It Is A Hard Life On The Hard

We arrived back at the Green Cove Springs Marina boatyard on the morning of Nov 7^th and started right to work. Murray took the sun-cover off while I checked below decks. The mould gods were good to me this year as the mould was minimal. I cannot say that it was due to better preparation as I used the same method as always. It is simply a matter of humidity and luck.

 

We were scheduled to move from storage into the work yard around 10 am but were moved at about 4 pm. At least we got a spot. I had booked our move into the work yard before we left in the spring, just to be sure to have a space. There are a huge number of boats in storage but only a small area called “the work yard”.

 

In the work yard, you are supposed to have access to water, power, have garbage pick-up and have use of the bathrooms. The power is sketchy at times. It took Murray many hours to get a working outlet. The water tap was close and usually has sufficient pressure, except on weekends when more people arrive to work on their boats.

 

The garbage situation is terrible. The cans have been overflowing this whole week. With the afternoon heat, the stench is building. They promise that it will be dealt with today. But, if it isn’t, we will be waiting until Tuesday as the staff is off until then.

 

Now to the bathroom situation. The men’s room has one toilet and one shower. The ladies room has two toilets and one shower. They did build wheelchair accessible washrooms a couple of years ago but I understand that they are in deplorable condition as well. The floors of the showers are black with ground-in dirt from the shoes that everyone wears.

 

And for the privilege of enjoying this life-style, we only pay $0.50 per foot or, in our case, $20 per day. Plus there is a charge of an additional $1 per day for a live-aboard fee, covering garbage pick-up and washroom access.

 

But, we are the lucky ones as we have the Rialta. During the night, we use the bathroom in it. In fact, Murray uses it most of the time. For showers, we use the cockpit shower on the boat. That might not work for us in the next couple of days as it is expected to get very cold.

 

But, all is not doom and gloom. The jobs are getting done and we all almost ready to launch. Now, if only the marina next door, Reynolds Yacht Centre, has a spot for us! We cannot float on the moorings here and there are very few spaces on the dock. Plus, Reynolds is a nicer and cleaner facility. They pick up garbage daily at the boat and do a free pump-out of the boat or motorhome waste tanks weekly.

 

 

All of this too is life aboard.

Heather & Murray

 

PS Windswept IV is for sale and we are working hard to empty out all of our personal stuff. To that end, we purchased an enclosed trailer to transport and store everything.