Our two cats were born on my studio floor in April of 2008.  They moved onto the boat with us as soon as they were old enough.

We already had this Ocean Crossing trip planned then and figured these new additions to our lives would be  a part of the voyage.  They already view the boat as their home, and their sanctuary. They’ve been sailing around the Chesapeake Bay, and they seem to be OK with sailing, but hate motoring.

This is different out here!  Besides the fact that there is much more motion than a normal day on the Bay, we don’t stop at night!

Perkins, the girl, was the first to emerge from hiding. She took solace in laying next to me during the July 4th storm with the 60 knots of wind, or maybe I took solace in HER lying next to me. Either way, she was out of a hiding hole and on the bunk. We watched in amazement as the next several days revealed her discovering her” Sea Legs”.  At first it was one small step, and stop, and sway side to side, while she looked up at us as if to say “Is this right?” then it was 2 steps, then many steps, then it was jumping up onto another surface. At first she had a hard time gauging her jumps and nearly hit the cabin’s overhead during big bouncing waves, but she got it and got very good.  she soon wandered around the boat as “normal” , as normal as a cat who walks sideways can be. It is a very cool sight.

But all this time Dabola was in hiding. He wouldn’t come out. He needed to eat and drink. We tried coaxing him out with Temptations, which finally did work but after so many days already at Sea. And when he did come out, Perkins was there looking at him. I know animals communicate, they HAVE to. If I could have filled in the “words” spoken on that day Dabola came out, it would have been:

Perkins:  “Come on out big brother, don’t be so scared”

Dabola:   “I’ll just wait till they stop. I’ll be fine.”

Perkins:   “That’s the problem. They don’t seem to be stopping any time soon.”

Dabola:    “You’re kidding right?”

Perkins:     “nope”

Dabola:       (sigh)   OK, how do you do that weird walk?”

 

 

So Dabola emerged and one foot at a time. He took little steps, and looked up at us with his big questioning eyes, until he could walk  all the way the length of the boat.The he’d look up at us again, and walk back. Gradually he was able to move around with same ease as his sister. And Perkins seems to be much happier that she once again has her brother to play with. Now they are both running around, doing cat things, but with a “funny” walk. When they stand while the boat is heeling, their legs are at angles, and they’ll rock side to side as the boat rocks, only they are rocking in the opposite directions. Like the gimbaled stove.

Now, when they aren’t playing, eating, cleaning themselves, and other various cat activities, they both sleep in our bunk. Purring contently. All the while plotting their revenge!!!!!!!!!!!!