This morning, we left the cozy embrace of Sarasota with exciting plans ahead. Our mission? To spend two nights on the boat, accomplish some overdue work, and if luck was on our side, sneak in a bit of sailing despite the chilly weather. With these goals in mind, some “serious” provisioning was essential, so we made a pit stop at Aldi on our way to the marina.

As we arrived in St. Pete, the sun decided to grace us with its presence, breaking through the clouds and tempting us away from boat work. Needless to say, the sun won—provisions stored, lines cast off, and we were ready for adventure. However, our bow thruster had other ideas, opting to function in only one direction. A click from the solenoid was all we got in the other direction, but no propeller movement. So, we backed out of the slip the old-fashioned way. [I suspect barnacles having a field day on our bow thruster, blocking the motor from turning in that one direction.]

To our delight, we managed to exit the slip and the marina without causing havoc. Feeling pretty accomplished, we set off, hoping to catch some wind for the sails. The wind, however, was playing hard to get, so we decided to find a quiet spot to check out Koko’s windlass and anchor for the first time. Not a bad idea, considering we plan to anchor frequently during our upcoming journey.

With the last safety clip hidden in the locker finally found and removed, the anchor was freed, and the windlass sprang into action. Everything worked flawlessly. Anchor up, and we were off again, this time with a gentle breeze allowing us to unfurl not just the main sail but both headsails as well. Majestic!

Being back on the water after such a long time felt incredible—far too long, if we are being honest. But not for much longer; our sailing adventure is set to begin in just a little over two months.

Returning to the slip without our bow thruster meant relying entirely on our growing feel for the maneuverability of our full-foil keel boat. These boats are not as nimble as those with fin keels or wing keels and can be a bit tricky to maneuver in tight spaces, but it seems we are getting the hang of it. We safely docked on the first try, without any yelling, screaming, or matrimonial discord. High-fives all around—we were feeling pretty good about ourselves.

With the boat secure, we took our time tidying up and adjusting the many docklines. These had been hastily re-secured after the marina staff turned Koko around in her slip a few weeks back, as her bowsprit was pointing a bit too far into the fairway. We also decided it was high time to remove the abundance of redundant lines left over from the hurricane preparations. Each line was meticulously checked for chafe, and those showing significant wear and tear were sorted out. After getting us safely through three major hurricanes, a line is allowed to show some tiredness, right?

Just as we finished our tasks, the sky was darkening. Hungry and ready for a hearty meal, we hit the kitchen and heated up the spaghetti leftovers we had kept in the fridge aboard. Oh, all these great luxuries that Koko has to offer!

Ready to catch up online, we discovered the marina WiFi had gone dark. Perfect opportunity to test our new Starlink Mini. We quickly unpacked it and set it up in the cockpit without any concern for satellite constellations or obstructions. Why not give it a try? Threw the switch—and wow, it worked! We were back in business, thanks to the satellites whirling above us and that small white rectangular dish in Koko’s cockpit. It kept us connected well into the night until we could not keep our eyes open any longer and retreated into the cozy aft cabin.