Our first mission was to get out of the inlandwaters of the Netherlands, so we could set sail to the north.

We kept reminding ourselves that the most important thing was simply to leave. There would always be another project to finish, another improvement to make, or another reason to wait. Lìv could always be a little more beautiful, a little more practical, or a little more "ready." But if we waited until everything was perfect, we would probably never cast off.

So, with the most important jobs completed, it was time to take that exciting, and slightly terrifying, step outside our comfort zone.

Reto's father and his wife came all the way from Switzerland to wave us goodbye. (My parents had already visited us in Bruinisse and said their goodbyes two weeks earlier, but at that point we weren't quite ready to sail off into the sunset). They joined us for the short trip from our berth to the fuel dock, where they untied our lines, gave us one last wave, and watched as we headed north.

I expected the goodbye to be more emotional, if I'm honest. Of course, there were a few tears, but they were quickly replaced by excitement. Captain Reto had picked the perfect day to leave: blue skies, sunshine, and just a gentle breeze: ideal conditions for easing into our new life.

After a few hours of sailing and two locks, the first leg ended with a very tight manouver in the small harbour of Willemstad, and it was a full success. Of course we had to celebrate that. So we grabed our wallet and went in to the beautiful old town to get a portion of delicious Dutch “Bitterballen”, a cold beer for Reto, and a glass of white wine for me. Willemstad is a charming little town full of history and character, exactly the kind of place we love exploring. So after our little snack, we walked around the town and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

The next few days passed surprisingly quickly, and we settled into life on board faster than expected. The cats also did a great job of remembering our routines of sailing. Durring the manouvers they have to stay inside of the boat and when we are underway they are allowed to be in the cokpit with us, but not walk around the boat.

On the day before getting out to the North sea, we found out that our propeller-shaft is leaking. this means that we have seawater comming in to the boat, and I’m sure you can imagine that this is not a good thing. After some back and forth we found out that the reason for it is, that the steering-cable is pushing against the seal and this leads to the leaking. This is a good thing, because it’s easy to fix. After tying the cables away from the seal, the leaking was gone and we could go through with our plan to get out to the north sea on the next day.

This morning marked another big milestone. We left the safety of the inland waters behind, passed through the final lock, and entered the North Sea.

How that adventure unfolded is a story for the next blog post…

Day 1: Bruinisse NL - Willemstad NL