Just a Note to Keep Y'all Company

Oh, Ah'm a'tradin' my ole' wooden boat fer a tractor, Dear Lord!

A ole' painted tractor fer me!

As soon as Ah gits some music to match, Ah'll be sanging anna mowin' 'till dawn!

Be, creative, go ahead and imagine this song as a number one hit! OK! So this not my tractor, ours is a wee red Massey Ferguson, no back-hoe, but it'll do. What, I'm not too sure, but they tell me it's great!

Two weeks Left!

Francoise and Paul will come to take their new baby home two Saturdays from now. Wowie! After that, I guess we continue to camp.
Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion of...the Lambton Duo!
...will they find a building permit next to their morning coffee tomorrow?
...is the new soil just right for Pinot Noir?
...will they be completely homeless?

Sold!

Chelonidae will sail again, this time under the hands of a nice couple from the Lake Champlain region.  She'll be taking them south, back into the beautiful blue water, and I'm sure everyone will have a great time.

As soon as I get over some strong parting feelings, I'll be able to put things in better perspective.  The year just went by too quickly, I guess.

Now it is time to pack, and put it all...where, exatly? We haven't quite got a building permit yet, but Bob is working on that.

Jim & Bob are working at getting our new/used Massey-Ferguson in working order too.  Busy, busy busy!  In the meantime, I am visiting with my folks in Peterborough and also in Port Perry.  As soon as the reality of our situation sinks in, I'll tell you more.

I'm a Wee Bit Jittery...

Guess what I'm doing right now? I am writing (duh!) from our favourite wi-fi cafe, The Sleepless Goat in Kingston while Jim is giving a second viewing of Chelonidae.
A couple came up from vermont to see her yesterday, had the intial showing. Things were going well, so we actually left them alone on board to have a really good look, scooted off to look at windows and doors (I'll tell you about that in a minute) and come back to serve drinks and an appetizer. Tongues losened, chatter flowed and they announced that they wanted to go ahead with having her hauled out so he and the shipright-friend they brought with them could survey and get an even better look. Sounds serious. I'll know when I get back! (But you won't, ha ha!) I am not the emotional type for saying good-bye, but this one will be hard. I won't be ready for that until I am exhausted from moving all our stuff off.
So! About looking at windows and doors!
Our new house will be heated via two patio sliding doors, one being in the bedroom, the other in the living area, along with a fixed window the size of a single door. There is wrap-around porch that will break on the sounth side to accomodate a pergola, so there will be shade in the summer and when the vines die back in the autumn, there will be sun in the winter. Our floors will provide mass for the sun's heat to accumulate and radiate out through the evening on a sunny day. On cloudy days and for night time, we will ahve a Jotul woodstove, uber-modern design made in Finland. There will be a composting toilet and an on-demand hot water heater (no tank) in the bathroom. The shower and sink will feature water collected from rainfall.
The actual job-site will be powered by three 80 watt solar panels and maybe a small gas-generator for the bigger tools.
I am thinking of starting a new blog for this project, anyone interested? If you don't want to jump through the hoops involved in posting a comment, go my profile and get my e-mail adress and let me know.
I am also thinking of passing this blog (if possible) on to the next owner. They want to take the boat to the Carribean, sounds like fun!!
I'll let you know whether they want to buy, when we move (cuz one way or another, we have to move...) and all that stuff...tah-tah for now!

The Biggest News Ever!

