Author name: jrand

As you know, we departed from Montreal on May 17th at 7:30 pm. Linda and Kuyler, who were driving us to the airport, proved to be even more cautious than I am, as they arrived at Jeremy and Cynthia’s at 11 am for a 2 hour drive! We took back roads, enjoyed the sights and even stopped to pick up some last minute items.

Even so, we arrived at the airport with hours to spare. Or rather, to drink wine at the bar.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Paris early, due to a tailwind. That made me feel better as we had a three hour gap between our arrival and the departure of our train, with non-refundable tickets.

Our luggage was the last off of the plane, probably as it was the first on. Just after we had collected everything, we were ushered to a waiting area and crammed in with many of the people from our flight. No explanation was given for quite a while. Then we heard that there was an unidentified package. ? A bomb?? They did finally explode the package, so we hope it wasn’t someone’s undies. After two hours, they let us depart.

Now we are under the gun as it will take us an hour, via train to Paris, then subway, to get to Gare de Lyon and catch our train to Dijon. Yikes! Grab the luggage and follow me. My broken French verifies the direction to “la gare” or station but cannot identify the shuttle stops. So, we run/hurry the length of two terminals and arrive, huffing and puffing, at “la gare”. There is a line at the ticket counter but there are also nearby handy ticket dispensers. Yeah! We insert my Visa card and it spits it right back. Try once more and same result. Okay, into the line. Buy the tickets and inquire re the possibility of making our train connection. The shoulder shrug told us all. But, we would try.

Bump, bump down the stairs with our wheeled luggage ( gifts from Jeremy and Cynthia ). Finally to the right level and into a train. Now, we must get off at Chalet des Halles and change to a subway to go to Gare de Lyon. Try to stay awake and figure out where we are on the map above our heads. Next is our stop! Get off quick as the doors don’t wait long. Bump, bump up a level or two, through the turnstiles, which directon???, this way, follow me! Whew, into the subway. Only one stop and we are off again. Oh man, this station is huge! Ask a friendly gendarme how to find the correct gate. We make the train, with 2 minutes to spare.

The trip takes 1 3/4 hours with speeds around 160 km/hour. It is so smooth and comfortable that we can doze off. John and Kristin meet us in Dijon and guide us to the hotel. By now, we have been up for 30 hours and are fading fast. But, we are also hungry. Time to walk the town and try to convince a cafe that eating at 4 pm isn’t gauche.

In the morning, we take another train to St Jean de Losne where we will board our floating home for the next 10 days.

to be continued….

Heather & Murray

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to say “hello”/”bon jour” and “goodbye”/”adieu” for the next two weeks. As we are not taking our computer to France, we will be out of touch completely.

Tomorrow evening we fly out, from Montreal. On Friday we will arrive in Paris, take trains and subway to the Gare de Lyon and there, we board a train for Dijon. That assumes that we figured out all of signs in French. On Saturday, we will take a cab to St Jean de Losne and can board our boat in the afternoon. Murray is slightly concerned as the “red right returning” rule is exactly the opposite in Europe! Yikes! Hopefully, we won’t run aground. But we have a chart and instructions.

But that night, we will open bottle or two of wine to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We cannot believe that it has been quite that long.

When we return, we will give you a complete report on our trip and maybe even a picture or two.

Hugs, Heather & Murray

We have been at the marina for one week today. In that time, we adjusted every support arm of the bimini, made a pattern, cut the fabric (some parts twice!), sewed, fitted, cut apart and re-sewed. There are leather patches on stress points, a total of 8 zippers and many yards of seam binding. We lost two days with high winds making it impossible to spread fabric out, without becoming a kite. It is done and it fits! I have taken some photos and will pass them along to Jeremy to post on the website.

The dodger will be tackled in the fall.

Now, the rest of the boat jobs await us. We haul out on Friday and should arrive in St Thomas by Sat night, late.

Sure look forward to catching up with everyone. Hugs, Heather & Murray

Hello all,

The part for the transmission arrived on Sat at 10:30 and we picked it up shortly after 11. Murray installed the damper plate, re-installed the transmission, and finished in just 2 hours. Then, we hauled the dinghy motor and dinghy again and by 3 pm we were underway. The breakdown only cost us 30 hours! Amazing.

