Fixing Things in Exotic Places

Today we awoke to no hydro at the dock we are tied up to. This is due likely to the high winds we are experiencing in this cold front. Now ordinarily this would not create panic; however we are at present relying on our microwave for cooking. The captain left the valve open on our propane tank last spring and the propane evaporated over the summer and ran out in the middle of cooking dinner last evening. The nearest propane dealer is a day trip by boat and through an ocean passage that in high winds is not passable. So.....we will use hydro while we are at the dock and then once we leave we will have to rely on Harry Honda Junior who runs on gasoline to run our microwave. Gratefully our dock neighbours gave us some gas to get Harry Jr. running and hot coffee saved the day. Gratefully the power has come back on. The captain, now that he has had his hot coffee is busy fixing things. For those of you who don't know the definition of cruising....cruising is fixing things in exotic places. We are not sure of what to tackle first...the battery holder for the propane oven...maybe not high on the list since we don't have any propane...or the water pump mechanism that allows us to foot pump water in the galley....the galley slave would appreciate not having to use jugs of water for too many more days. Are you getting the picture that cruising is not all pina coladas and sunshine? In fact today the high temperature is going to be low 60s and very little sunshine but afterall it is winter in The Bahamas. That is also why we will be heading south to the Exumas as soon as we can. We are hoping to leave Green Turtle by Tuesday or Wednesday and head to Marsh Harbour for provisions....least of which will be filling two tanks of propane and then once we get a weather window head south to Eleuthera and from there on to the Exumas where it is warmer. Lynn and Peter on First Edition are now in the Exumas having crossed from Miami with a stop in Bimini and Nassau. We are so looking forward to seeing them again especially since we were at one time fearful that my shoulder would not let us travel this year. I am still hopeful that once we are cruising and the boat jobs are fewer I will have some time to heal.

It may be cool here but there are no snowmen?!

Travel Blues...Boatyard Joys

Does anyone really enjoy flying anymore? The flight in our 8 passenger Yellow Air Taxi was fine albeit a little cool and we had the whole plane to ourselves....two pilots and us; however Spirit managed to demolish one of our solar lights, bend the handle of our frying pan and dent our new stainless steel BBQ lid. Rob has a theory that the baggage handlers get angry when the bag is heavy and then toss it with added vigour. Oh well....we are here safe and sound.
Florida and the Bahamas have been having erratic temperatures lately. We arrived on a rather cool day as you can see from the picture of the admiral in the cockpit having a warm bowl of soup. The next two days working in the boatyard were pleasant temperatures; however today we are having rain and expecting a cold front this afternoon. Yesterday we launched and are now floating at the dock. The sails are on but the dinghy is still on deck and there are plenty of inside jobs to keep the captain busy during the front. Winds expected are in the 20 to 30 knot range so we are happy to be tied up at Abaco Yacht Services.

Yes Sir...A BBQ and Cereal???!!!

With two days left to finish getting packed we are busy weighing our suitcases and moving things around from bag to bag to keep the weight under the magic 50 pounds. Rob is responsible for the one way suitcase loads which are being packed in the basement. These suitcases were purchased in the Bayfield rummage sale for a dollar a piece. Once in the boatyard they will be donated to the guys who work in the yard. There is quite an eclectic mixture of things in these bags. Everything from motor oil, extension cords, a stainless steel BBQ in parts,marine toilet pump and of course cereal and crackers. Rob has once again bolted a water maker motor to the suitcase. We can only hope that the airport security people see that it is not an incendiary device;however with heightened security we are a little more nervous. I have been filling our two duffel bags upstairs with yet again another eclectic mixture of items....medications for our medical kit, lock and lock containers, Christmas presents, DVD movies, engine filters, masking tape, and of course more cereal, crackers and the must have pita chips!? We envy those who travel by car; however one still has to get through Customs.
The weather is making us a little nervous; however the long range forecast is for a little sunshine by Tuesday. We have had a snowsquall warning for the past three days with various road closures. It is any wonder that Canadians yearn to go south in the winter. The Ontario Shuttle Service is picking us up at 4:30am Tuesday in order to get us to the Detroit airport a little earlier than usual in lieu of the TSA security procedures. We are over nighting in Fort Lauderdale and leaving early the next day on our 8 passenger Cessna Yellow Air Taxi to Treasure Cay. From Treaure Cay it is a taxi ride to the ferry dock and a 15 minute ferry ride to Green Turtle Cay and Abaco Yacht Services.
Keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes well and the next blog entry should be from Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos.