Sorry for ignoring you all!
We are still anchored out in Anglin Bay, Kingston Inner Harbour, living aboard, but not for long.
No sooner had we put the anchor down when Jim started looking for land. After a couple of Email exchanges with some friends, we discovered they had purchased some land in Prince Edward County. 34 acres.
"That's a lot for just two people!" Jim said, "got an extra corner for us and our environmentally-friendly small cabin?"
The reply was spectacularly short, sweet and to-the-point: "Sure!"
Bob explained that he was entitled to build a main house (for him & Linda) plus a "seasonal unit" for farm hands.
So here we are, asumimg the role of hired-hands, planning to eventually purchase said corner, but more importantly planning on building this small, seasonal unit this summer. In two weeks, as a matter of fact.
Why the dramatic change?
Well, recall what I had earlier said about not really being able to sail everywhere we wanted to go, not wanting to sail the open blue water again, burning so much diesel, not being able to recycle our garbage (so many tin cans and bottles went into land-fill...I'm ashamed!) and wanting to have a community and family around more. This all results in becoming much more aware of the giant environmental footprint we were leaving on this planet. We decided a wee while back to make this change and "live smaller".
"What the heck could be smaller than a boat to live on?" you ask, incredulously?
A 16'x24' small house. We read about the "Tiny House" movement, but the examples given were just...too tiny! We will need storage for a few things, a shed for garden tools, composting bins, etc. And I just plain didn't want to live so radiacal, dude! Besides, we are looking forward to travelling on other people's boats during the winters, so we still need all our boat stuff.
So we are in the final stages of planning our new digs, litterally. Bob & Linda are really great people, have similar interests and ideas for this land, one interest being raising grapes for wine-making. I'll tell you more about the Picton area, and its three yarn shops, two theatre guilds and 17 wineries later. As soon as the mile-wide-smile fades from my face and allows me to see through un-rose tinted glasses. Might not happen, we're pretty pleased.
Soon, this blog will be re-directed to a new blog: Living Small.

We're Baaaack!

Just a quick note to say...well I just said it! We're home in kingston and already having a good time. We cleared in with customs, went for a walk in the old 'hood and discovered a neighborhood bar that sells icy-cold, crunchy, delicious Steam Whistle! Such simple pleasures...

Oswego

I confess, I am using old photos for this story! The weather has just started to get sunny, but is still cold. Frost warnings have been all over the weather stations and our duvet has been well-appreciated! So if you were to see a photo taken yesterday, you would see two people bundles up with just their eyes peeking out from under wooley caps while handing the dock-lines going through the canal! Actually, it is not that bad, I just want sympathy!

So Osgego is a pretty good place to stay waiting for the right weather to cross Lake Ontario to get to Cape Vincent, then to Kingston. We went to see a movie last night, Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull. It was a charming and entertaining way to remember the first IJ movie, but not a brilliant film in itself. Glad we had the cheap seats! While we were in Hampton, we went to see the Rolling Stones Shine a Light movie. Imax. Imagine Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on a screen the size of a large barn. I have got Mick's wrinkled face etched on my retinas! Mr. Richard's leer permanently squashed into my memory cells! I quote Side-Show Bob: Eeeaahhgg!

Anyhow, I am trying to make plans for the summer, lots we want to do.

Toodles!

Fultonville NY on the Oswego Canal, The Home Stretch

Wow!
I can't believe we're almost back where we started! Kingston is only two long running days away! What a year! What weather! What great people we met! What a $H!#load of stuff we learned! And I am only starting to get excited now.
I have had lots of time, (too much, actually) to think about how this year really went, and I still find it hard to write about...divulge my feelings.
Maybe I can digress for a bit and tell you that the fellow that owned Chelonidae 25 years ago found us? He seems like an affable fellow, lives in Nelson BC in the summer (Antigua in the winter). He sent us some pictures along with a pretty good explanation of the name Chelonidae (Latin for green sea turtle)...it means to carry your home with you. My home. And I thought I could never own my own home!
Anyhow, we have had a couple of nibbles on her being for sale. Oh, yes, the asking price has been reduced to 16,992. (Only an accountant could come up with that figure!)
Well, that digression just didn't work! I'm still tongue tied. Suffice it to say I hope our great Whatever Comes Next offers as much freedom as cruising, but maybe a bit more social life, especially family. Go visiting more. See some of the plays and stage productions my siblings (and father-in-law!)are in/stage-managing.
So as our cruising days are numbered for now, especially if the boat sells, this blog will slowly come to an end. Maybe I will then blog about what is then going on in my life?
Stay tuned for at least a couple more postings...

(Edited) Back At the Erie Canal (Everybody Down!)

Talk about your "whirlwind tour"! We are moving much faster now that the daylight hours are longer, and we find ourselves in Waterford already! All in four days we visited Manhatten, ran up past Storm King Park (just as the winds got going...again!), visited Kingston NY, unstepped the mast in Castleton and landed on the free wall here in Waterford. Whew!

