The Adventures of S.Y. Chelonidae

See me at my new blog

2009-02-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

www.the-Mini-House.blogspot.com
...see how we are transferring our live-aboard skills to low-impact land-lubbering.

Just a Note to Keep Y'all Company

2008-07-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-17T07:48:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-05-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T07:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

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!)

2008-05-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-04-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-04-16T18:27:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-16T07:06:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-07T13:21:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-31T13:30:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-03-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-03-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

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.

The School Fundraiser at Man O' War Cay

2008-03-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

What a great gathering! It started about 20 years ago as a swap-meet for cruising sailors. Any funds raised were given to the local school. Now it is a must-attend for locals, cruisers, cottagers, artists and other vendors. One of the sillier events was hermit-crab racing. I asked this young gambler if he could display his clawed-contender for me. After much hooting and ado, half of the crabs freaked out and froze, but the winner, as you can see, made a break for freedom!

Man o' War Cay is known for being a real working town. Years ago, there was a sail loft, a wooden boat builder and other related businesses. Now, the ladies at the sail loft put out a different product; canvas bags, hats, chair covers and travel items and all kinds of goodies. I couldn't get a good snap of the old loft, but you could still see the old beams and walkways on the second floor, which incidentally, had no floor. Just beams and two walkways! Another shop makes clothing and home decore items out of Androsia fabric, which is hand-batiked on Andros Island, Bahamas. I had to include the picture of the beautiful fabric.

Still functioning is Albury's Boat Yard, still producing fast, good looking fishing boats. They used to produce only wooden boats, but in the 60's started to produce in fibreglass. Apparently, they are of such good quality, they are in demand all over the Bahamas and Florida; Everyone who is anyone has to have one!

There are dive-shops, gorby traps, bakeries, marinas and a boat repair yard. There are regular grocery stores and the like.

The fundraiser itself had used clothing, food tents as well toys etc, some boat stuff, at least a dozen artists, and of course all the businesses put in a few big ticket items for the silent auction.

The day after the fundraiser, we heard on the news that the school had raised 23, 000 bucks! Seing how Man O' War has no more 300 residents, I felt it was very impressive! Way to go!

Hey, Guess What?!

2008-02-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

The good people at Living Aboard Magazine published an article of mine! Their website is on the link list on the right hand side. You'll have to actually buy January-February's issue to read the article, but I'll give you a hint: if you've been keeping up with the storys here, you've read most of what the article is about. Tomorrow, Gourmet! Ok, maybe I'll practice a bit first. And by the way, Phil, thanks for telling me I made a spelling error...but where?

Make a Comment

2008-02-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

While trying to figure out how to make this blog more fun, I discovered that I didn't make the comment button very accessible for most of you. Hopefully, this has been corrected, and I would love to hear from you!

Great Guana Cay

2008-02-07T08:14:00.001-08:00

The adventure continues! As we cruise these tiny, northern cays, we look for ones that have some settlement on them so we can walk on paths and paved/bare limestone roads. Frequently, we'll anchor off the leeward side, row in and find a walk to the Altantic ocean side. The first picture shows the Atlantic beach, the latter shots depict the much less windy inside beaches. These shots were taken on a very calm day so I could get a clear shot of the bottom. My dingy was riding over two feet of clear water. Can you make out the Hawksbill Turtle in the last shot? Hawksbills are from the family Chelonidae; Green Turtle. Cool, huh? Don't forget, you can click on the photos for a blow-up.

So the days are blissfully getting longer. I tell you, when the sun went down at five o'clock in December, it got pretty depressing! We found out that cruisers have not much else to do than turn in shortly after nightfall and catch up on some sleep. Finding something to do, other than reading, can get to be tedious in the evenings, but with a little increase in daylight hours, it gets easier.

Cruisers have a developed habit of getting together for cocktails, not dinner until you get to know the other better. A few days ago, we sailed up to Allan's Cay, a popular stop for boats just arriving in the Bahamas, and came across 12 other sailboats and 3 trawler-yachts in the roomy harbour area. So when we saw a get-together on the beach at 5 o'clockish, we rowed in for a hello, where are you from, where are you headed? You meet the nicest people! We discovered another wooden boat, a wee schooner, home-built and quite pretty. Met a couple with a 4 month old baby. Most of them have been coming here for years. Decades, even. So it's nice to get info for good stopping spots from the vets, and share the wonder with the newbies.

The US Department of Defence (NASA?) had a radar tracking thingy on Allan's. It is now abandoned, but they left all their roads (bare limestone with some remaining ashphalt) for us to use. Some creative sailors made a "signing tree"; whatever beach-combings you find, you carve your ship's name in it and hang it up on this weathered, old tree. There were old sandals, bikinis, wood scraps (one made into a two-seater swing!) dive-floats and old rope. These days, the junk that washes up on the shore is more plastic than anything: buckets, milk-crates, bread racks, 4" docklines from huge freighters, and, maddeningly, plastic water bottles. Lots and lots of those. Even on what should be the most deserted of shores, (Allan's is unpopulated) there are reminders of "civilization".

We're planning on cruising the Southern Abacoes next, see Hopetown, then start heading back for our crossing to get back to Ontario. We'll be seeing a part of the US that we missed by coming here off-shore: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Savannah and Charleston. Not looking forward to the tight canals of the Intra-Coastal Waterway, so we're getting advice from other sailors that know the inlets so we can travel outside the ICW when possible, on the open Atlantic, for 24-36 hour short hops up the coast.

Jim's brother is getting married on the May long Weekend in Kingston, so we hope to get the boat to where we can leave it safely for a few days (Annapolis?) while we rent a car, attend the Do, then get back to the boat. We might make it back to begin our much-anticipated Ontario cruise. I'm telling you, I'm looking forward to cruising familiar waters and not holding down a full time job. I'll actually have time to enjoy more of my former back-yard, which is lovely in the summer.

Haul-Out.

2008-01-11T09:50:00.001-08:00

Up, up and away! The handsome, efficient and tireless crew at Abaco Yacht Services picked Chelonidae up Monday am, and put her back in today, Friday. After a hull inspection, it was my job to scrub the black part. Then Jim sanded it. I dusted and tacked it off. The old bottom paint was the oblating kind: it wears off gradually to inhibit marine growth and toredo worms. When dry, it comes off like chalk dust. Black, top-side-hugging, get-it-in-youreyesearsnosethroat, non-stop chalk dust. In a word...Ew! But! After a wash, shave and haircut, she looks great, once again, see new photo on the title of blog. This new bottom paint is NOT the oblating kind! We will still have to sand it, so what the hell!

Other non-paid staff include these lovely geese. They are fed by Crystal, who administates the operation. The last sound you expect to hear in a busy ship-yard is "Quack-qua-a-ack!", but it made mid-night trips to the loo more interesting!

