Cast Off!

I can't tell you how happy I am to report our location tonight is somewhere other than Gold River Marina!

Not that we didn't enjoy our month there. In fact, it was the opposite. I don't think we could have started anywhere else that was more friendly, supportive and hospitable. 

Honestly, we could not have done it without their help and encouragement, all the advice and knowledge.

We woke up this morning not really intending to leave but we checked the weather forecast and it was calling for fairly good to light winds. The issue with our leaking coolant was just a bad connection between the hose and the container. 

So after double clamping it, it was good to go again.

So after lunch, we packed up all our stuff, stowed things away, said our goodbyes and cast off our bowlines.

It was a liberating feeling to be able to just leave like that. We decided to leave and so we left.

Such freedom.

It was a beautiful 9.8 nautical mile sail. Taking just under 3 hours, we unfurled our jib completely and practiced tacking a few times.

It was the perfect first sail.

We even managed to dock without incident, phew.

About 20 minutes before arriving at Mahone Bay Marina, I made my first VHF radio call. I had to psych myself up and practice a few times with Matt so I wouldn't screw up. I've done it before on boats we've chartered but for some reason I was super nervous doing it on our own boat.

There's a method and process to speaking on the VHF and although I did my course only two months ago, putting it into practice is a whole other level.

Repeating our boat name "Anjulia Sue" multiple times certainly made me realize how far we have come in our journey to reach Today.

Once we registered with the office we walked down the main street in search of ice cream. It was a hot day and we wanted to celebrate!

Here at Mahone Bay Marina we can walk to the local grocery store so it's great for provisioning.

We had our first dinner in the cockpit and after showers, watched the first episode of Amazing Race Canada.

We have seen every series produced so far and they just released season 7 so now we have something to look forward to every time an episode is released, once a week.

After the kids were down, Matt and I broke out the Selkie rose bottle that had been chilling in our fridge for this moment.

Although there will always be boat jobs to do, I feel that we are truly on our way.

Schoolwork in PJ's at the nav station.

Adding coolant and then double clamping the hose with Aila's help.

Chart plotter and auto pilot at the helm.

We took off some panels off our bimini to let the fresh air flow. 

On the lookout for buoys. Goodbye Gold River Marina!

Solar panel above our dinghy, which is hung on davits.

Tai tying off a fender after casting off.

Best feeling ever... freedom ahead!

Serious stuff, this steering business.

Believe it or not, Aila had a good line of sight from this position.
Ok, so she had to go on tip-toes, but still.

LEGO'ing while underway.

Engine is off. Jib is unfurled. Book is out.

We are actually underway! Freaking unbelievable!!!!!!!!

Climbing up the ladder from the dock to the pier.
It was low tide so the climb was pretty high.

We have arrived with boat and crew unscathed. Mission accomplished!

Docked at Mahone Bay Civic Marina.

This was our course coming into Mahone Bay Civic Marina.
We missed the entrance on our way in and when our depth sounder
read 0.8 feet, we quickly turned around!

Tai filling out our first ever boat registration.

Ice cream with sprinkles in a homemade waffle cone?! YES PLEASE!!!!!

Fishing rod out immediately, trying to catch some mackeral.
Unfortunately we lost the other fishing rod when we were sailing, likely
when we tacked. So sad. Lesson: stow everything below if you don't want to lose it!!!!

First dinner in our cockpit. Happy crew! It was a scorcher today so we used
some of our Ghanaian and South African cloths to rig up a sun shade.

Watching the first episode of the Amazing Race Canada Series 7!

Goodnight Mahone Bay.

Thanks Selkie for the rose!

Aila's journal entry.