We have hardly seen a bump on a log these past six months, let alone any hills, so it was a real treat to see the beautiful Hudson Valley again, with its tall trees and Catskill mountains. Deer and Canada geese with thier young families flitting about. I must offer the same excuse as last time for not taking any more photos, it was raining. (God, was it raining!) So the wee hill in this last shot will have to do.

On with the show! The first shot is of Manhatten at 5:30 am. *Yawn* Most New Yorkers will never see this aspect of thier city! Next is one of the girls, a homely tug all dolled up, tied off at the harbour entrance to Kingston NY. Then there is The Healing Arbour, an installation by a group in Kingston, Gelpaint on plexi. Click on it to see more detail. Last is the lighthouse at kingston, on the Hudson itself.

Cape May, NJ

OK, here is a pretty town! I am sorry I didn't even try to take pictures, as it was raining, so I can't show you all the over-the-top gingerbreaded wild paint beach homes mansions inns and stuff. When we pulled through here on the way down, there were so many fast fishing boats buzzing by, around, cutting us off, sending up wakes that knocked things around that were just fine at sea. Yeah, welcome to Jersy, Shmuck!
Anyhow, there was some woo-ey weather to tell about! We listened to the NOAA weather forcast, heard 20 knot winds were coming, so delayed our run to New York city. We met up with some nice folks, also heading to NY, so I jthought it would be fun to have a potluck dinner chez nous. After a day of strolling these rather pretty streets, we returned to the boat to prepare for our dinner guests, and found the seas in the anchorage! The wind was piping up! We radioed over to see if everyone was still coming, yes, they said these waves were no problem for rowing over. Closer to The Time, one boat radioed back to say the winds were even stronger now, and they didn't feel like performing a heroe's row back, especially after having drink. And right off the biggest coast guard station I have ever seen! But the single-hander, Marten, showed up, rowing his very capable sea-kayak.
During dinner, it started getting a bit bumpy, but not too much for us salty old goofs. But then it got bumpier. Then a channel marker went by. What? Yeah, we were dragging our anchor. So the three of us got our jackets on to get things back under control, and went ut on deck. Just in time for the first big gust. Sucked the air right out of my lungs!
Jim and Marten got re-anchored while I got tea ready to go with he carrot cake I made for dessert. It dragged again. They then put on The Storm Anchor, specially designed for soft mud bottoms we find around here. We moved up the anchorage, almost on the Coastiesdock, and held with no problem ths time. I was worried about Marten geting home, but off he went, even delivering some carrot cake to the shut-ins.
Meanwhile, Ji m picked up another forcast. A gale far out to sea was upgraded to a storm and plotted much closer to here. A gale brings about 30-35 kt of wind. A storm brings 50! Oh, joy!
But the storm anchor, a 50 lb danforth type, held and held. The harder Chelonidae pulled, the more it held. We sat in comfy smuggness, holding. Watching our other capable friends holding as well.
And the wind blew.
And the seas grew.
And our beautiful anchor held.
But Achates II started dragging, slowly into the shallow area. We watched Joel and Kalin try to pick up their anchor so they could re-set it, but the boat couldn't hold station. Joel then tied a buoy to the rode and (horribly) cut the anchor free. The boat regained her helm, and they headed straight for the coast guard dock. We later learned the Coasties told them they couldn't stay there, but Joel explained they had no choice, AchadesII could barely make it there, let alone try to get to some marina.
An hour or two later, we realized the wind was peaking, and were looking forward for this to over. We were very glad to be safe in an anchorage and not at sea, like during The Beaufort Leg. After going over our plan of attack in case our anchor dragged again, a plan that included Sue & Corkey's method of dealing with scary anchor situations, a method that never fails, it includes Corkey's famous command that night in Annapolis...Start the f%$*g engine, we settled into good books, lunch and so on.
Then the Big Gust gusted us with such gust-o that we got dis-gust-ed! And our anchor rode chaffed through! Bang! And it was like being launched from a rocket, but onto a muddy bank, not the nice, pretty stars. In my slippers and polar fleece, I started Mr. Perkins, the ever faithful deisel, jumped into the cockpit to drive us off the shallows while Jim put on his foul-weather gear, The rain was coming down sideways, the spray was blowing up and off the waves. (my poor hair, quie long now, is still unbrushable with dried salt). But we got off and headed, where, else, to the Coast Guard dock. It was our turn to radio in and tell them to meet us at the dock. They said thheir obligatory "No way! There is a marina across the harbour!" I replied, "gentlemen, we're comming onto your dock, I can see you there, please guide us to where we will be the most out-of-way."
To make a long story short, we remained there, tied off and being set out from the dock, not onto it, thankfully. The stories on the VHF involved other folks chaffing through anchor rodes, one poor power-catamaran lost his anchor and didn't have another and couldn't risk travelling across the harbour to get to the Coasties dock...so he drove around all night!
But today, the sun is shining, birds are singing (also wondering what the hell just happened) and there is yarn shop here to investigate. We tried to trawl the anchorage to find our anchor, but had no luck. Need another storm anchor.
Off to The Big Apple, Tah-tah for now!

