End of Summer 2016

September 2016

OK the summer ended on August 31 and the temperature has not gotten above 25, or its so cold at night that by the time it gets to 27-28 the sun is about to drop behind the horizon.  We are living in a forest so it's difficult to see the sun sometimes.

The job is winding down. Sauble Beach turns into a ghost town after school starts and is only open on weekends ...literally.  Today being September 19 will probably be my last day. Rick; however, is working until the end of October so I have no excuse for not getting everything done that I had planned to complete this summer.

I had applied for two jobs at the local college: one was as a student advisor to the new students who were foreign or were first-family [who were the first in their families to actually attend post secondary].  The other was as a writing assistant to help students with writing essays in proper English. I got neither position. 

I think I was not acceptable firstly because when they looked at my resume which covered all of my post-secondary degrees and my Ontario teaching qualifications [public and high school], and looked at the dates, my age gave me away. Secondly, there were no typing mistakes in my cover letter and my resume, so that was a mark against me. {There were typos in the ad listing the requirements for the positions} And thirdly my B. of Arts, B. of Education, teaching certificate; having taught both high school and adults in re-training and being a published author did not equate to their requirement of some obscure certificate that said I knew how to teach English to adults. Oh well, I would have stayed the winter here, but maybe the Universe is telling me I don't have to now! [Besides, I was afraid Jeanne would have hunted me down...]

I am NOT without skills. I re-made the sail cover...gave up the lazy-jack idea and just made it better, and patched the wear spots. I completely repaired the spinnaker. Yeehaw! And we have lots of extra patching material. I have made up the UV strip for the small jib and if I can't get it sewn on, the sail-maker will finish it for me. Plus, I have done so many repairs to jeans, pants, shorts, shirts, and kid's clothes, I COULD have opened my own shop this summer ... hmmm ... next year?

We finally replaced the van. We had to when the strut fell through the engine compartment and sat on the wheel. I had been driving our old Kia that my brother bought when we left. Rick was driving at time the Tobermory Marine truck [a well-used Ford] and when that didn't work, he drove his boss's Cadillac XLR ragtop...very scary to drive a million dollar car that isn't yours...especially on gravel roads!!!

We search all through the Auto trader and various other sites; we scoured the yards of auto dealers here and even private offerings but there was nothing that was under $2000.00 that didn't need an equal amount of work and had less than 200,000 km on it. We finally went to London after a couple of false starts, to look at a vehicle at one of the dealerships.  No go; so we drove around London for a day, scouring their lots, this time with the dealer's agents or mechanics as guides. We passed one car in a lot and the agent said laughingly "You should take this one. It just came in yesterday...little old lady... only on Sundays."

It was nothing close to what we were looking for but it was a beautiful car: a 2000 Chrysler 300 M with only 72,000 km; only $3100.00. Not a mark on it: white with cream leather interior and it could do everything except make coffee. I sat in it, pretending I was a queen while I admired the elegant instruments and the faux wood trim...for about 45 seconds, and then slid back through the portal into the real world, where we continued our search for a van/truck/SUV in which we could carry shit without guilt.  We found another bargain and they agreed to pre-examine it before we bought it...just in case.

I drove back to Owen Sound because I had to work the next day but Rick waited for the SUV to be ready. Around 10 am the next morning, he texted me and said that it was junk and was being scrapped, so the hunt continued. He and my brother-in-law continued to look for another 'bargain'.

For some reason I was starting to obsess over that car. I bawled all the time I was making beds and cleaning toilets that day, trying to send him mental messages to go get that car. Completely not what we needed!! [I think I might have texted him once or twice...]

So we have this lovely luxury car that we could actually live in and it will kill me to park it for the winter! The mechanic who certified it told Rick it was a great deal and it would last us another 10 years. Aha! There's the justification! It is a $500.00 -a-year-car instead of replacing it every year for 1-2 thousand, right?  So the Universe provided the car instead of a job. Now if it would only let me win a lottery...

So many changes happening this winter too.  People changing boats; changing destinations. It feels like we are going back to a new community. I hope we see some of them back in the cruising community somewhere, and I hope we see all of the people on our land list before we leave, too!  It may take until Christmas but...

