S/V Kainoa Renaming

When Jessica and I used to read about cruising life in magazines, books and online, we used to dream about what it would be like when we finally did it. We wondered if it would be as amazing as everyone made it sound. You see, in every book you read it talks about how the people in this life are the most helpful, caring and close nit community you'll ever meet. We had no idea what we would really find when we got out there. (Fast Forward 6 Months Later)

The people we have met along the way and friends we have made so far have far exceeded anything ever written in the books we read. We arrived in Boot Key Harbor still wet behind the ears and what we found was a community of people that we are lucky to know. We were accepted without reservation and without conditions, and helped with no expectations of anything but a "pass it on". These last 6 months have been full of laughs, good times, learning and growing, both as a sailor and a person. 

Yesterday we invited our friends and community to help us celebrate the renaming of our boat. We asked Pirate Jake to do the ceremony and we celebrated with rum, rum, a little food and more rum! The event started off with a quick squall rolling through and some wind and driving rain for about 20 minutes, then the skies turned blue, the sun came out and it was time to begin. Jake and his wife Amy got on the bow of the boat and began the renaming. 

We decided on a bottle of Shellbeck rum to use for the ceremony, I thought the picture on the label was symbolic of what we were doing. 

With the renaming complete we spent the afternoon and into the morning celebrating with food, drinks and stories. We can't thank everyone enough for showing up to celebrate the occasion. Jessica, the kids and I will never forget those that came to share such a big moment for us. 

4th Of July, Keys Style!

The 4th of July was great. The entire day was fun, from me going swimming with Peyton and my Dad, to just hanging out with friends from the harbor. At 7:30 P.M. the family packed things that we needed like chips, sweet tea,  and snacks, then left for Sisters Creek. The ride was fun, the whole time Peyton was hogging and eating all of the ice. While we drove down Sisters Creek, Pirate Jake shot off one of his small, homemade cannons. He waved us over there and we chilled there for the night.

Every time a boat went by Pirate Jake shot off the cannons. The expressions on their faces were funny. While we were waiting for the fireworks a lot of people stopped by to chat. When you looked out at the end of the channel there were boats everywhere, they looked like stars with there lights on. At 9 P.M. The fireworks started and everyone was amazed by them. My favorite was the boom and then sizzle and the ones that looked like rain. They went on for a long time,and it was probably the longest fireworks show I have seen.

At the end there were a bunch of boats going back into the harbor that looked like a herd of sheep running from a dog. The drive back took a while, probably because I was tired. When we got back we chilled in the boat for the night while we ate my Moms awesome spaghetti and watched a movie. After that, we went to bed. I had a great 4th of July, and was glad that I got to spend it with my family.

Colby