We froze our way, into a north wind of course, northward through St Augustine, into the St John’s River and on to the marina. We arrived here on the Monday after Easter and found a secure spot on the dock.

A trip to Home Deport supplied us with a piece of plywood and some 2×4’s to build a work table out on the pier. Murray even made a recessed spot for the sewing machine that allows it to be flush with the table top. The bimini was taken apart and every section modified, taking about 6 inches out of the total height. Murray had borrowed a tube cutter from the marina for this job and it worked well once he repaired it. Then, we proceeded to make patterns of the bimini by spreading plastic tightly over the existing frame. The plastic is held in place with double-sided tape which was applied to the bimini hoops. The plastic was marked with centre line and any other pertinent information.

Then, we spread the fabric on our lovely work table and proceeded to cut out pieces. And, of course, mark them as the plastic was marked. Yesterday was the first time the sewing machine was used and I applied seam binding to the raw edges of three pieces at the end of the day. We had ordered a binder attachment for the sewing machine ( no, it doesn’t have anything to do with harvesting crops, George! ). That thing was just the ticket. It folded the seam binding over and held it against the fabric, allowing an even stitch to be made. After much trial and error.

Today, Saturday, I attached five zippers, up to 54 inches in length. Then, the wind velocity increased and we had to put things away for a day or two.

A strong wind storm proceeding an approaching front is expected to hit tonight, pressing us against the dock. All of our fenders are deployed between us and the wooden supports of the dock. But, the wind will switch directions by tomorrow and push the boats into the dock on the other side of the pier. And we will be blown away from the dock.

My ankle is still slightly swollen and I opted to fill another ‘script that I had for Cipro. Just to be sure that the infection is gone.

When the wind dies down some, we will be back at the sewing job. And, of course, there is still all of the normal boat jobs to get her ready to store for the summer.

That is life aboard. Hugs, Heather & Murray

Remember that up-beat, positive message sent earlier? That was before we identified the strange, rattling noise coming from our engine room. It was the transmission. We got through two bridges in Daytona before we were forced to sail off to the side of the ICW and anchor. Luckily, I was able to connect to someone’s wireless and made a dozen calls on Skype. The part has been ordered, paid for and will arrive here at a nearby marina tomorrow, Sat.

Meanwhile, Murray is buried in the engine room, disassembling the transmission housing to remove the damper plate that is causing the problems. I am sitting here, making phone calls with Skype and catching up on e-mails. It could have been much worse, if this problem had occurred in the Gulf Stream or the Bahamas. Here we were able to resolve the issue fairly easily.

So, that is the news of the minute.

Hugs to all, Heather & Murray

Hello all,

As our brief message stated, we safely crossed the Gulf Stream yet again. Now for the rest of the story.

On Tuesday, March 27th we bade farewell to our friends ashore and departed from Spanish Wells. It was a very short journey that day, just out to Meek’s Patch about 1 mile away. Once we anchored and did a few boat jobs, we went ashore for some exercise. In walking on the “iron shore” ( the nasty, holey limestone rock ), my foot slipped and my ankle crashed into a dried up tree. A bunch of the branches penetrated the skin and gave me an ugly gash. Murray washed it with peroxide and we bandaged it well with sterile, waterproof dressings.

The next day, both of us were busy getting things together for our planned passage. I baked a cake, two dozen muffins and made macaroni and cheese casserole. Murray strung the flat line that we use to clip our harnesses to while underway and checked over the engine. He went on a final fishing trip and came back with three fish for the larder. Then, the dinghy was hauled and secured on deck. The weather was checked and re-checked. All was in readiness. Two other boats came out to anchor as well but planned to leave at midnight with a different destination and route. We would be traveling alone.

Before dawn, we were up and moving. The New Providence Channel was lumpy and ugly with waves from all directions. The wind was on our stern quarter so we had the main tied down on one side and the jib attached to the spinnaker pole on the other side. Our course the whole time was 305M. That course took us just above Great Stirrup Cay, Berry Islands where we had planned to stay the night and continue on the next morning. But the weather window appeared to be closing on us, so we opted to go straight through. We passed Great Stirrup by nightfall and dawn found us off of West End, Grand Bahama. Neither of us had slept more than brief periods, so we decided to head for Ft Pierce rather than Cape Canaveral.

