Daily Life
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Sint Maarten to Puerto Rico!
So our schedule was adjusted slightly – again, a normal part of cruising – but we still made it to Puerto Rico! We left Sint Maarten one day later than planned because the day we were to leave Sint Maarten, the refridgerator guy finally showed up and then needed another day to get our main fridge working. However, we were excited that he was able to fix it at all! We had previously been told to just have it removed and buy a new one. But it is a built-in specialized for the boat so would be difficult to replace. He wasn’t able to get the freezer working (previously it…
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Refitting, repairing and removing
We have been in Sint Maarten for a week now. We figured we would be here for about a week because we had to have our furling system replaced, but also wanted to pick up some appliances from the French side of this island that would work on our French built boat. Our boat runs on 230V and 50Hz power instead of the 120V/240V and 60Hz power that we see in our homes in Canada and much of the US. Therefore, buying appliances for our boats means ordering them from Europe, or buying them in Europe. Luckily, the French side of this island, Saint Martin, sells appliances because this part…
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Carriacou to Sint Maarten
We did it! We left Carriacou and got ourselves all the way to Sint Maarten. We had this as our first main destination because we have to have our furling system replaced. The furling system is responsible for furling up and holding the headsail. As I said previously, Kevin had some help to make it work temporarily, but we obviously want a more permanent solution. Especially if we are going to be doing some major passages – like the Atlantic. What an exilerating experience to finally be sailing on our boat. Although, our first day was actually motoring because we hadn’t gotten to the last few things we needed to…
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Making waves
I keep wanting to put off another post until we are on our way but then I think it’s too bad not to let everyone know how well we are doing. We are now just a day and half away from leaving Carriacou and feeling like we are finally starting our sailing journey! This week was as busy as ever. The butter finally arrived! So, I made cookies. That was a good day. More importantly, the part for the transmission arrived and the engine was repaired and put back together. To give you an idea of how poor a condition the boat was in when we got it. . .…
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No croissants until the butter arrives!
Just a quick update this week. We are still waiting for the transimission part, but at least now it has been ordered and scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Then the mechanic will fix things and we should be ready to sail at the end of this week! Fingers crossed. We spent the week much the same as the previous, doing lots of boatwork and doing schoolwork. We did treat ourselves to a day at the beach on Saturday. Paradise beach is their most popular beach on this island. We had to go into Hillsborough to pick up a package from their Fedex office, more boat parts, so we had lunch…
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Waiting on a transmission
Well, another week has gone by and we are getting closer to sailing away from here. We are just waiting on parts for our port engine transmission. Once we have that, then we can get going. Our window of sticky notes/tasks is all being shifted to the right, or the completed column. We will have a shiny new boat by the time we leave! Luckily, there were a few exciting things that happened this week to help pass the time. First, the kids started school! And, not sure if this is a sign of how exciting this trip is so far, but they were all excited to get back to…
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Doing boatwork in exotic places. . .
Another week done and although it is exciting to be in the water, we still are not ready to set sail. We are so eager, it is hard to wait. There is a saying, “Cruising is doing boatwork in exotic places”. A somewhat pessimistic saying. Once you are at the point of maintaining your boat it is probably not completely true because you can spend more time exploring the places you visit rather than doing boatwork. However, for us, right now, it feels very true. We decided this probably means we need to spend a little more time enjoying the place we are in and take a break from our…
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Splash!
Quick post to say that – the boat is in the water! It was a long day and we had to wait till the end of the day for our turn with the Lift and Travel. It is a different feeling being on the water already. We were rocked to sleep and the wind is slightly stronger and more cooling right on the dock. Plus we see water through our escape hatches. The little kids have new risks – no more ladders to fall down, but now there is water to fall in. Simon and Norah have to wear a lifevest whenever they are out on deck, especially if we…
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The big move
Well, another step closer. We moved to the boat today. We have enough of the place set up to at least sleep on the boat and cook on the boat. We still haven’t gotten in the water though. That is planned for Monday. This is in part because Kevin was still fixing the rudder but also because the Travel Lift, or the big boat crane, was fully booked for Friday and they weren’t able to do us anyway. We have it booked for Monday though. It will be great to be in the water because then we can use the fridge. We are using an electric cooler right now, but…
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First week
We made it! We arrived in Grenada and at the boat on the small island of Carriacou on Friday morning. It was a few long days of travel but things actually went quite smoothly. All 17 (turns out I was counted wrong the first time) made it without too much trouble. We had planned to overnight in Toronto to break up the trip for the young kids. So, we expected to have to pick up our baggage in Toronto and store it at the airport with a service that will hold bags for you. However, turns out that when your flights are less than 24 hours apart, they automatically tag…
