Wow, another year gone! And, what a year it was! Covid has changed everything for everyone. Consequently, it has been a year of living in limbo and wondering what the next steps will be. I know we are not alone !

We continued to live in our Camper on Salt Spring and try to carry on with some kind of a routine.
Cam had the other hip replaced and has recovered really well. He also had the liver surgery and that too went very well!
We knew we wouldn't be able to go to Mexico and be back on Koa e Kea so we settled into winter on the Island.
Then summer!! Cam got back to teaching Tai Chi, they managed to keep the class going outside until they were safe to go back to being inside.
I starting taking my Art card business to the local Saturday market, and decided to do some painting. I was thrilled that the Local Waterfront Gallery shop took my paintings and a few have sold! My first time selling an original painting. What??

Cam has been busy ordering parts to take to Mexico for when we finally will be back on the boat, after a year and a half. The boat was looked after and regularly cleaned. We will have a lot of work to do though. As all boat owners know, the maintenance never stops.
We plan to be there very soon !

In September we were asked if we wanted to join some friends in crewing a friend of theirs motor yacht from Hawaii to Victoria BC.
We decided to go,the boat is a Nordhavn 57, a beautiful solid boat.

The Trip went well, quite rough leaving Hawaii for the first 5 days or so. I've never seen waves that big!
We had some beautiful days with calm seas and hundreds of Dolphins that came to play. Wow! The moon was full and made night watches easier.
I write this now not really believing I did that trip because I wasn't sure if I could ( kind of a chicken). I imagined the small sailboats doing that crossing and don't know if I could.
The boat had some mechanical things go wrong but they managed to fix things along the way.
We had fantastic Tuna and Mahi- Mahi what a treat .
Mostly, you just carry on each day sleeping, being on watch, sleeping again eating and sleeping again lol
We ate most dinners together which was fun,we all worked well together.
I'm glad I went, yes at times I did feel nervous but we were lucky with weather and that makes a big difference.
Prior to leaving for Hawaii we had to follow their strict entry rules. We had to get a Covid test at an approved lab,at an approved Shoppers Drug Mart. That meant a trip to Victoria and $200 Each for the tests??? I mean really? $200? We are also double vaccinated.
So, upon arrival we filled out the "Arrive Can" form once we had cell service. The owner did speak to Canada Customs before we left, and according to that guy, our time at sea would be quarantine time. Oh, we left September 12th-arrived September 26th.
Well, that guy was wrong- the customs agents boarded the boat and they agreed we shouldn't have to do yet another test but said we did . Threatening to fine us or even go to jail if we dared leave the boat. Since this, we found out that if you are fully vaccinated you don't have to have a test, only random people are selected. We had such different information from many government sources.
Nevertheless, after a lot of wrangling around we are all tested again and surprise, surprise... negative.
We lost a lot of time waiting around for these tests so had to rebook our departure for Mexico.
Meanwhile back on Salt Spring.... we started to think about the idea of leaving our boat in Mexico for awhile instead of going back and forth up the coast ( actually thought about for a long time now). We really missed being in the water this past summer, so what else is one to do but... get another boat for the summer here!
Yes, we just bought a Motor Trawler. Or went over to the " Dark side" as some Sailors say lol. It's a 30' Trawler which is a great size. It's in great shape and with a little updating it will be perfect for cruising around the Gulf Islands.
Yes, quite a year we can only hope that Covid will be under control soon. It's been devastating to so many people.
I'll try to keep this updated while we cruise around in Mexico.
Stay safe
Cam and Vikki