PROVISIONING

We had gotten a rental car and got many errands completed. The most visual thing is the flagpole, You ask, what is so special about our flag pole? Well, it is a hockey stick. Our catamaran is registered in Edmonton and people do ask (if they are familiar with the geography of Canada) how we got this cat down from there. We are registered in Alberta because it would have taken weeks and weeks to register our catamaran in Ottawa... such a backlog.

However, I did take some pictures of two huge quilts, again, why, Shannon, seems so boring. I got a vacuum bag and from 2 quilts taking a full cupboard, I now have an empty one. Please see the photo. The empty cupboard will be used for Ben and Sam's friend Jalyn and our boys will be bringing friends in Feb. They do need a place to put their bathing suits. Those vacuum bags are amazing. I had an extra large one and stuffed 2 King size pillows in it. These pillows virtually take up no room now.  

before.... 2 queen quilts

after.... 1 1/2 inch thick

I did a huge shopping trip at Walmart and start the PROVISIONING. It is daunting to shop for 12 weeks. I have about 3 or 4 more trips to do the next time down. This is a learning experience. A guest coming to our cat will open a cupboard in their bathroom and see mustards, vinegar and 5 mayonnaises... plus 10 weeks more of other staples. Funny to see their faces. We have been told over and over to take everything we need to the Bahamas, and we are blessed to have the storage. We may as well do all the shopping we can at the Wal-Mart here. Everything costs more in the Bahamas. Paul is making a list and checking it twice for tools/supplies/duct tape etc.

  

We did put our 9.9 outboard on our dingy and tested it. All is good. We puttered around the boats that elect to stay on the mooring balls in the anchorage. A good many catamarans there too, only a handful that are like us … PowerCat. Most catamarans are sailing ones. I took a picture of Coyaba from the dingy.  

We are home in Ottawa listening to Christmas music and getting in the spirit. We are blessed to have many friends nearby to celebrate the season with. Paul's sister Brenda and husband Tom are now almost 5 hours away in Huntsville, Ont., so we will be there for a couple of nights over the holiday. We are excited to see them including nieces and husbands. My parents live on Vancouver Island. We wish you all a blessed holiday with your family and friends. Health and Happiness for the New Year.

THIS IS PART 2 OF YESTERDAY

Unfortunately our internet connection was extremely bad yesterday that I was not able to include the photos I wanted and some other text.

Please see below the picture of our dinghy getting inflated.

Yesterday, the day after America's Black Friday, the trees are up on the live-a-boards here in the marina. It is funny to see boaters in this hot weather with wreaths on their doors and a tree decorated in their covered cockpit.

We listen to 101.3 "The Coast" radio station ..... this is comparable to Majic 100, we love it.... BUT yesterday every second song was a Christmas song, not even Dec. 1st yet. So if you are in the mood for a song like that listen to our station online.

Every now and then I will give some trivia. 

Manatees can hold their breath for 20 minutes!

The next trivia I will include in the future will be why it is called The Treasure Coast here, hmmmm I know you are all interested. 

LET'S GET WORKING

The last three days has been awesome.

On Wednesday Paul and I headed over to Sam's Club (this is owned by Wal-Mart and is competition for Costco). We bought a membership so Paul could buy 8 Duracell Batteries for Coyaba. We took the 6 batteries out of the compartment and headed 2 a time down the dock in a cart. … ok Paul did all of this as they are super heavy. The Mustang was pretty weighted down in the back trunk. We were not able to actually shop at Sam's … ok I did go and get a big bottle of white wine as Traci was coming. We had to head back to get the 8 batteries in the boat... again 2 at a time down the long dock. Our car return was 1pm. We had 7 in the trunk and one by my feet as the trunk was weighted down. (68 lbs each)

This is the empty compartment that did fit 6 old batteries

This is now the compartment holding 8 brand new batteries!

