I'm sure that Cinder and Rosie think we have transformed the boat to some
kind of a time-travel machine.
We put them onboard and the next thing they see is that the dock, yard and
house are gone and some strange place is there.  We shut them in again, and
after a lot of rumble and vibration, the dock, yard and house are back.
Yesterday afternoon we scooped them into their travel bags and took them
onboard. We released them in a room with the door shut.
The floor began to vibrate as the rumble started.  I left them alone so that
we could get the boat off the dock and under way.
When I returned, the kitties told me they did not particularly like the room
with the rumble and the vibrating floor, but what they disliked the most was
the shut door.
They paid no heed to my explanation that it was only to make sure they be
safe inside and not tempted to try to escape through a cabin door when we
exited or entered to or from the outside.
Cinder assumed the duties of mouthpiece and complained that this was no way
for slaves to treat royalty and that Jim and I must have lost what little
minds we had to start with.
Sweet little Rosie was much more diplomatic, even giving me some sympathetic
head butts for my obviously daft condition.
After about 20 minutes, I left them alone again, and shortly after that, the
rumble and vibrations stopped.
I returned and opened the offending door and gave them free run of the
cabin, which included their water dish and their favorite crunchies.
The looks on their faces were priceless as they went from window to window
and saw that someone had taken their yard and home and substituted a body of
water on one side of the boat and a sailboat on the other side.
When they seemed settled, Jim and I had some discussion about letting them
outside the cabin. I was the voice of caution, but Jim promised that he
would be able to handle any problems. We didn't want a cat overboard drill,
but if they needed to learn from the experience, the conditions were about
as good as we could get.
The water was calm and plenty warm and we had the dinghy available to get to
them to scarf them up.  He put on his swimming trunks, but I told him that
welding gloves and a long sleeved jacket would be a better way to handle a
wet cat.
So, we opened the doors, hatches and windows and gave them access to the
outside.
Cinder was the first to venture forth. She did not go out the door.  She
jumped about five feet straight up from the V berth in the front cabin to
the open hatch in the ceiling.
Then she pulled herself up through the hatch and began her explorations,
which included all the decks of our boat. She also crossed to the boat we
were tied to and explored their topside and cabin as well.
Rosie was a little more circumspect, sticking to the cabin at first, and
then limiting her exploring to the outside of our boat.
Neither of them showed any inclination to take a dive into the water.  We
chose this boat in the first place because we can walk totally around it
outside the cabin with protection to keep our feet from slipping overboard,
unless a sudden lurch were to cause us to lose our balance and go over the
rail.
I don't know exactly how to describe it, but the gunwale, or outside edge of
the boat, is raised high enough that the cats can see over it by standing on
the deck walkway with the front paws on the gunwale but it is solid.  Then
there is a space between the gunwale and a rail.
The cats were fine when we left our boat to eat dinner with our friends in
the sailboat.  Then, we served dessert on our boat.
We closed the boat up at night to keep the mosquitoes out, but the cats are
used to being inside at night, so they didn't complain.
The ate their usual canned food for breakfast and used the litter box.
Then, the floor began to vibrate and the rumble started, and eventually,
their deck, yard and house appeared outside the window.  I put them in their
bags and brought them inside, where they have been napping all afternoon.
So far, so good.
Annie