Like kids on Christmas Eve

Or in this case, like a couple of sailors waiting not-so-very-patiently to see their new boat with their very own eyes.

We’re finally here. After months of planning, waiting, dreaming—and a whirlwind of decisions and paperwork - we’re about to meet our new boat for the first time.

We spent our last few days on Bonaire trying our best to soak up every last moment on island. Hugs from friends new and old, one last poker night, and a few last sunsets, snorkels and deep conversations.

The island even delivered baby turtles on our last full day on island. Just incredible!

Honestly... that's about the only way to describe the 7 months we spent on island. Simply incredible, and despite how excited we are for this adventure we're also still sad to leave (and excited for whenever we find ourselves back on island).

Here we sit in Valencia, Spain, after a looong day of flying to Europe from the Caribbean and trying to meet up with the boat.

We talked about the very busy work of choosing final specs and making the boat legal for its departure in our last post, but in the meantime - the boat arrived on the back of a truck from the factory to the port in Les Sables.

Not a lot of time was allowed for details after the factory, but we had to finalize a few placement issues, which resulted in a FaceTime video and makeshift tour on OUR boat.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating to use words like giddy, and for the very first time this started to feel VERY real - seeing our own boat for the first time (even if via a very poor video stream)! Its fair to say we're like a couple kids on christmas eve... barely able to contain their excitement for santa's arrival and still somehow trying remain focused on baking the cookies and pouring the milk in hopes that nothing goes wrong at the last minute.

There may have even been a celebratory cocktail after as well... hard to recall. ;)

Obviously, a few important items (like raising the mast, installing lifelines, and bottom paint) had to be done as well, and the following photos were even more exciting as our boat turned overnight into a sailboat (and a sexy one at that)!

Before we knew it, the boat was prepped, painted, and dropped in the water.
Good news — she FLOATS!!
Did I mention things were getting very real, very quickly?

A few days later, our broker David arrived in Les Sables and started his checklist/sign-off to ensure everything was correct and in place from the factory, and not long after that, our personal belongings finally got released from customs.

Worth a note here: sending these from our boat in Fahiti to France likely was NOT worth it. Despite the boat having been our (only) home for the last 7years, as minimalists there was very little we felt was actually needed, but we thought/were told this would be easy and allowed ourselves a few bins/suitcases of gear and tools to try and save money and stress on the other side.

At the end of the day, not sure it saved either time or stress trying to get these shipped.

Now... as we play planes, trains, and automobiles - making our great trek to Europe and trying to figure out where and when we’ll actually meet up with the boat - David is already moving Karma2.0 (seriously, we’re just gonna have to go back to just Karma here soon) across the Bay of Biscay.

We’ve been getting excited about and then disappointed by possible weather windows that closed/shifted for the past week or so (the Bay being notoriously known for bad weather - especially this time of year).

Almost in sync with our departure from Bonaire, David and team departed Les Sables in what they hoped would be a “decent” three-day window to cross the Bay, and we got to track her progress via the tracking app and his video updates as we sprinted through the airport in Amsterdam trying not to miss our second flight to Spain. (Somehow a 3+ hour delay leaving Bonaire was mostly made up in the air, but there still wasn’t much room for error as we had to collect our bags, race to the opposite end of the airport, check in with a different airline, etc.)

Now in Valencia and waiting on tomorrow’s flight (and desperately hoping that the severe rain alert/warning that came across our phone earlier won’t get in the way of our final flight) to A Coruña tomorrow, we are sitting here feeling ALL the feels.
Quite literally, excitement. nerves. disbelief. pride... all tangled up together.

Ironically, tomorrow is also the 7-year anniversary of our first major sail/crossing on Karma1.0 (across the Gulf Stream).

We just went back and re-read the blog posts about our crossing and the days after - and reminded about how little we knew and what a massive leap of faith we were taking in buying a new boat without knowing how to sail it, how to watch or check for weather, how to anchor... if I’m honest, how to do absolutely anything related to living on a boat - much less making it move.

We laughed. We cringed. And mostly, we felt awe for our past selves, who had no idea what they were doing - but did it anyway.

This experience somehow feels a bit similar in excitement to those days, but is (and should be) very different indeed.
This time we have to learn a new cruising ground (which we’re used to, as that comes with every new island/set of islands) and of course, a brand-new boat - but at least the rest of the lifestyle is (or should be) pretty similar to what we’ve done before. Point being - more butterflies of excitement, less fear… and that’s pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

Times like these, I’m also thrilled we keep track of these journeys, and the thoughts and feelings that come along with them, here.
It’s absolutely priceless to look back and recall how we felt in those moments - much less how proud we are of ourselves now for doing it anyway.

Huge hats off to past Bryan and Jen for all they did for future Bryan and Jen (who, right now I guess... is actually us). Can't possibly thank them enough.