Floating Again

The captain putting our dinghy Goldberry together.


After a busy day of getting ready to launch it was time to ride the travel lift to the launch well. It is always exciting to see Celebrian picked up, moved across the yard and gently put into the water....all 12 tons of her! Once in the water the boat has an entirely different feel from being on the hard. We filled the water tank and Phillip, bless his heart let us hose Celebrian down with fresh water and didn't charge us for the water. We pay 20 cents a gallon for water to fill our tank so that was very nice of him. Water is a precious commodity in a country that is very dry and surrounded by the ocean. Abaco Yacht Services collects rain water over the summer season when it usually rains more; however this year they had an especially dry and hot summer. We take water for granted in Ontario because we are surrounded by large fresh water lakes. One only has to live on a sailboat for a few days in a salt environment to begin to treasure and appreciate fresh water. Everytime I come home and look out at Lake Huron I can hardly believe it is fresh water.

Rob installed our new water pump so we are now not only able to use our new foot pumps but we are able to turn on the tap and have water....what a great concept and one that we take for granted in our homes.

Today's first job after making love to the batteries is to get the new yankee sail on before the southwest breeze picks up. The main we can put on in some wind but the yankee needs calm conditions. So far the day looks good so we should be able to get all the sails on.

The captain thought his allergies were acting up yesterday; however today his voice is scratchy and he feels like he is coming down with a cold. This does not bode well for the admiral because there is no where to escape from a sick partner on a sailboat. Here is hoping that my antibodies are up to snuff and can hold this virus at bay. Flying in a tin can of recyled air is no doubt the culprit.

Since we have arrived at the boat yard the power has been off and on several times a day. I just went to post this blog and realized that Bahamas Wifi is not able to broadcast their wireless signal. I guess that means I have to start my next job...polishing the stainless before the bimini goes on. The captain's next job is putting in our hot water tank again. Crystal took our tank to Marsh Harour for us and had it welded after we left last year. The folks here at Abaco Yacht Services are really great people.

It's the Journey not the Destination

Over our last few years of travel we have had a few challenges now and then; however this morning's trip from Bayfield has to be near the top. Brian, our shuttle driver picked us up at 4 am and eight hours later we arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. We tried most of the back roads and finally ended up going over to London and along the 401 to Windsor. We passed dozens and dozens of cars and trucks in the ditches. We kept hoping that the weather would let up but we didn't get our break until an hour out of London on the 401. Hindsightot says that we should never have left Bayfield; however hindsight is always 20/20. As Rob reminds me we are safe and warm and poor Brian has to make the trek back to Goderich. Needless to say we missed our flight but we were hopeful that we could catch another one this afternoon. I knew the choices would be poor; however we now have seats on a flight to New York with a change of planes and on to Fort Lauderdale....arrival time midnight. For this pleasure we handed Spirit another $600.00. Then it will be a very short sleep at The Ramada and up at 5:30am to catch our Yellow Air Taxi to The Abacos. It feels a little like an endurance expedition so far but in a couple of days and a good night's rest things will look different. Besides, how often do you get a chance to have dinner in New York?

It would seem that it is just one of those days. We were paged and told that a number of items in our checked luggage have been removed as they are deemed hazardous. Losing our water maker lubricant is a bummer and we can not replace it in The Bahamas. They also removed our stainless steel polish, polyurethane sealant, butane lighter and a tiny key chain torch. Just the price we pay by flying instead of leaving the boat in Florida and driving down to her. And one more thing....the flight to La Guardia is delayed so we have to hope that we get there in time to make our connection. As for now we try and amuse ourselves by reading and people watching.

Our flight to New York was delayed two hours and we were fearful that we might not make our connection to Fort Lauderdale; however as it turned out we rushed to connect with our flight just to learn that the plane to Fort Lauderdale was delayed by two hours. Weather related problems were causing flight delays to and from Detroit. By the time we reached Fort Lauderdale the shuttle to our hotel was no longer running so we had to take a taxi. We collapsed into bed at 1:30 am just to be jolted awake at 5:30am for our Yellow Air flight to Treasure Cay, Abaco. There was just one other passenger on our plane so once again we were lucky and all of our luggage made it on to the Cessna. All of our luggage but Rob's electrice toothbrush that is. What else can happen? We were a little concerned about getting through customs but we were three times lucky and had no problems with our boat laden luggage including our brand new yankee sail. Treasure Cay is definitely the best place to check in to The Bahamas.

We took a taxi to the grocery and liquor store and then off to the ferry dock for our trip across the Sea of Abaco to Green Turtle Cay. We arrived at Abaco Yacht Services around noon and spent the rest of the day opening up the boat and getting things on board. Celebrian's circus tent had stayed on this year; however she is very dirty under the tarp with no rain showers to wash the dirt off. Evidently this summer was very hot so she got a good baking. We were so exhausted by dinner time that we made an emergency meal....Kraft dinner and washed it down with copious amounts of Kalik (Bahamian beer and California White Wine)! After eleven hours we awoke to a sunny and pleasant morning. Another long day of cleaning, organizing, unpacking and fixing in preparation for our launch on Friday. The captain installed two new foot pumps...one for the galley and one for the head. The galley pump failed near the end of our cruise last year and the head pump failed yesterday....good thing the captain always brings spares of everything. Today the captain is putting in our new water pump so that we can fill up with water at the dock. When you are your own public utilitie's commission it can be challenging at times. We are also charging our batteries which is in itself a very detailed process. Rob calls it making love to the batteries.

Lots to do so I had better get back to the admiral's list of jobs!

Dressed for The Bahamas

Courtesy of our good friends and cottage neighbours Doug and Jane we have new outfits for The Bahamas this season!?!? We will get lots of wear out of these new clothes at the cottage as well. It kind of reminds me of The Emperor's New Clothes?!

The next blog entry will be from The Bahamas. Winter well everyone!

Chrissymas Celebrations Continue

Rob's special Christmas present...The Hartley Cottage Book



One can really see by looking at the pictures side by side the amount of work that has been done on the building. I hope that my mom is as excited as we are to spend some time there next summer.



The book that I made for Rob on line was dedicated to my mom and dad and the picture shows the three of us sitting at the front of the cottage in 1957.





Rob and I decided to open a few gifts that were too large to travel south with us. He has a brand new weather station that is wireless and we will mount it on top of the roof of the cottage. We will now be our own little weather station complete with wind speed, rain guage, barmometer,humidity and temperature. We each gave the other beautiful coffee table books...dolphins, an ocean atlas and the companion book to the DVD Sharkwater. They are beautiful books and we will have many hours of enjoyable reading to look forward to at the cottage.



Huronview hosts a Christmas Tea every year. We picked up mom's friend Jean and joined mom for the afternoon. There was no shortage of goodies and lots to sample. It was hard to say goodbye to mom; however I know that she is in good hands.