Koa's big news

3.8.10

Last night we anchored off of New Smyrna Beach and left this morning at 6am in hopes of making a long day-trip down to Melbourne. We were making great progress (with me at the helm of course!) We were 3 hours into our trip when we reached a swing bridge that required us to radio ahead to have it opened for us - a routine procedure when traveling the ICW. However, when we called, we were told that the bridge was under construction and was getting a new motor and would not be opening until 1-2pm. It was 10 in the morning!!!
So we had to set anchor and then began making repairs on the boat while we waited. SO FRUSTRATING!!
Nothing exciting about this post, except for some new Koa developments! We built a ramp for his to go up and down the steps leading to belowdeck; they are steep and he didn't seem interested in navigating them by himself. He used the ramp reasonably well, but recently he has completely mastered going up, and more astonishingly, down the stairs all by himself - without the use of the ramp!! He is progressing much more quickly than we had ever dared to hope!
He has mostly been staying confined to the cockpit and not feeling the need to adventure out on the rest of the boat. While we were anchored that morning, he followed Moo around to the bow of the boat! Once he was out there, he freaked out and came scurrying back. Then he looked at us, started wagging his tail and that was all she wrote - he has owned this boat ever since.
Our biggest concern was that he was having trouble peeing and pooping on the boat, but with this new development he goes up front, takes care of business and comes back to the cockpit. We were so excited!! (I know it sounds crazy, but it's the little things for us sailors).
So, Koa has transformed into a real boat dog now. He goes wherever he wants, barks at the speedboats when they go too fast and tries to eat the seagulls that dare come too close to our boat. And although we couldn't be happier that he is adjusting so well, we now realize that we have created a monster...