October 20

Tuesday October 20

Congratulations Canada! A brave step! However, if you look at the 'map' of election results, the NDP now own almost half of the country by geographic mass. Makes you realize how unfair the division of ridings is!  I just hope that the majority government will improve the strength of the Canadian dollar.

So, we bought a kayak...at K-Mart! It was the cheapest one we could find [only $150.00] and it will give Quentin the ability to get to shore on his own when we are in the islands without taking the dinghy and stranding us on the boat! It's an 8 foot sit-on so it won't fill up with water and has a padded back rest, so it appears to be a fairly good one. Of course we couldn't try it out there...

Not a lot of work accomplished yesterday. It's taking a long time to get the paint removed from the drive. The marina owner suggested that we epoxy the drive and the prop, so it reduces the effect of salt water on the aluminium. But I have to scrape off the bottom paint first. The most effective way seems to be with just a piece of sandpaper and patience!

Today we have tore attach the transducer for the depth gauge. The compound let go so we will attach it with a stronger bonding material this time. We might have hit a log with it but...

So, it's hot and clear again although the winds are still high. That will make it unpleasant to paint but we will hopefully start on the bottom today. We are now on borrowed time and need to make the most of it. I would really like to get back into the water if only to make the freezer work so we can eat frozen vegetables. It's too hot and the fridge is too small to keep much in the way of fresh vegetables, so frozen is the next best thing.

Hiho, hiho, it's off to work ...

Monday Oct 19

Monday Oct 19

So... this is "Heave Steve" Day! Hope everyone got out to vote. We tried to when we were leaving London but couldn't find the advanced polling booth.  [Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad]

We didn't get the bottom done yet, but the lights are now in and trimmed up. We can start to prep for painting today.  We are starting to feel winter here. The last two days have been very windy and colder ...like 75-80, and the surf has been 8-10 feet...no swimming!

Saturday we spent a long time working on history and his English novel. We also made a plan as well,  and we are working on implementing it. But it takes him so long to "blog" that sometimes it's like teaching an English class at the same time!

I was sitting inside working with him and the wind blew a bee into the boat. It hit me on lip and I have had a fat lip for the last three days. It really hurt at first, but it's fine now. I had also stepped on one the other day. I hope I'm building an immunity to them!!

Quentin spent most of yesterday hanging out with Daniel and his family. We managed to get more prep on the bottom, and Rick put a floor in the hanging locker in Q's room to protect the wiring for the lights.

We went over to the beach to watch the surf for a while. Way down the beach we could see two heads swimming in the surf...crazy. A few minutes later, a guy came walking down and asked if we had seen two little boys playing in the water. We pointed out the two people barely visible down the beach and he wandered down that way.  He didn't quite make it that far, turned around and came back. I still feel sick that there might be two kids lost in the surf but he didn't seem too concerned!

On Friday we went to Round Island Park and saw dozens of manatees...sorry Todd and Tasha ...we didn't know about this place until Daniel's mom told us about it. It's breeding season so they were quite active and oblivious to all the voyeurs on the bridge watching them swimming around the lagoon. A couple of kayakers had a near miss... I guess kayaks resemble cool, coloured sea cows!  

Tunnel through the sea almonds to the Surf. Pepper Beach

In the storm surf

Manatees

Sometimes a 15 year old is still 12!

Hunting jellyfish

We lifted the tarp under the front of the boat to cover up some of the tools, expecting rain and found a red rat snake trying to hibernate under it. We couldn't convince him to go somewhere else ... he just kept crawling further under, so we will move him later today when we can find him a better home. I can't believe we never stepped on him for the number of times we've walked all over the tarp and dropped things on it.

No idea what we will accomplish today. It's still windy and cool but the sun is starting to heat things up. I'm sure we will go to the beach to check the surf again. When it's so rough that you can't actually see the horizon... those are the days I'm nervous about travelling on the water, but we won't leave until it's calm enough to make a 12-hour crossing safely.

  

I must be getting used to the trains... they don't wake me up anymore, but the ground [and boat] still shake when they go by. Work time...ttyl.

