A Great Day!

This morning we got up early and headed North. We were planning on just doing a half day and anchoring South of Georgetown, but when we got to our anchorage around lunchtime, the wind had piped up and the anchorage we had picked out was extremely choppy. With high tide still on our side, we opted to go ahead and press on towards Georgetown. We made it through the remainder of the shallows without incident and before we knew it, we were in the wide open river running by Georgetown.

We threw up our sails and killed the engine, eager to enjoy an afternoon of sailing. I had just settled in for a nap in the shade of the bimini when I felt the first flutter of movement from our little baby. The flutter turned to full on movement - apparently sailing was in his blood and he loved it as much as we did! He carried on for quite awhile as we made our way up past Georgetown. It was an all around fantastic day and we made it North of Georgetown, where we dropped anchor under sail along a wide stretch of the ICW. It was a perfect evening at anchor and we savored our final night out on the hook. Tomorrow we would stay at a marina.

The following day, we had a visitor bright and early when I took Koa out to pee. I snapped a few pictures of him as the sun was coming up.

Despite my early start, we had a leisurely breakfast and upped anchor by mid-morning. We had a great motor through some beautiful cypress swamps - the scenery was perfect. These waters were reputed to be some of the most beautiful on the ICW and we couldn't have agreed more. We even motored right by the building where we attended the wedding of some of our dear friends only 3 years before!

We made it to Osprey Marina in South Myrtle by early afternoon and tied up to the transient dock. The dock was quite a trek from the office, but that was of no concern to us because the dock master greeted us at our slip with a golf cart for our usage while we were there. Not only was that a first for us, but we were also given an awesome welcome bag - filled with information about the area, menus for the restaurants that delivered to the marina and some snacks and jars of locally made jelly. How's that for a welcome?!! This place was great!

We called Brad's mom and told her we had pulled in to a marina not far from her and would she like to come get us so we could all go out to dinner. We met up at the office and headed out for a nice dinner on land. We were happy to finally be close to our destination and turned in early for our last night on the boat.


Snapped some pics with our sailing mutt:

Baby on Board!

The rest of this year is going to be a big one in our little family - we are expanding by one!

We have been dying to share this news with all of our family and friends, but thought it would be more fun to do it in person, so were waiting to make our semi annual tour. Although the waiting nearly killed us, being able to see the looks on everyone's faces made it worth the wait!

We are thrilled to welcome our newest crew member at Christmas this year and cannot wait to start this new chapter of our lives!! However, with this exciting news came an almost literal slap to the face - how were we going to afford a baby on a boat?! After much thinking, debating, a bit of arguing and lots more thinking, we finally came to the decision that it would be better to start our little family on terra firma rather than on the boat. So, with heavy hearts, we are looking for our final port and a place to sell our floating home.

This decision did not come easily, especially for me. I have been lucky enough to come across a few boating mommas out there (namely Genevieve and Brittany whose amazing blogs you can check out here: ItsANecessity and WindTraveler) who have befriended me and for years I have watched their beautiful children grow into amazing little people with a fierce sense of self. I have always loved and admired the way that boat children are brought up - exposed to so many different cultures and an entirely different way of life - they seem to be so much more aware and easy-going and learn such a sense of independence early on. I have always wanted that for my children and the thought of raising a child on a boat doesn't scare me, it excites me. But, to raise a child, you must have money and that is something that we are sorely lacking at this moment.

To be able to afford this fantastic lifestyle that we have lived, we have both had to work long, back-breaking hours when we are ashore. To cut one of us out of the equation to stay at home with a child means half of our savings gone and in turn, our trips would be cut in half. So, we have to make the decision that is right for us as a new family and will sell the boat. I will, however, be forcing my children to enroll in sailing school as soon as they know how to swim! The sailing bug is in our blood now and we are both still holding onto the dream that we will be back on a boat before we know it!