Our next stop will be back to Marsh Harbour to re-provision, then maybe southward to explore Hopetown and Little Harbour.

Junkanoo at Green Turtle Cay

2008-01-06T15:26:00.001-08:00

Junkanoo is what people in the Bahamas do to celebrate the New Year. Jim looked it up and learned that the name pays hommage to (yikes!) an African slave-trader named John Canoe! Whatever it was, it was good, old fashioned family fun! We had a great feed of barbeque, rice & conch and baked macaroni & cheese (Huh? Yes! It's really Bahamian treat!). With a population of maybe 300, we practically knew every one that was there! It was just like attending Hey-Day in Kemptville! Then the Junkanoo Rush (the performers) came down the hill in a whirl of white and blue with flashes of pink and yellow, what a scene! And could these guys press the volume button, or what?!? Even the littlest of boys were shaking the gound with those drum-beats!

After twice around the town (so small!) the Junkanoo headed for the basket-ball court, their version of the Villiage green, and continued to play and dance. According to tradition, there was a scarily-dressed charachter let loose into the crowd to scare all the evil spirits away for the whole year. Alas, he was moving too fast to be captured by either rambunctios lttle boy or the camera! I think it was about then that the "Goombay Smash "(the local tipple) made an appearance, because the highly energized Big Cheese said for all to go around the town again; we cut back to the boat.

We hitched a ride back to our end of the island, and were picked up by a mommy of one of the little girls. This lively sprite told me that she just plain didn't want to go around again!

It was quite fun to be welcomed into the small (TINY!) town crowd for this special event, Green Turtle puts on one of the bigger Junkanoos around.

So Happy New Year, keep the bad spirits away and if you think os us, dump some pineapple and coconut juice into some rum and chase your own spirits away!

Manjack Cay

2007-12-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

Bill and Leslie are The Keepers of Manjack Cay, and hosts to all gentle sailfolk that care to anchor there. Fortunately for them, there have been no aggresive invaders. Fortunatley for us, they are there! We sailed from Green Turtle Cay to Manjack Cay and anchored in the bay where they built their home 16 years ago, you can see their palm-lined beach in one of the photograph below. It was such a calm day on the water that we sailed with our cruising chute, and after we anchored, Bill and Leslie came out to say that since the water surface was as smooth as glass, they were going out on their motor-boat to view the creeks in behind their home and would we like to join them? So we piled in and in no time were in the small, shallow creek and could see right through to the bottom without even a ripple from the wind. They showed us some Hawksbill turtles and a lone Eagle Ray what unusual creatures!

We were invited to take some coconuts, our new favourite staple, use their cleared pathways to get to the ocean beach on the other side of the cay, what lovely people! They are photagaphed above, with their solar-powered golf cart and in front of their extensive vegetable garden. The other photos are of other Bahamian locals: curly-tailed lizards and Hibiscus flowers.

Bill brought a visiting freind out to our boat, both of them wooden boat builders. They arrived in visiting Bahamian fashion: at cocktail hour with drinks at the ready! I was just finishing making hummus and fresh , hot pita bread, so it was a perfect arrival! We talked into the evening, yakking endlessly about (what else?) wooden boats! We shared the story of our ocean crossing from Beaufort and were awarded near-hero status for having survived (someday I'll be brave enough the share the real story with you!) and got to know some great people. Getting to know different sorts of sailors is always a rewarding, and handy thing. You learn a lot about which cays are worth visiting, which passes are best left alone and which ones aren't as bad as they are made out to be. And I get to share recipes!

So, Bill, as requested, the recipe for the pita bread in a little lower down on the side-bar. And if Leslie is successful at making sourdough starter, I would like that recipe! (email me at michelle.lambton@gmail.com , thanks! We'll certainly see you agian!

Beach, beach, beach!

2007-12-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Howdya like my Christmas present? At a Christmas eve gathering aboard a Warram Catamaran named Peace (hosted by Annie and Neville), I had chance to admire a conch shell that had its very tip sawn off to make a trumpet of it. I had heard some horns blowing at sunset around the anchorage and was wondering what it might be. Jim told me that the skipper of the boat he helped move from Cornwall to Cape Breton had a conch and blew it at sunset every darned night! Now I thought the owner of this particular conch was a wee bit sauced when he offered me one, and honestly didn't expect him to remember (sorry, Al!) but on Christmas morning, there he was pulling alongside Chelonidae with a red "Santa Sack" in hand. What a lovely gift! So I've been practicing wherever we are a creating a ruckus!
So here's something funny! For the first time ever, one of us forgot to bring the painter (the rope attached to the dingy) up after getting back onto the boat! Ha ha ha ! It started to float out on the tide pretty quickly, meanwhile superJim stripped to the skin (he's always looking for the chance!), dove in and retreived it. What fun!
Many of you had asked what our whole plan was for cruising...you know, when are we coming back? and all that. We're still considering the possibilites, but it looks like we'll be heading back north for the summer. We want to do more coastal-hopping than what we did on our trip down, so planning is underway. But you never know!

Merry Christmas to all!

2007-12-24T06:59:00.001-08:00

Well! You can't even begin to guess what we've been up to! A whole lot o' nuthin'! Strolling, beach-bumming, coconut husking (that was actually the most work we've done in a few days!) and lazing about. I'm getting a tan for Christmas!
We're now anchored in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay. Chelonidae is lating for green turlte...cool, huh? We're finally seeing the real Abacos! The pictures of town here are all of New Plymouth, pretty wee thing. Yesterday we went to a service at theEpicsopal church. Nice people! The service seemed so familiar to me; the songs, topic of sermon, delivery of said sermon, the whole shebang...reminded me of my very early Christian days in Calgary. Then the reverend introduced himself as being from Medicine Hat, Alberta, the same part of town that bred all the preachers along the "Bible Belt" of Alberta. Ahah! It was a very pleasant experience.
The beach shown above is where we do our bumming, picnicking and annoyance of the home-owners who get to erect little beach shelters for private consumption. The beaches are all public below the high water line, but we like the idea of shade, so we tend to park in the private areas. The sand is of course beautiful and soft. The swimming is pretty exciting at ebb tide, but we're not dare-devils, so we paddle around at slack water. In the photo's background, you can see breaking water over some reefs. Reefs are only fun in perfectly calm water. James has bought some fishing gear, so I can't wait for him to go out to the reefs and catch me a fish. Yellow Tail Snapper, anyone?
Anyhow, we have all our Christamas trippings and trapping and up, saved some candy canes from last year (delightfully ...um...chewy. Yes, Chewy!) and bought some LED Christmas lights for added cheer-factor! The winter days here are really short, sunset at 5:30, so the more cheer the better! If there are no friends to keep us busy during the evenings, we tend to turn in really early. 8, 8:30! I'm embarrassed. But not tonight! A nice lady has invited the whole anchorage over to her place, a 46' Warram Catamaran, for Christmas eve cheer. Her name is Ann, a salty dog indeed! She single-handed at least two long distance passages, including the same route as we just did from Beaufort, and from Rhode Island to Ireland. And tomorrow, Christmas Day, there is a pot-luck for the whole community. Whee!
So wherever you are, we do hope you have a Merry Christmas! Enjoy yourself, your loved ones (for us it will be love from afar...we miss eveyone!) and Christ our Lord.

