Jules
06/08/2012, Woburn, Grenada

Quite a few weeks since the last blog ... and quite a bit of water under the bridge.

We finally left Gabriola after almost three weeks on the island. Spent two nights with Martin and Maxine in Nanaimo eating sushi, fresh raspberries and home hot smoked salmon which was wonderful. Then back to Vancouver to pick up Mike's passport and a replacement credit card which had eventually turned up from the UK.

Then several emails from Grenada letting us know James had been taken off the Buzzard by the Coastguard and detained by Immigration. So much for all going well over there. We called James and he'd been let back onto the boat, and the next day we got in touch with Grenada Immigration to assure them he was on board with our consent, but it was obviously a sign that it was time to book the tickets back.

We spent four nights in Vancouver back with Sharon and Phil and managed to see as many people as we possibly could before we left for Toronto. We took Jess out several times, the best was to a Korean BBQ in downtown Vancouver where it's all you can eat and you have a small fire pit in the centre of the table to cook your own meat. We managed to surpass ourselves with the amount of meat, oysters, and sashimi we got through, especially right at the end when Mike put down he wanted two (which he wrote as II) pieces of fresh tuna and they returned with 11 !!! (A small wafer Mr Creosote ?)

On the Thursday we managed to meet up with Mike's good friend Pat and his wife Linda, unfortunately only briefly but it was great to see them, and even better to hear him promise to come out for a visit in January. On the last Saturday we happened to stumble on the Kitsalano Music Festival and spent a happy few hours wandering around the street fair, then on to the beach in search of ice-cream, and a very long walk back to the water-bus across the Burrard Street bridge and through downtown. Oh and we were dragging a suitcase we'd had to buy from a charity shop because we came with one but had so much more to take back ... mostly stuff for the boat.

The Sunday was really good too. First thing in the morning coffee with Doug, breakfast with Rene, a few hours with Jess, quite a few beers with Al and Tamara down at the waterfront in New Westminster, and then a lift back to North Van with Bob who we'd stayed with on Gabe.

Needless to say we weren't feeling our best for the flight to Toronto the following day. But it was really great to see Jeff's happy smiling face waiting to greet us at the airport, and June's when we got to their neat little house in the Beach. Jeff and June were perfect hosts, taking us to do the last of the parts shopping, and to their yacht club and a myriad other things. Mike and Jeff went sailing with Jack one evening and managed to get back in just before the biggest thunder-storm I've seen for years. The rain, thunder and lightning went on well into the night and the sky was alive for most of it. Luckily it freshened the air up a bit as they'd been having 35C+ temperatures for the last two weeks.

One night we went to the local jazz festival and and wandered the streets there, watching the bands and not quite dancing along. On the Friday Jeff took us out to Port Credit for yet more boat parts and then dropped us in downtown Toronto to do the touristy thing. We had planned to go up the CN Tower but decided the price wasn't worth it, especially as it's almost as if the whole of Toronto is under construction, and whilst I'm sure it'll look good when it's finished (if cities ever are), glass monstrosities and cranes aren't a patch on all the beautiful trees we'd left behind in BC.

Our last day in Canada we went for lunch at the yacht club at Scarboro Bluffs and then had a BBQ in the back garden in the evening. Eating the freshest sweetcorn you can imagine, and something completely different to the maize you get on the street corners in Grenada.

And then it was time to go back .... We were flying with Caribbean Airlines (because they fly direct AND because they are the only airline we know that lets each person bring two 50lb suitcases as standard luggage), and it showed. Just stepping into the airport terminal at the CA check-in we were suddenly engulfed in black faces; there were only two other white people on the totally packed plane. It felt really strange because for the last two months we'd hardly seen one black person. I know there's a large Caribbean contingent in Toronto, especially as they were advertising the upcoming Caribbean Carnival being held there, but I guess they have their own neighbourhoods and we didn't go into them.

