BITTERSWEET GOOD-BYE

For eleven summers we enjoyed our 38 ft Bayliner. We purchased this boat in Gatineau Quebec, travelled the Ottawa River to Ottawa, travelled all the way through the Rideau locks and Rideau River to the St. Lawrence River. From there we travelled through the beautiful One Thousand Islands to the Fort Town of Prescott, Ontario. This adventure was exciting and thrilling for our boys ages, 9, 11 and 13 to experience. On August 6^th, it was a bittersweet goodbye to Calypso VII. Times change, boys grow and destinations for our boating experiences change with this. We bought a catamaran knowing we love boating and wanted to experience something bigger and faster and go where our Bayliner would not be comfortable to go. Calypso VII (yes there are six Calypso's before it), is now in Newfoundland. The new owners are just as excited as we were eleven summers ago. The journey of Calypso VII is not over by a long shot, who knows where she will show up many years from now. When you've invested many hours of love, sweat and tears into a boat (or house, cottage etc.) it is hard to finally say goodbye, even though you know it is for the best. The boys had all their teenage years on her, swimming, jumping off the bow, kayaking from it, sleepovers, barbeques, bon fires nearby, tubing and kneeboarding (even I kneeboard like an expert) with the inflatible and snorkeling. Goodbye to our Bayliner but a big hello to the same thing on our Coyaba but the destination is in the Bahamas, we are happy and our boys are happy!  

"This is not a good-bye, this is a thank you. Thank you for coming into our lives and giving us joy, thank you for the wonderful memories we will cherish forever. But most of all thank you for showing us that there will come a time when we eventually 
let you go." (similar to Nicholas Sparks quote)

DAY TWELVE WORKING

“There are three forms of visual art: Painting is art to look at, sculpture is art you can walk around, and architecture is art you can walk through” Dan Rice quotes

Great Architecture

Today is Sunday and a beautiful day again here in St. Augustine. I love the Memorial Presbyterian Church right here in the historical part of this small city.  

The front doors

We have been working on the ceiling of the fly bridge on a daily basis since we arrived here. Today the four big pieces went up and with a few hiccups. I do thank God for the cordless drill, a great tool for mankind to have along with the jigsaw and skill saw and for sure the planer that Paul brought from home! A few words were said while putting up the ceiling but not out loud! I feel I don't need to do any weightlifting for awhile as holding up panels while Paul wires the light fixtures etc or screws in one end got me tired out. The work we did has been worth it and now we need to place trim around the edges and down the seams to give it a beautiful finish.

Paul screwing on the front of a piece of the ceiling

One day when we arrived there was water on our mattress and it turns out that the small leak at a corner on the windshield was bigger than we thought. Paul knew where the leak was and immediately dug out the caulking and replaced it in a whole section. It has been dry as a bone now. We know, as it rained once again this afternoon, as per usual.

The caulking was replaced all the bottom on the windshield

We have been working for twelve days already, time has sure flown. We have not had a day off so will make a point to shop around. The pool is so tiny and basically when we arrive back at the hotel, it is raining anyway.

I thought I would share with you a television show I just loved watching last night, it is titled Live At Daryl's House, which is Daryl Hall and he invites musicians to his house to his studio there. It was awesome as his guest was Rob Thomas and I am such a fan of his! I felt like I was at a mini concert and right in Daryl's house listening. I was so sorry when it was over. All of the episodes are available online, this was Daryl's idea of not travelling so much. If you don't know who these guys are … that is okay with me. Maybe one day I will see Rob Thomas in person play somewhere. There, you've learned something new about me.

The hurricane warning is a tropical storm for our friends in Naples now. So I'm sure Dave and Traci of Daruma are happier. It was very windy here and just light rains. 

Author's Note: I cannot seem to double space this post as the previous ones were. I apologize if you had a harder time reading this one. I hope to figure it out before I type the next post.

