You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave

After settling in on our boat, we slowly started to understand the task ahead of us.

Getting major upgrades done in this southern part of France turns out to be difficult. The mood's relaxed and when you're not around, not much happens, unless...

Stuff, stuff, we need more stuff

Exhausted we look at Filise who is parked between two giant jugs of water in front of yet another full shopping cart. “Are we almost done with the grocery shopping?” we ask ourselves in despair. Probably not… We’ve learned from families on sailboats that it’s smart to stock up big time, especially on things that last long and are heavy. Then all we’d need to buy the rest of the year is some fresh produce. With a watermaker, and free solar power, we would become very self-reliant…

The alternative is living from harbour to harbour which tend to be incredibly expensive, particularly in the Mediterranean sea. Another aspect is that during crosssings, you want to have your meals prepped. As the boat will be sailing, and thus tilted, cooking becomes a challenge. So things need to be easy and ready. So we continue with shopping and shopping. Not only do we stock up on groceries, we also intend to turn our boat in a Bed &Breakfast type of situation. Sjaak is joining us in March, and our friends with kids join us in April. This means we’ll need to buy bedding, towels etc. to make everyone comfortable.

We’ve been watching quite some YouTube families on sailboats explain how they take care of their supplies. And it’s a whole expertise. Knowing what to buy where, how to store it, and how to cook with it. So we’ve already created some documents with plans on how to ensure we’re getting all our proper nutrients. Imagine going to the supermarket to do your groceries for a week. You’ve got a full shopping cart and need a lot of bags to take it all home. Now this times 8 or 10.

It's surprising, how much room we had to fill with all those good french foodstuffs.

Our first visitor!

Amidst all sourcing, repairs and provisioning we had our first visitor. Straight from Brazil SJaak, Jaclyn's father visited us for ten days. Unfortunately we could not sail out but we had some nice days together pondering over the trip ahead, the best way to tie ropes and watching Max win the F1. The boat proved to be a good hideaway, even when firmly tied to the docks.

"Doe de wasch de deur uit!"

A new name for our boat

We decided our boat needed a new name and while we were at it we've also added a fun logo so Filise can recognise the boat easier. After finishing the paperwork with the French authorities we ordered a sticker of our design at the local Marketing expert and planned the boat-renaming-ritual. Unfortunately at the planned date it was raining so we ended up not executing the entire ritual. But Martijn ans Sjaak did hit the bottle that was planned for the night. So the next day, when it was sunny, they were to hung over to do the ritual that is necessary for a proper renaming of a boat. SO that is istill in store for a future visitor aboard.

There's no such thing as a boat without a name as those are bad luck according to superstition.

Hotel California

“If you keep breathing down my neck like that, I’ll quit working on your engine altogether”, our mechanic sneers. Ai, we definitely do not want to upset our mechanic, he is great, but we also need this engine running soon. He’s been holding on to it for 4,5 months now. Time to wrap it up… We quietly complain and ask for guidance from a boat shop on the shipyard where we are regulars by now. “Not to worry, I’ve already contacted your broker and you can keep your berth (boat parking place) for as long as you wish”. While nice, this is not what we’re hoping for. Martijn: “This place starts to feel an awful lot like hotel California, it seems we are just not allowed to leave”. In the following week we keep ‘popping by’ and try with our sweetest voices to see if the engine is almost done. We also throw Filise in the mix, because who could be mad at a cute little girl, right? Finally, Saïd informs us the engine is just about to be done. If it works, we’ll get it the next day. No such luck, a part is malfunctioning and needs to be ordered! This will set us back for another week or two.

When the part comes in, things come together quickly. The engine is swiftly assembled and treated with a new layer of the famous green Volvo paint. Around Easter we’re set, but we can’t leave yet. The second day of Easter, on Monday, Saïd will join us for a boat trip to see if all works accordingly. Monday is a wonderful day, it’s sunny and our friends cheer us on from their boat. The engine is running smoothly and Saïd provides us with a quick course of Volvo Penta Engine 101. How to replace oil, how to replace an oil filter, how to replace a diesel filter, how to clean another filter, how to check for the temperature. And gives us some pointers on how to best use the engine, how to avoid abusing it, and how to maintain it all. We feel like true mechanics ourselves and are good to go! .

19th Feb 2023