Saturday Oct 17

Saturday Oct 17
Yesterday was quite busy. We got the new vents installed over the pantry and the "den", or Q's room now. They are passive vents, just to let the heat out.  Rick cut the holes and I installed them.
 I also made the bug spray...this is bizarre but it WORKS!  I didn't let the beer go stale but I frothed it to remove the carbonation.  If you google it [I can't find the notebook where I wrote the formula] ... "mouthwash bug spray"...it will give you the complete instructions. I sprayed the boat and the ground around it and we have no mosquitoes here now. Everything smells like mouthwash or someone who's been drinking beer and chewing gum, but it 's safe and non-toxic. It doesn't kill them [I don't think] but they're gone!!!
We took the rudders off and drained them. Now we need to find out where the water was getting in. And Rick finally got the drive completely apart. I am scraping and cleaning the sealing surfaces and he is checking all the bearings.
We met Quentin's new friend Daniel's parents, Ben and Kerry. They have a 45ft. Morgan called Saltshaker, which is going in the water today. As we were passing the boat, they were trying to install the rudder so Rick stopped to help and I was talking to Kerry. She was also a teacher and worked with adults and high school kids, but they pulled their kids [Daniel 11 and Pace 8 ] out of school because she didn't like the quality or the dangerous conditions of rural schools in S. Carolina . they are also heading to the Exumas and we have been trading information about people and places. They are also friends of Adam, the sail maker in Lady's Island Marina!! Small world!
Today I will finish the screens, and cleaning the rudders. Quentin and I will start to paint the bottom, if Rick gets the lights fixed and installed and is ready for us. we went to Goodwill to find Quentin some shorts to wear for painting. I couldn't find a pair that looked bad so he has a great pair of shorts that cost $2.00. Maybe we can paint carefully so they don't get crapped up!
Rick is out there pacing, so it's time to go to work.

Moon Jellyfish

Friday Oct 16

Friday Oct 16

Wow time flies!  This morning is a bright red sky...not sure what that means but I hope it means a cooler day.

I finished sewing the screens for the rear ports. Quentin added the snaps and installed it with drill and screw driver. Now I have to finish the rest of them. We found a great garden sunshade that will protect the boat but it might also affect the solar panel output so we need to check that before we go ahead with it.

Yesterday Quentin learned to set up his own blog...painfully slow. His computer has some sort of virus that will not delete the pop up ads and will not let him hook up to internet properly. My computer recognizes my websites and thought I had forgotten that I had one so it wouldn't let me create a new website for him.  These things really are a curse! Finally we managed to get his set up and he spent the rest of the morning trying to insert pictures and post the pages individually. His new BlogSpot is;  QRSFC.blogspot.com [Quentin from Canada] He's a bit hyper right now and it comes through in his writing but hopefully we can revise that.

Of course he picks up on the oddest things...he figured out how to find out what search engines people view his blog from and where on the continent they live! I think he's more interested in how many views he's getting rather than what he's saying!

Rick got the drive apart and found our oil leak problem. The sealant we used [on the advice of Georgian Shores mechanic] had completely disappeared and there was nothing between the two sections of the drive housing, so every time we lifted the drive the oil dribbled out. |There was only a few metal filings in the bottom of the drive which we are going to assume came from the bolt when we chewed it up in the Trent last year  [see chapter on "Stuck in Trenton 2014"].

We went to Homeland Security office yesterday. We were going to drive to West Palm but decided to look up Fort Pierce since this is an inlet as well. Oh look, there's one here! We spoke to a really friendly man through a glass window [probably bullet proof] who reminded me of a character from a '70's TV show but I can't quite remember who...it'll come to me...anyway. He told us to go to the airport ?? and speak to Homeland / Customs & Border Protection there. We got the airport address and headed out...oops ...forgot to get the directions. Which way? Quentin spotted a plane that looked to be landing so we followed it. GOOD guess!

The fierce looking agent there [very large man with a very dark uniform and a very large gun] said, and I quote:

"Don't worry about it. When you are all ready to leave, come back and see me and we will give you an exit permit. Then you can get a new cruising permit when you come back."

Ok, how easy was that?!?!?

Today Quentin and I will work on the bottom while Rick fixes the lights. We should be able to be painted by next Monday or Tuesday.

I want to say thanks to all the cruisers who passed on my facebook message about helping in the Bahamas. My friend there , Cordell Thompson has arranged for trees to be imported from Jamaica to re-plant on Rum Cay and Long Island that were stripped by the hurricane, but needs help getting them over there. The people are also looking for small sundries like flashlights, razors toothbrushes etc. I linked up Cordell with the Waterway Guide so they will pass the message, and it's been great to hear the responses from everyone!

The Cruiser's Regatta organizers have also set up a facebook page Cruising for Relief.

Day 2 at the boat

October 9,  At the boat

We arrived today around 5:00 pm and went straight to the boat. It has been moved and is sitting not quite flat but seems ok. It is dry; the batteries are still up at max and the fridge was working perfectly. Tomorrow we start the clean up and organizing to get the painting done and the drive fixed.

It is very hot here and Quentin is finding it a little difficult to adjust but a few days of outside living will help. Tonight we went past the Navy Seal Museum and to the beach so he could see it. Then we went for dinner and to a hotel to sleep. I still need to do laundry and clean before we can sleep there.