Wednesday night Dave and Traci arrived from their cat Daruma. Their catamaran is about 3 hours away, they tore themselves from their working days to come and visit us here. We put them to work! (as per their request). We got the watermaker working just fine. The watermaker makes drinkable/usable water from salt water. This is a necessity in the Bahamas (or anywhere in the Caribbean) as the water is expensive to buy and we don't have to conserve to such a great extent like other boats with no watermaker. When buying water who knows what the quality is too. The water tasted fine to me, no bottled water on board saves all the garbage. Dave is a pro on anything mechanic!

We played Euchre and the way I see it Traci and I were the champions.

Friday is Black Friday in the United States but the small shops in downtown Stuart were not busy as everyone is at the mall being crowded and trampled. :-).... Traci and I went to the downtown shops while Dave and Paul took their smart car to Home Depot and West Marine. …. West Marine is a candy store for boaters. We met for lunch downtown and enjoyed a great meal. After lunch we pumped up our inflatible. This is large and we wanted to try it on the davit. Paul has to purchase different D rings to attach to the “tender” to have it hanging on the davit properly. It is nice for Paul to “bounce” things off of Dave on advise for things like this.

This morning Traci saw dolphins playing just outside the breaker wall here in the marina. I haven't seen any this time yet, only 2 manatee hanging near the laundry room. Traci and Dave left this morning. We will enjoy the weather as we hear it hasn't been nice up in Ottawa area.

Solar Panels are next! The other necessity before we leave for Bahamas.

WE ARRIVED IN STUART, FL

After 225 miles from St. Augustine we arrived safe and sound in Stuart.

Day one was a lot of boat traffic. We passed everyone as they were all sailboats and they cannot go as fast as we can.

We traveled for 3 days and 2 nights. Each night we anchored out along the ICW with our brand new huge anchor. We slept well knowing we were secure. We have a salt water hose up by the anchor so I can hose down the the anchor as it comes up. This is a blessing because one night had an extremely muddy bottom, just outside Daytona.

Matthew gave Paul a cold up in Ottawa that he fought and got well and I was lysoling and cleaning my hands for a week before. Well, just before we left St. Augustine I caught that bad cold. I was not well on the journey. Oh well, I can't complain as I have not been sick for about 3 years. I realize that cold medication is very inexpensive here. .. and the brand name Kleenix is 10 times better than a no-name tissue :-)

We see dolphins in the water as Ontarians would see squirrels in the backyard however..... 2 great sightings on our trip. On our second day a mother and her baby swam along our boat for at least 5 minutes. The mom was swimming sideways when under the water so her eye can see us. They came up about 5 times to breathe. This was so awesome! We have heard stories but no luck. Then the next day a loner dolphin did the same thing, only for about 2 minutes. Of course getting a picture would be too difficult.

I spoke to a couple that have come all the way from Campbell River, Vancouver Island, yep all the way.... which means through the Panama Canal. Such interesting people here in Stuart. If I see a boat that has a Canadian flag flying I go over and be friendly. That couple was only here for 1 night. Their boat was registered on the stern as Victoria, so of course I went and said hi this morning. Paul and I rented a car today until 12noon tomorrow.... a Mustang is what we got! A nice black one but boy we sit pretty low in it. We did groceries and turkeys are .58cent a pound, wow!! Turkey breast... $1.50lb! We are not doing a turkey this Thursday but having a nice steak dinner with Dave and Traci Lockhart of Daruma.... (see their blog link on side). Paul and I entered a Sam's Club to price batteries for the boat, we believe we will be heading back and getting a membership as these batteries are the best and the best price. I can provision at Sam's Club before we leave too. There is no Costco in this area.

Please see below a sunset from our boat, afterall we are at Sunset Bay and Marina. Tourists just come to the marina to look at the sunset.

We thank all the emails and communication. It is nice to know we are so far yet so near to our friends and family. Our U.S. phone number is 910-352-9797. Since buying this "condo on water" we have never traveled so much. 

HAPPY TO BE IN THE WATER AGAIN

After lunch today we went into the water, safe and sound. It was an extremely windy night and was concerned but by morning wind did die down. We are provisioned and ready to head on the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW) to Stuart.