Ft Pierce was 225 nautical miles from our start while Cape Canaveral was 285 or another overnight. The boat sailed between the piers at Ft Pierce by 3:30 on March 30th. Our maximum speed had been 9.7 knots and average speed was 7.5 knots. This is the read-out from the knot-log and does not account for the push of the Gulf Stream, which added a knot or two for the last third of the voyage. The motor had been used for brief periods and we had to use the portable generator to keep the batteries up due to the draw from running lights, computer, radar etc at night. The engine was used for a total of 10 hours of our 33 hr trip and most of that was just to keep our speed up.

On we went, northward to Vero Beach where we rafted with friends on Brass Tacks. They drove us back to Ft Pierce to check in with customs the next morning.

Monday morning found me at the local walk-in clinic having my ankle seen by the doctor. It had become very swollen and the diagnosis was cellulitis. He took a culture and prescribed antibiotics, both oral and by injection. As he wanted to check it again on Wednesday, we stayed at the mooring. It was tough – spending time with friends, sharing visits with their granddaughter ( Jillian is three ), shopping for groceries in stores with amazing amounts of fresh stuff and eating too much good food.

But, with a clean bill of health, we pulled ourselves away on Wed at noon and heading on north up the ICW.

Plans, you ask? Well, we should arrive at the marina on Sat sometime. Then, wash the boat and tidy her up for the summer. All of the things that I ordered from Sailrite should be there, ready for the big sewing project. We will work on that until time to haul out, likely Friday April 27th. That means we will arrive in Ontario by the 29th or 30th.

See you soon!!! Hugs, Heather & Murray

Remember the last note, about winds from the north-east? Well, it has continued to blow, from that direction, for all of this time.

We did manage to get northward, to Spanish Wells. It was several days of sailing close to the wind, into 15 plus knots. I couldn’t get the grin off of Murray’s face. Meanwhile, our house is heeled over 20 degrees and, surprisingly enough, everything stays put! Except a few pillows which, of course, land on the floor. But no damage to eggs or veggies stored in baskets in the aft cabin. Miracles do happen.

So, we sailed to Norman’s Cay where we stayed a few days. Murray dove with Bob, from Veruna, and his son, Kevin and added two lobster, a grouper and trigger fish to the larder. A cocktail party was held on One Palm Island. From there we sailed to Ship Channel Cay for an overnight stay. In the morning, we passed through the shallow and reefy Middle Ground, with Murray on the bow for an hour, pointing the direction to steer around the shallow reef/heads. We passed through Fleeming Channel and on to Spanish Wells.

The laundry in Spanish Wells is unique. In a lean-to behind a store, there is one washer and one dryer. There is nowhere to sit down, other than on the edge of the porch for the store. But, the clothes come out clean and fresh smelling. What more can I ask for? And, it costs $4/load, wash and dry. Cheaper than most places we have been.

The grocery here is community owned and well-stocked. They will even give you a ride back to the marina. But, as we needed the exercise, we brought our cart and packed everything in it. Just a block from the store, a golf cart stopped and insisted that we ride with them. Fellow Canadians, they had seen us come into the channel yesterday. They spend the winter in Spanish Wells, escaping the cold of Quebec.

We spent four nights at the moorings in town and then moved outside to anchor. Wayne, the pilot “Little Woody” and his wife Phyllis invited us to a shore-side dinner at a local restaurant on Monday and showered us with gifts of carrot cake and guava jam. They also took us on a tour of this prosperous island. It was great to have a chance to spend time with them as we had missed this island last winter.

Now we are at anchor at Meek’s Patch, just a mile or two from town. We are the only boat here. That is nice. The moorings were inexpensive and convenient to town but the boats were very close together. Someone sneezes on the next boat and you say “God Bless”. That is way to close.

This wind is supposed to continue to blow, right through the weekend. But, Mon and Tues may give us a chance to head directly to the US. From here, it is 270 miles to Port Canaveral. That is a bit long, but we may go for it as time is marching on without a respite from this wind. We have two bail-out points along the way, West Palm Beach or Ft Pierce, if the weather turns against us.

