These are the days

As you might have gathered from our last few entries, we’ve faced our share of challenges as we settle into the liveaboard life. Or, to put it more bluntly, things seem to keep going wrong. Rotten wood, leaky plumbing – and we haven’t even told you about the heater fiasco. But that’s for another blog entry.

This entry is about the good stuff. And last weekend was some good stuff (I’ll refrain from saying “good shit” because I think we’ve had enough of that. The head is fixed, by the way).

Even though it was supposed to be overcast, we decided Sunday was as good a day as any to untie the dock lines and get out on the water. It’d been way too long since we’d gone anywhere, and besides, we wanted to top off the diesel tanks. We invited a bunch of friends over, including Brooklyn Frankie, a union ogahnizah; Matt and Megan, sailboat owners themselves; and Andy, just back from Uzbekistan. It was fun to get everyone together - and also, it’s always nice to have a few extra hands when you’re still learning to dock a 48’ beast!


The crew, from left to right: Megan, Matt, Andy, Frankie

Around 1 pm the sun came out, and surprised us all by turning a gloomy November Sunday into a crisp, sunny, fall day. Perfect. First stop, the fuel dock. This was the first time we’d ever fueled up Sea Change, and at $215 for a quarter-tank (yep, 1/4 tank), it wasn’t cheap. The scary thing is, $215 doesn’t really seem like that much anymore. Not because we recently inherited millions, but because when you compare a few hundred dollars to the thousands it cost to paint the boat, or make a down payment... you get the picture.


Frankie helps fuel up...


... while Matt watches the fuel level rise in the engine room, with a walkie-talkie nearby. One of the many "charming quirks" about our boat is that it doesn't have a fuel gauge, so there needs to be someone in the engine room watching the tanks fill, ready to radio the fueler when to STOP!

After successfully fueling up, we headed up the Montlake Cut and into Lake Washington. For those unfamiliar with the Seattle area, we live on Lake Union, a small lake in downtown Seattle. Lake Union is connected to Puget Sound via the locks, and to Lake Washington via the Cut.

We headed east, to Lake Washington.


The Sleepless in Seattle house, which is just down the lake from us - because you know you were curious.

Cruising the lakes was just what we needed. After the last couple weeks of struggling with repairs, and heavy-duty cleaning, and emptying of bank accounts, it reminded us why we’re doing all this. Because there is nothing like living on a boat in Puget Sound!


-Jessi