First time bringing the kid to the boat.
Traveling
Traveling to the boat is complicated since we don’t have a car. I also don’t want to bring a stroller. There’s nowhere to leave it on land, and it’s too big for the boat. So, traveling looks like:
- Walk 2 blocks from the apartment to the subway station.
- Ride the subway one stop to Penn Station.
- Catch the LIRR from Penn Station to Port Washington (~45 minutes).
- Somehow get from the Port Washington LIRR station to the Town Dock.
- Catch the water taxi from the Town Dock to Peregrine on the mooring.
The whole way, we have to carry every thing by hand (including the 2 year old, quite often). When we arrived in Port Washington, we stopped at a bagel place to grab lunch and milk. We then took a very quick Uber down to the Town Dock.
On the boat
The kid liked the water taxi and was fairly excited to explore the boat. Before his attention waned, we got off the mooring and motored out to the Sound.
There was absolutely no wind. The kid did not enjoy wearing his life jacket on deck. We motored around for a bit, alternating with one person on the wheel and one person on the kid who grew more and more annoyed at being stuck on the boat.
We made our way back to the mooring to try to put the kid down for a nap in the V-berth. This was entirely unsuccessful. On the flip side, the kid was now so tired that they became loopy and were no longer whining. But how to occupy them on the boat?
Thankfully, I had planned for this situation and knew what to do, having been in this exact same situation as a kid myself. I dug out the bucket that I’d bought when I bought the boat, along with some squirt guns and a huge sponge. I filled up the bucket with seawater and let the kid splash around in the cockpit. Dish soap in the bucket added bubbles of fun. This occupied them for probably longer than anything has ever occupied them.
Prior to setting up shop in the cockpit, I had a realization that the missing pole for the awning that I’d been wondering about was probably among the random long things above the port berth. I successfully raised the awning for the first time which proved crucial during the cockpit bucket fest.
The kid got excited and threw a squirt gun over the side, so I got to try two new firsts:
- Swimming in Port Washington.
- Trying out the sea ladder.
Swimming was surprisingly pleasant. Sure, the water was cold, but it was refreshing and clean. The sea ladder is a little sketchy and definitely needs new rubber, but it did the job.
The long trip home
We had brought all gear necessary to spend the night. Before coming to the boat, though, we had agreed to make a game time decision on whether to spend the night. Given the nap was unsuccessful, we decided it best not to push it. So, we called the water taxi and went back to the Town Dock.
We walked up to Ahyhan’s Mediterranean Marketplace for beers for the parents and ice cream for the kid. It was then only a quick walk to a playground by a school. The kid swung in the swings for a while, and then I gave him a piggy-back ride all the way back to the train station.
We took the train back to Penn Station. We of course ran into weekend train trouble trying to get home and essentially walked the whole way back from Penn Station.
A very long day with ups and downs. Everybody wants to do it again, so I think I’ll call that a success.