March 19th, 2015
Well of course many things have not gone as planned. The "War of the Roses" going on at our friends' house ended up with us in a motel in Kissimmee and leaving Patch at a wonderful cattery called "Puffy Paws". This made for both an emotional and financial blow for us before heading on to New Zealand. (still love you both and wish you all the best).
We really loved San Francisco, but didn't plan on Hurricane Anna hitting Hawaii at that time. We ended up staying a week on base at Travis AFB and then giving up on getting on a military flight (really backed up as it is a major Pacific hub) .So we bought last minute commercial tickets to Dunedin at an amazingly good price!
We arrived in Dunedin, NZ just in time for Halloween and about 6 weeks of the worst weather they have had since 1939. I had a hard time with the depressing gloom and most of the houses there are very old and not heated. An oil heater is the standard, or a small one room only heat pump. Being cold outside is one thing, but freezing inside is ridiculous.
Sarah tried to keep our spirits up with trips to a Rugby game, movies, and some good pub food.
We have enjoyed many things over the last few months here including Sarah's PHD graduation and parade, Christmas with the Sopers, fishing trips, gorgeous times in the mountains, and many other wonderful days and adventures.
We are now just waiting for Sarah and Mark's wedding on the 28th and then heading back to Puerto Rico with a whole new excitement about our beloved Firefly, AND some sun and heat!!!
We plan to get her bottom painted and back in the water to cruise for a couple of months to the USVI's and maybe BVI's; then head back along the southern coast of PR and up the west side to the Pescaderia Marina by July. He has an awesome annual deal and great reviews on Active Captain.

Definitely going to buy an old car and maybe rent a little place too for a couple of months...have to see how it goes.
We have some work inside the boat we would like to do and I HAVE to have a couple of puppies. I miss Belle and Patch cat so much. We will raise these two to go potty on the boat so we can take them without the terrible trauma of the potty thing like you have with bringing an older dog aboard. The dinghy is just going to be something extra, nothing to do with a trip to go potty.
We could go get Patch from Puffy Paws, but he was really having terrible anxiety as soon as the engine started. He had an accident as soon as we headed out the last time. I think it was a lot to do with not having his dog buddy with him. I really hate not getting him back......we will see.
We will just have to go from there. Do we want to go down the islands, or back across some real open water to Cuba, or back through the Bahamas next season??? Just don't know.
One thing we do know is we are not ready to quit after just a couple of trying seasons. There are many other options out there. We are way too young to join the RV crowd (Stew is 51 and I am a very young 58 haha).
Beautiful sunsets here we come!