Our first visitors!

Our great friends, Ava & David, arrived a few days ago and we’re thrilled to have them as our first guests since we became liveaboards! You might remember they joined us in Lisbon last November, so they saw the first boat we were looking at. They are the only ones to really know how far we’ve come. 

As Ava & David live in the Netherlands, they are always game for meeting up and are wonderful for putting up with our last minute notices. This time, they are only with us for three nights, so we want to make them count. 

On Day 1, we take them out in the bay for a bit of a sail. It just so happens to be our first sail on Sabática unassisted, and they are willing guinea pigs and great sports. David is handy with sailing and earns his keep as Crew, while Ava becomes the best Boat Mom keeping us all hydrated and well covered in sunscreen. 🙂 It was our first time to swim off the back of the boat. Heavenly. First time to drop anchor and have a problem with it. Conor gets it fixed, and we head back to the dock.

Because of the crazy heat, many cold drinks were imbibed and many swims took place. Ava and David had a rental car and voted to drive to the neighboring town of Kotor on Day 2 instead of sail over as air conditioning is a wonderful thing. They also very generously drive us around Tivat in the afternoon to visit the rash of stores we need to visit to scratch things off our growing shopping list. 

But back to Kotor. It has a beautiful, historic Old Town and we enjoy strolling around. Completely surrounded by mountains. It is also where so many cruise ships land in Montenegro. We had a fun small world experience – would you believe other good friends of ours (originally from Austin, but currently in Virginia), Avi and Carolyn, just so happen to be aboard one of those cruise ships and are visiting Kotor the same day we are? I think it had been about seven years since we saw them last. All six of us grab refreshments in a cool underground-ish pub and have a fun catch-up. 

It’s time for Ava & David to continue on their trek, and we’re sad to see them go. I can still hear Ava in my head reminding me to GET OFF THE BOAT when the heat gets to be too much. No point sitting in a sauna. Hopefully they’ll be back sometime soon!