Here We Go!

After a morning of last minute provisioning we pulled out of our slip at noon. But again, not without a hitch. The pilot book says that there may be some old mooring chain left on the harbour floor which you can snag your anchor on. And of course, as we are well away from the dock our anchor gets stuck at 50 feet, at the bottom of the harbour. Our next door neighbor was on his bow with anticipating that he may have crossed us, so was letting out some chain. For a moment I thought we were really stuck, and didn't think it was because of our neighbor. Mike also thought the worst and was thinking we were going to have to back into our spot once again to hire a diver. But after another try of reverse and forward we managed to bring it up. I think it was a big mishap luckily diverted. And while all of this was going on, Heather was in the cockpit with Lucca and handling a meltdown. I can’t say that I noticed it while up at the bow but like anyone, she was really upset with Lucca’s cries potentially not letting us hear one another in this time of quick action. Afterwards, Heather shared with us that she had her own “mini mama meltdown” and wondered if they should just all head back to Athens and go home since the sailing part was off to a rough start. But once Lucca had his life jacket on and Heather brought him back on the foredecks, he settled in after a bit of a cry and actually started to have fun. The smiles and laughs came back and Team Perera were back on board with the adventure!

We then motored the 23 miles north to a big, expansive beach with steep mountains to one side. While Shan and I were at the bow lowering the anchor we could hear Lucca yell “Ok Pappa ok! Ok Mike-n-suri ok!” He was completely excited and helping Mike with skippering the boat! After we got a really good hold we all jumped in the water to cool off and play. Heather, Lucca and I even dinghied to shore so we could all take a little walk and throw rocks in the water. Once back on the boat Lucca was full of love. I think it was the second day of them being here where the Lucca Love started. It’s usually in the afternoons when he gets super affectionate with me and will snuggle me, kiss me, take my face in his hands and stare into my eyes. Oh my god, there is nothing like it.
Lucca has been a trooper this trip but I think we were all really relieved to see how happy he was this afternoon while we hung out in the cockpit playing games and all were more at ease each time he smiled and laughed. And little Lucca was so tuckered out that we had to keep him awake just so he could eat a little of his (one of many) grilled cheese sandwiches. I am sure the heat and disruption to routine has thrown a loop into his appetite (and sleep) and I know we were all also really happy to see him eat anything. After everyone else had gone to bed, Heather and I laid on the forward decks and looked at the shooting stars while catching up on life and friends back home. I am already getting sad about the day we say goodbye.