We are now liveaboards!

We have done a lot of moving in the last two years.  The sale of our house, to a smaller condo, then to a teeny, tiny condo, with surplus to the cottage, to our daughter’s, to Goodwill or to consignment stores, and then to Argentina x 2, to four apartments within Buenos Aires; these were all one big, long move, the ultimate purpose of each being this final one to Milly on February 5, 2015.  Our anticipation in the last few days living at the apartment was enormous.

The logistics of this final move could have been daunting with our horrible Spanglish, emphasis on “glish”. However, with Beto’s help it was the easiest of any of the previous.  All we had to do was pack our bags.  Beto picked us up at the apartment in his car.  We went in convoy with a truck he had arranged and picked up vast quantities of bins and bags from storage.  And then on to the yacht club!

Loaded very large truck

Unloading at the boatyard with Milly

Over the past few days we have been sorting, stowing, restowing, rerestowing etc.  There is a massive amount of space on the boat but we are aiming for stowing-logic at the moment and all is in flux until we have lived here for awhile.  

We are also provisioning.  Starting from scratch with food stores is hard work in a foreign country where store shelves are not laden with variety and quantity as in Canada.  I realize I am spoiled by easy access to North American excess.  Not here.  We walk to the store, scour the shelves for items on an eight page spreadsheet, study Spanish labels, fill our backpacks, bags and cooler bag and then walk back to the boat.  (Did I say it was hot in a previous post?  I know you are probably getting tired of the reminder if you are in frigid Canada, but it is hot here.)  We are buying basics and in quantities for the next six months.  We have been told that provisions of food, drink and cleaners in Argentina are much less costly than in Uruguay and Brazil.  The challenge is figuring out quantity for six months without submerging our waterline. And so provisioning is a smaller adventure within a grander one.

A toast to Milly

Sunday we had our second sail - this time with Memo, the boat builder, and his family.  A wonderful day with great company.  We did much of the skippering and crewing with Memo’s coaching.  Peter docked the boat against a high, intimidating cement wall, perfectly!  We are both feeling more and more confident on Milly - at least in relatively flat seas and mild to moderate wind.

The river is so shallow at low tide that there is more running than swimming

Peter is like a kid who finally has a long-coveted toy; a couple of times a day, he spontaneously says, "I love it here".  So great!

Took a ride on TomTom to check out our neighbours.  Some beautiful old boats.

The upcoming work week will see various men from the boatyard visit for several little things that need to be done to make the boat “perfect”, as Memo says.  To us, she’s pretty close to perfect already.