PAINTING AND POLISHING

Paul has gotten some product by courier here, so we can start on some other projects tomorrow. The last couple of days have been productive. Today was the first day in a long time we drove back to motel and it wasn't pouring rain. Wednesday night we went to a small restaurant nearby for dinner and I had a yummy lobster dinner. Of course I gave Paul some bites as his Mahi Mahi was not up to par. Last night we were exhausted and had another microwave dinner, mmmmmm!

We've been priming and painting the pieces for the ceiling in the flybridge (a project we did not anticipate this year). Paul has been poly-glowing (similar to a wax) the sides of the hull and to me it looks very shiny. We bought a product called Prism Metal Polish which is not just for metal. I read it cleans off plexiglass and windscreen etc. So, up in the flybridge we have this ugly windscreen that we thought would need replacing as one cannot see out of it. I spent a couple hours on that with this “polish” and lots of paper towels. Wow, what a difference. We do not have to replace the windscreen up there this year. I was so excited I took a picture.

Paul putting on the primer yesterday

The "before" is on the left,
The "after" is the work I did on the right
You can see through the windscreen now

I went along and am in the midst of using the metal polish on the stainless steel poles and railings all over the boat too. This is time consuming and will do a lot more tomorrow.

We are watching the storm Isaac and have been talking with our friends Dave and Traci on their catamaran Daruma in Naples. They are prepared and ready.

We are going to another restaurant tonight called Frattelli's just down the road. It is Italian and has cloth tablecloths , hmmmmm sounds good!

Last night I watched two more episodes of NCIS, yep, and they are not in order one bit. I learned a few things that explained what was happening in some episodes that I watched a few days ago. I looked up this show on the internet and it has been on the air ten years, so no wonder the characters look younger in some! Remember we all looked younger ten years ago.

Miami Beach pharmacist Benjamin Green invented the first suntan cream in 1944. He accomplished this development by cooking cocoa butter in a granite coffee pot on his wife's stove.

HORSES ARE NEARBY

St. Augustine is known for its horses and carriages all over downtown here. The horses and carriages are all kept right next door to the boatyard here. We've seen the horses and their handlers with the carriages leaving and coming back a few times a day. I walked down to see the horses grazing and got a few pictures. The carriages were all covered up as it rains here every day. I learned from a young man that most of the horses are “retired” from their “professions”. There are two race horses that no longer race just walk around town with a carriage. There is Missy Prissy and there is Bob which are two favourites. Most carriages are all decorated with flowers and garland. I know in December 2010 when we were here they were decorated with Christmas garland.

This is Bob the horse

It rained so much in such a short period of time yesterday afternoon that roads were high in water, up to mid-calf in some areas. This afternoon it only rained a little bit so we will walk to a restaurant for dinner. No microwave dinner tonight!!

We've cut the pieces necessary for the ceiling in the flybridge, sanded them and did epoxy too. Tomorrow we will paint them a white finish.

The template from the old ceiling pieces

Paul cutting the new ceiling from the fir

Paul rolling on the epoxy

I had to do important things like go to West Marine for two more items and to a laundromat, anyone remember those days? I think two young women waited a long time to do their laundry. They had eleven loads and I mean the big ones, because the machines today hold everything from pillows to kingsize quilts. I asked myself where did they store all their laundry as it was accumulating? Anyways, suffice it to say I was the oldest one there, yep, laundromats are for young people!!

This is me eating lunch surrounded by tools

Did You Know:

Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

TOO HOT TO SLEEP ON OUR BOAT

On Saturday we checked out of the Wingate and stayed on the catamaran. That was a mistake! It was not comfortable at all so Sunday back to a different hotel. We are staying at a motel for $48 night including continental breakfast. This motel is only 2 miles from boatyard. Thank goodness for air conditioning. The boat gets very hot in the afternoons. This motel has a microwave so we are back to those dinners for 2 in a bag, we brought the microwave dishes from the boat.

