First Night On The Boat

The first night I slept on the boat, it happened to be really stormy.  It was blowing 45 knots outside and raining like crazy.  I hunkered down in my bunk, curled into my sleeping bag and listened to the sounds of the storm raging outside.  You could hear the wind whipping through the rigging and halyards all around the marina slapping against masts.  You could feel the boat bobbing around in its slip, straining against the dock lines and up on fenders.  The combined effect of all this movement and racket had an unexpected effect - I drifted off to sleep and slept soundly all night.

The next morning dawned clear.  There was still a stout breeze, but no sign of the rain from last night.  A dozen feet off the bow, a seal popped up and bobbed around for five or ten minutes, peeking at me and trying to decide if I had any old mackerel to share with him.

The next day, I fired up the wood stove for the first time and got it cranking with some scraps of kindling I had around.  It may be small, but it’s big enough to turn that little boat into an oven, with fans that blow on the chimney to move the heat around.  There is no better feeling when it’s raining and storming outside than to fire that sucker up and snuggle into my bunk with a good book and a whiskey cocktail.

Heck - you can even fry bacon on it!

Life is good.