Living aboard

We’ve been living aboard for a week now and today is the first day that life’s little rituals have found their place again. Damo went off to work, Cid and I ate brekky, cleaned up, had a play. Now he has gone down for a sleep, which has left me able to finalise some left over stowing, cook up some veggies for the little tacker and sit down for a coffee to write this post.

 

We spent our first night on board NYE (what a way to bring in 2015!), it was a tad wet though, lucky for us we had just bought a brand new heavy duty tarp (temporary awning) which stretches over Ocelot like a hug, however; making her look a little more like a tent. As Ocelot is an open deck catamaran, it has taken a few squalls to reduce the chances of getting wet while shuffling Cid from side to side as needed.

So far, we have been getting reaquainted with Ocelot, checking how much power we are drawing (particularly in these overcast days) and our water usage so we have a better idea of what we’ll use while we’re off and away.

Cid seems to be at home, but I attribute that to the fact that he is with us, and in my mind we are home no matter where we are. He seems to love being on the water; rides in the dinghy prove it. Damo rowed us ashore in what will be the dinghy we take with us; Cid sat still on the seat next to me with his hand running through the water smiling and giggling at the sensation, like it was where he was meant to be. (I’m not sure how may 11 month olds would do that…)

It has been a little challenging for him to navigate smaller spaces particularly when he is used to having such a big turning circle, and also the fact that there is an awful lot of things jutting out at his head level (I’m not opposed to investing in the helmet); but he is learning the boundaries of the boat and has been enjoying exploring his new abode.

He has toys available on both sides and dedicated outside toys, but of course his favourite thing is to crawl around the tramps (forward deck) and play with the boat hook and to stand at the wheel giving it a turn.

Hopefully now that we are living on board, things will slow down a bit and we’ll have more time to post on here. We still have quite a few things to do over the next few weeks before we set off however; we have settled in quite nicely and are looking forward to the good stuff 2015 will bring.

Happy New Year!