If we head out, we will let y’all know. Take care. Hugs to all, Heather & Murray

Well, for the last week or more we have been trying/planning to head to the north. Can you guess from which direction the wind has been blowing? Yes, from the north! That whole time. Prevailing winds are from the east and southeast which make it very easy to go to the north usually. But not right now or for the next three more days either. Eventually it will have to switch around and we will make a dash. As time passes, planned ports of call get deleted from the itinerary but there is always another year. Maybe.

So we are stuck here with beautiful blue skies, warm water and enough wind to charge the batteries. How can we complain?

A couple of days ago, I decided to organize a beach party. It is the easiest thing to do. Just make a couple of announcements on the radio, citing time and place. Then, people show up, with their own drinks and snacks to share with everyone. How easy is that! And it was great fun. Everyone was getting tired of the wind blowing and looking for any excuse to get off their boats ( 40 – 50 people showed up ). We met old friends and made some new ones, exchanging boat cards to bolster slipping memory cells.

Recently we went ashore on Fowl Cay, a private island that is an exclusive resort. Libby Brown, the woman who owns it along with her husband Stuart, has written a book about her life and the challenges/choices she faced. The last part of the book is about the difficulties of building and operating a resort in the Bahamas and is very revealing. Both Murray and I had read “Making Waves”, having borrowed it from friends. We enjoyed it so much that we wanted to purchase our own copy. Libby met us at the dock, showed us around the cay and through their home. The island/resort has been recently sold to Sandals Resorts and we all hope that they don’t over-develop this bit of paradise. If any of you are interested in her book, Jeremy has put a link on the website.

So, now the water tanks are full of water made with wind power, the frig is full of fresh veggies from the mail boat on Wed, and the freezer is full of fish and lobster. ( Most of the fish and all of the lobster, Murray shoots with a spear . Occasionally, he does get fish by hook and line.) Freshly washed clothes are drying in the breeze and we ate homemade whole wheat bread for breakfast. ( In fact, I cobbled up the recipe myself, as one recipe made too much and the other, not quite enough. It was great when it rose nicely and tasted good.) But, the tide will soon be perfect for another dive and there are grouper dying to come north with us. With the new freezer ( Engel), we are hopefully bringing north enough fish to share with our friends and family.

We did go for a snorkel this morning on a couple of small reefs. There was nothing there to eat but lots of lovely fish to watch. There were many bright neon blue chromis swimming above the reef, flashing in the sunlight. The striped sargeant majors vied for space with the queen angels. The queen angelfish is especially lovely, with kissy lips, a golden yellow tail, blue and yellow scales and her whole body is outlined in neon blue. The French angels are not so pretty, being black, with yellow highlights. Then the small butterfly fish flit by, with their Zorro masks and yellow tails and fins. Lots of blue and yellow grunts in different sizes flow past in their schools. Juvenile groupers of different types gave us hope for next year’s hunting. All in all, a lovely morning in the water.

Our plans? Well, we may head north tomorrow, if the wind co-operates. Then on to Eleuthera for a stop in Spanish Wells to visit friends and get more provisions. The Berry Islands will be our last stop before Florida. Hopefully, we will be at the marina by early April as I have a huge sewing project and want to get started this spring. Early May will find us in Ontario.

Hugs to all and we will be seeing you soon. Murray & Heather

That date means two different things to us. First, we get to open another envelope of money. We budget $500 per month for the duration of our stay in the islands and sort it into envelopes to keep us on track. Most of the time, we don’t spend the month’s allotment as there isn’t much to spend it on. But, “payday” is always a good day.

Secondly, grouper season is now open. For the months of Dec, Jan & Feb, Nassau grouper are off-limits. For the last few months we have seen many Nassau grouper. They seem to know that they are safe as well, tantalizing us with perfect positions for a good shot. They don’t hide but just sit there watching us, while we watch them. Murray jokes that he has put a “tag” on several to reserve them for W4 ( Windswept IV ). Now that it is legal to take them, we won’t find one around. But we will have fun trying.