Happy New Year

After celebrating a luncheon Happy New Year with my mom, Rob and I headed out to the cottage for a walk. The lake has about one quarter of a mile of ice so winter is definitely upon us. We had planned to join our cottage neighbours Doug and Jane for New Year's eve. Doug and Jane have a lovely insulated cottage with an oil furnace along with a wood burning fireplace. We had a very nice evening and enjoyed lots of nibblies good wine and beer in painted label bottles. As you can see from the picture Rob REALLY was enjoying both the company and the beer! We even made it past sailor's midnight(nine o'clock)! In fact we got home just in time to toast in 2010.
Good health and happiness to all who follow our sailing adventure.
Here is the first day of 2010's view out our bedroom window. We both agree that it will be great to get back to some heat and sunshine in The Bahamas.

Merry Christmas

Christmas day began with Santa playing a cruel joke on us....a furnace that would not start and this is after leaving him rum and eggnog. Luckily we have a gas fireplace so we huddled by the warmth to open our gifts. Rob called our local gas man and one of the joys of living in a small community is that even on Christmas day one can get service. So by early afternoon we had our furnace outfitted with a new blower and a new appreciation for central heating and travel in The Bahamas.
Despite the way the day started Santa did end up spoiling us once again. Rob's picture shows him with Peter's whale pictures from last year's trip to the Dominican Republic. The whale that we saw was near Big Sand, a remote island between the Turks and Caicos and the DR. It was so exciting to see the humpbacks and I would return there just to see the whales again.
We joined our friends Brian and Gayle for a wonderful meal to end the day. The day had started out cool but had ended with the warmth of friendship.
Now we look forward to a January Christmas and Hannukah celebration with Lynn and Peter on First Edition.

Winter Comes to Bayfield

We decided to cook our Christmas turkey last weekend and enjoyed a lovely meal with Christine's mom and our friends Gayle and Brian. Christine pulled out all the stops and cooked up a gourmet meal.
Winter has come to Bayfield and the river is becoming quite frozen along with some large ice hummocks along the lake front. It is always a miracle to me that in just a few months we are swimming in this water. We do love the seasons in Ontario but we are also grateful to be spending some of the coldest part of the year in The Bahamas.

Sea Biscuit or Snowball?

We have chosen the sea biscuit thanks to the wonders of cortisone and are heading south on January 5th. We are taking Spirit Air to Fort Lauderdale on the 5th, overnighting in Fort Lauderdale and then flying out on the Cessna Yellow Air Taxi on the morning of the 6th. This way we can get to the boat yard in decent time. We will have to remove Celebrian's cover, put everything away, get a little food and water on board and just make room to lay our heads down. If all goes well we hope to be able to launch later Friday afternoon and spend the weekend at the dock getting sails on etc. Those of you that boat know how much work it takes to get a boat ready to sail.
The cortisone is giving Christine some relief in her shoulder; however she still feels frustrated with the lack of full range of motion and the remaining pain. At the same time any relief seemed to be a blessing and a signal that we should try and go south. The sport medicine doctor's only concern was repetitive overhead actions and carrying anything over 10 pounds. The physiotherapist feels that she will heal much better in the warm weather environmnent doing her exercises on the boat and in the water. Living on the boat requires lots of physical work but we are hopeful that with moderation and care she will be able to manage. We won't be doing any over night passages or trips to the Dominican Republic this year; however there is always next sailing season. We are just grateful that we are able to go and look forward to seeing Lynn and Peter and sailing with First Edition for another winter.

Chrissymas Open House and Huronview Christmas Tea

We hosted our annual open house on Sunday December 6th. An open house has been a Chrissy tradition for many years and this year because we are staying for Christmas we put up our tree. The tree is very special as it represents a history of many places visited. It also has a very special ornament on it for this year....a beautiful sand dollar with Santa on it that First Edition gave Celebrian last Christmas. Our friends received shell ornaments lovingly collected...sand dollars, sea biscuits and bonnets.
We recently enjoyed a Christmas Tea at Huronview with my mom and her best friend Jean. There is never a shortage of food and treats there and the decorations are wonderful as you can see from the pictures of Santa and the tree.