The Big Hop

2007-12-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

So! The Big Blue Wet Thing. This is mostly what we saw. Sometimes it was dark. Sometimes it was more windy. Sometimes there was a nauseating current. But above all, it was life- changing. We both learned what we are made of, and that we both feel strong and brave. We took eight days to get to Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. We stood watches, lengthening and shorting as the need for the other to sleep became evident.
I have Jim's permission to tell you all that I was not the sea-sick one! As we were exiting the channel from Beaufort, Jim raised the sails. Just as I was noticing a pod of dolphins diving under our ship's sides, sending us off, Jim actually barfed right on them. A Hahahahah! (Yes, we can laugh about it now!)
His acute, and my not-so-dramatic seasickness lasted for about three days, then we got better. driving was good for relieving the bouncy-ness.
Then we were here!
We pulled in to a marina for the first time, just to get a rest and not have to concentrate on anchoring and all that jazz. It was 9am, so we fuelled and watered the boat, then organized some laundry, try to call home, but got all screwed up (due to sleep deprivation) and gave up when the phone line suddenly went dead. We actually arrived three days ago.
Then we went for our first walk in eight days, saw the beautiful palm trees, bougainvaillia, mangroves and different birdies. Marsh Harbour is not exactly a tourist-town, so the town is not "beautiful", although it is a great place to end an ocean passage. Re-provisioning and repairs are easy, and there are lots of other sailors to glean information from on cruising the Abacos.
The Goombay music is lively, rum is cheap and there are pretty girls everywhere. But being shy of all these things, we haven't found out for ourselves yet, just hear the racket across the marina. Thank god we got off that dock, although it was nice having the facilities, and went to anchor in the harbour basin.
Next post, hopefully I'll have some shots of the beautiful beaches and such.
By the way, wirless is indeed hard to come by, especially for free, so there will be prolonged silences from me. Please feel free to hit the "comment" button at the end of each post and drop us a line. All can read the comments and you can comment on someone elses comment...what fun!
The Bahama Mama, signing out.

Bahamas!!!!!

2007-12-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Tah Dah! We made it!
We set out from Beaufort, NC to Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island. As my dad put it, we were barfing one day and sun-tanning the next! But after eight days, it was "LAND HO!" and we entered turqouise waters and saw our first palm trees. It took a few days to find wireless that works, the power is frequently interrupted. So, I will be publishing much shorter posts to get as much out to you as possible before the power (and wireless) goes down. Look at the belies in the top picture! We both look pregnant! (although niether of us is...I've learned to verbalize these things)

Beaufort, NC

2007-11-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say we made it. So we made it!
I think we're finally below the latitude at which there is little risk of frost, snow and chronic depression, so we could happily wait for our fair weather window to make the hop across the pond without freezing to death. We have run into our friends Caroline et Jocelyn, and have made a few more, so we're having a good time. More later when I get some pictures of the wild ponies that live on the island along our beam!

2007-11-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hello from sunny, although a tad chilly, Ocracoke, North Carolina!
After leaving Annapolis, we sailed down the rest of the Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed a few lovely, tiny anchorages, most of them tree-lined, some grassed, but all sorrounded by homes.
You could see that developers have made a killing on what used to be pristine fish and gaming land. Still beautiful, but a little crowded.
The first picture is of the Naval Dockyards in Norfolk, Va., an aircraft carrier. That morning saw us pass some remarkable naval sights: really huge ships, some old ones being restored, just mile after mile of industry and military. Next shot is taken after "being released" from a swing-bridge. We were first in line to wait an hour for the bridge to open, hence we lead the charge out. This is what we saw when we looked behind. It sure didn't take long for the power-boats to pass the sail boats! Next is all I could shoot of our 6-dophin-escort. Quite remarkable to have these 8 footers playing alongside the bow! They were breaching and playing, but our boat doesn't go fast enough to create the size of bow-wave these critters really like to "surf" in, so it didn't last very long. The last shot is of a pelican. I wish I could have photographed them in flight, for they are the funniest birds ever! Their huge bills make them look prehistoric and weighty.
As we press on to Beaufort, the weather seems to hold above freezing, I'm glad to have our duvet! We shared an American thanksgiving with some other cruisers, Sue & Corky aboard "Surprise". They were given two Brant geese off Hatteras, and invited us to join them. These are sea-geese, and you could taste the sea in their meat! Corky wrapped them in bacon and barbequed them to perfection, it was quite unusual, but delicious!
More when we reach Beaufort!

Chesapeake Bay

2007-11-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Chesapeake has been a lovely experience. At this time of year, that is after the boater's summer season, the anchorages are mostly empty and there is plenty of room in the channels. We have been anchoring in some beautiful small creeks, surrounded by fall colours and seabirds. Getting off the boat for a stroll is difficult when we're nowhere near a dingy-dock, as most towns don't seem to provide them, but I'm pleased to say Annapolis has provided one dingy dock at the end of each street that ends at the water...way to go Annapolis! We actually got kicked off a public beach in another town off the Hudson River, apparently you're not allowed to "launch or debark" from a beach...fine! we said. We'll go. hmph.

The above photos are of Annapolis, the first is , of course, taken while we were leaving the town at sunrise. The autumn leaves were found at the park in behind our anchrage in a place called Spa Creek. Nice dingy dock at the park, too. The last is one funky, fiesty wee light house off the bay outside Annapolis.

We're presently anchored in a town called Hampton, Virginia. Nice spot, but then again, it is very late in the season and likely too busy to be believed in the on-season. So I won't have many pics to post yet, not until the sunrise hits everything just right.