If I hadn't been feeling a little ambivalent about going back then maybe I would have enjoyed the flight more as just about everyone was in holiday mode and going down for the Grenada Carnival which starts next week. I did relax somewhat towards the end of the flight when the guy sitting next to us finally got us to drink some of his duty-free vodka.

So, anyway, we're back. The first day we had to take James to Immigration and sort that out. Then the next day we were warned a hurricane was heading our way at the weekend and that we may have to leave the buoy. Mike started the main engine to check all was well and we had Nikola dive and clean the prop just in case we had to leave at short notice; the prop's fine but apparently the seal on the end of the shaft is turning on it's own and the anodes we put on not so long ago have already disappeared. All good stuff.

Luckily though the hurricane veered north and all we got was heavy rain on the Friday afternoon. We've caught up with friends here which has been good, had a couple of visits to Hog, one yesterday when we were in Clarkes Court watching the Olympics and Toby decided he'd go there on his own. Someone picked him up swimming and then contacted us go get him.

On Saturday we had friends round and Jeanne and Mike cooked Trinidad doubles. James has obviously been working hard while we've been away although not always on the jobs we'd hoped .. and there still seems to be a few things that I can't find, but Toby and Nellie are fine and the Buzzard's ok so I'm definitely not complaining. Nellie purred so much the first night we were back it was difficult to get to sleep.

Today is Grenada Emancipation Day and a public holiday. We are supposed to be going to a BBQ on Hog later this afternoon but at present it's raining so I'm not so sure it'll happen. Mike, as usual, is busy making phone calls and trying to get some work happening; James is banging the inside of the gunnels, we still haven't done our priority job list, and our trip to Canada is fading into the distance already ... until the next time.

I had another visit to the dentist and have now been referred to a gum specialist for surgery on the 21st August.

I am determined not to renew the Sailblogs when it comes up for renewal in the not too distant future. All being well I'll have the new blog up before then BUT if at any time you can no longer find our blog go to our website at www.flyingbuzzard.com and I will make sure that there is a link on that site to the new one

Thanks for all the comments (face to face) and via the web... it's good to know that there's interest out there. Any many, many thanks for all the wonderful hospitality, help and friendship we had from everyone in Canada ... we look forward to being able to reciprocate!

Love to everyone ....

PS Finally some new photos, hopefully, if I can remember how to do it.

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Jules
13/07/2012, BC, Canada

We finally made it over to Gabriola, after spending some time with Jess and having a day out in Stanley park getting lost at Beaver Lake and seeing my very first raccoon.

The weather finally cleared and it's been sunny and warm for the last week or so which is great, and bizarre for us because you can actually go out in it over here; we might even go back with a sun-tan if it keeps up as expected. We were here for Canada Day on July 1st which was really good, and Mike managed to find his old potato gun and take part in the local potato canon derby. He didn't win but did reasonably well considering his technology was 20 years old, and he didn't have his own hairspray.

The gulf islands are absolutely beautiful and it's been wonderful visiting all Mike's old haunts and friends and seeing all the log houses he's built over the years. We had to take Ted's truck back to Salt Spring and now we've borrowed a friend's old MGB so we've been round the island with the top down looking like real tourists, and trying hard to avoid the deer which are all over.

We've also, unfortunately, run into a couple of little snags over here to do with some of Mike's property that he left here in safe-keeping so we've had to stay around longer than anticipated, but at least it's given Mike time to be treated like the home-coming celebrity which a lot of people over here obviously feel he is. As usual hes' been working hard and helping out where he can with roof cleaning, log chopping, electrical wiring and various other assorted projects that people are up to.

One of the great things for me has been to be welcomed into the community and to meet lots of people who have apparently been following the blog for quite some time ... you never know it might even mean we start getting a few more comments now - well, I can hope.

We're in contact with James on a regular basis and alls well back on the Buzzard. In fact I just got an email from Phil over on Hog and James had been telling him that he gets more work done when we're not around so is quite enjoying it. As far as we know he's already prepped and painted the top deck and the galley and is now working on the main companion-way. I keep thinking if we stay away long enough then maybe it'll be finished by the time we get back!

