Celebrating Serenity's Christening

The big day finally arrived at 4 am on March 23 - Serenity Day!  Tom and I boarded our 7:15 am flight out of Islip, headed to West Palm Beach to see you-know-who.  Luckily for the traveling public, the seat between us remained empty, since I fidgeted and shifted in my seat incessantly during the eternal flight.  Again lucky for everyone, our flight arrived 15 minutes early (the plane gods were good to us).  By 10:06 -  exactly 16 minutes after landing, we were in our car and headed north on I-95 towards Stuart.  Think back to your childhood, when something really, really good was about to happen.  Remember how each passing second seemed like a year?  Remember that sort of butterfly-like feeling in your stomach?  Well all these feelings were happening to us at the same time.
After about 51 minutes of driving, we crossed the "big bridge", turned right, took another right and....... we had arrived at Kadey Krogen's Stuart headquarters!  As I exploded out of car, Laura came out of the back door and many hugs and kisses later, we composed ourselves enough to enter the building.  While all this emotion is on display, the captain is remaining remarkably composed.  I guess he was too overwhelmed to say much.  As I entered the lobby, a beautiful vase of fresh flowers caught my eye.  How pretty I thought.  Pretty indeed!  They were ours!  Apparently the folks who bought For Us (with whom we keep in touch) are sharing our excitement and wanted to be there with us in spirit.   What wonderful and thoughtful people!

While we were in the office, Laura also showed me Serenity's awards from the Ft. Lauderdale TrawlerFest where she won best in show.  Everyone got to take home a prize!  The KKY folks won a beautiful Tiffany glass bowl and we now have a gorgeous, wood covered guest log to keep a record of everyone who visits Serenity.   All this excitement happened in the span of about 15 minutes.  Can you stand it?!  Since I was now jumping up and down, everyone decided it was time to visit the star of the show.  The short drive to the floating docks seemed long enough for us to apply for Social Security, but we were soon there.  I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as we made our way down a 1/4 mile dock, made a left turn and walked a bit more and then suddenly.............THERE SHE WAS!!!!!  I tell you, Tom and I were rendered speechless for several seconds.   Now you remember that we saw her in January, right?  She was out of water and was only at the Jensen Beach Marina for several days when we saw her.
This time, she was waxed and polished so brightly, that we could barely look at her without risking permanent blindness.  Our ensign was waving proudly against the bluest sky I've seen in a very long time (dare I tell you that it was about 85 degrees too)?  The captain was delighted with the size of the ensign by the way.  He likes them big and this one is big.  Our KKY burgee was also waving on the jackstaff (the thingie on the bow).  Unable to contain myself a second longer, I jumped (well not really, but I got on quickly) onto the boat and hugged and kissed her!

I can honestly say I've never kissed a boat before.  The KKY people said they never saw anyone kiss a boat before and they've witnessed many ecstatic owners greet their new boats.  There has to be a first time for everything, right?
Once we were all aboard, our tour of an immaculate, expertly detailed, gorgeous boat began.  I had trouble seeing things cause my eyes kept filling up with tears.  There are times in life (and I hope you are all fortunate enough to know what I mean), that one feels like what they're either seeing or doing can't possibly be happening to them.  I feel so incredibly lucky, blessed, call it what you will, to even be writing about this experience, let alone living through it.
Our tour began in the salon which is entered through double doors from the aft porch.  For a boat this size, the salon is incredibly well laid out, spacious and warmly welcoming.  On the starboard side is a U-shaped settee which was comfortably able to seat 7 adults without the need for extra chairs (good thing cause we don't have any right now)!

The table opens with 2 extensions on either side and even lowers for cocktail height.  We moved from the salon to the galley which is big enough to accommodate the captain and I.  There is lots of room to pour champagne, set up snacks and even cook on a 4 burner Viking range (should one be so inclined).

For movie night, the micro convection oven will pop up a great bag of popcorn while our wine cooler keeps both white and red wines at their proper drinking temperatures.  Very important in the summers!  Happily, this boat has a household-sized fridge with an ice maker.  There is tons of room for good things to eat, crisper drawers and room on the door for tall bottles.  Just like home, right?  Once all the popping, eating and drinking is done (for the day at least), a dishwasher cleans up the mess and 2 large trash bins that slide out of the cabinet consume the trash.
To the port side of the galley is a bar complete with shelves that have cutouts for wine glasses, behind glass doors.  Three huge drawers will hold dishes, pots and pans and anything else I can get in there.  But enough of this tour.  I promised you a peek of the interior, but this blog is really about Serenity's christening.  More interior peeks later.
Once everyone was aboard and had a glass of bubbly, we convened to the bow for the pre-sunset ceremony.  The bow is large enough to seat quite a few people and the folks standing did not feel crowded.

Once I made my way onto the bowsprit with champagne in hand, Tom began his little speech.  He essentially asked the sea gods to keep us safe on our adventures and wished Serenity fair winds and following seas.

At that point, Serenity enjoyed her first taste of good champagne (she got to drink the same champagne we did - nothing but the best for our girl).

Just a quick taste to be sure the champagne was the right temperature!

Once the ceremony was over, the captain relaxed and enjoyed himself.

...........and we congratulated each other

Our guests clapped so long and loud, I'm sure folks on Florida's west coast wondered what they were missing!  It was a beautiful and moving ceremony, made the more special because the people that had worked to make this dream come true for us were with us and truly happy for us.  As an example of their hard work, Laura made sure that a very important part of our boat was crafted perfectly and delivered in time for this special occasion - our OWNER'S PLAQUE!  You can't imagine what it feels like to see your names like this.....

Having our owner's plaque at our ceremony was the icing on the cake!  There has been much icing on this cake and Tom and I are so grateful to everyone and for our good fortune.

I think this photo of Tom 

....and I on different parts of our new boat say it all.

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed reading about Serenity's christening.  March 23, 2011 will remain forever etched in our minds and hearts as what I call "the days of our lives".  I use that expression to make note of especially memorable days.

As I write this, our KKY captain is getting Serenity ready to begin her trip home tomorrow morning at dawn.  She will make her way north through the Atlantic Ocean with the sea gods granting her fair winds and following seas.   The next post I write will find us wildly welcoming Serenity home at long last!