Sunday, March 2, 2008

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!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to see that you are on your way north, but it sounds like you have lots of good things to look forward to.

You asked about my thoughts on cruising. It's different for Mark & me since we've been living on Liahona for 10 yeas. For us the "Abaco Experience" has been about adjusting to being retired and pretty much together 24/7 for the first time in our 33 years of marriage. We have had a wonderful time crusing the Sea of Abaco, and meeting other cruisers. We seem to have made lots of Canadian friends this summer and I'm hoping these are friendships that will last. We've also been enjoying the local events: the pot luck dinners at Great Guana Cay; the Commodores Ball at the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club; Brown Tips "rake and scrape" and the Super Bowl party at Snappas; the crafts fairs at Man-O-War, Hope Town, and Guana; the Junakanoo in Marsh Harbour; happy hour at the Jib Room; the Barefoot Man concert; snorkling at Sandy Cay; lunches at Cap'n Jacks (I love their coconut shrimp!) and burgers at Pete's Pub. These are moments I will treasure fondly.

We are starting to get ansy (or as Mark says, "froggy") meaning that we are feeling the need to move on. We are starting to look forward to quiet times away from the "party", maybe head down to the Berry Islands and do more snorkling. We are starting to look for a weather window to head home, too. We miss our kids (two lovely young women ages 23 and 27 but they will always be "the kids").

We enjoyed meeting you and Jim, and we hope that our paths will cross again in the future. Maybe if we get froggy in Maine this summer, we'll rent a car and head up to visit you and our other Canadian friends.

Hasta luego, Michelle & Jim. Thanks for your friendship!