As I started to write this, we were gearing up to cross over to the Bahamas. I had intended to post more frequently since buying the boat but life happens, so here we are (a few thousand nautical miles later and over in the Bahamas).
We took ownership of Avion in the beginning of August, 2024 in Brunswick and immediately got to work moving on board and doing various projects to get her ready to sail offshore. Avion’s Bridge clearance is around 67′, which prevents us from going up and down the ICW (typical bridge height: 65′) like we did with our last boat, Tied.
The projects and moving on board kept us at Brunswick for a little over a month. It was a pure stroke of luck that we took ownership at such a fantastic marina with several other Amels docked there for the summer. If anybody is ever looking for a marina to stop for a while, Brunswick Landing Marina has happy hour 3 times a week, walking clubs, yoga clubs, cigar night on Sundays and FREE LAUNDRY. Everybody was friendly and helpful, just beware the mosquitos…they are some prehistoric type giant mosquitos that bite through clothing. As soon as we left the safety of our dock we would have to sprint to the captain’s lounge or the car and close the door as quickly as possible as a cloud of these evil biting machines descended on us. Thankfully, because they didn’t have keycards, we were mostly safe behind the gates to our dock.
I will do some other posts on our projects, but one that I will mention here is the renaming ceremony. Avion has been through a few names over her lifetime so we didn’t feel guilty renaming her, but we did want to do it properly. Sailors are a superstitious lot and the unluckiest boats are known to be those that were inappropriately renamed. Not wanting to offend the gods of the sea and winds, we did some research and followed the instructions we found in this post. Of course, this was a great opportunity for a party as we had to buy champagne anyway. The party was a great mix of friends, old (who drove all the way up from Flagler Beach) and new (that we had met during our time at the marina).
Having completed our projects and renaming, it was time to finally get going north!
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