Elvie and Free Spirit's Adventure to Killarney

After many hours of preparation Elvie (Land Vessel) and Free Spirit (Sailing Vessel)and crew are ready for their first trailer sailing/ camping adventure.

Camp Walmart in Parry Sound is our first camping spot.  Walmart allows campers to stay in their parking lot overnight. Before the evening was over there were two other RVs with us, one of which was another Roadtrek.

 

After another night camping in the church parking lot in Killarney it was time to launch Free Spirit.  We had hoped that the local marina could back our trailer down the ramp; however the water levels were so low at the launch ramp that they were unable to help us out.  Fortunately Mattie, a local rigger and marina operator was available to launch us using his home made travel lift. 



Mattie uses his tailor made mast hoist to lift the weight while Doug and Rob watch the rigging and set the mast step.  Free Spirit was floating for the first time.

Our first anchorage after leaving Killarney was Winakaching Bay, a bay that is off the charts but worth sneaking into.  This was Doug and Jane's first experience with Cyrano at gunk holing and they followed Free Spirit in through the rocks and pink granite.  We kept our keel down to four feet to make sure that the coast was clear for Cyrano.  Free Spirit has a swing keel which allows her a draft of two feet.  This will come in handy in the future particularly if the lake levels remain so low. 

The pink granite on Philip Edward Island is stunning especially in the late day sunlight.

The only people we saw in Winakaching were travelling by kayak and canoe.  Free Spirit and Cyrano had the whole anchorage to themselves.  It wasn't until the last couple of nights in Thomas Bay near Killarney that we shared an anchorage with another boat.

Doug and Jane got to try out their new inflatable kayaks and soon learned to love paddling in Georgian Bay among the pink granite boulders.

We paddled our double inflatable affectionately known as banana boat....our 17 foot tender.    What we lack in speed we make up for in carrying ability.  Most days we paddled for several hours and had picnics ashore.  Some days the girls even did an exercise class!?

We moved anchorages every couple of days.  The next post will show highlights of West Desjardins and Bear Bay on Philip Edward Island. 

The Pirates of the Caribbean--Beach Bash 2012

AAAARRRRRHHHH....the cast of this year's Beach Bash!  Once again the Hartley McGuffins were host to a menacing group of fellow cottagers and friends.  This year's theme was to celebrate the safe arrival of Celebrian to Grenada. 

Adults can have fun at pirate parties.

The teams prepared for the challenges.

Johnny Depp and Geena Davis never looked so good?!?

The captain and admiral of the Jolly Roger McGuffin along with their side kicks.

Five Years and The Honeymoon Sail Continues

Five years ago we married each other on this beach ...where does the time go?

We celebrated by going out for lunch at The Red Pump in Bayfield.

We enjoyed the back yard at The Red Pump while waiting for our lunch.

We returned to the cottage to continue our celebration with a wee bottle of champagne.

Where is the Crew of Celebrian Now?

It was wonderful to fly direct from Grenada to Toronto with Caribbean Air.

We left Celebrian in her usual storage state which looks chaotic but is actually very well organized. We had spent the last week cleaning lockers and taking inventory and once on the hard things are cluttered but stored safely. We left nothing on deck that we could put below after losing our depth sounder to Hurricane Irene last year in The Bahamas. During the last couple of days on the hard all systems have to be "summerized" as apposed to "winterized" in our climate. we are paying a local company to come on board once a month to pump the bilge, check the boat and plug in the batteries. Spice Island Marine Services provides no other service than storage.

The captain and admiral on a sleepover....where are they now?

....having coffe in their new/old (1998 with 150,000kms) Dodge Road Trek Land Yacht!

A neighbour was selling this used Road Trek when we got home from Grenada. We took it for a test drive pulling Free Spirit, the 24 foot Sea Ward and before we knew it we were the new owners. The van is in fantastic shape and immaculate so we are delighted and ready to head north to Killarney in the middle of August for our little mini holiday in the North Channel. The honeymoon sail continues in the north as well as The Caribbean.

XYZ ...Stands for Zombies.....VeryTired Sailors at the End of the Day!

Everything you do is harder on a sailboat. Mr. Johnston's tune up was a challenge. It was easier at Abaco Yacht Services when we could tie up to a dock.

The cleaning is never ending. Every locker is cleaned and every item on board is desalted.

Spice Island Marine Services, Grenada....Celebrian's new summer home.

Up she comes in the travel lift.

Once the boat is out of the water they transfer it to a trailer that moves it to your spot. This means they can store boats very close together. It is also part of their hurricane strategy.

Once you are in your spot they put supports under the hull along with chain. The added thing that they do here is anchor the boats from four directions. The next picture shows one of the straps. Since we are so small we were placed in an area where we may get moved a few times when other boats launch.

W is for Whew ....We made it to Grenada

St. George, the capital of Grenada is a beautiful city of 20,000.

It is the 25th of May and we are on the hard in the boatyard and working long days making sure that Celebrian is "summerized" and ready for her vacation at Spice Island Boatyard. We have spent the last few days doing as much preparation on the hook but there are many things that we can not do until she is hauled. We have booked a room for two nights at an apartment next door to the yard and the laundry is free her. I think we are getting our money's worth as I am on my seventh or eighth load. They have internet as well; however I don't have an English adapter so I will soon run out of battery. The rainy season has started here and it has been a real challenge getting the sails and covers dry; however today is better so this afternoon we should be able to get some things dried and put away. We are flying home on Sunday the 27th with Caribbean Air non stop to Toronto. There are not quite as many steps here to getting home as there were from Grenada; however the boatyard in Green Turtle was much nicer than Spice Island. That being said we are glad to have a safe place to leave Celebrian for hurricane season.

These pictures were taken in Carriacou where we cleared in to Grenada.

More Vistas ....and more Islands to Discover

If it is Antigua....it must be Tuesday.

If it is Wednesday ...it must be Guadaloupe.

If it is Thursday ...it must be Dominica.

Some days were harder than others.

If it is Friday...it must be Martinique.

If it is Saturday....it must be St. Lucia.

If it is Sunday....it must be St. Vincent.

If it is Monday....it must be Carriacou.

Some days there were dolphins.....

And one day we caught a 3 foot mahi mahi....delicious!