This past year we have lost some good friends, both older and younger. With the passage of time, there is a tendency to become more philosophical. Life is simply the journey from birth to death and we've decided to take off on another of our journeys. It all started when an offer came in on our old boat mid August. The rest of August and September were filled with prepping of the Niagara 42 for the new owner. The 1st of October a flight down to the British Virgin Islands allowed me to scout out the boats on the market for a November 1st cruising start. Once you've seen a dozen boats, it's hard to remember one detail from another. Before heading home we did put in an offer on our favourite, but the response back was that it wouldn't be ready for Nov 1st - maybe December 15th. Once we got home, we found out that even Dec 15th wasn't going to be a possibility, so now it was time to go back through the list of boats and find one that will fit our timeline. The next best choice is a 42 footer. In the process of putting in an offer on this boat, our first choice relented and said they would live with a Dec 15th closing date. The scramble is now on for a survey, insurance, changing to Canadian registration, arranging air flights. Who and how am I getting my 150lbs of tools down to the Caribbean.....to heck with personal luggage.
As you might know, schools were closed in Lion's Head because of blowing snow on Dec 9, 10 & 11th. The winds calmed down on Saturday the 12th but the snow and wind resumed on Sunday because we have to travel to Toronto. Our fly-out day Dec 14th starts with a 2:30 a.m. wakeup call. By 3:30 a.m. we are on the shuttle to the airport. Shortly thereafter, we're there keen to use the self check-in kiosk but find that because our tickets booked through Expedia are for Mr. & Mrs.......our names don't match our passports and so we wait in a long line. All the bags weighed in plus or minus 1lb of the 50lb limit. After this it is time for customs. Joan just needed that apple for a snack but you can't import a Canadian apple into the U.S.....maybe a U.S. apple would have been alright. Not as simple as just throwing it away, we had to go through a separate declaration area and only then could the offending apple be disposed of. The flight went ok, the transfer in New York was fine and we landed 1/2 hr early in St. Thomas mid afternoon. Walking off the plane into the afternoon heat and sunshine was just what Joan had been waiting for. While waiting for our bags, all the carts were taken up by porters so we had a nice conversation with our porter while waiting for our bags to arrive. He was a young baseball player who had done some college in Minneapolis and had played in the summer baseball league against the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks. A short taxi ride to the ferry dock for the ferry ride to the British Virgin Islands. Our boat will be the nice stable cat boat which wasn't quite stable enough for Joan. She was glad the crossing was only 45 minutes. When we reached the BVI's we had to clear their customs and this is the one I am worried about with my 250lbs of luggage. Why would anyone need all those tools? Once we told the customs officer we were buying a boat tomorrow - he said "enjoy - goodbye!" and that was it. Our boat broker's son picked us up at the ferry dock to take us to the hotel at Nanny Cay Marina. We had a quick bite to eat and by 7:30 p.m. we are fast asleep.
Closing day starts with a rush of excitement. Joan gets to see the boat for the first time and I get to inspect all the work that was required per the survey. There is a rush to have me approve the inspection so that we can get on with signing all the papers. How would it be possible to inspect 2,000 different things in the space 15 to 20 minutes. So we sign off on the boat and say that we want to stay on board that night but are told that it is only possible if the banks complete the money transfer by 11:00 a.m. that morning. We have already placed all our gear on board and set up for the evening when word comes that we are officially allowed to do so. Later that night when I checked the operation of the navigation instruments, they don't work! We get in touch with the broker to see what he can do, with the result that at technician will look at it tomorrow at noon so we are staying another night at the Moorings Marina. Problem fixed with the instruments and we've now made ourselves familiar with the boat's systems so it's time to move on to Nanny Cay Marina. We do an easy sail under the main only at about 5 knots from Tortola to Nanny Cay. Joan is still not sure about this sea motion stuff, but this little sail gave us a chance to try the autohelm which can be like having an extra person on board. Once we are docked at Nanny Cay, it's time to see if my new dinghy & motor are ready. The good news/bad news is the dinghy is ready but the 9.8 motor wasn't working right so they sent it back. Trev is headed down in 2 days and I need a dinghy motor for his vacation time so we agree to use a brand new 8 hp which we can trade back when Trev's holiday is over if we want. We are docking on the cheap at Nanny Cay and not using the air conditioning and we're still trying to get the temperature adjusted on the refrigeration as it seems to be freezing most things......frozen lettuce is pretty gross. Trev is due in a couple of hours with his 50 lbs of tools so it might be a while before we post again.
Make sure to take the time to enjoy your family and friends especially during the holidays. We are thinking of all of you. On another philosophical note, we are all heading to the same destination, just taking slightly different journeys. ENJOY!
