As I mentioned in the previous post about serendipitously finding our boat, well, it’s true, it really was serendipity. We had been lamenting over whether or not to proceed with the aforementioned boat in Annapolis. It was then I posted on a group I had been following on facebook asking for advice, and all these women were posting about their thoughts and even their boats they were selling or knew were for sale that would meet our needs. That’s when we got connected with our soon to be boat, Syrena. We exchanged messages, emails and saw videos of the boat. It seemed perfect. The current owners had managed to plan a sail to Spanish Wells where we had planned to vacation back in April 2017. It would be the perfect opportunity to meet the family, the boat and talk business.

Once our vacation arrived, we were excited to see the boat. The owners were so great. We connected easily and the kids had a blast together, too. It was so wonderful for our kiddos to meet other boat kids (we even met another sailing family there, too), so it was even better than just seeing a boat. Meeting Syrena (our boat) wasn’t just seeing a boat, it was meeting new friends as well. It was learning about the lifestyle. We had lots of fun together, too. I’ll never forget sailing her for the first time, it was just surreal.

Leaving the Bahamas was tough because we knew the next few months of waiting for Syrena to arrive in Maine were going to be long. From the Bahamas, Syrena traveled to east coast Florida where we had our marine survey done. Funny enough, Syrena was docked right near Kevin’s parents house in Merritt Island, so they actually got to see Syrena and have dinner on her (I wasn’t joking when I said the family was great!). It was a cool opportunity for Kevin’s parents to see the boat and chat with a boat family’s experience living and traveling on a boat, because we all know they thought we were insane for even considering moving our family of 6 on a boat! After a successful marine survey in Florida, we were officially “under contract” on Syrena and on our way to being first time sailboat owners.

Fast forward to July and Syrena was quickly sailing up the east coast on their way to Portland, Maine. The family graciously welcomed me and Lilah, our 2nd daughter, to meet them at the Cape Cod Canal to jump on board and sail her last passage home to Portland, Maine. What an amazing experience it was! I had never been on a sailboat for more than a day sail, let alone 27 hours on board, overnight. It was such a wonderful opportunity to learn! As we were off the coast of Provincetown, Cape Cod, we were stunned by breeching humpback whales, who put on a show for us for at least 30 minutes. I had never seen such beauty. In all honesty, I had tears in my eyes. It was just so unbelievable. I stayed up on night watch until 0200 and saw shooting stars and a beautiful night sky. The next morning was pea soup fog off the Maine coast, surprise…where we saw more humpback whales, a basking shark and seals. Kevin and the rest of the kids met us on a friends boat to welcome us home to Maine. What a special first sail for me and last sail for Syrena’s family. As we turned the corner at Portland Head Light, Syrena entered her new home port. A wave of emotions hit all of us. It was bittersweet knowing Syrena’s voyage with her family was complete, and a new adventure awaiting for us. Such melancholy and excitement all on one boat.

Syrena’s family spent the next week or so with us in Maine. We showed them the beauty of Maine, went lobstering, sailing, date night without the kids in Portland and enjoyed some outdoor time in our backyard as all the kids played together. Since Syrena was a British flagged ship, we spent the last night on a special sail in Casco Bay with Syrena’s family and did a little ceremony with champagne changing her from British to United States flagged. Chris read a beautiful farewell poem to Syrena and our boat was officially ours…

Syrena, soon to be Serendipity, for obvious reasons, was more than just a business transaction to purchase our first sailboat. It was one of the most special moments in our life…and a bit, okay, a lot scary, too! Little did we ever think we would make beautiful friendships just from buying a boat. We have a beautiful legacy to continue with our boat as she was so very loved from her previous family, sailing thousands of nautical miles over their year on her, and you can feel the goodness when you step onboard. The turn of events that lead us to her was truly, Serendipity…