96 Hours Later

It doesn't seem as though only five days have passed since we moved onto the boat. The first two days were a little rough for both of us getting used to the rock and roll motion that prevails in our harbor, but now we're seasickness-free and it's the land that seems to move when we're walking around town.

With the exception of my sewing machine and a pair of shoes or two, all of our belongings are now on board, and a few bags and boxes of odds and ends that came with the boat have been removed to make more room. We went through every nook and cranny to figure out where spare parts and tools were hiding, and then put most everything back along with our own additions. We're still working on making the best use of our limited space to make sure the important things we'll need regularly are within reach, and that everything stays put when we want to move the boat. It looked impossible at first but slowly our pile of stuff is disappearing into lockers and other compartments squeezed in throughout the boat. I'm sure it will take a few rounds of reorganization to work it all out before we leave Maine in the fall.

After figuring out some of the systems on our own for the first three days, we had two experts visit yesterday to help us become better acquainted with Reprise. Of course, nothing is as simple as just turning one dial. Just turning on the oven or flushing the toilet is a five step process. But bit by bit it's getting easier to understand and operate so that each day feels a little less like we're just camping out.

One of our visitors yesterday was the previous owner of the boat who kindly volunteered to show us around, and it should reassure a few of you that we also decided to hire someone to come aboard to teach us what we'll need to know to take our boat cruising. Mostly this is so that I'll feel more comfortable and safe while we're learning, but having an instructor who has already done what we want to do has given us some invaluable advice and skills we won't have to learn through trial and error or by reading our mechanical and electrical manual from cover to cover. Although I do hope to make it all the way through that book eventually.

We're off to do more grocery shopping and errands, but soon we will post some pictures or maybe even a video tour of our new home.