April

We’re sitting on our boat this lovely Sunday morning, enjoying tea, coffee, sunshine, and the company of our animals. This is what the grind is all for, I think.

This past month was a busy one! At the start of April. we splurged on all the cleaning supplies we might ever need, and spent a few days pressure washing, scrubbing and waxing Eudora. We found that the best way to clean is to thoroughly pressure wash everything to get the dirt off, to use magic erasers to take off any stubborn marks and stains, and then use liquid was to finish off. It’s definitely not my favorite task, but Eudora looks amazing.

Over the Easter weekend, my dad and his partner came for a visit. I know he was a bit skeptical when we first shared our plans to buy a boat and move out to the coast, but I was very proud for him to see what we see. I think he enjoyed being on the water. We also got to do some touristy things, going to the aquarium, and exploring a traditional Chinese garden. It was a very nice weekend spent in good company.

April also saw the completion of our boating courses. We have been taking Canadian Power Squadron courses to further our knowledge of boating and navigation. We took a cruise with our fellow students, and got to practice plotting and charting a course using a good old fashioned paper chart, plotter and compass. We met lots of wonderful people through the course, and it’s a bit sad that it’s over. We are hoping to keep in touch and go cruising together this summer.

We made some more progress on boat improvements. This month, more electrical work got done: a new satellite compass, radar and various new electrical outlets were installed. We finished organizing the lazarette, and were able to clear out the middle bunk, so that’s it’s no longer a storage space, but now actually usable as a bunk. We also hung artwork and photos in the salon…it’s really getting very homey now.

We wrapped up April by taking a cruise into False Creek. It was our first journey under the First Narrows bridge, but it was fantastic! Lots of other boat traffic in False Creek, many sights and sounds and interesting people. It was fantastic to push outside of our comfort zone and realize that hey, we do know what we’re doing.

As we get closer to summer, we look forward to many more cruises and exploring new places.