It has rained every afternoon while here (except Sat. afternoon). It lasts about 1 hour and is a downpour! I took a picture this afternoon just before we left. Paul does not want to work outside with the hose and water when there is thunder and lightning going on.

This is looking northwest from our cockpit,
thunder and lightning every afternoon

We went to the lumberyard and got 3 sheets of fir for the ceiling in the flybridge. They delivered for $10 which is a blessing as the car is not the greatest to put stuff on the roof. The ceiling is an unexpected project this trip but must be done this time. We spent more money at West Marine but we needed a new barbeque. We bought the exact one we have used for the last six years.

We park under our boat, shady!
This is a prime parking spot, when we arrived
someone else was parked under our boat

Every Sunday from 11 to 3pm there is a Farmer's Market right across the street from this boatyard at the community centre. This is outside and a nice change from working on the boat. I walked over and the items for sale were awesome. I bought peach turnovers mmmmmm! They even had fancy popsicles, I will try next Sunday the Pear and Stilton …. doesn't that sound interesting? I like blue cheese and I like pear so I would probably like it. Maybe you won't. I want to be hungry so I can try that flavour, who knows where I would see a popsicle like that again. They had others like, Mango/Orange and Raspberry/Banana.

The United States Customs and Border Protection Training Site is right here in a designated area of the boat yard. They have about a dozen of their boats in the yard and about 3 in the water right now. The students go to the community centre's parking lot and practice backing into a spot towing the boat with one of their trucks. This is entertainment for me as sometimes I don't have much to do. I watch them over and over backing in and out, perfecting their technique (or just hoping to pass the test).

These are just a few of many of their boats
Notice how many motors on board, they are super fast

Paul and I had two firsts.... we had take-out at Taco Bell and wasn't too bad. I would go back and try something else. The salads looked great. We had take-out at an Arby's for the first time too. I had a salad and it was delicious! For the first time I watched NCIS and liked it so much I watched two more. It was actually a NCIS marathon on tv, I could have watched more but they did show scenes from the past episodes and I couldn't follow along plus 3 hours of tv seemed enough. We are so tired and freshly showered when are back at motel that we haven't ventured out yet.

A terrible skipper was going back and forth through the anchorage, searching for a place to drop the hook before dark. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a good spot, I will donate to charity, give up the rum, treat women with respect, pay my taxes, and never again give my crew all of the blame and none of the glory!"

Miraculously, the boat with the best spot in the bay began pulling up anchor to leave.

The skipper looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one myself." Salty Dog

FEELS LIKE 45 DEGREES (105 F)

We've measured, sweated, climbed up and down the ladder, went to a Home Depot, West Marine, a Wal-Mart and Camping World. We have many projects on the go. I did mention the generator and the watermaker, but we are getting the rub rail replaced too. This is a teak rail that runs along both sides of the boat. This fends off the boat when we are tied to large posts at a marina or gas dock. Our rub rail is cracked where the joints meet and does not look nice as teak needs maintenance. This new rub rail will not be teak and look much nicer. We also want to put rain gutter … like a mini eavestrough on the upper part of each port window... that is why we went into a Camping World. They have items that boaters like too, not sure if campers go into West Marine.

The teak rub rail along the side of boat

There was mold up where the wires were in the flybridge so that overhead work is all clean. We will get some wood cut and use epoxy on it to replace that old vinyl ceiling that fell down. Paul is taking off the old polyglow (like a wax) and will put new polyglow on the sides of the catamaran. We bought a ladder at Princess Auto to bring down for just these kind of things plus to get actually on and off the boat.

I cleaned the interior of ceiling before we put the new one up
Paul tie wrapped all the wires up

Paul carefully sponging on the Polyglow, this protects the
 boat from dirt and dust etc.