Yesterday, Murray dove with a group of friends and came back with the most lobsters. He got two lovely ones and we ate them for dinner last night. The lobster found here is different from the ones in New England. These are the spiny lobsters and have no claws. They do have very long antenna which often stick out of their hidey-holes. That is how we find them. And they deserve the name “spiny” as the antenna and the sides of the lobster are covered with picky spines. Some people have said that we should catch them with a mop. You thrust the mop into the hole and the lobster gets tangled up in it. It would work except… have you ever tried to dive with a mop? It is very difficult. Mur tried it. The spear works better.

We have traveled northward somewhat and are anchored in Big Major Spot, near Staniel Cay. There was nothing left of our veggies, even the last onion was in use. And, I was out of reading material. Horrors! So, yesterday we took the dinghy to town, visited the library for new books and stocked up on lots of veggies at Isles General Store. We even splurged for a small container of ice cream and ate it there under the gazebo before it melted. It was a race to the bottom, with two spoons dipping. Rum and raisin, mmm.

Plans for the future? Well, we want to be back in the US by the end of this month or so. I have a big job ahead of me, making new canvas for the boat. This spring, I hope to get the bimini done and then work on the dodger in the fall. I have the list of all the zippers, thread, snaps, etc etc that I will need for the project and will make the order in time for it to be shipped to our marina ahead of our arrival.

Other than that? Well, enjoy the balance of our time here. Dive, walk, visit, etc. It is a tough life.

Hopefully, all is well with you and yours. Stay warm and the spring should be along soon.

Hugs, Heather & Murray

After 10 days, we have left George Town. Not soon enough for Murray.

For those who haven’t seen it, Elizabeth Harbour is about 5 miles long and the mainland is protected by a series of barrier islands about a mile across from the main island. With prevailing easterly winds, most vessels anchor along the largest of the barrier islands, Stocking Island. These anchorages have been named ie Sand Dollar Beach, Hamburger Beach ( there is a hamburger stand ) or Volleyball Beach. But, when the wind blows from the northwest or southeast, it can get very bouncy. And, when the wind blows, boats drag. They are anchored so close together that they crash into each other’s anchor lines or even boats.

The town of George Town is accessed under a small bridge into an inland lake, Lake Victoria. Inside there is a dinghy dock and free reverse-osmosis ( a process where salt is taken out of salt water to make fresh ) water. At the head of the dock, is Exuma Market, the local grocery. They also provide garbage bins for the cruisers. In town, there are banks, hardware stores, laundries, a straw market and many restaurants.

On Stocking Island are walking trails and many beaches. Chat & Chill ( a bar/burger joint ) is on Volleyball Beach. Here there are many courts for the game the beach is named for. Also, basket weaving, bridge and domino games, painting classes etc etc take place daily. Picnic tables and card tables have been built to accommodate all of the activities. This is winter camp for adults.

Saturday, we went on a “rock walk” with a marine biologist. He told us about stromolites, which are found living only in the Exumas and Australia. They are bacterial mats that exude a sticky substance. This then gets coated with sand and hardens into rock. Sort of rock – if you press on the “rock”, it is soft. These stromolites are billions of years old, 3.5 billion actually. The ones found in the Bahamas are only about 3 thousand years old. Stromolites give off oxygen and are thought to have contributed to forming an atmosphere where humans could live. It was very interesting and we walked for several miles. Sure was glad that the knee worked!

Every morning, the cruisers net starts at 0800, with weather and announcements. After that, it is a feeding frenzy as people make plans for the day. In fact the radio is never quiet. If you use a channel reserved for business, someone is very quick to point it out. There are activities on the beaches almost every day – cocktail parties, music, etc.

Hoping to get further south, we stuck it out. But, there were too many people for us. With the weather report not favourable for the next week, unless we wanted to motor 35+ miles, we headed back north yesterday. We traveled a distance of 10 miles and are anchored alone, with a couple of boats in sight. Nice. As the wind died, we barbequed some chicken and had a lovely dinner in the cockpit. The wind is expected to blow from the north for the next while, so we may be here for a week. The freezer is full of food but we will run out of fresh things. No worries as we have lots of cans.

So, that is what is happening here. Hope all is well up north. Write when you have time.

Hugs, Heather & Murray