Happy After Christmas

And Happy New Year!!

So it's December 29 and we are anchored in the very small harbour of Great Guana Cay.

We left Green Turtle on December 27 and made it across the "Don't Rock" Channel [ 3 feet at low tide] and slipped into the harbour with no problem. We started walking up to Nipper's Bar when Bill Gravelle passed us, and we stopped to talk. He said he was on his way to the house and we should go up to the bar and wait for him. He came back with Annette and we talked for a while. We said we were going to stay there for supper, so he brought Casey back after supper and Todd and he talked a bit…both were shy so I adjudicated the conversation, but they decided to meet up the next day.

Todd went off with Casey for the afternoon and Rick and I went up to the bar for a swim on the ocean side and a dip in the pool…it's all salt. We had a drink and then decided we needed to eat some fries, so we could actually walk after the drink!

We met Johnny and Todd at the end of the road. We came back to change so we could go back to the beach for the Golf Cart Parade, and the anniversary party afterwards [Johnny and Janess' 21st] About 100 of their friends and relatives…great food, lots of music and fireworks that were awesome!

Tonight the menu is "Chicken-in-a-bag" …not sure what that means but tomorrow we need to stay HERE And eat!

This afternoon, the winds got up to around 15-20 knots and I stayed on the boat while Rick and Todd went snorkelling.  Todd is getting really good at driving the dinghy…needs to get his license when we get home!!! DAD!!

We are supposed to go back to Green Turtle for New Year's Eve, but the family wants us to stay here and be their guests at the party, so we'll stay here, go back on New Year's Day, weather permitting and watch Junkanoo. AS soon as the weather clears at the end of the week, we will start heading south for Exumas.

On an unhappy note: if you have ANY influence over the educational life of a child, please check out their progress and put pressure on the parents/ schools/ teachers to get real!!!! I am staggered at how long Todd was allowed to coast through his school life with absolutely no assistance/ control/ pressure. It is devastating to think of what will happen to him in Grade 9 if I cannot help him learn grade 4-8 spelling/math / grammar and writing skills before May next year.

It is criminal that we let kids pass and don't hold them back when they can't do the work because "we don’t want to affect their Self-esteem" --that is teacher-speak for "I'm too lazy and get paid too much to give a shit!"  

If there is such a need for special teaching assistants is it because there are so many more functionally disabled kids? Or maybe the school curriculum is inadequate???Or maybe the teachers are incompetent??? Just sayin'… Perhaps instead of school trips to farms, museums and baseball games, they should be having extra math and English lessons. I didn't need to go to a museum to distinguish between mummies and totem poles; or visit a farm to learn the difference between cows and chickens, did you?

Okay..rant over…Happy New Year and wherever you are, stay safe and warm!

 

Golf cart parade

Nippers Bar

Bill and Annette

Nippers Pool& Rupert's cabins

Sculpture garden Green Turtle

Merry Christmas!

December 25

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yesterday we had a great time with C-Soul and Jande, [formerly Windreka]. Good food, good friends, good laughs!

Christmas Eve dinner on C-Soul

Santa found him!

Christmas Eve

In our backyard!

Christmas dinner lineup

Still have our Christmas vests!!

First starfish

First live sea urchin

Today the plan was to hang out at the pool at Bluff House which was supposed to be closed. We were going to go over at 9:30 and then at 1:00 pm heading to the giant potluck on shore.

Around 10 am Te Amore [aka Mr. & Mrs. Claus] came by with goodies for everyone.  Shortly after that Beguiler came by with more goodies!

We hooked up with C-Soul and went over to Sundowners for our Christmas potluck dinner. It was a great potluck organized y Jan and Cam on TeAmore and assisted by Brenda on Beguiler. Lots of good food, including the lobster chowder made by Jan. {I'm not a seafood fan but it was really good! Todd liked too!}

After dinner around 3:45 we headed back to White Sound and went over to the pool at Bluff House and swam for a while. Then home to bed. What a busy day but it went so fast!!!! Tomorrow we'll go and have more fun!

The Crossing

The Crossing

It was amazing!

We got down to Lake Worth and anchored. C-Soul arrived later that evening and we were making pans to cross in the morning.

