Revi on the Hard

It's hard to imagine that 5 months has gone by so quickly!  It's even harder to imagine that we have traveled 5756 KM in 463 hours under way.  If you do the math it works out to 12 KM/H - not exactly a blistering pace by any means!

However, the good side of spending time going slow is that you really do get to take time to see what's going on around you.  You get to see places and meet people you would not have otherwise had a chance.  Little communities in out-of-the way places.  Friendly people living lives whatever way they can.  Everyone has a story and is living life differently according to their means and circumstances. 

As we reflect back, we can think of so many little vignettes, each a reflection of the people and towns they live in .  Perhaps we can share a few of them a little later once the best ones have had a chance to percolate to the top.

In the mean time, we have put Revi up on the hard, and have prepared her for long term storage until we get another chance to enjoy a vacation cruise.  It was quite a process to get her ready for storage, but we finally got to the bottom of all the little things we wanted to do over the last 4 days and she's now looking good and running in peak form.

Revi on the Hard

We have arrived home to Ottawa and are looking forward to meeting up with friends and family again.  I have said many times that a boat is a list.  Well, so is a house.  We have a few things to take care of over the next couple of weeks before we return to work - and we're looking forward to having the time to do that too!

So for now our adventure has come to a successful conclusion. 

• Sue and I got enjoyed each others company and love each other dearly
• No one got hurt
• We have memories that will last a lifetime
• We have gained a new perspective on life and the value of enjoying it

Cheers!


All in all - a great success!

Still a little more to come!

The Lighter Side of Boating

Duringour 6 month adventure on the boat we have learned a few very valuable lessons that we thought we would share. In no particular order:

• Every anchorage is like a new pair of shoes, if it's uncomfortable when you arrive, it will be much worse after 12 hours!
• Gravity is greater over water. Guaranteed, if you throw a line to tie off, if you have a screw in your hand, if you are carrying a fender, or are using a walkie talkie, it will end up being pulled down as an offering to Posidon! 
• The lesser known law of magnetism states that Rubber mooring balls will repel an aluminum boat hook when you are in a windy crowded mooring field laying on your belly reaching 7 feet down to the line!
• There is a positive correlation between how full your holding tank is to how badly you have to use it. Conversely, there is also a negative correlation in that when the holding tank is full you can be sure the alternative facilities are a great distance away!
• When you receive directions into a marina they are guaranteed to make sense only after you have arrived and tied off.
• The dingy will give you a lovely dry ride IF there is absolutely not a gust of wind, the water is dead flat, you are not carrying anything that needs to stay dry, you are both sitting on the floor with your head down and there is a full moon (preferably blue). Otherwise you will curse through the salty spray!
• If you can imagine something going wrong it is absolutely going to happen. Place a heavy oil filter in a cut down milk jug - it will fall over and spill it's contents. Pour water directly in your battery, it will glug all over the place. Forget to turn a valve off, it will be on the other side of a hot engine. The moment you decide to use both hands to carry something you will hit a wake or wave. You get the idea....
• When you most need to rely on the help of other boaters, or dock hands, you can be sure they are neither interested nor skilled.
• If you are in a rush, or on a schedule - you are out of luck! No matter how slow you want to go, there is always someone who will only go half that speed.
• The channel markers make perfect sence, once you have passed them by and backed off the sand bar you just ran up on.
• You have plenty of gas - right up until you don't.
• When you are walking for your errands, guaranteed, everything is "just" two miles away.
• If you see 1 mosquito on the back deck, 1000 of his closest friends are just about to crash the party.
• On the lighter side of of our relationship: Scott has learned that non critical items still require some attention and detail for Sue. Sue has learned that unless the boat is on fire or sinking, Scott's just not that inclined to provide it.

• Sue's perspective on navigation. First check the plan for the day through consultation with the Waterways Cruising Guide for destination and accommodation. Then check the Lewis charts for directions, waypoints and navigational hazards. Then set a cruising itinerary and input GPS waypoints. Lastly cross reference compass, autopilot and GPS in the event of multiple systems failures.
• Scott's perspective on navigation. "It's that way right?  Let's go!"

 

 

All good!

Back in the USA - video post

As promised - our video of the first half of the trip.  Second half was a bit too rocky for video, but this should give you a taste of the action.

Back in USA - FLA!

Well our Bahama days are behind us - for now!  We spent a week hanging out in Green Turtle in Black Sound near New Plymouth waiting for the weather to get nice on the Atlantic.  As in all things, timing is everything and I really wanted at least one crossing to be smooth.  After waiting for 5 days, it looked like we would have at least a short window of OK weather.  OK is loosely defined in this case as 2-4 foot waves.  Since the rest of the week after that looked worse we dropped lines and made a 13 hour run to West End with the intention to leave the following morning.

On the Morning of June 2nd the forecast window of OK seemed to close and there was another week of 3-5 foot waves.  Screw it, we can do it!  I know Revi was up for the challenge and if we could keep our cool I was sure we could make an 8 hour run.  Sue was game, so off we went.

The day started well, 3 foot swells from the SE and one foot waves from the NE.  Four hours in we had 3-5 foot swells from the SE and 2 foot waves from the NE.  By the time we got to USA waters, the swells were piling up the waves and the 5 second interval meant that they would push us around at the stern giving our Autopilot fits, so I started to steer Revi by hand for the last 2 hours.  The trick was to steer down  the 6-8 footers and not slew out the back end or drop the nose in the back end of the wave as it went under us.  It sounds worse than it was, but it was not exactly a day in the park either.

When I was punching in the last hour I had my hands full so I was not taking any video, and since Sue was kinda holding on with both hands you are going to have to miss out on the action at the back end.  Oh well, no big deal, but I will say that we were both very pleased to see the Lake Worth harbour that afternoon.

Now we are off to Stuart to store the boat and arrange travel back home.  Our major travels are behind us for the time being - but we still have a month to enjoy before the end of our adventure.

More to come!

Video to be posted shortly.