Back in Annapolis, MD

It's kinda cool to return to a familiar port, even more cool to see fabulous changes to an already-good thing. The city has just put finishing touches on City Dock, downtown, and hoo-ey! What a great job! The day we pulled in was the Maritime festival here, there where literally hundreds of boats on the water. It was a hazey day, so I didn't take any pictures, sorry Doug! The most fun to see was what seemed to be a dingy race, from shore to shore across the Chesapeake, there must have been two hundred dingies sailing, bobbing and cavorting, a wee white forest scuttling across the water!

So Much Time...so many thoughts...

There is nothing like time on your hands to help you really think about the reality of things. That life is as fluid as the water we cruise, (good, huh?)
We are realizing that if we keep cruising the way we are, up and down the eastern seaboard, we will be busily moving the boat 4-6 months out of every year. We are finding the business of moving to be somewhat boring. The destinations are great, but to be in a hurry to beat autumn/keep up with spring to be too much for one twelve month time period. We have also resigned ourselves to the fact that we are just not up for long distance passages.
So we are looking to lessen the area we cruise. And came up with England! Since our boat is already listed for sale in several places (you all knew that, did you?), we thought why not go ahead and really try to sell her, buy another boat in England and cruise the canals for a while. If that goes well, France too. If Chelonidae does not sell, we simply carry on here and try to see what have missed here, maybe do the Great Circle, via some of the Great Lakes to Chicago then through the Mighty Mississip'.
The moment this idea occred to us was when Jim said, *Whew!* this job would be a lot quicker and easier if we had an RV! And damn it, it would be! You see places differenlty by water, and it's not always easy in North America...people are really fussy about cruisers landing thier dingies on public beaches. Municiple Park staff tell you to get lost. Hmmph! Can be tricky to be constantly beating the tides and currents. Since Britain is on our must-see list, we think that this would be a good time to embark on the proceedings.
So...Boat For Sale! Good, sea-going, wooden hulled Hillyard, Perkins 4-108 deisel, "Lady Driven". Hull rebuilt in 2004. Interior rebuilt for live aboard couple. Sails and gear included. Galley features Force-10 range and cabin heater. Asking $25,998 Cdn. Reply to jameslambton@hotmail.com

Don't think I'm not weepy-eyed at this, she's a good old girl and wants only to keep her owners safe and dry. And floating.

Charleston

Blue Jays, Red Cardinals and Mourning Doves. Iced tea, iced epresso and iced vodka-slushies. 2 year olds, 20 year olds and 200 year olds saying a polite hello together. Live oaks draped with Spanish moss, gorgeous mansions draped with cast-iron marvels and gays draped with the most styish, tasteful clothing you could peel off a paint pallette. I have never seen such diversity in a town! There are all segments of society here, all ages in great numbers and every architectural idea ever produced. Except maybe the sky-scraper!

In order to see some of the really big shacks here, google Tourism Charleston and feast your eyes...I coudn't do them justice! These shots are of the scenes that appealed to me, but also that appeared through the cloudy skies, I had a hard time getting any decent light. So you have an interior shot of the Post Office, two courtyards and one colassal, round brick church. Amazing!

The house pictured at the very top details what most older homes here have: a piazza leading off the length of each story. From the very wealthy mansion owners to the less opulent homes of the middle class, families and their "staff" would sleep more comfortably outdoors in the mean Charleston heat.