Shh! Don't tell anyone but Todd drove the boat through West Palm Beach - Lake Worth!!
we woke up at 2:30 am too hyped up to sleep, so we got up, did slow prep and at 3;45 turned on the engine. C-Soul's lights came on at the same time and we all started out the inlet.
Todd sprang into action, because he thought it as cool to sail in the dark. But when the sun came up, he went down!

With the new prop on, we were smokin'! We left C-soul behind us and for the first time ever, we actually passed boats!! When we crossed the Gulf Stream, we averaged 7 knots! and at one point I saw 12 on the GPS!!! Almost scary!!

We made it across in 8 hours! That's 4 hours faster than our fastest time! Everybody wants to rename the boat "The Rocket.' We went so fast we stripped off our new stripes! LOL

We took two days to get to Green Turtle. First night we stopped 8 miles from Mangrove Cay. We stopped only because we were tired and waited for C-Soul to catch up!! But that was a  75 mile day and we still stopped at 4 pm. The water was dead calm and  there was no wind. Rick and Todd went swimming to check the anchor and other things!

We are anchored in Green Turtle Cay! Safely checked in and all legal with Customs. We met up with Jande, [Diane and Andy] C-Soul [Mark and Gail] and Modaki [Joe and Yvonne - friends from Owen Sound]. Had a VERY long lunch at Miss Emilie's and we all returned to our boats. We will go back to town tonight around 6 for the golf cart parade and food at the basketball court! We plan to stay here and participate in the Christmas Eve potluck, the Christmas Day potluck, and Violet [the owner of Miss Emilie's ] thinks we should stay for the New Year's Junkanoo. She says Todd will love it.

This evening we went to the Golf Cart Parade. It starts with lots of food, drinks and social time, then the kindergarten kids came out and sang Christmas songs. We met a few new people, hooked up with old friends from previous years, even neighbours from Owen Sound.

When the parade started some woman grabbed Gail and I and asked if we would help judge the Gold Carts. She didn't explain that we would be the ONLY ones! It was a great time! 

Today we will have Christmas Eve dinner on C-Soul, with Jande and tomorrow we will have a potluck Christmas Day Dinner with the boaters at one of the bars that lets us use the place when they aren't open!

Calm waters!

Beautiful morning!

ON the Move - December 17

Sunday we left Riverside at 8 am and tuned the corner to Harbourtown Marina for fuel and water. By 8:30 we were in the river heading south. At 12:45 we were anchoring [attempting to anchor ] in Manatee Pocket. Last year that took all day!!! New prop!!! We sat and enjoyed the calm, well...not really. There is a no-wake rule in here the Pocket and for the most part people obey it, but there was a constant parade of boats. The ICW was vicious and we are hoping that we can be out of it before the holiday weekend starts.
Todd spent some time playing with his boat but somewhere someone else had a remote with the same frequency and he almost lost it!! He can try it again on the islands.
After dinner we sat in the cockpit enjoying the Christmas lights all around us. We have lights to put up the mast but the batteries can't handle it and our wind generator needs a little TLC to get it moving again...very stiff right now...probably from a summer of being tied off and dust from the yard in the mechanism. Today we will have lunch with Bill and head to Peck Lake tonight. Tuesday we will be in Lake Worth and Wednesday...crossing !!!

He watched us leave the Riverside dock

Swabbing the decks and securing the diesel cans

Running the boat

Our morning wake-up whistler-and he's the little one

Finish painting the dinghy

it came back!!!

We are off the ground!

Okay, this is a bit of a cheater...this was our Christmas card in 2014, feeling pretty smug. Of course it turned out that we spent Christmas in Lady's Island S.Carolina, with C-Soul, our boat buddies, but this year its' mostly wishful thinking!!! We hope to be on an island for Christmas...ANY island!

We were launched on Friday at 12:45  after I had a complete meltdown on the crews that were planting boats in the middle of the road. blocking once again. Rick promptly had us tied up to the pilings so we could shop...naturally he directed traffic and made me back up onto a sandbar, so tonight [Saturday] we are still here because we missed high tide today. Tonight we will drift down the dock pilings to deeper water...its' dark and we are not trying out the Channel n the dark.  ICW is VERY shallow and narrow now.
Tomorrow at 7 am we will go under the bridge, get fuel and water and head south to our jump off spot.