This morning we checked out of the Wingate Hotel and will try living on the boat. It is much harder when it is not in the water. The normal air conditioner needs water to work. Last May we bought a floor model air conditioner and it is vented through the stove fan's hole. We had to buy the insulation to cover the tubing as the tubing was hot to touch. It is over 80 degrees in here but beats 106 outstide and the humidity is low inside. We feel we may manage on the boat for a night or two. Paul plugged in another cord to a nearby building so now we have a fridge and freezer plus hot water. We are camping ….....but no swimming here.

Our air conditioner working overtime.
It is still 80F inside but much better than outside

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN THE UNITED STATES WHEN:

1. You have to go inside to pay for your gas at the gas station in advance, everyone needs a zipcode to match their credit card.
2. Advertisers here are insurance companies, prescriptions drugs and lawyers 90% of the time. Billboards with 1-800-vasectomy (yep, you don't see that in Canada!)
3. Every sales clerk and restaurant staff are super friendly to ya!
4. No one seems to shop on a Saturday morning.
5. There are 2 or 3 fast food places every block even inside their gas stations.
6. Beer and wine available in Wal-Mart (not Pennsylvania we discovered)
7. Beer and wine available at the gas station checkout... for an impulse buy? (in Florida)
8. The motorcyclists do not wear helmets (in Florida)
9. There are wonderful rest stops along their interstates that are wonderfully maintained and manicured.
10. Their credit cards can be either credit or debit, same card + they are NOT chip enabled yet. So when I say Mastercard, they ask me debit or credit? Then I have to sign like the old days.

I will have more of these as I think of them. Anyone who travels probably can relate to the above ten.

This blogging has come in handy as we go back to the blog to refer to what we did on previous occasions. We just did that today as we could not remember the dates exactly we were here last Fall. This is a "diary" without a key! 

WORKING ON COYABA AGAIN

We arrived Tuesday to St. Augustine and went to the boat from our hotel first thing Wed. morning. It is very hot and humid here and there has been a lot of rain and wind. The ceiling from our flybridge came down (one panel) so another repair job is in order. I've hated that ceiling anyway as it is a vinyl one and mold loves it! There is a lot of mold up there again even though I sprayed it with a repellent before we left last May. Needless to say that ceiling will be replaced and not with vinyl. The interior of the boat was not too bad but a lot of humidity.

Today Paul was working on the generator. A piece of it has to be replaced. It was leaking water slowly last year and we “babied” it for the last month or so. The watermaker was taken apart today as this is another project to look at. The watermaker was making great water for showering but not for drinking according to the World Health Organization. We will get new membranes for it so we will have drinking water next year in the Bahamas instead of buying the drinking water.

Ceiling panel up in the flybridge, wires are showing.
All that black on the ceiling is mold

Paul with the watermaker

Coyaba is out of the water and the view is very different from up high in a boat yard.

This is the view from our cockpit looking west, many puddles!

I've taken inventory of all the food left on board and will compile a list of the provisions needed for Bahamas 2013. We hope to have 5 weeks of guests and another fun winter.

Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest continuously-occupied European settlement in the United States. In 2015 this city celebrates its 450^th birthday!

LET THE PREPARATIONS BEGIN!

We leave Ottawa around August 13 to drive down to St. Augustine. Coyaba is out of the water and needs a few things completed before we do the Exumas, Bahamas again. We are bringing things down and bringing some things back. It will be extremely hot! We will stay at a hotel and get up very early to get a start in the "cool" of the day. We did buy an air conditioner that we have plugged in to a nearby building. This air conditioner is keeping the molds at bay is what I've been told. All boaters know that mold is our enemy along with the salt.

So the blogging will recommence in August but not very exciting as it is more of a diary as to what we are up to preparing Coyaba for another adventure! I will post pictures as the internet may be a reasonable speed in St. Augustine. We love St. Augustine, it is such a beautiful small, historical city.
We will be back to Coyaba in October to finish up and paint the bottom. We then put the catamaran in the water to travel on the ICW to Stuart, FL. We will keep Coyaba there until January when we leave for Bimini.

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth
doing as simply messing about in boats."
Kenneth Graham