It’s Finally Moving Day
Why did we move to a boat again?
We finally decided it was time to change our boat life. It had been so long since we moved aboard Rána. Mostly, we had just been going through the motion getting used to this new way of life. We spent our time fixing things, trying to find places to store our stuff, balancing how much food can fit into the fridge, and fighting the never-ending battle of decay caused by living near the water.
Ash in the refrigerator
As long as we were staying at a dock our life was pretty much the same as living in a house, only much harder and in a smaller space. After a while this really made us wonder why we are doing it in the first place.
It’s about time
We had done the hard part of boat life for long enough. We decided to take our next step. It was time to make our floating home a traveling home. To that end we decided our first stop needed to be somewhat nearby. This would give us some experience without being too challenging.
We had been staying in the Ortega River in Jacksonville Florida. Not far, about a 45-minute drive, is St Augustine. At over 400 years old, it is known as the oldest city in this country. St Augustine was founded by the Spanish before the United States even existed so there is a great deal of history to be found. Since it was so close this seemed like the perfect place to try out traveling.
Flagler College St Augustine Florida
We called the marina in St Augustine and made our reservation to be able to stay in a slip. We were not ready for anything more extreme like anchoring overnight or using a mooring ball. All we had to do was make the trip from the Ortega River to St Augustine.
Cleaning time
It took more effort than we had expected just to get the boat ready to leave. We had settled into living at our slip so much that we had to rethink how everything was stored on the boat so nothing would fall and hurt someone.
Where are you supposed to keep the cat?
Once we finally got our plan together and got everything ready to leave, we had to wait until we felt comfortable with the weather. Being inexperienced really made us drag our feet. It was best for us to leave knowing we would have nearly perfect weather for our whole trip so that we wouldn’t have to deal with anything unexpected. That 45-minute drive would be a 20-hour boat trip since the boat only travels at around 8mph!
Saying goodbye to Ortega Landing
Eventually we decided to push ourselves and not let fear stop us. We said our goodbyes to the friends we had made and set off with fear and excitement.
Cruising through Jacksonville