Women On Board

2007-11-05T08:23:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Douglas Coupar, was visiting us on board the other night. He, as are a few of you, is a big fan of this blog, and had a few questions for me. The first one had to do with a two wek period in which I did not post a story. He apparently was talking to another mutual friend about this strange disapearance, and it crossed their minds that we had, well, you know! Died!
I replied, alive as could be, that sometimes I can't access any wireless service and must wait. So there will be times when we're in an anchorage and cannot stay in touch via blog or email! Especially when we get into our intended destination in the Bahamas; we'll be a little ways out from civilization.
The other question had to do with the nature of living aboard. He is quite aware, as is James, that most couples who start out on these voyages don't return in their happily married state. The fact is that this is not an easy lifestyle. As ex-cruising sailorette Rose Gauthier put it, "It a lot of work!" Her voice laid much emphasis this as if it's enough to kill you! It almost is!
Now this brings me to my topic. How do women survive this "live-aboard" crap, anyway? As all who know me realize, I'm a big fan of deductive psychology, so let's plunge right into the icy waters of what makes a woman tick. Ready, Doug? James? Andy? All right, fellas...let's GO-O-O!
Like so many women, I enjoy relationships with other people. I like talking to them, getting to know them and really discussing things. Our relationships tend to more face-to-face. Take that away, and it takes a wee while, but I do start to get a little lonely and bored. So I start to look for other interests. I try not to stay lonely bored. Now men, on the other hand, tackle their relationships with other people differently, mostly. They enjoy working on a project together in side-by-side companionship. They tend to like doing stuff. they're more active. Task-oriented. They don't do chick-stuff like relating, shopping, and I must put an "etc." here, because I'm not really sure what else chicks like to do do...
Now, on our boat, (did I mention she is 36' long? Nottalotta room!), there is me, and there is James. And there is all that work. All the shippy things like stowing (and I mean properly!), lashing, hoisting, steering, being careful of halyards, sheets and other assorted not-to-become-flotsam, plotting, taking bearings, trip-planning, watch changes, ventilating, keeping warm, keeping cool, keeping dry, keeping up good spirits and being companionable. You would think I would have a hard time becoming bored! But this stuff is so new to me, also foreign to my creative-hemisphere brain, I do have a hard time with it.
If this sounds like there is more for Jim to sink hs teeth into than me, you'd be correct.
In the previous post, I mentioned some "settling in" issues I was experiencing. With that in mind, you could call living aboard a recipe for relationship disaster. I can see why most full time cruising couples don't make it! They split up, come back dispondent, change partners. Doug told me about one couple who live separately: she lives on land and has extended visits with him while he lives on board 8 months a year, and lives with her the other four. Sounds like a lot of expensive air travel! Finally, there are the majority of cruisers who maintain a family home and both live there during non-boating season.
As for us, we both intend on giving this much more time and working the bugs out. I have some things that stave-off boredom: my knitting when I can find some yarn (that's only been twice) I have my guitar on board, I have written a couple of magazine articles and writing this blog has been a great outlet for me. And I enjoy the creative task of living without a fridge, it permits me to experiment with recipe requirements for using shelf-stable foods and to not produce left-overs, (some day, if you're good, I'll tell you about the days we roast and demolish an entire chicken!). And Jim has All That Work! So things just might work out for us. Besides, he's awfully cute and, well! He's awfully cute!!!
A few people have made forays into the topic of cruising couples getting along all the time, but I've never heard anyone come right out and say that first of all, you're stuck with the spouse you start out with: if they're not up to the task of cruising, then either quit cruising or quit them!
I guess that sounds a bit harsh, but what are your options? Secondly, in order to give cruising your best shot, I've had to realize I must balance All That Work with some Michelle-y stuff, like walking, shopping for groceries and seeking a library alone. Meeting and talking with others. Emailing all of you guys, if I have your address. If not, slip me line!
So, Doug, there you have it: my take on how life is right now and how I'm learning to be a live-aboard cruiser and a woman. And, horrifically, all women are different, so they'll have to find their own specific answers. For now, things are working out. Most of the time!

Leaving NYC

2007-11-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

These pictures belong with the post titled "Annapolis, Maryland! Land of the All-You-Can_eat Crab".

Maryland, Land of All-You-Can-Eat crab...

2007-10-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

We made it to Annapolis! On the mythical Chesapeake bay! And got taken out for two dozen Crabs! That was it! Two dozen steamed, garliced crabdies, two pitchers of Yingling Lager and the three of us got those crabs as hammered as we got ourselves! So exciting! I guess crab is the big thing on the Chesapeake, where there are Crab Shacks all over. Our host, a single hander named Phil, had scoped out this joint the previous night, and the big blonde waitress welcomed him like long lost family, very homey place. Delicious crag, but next time we'll also order some rolls, or salad, or something that won't leave us with "crab-morning-breath". Isn't that nice?!

Yet, once again, my laptop just won't "go on line", so I have no pikkies for you all at this point, will post when I can.
We pulled out of NYC on a cool, hazey day. Sailed past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Went through a field of freighters at anchor, huge black hulks just...sitting there! Then down Raritan Bay for Sandy Hook, intending on anchoring for the night, then continuing on to Atlantic City, O, Joy! But the wind really piped up and we needed shelter from a strong south wind. As we sailed down the coast of Sandy Hook, we saw a bay on the chart that looked OK, so we headed for it,. As we pulled around the corner, however, we saw that our depth-sounder was trying to tell us it was too shallow. About then, we saw a sailboat lying on its side on the beach, so after a strong case of the heebie-jeebies, we and made for a walled basin, further on at the bottom of the bay. It dawned on me right then, that the nature of our travelling was different now that we were in open ocean, no longer canals and rivers. We have to pay strong attention to the weather forcast on VHF, and must stay put during bad weather.
So after lying at anchor ourselves for two days at this place, Atlantic Heights, we had a weather window that showed it would be better to abort our previous plans to come in to Atlantic City and to make a straight shot right through to Cape May at the Delaware Bay, which we did. It was a 30 hour sail amd my first overnight passage.
We could see the lighted casinos on the edge of Atlantic city in the distance for 8 hours! I was the one to pass it, at sunrise. The open, bounding mane on one side, Soddom and Gomarrah on the other!
Cape May was absolutely packed with sport boats! We came in on my watch, and my tactic for collision avoidance was to go straight and let these big, uber-speedy boats pass us, which they did in large numbers. And close! So we don't really like the water around Cape May, and didn't get a chance to see the old town, too bad as it is highly acclaimed. Our lesson learned is this: Stay away from sportsmen's hot spots on weekends!
The long trip up the Delaware was neat, we saw a dolphin a few feet from our port side, leaping and playing. That made up for all the jack-asses at Cape May!
My learning curve had taken a nasty bend during all of this; not being able to see the towns we were passing through when the weather was rough or the anchorage just too far out, getting everthing wrong when ...well, when doing just about anything on deck! I was feeling menopausal, empty-nested and empty headed. I hadn't been off the boat for seven days! Yarg!
When we finally did get off the boat at Chesapeake City, my eyeballs were spangled with trying to see any kind of distance! I was tottering about like a tipsy miss! My mood didn't improve until we anchored, debarked and went strolling the fine streets of Annapolis.
So for the moment, we are well, the weather is absolutely be-ooo-tiful! Deep blue skies, deeper blue water, calm wind which is great for all the non-sailing we're doing.
The boat handled well during all this, sails remained intact, planks still holding, no leaks.
Our next destination is Elizabeth City on The Dismal Swamp. Cool, huh?