I got an email from the College yesterday to tell me that there was a job posting that I might interested in. OH LOOK, it's the same one I  already applied for...think I'll give it a second shot to see what happens. I can always say "no". And if it's offered, I can also take it for a while and if I don't like it, quit...not as if I need to replace it with anything.

See... not much news. It's more exciting on the boat!

Summer 2016

August 2016

The summer is passing so quickly!!  A number of people have commented that I have not posted anything for awhile, so here goes. This is not as exciting or interesting as being on the boat but you asked for it...

We are both working right now.  First it was to pay for boat repairs but after the accident...oh, wait, I didn't tell you about that...

Up at Palm Coast, after we hurriedly cleaned and packed the boat and managed to get away a day earlier [the mosquitoes were literally driving us mad!], I was driving and blew a tire! I managed not to hit and other vehicles in the four lanes on our side of I-95 but hit a guard rail!  There were two cops who passed us going the other way; one turned around and radioed (I assume) for back-up, and a few minutes later a highway patrol and state trooper pulled up behind us.  Before they arrived, Rick was trying to change the tire and every time he jacked up the van, the kack went throught he frame. Uh-oh...not good

Initially I wanted a job that did not involve decision making, personal interaction with strangers, or thinking of any sort, so I found a housekeeping job at a motel.  The pay is minimal but I don't care...the whole idea was to supplement the cruising kitty. I get about 15-20 hours a week, but it does two things: gives me money for boat repairs and keeps me fit!  I can completely clean a bedroom and a bathroom from stripping and making two beds, to completely washing the bathroom including walls and floor to vacuuming the whole place in 30 minutes. I am stronger now than when I started and still flexible!

I also made some boat cushion covers for friends' boat, which took about a week to complete.

Rick, on the other hand, is working at Tobermory Marine Services four days a week. He drives an hour each way and loves it! He's back in "his natural habitat...marine retail"!  He will be able to get the dinghy motors repaired and we can decide which one we want to keep. He will be there until haul-out in October.

We took the sails and the trampoline over to a sail-maker yesterday in Collingwood - K-Force Sails. He is replacing the edges of the tramp with an amazing material that is not sail cloth. It is a poly-vinyl that has reinforcing in it so that it cannot rip. We tried!! And it is UV protected so it will not get sun-damaged!  He also told us we should be using 303 Sun |Protecter on our fabrics to prevent sun-damage. He will look at the small spinnaker to see about repairing it and told us to get the measurements for him to see about building a new one for us that fits the boats.

I have started to make repairs to the sail cover. I am changing it so it can be eventually converted to a lazy-jack bag.

We are staying with my brother Jack in Alvanley. Liz's house in Hepworth cannot support 7 people on a full-time basis ...neither will my sanity. We have been working with him to get the Rockford house [mom and dad's place] finished so he can get it rented out. It's beautiful. If it were mine, I wouldn't let anyone else move in!!

[FYI - all these little communities are about 10-20 minutes apart...not really different towns; more like suburbs with farms in between ]

Quentin is back at home. He is also working part-time with me, actually. He does maintenance around the motel and he is also on the call list for another one and a roofing company.

The summer here has been horrible. At first, it was so cold I couldn't get warm. There has been no rain except for two days since we got back, and the whole area is tinder dry. At night the temperature drops to 10-12 degrees and it is freezing but in the daytime it goes up to 25. [For our foreign friends that's 50 at night and 75 during the day...25 degree change and it's tough on the body!!] 75 is not really hot but everyone here is complaining of the heat. If it's humid, it's worse and there is no reprieve. Apparently the water in the lake is still very cold. I wouldn't know...I have no intention of swimming until the water is 25-27 degrees [Caribbean warm]!

We expect to be back down in Fort Pierce by the end of October. We are taking the scenic route back: via Thunder Bay, Kenora, possibly Billings, Montana; Indiana and Charlotte NC. That should take about 3 weeks but we will see many of you that we have missed.

We finally got the see the last Star Wars...not impressed, but the Star Trek was awesome!!! And we managed to watch "The Martian". I loved the movie but the book was so much better!  It's a little scary how easy it is to fall back into old habits...watching TV, especially baseball games and favourite comedies. I still can't listen to commercial radio and I snarl at stupid drivers. I hate the City [Toronto] and the suburbs, love the countryside, but I still love the challenge of driving on superhighways.

