The Final Countdown to Cruising

Well this is it guys, we are back on board, we've relaunched Varuna and are days away from leaving the St. Maarten lagoon and island hopping our way to Grenada. After 2 years of rebuilding the boat and time away working, we'll be making our maiden voyage to St. Kitts in the next week. We are so excited and anxious to get going! We never meant for this project to turn into such a HUGE one, but it did and we really enjoyed (almost) all of it. We are beyond ready to do what was the original plan, SAIL! It was really never our intention to do so much to the boat, but once we got started we figured there was no better time to gut the whole thing and just do it right then and there. It's been an extremely busy last month getting the boat ready for the water and getting all the last projects done.

Trying to unpack all of our stuff after 7 months away working. I have no idea what I would of done with all those clothes without removing the settee and creating that extra storage. We added plastic baskets to the cabinet that hold our clothes and make it easier to move the stuff around and make the most of the large space.

Everything put away with space to spare! A few new touches: a new Atwood 2 burner stainless steel cooktop (made for RV's), curtains (I left the old ones up and they were completely sun rotted), throw pillow covers, pictures, and sheets. 

We installed a 255W solar panel on the radar arch, whacked a fresh coat of black bottom paint on, and she splashed!

We also replaced all of our standing rigging. Every swage had multiple cracks so we were sure to replace it for safety and peace of mind at sea. 

Yes, we placed a "gold" coin under the mast!

Matt tightening all the turnbuckles. FYI, our turnbuckles are all the original bronze fittings, they are beautiful and in great condition. How lucky!

Adding the wind instrument. I am not going up there unless absolutely necessary...

The traditional christening of a boat, a bottle of "champagne" broken on the bow. We opted for the very fitting Caribbean version, a Presidente. Who wants to waste a perfectly good bottle of bubbly?!

Varuna on a mooring in the lagoon! The furthest she's ever been since we've owned her...At least no one can say we didn't earn it! Our list of projects is so tiny now, we are almost ready to go. And of course, then the list will surely grow again!