And in case we run out of data, here's a Christmas card for you: Have a joyous and Merry Christmas filled with love and laughter, and stay warm!

Our Christmas Poem 

T’was the night before Christmas and out on the boat

The Schultz’s were sleeping ...no blanket or coat!

The boat was decked out with all manner of light.

Fake flamingos and pelicans lit up the night.

Their stockings were hung in the palm trees nearby

In hopes that St. Nick would see them from the sky.

All through their slumber, warm breezes did blow,

But they dreamed they were back home shovelling snow.

They dreamed of snow banks, of snow ploughs and ice,

Of snow tires and ditches, tow trucks...not nice!

They awoke in the morning and sighed with relief,

Jumped into the water and swam to the beach

To check out their stockings. A note they did find:

“It’s coal this year, Schultz’s for leaving everyone behind!”

They looked at each other, then grinned and shrugged.

“Sorry we’re not there, y’all, but here’s a BIG HUG !”

December 12

Christmas 2017

T'was the week before Christmas, and in the boat yard
The Schultz's were huddled, still up on the "hard."
Poor Todd, who was with them, was upset because
He could either go home, or wait here for S.Claus
They'd fought ants and noseeums, mosquitoes all round
And now they were freezing - a cold front dropped down!
No snow for some fun, but no swimming at all;
They waited and waited for the travel lift's call.
"Dear Santa, please help us!" was their fervent plea,
"We want to spend Christmas in Green Turtle Cay."

So we are still waiting to be launched. We have done everything we could to get ready, and no amount of screaming, crying or whining will get us in the water sooner. We tried this morning to go to see the SpaceX rocket launch but it was cancelled. Luckily I checked at 6:30 before we took off. we will shoot for tomorrow although it's going to be even colder and probably cloudy.I'm beginning to feel like Eeyore. And there's stuff I can do, but it's like "Oh, well...another day."

It's been so cold here we bought comforters and heaters for each of the rooms. Can't use them when we launch but hopefully we won't have to!! Last two nights have been 3-4 Celsius. Last night the heaters kept the rooms at about 8.C. progress...

So we wait. the problem is the owner is in court fighting with his sisters. I find that very sad. And the sisters are sabotaging his efforts to get his customers into the water...parking a truck in front of boats to be moved, paint thinner in the travel lift oil.The son could try to move us but Dad is afraid they will try to sabotage his efforts and he's not quite licensed yet.  

So we wait ...I won't say Merry Christmas yet...hopefully we'll be in a happier place that day! ttyl

December 3

December 3

OMG! Already...time sure flies when you're having fun! NOT!!!

We are still trapped in a sea of boats. There are more boats blocking us now than before, and there is ongoing drama here...travel lifts that mysteriously end up with paint thinner in the fuel, cars parked behind boats to be moved and the owners are nowhere to be found, on and on and on. The issues are supposed to be resolved "in the next two days" but the weather windows are closing more quickly and its getting very tense here for ALL of us.

We are ready to go in the water...that is, we could be launched at any time...not all jobs are finished and we keep making up more things to do but we could sail away tomorrow if we could get into the water. We are in a long line of desperate boaters who want to be launched but as long as we are over there by Christmas, I will be happy.

We cleaned up the drive after we re-sealed it, and I painted it with the rubberized paint for roofs and eave troughs- this is the stuff they advertise on TV by painting a screen door with it and floating it like a boat.  Well duh!! If it works that well, I'm going to repaint the whole damn boat next year!!

I painted the cockpit a buttery cream colour...cuts down the glare from the sun and the horizontal [walking surfaces] I re-painted with Behr's white porch and floor.  If I can get the crap out of it and when the new cushions are finished I will post a picture.

Today I will finish painting the decks and Rick and Todd will sand the hull. By tomorrow we will have a new shiny yellow boat!

We took Todd to the show last week to see "Thor:Ragnarok". The theatre we went to has reclining seats, snack delivery to your seat and was stupid expensive ! But it was fun and we were the ONLY people in the theatre! They even went out to get Keurig cups and brewed coffee for us!

