First Week

We left Chicago in the early morning on Wednesday, February 16th, and arrived in the US Virgin Islands at Red Hook Marina on the Island of St. Thomas around 4pm. It has been almost exactly a year since David embarked on the journey of buying and developing the project of our boat. When we got on board, I  shed some tears of joy while getting the kids as cool as possible so they could jump on the trampolines/nets on the bow of the boat. It was surreal leaving frozen puddles of snow and arriving in the heat and rhythm of this part of the world. I'm not sure we've even fully arrived yet.

Our boat is called Omana and we love her. We found her name through David - it's sanksrit, a female name that means kindness and help. We are grateful for whatever help we can get on this adventure. And kindness. But especially help - see below. Omana is a Neel 51, a trimaran, which means there's one main hull with an engine and two smaller "ammas" on the sides. The ammas act as stabilizers depending on the side of the boat we're heeling on. It's the 32nd boat of its kind being built and the concept of a commercial trimaran is not very common. 

We have a wonderful crew with us: Olivier, who is our skipper, and Michelle, an outdoors educator who helps all around between the kids, the boat, and everything that keeps us going. We are deeply grateful for their positive, gentle and intelligent energies. Ruben and Sasha are big fans.

I'm writing at the end of our first week here, after several hours of sailing to test all of the sails and different mechanisms on the boat. Much went well. Some things not so much, like the AC coolant dripping on David's bed. Or the tiny vacuum cleaner that hadn't been secured and kind of exploded next to our cabin. Or bigger deals, like our batteries going dead and our washing machine taking in salt water and pouring it back into the boat. We've been laughing and half crying about these and other challenges. There are many more than what I’ve mentioned above. Olivier has been a star through it all, and since yesterday we’ve been joined by Brian, another experienced and lovely skipper, who has come aboard to help work through things. Ruben and Sasha are loving all the obstacles and handy work that goes into finding the problem and the solution(s) for each one.

This blog won’t be a personal affair, more like a simple way of communicating what’s going on to all of you out there thinking of us and wondering how we are doing. Today I’m feeling quite adventurous, inexperienced, curious, nervous, excited, in disbelief  and in love.