I am waiting for a couple more things to happen but until they manifest I am not going to mention them. Suffice to say, there will be more news soon...maybe...or not.

Enjoy your summer, and stay warm...god knows I'm trying to!!

last days in the Bahamas

Well, we are back in Owen Sound....no more accidents/ incidents...except that when we were trying to get to London after crossing the border before midnight so my sister could go to bed, we came upon an accident and sat on the highway for about a half hour hoping we wouldn't run out of gas....uh oh...before we hit the next station. When the traffic started moving, Quentin said...quick gramma, toss out that God's eye so we don't get stuck in this. I decided not a good idea...I might hit the cop or toss it through his windshield!
We can drive it until we find a replacement....she ain't pretty but she still runs, and the gas mileage is good ...except that when I hit the guard rail I knocked off the gas tank vent and it slops out when you hit bumps. So we don't fill it up...and at $4.00+a gallon up here who can afford it ???
Today is loose ends day...phone card, find numbers, make calls ...we missed Ross and Carol in NC...so you can toss Quentin's shoes, pulleeeeze!
Miss all you guys from Bahamas...looking forward to hooking up later this year... Looking forward to catching up with our landlubber friends ...hugs to all!

heading across at sunset

crap...just a barracuda

A big unhappy barracuda

Barracuda leaving the boat

sea biscuit at Hawksbill Cay

Hello /goodbye Windreka

Jellyfish

JUne...going back north

June 4 Going backwards

We are in Fort Pierce. We arrived on June 2 at 12:20 am and dropped anchor at 2 am, so technically it was June 3. I called Homeland security  [both numbers} but no-one was home. Finally on the 3rd try some tired guy answered and said, "Phone back after 8 am when the system is up and running."

Coming in the inlet at the tide change was a nightmare!  We had 5 foot standing waves! It was like being in the perfect storm. We had to rev up the engine to maximum, which wasn't happy since it had been purring along at 2500 rpm  since 3 am the morning before. There were times when I thought we were going to tip right over!  To top it all ff, as Iwas handing over the wheel to Rick, and he sot into high gear, it occurred to me that we had been running since 3 am when he put 5 gallons in. As this thought crossed my mind, the engine quit...ran out of fuel. So Quentin shot out of the front seat, grabbed the windlass control, I yelled at him to drop the anchor and Rick stood t the wheel wondering what the hell happened...how could we be out of fuel???? We were in 30 feet of water with nothing underneath us but sand and angry waves. I took the wheel and steered us off the markers, Rick dump the last 5 gallons (what should have been extra, yeah, right!) into the tank and after 5 cranks, she started...god, I love that engine!!!

Have to re-think next year's entry inlet.

The day over started 3 am so we could get across with lots of time left. We started 18 miles inside the Bahama bank at Mangrove Cay, and headed straight to Memory Rock...just a big rock on the edge of the bank. We had the wind directly behind us and unfortunately we had torn the other spinnaker the day before, so we only had the heavy jib, but it worked. We managed between 4-6 knots most of the way but that was motor sailing. So let's back up to the last blog...

The week at Allen's Cay was amazing. We spent the time with a different crew and the scientists were an interesting mix of specialists all helping Dr. John for different reasons.

We were greatly appreciated, everyone told us, because we added enough knowledge, energy [that would be Q] and help to make the job easier! Nice to know...we were also invited back to the June, September and next May expeditions: will have to take a rain check.

We made it to Eleuthera and caught the tail end of thunderstorm ...33 knots while trying to anchor behind a tiny little island. We spent the next day heading into Spanish Wells where we met us with SeaYa and Luck-of-a-Fool. Had a great time visiting with them. A couple of days ater, we headed across the open water to Abacos. Quentin caught a huge Mahi-mahi [39 inches] and we got into the Abacos by midnight, when he finished cleaning and filleting it.

The next day we ambled up the is;and chain and ran into [almost literally] Salt Shaker...Ben had a boat full of boy scouts, but Daniel & Pace had already gone home. We met Janess and Johnny and we tried to wait to see Brody but the weather was threatening to close in by the weekend so we had to keep moving

We also hooked up with Windreka at Manjack Cay, our next anchorage, and had a two hour coffee break the next morning. We made to Hawksbill that night and the next day we got past Mangrove Island.