NYC, Day 3

2007-10-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Day 2 saw us do a few hard-core touristy things, including climbing the Empire State Building. Seriously, we took a 15 second (yes, 15 second) elevator ride to the 80th floor, then one almost as long to the 86th floor observatory and wowee! It's really true, if you haven't seen NY from there, you haven't seen it at all! Another shot of central Park(different every five minutes) and one of me seen at the Castle at Central Park. On day three, we saw the Metropolitan museum of Art, wonderful!

The Big Apple, Day One

2007-10-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

These shots are proof that we made it this far! And still on a shoe-string budget!

We are presently moored at the 79th Street Boat Basin, a grand affair built in 1937 for the World's fair. We are a mere half hour walk to Broadway! How unusual to be this close to so much humanity and stil come home to our cozy wee nest, dinner on the table.

The first picture is taken from Nyack at 20 miles, sky scrapers just coming into view. The top right is yet another farmer's market, on Broadway, if you please. More corn, Mr. Hammerstein? Then comes the 79th St. Basin, the Geo. Washington Bridge, James, Caroline & Jocelyn just before Time Square. Then the Reservoir at Central Park.

Jim says the Big Apple is much cleaner and more calm than he remembers as a boy visiting NYC. Even among the 10 mil that live here, we didn't really feel the "crush" of humanity that can plague a big city.

We basically walked around on night 1, saw many beautiful buildings, almost all apartments. Day 2 had us picnicking in Central Park, then to the Guggenheim Art Gallery. The park is stellar and the Gallery is very interesting. The building was covered with a scaffold, so we couldn't really see this unusually shaped, spiral wrapped beauty. The main show was Richard Prince, not really my cup of tea, but glad we finally saw it.

The Beautiful (no, Really!) Hudson Valley

2007-10-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

We are presently anchored off the town of Nyack, New York, see top left picture, just 20 miles upstream from The Big Apple. We have been travelling slowly and comfortably at around 19-20 miles a day. The weather has been just incredible! Sunday night, we were anchored off some lonely stretch of the Hudson River, having dinner up on deck after dark, wearing just our scivies! The temperature was 80F and the sunset was an argument between good, pink twilight and bad, evil clouds of thuderous tumult. We lived!
Some of the real estate along this river is pretty spectacular, rivalling Newport, Rhode Island and its "Millionair's Row" Some beautiful castles, wide open river, interesting boat traffic. The Hudson Valley itself is just plain beautiful. The trees are starting to turn, making for lovely hillsides and rock faces. Lotsa tug/barge traffic! One tug even had a "Toodle" pipe, lovely church-organ sound.
As for the boat, we put the mast up at Castleton, NY, and took her for a spin the next day. She sailed well with just the main up, the day after, Jim finished installing an inner stay, so we then flew a jib. Not nearly enough wind, so we abandoned that, but the rigging sure looks great!
From Cape Vincent to Waterford we were able to tie off on free (love that word!) public docks. From there on in we've been anchoring in good muddy bottom. Betcha didn't know that having a muddy bottom could be good, huh?
Will put up some pikkies when I bring the laptop ashore next, until then, tah-rah!

Waterford, New York, Southbound on the Hudson River.

2007-10-02T12:25:00.001-07:00

We have just finished the first two legs of the NY Canal System; the Oswego & the Erie. After a two day stop, we will start down the Hudson River, named after the same Henry Hudson that accidentally dicovered that pesky bay that prevented him from ever reaching India...did you know the poor guy was mutinied and set adrift in the Hudson's Bay?

Anyhow, Waterford is quite pretty. Most of the buildings are in good shape, as opposed to some of the poorer towns we saw on the way down. The severe flooding that damaged the NY Canal system two springs ago must have nailed their poor coffins shut. Some towns were dead on their feet and that flood knocked right down. We chatted with one lockkeeper about how his lockstation fared. He lost his lockhouse and much of the dam. Work had been underway to rebuild the dam, on Lock#10, one abuttment was almost done when the water swept the it and one other away. Alond the way, you could see which locks were still being rebuilt after the flood and which one were untouched. The unharmed ones were all freshly painted and looking great. The damaged ones looked as though they were putting off repainting until all the work was done. There was still a lot of work to go!

Anyhow, we're starting to meet more people now. Along the way, we met but did'nt get to know other boaters because they were in such a hurry to get south. We, however, are taking our time and visiting the areas we are in. Now that we are in a common rest and fuelling up stop for boaters, they too are taking advantage of the two free days dockage, so they have time to shmooze. Most are seasonal boaters who still have houses, cars and mortagages to get back to. Others are out for the two or three years sabbatical from work. Still others have gone no further than their two week vacation will take them. We've met only a few other couple who are out there permanently, like us.

Life has been very relaxing and quiet. As soon as I feel tired of that and need some fun, I figure I'll crawl out from under this rock and start being more friendly toward other boaters. I think I've depressurized from owning and operating a very busy cafe and am getting ready to start focussing on what I'm doing!

Farmer's Markets Across the Borders!

2007-09-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whoopie! Food at last!

Although you can't see the vegetable stalls in this shot, the farmers market in Kingston was really quite nice! This year's harvest didn't reap too many new things, but it's alwayy great to see old friends; we joyed a cucumber and tomato salad, curried lentils and Cous Cous that night!

This next shot is of the Farmer's Market in Oswego, New York. Intelligently, it goes from 5-9pm Thursday evenings. They, too, featured live music, quite a few veg stall and specialty goods like bakery items and honey. The only thing we missed was a charcuterie or butcher. We bought some late season corn, and it was so good, we were able to go back for more. We stayed until the band almost finished, they played everything from Johnny Cash to Prince!

2007-09-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

This is the interior of our wee boaty! The first view is the galley, note the ample cupboard space! All hand made by my talented hubby! The next one down is the settee, complete with a solid teak table. That metal thing halfway up the wall is a cabin heater. The last is a shot taken from the very forward end of our double berth, you can see our open-shelf lockers and hanging locker, which is completely crammed with my stuff. I was thinking I would have to leave my beautiful guitar behind, but managed to find a home for it. We have cargo-nets hanging below some bookshelves in the berth area, so it mostly lives there.

The whole boat is just big enough for two to live aboard, warm when it needs to be, cool likewise. Jim & I tended to spend much of our time together anyhow, hard to imagine we could could spend EVEN MORE time together, but we do. We spend about 25% of our time actually moving the boat, so one will helm and the other relaxes, reads, knits, keeps an eye on the chart to prepare for our next landing.