Better Sailing Days Ahead

We are hoping to leave for The Bahamas in early January. We have been delayed leaving because Christine has had to wait to see a sport's medicine doctor at the Fowler Kennedy Clinic in London about her shoulder. She has had a sore shoulder since the summer and has had all of the tests and drugs but still no definitive diagnosis. The doctor in London has ordered a second ultrasound to be done at the clinic. Her feeling is that Christine may have rotator cuff tendonitis even though the first ultrasound did not indicate any problems. The ultrasound is on the 10th of this month with the follow up doctor's appointment on the 14th. The doctor spoke of an injection of cortisone at the time of the second appointment. Our hope is that with some pain relief and a diagnosis with a program of dos and don'ts, she will be able to go sailing. Living on Celebrian requires a little more effort than a holiday on a cruise ship so we have to make sure that she can function without causing further tendon damage. We will have a less adventuresome sail this winter but at least we will have a holiday. There are better sailing days ahead.
In the meantime while we wait we have kept ourselves busy with condo projects (painting), building book shelves and cottage close up for the winter.
The Christmas cactus is blooming so it is definitely time to get into the Christmas spirit. Even though we were hoping to be south for Christmas with our dear friends Lynn and Peter on First Edition we will be happy to share the holiday time with our friends and family in Ontario.

Summer and Fall Happenings

Summer Happenings for the Sailors

We often say to full time cruisers that we quite enjoy our other life....the six months that we spend home in Ontario. We live in a condominium in Bayfield, Ontario and cottage 10 kms (6 miles) north of there. We spend very little time at our condo even though we are close to a beach but instead are happiest living in a rustic cabin right on the beach. I leave the luxury of a big bathtub and come to the beach to shower under a tree. You would think I would have had enough solar bag showers living on Celebrian!?
This summer Rob is getting close to putting siding on our shed building while we wait for the excitement of putting concrete piers under the main cottage. Our other big news is the installation of an incline railway trolley. We used to think it was something we wouldn't need until we were unable to climb the hill (approx. 100 cedar stairs) but the fact is that we need it now as a freight car as we work away at renovating and maintaining these old cottage buildings. My family began camping here over 100 years ago and then in the 1920s and 30s began to build little cabins....we are still in those cabins even though they have had replacement windows, doors, siding, steel roofs etc. My 88 year old mother spent 3 weeks here this summer and climbed the 100 steps when she left to return to her nursing home....clearly it doesn't make sense to wait until you can't climb to install a lift.
Highlights of the summer so far have been ....

...our annual beach bash. This year's theme was Caliente Caliente Caliente (Hot Hot Hot) and even though we didn't have the best of weather days everyone had a good time.
...Rob's hard work on the shed ...fixing all of the windows and painting and installing them ...installing new siding...a re-birth for this old building
...mom's visit at the ripe age of 88 for three weeks in July
...great summer theatre in Grand Bend..Camelot, Evita, Oliver and more
...installation of our trolley which has been kept busy steadily hauling bricks and mortar up hill and tools and supplies down
...a few good windsurfing and dinghy sailing days
...lots of planning work for renovations...windows, doors, and design options
...mid September raising of the main cottage...up 4 feet while we put 17 bigfoot cement piers under it
...new Jotul free standing gas stove to be instauled on Oct. 6th....looks just like a wood stove
...installation of a propane tank at the top of the hill with a line feeding the cottage for the new Jotul and my mother's vintage Moffat stove
...home inspection audit for energy grants
...hydro lift of our two hydro poles...
...new septic system and the list goes on
...work, work and more work

We keep ourselves busy but we enjoy what we do.

The Anniversary Cake

Debbie, Rob's nephew Scott's significant other and the maker of our incredible wedding day cakes had told us that we could freeze the cake and it would be good for a year or so. We had enough cake left over to save for our first and second anniversaries. We are here to tell you that it was just as good as the day we got married....just like us!?!

Second Wedding Anniversary

The honeymoon continues....2 years married and we are still smiling. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary by going out for lunch in Bayfied in our wedding finery. This year we chose Ristorante de Martha and had a very nice lunch on the patio. The weather was spectacular much like our day 2 years ago. After walking back to the condo, having attracted a salute from a motorcyclist, horn toots and smiles from various cars, and a round of applause from the hydro crew working on the bridge, we changed into our beach clothes and returned to the cottage to continue our celebration with a bottle of champagne and wedding cake.

More Underwater Pictures

We saw the Nurse sharks in Warderick Wells, the Bahamas Land and Sea Park. They were in about 20 feet of water so you can see that they were a good size. I thought that this picture looked like a Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Shark snuggling under water. The other picture is of me snorkelling on the surface taken by Rob underwater showing some pretty soft corals in the foreground.

Snorkelling Highlights

Here are a few of our snorkelling pictures. Highlights were seeing the loggerhead turtle and the nurse sharks but we did see some wonderful fish and coral. The Bahamas is truly a diving paradise with beautiful clear water. I will post some more pictures in the blog at a later date.