And We Wait
11 August 2013 | Oak Bay Marina
Susan
One week home and both the boat and the house look like they still need a lot of work. One is getting empty and the other looks like a bomb went off but slowly we are making our way through the piles. Just as Doug has done at every stop we made along the way, he seeks out how to get phone and internet. He craves it, can't live without it and arriving in Canada we weren't 5 minutes on the dock and he was ashore getting a SIM card. I had people from the marina wanting me to move but my Engineer was awol. But now we are in North America where it HAS to be easier to get Doug's fix cause look at all the competition. Well we nearly choked when they told us we had to wait a week to get hooked up. No worries though as we have lots to do and Doug has a temporary SIM card so he'll be alright. But wait, it gets better, our hook up date gets changed by Telus cause we got the extra special deal which means you are now have to wait 16 days until you can utilize this extra special deal. Not happy? Talk to a Telus Manager, but they aren't here right now so they will call you in 24 to 48 hours, giving you time to cool down. We are on the fourth day of waiting for that Telus Manager so they must have figured out that we needed an extra long cool down period. And Telus wonders why they have a very bad reputation? It's because people like me have no problems blogging the fact that their service is terrible!
We promised that we would write down all the things we felt we needed on this trip, some things we did do and others we wished we had. For those who don't have a boat or you have no intentions of going offshore, don't waste your time reading any further cause it will be BORING! In no organized manner, here is our list: At least 80 fathoms of chain, 2 long rodes of 300ft each, fenders - 6 cylinder and 2 sphere, Wonder Wash (loved my manual washing machine) and Spin Dryer (it was a must), 150ft of fresh water hose, "Q" flag and courtesy flags, Ownership papers, Horse feed Black Buckets (or how else would Doug write his blogs?), Cockpit enclosure canvas, No surfboards (kids didn't use them enough), Canadian Tire spring clamps (they worked the best), lots of books (Kindles don't like water), extra line for the furler, gifts to give (reading glasses, balloons, marbles, switches, LED lightbulbs, wire, screwdrivers, flashlights, nuts & bolts, clothes), hard dinghy (loved being able to hit the beach without worrying about popping), rust remover and Armour All, good solar panels, Honda generator (not chinese knock off next time), quality plastic dinner bowls, shrink wrap storage bags, dry bed mat for bookshelves too, 5200, stand-on paddleboard, waterproof head lamps (Princeton Tee), Coffee Thermos (2), Water bottles (3), Waterhoses - rain catchment to water tanks, grocery dolly/wheeler (at least 2 that can carry 2 full jerry cans), quick dry towels, bungy/snubber mooring lines, 3 braid mooring lines, antibiotic usage info (5Ws), toilet pump kits, varnish, USB sticks, memory drives (lots of movie, music, book swapping), Ziploc Bags (med & lrge), outdoor USB long range wifi antenna (Alpha), hacksaw, angle grinder, egg timer (Doug's watchmate buddy), AIS transmitter, sat phone (for when our SSB Pactor Modem couldn't get out), 2 gas and 2 diesel jerry cans, cast iron frying pan, bowls with rubber bottoms, silicone cooking mats, good rain gear, wood plug for spurling pipe, Sailrite zigzag sewing machine, garden spray bottles with black covers, waterproof camera, desiccant for cameras/printer (http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-Renewable-Wireless-Mini-Desiccant-Dehumidifier-Non-toxic-Absorb-Moisture-ZX-/350840613403?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item51afbaea1b), minimum 2 computers, 2 charting programs, 2 GPS, women - shirts with sleeves to cover shoulders, spare bilge pump, spare autopilot system, handheld wind speed indicator, wind generator with spare blades, drogue, swivel snatch block, collapsible cooler bags, snooba dive compressor (bottom cleaning), antiseptic spray (4 bottles/yr if you have a Riley) and Antibiotic ointment (3 lrg), chocolate - lots, crossword type books, solar xmas lights, 220/110 charge inverter, sewing needles, speedy stitcher (Lee Valley), sail patch tape and sail material, grease winches, galley strap (it's horrible cooking when you have to hang on), gravity feed line for filling propane cylinders, bug killer, more fans, fish and bird books, hammocks for fruit/veg outdoors, vessel business cards, document binder with waterproof bag for clearing customs, spare leather pieces for chafing
There will be something that you question what the heck we are talking about so feel free to ask and we will happily explain further. There are lots of other things on the list but these were just some of the musts that we wanted to remember for next time.