We’re Moving!

Hello, dear readers!

Last thing I told you, we were selling Batland. Well, I’m here to give a bit more information on all that’s going on in our lives at the moment.

Clearly, this is a big step for the both of us, and Buoy of course. We’re selling our sweet floating home, moving to a new country, and becoming land lovers – can you believe it?! Honestly, I can’t quite believe it myself. But alas, it’s happening, and in less than four months!

In December, we will be taking a ship over to the Netherlands, Buoy in tow, and moving our life to the land of beautiful canals and winding streets. We chose to take a ship over to avoid any mishaps with flying with a pet. I was quite nervous thinking about Buoy spending 7+ hours in cargo on an airplane, so we looked high and low for other options. The ship we are taking has a kennel, play time, visiting hours, and (the best part) Buoy will be receiving “white glove service”. I mean, I don’t think she’s going to want to leave. 

We’re currently in the process of selling the boat. It’s been listed on Craigslist for two weeks, and we got a hit on that, but it didn’t pan out. I listed it on Facebook Marketplace and sailboatlistings.com as well, and we’ve gotten a hit since those went up on Sunday! 

Someone is coming tomorrow all the way from Baltimore, MD to view the boat, so we’re keeping our fingers, toes, and anything else crossed in hopes that they love it and buy it on the spot!

It’s been a bit sad, taking down photos, maps, little watercolor paintings I did, and really all of our personal items. It just… doesn’t really feel like our boat anymore. But ya know, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? To get it sold to someone new, who will love it as much as we did, so that we can move on to our next adventure? Realistically, I know this to be true. Sentimentally, I’m incredibly sad. I’ll be okay though, we have big, beautiful, wonderful things ahead.

It’s pretty impressive how fast you can get things done when there’s a deadline… of tomorrow.

I was quite overwhelmed this morning, if we’re being honest. It’s just, when you show your home to someone and they don’t buy it, you think of all the things that could’ve been the reason (even if there were none and they just got a better deal on a newer boat). And so, we scrubbed the cockpit, cleaned up and organized the lazarettes, cleaned the head, removed the goo that was holding the photos to the wall, cleaned the cupboards, scrubbed the walls, re-assembled the aft berth (so that it looked like a bed and not just storage), cleaned the AC, scrubbed the bottoms of the stove, and, last but not least, put our For Sale sign back up after hurricane Debby blew it away.

I told Steve that I was pretty sure that was the most we’d ever gotten done on a to-do list, ever. He did make a good point, that normally our to-do lists consist of a ton of big projects, and this was a major list of minor things. But hey, I’ll take the joy of crossing something off a to-do list any day.

We’re working on packing up what we can of the boat, and we’ll be moving a lot of things back to NC (which is where we’ll be before moving in December) so that we can worry less about moving out once the boat is sold. We’re basically moving off, with the understanding that we’ll pack a bag and stay for a week or so whenever we need to show the boat or take someone for a sail. Hopefully, and maybe even tomorrow, we’ll have a better idea of when we’ll be off the boat for good, and in turn, when we’ll say goodbye to our beloved Batland.

She’s been a great home to us these past few years. Meeting, getting engaged, and then married on this boat has been a dream I didn’t know I had. It was wild and beautiful and full of adventure. And when it wasn’t, when it took on water or the engine broke, it was hard and sad and frustrating. The good comes with the bad, per usual, but this boat will always be one of my favorite places I’ve called home. Forever.

And so, as another chapter begins its descent, I can’t help but be so thankful for all of the moments that got us here, and all of the moments to come.

So, cheers, friends, to the life we’ve had and the one we’ve yet to live.