I find the whole experience to be enjoyable so far, and certainly no hardship! I think I'm going to like cruising for a while yet!

Trancendent Gypsy Socks

2007-09-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

This one project has been with me since April of this year. I bought some lovely sock yarn at my local yarn shop, "Winter Eclipse" is a variegated mauve-purple-grey-midnightblue affair that does indeed look a little winter-eclipse-y. I cast on toe#1 back in the cold snowy spring in kemptville, got around to turning the heel on a warm evening in June, started the ankle the week before moving on board the boat. I finally had time to finish Sock One and am a quarter of the way up Sock Two. These socks will be a birthday present for my older daughter, who must continue to trudge the Canadian Snows. At least she'll do it in comfy warm socks, (and hopefully some kind of shoe!) And now I understand what earlier yarn-prophetesses mean by the phrase "Every stitch is crafted with love", it really is true. This is the second pair of socks I have knit for either of my kids, and the previous pair gave me reason to think about my children and pray for them, send them warm thoughts, good zen-like-karma, you know...hope they turn out all right! I'll be a little sad when this project ends, but am looking forward to the next: a shawl. But you don't know who it's for!

Our first intenational border

2007-09-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Wow! That was easy! Come in, tie off trot up to Customs & Immigration, pass the passport & ship's registration and voila! The nice people told us to have a nice visit, which we shall!
We are across lake Ontario, in the town of Cape Vincent. There are references to the War of 1812, beautiful old mansions, quiet streets and huge trees everywhere! It's almost too boring to write about! I am left wondering...what is the local cuisine like?
Well! I don't know about now, but I suppose the local fare included quite a bit of game-fish. The boat is tied off at the public dock behind the Seth Green Lab Vessel's berth at the Cape Vincent Fishery Museum, Auarium and research station. Mr. Green was apparently quite the angler and was the first person to hatch wee fishies in his own backyard, check out Sports Illustrated, Oct. 1864! (I can only hope it's not the swimsuit edition!) Although the town's tourist/sport-fishing background has quite diminished now, there are signs of leisure America all over; nice private boat docks, worn out buildings that have yet to scratch off the "Angling Supplies" sign off the derelict front doors.
It's a nice place to visit by boat, there is a lovely public washroom and shower facility just off the public dock and the first two nights are free! Tomorrow, the weather conditions should be right to make a safe trip to outr next port, Sacket's Harbour, apparently just as sleepy as Cape Vincent!

The Learning Curve...

2007-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ever look at a new mother with her first baby in arms? See how natural they look? Even if you yourself are a mother, you know that she is experiencing all kinds of new things, problems, getting organized. Still, she looks like she knows what she's doing!

It is the same with us! I suppose we had quite a few distractions when packing up the house, the kid and the car, all going in different directions, and only now are we getting a feel for our new lifestyle. But here we are , enjoying our new "baby", getting to know her and each other, both live and very much up close.

The nice part of living this way is setting your own pace. The troublesome part is that the needs of the baby come first. Jim has lived aboard for two summers now; I have not. He knows her; I do not. This shall come with time and practice.

Anyhow, we have enjoyed some spectacular scenery along the way, and met up with some great people.

Day One saw us entertained in the bustling burgh of Burrit's Rapids by the Boesveld borough! (Z'at enough B's for you?). We walked from the river course, where we actually threw the anchor down in 7 feet of water, to their home. We could hear them. We could practically smell them! But we had to ask another neigbour, Thank you Morrisons! where they were. They were at yet another neighbour's house, making merry! We jioned right in and had a great time. Burrit's is a lovely place to tour through, no matter how briefly.

The next day, we stopped in Kilmarnock for the evening. Knowing we would be here, we lovingly chatted up Doud and Catherine Moir, Citizens of Kilmarnock, beforehand, and secured a shower. Afterwards we had them on board for a glass of wine and heard the story of their beautiful home on the Rideau Canal system. It seems they were looking to perhaps downsize their home after their son, Chris, had left home. They had been looking rather non-commitally, when Doug came across a fellow mowing the lawn on this beautiful property. Apparently, this was the fellow's mother's house, and after dicovering Doug's surname, invited him to come for a look sometime, but not today, as his mother was unwell. It took about a year before the Moirs did look into it, but since then , the matron had passed away. To make a short story, the house ended up being built originally by Doug's greatx3Grandfather, John Moir! They promptly bought the place and are presently rebuilding sections of it. We got a close-up of the bath, and wowie! Has Catherine got good taste or what! The whole house had such a simple, relaxed atmosphere, but had so many lovely surprises, like a reading area with two tasteful plaid sofas with a fireside settee that featured a red leather couch! The view of the bay we later anchored in was quite lovely.

The following morning, we took the 10 minute walk to kilmarnock Orchard. I traded my last copy of my new cookbook 13 Dessert Recipes, from the Yellow Canoe for some apples. We chatted with owner Myriam Belot for a while and discovered what a really busy lady she is! Besides Applefest, which I belive takes place Sept 16, there is "Let's get Creative"; a day full of local chefs, strutting their culinary stuff, wielding apple-corers and juicers to bring new ideas to the dining table. What a neat place, close by on Kilmarnock Road.

The next night we were in Smiths Falls, where I needed to cash in my old licence plate at the DMV. I realized that a friend of mine, Nancy Mantle, and her husband Dave, worked right next door, so we stopped in to see them. They accepted a dinner invitation, and we feasted on a curry dinner. Nancy requested the recipes for the Cashew & Date Couscous and the curried lentil dahl, so I'll put them on the side-bar for the blog post. They have just bought a wee daysailer and have already taken a trip down the Rideau to Ottawa, way to go! The morning after, we ran into Nick, from Ayling's Boatyard in Merrickville. We had him over for a quick pint, and he smartly told us that he is about to launch his sailboat! (both of us thought you look far better in a boat, as opposed to only working on a boat, Nick!) Happy cruising you all!

And then we all alone! No more friends! We tailed some kayakers who were on the same route as us, so we bid them hello whenever we could. Tried not to run them over! We anchored out in some beautiful places at the top of the system, Mortin's Bay on Whitefish Lake, Hudson Bay on the Big Rideau.

Then we came into Kingston, where we met up with my mum, and are waiting to get together with Jim's kids for a farewell dinner. Then it is off to upperNew York State & the Oswego Canal. Enjoy the snaps!

Kingston!

2007-09-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well! We made it Kingston!
I'm learning a whole new lifestyle that includes a whole new way of cooking, let alone floating around on the water! I am also leaning to organize my internet time and access methods for blogging, as a result I have very little battery power and time left in the local library...hooray for libraries! MOre later!

