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…..