You won't find most of these places on any map; suffice it to say we kept moving to beat the thunderstorms that surrounded us. I don't know why we dodged the bullet on that...not once did we get rained on in the run from Eleuthera to Fort Pierce...of course the inlet fiasco was the universe's way of chastising me for smirking at not being hit by lightning!

So we are on the continent: it is stinking hot here and the miniature mosquitoes are vicious. I am doing laundry ...all of it, and Rick and Quentin are packing the boat. If we can get away by Tuesday I will be happy.  Dr. John invited us to visit in Indiana but we are going straight up to London then Owen Sound.

So, don't look for another blog for awhile. We will be visitng most of you at some point this summer. So you'll get personal accounts with more of the hairy details! Tt y'all later

Post Script

So, no-one wants to hear this but we are in Charlotte NC ...took longer than we thought because I had an accident with the van today... back tire blew and I hit a guard rail. we are all okay ...van is not but drive-able until we get it home.

I'm not superstitious but last year some very nice people on a European sailboat gave us a god's-eye for luck [they said] and since then we have gone through 2 derechos [mini-hurricanes]; lost two sails; lost the trampoline; had problems with the drive leaking; repaired -- still leaking; lost the wind generator; ran out of gas twice in the boat; ripped two spinnakers; experienced the mini-Perfect Storm in Fort Pierce; had a flat tire Atlanta GA on the way down last year, and now this accident...cops said not to report it...no injuries and the car will be scrapped when we get back.

I made the mistake, apparently, of bringing the god's eye with us on the trip home... should I just throw it out the window or give it away to some unsuspecting person and see if it;s cursed or just us???
Suggestions??? And don't say"sell the boat"!

Last days in the Bahamas

I have been really bad at posting since we got to Allen's Cay.

The iguana hunt went well, we all had a great time and learned lots more and met some fantastic scientists...snake specialists, turtle specialists, bird specialists. We were invited to stop in Indiana at the university to visit Dr. John on our way home.

We left there and made it to  Spanish Wells through a tremendous thunderstorm. We spent the night on a dock and had a real shower!!  We also went out to anchor the next night and met up with Sea Ya again !  The next day we all went for lunch and lso met up with Luck of  FOol...It was a great three hours.

We left and headed for the Abacos...long day crossing the NW Providence channel but Quentin caught a meter long Mahi-Mahi...good eats!!! So the time was worth it. we anchored at midnighte and finished cleaning the fish!

Headed to Great Guana Cay the next day to try to catch up with Windreka, and ran inton Salt Shaker!! Ben had a boat full of boy scouts, but his boys, Daniel and Pace had already flown bck to S.Carolina.

Met up  with Johnny and Janess at Nipper's. We anchored over night hoping to meet their kids, but weather made us move on.

Windreka had  moved over to Manjack Cay, where we met them that night and had coffee the next morning with Dane and Andy.

 There is a disturbance in the force coming this weekend Mon-Sat and we need to get a cross the stream to the USA before them so we will try an overnighter. If we can manage it, it will take 225 hours to cross from Mangrove Cay to Ft. Pierce. at our current  rate of speed....no freaking wind!!!

We need to get Quentin back to Canada to get his work complete, but if we have to we will change our dstination to Miami or Lake Worthto make th trip shorter, although it sounds like the US coast is doing a lot worse that we are!!

SO no more posts until we hit the state...about to loe the internet tower connection :)
HAppy trails and tt y'all later

May 11-13 YAWN... am I boring you yet?

May 9-13

Times flies when you're not paying attention!! We've beenhere for a few days swimming, watching the iguanas, picking up garbage,snarling at the boats who come screaming into the anchorage, with their stereosblasting, drop their passengers to harass the iguanas and then leave again.

Quentin has almost finished his whole English course and I have to say I have never read such a crappy course outline. ILC stuff is old and useless. He has had to read Romeo and Juliet in 2 versions: the standard Shakespeare version and one that is called "Manga"...Japanese anime' with the Shakespearian text but some of the speeches were shortened. 

One of the part questions he has to answer is: "Tell why you think the Manga version is not as good as the original version, by citing examples of things that were added, removed or changed in the Manga version."  How slanted is THAT???What if you like it better?  I'm not afan of the Manga version...don't like comic books, and old English spoken byJapanese just looks/sounds funny, but hey...you can read it faster!! Which isgood, if you don't like reading Shakespeare!