C-Soul arrived and we spent Thanksgiving at their marina - full spread including wine and beer ! It was delicious!!  Mark and Gail came over the following week in their motor home 'on vacation' and we drove to Vero Beach to visit Bruce and Gayleen [Pearl] in their posh marina!  We all went for dinner at Mr. Manatee's and had a great time! Mark and Gail stayed up there and the next day drove down to see us on their way home to Indiantown.

Mark and Gail have the same boat as Beguiler, Rob and Brenda, and they met last year.  After visiting we all decided to go out for dinner, and Jan and Cam [Te Amore] and Gary [Breakaway] came too. It was a hoot and we all watch Todd eat a bucket of sliders. I was not at that end of the table or I would have interceded but he actually got a tin pail with fries and 6 sliders sitting on top. Probably explains his current indigestion problem. I am trying to revise his diet but not having a lot of luck.

Before we left Canada, he bought a new book called "Timeless" He's read it twice now, about 600 pages [50-75 of which are pictures].  Jan came by yesterday with 5 more books for him to read, one of the Percy Jackson series and another series that looks really fun. So he has 5 new books to read.

TeAmore has left this morning; Beguiler is supposed to be dropped in today, so we will have no coffee breaks with them now.

Today we are going to get as many jobs done as possible. I am still working on the dinghy but I can't reach the top side. We painted it yellow and blue. Rick says we should put "IKEA" on it!  I just might!

So gotta go...hope this was enough news for you guys. I am hardly near the computer these days, too much work and the only thing I see to do is read other people's posts and deal with Regatta stuff!

ttyl

 

Can't even SEE the road! Help!!

Boat jockeying to get others out!

Solar light made from glass dishes - not really bright but pretty!

WEEK 2 ?

Week 2...3...? I think...uh, oh I've already lost track of time here!

So the boat behind us is still lying down however they have removed all of the boats that were parallel parked on the road, allowing only the smallest of vehicles through to our end.

The Canada Geese are starting to gather! Dianne and Goran [Pepa - London] are here. Jan and Cam [Te Amore -Nova Scotia] arrived a couple of days ago. We met Susan and Ken on Whiskey Jack - Toronto- yesterday as they were being launched, and our new friends on Largo Yves and Claire - Montreal- are working on their boat as well.

Rob and Brenda [Beguiler- Kingston] arrived last Friday as we were getting ready to leave to go to North Carolina. We talked for awhile, gave them our ladder and helped them hook up to our extension cords so they would have power, and then we left.

We only went as far as Daytona because it was late and we were trying to get some of the 8 hours covered before Saturday. MISTAKE!  We barely managed to find a room - it was a special events weekend...MUSCLE CAR SHOW!  Todd was happy; he looked out the window and named every one he could see. They were all souped up and driving like they were already on the track!

Saturday we arrived in Charlotte by 4 pm. Traffic was nuts but we had no problems in the road. Ross had cooked a pot of awesome ribs and made salad and baked potatoes. Carol was away for the weekend so we missed her. We spent the evening and the next day playing Skip-BO and a 5-dice game. Todd had a great time with him. So did we. We left around 3 pm and drove as far as Orangeburg,  South Carolina where we stayed for the night.

In the morning we drove to Jacksonville to meet Cheryl and Will [Varua] and picked up some more school supplies for Long Island. Cheryl has managed to send 8 boxes of runners to St. Thomas V.I.  Apparently they still don't have power to the whole island. After we left them we drove on to St. Augustine, to Sailor's Exchange and I picked up material for the cockpit cushions which are in desperate need of new covers. It wasn't what I wanted but for $8.00 /yard [normally $25-$35] for Sunbrella,  I can live with it!

We spent the week trying to get the bottom ready to paint...not easy when it rains constantly. I know you guys up there are dealing with snow, but you can sit inside a warm house and curse or you can go outside and play in it.

But Wednesday we were excited to get to see the launch...cancelled due to weather, so we went out and got new underwater lights and worked on the bottom. Todd and I went to the library to work...easier than listening to the ran hitting the boat.

Thursday we worked some more on the bottom. Todd and I washed the sanded parts and taped the water line.  We headed out to the launch site, lunch packed and cameras ready...got a half hour away and found that it was cancelled again. Turned around and came back to he boat.