You can see by the above photo how nerve racking it is to see it moved.

It will be warmer down there too. We are not stopping, we are only anchoring every night. We will be at Sunset Bay Marina like we were last winter. We do love Stuart, a nice small community.

Ben and Sam just got a puppy named Levi so we consider Levi a part of our family now too.

We have the WaterWay guide out for us to navigate tomorrow. We will be settled by the time the American Thanksgiving next weekend. I told Paul I will not enter a store on Friday or Saturday if I can help it.... I know how Americans love shopping on their “Black Friday”. Christmas trees are for sale here in St. Augustine right now and it is warm!

We won't have internet until we get to Stuart unless we get some unsecure internet line somewhere. Everyone have an awesome weekend.

 

GET LAUNCHED IN THE MORNING

We arrived in Orlando late Monday night, spent night, then traveled to St. Augustine, FL on Tuesday. We have been getting ready to put Coyaba into the water. West Marine, hardware stores, Winn Dixie (groceries) and Walmart trips daily + today I did laundry at a laundromat... 25 cents buys you 4 minutes of dry time.... Hmmm 3 loads ($2.25 each wash) + drying... adds up. Anyways, funny story at Walmart, because I know people like my stories (true!). I was in a slow line at Walmart because someone was trying to cash their pay cheque or something of the like so I realized this is going too slow so off I go to another cashier, I know bad idea you are saying. Well, I've heard of the Americans and their coupons but listen to this. This woman first had about 10 small tides and 6 Ben Gays... I mean the trial size. I thought this is odd and the only things she's buying. Now I would buy a small bottle, probably less expensive and sore muscles, get a big cream of Ben Gay. The man beside her same thing but also has a movie. I now have my stuff on the Walmart counter, lots of stuff! The cashier goes ahead and rings up the woman's Tide and Ben Gay samples, well this customer had a $2.00 off coupon for each item, follow me here!!!! She paid .39 cents for everything. I am frustrated as this takes a long time to scan each coupon and I now notice the man has his coupons out for his Tide and Ben Gay's.... + a movie... but his coupons (20 of them) are not scanning properly. After the supervisor comes and says just override each one UGH + a movie and get this...... he gets $7 cash back!! Yep that is right. The company who printed the coupon did NOT specify the size. The gentleman said he had more coupons but the shelf was empty of the tide, a buddy came in before him and did the same thing. I thought you all would like this story.

Today we headed to Customs and Border Protection to get a "license to Proceed" on Coyaba  as our cruising license has expired. We are non-resident, so all foreign flagged vessels need a cruising license. We cannot get one now until we leave the country for at least 15 days. So we have a special license to get us to Stuart, but cannot touch land.... yep we have to anchor out every night. We have a wonderful new anchor and will sleep soundly. We will have our phone but no internet until we get to Stuart approximately Monday.

We go into the water tomorrow morning during slack tide. We will take the rental car back and off we leave Sat. morning if all goes as planned. It did pour rain last night but overall weather is very nice and cool in the evenings. We are staying on the boat this time, climbing the ladder up and down.

We did get the bottom paint done this week. The picture is me showing what a great job! The bottom paint protects the boat from barnacles and other creatures that like to hitch a ride on our bottom.

Paul says not to write a book here but a small chapter is good!

INSIDE COYABA

It seems we've been asked to post some pictures of the inside of Coyaba. We will take some pictures of the flybridge next time we go down but please note the pictures of the inside now.

This is the guest stateroom. Our stateroom in exactly the same. Right across from the King bed are cabinets and a closet. Each stateroom has its own head (washroom with shower).

This is one of the "heads" Nice a roomy. The previous owner had his grandchildren on board so therefore there are fish decals on the wall of this one. Through the door is a queen berth.

Here are some pics of the saloon and galley. Nice and roomy. Note the bar and bar stools with the #1 food item which is chocolate. Yes, I do put the chocolate into another dish when I have a martini. And yes, I will take along a 12 week supply of chocolate and any guest coming down to visit will be asked to supply a few bars!