So, we have seen some really big rays and lots of crabs and fish. There are some needle fish or gar fish that hunt against the boat. They swim through the schools of little fish and slam them against the boat and suck them up.  There are silver-coloured fish that hunt with them or follow the rays to see what they churn up. We are very careful around the rays here. They are not used to humans.

The iguanas are like dump bears. They run out onto the beach as soon as they hear a motor. And if you don't have anything, they walk away. I was picking up garbage and because I had something in my hand, they were following me.

There is a pair of nesting ospreys here as well. They live on the western island in one of the few tall trees here. It's nice to see that the islands were not affected by the hurricane last October.

We have done some chores...repaired the mainsail with the rest of our sail tape and duct tape. It's 100-mile-an-hour tape and since we only go about 5-7 miles an hour, we're hoping it will hold until we get back to shore.

The wind generator is not working...no blades but there is ample sunshine right now...no clouds or rain...I probably shouldn'a said that...so we are good for power.

The seagulls here are as bad as seagulls at home only they are more polite. They come by every morning noon and evening to say hello in case we are eating. They will sit on the dinghy or the motor and talk to us...very quietly.

We were all alone here except for the big powerboats until yesterday when a small monohull called Wild Goose came in and sat near us. SO, the other end of the bay is empty, right? Then a huge 47 ft catamaran comes in and parks BETWEEN us. They are so close I can read the labels on their laundry! I don't live on a sailboat because I want neighbours!!! Crap!! Hopefully they will leave soon.

We went snorkelling n the deep water around the outside of the islands yesterday. Quentin and Rick tried to fish from the dinghy....didn't

Cutting a coconut ...with an audience

Swimming under the rock

Nesting ospreys

Driving home from the "store"

Hello, my name is George...got food?

work.  Have a good day, guys!

To Staniel Cay and Allen's Cay

May 5 In Staniel Cay
So we just sat... no, not sat..scurried around like scared rabbits... during a horrendous thunderstorms with 50+ knot winds and dragging anchors and shredding sails. But we are okay...wet and tired and we are preparing for another one scheduled for later today or tomorrow. Amazing Grace, Nauticuss and a couple of other boats are here: everyone is fine. Boats are clean and salt free!
OK, its evening. After the storm we asessed the damage: the main sail split but we an fix it with sal tpe when the deck dries. The staysail UV protection shredded, but we can get that fixed by a sailmaker. we lost the blades from our wind generator so we don;t have wind power and we blew the inverter,, so we don't have any AC power... computers cannot be charged so will probably lose the internet before we get another one. GRRRRRR!

But when it cleared up, Amazing Grace and Nauticuss took us to Thunderball Grotto and swam in there. Then we went to see the swimming pigs. Hopefully we will miss the next one. we will hang out here until we are sure.
May 6Morning! It's beautiful and calm and a perfect Caribbean morning...weather looks like its over, and we are getting ready to move on. The inverter re-booted itself so that's a plus...dried out, so I will stop cursing the companies who make boat equipment that is not waterproof. 

The sail is not a big deal. We do not use our main to drive the boat: it is more like a steadying sail. And our big jib was good. We can lay out the man and use sail tape or duct tape if we have to to get us back to the mainland.
Wind generator is a disappointment but the blades are easily replaceable and as long s we have sunshine we're golden!

Today we go to town to get some milk and bread; show Quentin Smethurstthe nurse sharks that hang around the yacht club for food and petting. Then head up towards Wardrick Wells or Shroud Cay. Days are looking good.

OK, Update...Quentin Smethurst has jumped ship!! Amazing Grace and Nauticuss are heading up to Allen's Cay today. So Quentin is on Nauticuss. We will be there in 2 days and will pick him up then. He is crew on Nauticuss for two days. Ross will take good care of him! Oh, and Ross made him bring his homework!!!

May 8

Ok,for those of you who are concerned, we have met up with NautiCuss today and we will take back Quentin in the morning before Ross leaves. He said Q could spend another night on his boat. He is leaving for the Abacos tomorrow. I will have a cool picture to post later today or tomorrow when I get it off Ross's camera! We will be here in Allen's Cay for about 12 days, then had north to the Abacos and over to Florida...should be there end of May.