But never mind, we had a great time in this perpetual garden. This rose is really a red and white rose. The Amaryllises are really amaryllises, and some other spring bloom that I didn't get the name of. Comment if you can help out!

Ahh, The Pink Ladies of Charleston!

I never did find out why this was such a popular shade of house-paint. Perhaps the pigment was indigenous to the area. But I'm sure it dates back to the Loyalist days, when Lowcountry families were moving to the Bahamas to escape Confederacy, 'cuz many Bahamians have also chosen this rather pretty shade. These are only a few of the Pink Mansions and houses.

Beaufort, SC

Still writing from Charleston, but writing about what we saw in Beaufort, SC.

First of all, there are two Beaufort's, one in North Carolina, one in South Carolina.

Southern hospitality is still alive and well here, we have met such sweet people it's wonder that political scene here is so...so...ucky! Why are the sweet people not running for office?

We met a volunteer in a museum who told us that The South is just starting to get over the whole Revolution and Civil War, just starting to heal. The lifestyle difference between North and South is very apparent. It is so relaxed here, even the young folks look you in the eye and give you a "Good Mornin'".

The run into the area was a long, flat one, just like Florida and Georgia, a few taller trees that looked like they might be hills, but weren't. We must pay attention to the tides in order to get optimum cruising speed, which is fairly straight forward. If we get it wrong, it feels like we're going through sponge! You can feel the reversing tide shove you back in some places. We've crossed all the inlets now, and were just starting to fell competant at this whole ICW thing, when we got fogged-in in the middle of crosing Port Royal Sound, a huge inlet with big scary ships and stuff. Our chart plotter got us in OK, but we kept pace with another boat ahead for radar-advantage. Fog! we are still hitting winter weather! And the cold fronts keep coming! It was 10F in the cabin yesterday morning!

Will tell you about charming, beautiful, stately Charleston tomorrow (I could get used to staying-at-a-Marina-thing)

St. Augustine, Florida

I am writing this in a marina (!!!) in Charleston, SC. Haven't seen even half of Charleston, so I will write about it tomorrow, after our horse-drawn carriage tour. So although it is backtracking, but I must tell you about St. Augustine, a pretty little town.

You see some spanish influence here and there in the U.S., but St. Augustine has kept it real. The spanish had a life here, they grew crops, defended their territory, spun their yarns, baked their bread, raised more little Spaniards. The held this place for good while until they had to cede it the British, just before the Revolution, ten, of course, it became part of The Union. The boast of St. Augustine is that it is the oldest, continuously occupied city in America. The first photo is of Fort Matanzas. Incidentally, the new photo on the header is taken just off Fort Matanzas, you can almost get an idea of the expansive view the Spanish soldiers had. We got closed in by a weird rain sqall before I could take some better pix, oh well. The building material is called Coquina, cut out of sedimented shell and sand stone, its properties include being cannon-ball proof! The enemy called off the only attack ever launched here because they could see the balls going in, but couldn't see any damage baing done. Cool stuff!

A man called Flagler decided, in about 1920, to make a resort town out of St. Augustine. All the edifice pictures are of his hotels, except the church. He kept the Spanish theme, which you just don't see that often. Contrary to America's desire to keep up appearances of total victory, Flagler, in his way, said, Yes. This is indeed our heritage, and we should be proud of it!

If you ever come here, you will find tourist traps, but also the authentic feel of the times.

The lighthouse is truly amazing! The original house produced light with a huge fire at the top of a tower. This house was built around 1890, using brick, cast iron and wood. It's not often we get to tour these beauties all the way to the top, most are regulated the Coast Guard (I think) and will not permit the public to climb the stairs. This one was saved from demolition by a local group, and in order to do so, they had to agree to keep it open for public tours. The resulting facility and grounds are quite nice. The pictures include the staircase, shot from the bottom, and the beautiful Class 4 Fresnel lens, a real work of art. The light itself went from kerosine to electric bulb in 1930, click on the photo of the lens above for a great (if I do say so!) sight of the bulb. Some of the excerpts from the Lightkeeper's Log include storms, hurricanes, a vandal shooting and breaking part of the lens (bastards!) and an earthquake that had the poor man thinking he was going to die! He must have thought, "Geez! Is this how I am thanked for lugging kerosine by bucket up all these stairs for all these years?"And of course the view from the top made the 217 steps worth the effort! The stairs, being cast-iron, are the see-through kind and give the climber a sense of vertigo. Then you had to step out onto the observation walk-way, which was maybe 5 feet wide and surrounded by a waist-high bar. I found it easier to walk around the deck at the Empire State Building! The beauty of the craftsmanship was lovely to see!

