to fresh fruit salad, fresh baked pastries, freshly baked bread – you name it. Keli and I were both extremely blessed by their hospitality and their generosity. Jill actually followed me to the airport today to bring me back to Deltaville after I dropped off our rental car. Amazing.

Aside from Jill and Don, we’ve met numerous people who have gone out of their way to be helpful, informative, considerate. Tonight we set off walking to Cocomos a local restaurant about 15 minutes away on foot. We had only made it about 2 minutes up the lane of the boatyard before Gunter, our neighbour who sails a 38 foot power boat, stopped to ask us where we were going and then promptly drove us to the restaurant despite it being in the opposite direction to his destination. After dinner the restaurant’s head chef Loretta took off her apron and drove us back to the boatyard in the middle of her shift.

I’m in bed as I write this post. Hanging the laptop out the hatch above our bed to get a wireless signal from the marina. Tomorrow will be a day of cleaning, and working out how to fix the broken water pump and hook up the propane cylinder.

Nice problems to have…