So last night...good weather, sunny, calm we packed up again and headed north. We got up there, stopped for dinner and found a great location to watch...the 'employee's only gate to the Space Center. We parked and the guard came over and said, " You won't see much...it just got scrubbed...broken bearings in the launch pad. Next scheduled launch  - January"    CRAP!!!!

So - the boat- well, we're almost ready to paint. I can't hold the sander up high enough to reach the belly, so Rick has to do it. Feel bad about that but Todd and I will start to paint today. After he has finished the sanding, Rick has to photograph and draw an accurate picture of the drive plate...the pins holding the drive are rusted in and he needs a cobalt drill bit to get them out. Then we have to have a plate manufactured out of aluminum to support the brackets that hold the drive on because they are cracked. But next week is Thanksgiving here so that means that NOTHING will get done all friggin' week.  Todd and I will spend the week in the library arguing, while Rick works on the other unimportant jobs while waiting for the parts to reassemble the drive and then change the prop and THEN we will be ready... assuming that they actually move the boat behind us!

Mark and Gail are on their way down and we will probably meet them for Thanksgiving dinner in Indiantown.

Todd is doing ...okay. When we started working with his math skills I was horrified to find that he doesn't know the basics.  We played the counting game [dice] al weekend with Ross and that helped. Patterns he is good with and logic puzzle solving he likes, but he can't do the basics quickly enough. Reading is not bad but he can't do word searches. I have been trying to get him to work with pen and paper but it's like pulling teeth. I'm hoping that in the next few months it will get easier for him. He is reading an enormous book called TIMELESS that we found at a book store and he is also reading a book on the tablet called "11 tips for Writers" which he finds fascinating- ?!?!

Unfortunately I am an instant gratification person so I want RESULTS...probably why I didn't stay in teaching ...research is instant gratification...so as long as I don't alienate him completely I'm sure we will get to where we need to be eventually.  But right now I could cheerfully blow up the Grey-Bruce Board of Ed and everyone associated with it!!

So...back to work. ttyl

Cold? Not cold ?Can't decide

Sleeping on top of the rudder

Why you need a line cutter

WEEK ONE IN THE BOAT YARD

FIRST WEEK IN THE BOAT YARD

We arrived to find that the boat was still lying down in front of us. It was supposed to be moved "on Monday or Tuesday" It's still there. The owner came by Wednesday and said, "They're going to pick it up on Friday" But now there are so many bats parked along the road they won't be able to get a travel lift or a crane past them to get to it.

We are even closer to the trains this year and they run from about 8 at night to 8 in the morning, and they all sound ANGRY!! I think that engineers down here get to pick their air horns because no two are the same!

We picked up the bottom paint yesterday in Stuart and met a fellow boater, and my partner in the regatta organization. We went to a pace called Vesuvio's, a pizza place that is truly Italian...awesome pizza...2 huge slices and a large pop for $4.95!  Bill gave us a tour of his condo site, with a dock for his boat! Beautiful little trailers or modular homes and he owns the dirt! So no condo fees, just maintenance! Perfect! My idea of ideal living !!!

Yesterday morning Todd and I went on "water runs" to get drinkable water to put in the tanks after I cleaned them. It's amazing how much dust can seep into places that are supposed to be sealed!

Rick epoxy-ed the bottom of the dinghy so it has been renewed! Now we just have to paint it with hard white bottom paint. If we use any other colour or soft paint, it will scrape off on the back deck every time we lift it up.

We managed to find some UV protection shirts for all of us...long sleeved ones for walking around and short sleeved ones for swimming, so we will at least be covered!

We've gone swimming over at the ocean on the Navy Seal beach a couple of times to wash of the dirt and sweat. Todd and I played catch with the football a bit and walked the beach without saving too many shells!

The boat yard hasn't changed much. It's still dirty, dusty, and stinky. I can't imagine staying longer than month. But there are people here who have been here since summer, working on their boats. Every so often you have to escape, so this weekend we are going up to N. Carolina to see Ross and Carol, then we are stopping in Jacksonville to pick up some stuff from Will and Cheryl to take to the schools. We will be back on Monday night or Tuesday morning and then Wednesday we are driving back up to Cape Canaveral to watch a SPACE LAUNCH!!! It will be between 8-10 pm so it will look awesome. Hopefully the new camera will catch some good images!