The cockpit is our second "living room" with surround seating. We will take more pictures when we go back down to St. Augustine, FL.

There is seating all at the back of the cockpit.

Our boat is on the "hard" (out of the water) in St. Augustine, FL for hurricane season. We fly back down November 14 to take it to Stuart, FL. We will install our solar panels and our friends Dave and Traci Lockhart (www.svdaruma.blogspot.com) will help us with the watermaker .... this will make salt water into fresh water. Water is expensive to buy in the Bahamas. Most boats have a watermaker on board. We fly home December 6 to enjoy Christmas with our family, right after New Year's we will fly back down to Stuart and start provisioning. We have a large fridge and freezer (behind the bar) that will be full of produce and some steaks!

We hope you all want to follow along on our adventures.
(psst... be patient as we are trying to learn blogging with this new template)

OUR LAST DAY HERE

We finished off our last day here putting together the wiring for the winch. Whenever we drill a hole into our fibreglass it is always nerve racking. However the opening was good and the silver plate we found to place on the outside looks great. Paul is very pleased. I took a photo from above because we had many tools out for this small hole opening .... and many wire cutters, drill, electrical tape.......

A NICE CLEAN OPENING ON THE STERN

Now when the dingy is hanging from the davit, the existing stern light will not be in view. So we also wired a LED stern light right on the davit. Visibility will be there from the back. This was a productive day.

In the last couple of days we installed a brand new VHF radio in the flybridge. We can pick up and monitor 35 miles away in Jacksonville. The antennae you saw us install was for this radio. I will practice on the radio when we have to have a bridge opening on our way to Stuart, FL next month or when I need to call a marina for a reservation or guidance coming in.

Yesterday Paul and I went out for a light lunch at a restaurant called Chili's. This was delicious and a nice break. All along I've been bringing lunch to the boat, ie: cheese and crackers, ham and fruit. We have breakfast included here at the hotel, so we eat well and take a yogurt or two with us for later. St. Augustine Marine Centre is not close to restaurants or anything.

Today we said our goodbyes, after closing up the boat. We went out for a nice lunch at Harry's Seafood right downtown. I had the She-Crab soup and it was DELICIOUS! Last Fall when we were in Charleston, S.C. Tom and Brenda were with us and they always had She-Crab soup and loved it, well, now I've had the best there is! The last time I was right downtown in St. Augustine, I was alone with Matt and James (Paul stayed on Coyaba) in December. It was beautiful with Christmas lights and decorations. The downtown stores did not appeal to the boys so I hailed a cab to go to the outlet mall, which was exactly what the boys loved. They got their Christmas presents that day.... but I sacrificed all the nice shops downtown. Lucky Paul got to come with me today and he actually loved it too. He bought himself a leather carry-on.

We leave around 6:15am tomorrow morning for our long drive home. We will be home Friday night. AND sure looking forward to our own bed and seeing the boys. A Canadian Thanksgiving it will be as we have had a very productive time down here. The weather was way too hot for the first 3 days (over 100F) but cooled down to the 80's for the rest of the days. Paul and I thank you all for supporting us and now look forward to seeing everyone.

We fly down middle of November for our solar panels and bottom paint and more .... travel to Stuart, FL ... stay tuned.

A GOOD DAY AGAIN

Paul and I had another successful day on Coyaba. I have included pictures of some of our work (if interested). I washed and put mold repellant on the white windshield cover. That took a long time but we have been told of a secret weapon of cleansers..... bleach and toilet bowl cleaner. It works on anything! While I was doing that Paul installed the winch on the davit. Just some wiring to be done now. See below.

I know this is not so exciting but the boys have been asking because this davit and "stuff" has been sitting in our garage for quite a long time, now they can visualize with a photo what the outcome is.

Yesterday we did put the swim ladder on, every time you screw into fibrglass with a wooden core the holes have to be filled with more fibreglass. Paul used a small syringe to fill the holes to put the mounts on for the swim ladder. We have mounts on the other pontoon too so the ladder can move to either one. 

