We're Nearly Ready To Go Crusin'

Yesterday we picked up Serafina after calling into the boatyard twice. The first time we called in we made the final payment for the boat and got a pick-up time, Serafina had been re-launched earlier this morning and was tied up with one of the technicians working on her. We went off for lunch and had a list of things we needed to pick up from the shops, we had been holding off buying too much because we had nowhere safe to store it.

Serafina was ready around 3:30pm after I spent some time kneeling on the stern with the technician and watching while he drained the water from the diesel tank. That was the last item on the list and my quick estimate is roughly five litres of water pumped out. Better out than going through the engine! I drove the car back to where we planned to moor the boat, approximately three miles away, I was the only driver on the car lease agreement. Once I had dropped the car off I power walked along the canal tow path back the three miles to where Rachael and Serafina were waiting. Rachael is not confident enough to take the boat by herself and 57' is the longest boat we have sailed. I jumped on and we were off, travelling the three miles back to our mooring for the night.

There was plenty of time to get organised for the evening, it doesn't get dark here until 10:30pm at least. The marina was all locked up when we got back, it had closed early! We moored up just outside ready to go under the lift bridge and into the marina in the morning. We had planned to go to a local marina to get a couple of additional maintenance items done and give the boat a good clean. I don't think Serafina has been used for quite a while, at least the last two months that we know of. Additionally, we need to get to know how to operate the boat properly, there are systems on the boat that we have never seen nor operated before.

Tonight we are moored up in the marina, hooked up to shore power and charging up the batteries. There is lots of cleaning going on, we have been shopping and loaded up the cupboards and the fridge with food ready for cruising. After dinner we cleaned all the windows and finished off by feeding the ducks through the hatch on the side of the boat.

Tomorrow we hand back the hire car so it is the boat or walk from then on!