The internet and mobile connections are pretty poor here so I don't get on-line much but will update when I can and let you know when tickets have been booked and we're back on our way.

In the meantime ... Love to all ...

Comments [6]

Jules
25/06/2012, Vancouver, BC

We spent three days with Ted and Jane on SaltSpring and then took off in their Dodge farm truck as they were heading out to Ireland for a couple of weeks. So we've got wheels which is really good and has helped get us around.

First stop was up to Black Creek to spend a couple of nights with Pete (Tiempo/Rocinante) for his birthday. He has a relatively isolated property out near Lake Orel and lives a simple life, when he's not in the Caribbean, in some beautiful wooden huts he built. All mod cons and an outhouse!

Within an hour of arriving we'd seen two beavers, a black bear and a myriad of local birds including purple headed finches, woodpeckers and swallows, not to mention his chickens, ducks and turkeys. Unfortunately the weather wasn't really in our favour and the BBQ had to be moved to his brother's more palatial, and dry, dwelling next door. But the next day it cleared up a bit and we took a walk through the forest and along the beach to Salmon Point Inn for lunch, then had another damp BBQ in the evening.

After that we made our way down to Qualicum, stopping at the Fanny Bay Inn for fresh oysters on the way. We called in to see our friends Dirk and Bea at the organic pig farm, had a wonderful supper and then headed to Parksville for the night. Next day we went to Nanaimo to stay with Martin and Maxine, drink some beer and eat raw prawns - it's a hard life sometimes.

We also did some shopping which was quite the experience, like you can buy things! At first it was wonderful to see the vast array and relative inexpensiveness of what you can get here compared to the Caribbean; looking at washing-machines almost brought a tear to my eye. But after awhile, and not that long either, it all got a bit overwhelming. How do people live with so much choice? Do people have nothing better to do than shop? And why does 99% of just about everything come from China? I guess it's the same in all Western countries but, after being out of the loop for so long, it really does make you stop and think.

Thursday we caught the ferry over to Horseshoe Bay and arrived back at Sharon and Phil's place in North Van. ready for an early start the next morning. We were at the Canadian Citizenship Centre by 7.30 am and met up with Jess and her friend Laura for the 8.15 ceremony. There were 84 people becoming new Canadians, from a total of 29 different countries. It was quite a moving ceremony and I'm sure Mike had tears in his eyes as he re-affirmed his oath of allegiance, which is not something everyone gets to do, with those choosing to become Canadian (or any other nationality I guess) quite often having a much stronger feeling of loyalty to their country than those born here and who regard it as a right.

We're trying to spend as much time with Jess as we can before she starts back at work in two days time. Yesterday we took her up the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler. The ski-slopes are obviously closed for the season but there were lots of mountain bikers busy going up the lifts and bouncing down the tracks, and the road trip up there was absolutely spectacular, looking out over the coastal mountain range and stopping off to see waterfalls and lakes.

On a not so good note, the ID we need from the UK hasn't arrived yet even though it was promised for early last week (obviously the Caribbean isn't the only place where things go slow), and we've had to apply for Mike a new passport as they won't add pages, that won't be ready until the 9th July at the earliest and I'm not sure we should book tickets until we have it back in our possession. Personally I don't have a problem with how long we have to stay: as long as James is ok then so are we. That being said we did have an email saying Toby had gone missing overnight and James was somewhat upset. Luckily the little darling did come back the next morning but it's not good ... I think maybe he's been grounded for a while.

We're still being well looked after and still eating wonderful food. The latest for us is the asparagus and apricots, not to mention sushi, sushi and even more sushi, and roast lamb, and ... bumbleberry crumble.

All being well on Wednesday we'll be heading over to Gabriola to finally get started on some of the sorting out stuff we've got to do over there. It's also Canada Day on July 1st so hopefully we'll be among friends for that, and hopefully the weather will be ok, although to be honest as long as it's not raining (which, incidentally comes straight down here), we're fine.

Love to all from a still wonderful, wild west Canada ...

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