Well, we are in countdown mode, racing to complete the items on our to-do list and get in all the hugs we can with family and friends before we fly to Ottawa for a short visit with Gregg's mom and family......then off to Florida! Yipeeeeee!!!
We still haven't received our final boat registration documents and are keeping our fingers crossed that this detail will be completed in the next week or so. In the meantime, I continue with our provisioning list which is quite long given this is a first provision for Simplicity II so we are buying cookware, linen and all manner of "this and that" items to make our life on the water just a little more comfortable......and all this without taking up too much storage space and being called a hoarder. Eeeeek! I expect this will be quite a chore over at least a couple of days but I feel ready to tackle this exercise! Thanks and a big shout-out to Brittany over at Windtraveler who continues to provide great advice with a sprinkle of humour and a sparkle in her eye and Carolyn, at The Boat Galley , whose inspiration and tips I am convinced will be invaluable as a live aboard.
So, back to my yard work which, it has occured to me, I will not be here to enjoy this summer!
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Well, we are still waiting on the Canadian government to complete their end of the documentation (read expensive nightmare here) and are very grateful to our documents agent in Florida for managing all of the in's and out's of this exercise.
In the meantime, we have our Hunter 29.5 and our Porsche to sell here which we hope will complete prior to our May 1st target date of departure. We are also trying to figure out how we can take our inflatable kayaks and a few other items that we love from here to Ft Lauderdale....still working on that!
Now that we are preparing for our adventure, it seems each and every opportunity to spend time with family and friends is a little bit more emotionally charged, knowing they won't be as avilable to us as they have been and knowing how much we will miss them as we travel the seas in our new home. Some of our peeps have begun to plan for their visits to us though, so we are excited to share bits and pieces of our new lifestyle with them! So far, Christmas and New Years are booked with a possible meet up for world cup in Brazil! Keep those ideas coming!!!!
I have to tell you that I had been kind of looking forward to writing this blog, sharing with you the joys and pitfalls of preparing for, and moving into, the sailboat cruisers lifestyle...and truthfully, if all I were doing was writing and posting pictures, this exercise would be a dream! Alas, this blog creation business is turning out to be a bit more than I bargained for and the learning curve for me in this endeavor is proving to be rather significant!
I have been about 3 hours over this last go, trying to set the formatting just right on the Captain and Crew page and to be honest, I just can't see straight any longer!!! I will try again tomorrow but for now, I'm off to read Les Miserable and fall to sleep!
Good night all!
Hello to all and welcome to my humble blog. I started this blog in response to family and friends wanting to know how our plans are coming along with a way to show our routes and book time to join us onboard in various ports. These posts will become the story of my husband Gregg and my adventure into the world of sailboat cruising! Welcome aboard and I hope you will enjoy our journey through word and picture as we struggle through the details of getting started.
I remember the day, three or four years ago, Gregg came home after a weekend sail in the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest and with a big smile on his face said " how would you feel about buying a bigger boat and going travelling"? Without a moments hesitation I responded with a resounding, "When do we leave?" Being a bit of a gypsy at heart, I was ready for a new adventure and learning to sail had certainly been an adventure thus far! Being relatively new to the sport, Gregg and I had 2 years on our 17' Siren class, Kalieda and now 4 years on our 29.5 hunter, Tingara so why not downsize the house and upsize the boat? And the rest, as they say, is history...or rather, history in the making.
We were fortunate to find George Eberhard over at David Walters Yachts on a trip to Florida and he has been the most valuable broker we could have hoped to find! Even though we weren't ready to buy, he listened to us and took care of us in every way until, after many viewings, he managed the negotiation and purchase of our 44' Hylas cc. I'll go into further detail regarding George and our journey into international boat purchase and registration....it's been an experience to be sure and not one I would care to take without a skilled and trustworthy professional such as the folks over at David Walters Yachts.
Until next time.....
