Well!

It has been a while hasn't it? So long in fact I have forgotten my password to sailblogs! Sorry, Tim. I guess that happens as you get older.

The good news is that it was a very simple process to open it up again and get a new password. Thanks, Tim.

After a year and a half on the hard Barb and I are going through serious wind and salt water withdrawl. Our plan is to head south Tuesday of next week, flying into Palm Beach and taking a rental car to Indiantown Marina where she has been patiently waiting for us. We are going to get her in the water as quickly as possible and get on down to Stuart to wait for a weather window to bring her back to Canada. Our plan is to use her to cruise the South Shore of Nova Scotia in the summer and then this fall we will head to Bermuda and from there to the British Islands and points south for the winter upcoming.

There are some things that I am planning to do on board such as: re-plumbing everything for the freshwater system, reinstalling the ship's computer, and anything else that does need doing. However, we can't ignore that there will probably be additional things that the time on the hard will require us to do. I suspect I may need to change the battery banks. I would also like to re-organize the anchor arrangement on the bow. By that I mean I would like to set something up that would facilitate switching anchors to the chain rode since that is our go to means of anchoring. We will still retain the secondary rode for those rare occasions that we need to put out two hooks. I am also going to rig a lifting mechanism on the side of the boat to facilitate hauling the dinghy up onto the cabin roof for offshore passages. I do not want to have the dinghy on the davits for our trip to Bermuda and the BVI's, but more immediately I do not want to have it on the davits for our trip from Florida back to Nova Scotia. There are a number of other smaller things that if we're stuck on the hard waiting for a launch we can do, and in fact the only things that we absolutely must do once we're in the water if required is replace the battery bank. I don't feel like carrying eight batteries up a 10 foot ladder to get them all on deck.

This summer, and for the cruise this fall, I'm not sure I'm going to be posting every day as was my habit on previous cruises. This is mostly because we will be offshore and out of Internet range for protracted periods of time, also, I must admit, I suspect we will have many more things to do.

One other important detail that we should pass on to those who have been regularly following our posts in the past, our crew has diminished by one. Perrywinkle, our little white schnauzer and security officer has left us so we will be sailing without a dog. He's left a big gap in our lives and Barb and I both agreed that it will be several years before we can face even trying to replace him. A number of our cruising friends have met him so I'm sure you will understand.