Boat Jobs at the Dock

Celebrian at the dock at Abaco Yacht Services, Black Sound in Green Turtle Cay.



Stranded Naked is the name of this funky house boat that arrived in The Bahamas in 1988 and has never left. It is now home to the Black Sound Yacht Club.



The admiral organizing the medical kit. Gratefully we have only used one script of antibiotics, one tube of cavit, polysporin, bandaids, and assorted medicines for sea sickness over the three years we have been cruising. The captain getting Celebrian's hot water tank ready to install. It fits under the quarter berth mattress. It fills with hot water when the engine is running and is one of my favourite luxuries.



The captain making love to the batteries.

Today's job is more stainless polishing for the admiral while the captain wreaks havoc below decks installing the hot water tank.

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.

Let it Snow... Let it Snow...Let it Snow

The snow just kept coming earlier this week....about 70 cms/ almost 3 feet.



We love to get our snowshoes on at least once a year...several times these last few days.



We love the view out our bedroom window.





In the winter our home reminds me of a ski chalet and certainly with this snowfall it has looked the part. The lake is beginning to build some ice up along the shore and the Canada geese are riding ice bergs in the river. I am not sure why they haven't flown south yet but perhaps that is why we use the term "silly goose" to describe someone who is not thinking straight. Rob and I, on the other hand are looking forward to some warmer weather. We enjoy winter too; however we know that our southern lifestyle is best done while we are healthy and able.

Varnish Magic in December

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What a difference central heating makes? Rob has been able to varnish the loft floor this month and after six coats the floor looks spectacular. Before closing the cottage Rob wants to frame up the loft wall so that Dave, our stair builder can take his final stair measurements. This has proved a challenge due to the winter weather we have been having these last few days.

Merry Chrissymas

Our annual Chrissymas Open House was well attended and enjoyed by all....good food and good friends. We are always reminded of how lucky we are to have such good people in our lives. Now it is time to focus on getting packed and ready to fly south and to meet up with our special sailing friends. Lynn and Peter on First Edition are in Vero Beach, Florida and heading further south to either Lake Worth or Miami to wait for a weather window to cross the gulf to The Bahamas. We aren't sure where we will cross wakes with them but it wouldn't be a cruising season if we didn't spend a little time with First Edition.

The Loft Floor

In mid October we took a road trip to Wallenstein near St. Jacobs to pick up the 1,200 linear feet of pine for our loft floor from the Bauman Sawmill. It was quite a load as you can see from the picture. We were grateful for the trolley and were loading the wood into the cottage in the dark after a long day.

Rob has spent the last few weeks varnishing the ceiling side of the boards and nailing the floor. The last job will be to put several coats of varnish on the floor side of the boards. Naturally the floor side needs more coats for protection than the ceiling because it will be walked on. It looks wonderful and it will have all winter to harden up before it is used.

Dave from Oesch Woodworking in Clinton is building our stairs over the winter while we are away. We had a tour of his shop and saw some of his woodworking and are very impressed. He is using our leftover loft pine for stair treads.

You Have to Love Wood

After I moved home to the condo it was time for Rob to start sanding, routing and varnishing the big pine support beams and the bridge to the loft deck. It would have been impossible to stay in the cottage with the wood dust and the smell of varnish. Besides, sometimes it is better that I don't see all of the mess. Rob definitely enjoys working on wood so he has been in his glory sanding, routing and varnishing these past few weeks. It has made quite a difference to the colour of the wood and we are very happy with how it looks with our new paint. As for me I have been catching up with everything that gets neglected at the condo while we are at the cottage. By the time I have everything gone over it will be time to leave. Speaking of which we are heading back to The Bahamas on December 14th. We have decided to stay in The Bahamas for one more winter in order to come home in April to work on the cottage.

