Solo Me Alienta el Deseo Divino de Hacerte Mía

We bought a boat! 

But, alas, these four words do very little to articulate the many stepped process required to do so. Cause, whew, a journey! So, come children, let me tell you a story... 

Once upon a time, Captain Ernesto met a magnificent, salsa dancing creature, named Becca. "Ah, this one would make a fine first mate, indeed," he thought to himself, immediately endeavoring to befriend and woo her, whilst envisioning epic future adventures on the high seas together...

Ok, that might not have been his first thought and I guess I don't need to go back quite that far in the telling of this story... but since the first questions folks seem to have when we say "we bought a boat" are about our old -- er -- other boat, O Sole Mio, let's start there.

Captain Ernesto bought his 2001 Tiara 2900 Open in 2008, after a brief foray with a Doral that he quickly realized wasn't The One. The Tiara, on the other hand, delighted him. Designed for ocean waves and carefully crafted, he was feelin' fancy! A proud boat owner indeed!

When Becca met Ernesto, the boat figured into the picture from the very beginning. A backdrop of the early days, they hung out with friends, talked for hours, played twister and danced aboard the spacious open cockpit. 

Though early on she laughed at the handheld vacuum he quickly wielded against fallen crumbs and was concerned he would never want to do any other summer activities, she slowly became a Boat Person too.

And so the years passed. O Sole Mio lived on the Saint Croix River in Stillwater, MN for 13 happy seasons. The boat welcomed countless friends over the years, saw decadent picnics at anchor, hosted joyful dance parties, and tucked them in for many a night in the wee cozy cabin.

After over a decade, however, even the happiest of scenes can begin to feel a bit... too familiar. Wading through the flooded parking lot to the boat, putting through the river's no wake zones, dodging dead heads and shallow water, seeing the same shoreline, it all made the crew start to wonder, what else is out there?! 

Then in 2020, COVID caused Becca and Ernesto to stop traveling afar and start working remotely. The restlessness of the lockdown era fed the desire for nearby adventures and a previously unreasonable dream of Great Lakes boating bubbled to the surface. 

They considered that it could be one final boating season, a last hurrah of sorts, before moving on to focus time and and energy on other hobbies for a while. Daunting but exciting, the idea materialized and O Sole Mio ventured northward for the 2021 boating season. 

Turns out, it rocked! 

In fact, it was so lovely that it became quickly apparent that the 2021 season would not indeed be a "last hurrah" of boating, but rather the beginning of a whole new chapter. A break from boating?! Who's wild idea was that?

There are certainly many ways that boating on Superior differs from boating on the Saint Croix River, but one key logistical difference is how the boat necessarily becomes home away from home when it lives several hours away from your actual home. After many long weekends and one 9 day stay, the Captain and First Mate started warming to the idea of a liiiitle more living room, some more cooking space, a fixed bed even. 

They told themselves it was just for fun in the beginning, but the hypothetical search got serious pretty quickly! Ernesto has always dreamed of a Hatteras (to follow in his grandfather's footsteps) but kept an open mind, and Becca developed more opinions about boat brands than she ever thought possible. After much strolling around marinas oogling at boats, touring a couple in person, and perusing approximately one million listings, a couple key priorities emerged: 1) Hatteras or not, high-quality seaworthiness was non-negotiable 2) a salon with windows 3) a decent sized fixed bed and 4) space to host guests for the night. 

With these priorities defined, the search narrowed considerably. Over the weeks, the 34' Tollycraft Sundeck emerged as potential winner layout - a little lighter than a hefty Hatteras, smaller than other aft cabin models but with all the components on the list, and from a quality manufacturer. They loved the traditional lines, spacious and practical layouts, and beautiful teak woodwork in their salons. 

Throughout other searches and even a 20-hour round trip car ride to see a different boat, Captain Ernesto had been tracking the status of one Tolly listing from Wisconsin. It had gone under contract for weeks, but it wasn't showing sold. Ernesto exchanged a couple emails with the broker during the summer, and each time he was told that negotiations were underway but he'd hear if it became available again. One day in September, he got the email asking if he was still interested. 

Interested indeed, they scheduled a video tour of it right away and were so excited by the cute little aft cabin layout that they decided to go see it that very weekend. 

This effectively marked the end of the great boat search of 2021... but was just the beginning of the journey to owning Idilio - and THAT is a whole other story. 

P.S. Poetic blog name, amiright? But if it means nothing to you and you're also wondering what "Idilio" is all about - head to the source :)