Dec.29-30

December 29-30

So yesterday we had to take back the car, but we have lots of chores now to keep us occupied.

I worked on the sail cover yesterday and finished it today. Rick is ALMOST finished the freezer. He just has to finish insulating the lid and then hook it up. He already took the instruments out of the helm station and picked up the stuff to redesign and rebuild it.

Today is unusually cold. We started out in shorts and I stayed up in the sewing room all day so I didn’t realize it was getting colder. Of course it started raining which didn’t help. Gail and I were working in the sewing room. TJ came in to deliver a box to her, and said, “Only a bunch of Canadians would be sitting here with the door open. I’m freezing my butt off!” I said, “She’s not Canadian – she’s wearing a sweater.”

We tried to face-time Aunt Muriel last night and we couldn’t get through. Probably everyone here was on the internet, and Rick sucked all the data out of our hotspot downloading NCIS and Bones. I was going to try today but I forgot.

So we’ll try again tonight. [that’s heads up, John]

I can’t believe tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and we have nothing planned! Maybe I’ll organize a dance in the common room, ...or not.

I gotta make supper now, so I’ll post some pics and get at it. Ttyl

for some reason I can't post pics tonight so I will try again tomorrow

Dec 26-28 catch-up

December 26/27/28

So Boxing Day...not sure what we did. It rained a lot here and we worked on the freezer, and other stuff. Rick and I went looking for a bunch of odds and ends... nothing! Gail and I went shopping too for bits of groceries and odds and ends. We were a little more successful.

We have been bumbling around for a couple of days adjusting and readjusting the freezer box. The first time he built it, it wouldn’t fit through the door into the pantry. So he cut it down and we re-fibre-glassed the corners. That took a day to set up. Then when he brought it down, it wouldn’t fit into the space... it was too tall to drop into the hole. So we cut it in half and now it is installed. The cold plate is bent into shape and we are getting ready to cut the access and feed the pipes through. We should have a working freezer by tomorrow...or the next day, or...

OH yeah, Boxing Day was also Steak night at the bar.  We met some more travellers and had a great talk. They are from up the coast, in Maryland[?]... Mary & Joe, and Rick. They sat with us and we all exchanged stories.

I haven’t eaten this much red meat in YEARS...or drank this much beer! Gotta stop! But once we’re out of here, that will make a difference. It’s possible to leave!! This morning the big Endeavour cat called CAT left. They are headed south and we will see them somewhere in the Bahamas.

We went to the show last to see Night at the Museum. It was good to see Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams’ last film...a little sad too. I had a small popcorn this time!

Today we are going to a Gullah restaurant... traditional slave food, [no slaves  serving]. It will be seafood boil, rice and peas, probably some bbq goat and corn of some sort. It’s the spices that make the difference. Looking forward to it. I suspect it will be a lot like the places where we ate in the lower islands when we went to get the boat. Gullah is the language that developed from French, English and the African native languages when the slaves had to learn to communicate. A whole culture grew out of the language.

Tomorrow the car goes back to the rental agency so we will be limited in what we can get while walking. I hope the freezer will be ready, I want some frozen vegetables! I don’t have enough frig space for all the fresh stuff and it keeps getting warmer!

So will let you know what happens at the restaurant later today!

Christmas Day

We had a great face-time visit with the kids and Liz and Geoff [ ok- not Geoff, he was sick.] And I talked to Jack and Joe & Ted, who is on his way to Calgary to visit with Barb and her kids for Christmas.

Christmas day was fun. We packed a lunch and dove to the beach. There were lots of people out there is coats, hats, boots. We were in short pants and bare feet. We wandered around for about an hour, I tasted the water, and then we went back to the car to find a bathroom! Christmas Day, everything closed including the washrooms!!! We decided to hit the 4:00pm show...good idea. It didn’t start until 4:30 so we had lots of time to get our seats and stuff. We didn’t have time for our picnic lunch so we ate a gallon tub of popcorn ($3.50)...with FREE refills. Good thing... Mark had an “accident” and lost half of his before the show started. Into the woods was VERY cool...funny, fast and little bit opera but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


We came back to the Marina around 7:00 and had our picnic lunch in the common room, which worked better than the beach...no sand in the sandwiches.
Guess what...they don’t have Boxing Day down here!! It’s just another shopping day... it’s not a holiday!  So we’re trying to convert them.

Hunting Island Beach

Water's not cold

Rick with the GoPro

Driving thru' Jurassic Park to get to the beach

Shrimp boats not working

Picnic inside

Christmas eve

Tuesday, December 23

So where was I?  Oh, yeah. Monday evening we got a note to say that the dinner would be Tuesday at 4pm. That threw a screw into the plans, so Gail and I went to get groceries. I needed the ingredients for cheesecake and more sweet potatoes. Rick drove because I’m not comfortable driving in the dark here.

This morning I made up the crust and put it in the ice cooler on the dock. Then we went shopping to look for tablecloths [I said I would get some paper ones] and Rick was looking for lifters for the freezer top.

It was so foggy that you couldn’t see either end of the docks! And the tide was so high we walked DOWN the docks to get to the mainland! When it’s low, you need a ladder to get off the docks! These floating docks are amazing!

It has been cloudy and drizzling since Sunday but today as we were all carrying our dinners up to the common room, it poured!!! And it rained hard all through the dinner, but we had a good time anyway.

Dinner was over around 6:30 and we all headed back to our boats, but we decided that we would go to the show. No-one wanted to go with us so we went to see the Hobbit. It was great but, in retrospect it was mostly special effects, a lot of fighting and then it was over. Those actors must have been beat by the time they finished the shooting. It will be nice to have the whole series and watch it in the proper order...someday when it comes out in video.

So Wednesday morning, Christmas Eve.

I guess everyone is scurrying around for last minute stuff. I am picking up the material for the sail cover and starting that today. Rick will finish working on the freezer and start the helm station while the epoxy sets up.

People keep asking us when we are leaving, and when we tell them, they laugh! This place has another nickname besides Hotel California: The Velcro Marina.

Last night was wild and stormy, and the dinghy was full this morning. The clouds are ripping across the sky but they are breaking up and I’m sure tomorrow will be clear as predicted. It is supposed to be 70 degrees tomorrow [17C?] and sunny. Today is already warm and we are sitting here with the door and hatches open. It is still raining and we can hear thunder. Cool! The wind is howling through the rigging and reminds me of snowstorms!

I have been slogging back and forth through the rain from the boat to the workshop and back... in wet shorts and t-shirt and bare feet. It’s great !!!

We’ve probably had 6 inches of rain today, but it’s not cold and blustery. It’s warm and muggy! What a change!

We are going to pack a picnic lunch tomorrow and head out to the beach on the barrier islands and watch the ocean; then we are going to drive around and see some of the places our plantation tour didn’t show us.  If it’s still raining tomorrow we can go to the early show at 4pm and still be back in the boat and sleeping by 8:30!

So Merry Christmas, everyone. We sure miss you and wish you could be here with us!  Have a wonderful day filled with food fun and family...that’s what it’s all about!

Merry Christmas Auntie EM!

quit drooling guys

T.|J.  current marina manager

Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner

Workshop

Building the freezer

More boy toys