Last days in the marina and the christening of s/v BETULA

The big push towards December 1st was on, that's the date we were planning on leaving Regatta Point Marina. But first we needed to test our at anchor systems, speak: the anchor, the battery system, water supply and so on. We decided to sail up to Snead Island, it's still on the Manatee River just before Tampa Bay, and so off we went. The hardest part is always leaving the slip, but Warren is doing pretty good by now, and off we went. Once at Snead Island, we pretended to be "real cruisers", so we lowered the dinghy and went for an excursion right on Snead Island. We found a wonderful park, very ancient, with beautiful trees, so we went for a nice long walk, the first "leasure time" we had since arriving in Florida. Once back on the boat, we enjoyed a sensational sunset, a very peaceful night at anchor, and up early the next morning to catch the sunrise. We were quite pleased with our adventure, and excited to do much more of this kind of living once in the Bahamas. But first we needed to finish our prep, and the countdown was on.

All the systems on board were looking good, but Warren made sure so changed all the various fluids for both the motor and the generator, also belts and filters. Very messy and hot work. Meanwhile, I kept on provisioning the boat, by the time I was done, pretty much every spot on board was filled. (Not only alcohol, also some real food!!!) The last couple of days we spent mostly shopping for food, alcohol and spare parts. So glad we had the car, no idea what we would have done without it.

As December first approached, and all our paper work was in place, we also wanted to do a boat christening. We invited our broker and his wife Lynn to come and help us celebrate. Gary has been so very helpful, and it was only fitting to have them come and be part of the renaming ceremony. He also invited us out for dinner afterwards, and it was a lovely evening.

We also had to say good bye to our dock neighbours, everyone was so excited for us.

December 1st arrived, and we did our last few chores in the morning, and at 10:30 am we loosened the dock lines and set off for our first leg of the trip, down to the Florida Keys. More about that in my next post :)

At anchor, Snead Island ...