Smiths Falls

2007-09-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well! It's day four and we're feeling great! We've been positively roaring along, darlings, at four knots/hour, minus lock time, averaging four nautical miles a day at 2 knots/hr! Ah, life in the slow lane! I have been running into many familiar faces along the way, enjoyed much hosptality, Thank You Catherine & Doug for the use of your shower!, and have had enjoyable company en route. If you ever have the opportunity to host a bunch of Boesvelds, Do! Th e camera battery is just getting recharged at the lockmaster's house, so I have no pikkies for you right now, but in a few days. Ta-rah for now!

Saying Goodbye to Jim's Family

2007-08-23T18:47:00.001-07:00

What a nice night we had at Monica's place, Beaconsfield, MTL., the weekend of Aug.4 . Monica and her sister-in-law Donna were a little miffed one Christmas when we were telling people that we couldn't bring too many personal effects aboard with us simply because of space issues. Well, they since got together to help alleviate our space problem...they found teeny tiny little itty bitty things that would be sure to fit. There was a four centimeter boom-box, a single shot of Crown Royal and other single dose toiletry items, but my favorite was a wee cookie jar with .5cm cookies. Jim is pictured below trying to dip in...he later had to sprinkle them out!

We will certainly miss our get-togethers at Christmas and Easter! But you know what we won't miss? All the snow at Christmas (although it is pretty), and Easter (which is supplied to keep Canadians humble at Easter).

Saying Goodbye to the Yellow Canoe

2007-08-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

I have been at the Yellow Canoe Cafe for close to nine years. Wow! I managed there for six years and had owned it for the last three and a half. I have many fond memories of the staff and patrons and former owner Sam Jakes' Inn. I have learned much about business, relationships and a whole lot about cooking. I learned a lot about my self, about what I could do if I set my mind to it. I learned to hire, fire, and today...re-e-eetire! Tuesday July 31, 2007 saw my farewell party to The Canoe and the inroduction of new owner (Fantastic!) Susan Moizer, Merrickville veteran. Below are some shots of some of attendees, but certainly not all of The Beloved. Please enjoy!

The only person to inhabit Merrick's Landing Mews
longer than anyone is Pat Brown. She is shown
below with her daughter & new owner, both doing
what they truly love...*hic*! (OK, I'm just
kidding...not really!)

Perhaps the best thing about owning your own business is selecting the people you want to have around you. The surrounding pictures are of staff and patrons who have been cheerful, electrifying, helpful to the nth degree and very hungry!

Below are the Laberge and Atkinson families, between the two have produced at least three great employees...who knows what more offspring could turn up down the road!

Speaking of prolific!!! To the left are three members of the Boesveld Clan and home of the almost-world-famous...Bernie's Burger Balls! But that is a story for another time...

Above, some of the good (I mean GREAT!) folks at the Blockhouse Museum.

To the left, Pat Stroulger with Phyllis Walker. Phyllis in particular was very supportive, hoping I could make the Yellow Canoe a success in tandem with raising my two little girls.

Here's the proud new Proprietress, boog-a-looing to the popular 1981 hit "I Want Money"

So it has been fun, challenging, rewarding, all that clichee stuff. I loved working with my daughter. I loved having my husband/bookkeeper around, (who tends to much more than just books!) encourging me and fixing everything that broke. Between my mom and sisters, I'd say we did our share to support Merrickville economy. I enjoyed most of my customers and all of my regular patrons.

It's been a slice!

What are we up to, anyhow?

2007-07-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

It has occured to me that I haven't really told you all what the h*!! we're up to, how we're preparing and what we're expecting from it.
Well, we're moving on board our ocean-going boat near Sept.1, o7, and will be doing some travelling. We don't have plans to take up residence in Ontario again, but will certainly be touring back through the years. We will be going mostly from port to port, visiting towns and villiages for as long as we like it there (it'll depend on whether they have free showers), then sail on to to the next. There will be the odd multi-day passage, but really not that many. The first big one will take around six days of fair winds to get us to the Bahamas. But if it turns out that we like cruising down the Intra-Coastal Waterway, maybe we'll motor inland a bit farther down the coast, then take a shorter passage to the Bahamas. One way or another, we're intending on being in the Bahamas for Christmas.
Imagine! Me! A full time tourist. Taking my revenge on all the tourists who have had their fun with me!
Our boat, Chelonidae, is 36 feet on deck, 10 1/2 feet across (beam), has 39 feet of mast, is sloop-rigged, has a centre cockpit and is constructed of wood. As you can see from the pictures, she has high sides (freeboard) so the decks are mostly dry when sailing. Even when Jim has too much sail up and is trying to bury the side decks under water (to look cool, I suppose), ...hasn't really happened. She was built in 1952 in Littlehampton, UK at the Hillyard Yacht Company. She is a North Sea design, therefore is quite heavily built. Her history includes at least one passage across the Atlantic Ocean, more likely four or five according to the record of owners and known ports. We found some Australian currency in the bilge...could it be?
Among Chelonidae's comforts is a lovely galley. I have a three burner stove top, an oven with a salamander broiler, double sinks with a foot-pump for fresh water, solid teak counter tops and a built in knife holder. The cupboards are made of cherry and white oak, likewise the drawers. The floor (sole) is white oak, finished with a light rub of oil, no varnish down there, that stuff'll kill ya!
The settee area has two comfy "couches", a gorgeous solid teak drop-leaf table, white oak sole, nice propane heater, brass clock and barometer, bookshelves and wine cellar. O.K., the wine cellar is what I call the bilge, but so what?
We have a solar-panel system and a rather large alternator to generate electricity for our cooling system (three 12-V fans), running lights and electric bilge pump. "Mr. Perkins", or "Perky" as Jim calls it, is our Perkins 4-108 deisel. I must tell you about the manual bilge pump, "The Gusher". What fun! We could call it the mini-shower, gull-wetter or guest-prohibitor. It sends gallon after gallon of whatever water collects in the bilge right onto the dock and anything on it! Including tools, groceries waiting to be loaded, friends...you know.
Our guidance-system includes electronic charts, paper charts, home-printed charts and more charts acquired from sailors going the other way who want to get rid of old charts. We have two GPS's, one hand-held and another bad boy I have since learned it is called a chart plotter)that just sits there and tells you all kinds of stuff: lat & long of where you are, coastline, lights, beacons and buoys, time and where the mermaids are.
We each have a life vest/safety harness, a Mustang suit (for cold weather & flotation...not that the two should ever mix). We have a VHF radio and a depth sounder. If we really need anything else, we'll pick it up cheap from other sailors too frustrated with keeping the *&%# thing running...Jim is very handy with repairs and knowing quality when he sees it!
I'll be posting more photos of the interior when we do move aboard and the boat looks more lived-in.
Anyhow, to keep the cruising kitty topped-up, Jim is intending on picking up the odd bit of work doing small boat repairs for others. He can do sail repair, basic deisel maintenance & repair, and anything having to do with wood. I will be thinking about writing some articles for news papers & magazines, who knows? So we won't be completely retired. Just very choosey!