Georgia

Between the no-see-'ems, thunderstorms and chilly breezes, we did manage to see some sights in Georgia. We managed to get here just as another late-season cold front passed through. The above shots were taken in the town of St. Mary's, the second oldest settlement on the seaboard. We didn't see as much spanish influence here as we did in St. Augustine, Florida, only what remains of the old Georgian style architechture. The story of this town is the same as what we have been finding all over North America: the pretty, charming, old part of the town is accessable by water, but not the amenities like grocery shopping, propane, hardware etc. A few towns will have some amenities somewhere within a mile or two walk, the rest have theirs stashed away on highways in box store compounds, where you take your life in your hands just by being a pedestrian. So I have learned that when groceries are available to really stock up! So we buy things by the case: beer (duh!), wine (save 10% on top of sale price!), canned goods (save 7%) and produce. Unopened cheese lasts for two weeks! So we are ready for just about anything! Like being socked in due to weather. It decided to blow an extra 10 knots today, so rather than getting our toupees blown off, we threw the anchor down outside of Jeckyll Island and called it an early day. I just made a fresh batch of salsa, so we,re tucking into our daily appetizer a bit early. It's too windy to row ashore, so we'll camp out for the evening. Thank the Marina downriver for the unsecured wi-fi! Hopefully in the morning, we'll tour Jeckyll, summerhome spot for Vanderbuilts, Carnagies and other hot-shot richies! And another pretty, charming town. Maybe we'll find a fishmonger to sell us some shrimpies for lunch, then it's off to motor to the end of the next run. Run, run run!

Florida! Cape Canaveral, New Smyrna & Daytona Beach

Ta-Dah!!!
Made it across The Pond one more time, the weather co-operated this time to make a rather pleasant cruise.

We left the Abacos at sunrise and an hour later discovered about 20 other boats making the same crossing we were. Not too many headed for the Northern Florida inlets, like us, but headed south for a much shorter crossing. Some of our fellow crossers are pictured at the side-bar called "Doug wants to see more boats". The wind kinda died off, so we hoisted our cruising 'Chute (a very light air sail), then noticed a few others did too, colourful, huh? The sun set as we headed off Grand Bahama Bank into deeper water. Ahh, the water! I shall never forget the beautiful, beautiful colours of the water: Abaco Green, Sea of Abaco Turquiose, Gulf Stream Noxcema-Jar-Blue, no kidding. That night, I saw another piece of meteorite burning up alongside, then remembered that the Kennedy Space Centre is only 62 miles away...it was space junk! Saw a few freighters and three cruise ships. The Cruiseships were really something, you could see a live concert happening on the top deck, and if your eyes were too weak to make the performers out, there was live video on a gigantic screen that I could see from our cockpit! There was actually enough ship traffic to keep us "entertained all night long!