Pirate Attacks Woman on Birthday

On Halloween a pirate snuck into Huronview and abducted a woman from her room. Reports say that Erma Hartley was surprised by a pirate just before noon on her ninetieth birthday. She was taken to a room where she was met by others that were in on the plans. She was forced to eat a wonderful lunch followed by a beautiful birthday cake decorated with candles that gave her age away. It was a harrowing experience for the woman. Sources say that her daughter and son-in-law were behind the abduction. Other known conspirators were Brian and Gayle King from Bayfield, Jan and Bob Hartford from Goderich and Jean and Dell McCabe from Clinton.

Let the Good Times Roll

After getting the ceiling nailed up it was time to have our blower test for our energy grant money. Last fall a home inspector came and tested the cottage for insulation and energy efficiency. He hooked up a machine to the door and measured the air leakage of the cottage. We had lots of room for improvement and after this year's test the inspector said we were every bit as tight as a new house. The only down side is that we have to leave a window cracked open so the house can breathe when we are heating with the propane stove and cooking with the vintage Moffat gas stove. At least we are warm and it is wonderful to have insulation in the floors, walls and ceiling.



After the drywall had cured it was time to break out the paint rollers and get two coats of primer on the walls. It was also time for me to choose the colours...not an easy thing to do from a paint chip the size of a domino. Our friend Gayle had loaned me a wallet of Benjamin Moore colours and after looking at dozens of shades in daylight and at night I decided on a colour called filtered sunlight for the front room and saphirre berry blue for the back room. Rob and I are both pleased with the colours and both shades look wonderful with the cedar and pine. After Thanksgiving Rob will start sanding and varnishing the pine beams and at that point I will be moving home to the condo. I have lots of catch up to do at home and besides it is best that I stay away from the wood working mess. We have ordered the pine flooring/ceiling for the loft from a sawmill in Bomanville and are hoping that if we can get the pine varnished it can be nailed down this fall. Jurgen is seeing about a stair builder and a man who builds glass railings. Our plan is to have glass railings both inside and out to keep an open feeling and not block the view to the lake. There is still lots to do; however it is exciting thinking about the plans for the loft and upper deck.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner at the cottage with Gayle, Brian and my mother. I am cooking a 9 pound Mennonite chicken and Gayle is providing the trimmings so we are in for a feast.

At Long Last...Bell and Bath

After months of waiting we awoke one morning to see men in orange coats going by the cottage. At long last Bell Telephone had come to finish what hydro had started last December. Hydro had re-placed our old poles with new taller ones to allow us to raise the roof on the main cottage. Bell's wire had never been re-done and had been held away from the new roof by a rope tied to a birch tree. At least the Bell wire was not a safety issue but we went months without a main line into the new building.
September has brought with it cooler weather and a change to some in-door work on the cottage. It was now time to get the bath tub taps installed as a warm bath became more appealing than an outdoor shower....at least for one of us!? Our friend James helped Rob and I wrestle the tub in and out of its corner and install the taps. We are happy to say that the taps and the jets work just fine. We have gone from showering under a solar bag of water outside to a whirlpool tub for two inside an insulated building. That being said I still love showering outside on the bluff in the buff in warm weather;however you can see by my picture I am a happy girl in our new tub!

The Joy of Windsurfing

What a joy it has been to windsurf after a year of nursing a frozen shoulder. I had thought on many occasions this last year that my windsurfing days were over; however it would seem that I am not quite ready to throw in the surfing towel yet? I had always said that I wanted to surf at seventy; however I am now aiming for sixty and we will re-evaluate at that point?!?! The water is cooling as you can see by my outfit but it is still great to be out on the water. It has always been the place where I feel my father and Java's presence. Both my dad and my dog used to watch me from the shore everytime I was out on the lake on my board. As I have said in other blog entries the cottage holds a special place in my heart.

Lake Huron Majesty

Lake Huron is beautiful. There is no other place on this earth that we love being as much as the cottage. These are just a few pictures of the many faces of this lake. We never tire of watching the sunsets or storms. Lake Huron's majesty still brings tears to my eyes.