After six months of being landlubbers we are finally moving on water again. Can’t say much of it has been sailing though.

Flying back laden with bags full of repaired electronics and other essential boat stuff, ie. Teabags, we took the Amtrak to Richmond VA. Well, I took the train, Tony was left stranded on the platform with the heavy bags. I knew nothing about this until a guard sheepishly asked me if the well built gentleman was with me. He lied through his teeth and told me Tony had banged on the door as it was closed and the train left the station. The truth was he shut the door in his face and left him stranded. It was all a bit traumatic especially as Tony had the dilemma of how to find help in an empty station and not leave the bags alone to be blown up. The only other persons around were Homeland security. They came to Tony’s rescue and a very kind guard, Melody, came to mine. We only had one phone as we’d just arrived and hadn’t had time to get our US phone. We were reunited in Washington station and made the next train to Richmond where our organised taxi wasn’t waiting to meet us. No problem, we took another and finally arrived at Capisce, on the hard in Deltaville boatyard. Needless to say a bad day was about to get worse before it got better.
Up the ladder and onto the boat we saw the cockpit had six inches of water in it due to tree seeds blocking the drains. Yeuch. I put my arm in and pulled them out. Five minutes later we were in the saloon to find the bilges also full of water. We’d had a power failure and the pump hadn’t been working. The batteries were flat too. I burst into tears and was comforted by Tony asking what was the matter and why was I so stressed. Hmm. We tried to start our normally trusty generator but he wouldn’t work either. Finally the boatyard charged our batteries and moved us onto a spot where they could connect us up the the right sort of power outlet that hadn’t been available when we left the boat.

It took us ten weeks to get everything up to standard before we could get Capisce back in the water. We now have huge list of repairs done, from new batteries to new zips. Tony worked relentlessly and the bottom was cleaned up and antifouled, hull polished and shining and everything overhauled. Too long a list to bore you with but if you have a boat you’ll know. She’s lookin’ good.

First call was to see our friends round the corner, Bill Chris and Flaco. What stars they are. We were invited to use their guest suite, had air-conditioning and showers when we wanted them and swims in their beautiful pool. It was around 100 degrees centigrade and we were hot. Blissful. Thanks you three.
Big leap here but we’re now in Nova Scotia, having sailed for maybe 30 hours and motored the rest.

We’re now on a mooring at Shelburne YC Nova Scotia and couldn’t be in a better place. I’ll fill in some gaps in the next blog ad it’s brilliant here. We’re about to walk to the supermarket to get a couple of lobster for our supper and off in the morning towards Carters beach near Mouton island for some well deserved R&R.