Written by Mia:

Most of you know me quite well so you will not be surprised when I start this with an apology…I am sorry it has taken so long for us to reach out to everyone! We had intended to keep you all updated via our blog but March came and went with no posts. I think it falls under the heading “If you don’t have something nice to say, say nothing at all”…so we kept a low profile. March was cold and full of chores, unexpected maintenance and lots of sleeping. 

There were lots of windy, somewhat wet days that were the wrong side of 10 degrees (and I for one was kicking myself for throwing out all those pairs of wool socks I gleefully ditched in the cull that was February in Oslo… We were all pretty cold and that made us all cranky and quiet. Plus we were trying to recover from a busy and emotional February so we slept a LOT. All three of us were sleeping 12 hours a night for at least the first couple of weeks…

The first week on the boat we had trouble with the water pump and the toilet (thank goodness Jon is good at researching and problem solving!) The only trouble with research in March was that we struggled with a very bad internet connection that meant we spent up to two hours getting  connected….grrrrrr arrrrgh and Jon spent a lot of time trying to fix this (dare I say there was a bit of frustration and gnashing of teeth. This bad internet connection also made posting blogs impossible. Again, we are sorry about that… We still have a long list of stuff we needed to do before we left Oslo (the stuff that was internet-based was postponed till we got here) but that was before we knew we would be internetally challenged so it basically became a month of guilty conscience and worry about not meeting deadlines.

I spent a lot of March trying to find smart places to put our things (six bags at 20kg each) so that we can still find it but it doesn’t bang around when we finally cast off? Plus all the while we were all getting used to a smaller galley: you have to do everything in the correct order because for example the biggest prep area is on top of the top-loading fridge and the two gas hobs cook fast! Most of you know that Jon is our family’s best chef so cooking is more of a challenge for me… but I managed pasta with salmon and white sauce and a Spanish rice that I was very proud of and I forgot to pat myself on the back for until just now when I shared it with you.

When we were in the middle of it all, I felt and overwhelming sense of “OH CRAP, I am not cut out for this!” but with a little distance I can identify some wins and successes and I have to say some of my favourite memories of March are scooting trips with my boys (one of these trips was even 10km long!) and time searching for sea-glass on the beach. And we spent time with some new friends which has been a godsend. It is really nice to spend some time away and we even got to help them which is nice! We spent a couple days painting Spanish shutters and it was great to see instant results and share some laughs.

Through all this I have to brag about our son – Teo is incredibly patient and we are blessed to have a kid who entertains himself for hours at a time and handles late nights and postponed meal times with more grace than his parents. He has been the best to handle the transition to living on a boat and we are very very proud of him!