A GREAT STURDY LADDER FOR US AND ALL THE COMPANY COMING

See the ladder beside the boat, that is my aerobics every day, up and down, up and down all the time ;-)

We have a brand new VHF radio and the antennae had to go up. This was very time consuming as the wires have to be fished down from the flybridge roof down to the saloon area. I don't want to get into boring details, lets say many words were spoken in frustration.

A GREAT VIEW WHILE I WORK

Oops I really mean the next picture, dolphins do come in this bay to swim

The VHF will be wired inside tomorrow, we left at 4pm and are very tired again. It is great that it hasn't rained here for us, the sun is up and shining every day just for us.... and all the others working on their boats down here.

Cheers to you all as we have a glass of well deserved wine right now.

WEATHER GETS COLD, ONLY 79F

Paul and I have had a very good day as the weather dropped to 78F as opposed to the high 90's earlier this week. We continued work on our dingy davit. Each screw hole that Paul drilled had to be filled with fibreglass. So today we put the davit up permanently. The winch will go on next. The exciting part today is the outdoor shower we installed and works fantastic. Paul had to get into some tight places so I took a pic or two of that. I was like the nurse handing him this and that and some more of this and that.

We have two huge lockers up at the front, when I climb in it is up to my waist. Needless to say down here mold is a problem. In one locker the mold was terrible on the walls. It took a couple of hours of me slaving away but the good news is, down here there are many products to buy, try to clean mold and spray afterwards to prevent mold. It has been 4 months of just sitting in the sun, closed up etc. We know what to do the next time we put our boat on the “hard”, lots of mold repellent!

PAUL IN TIGHT QUARTERS

NO TURNING BACK, PAUL CUT A 3 1/2 in. HOLE

IT FITS, NICE AND FLUSH

PAUL HOLDING UP THE FINISHED PRODUCT, OUR OUTDOOR FRESH WATER SHOWER

Last night we ate dinner for the first time at a Ruby Tuesday's.... delicious and the service was excellent. I did a little shopping too at the “Black Market, White House” store. Everything in it is white or black. I had heard about this store many months ago and finally went in. Anyone who knows me knows I like to wear black tops.

Tomorrow Paul says he will take pictures of me :-)!

Our email is still pscruising@hotmail.com but the U.S.A. phone number that people have is no longer valid right now, hopefully soon. So email only, or we are skyping people too.

OUR ANNIVERSARY IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

Yesterday was our first day working on Coyaba. We awoke around 6am and enjoyed our breakfast that is included in our hotel.... Comfort Suites just outside of St. Augustine. It is about 100 F here with the humidity so therefore we are trying to climatize ourselves to these high temps. There was a bad coating of “stain” on the boat, from where, who knows. The first thing we did was set up our hoses and clean the boat. I've included a photo of the BEFORE and AFTER of the fly brigde ceiling. There is massive mold growing down here in the summer. This actually tooks hours to do.. yesterday and today. Overhead work is not pleasant. Paul says he will replace the ceiling with another kind of surface. This mold is quite common down here and since it has been since June, what do we expect.

The davit was awkward but got some of that installed. It is not so much heavy but just awkward. We have more to do on this tomorrow and the next few days, the winch, etc. This davit was designed and custom made by Paul so he anxious to see how it is installed and working.

We also did get delivered at the marina (St. Augustine Marine Centre) our swim ladder. Paul drilled the holes in the fibreglass on both pontoons for this. Our ladder can go on either/or.

There is a huge yacht in our marina in the water and lots of action going on there. There is crew going on and off all day. I did take a picture.

Today is our 27^th Wedding Anniversary. We have not gone out once for dinner yet. We are literally too exhausted. Americans love their microwave frozen or fresh dinners so we have been enjoying these. We will go out tomorrow though as the Golf Hall of Fame is up the road and Bill Murray has a restaurant up there called The CaddyShack. Sounds good!

PREPARING COYABA

We are preparing our Catamaran "Coyaba" for our trip to the Bahamas in January 2012. Feel free to follow us on this endeavour here in our blog.