Knowing the time would come to move my humble home to fit the space requirements of a boat, I have purposely gotten rid of a lot of "stuff", not aquired new "stuff", have been allowing old stuff to break/rip/wear out and not replace it. Some things have been replaced with stuff that will be used for the boat. Like my manual coffee grinder and mortar & pestle. I'll find out if I can make peanut butter in the latter. I have already made jam in very small jars so it won't go mouldy too quickly after opening. It kinda feels good to get rid of so much stuff! As we travel, I'm sure we'll pick up souveneir stuff, local crafts and clothing, goodness knows...food glorious food!
I will be posting recipes, news of the weird and wonderful, gobs of pikkies and generally telling you about our reality: two old retired farts having some fun!

My Daughter Danielle Pelletier

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I am extremely proud of my daughter Danielle. She has worked very hard these past few years to really do well in high school so she could learn to do well in university. And bag a sweet cholarship from the University of Ottawa, where she'll begin classes in September. Her grade 12 graduation ceremony was just the other night . She scooped a number of awards, including Ontario Scholar, no small feat! She is shown here in a designer gown just before a limo whisked her away to her prom. If you click on this (or most any) picture, you'll be glad you did!

It will be very hard to embark on our voyage and leave her in Ottawa. We have a close relationship.Yet her emerging Adult-ness is urging her on to do what she must do. Like me.

So she has found a great apartment in Ottawa, a fifteen minute walk from Ottawa U. Two room mates: her boyfriend Kinsey, shown below, and their friend Shannon, also studying at U of O.

My thoughts and prayers go with them. Not only are Kinsey & Danielle starting an education, but also a new relationship. Sounds busy. But they love Ottawa, have been partying and having fun in this city for a few years now. Kinsey hopes to become a music producer ( I hope I have that right, if not I'll update this post later) and Danielle is looking forward to being produced! I will leave it to them to dicover the joy in getting to know another human being on this level, yeah, to learn to love each other.

Until then, I wish them all the best as Danielle enters her first year in the Social Sciences program. Fly, my younger flegling! Your landings will always be happy if you are happy with the choices you make. Remember to smile when you are happy and when you're sad. Or scared. Or perhaps lonely for the carefree life you left in kemptville. Giving a smile will remind you that you are living your own life. You are free to be yourself, free to change your mind, free to cry. And believe me, I'll be deciding to smile through some tears too!

Cheers! Good luck and God Bless You! Mama.

Google Maps

2007-06-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

To see a map of where we are heading, please click on Google Maps, then click on a tab on the left-ish called My Maps, click on "Route to Bahamas". Use "back" button to get back to my blog.

How we got here...

2007-05-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Around 15 years ago, Jim felt he needed a new hobby. He had full time work at his cabinet shop, but needed something other than wood work to fulfill his need to create, be busy and still use his talents while developing new ones. Having him mooning around the house was enough for his then girl friend to suggest he take up something completely different, say...sailing.
It was love at first bight! He decided to look into sailing more seriously and came to the revelation that there are people out there who are living aboard and travelling the world. Since then , he has made it his life's goal to do just that. Good thing he liked to work! Hard! and a lot! You could say he traded cabinetry for more cabinetry. More curves. Working hanging upside dpown. Using inch-and-a-half bolts instead of civilized 3/16 ones.

But first, he felt he needed better company. Blah, blah blah...we met and got married! (No, really!)

And I let him build things...
In my living room! Above is actually the bulkheads for a boat we were going to build, but when Chelonidae didn't sell, we had to put "Stella G" on hold. Below is our 80lb plywood dingy, Chelley.

I, Michelle, have always wanted to travel. Isn't this a good fit? And don't I look good on a boat? Looking forward to completing my active parenting years (hardy har har!), I began to plan ahead...what would I be doing after work? As Jim began to describe what life might be like living aboard, I got a feel for it, it sounded appealing, adventurous, heck, even affordable! (I only worried about the wet, bumpy part very, very recently) Sailing sparkling turquiose seas, exploring tiny villiages that have only seen a visiting boat once every three years...drinkies on the deck, snorkling over coral reefs, perhaps touring the canals of France one wine region at a time...all we need now is a sunset to sail off in...

Ah!

In The Very Beggining...

2007-05-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

In the very beginning, Chelonidae wasn't even a boat. When she came to us she was as derelict as a boat could be...I couldn't even see a boat. But James could! Boy oh boy could he see a boat...the kind of boat that could make (yet another) ocean crossing! When we looked at the ship's records, we found she had already made 5 (five!) crossings!

Well...! I have no "derelict" photos for you, but her she is after 3 seasons of Jim's full time work: first he gutted her insides and stripped her back to a bare hull. Everything had to go. Then he replaced sawn and bent frames, built a new rudder and fired up the Perkins 4.108 diesel that hadn't run in at least five years. In year two he re-planked, sanded off many years worth of copper bottom paint and replaced some bronze ports. Year three saw new bulkheads, settees, galley and some repaired "brightwork", or varnished wood on deck.

Then she was launched! Her wooden hull took up the proper amount of moisture and she floated! Thank God! Jim took her through the Rideau Canal to Kingston, our home port, and lived aboard for the summer. She kept on floating, through good and bad weather, through engine repair, bow repair (by golly, that was exciting!) and even a few leak-chases!

Over the next summer, Jim lived aboard and I still came out for weekend visits. We sailed across the east end of Lake Ontario a few tmes to Cape Vincent in New York state. To Prinnears Cove in Prince Edward County and a few other small islands with good anchorage. She's a delight to sail, very handy on the water.

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And, of course, the star of the show, our baby Chelonidae, sporting her very best colours dockside in lovely Burrit's Rapids, Ont.

Crew Members

2007-05-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here I am, Michelle "what-the -heck -have-I-gotten-myself-into" Lambton! Blythly varnishing away my cares and thinking not a bit about where, exactly, I am going to store my tampons!!!

Here is the captain, course-plotter and all around good guy, James "Saltier -of-the-two" Lambton, seen honeymooning in Mystic, Conneticut at the living museum Mystic Seaport. As it turns out, he's a man worth following!

(Michelle, please remove that soppy crap, Jim)

Welcome!

2007-05-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

All Aboard! S.Y. Chelonidae soon to weigh anchor and shove off! S.Y. (stands for sailing yacht! ME! on a real yacht!) Chelonidae (Latin for "green sea turtle", very fitting, however, she's no longer green).