Thursday, May 12, 2016

Mea culpa

Mea culpa  12 May, 2016

We have been very remiss in posting to our blog.  Our granddaughter arrived as planned and spent a week with us.  She was a great guest.  We snorkeled and hiked and enjoyed her company.  A low point was when she kept beating me at cribbage!  Snorkeling included a couple caves full of colorful fish. The week with her passed all too quickly.  We hope others of our children and grandchildren will come join us in the future.

I needed to find a 4 foot length of appropriate hose to replace one of Submit’s drain hoses.  A relatively easy task in the states becomes an all day ordeal in the islands.  Dinghy several miles to where a marina is supposed to be, don't find it, turn around and head back hoping the electric trolling motor propelling the dinghy has enough battery to get us back.  Dinghy to shore.  Hike about a half mile before being picked up as a hitch hiker and dropped off at a marina several miles outside town.  They don’t have it.  Hike about a mile back towards town before receiving a ride in the bed of a pickup truck to the edge of town.  Hike a half mile into town to a hardware store.  They don’t have it.  Hike about a mile out of town the opposite direction until being picked up by an off duty policeman who drops me off at a NAPA auto parts store.  They don’t have it.  Hike about another mile to a hardware store and lumber yard.  They have it!  Hike about a half mile back towards town until being given a ride in the back of another pickup truck.  Dinghy back to the boat.  Install new hose.  Have a glass of wine!

We left our boat on a mooring in a small inlet known as a “hurricane hole” meaning it provides good protection from storms.  We hope so.  Actually, we hope there are no major storms there as long as she or we are there. 

Leaving the boat in the water while we are away from her is new to us.  In the past, we have taken her to a boat yard and had her hauled out for storage on land during our absences.  Will she stay afloat?  Will she develop a hula skirt of bottom growth?  Will we regret it?  Time will tell.

Our tentative plan years ago was to spend a few months sailing our way down island in the Caribbean, then find a spot to leave the boat and return to move farther south next time and so on.  This will be the first time we’ve followed that plan, and we may still bring her back next year for projects.  She needs a repaint and I would like to replace her wooden toe rail with aluminum, and replace her rub rails.  So, next year might see us cruising the Exumas and then returning to Florida, or, if it opens up, cruising to Cuba and then home, or who knows what.


We arrived home in Lakeside, MT in the middle of the night April 21st.  We have been catching up on work and projects and family visits.  It is now time to prepare “Knot Ready” for launching for the summer sailing season.  We invite folks to come visit and sail with us in Montana, but nobody comes.  Maybe this year…..