Oh, and I forgot t tell you; coming into Atlanta Georgia yesterday, along the 5 lane-in-one -direction highway, a car passed us and pointed to our front tire. Mimed to us that it was low. So we worked our way across four lanes to get to an exit and find a gas station. As we rounded the exit ramp we passed a guy changing his tire on a cargo van. I said, "Wow, sucks to be him." and our tire blew! We managed to get onto a straight section of road and unload the entire back of the van to find the spare tire and the jack. Luckily it was fully inflated so we didn't have to put much air in it. However, we checked ALL the tire before moving on! Some nice young man stopped to help the old people but "we" were ok. I stood behind Rick and watched the traffic to make sure no one ran over him and Quentin helped take the old off and put the new on. Then we re-loaded the van. Beverly Hillbillies!!!

Tonight at the restaurant all the Hallowe'en decorations were put up and the owner had a special backroom put together to scare the crap out of the customers . And it did!!  a head that comes out of the toilet, a little girl whose head pops up with no face ! a couple of guys in an electric chair... it was really creepy!

SO tomorrow is the start of the next stage...

ON the road again!

October 8,2015

Well, hello. We are back on the road. We left Owen Sound on Tuesday and stopped in London overnight after I retrieved my shoes from the shoe repair shop in Oakville and we picked up "the very last" stuff we need for the boat.

We left London early the next day because we had to get moving to make sure we didn't spend any more time travelling than we needed. Good thing we left early...we were held up by US Customs. They could believe that a] the school would let Quentin go with us and b] his parents would give up custody for a whole year, so we sat and waited while they called Liz and Geoff to confirm the letter! Not sure what they asked or were told but  they let us go...convinced that Quentin had been expelled or suspended. They asked him if he had ever been suspended or expelled and if he was a trouble maker and they asked whose idea it was to take him for a year. ?!?!?

So yesterday we went through Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky; today we are don into Georgia and tomorrow we will arrive at the boat.  We left Ontario in jeans and sweaters: tonight we made an attempt at the outdoor swimming pool.  Didn't get all the way in but we tried!

Summer blog

September 6 2015

So, it's the end of summer as we know it, and I've been getting some flack about not posting recently.

In my defense [and I have several excuses] my computer died and I have been working on a new one. It's an Asus [ top of the line...could run a small city...blah, blah, blah...but I can't seem to make it understand that I just want to type documents in Word].  Did you know that it is no longer possible just to buy a program? You pay monthly for the privilege of struggling with some geek's idea of a joke-- Office 2015 or whatever, --who probably has never written in English in his life!...sorry, I'll stop ranting now.

Excuse # 2  [ and by the way, this keyboard sucks...you practically have to stand on the keys to get them to work...sorry...focus],  the kids were very high maintenance this summer!  We had a great time visiting every animal rescue / refuge center  in Florida. We spent hours every day at the beach in 100 degree F heat. We went to NASA and the NAVY SEAL MUSEUM [ Todd wants to join up, like, right NOW!]

We didn't get much done in the way of work but it was so hot that kids or not we couldn't have survived working on the boat for long every day. At night the mosquitoes were relentless, when it wasn't storming!  We had threats of thunderstorms every day [practice for hurricane season]. We had a couple of really good storms but it didn't slow is down and when we couldn't stand the heat any longer we went shopping...in any store that had  A/C!

When it was time to come home, we came up through the central states and via Kenora and Thunder Bay. It was great to see the people we managed to visit. For those we didn't get to see, we're sorry, but we just didn't have time. Besides the kids were frantic to get home by then. When we got to the ferry Todd was so anxious to get home, he was vibrating!

So that means that the kids have travelled through 15 States in the US. WE tok a highlighter and drew our route across three maps. Now we have to put them up on Todd's wall so they can see and remember everywhere we went.  Last night we watched all the videos that Rick took on the Go-Pro of them swimming and holding gross things!  I wish there was some way to turn that into a geography lesson, but our schools are so "anti-outside the box", it's practically impossible to make use of the information. I tried to convince the guidance counselors at the high school that the 2 weeks Quentin will be spending this winter working with biologists on the iguana studies [yes, doing that again!] would be great for his science credit, but they don't see it as part of the "curriculum" . I guess cutting up frogs is more educational than cleaning fish.

OK, so we are spending the month finishing up here in Owen Sound with appointments and downsizing and getting rid of stuff we now realize we don't need. We are also waiting for Quentin's course work to show up from ILC. As soon as we have our ducks in a row, we will head south quickly and get the boat ready to head off-shore, assuming the hurricane season has subsided.

I will continue the blog as soon as we are back into the sailing route. Apparently I am not as boring as I thought I was and some people actually look forward to reading this, so...thanks for that, and I will try to keep you all entertained :)