New Boat and a Hurricane

Posting a public post on this topics…

I finally closed on a boat, a 2023 Fountaine Pajot ISLA 40. The whole thing has been insanely stressful and I’ve questioned my decision multiple times already. But I’m strong and it’s going to be a story to tell in a few years. No matter how it goes.

The whole sales process was way more stressful than I expected. There’s a lot more to buying a boat then buying a house. IE picking a home port, getting insurance, finding a marina to dock it at. I also found that people in the industry suck at replying back to you. You really have to hound them, which I’m not good at. I am someone who calls once then waits for you to call back (probably one reason why my dating life always sucked). So you’d call and wait and wait and wait, then not get an answer.

Once we closed, I hired some guys that were highly recommended to install solar on the boat. They had massive attitudes and really pissed me off. I’m not happy with the quality of the work they did.

THEN, we took the boat over to get the bottom cleaned and the fucking propellers fell off, so there was a $7k unexpected expense right out of the door.

THEN!!! A fucking hurricane started forming and heading right for where the boat was stored. I needed to move the boat out of Florida anyway because I didn’t pay FL taxes we only had so long to keep it there. So I hired these (again, highly recommended) captains to help me move the boat. They arrived and basically got on board and were like “let’s go”. So we left, I was insanely stressed. I felt like nothing was ready, I wanted to have another day to get the boat cleaned up and buy some spares, etc. But we left at 10pm. The trip itself went well, they didn’t sail which was annoying but they just wanted to get to our destination as fast as possible. We hung out, they fished. I tried to learn as much as I could about the boat. Again, VERY stressful, just so many things to learn and understand.

On day two, they said something about where we were going, and I was like: “wait, what, that’s NOT where we are going.” SO THEN, I had to stress and find a new place to store the boat. THANK GOD I had starlink and was able to find something in Charleston, SC.

We arrived in Charleston Saturday night and they tied the boat up and just spilt. Overall, the guys did their job, they got the boat from point A to B. But I wasn’t very happy with them. My broker called and chatted and he asked me more about the boat, the trip, etc then my own parents did. Which was a bit frustrating.

Monday, a fucking hurricane hits Charleston. Again, I was stresssssed. I’ve owned the boat for a week. I just moved it out of a hurricane and now that hurricane we had been avoiding is hitting right where we were. WTF why is Mother Nature putting me through this stress so early. Most people get to enjoy the boat, do some fun stuff and then eventually get themselves into these situations. But not me, FIRST WEEK get the hardest shit.

I got a hotel and Tuesday morning I went to check the boat, one of the lines had snapped. I ran into a guy on the docks and he was able to drive to the marina store and get more lines then come back and help me tie up. Thank god or him.

I have realized that people in this industry, even though they SUCK at replying to you or follow through. They are amazing at helping out, giving advise, etc. IT’s been so nice how helpful for the most part people are.

But, I was def having a melt down. I have been nearly in tears a few times already with this whole situation. I’ve been questioning myself, is this the right thing to do, what about astra, is she going to be happy. Am _I_ going to be happy. Thankfully, my friends have been amazing support. Charles has been more supportive and encouraging than I’d have ever expected.

I have just over one month left in my apartment. Really, only 20ish days because we leave for Greece. I have so much to do between now and then. So much more to learn and so many lessons to come.

I’ll admit. I’m scared, but excited to try this adventure.

Road Trip to Iowa

Soooo. This past weekend was the road trip to Iowa.. Very very crazy.

So we left here around noon on Wed and drove to Zion. It was a great drive.

Got to Zion about an hour before sunset so we rushed up to the bus and took it around the park just to see what we were missing. It’s one hell of an amazing place! I can’t wait to get back there. Got out at one point and took some photos and then headed back to the camp site. The bed pad that I got ended up being MUCH smaller then anticipated, but we were able to squeeze into it!

EARLY Morning on Thursday and we headed into town to get some breakfast and then got on the road. Reached Arches around 1ish and drove around there for a short bit. Only got to see ONE arch which kind of sucked, but again it was a nice taste of what we were missing!

Drove and Drove and DROOOOVE and reached Colorado, got my parents to book us a hotel in Grand Lake, CO for the evening. We stopped about an hour from there for dinner because the woman in 7/11 said that NOTHING would be open in that town that late (she was right). So I pulled into a restaurant parking lot we went in, had dinner (delicious), came back out and had a FLAT TIRE! Thankfully I used my AAA card and got them to come and change it in about 20 minutes!

AT LAST we got to the hotel and the guy was creepy and very bitchy (I think he was eastern European). Got our hotel (2-stars!) and just crashed in bed.

We got up a bit late on Friday because we were told there was a place in town that could quickly fix our flat. We went and had breakfast while waiting for them to open up, then headed over there RIGHT at 8am. Get in there and the guy says it’ll take “a few hours” to fix! UGH! So I took the chance and off we went!

Drove through Rocky Mountain National Park which was JUST AMAZING! The next 10 hours of the trip were all downhill! Fucking Nebraska!

FLAT!

Yep, still FLAT!

Ohh, it smells horrible, but STILL FLAT!

At last we got to Iowa, drove to Manning and met up with two of the cousins for some drinking. Had Tomato Beer, Orange Juice Beer, Pineapple Beer and Cranberry beer. All very interesting…

Got to the hotel in Carroll and crashed for the evening, slept till 11 and then got up and went to my Grandma’s Birthday thing which was a total bust. Ugh, crazy family. Left there at like 2 (2 hours TO LONG!) and drove to the farm where we took the top off the bronco and then drove around the back country of the farm for a bit. Good times.

Drove home from there with Dad and stopped in Perry for some ice cream. Got home, took a nap, and then went out with Zach, Mandy and Nic for the evening. Ran into Oksana at the Garden which was out of control! I honestly have NO idea what happened most of the night. UGH. I hate when that happens! LOL.

Got home at like 4am after throwing up in Nic’s bathroom, crashed in bed for a while then got up at 10 and went to brunch with the other family. I was completely hung over! UGH! But it was fun to see everyone and what not.

Drove home after that and basically slept the rest of the day until the flight left! Opps.

So that was the trip to Iowa. It was good over all, Daniel only annoyed me slightly towards the end because all he wanted to do was sleep when I wanted to go and do STUFF!

The flight back was fine, no problems, a little bumpy, so whatever.

Got home, Daniel dropped me off and I crawled in bed. Got up Monday and came to work and did SO much shit. Daniel called me at some point and said he wanted to hang out that night. I had to unpack and do all that shit, so I told him no. He came over last night and said he “wants to be more exclusive”. So whatever that means. I told him we’d have to discuss it. He’s fun, but I don’t agree with the whole pot thing or the no education and what not…

So anyways, work has been redic! Boss is an idiot, STILL. He is doing all kinds of shit behind my back that I need to do, he’s instructed our contractor to NOT call me back. Ugh, completely mess.

My landlord is also an idiot! He emailed me bitching about the fucking plants again, and then told me I can’t have my Door mat! WTF! Are you fucking KIDDING ME! Idiot!

So anyways, yes. Outta here.