We arrived at Cape canaveral at 4am, so we stood off to make Canaveral Inlet in daylight. Had a rather exciting session of "who's on first!?" type of maneovers with one of the world-famous Disney cruise ships while drifting into the inlet channel. Oh well. It was my watch, so I got the hell out of there and I'm the wiser for it.
Some of you have heard us whine about not wanting to transit through Florida, but we take most of it back! We are rather glad to be back in civilization, with its fresh produce, wide sidewalks and enough of a population base to make for good cultural experiences. The Abacos were nice, relaxing and warm, but we did get to missing some of what we're used to.
So we took a marina, paid something like $0.65/foot at Cape Marina for the cheap wall, took a good mile walk to Customs (aka Homeland Security), cleared in in a matter of minutes, then celebrated with a fantastic lunch at a place called The Grill. I heartily recommend the catch of the day, nno matter what it is. Even if you don't like fish!!! The fish was all caught that morning by the owner. As a matter of fact, he's got a boat-cam with live feed of how the morning trawl is going, TV screen up on the outside wall of the restaurant so you know what to have for lunch latter. (?!) We liked it so much, we went back for another walk that night to catch live music. Anyone ever heard of The Horn-Dogs? Well they're great! They paired up with a talented rock trio and produced very different, but quite good bar-tunes. Imagine Guns & Roses a la trombone...
Next day, we motored up the ICW to New Smyrna, landed on the free wall (yahoo!) and stayed two days while we re-provisioned our boat stores and indulged in more walking. Gosh! It's so nice to have good, wide sidewalks! Much of the USA that we've seen so far features sidewalks wide enough for one person. We ended up waiting out a cold front there, glad we did because the wind speeds were quite high further up the ICW.
Today, I'm writing from the public library at Daytona Beach. We anchored off downtown, sort of, landed the dingy at a wee park and took a good stroll into town. It's very pleasant here, at the very beginning of tourist season. The shelves on our favorite stores are all stocked, new season of cruising guides are out, the Canada Geese are starting to make the trip North. It's funny to see them going from here to there! We also saw robins, bluejays and red-winged black-birds in the Abacos. Great fun!

The Pictures: The Spanishy-looking ones are of St. Augustine, a town we hope to spend more time in in the fall. The Whale-like thing is a manatee, floating on it's back to catch some fish-gut-water being rinsed off a fish-cleaning station at Cape Marina. What a life! The last two piks depict US Coast Guard escorting a sub out from Canaveral Inlet (the same CG crew later inspected us, had a good time with these 20 year olds...they were astounded that anything made/born in 1952 should still exist...especially a wooden boat) and the general feel of the sport-fishing industry of Florida...these people are mad keen on deep sea fishing!
So all is well, I will post some photos the next time we get wi-fi on the boat. Be good!

Attempt # 3, Fla. Here We Come!

O.K. We have a great weather window: one days of good wind to get us off the Bahama Banks, then two days of medium wind to get into Canaveral Inlet. Wonder if the nice people there are planning a space launch? Ooh, hey! Did I tell you I saw a shooting star the night of attempt#2? Three minutes later, I saw a real falling star! The difference? I think a shooting star (common at sea during the night, maybe more sky to view) is a burning meteor/space junk seen from a distance. This falling star was maybe a half-mile off our port side, very close! So Cool! We could see the main part of it burning, a trail of ash behind it, and a minute into its flight, it burned out and died right beside us. Hope it wasn't something important!
See you in Canaveral!

Still in The Abacos!!!

Yeah, there went dry run # 2. We got headed this time. We turned back and ran away. The fellow that was with us went anyway, to Cape Canaveral. He said it was a long, slow slog with lots of wind on the nose and waves to shove through, but at least he got a lift from the Gulf Stream current. So we're back at Manjack Cay.

Waah!

Looks like we may get another weather window on Wed. Yahoo!

So in the meantime, I thought you'd be interested to see what a cold front can look like here. This one appeared to be more dramatic than it actually was. Cold fronts come in "wet" and "dry". Guess which kind this one is? Those birdies, which are actually quite large, are called Man O' War birds, or Frigate birds.

I'll ask again for some good sailing Karma, but also fpor some good weather karma. In the meantime, we continue to meet all sorts of lovely people. Tah-tah for now.

The Cinnamon Buns

Well! We'll just consider that last "voyage" a dry run, shall we? We got out to our intended jumping-off place and lost our weather window. We also were in a dead-zone for recieving weather broadcasts, so we had to beetle back to our favourite anchorage, Manjack. We see another window coming on Thursday/Friday. Send a little more sailing karma!

In the meantime, I have time to tell you about the fabulous breakfast buns we've been enjoying. The above piks tell the story of the Bahamian Cinnamon Buns.

First, you must go to where the coconuts are free. That would be here. But, since you're there, you'll have to get shredded coconut from the store. Oh, well.

Secondly, you must select one that still has water inside: hold it up to your ear...and bang it agianst your head. Juss kidding. Listen for the sound of a cocktail being mixed- right in your coconut!