During the few moments of 'free time' we will work on painting the bottom, change the propeller and seal up the drive unit.  Then we add the chain to the boat and attach the new anchors.  Sounds quick eh? It will take a week to get that done but once in the water, we are OFF! I imagine we will be finished before they get around to moving the other boats.

We hope to be on our way in a week or two...away from the mosquitoes, gnats, and ants!!

Day 3 across the border

Today was a bit exceptional. We drove from Duluth to Minneapolis to got to the Mall of America. We' d been there before, and we knew what cool stuff was there but Todd had never seen it. we spent about 5 hours there and then headed down into Wisconsin. A short day but fun.

Amazing lego

Todd was amazed

Millions of little pieces

So you CAN make a round shape with square blocks!

The gorilla kept us company at the Rainforest Cafe

Bumper cars...still a kid

Waiting for their turn at the Log Chute...Grampa looks thrilled.

Not a great shot but they were moving at mach3

Summer of 2017

Summer of 2017

Morning Julie & Derek...

And everyone else who has been waiting patiently for an update..First, I want to sincerely apologize to the people we did not manage to see this summer. I was looking forward to meeting the other Susan Erwin, my second or possibly third cousin [I really don't know how that works]. I wanted to see my aunt and cousins in Kenora,  but the weather crapped out. My other cousin, John and former work mates from Thunder Bay; my childhood friends were all people I wanted to connect with this year.

We barely had time to spend with the grandkids, because we were working this summer...so starting at the beginning...

We got back to Canada in June and went to see Rick's boss, who had been sending text messages all spring about WHEN he was coming back. Last year we lived with Jack in Alvanley, and Rick drove 200 km to work and back every day. Not good, so Jeff [boss, not our Geoff] gave us a 35 ft 5th heel trailer that was left for him to dispose of. We found campground 30 km from Tobermory and it turned out to be a great place to "camp". He trailer was charming...great appliances full functioning 3 pc bathroom, and a furnace!  We immediately made it ours by decorating and adding as much assorted "Stuff" as we could get out of the storage unit. Now its as cluttered as the boat so we feel right at home.

I managed to secure employment at one the busiest motels as a housekeeper. OMG by mid-July I was going home in tears I was so tired and sore! I was ready to quit but was determined that the kids working there were not going to beat me! I was old enough to be their grandmother [all of them] but would not let that hold me back. It turns out that I cannot wear shoes anymore! The bones in my feet have so spread out that i can't stand wearing regular shoes. So as long as I can work in sandals I am good to go!

We worked every weekend and had a couple of days off during the week, most of which were spent running down to Owen Sound for groceries and other stuff we needed.  

We worked until October 14th and then spent 2 days winterizing the trailer. After that we moved down to Jack's house and managed to get our doctor appointments, CAA, and other stuff organized. Then we got Todd ready for the trip.  The school wasn't very helpful but we are able to find all we need to get started on the schoolwork.

We left Owen Sound on Saturday October 21 and got to SSMarie late in the day.  We stayed with Chuck and Marilyn until Monday morning and then headed to Thunder Bay. We stopped in Nipigon and spent the night at Sue & Les's camp in Kama Bay, then went to Thunder Bay on Tuesday, where it proceeded to snow for a couple of days.  We were watching the weather channel [windyty.com] and the systems moving across from the west and so we decided that with no snow tires and a flimsy trailer we should not attempt the extra 1000 km.

This morning we left Thunder Bay and headed south. There was a lot of snow down the shore of Superior...much more than the City received.  There is snow all the way down to Minneapolis. The roads were a bit slippery and it was tense sometimes running up the hills pulling this little trailer, filled with hundreds of pounds of chain, anchors, sails and assorted other boat flotsam, and a fully inflated dinghy proudly bouncing on the top of it!  

We are currently in Cloquet, Minnesota. No issues at the border with Todd.  Probably wondering why we would bother to take on the responsibility of a teenager [again] but we had the proper papers so...  

Tomorrow we are heading for Minneapolis and Mall of America...Todd is a Lego kid, and that's were the best Lego stuff is! 

       

Reference for height!

Hwy 6 heading to Owen Sound

S.S.Marie Lake Superior

Wawa has a new Goose

THIS is why we didn't go west!

Across the border