Third, rip the husk off, drain the water into your best rum glass, golden rum is my preferred choice. Smash your coconut to small pieces and pry the meat away from shell. If you do all this correctly, you can, yourself, get smashed and wear a coconut-bra. Everyone's doing it!

Put the rum down, and grate up 2 cups of fine-shred, beautiful fluffy coconut. Flollow recipe on the side bar.

Finish your rum, then serve your friends the best breakie they've ever had. I don't know where this unfortunate-looking person came from, but she, oddly, didn't care for eating a coconut bun and insisted on peanut-butter.

Time for new friends.

Anyhow, the next time I write, maybe we'll be in Florida.

Homeward Bound

Well! It's the six-month mark of our new life style. We had a very serious talk about how it is really going and came up with some pretty good feelings about it all.
Firstly, we really love our boat. Even Jim is coming around and is not quite so concerned about worm damage to the hull that he wants to sell her on the spot! Her better attributes include her solid presence on the water. She is big and heavy and can take quite a big sea. With her kellet (Phil- did I spell that right?) down, she doesn't swing so much on her anchor that she makes you dizzy. She's quite pretty inside, so nicely finished by cabinet-maker cum shipwright James. Everyone who cames aboard is is completely taken by her hardwoods and traditional interior design. She's very comfortable. Her decks are safe and spacious. If only she had a cockpit more condusive to lounging! She sails quite well, especially now that we've had more practice sailing her longer distances and in varying winds.
Secondly, we really enjoy the freedom of moving around. The Abacos is a great area to do a lot of sailing in safe, small water. The Great Abaco Island has a barrier reef with accompaying cays (wee lime-stone islands) so as the saying goes...all that wind and no big seas. We, especially me, got some great experience.
We did suffer a few emotional and social bumps and jolts along the way, the bigger jolt for James is the fact that I am peri-menopausal...he's going through his "change of wife" (haha! thank you Lyn Johnson!) But at least I'm here to stay, he's such a charming fellow! But one gets settled in with what life may bring, and flexibility is what this lifestyle is based on.
So we're headed back to Canada via most of the waterways we travelled to get down here, exepting the 8 day offshore trip. Standing a watch with no auto-helm or self-steering is a drag. So , depending on the weather for the day, we will either travel up the Intra-Coastal Waterway (The ICW- a great big ditch...where you can run aground...or hit things) or take as many 36 hour shorter outside hops as we can. Either way, we'll be back in time for a lovely Lambton Clan Gathering; Jim's younger brother is getting married in early summer. (At least there is a rumour...). Then we might make it to Ottawa in time for the Jazz Festival last week of June, July 1. And to visit my children! And whoever else wants to stop by! Then maybe we'll go up the Trent-Severn to see the folks in PTBO. Then there are all our friends & family that live on Lake Ontario, Aunt Joan, Randy Holt, Jim's Kids and friends from The Anchorage. Ooperwhallah, What to do? We obviously can't do every thing, but we sure would like to.
In the meantime, we're slowly getting into position to get to our Gulf Stream crossing place, visiting some of our favourite stops along the way. Right now, we're back off Manjack cay, and Bill & Leslie- we can't thank you enough for the wi-fi!
So send us your best good-crossing-karma, we should pull in to Fort Pearce Inlet, Florida in the next good weather window. Waiting for said window can take a long time, weeks as a matter of fact. And there is not likely any wi-fi up near where our waiting spot. So don't worry if you don't here from us for a few weeks. We'll be lolling around a beautiful white sand anchorage...swimming, eating, drinking and being merry! Very likely with a few other boats.
See ya soon!

Little Harbour and Johnson's Bronzeworks

Little Harbour was first inhabited by the Johnson family in the 1950's. Shown above is the cave the father, mother and little boy lived in for the first while. The father, Randolph, was a world renown bronze scupltor. He produced items in the lost-wax fashion. Young Peter learned the art and carries on these two years after Randolph's passing.

Shown above are the ruins of the old lighthouse, path leading up to it, and a rather spectacular

cove on the ocean. Below are some of the Family Johnson creations and workshop. The fellow actually working the bronze (pictured in the heavy apron) is not Peter, but a fellow artist.