Made it back to Canada from the Caribbean!
Winter is upon us... no fun!

Heading the BVI's in a few weeks to launch the 30' nonsuch!
Island Dancer will buckle down in her new icy home!

www.kozyboat.com

Check out the new website... it's now island specific for blog entrys

Timbo

Erie Canal Day "2" - 7 locks
More than 2 times the distance but only 7 locks today rather than 10 yesterday….
Some kickass locks today!… One we actually drove through a HOLE to get into!
Check out the pics… no kiddin!

I'll tell you.. I've never put this boat into reverse, forward, reverse, forward so many times…
We come into a dock at the end of the day… and the conversation (or intention) is…
Timbo… slide it 5 feet sideways, then pull in the nose… we're getting way toooooo good at this
Allie lightly steps to the dock hooks up the springer.. meanders to the bow and hooks up the another line..
Timbo slides it into reverse and the forward lines go taught… the stern slowly kisses the dock..
We high five each other, but under the cuff….
because it wouldn't be cool to do it in front of the crowd of 8 girls having patio drinks we just docked 5 feet beside…
obviously this is our NORMAL docking procedure :)

Im going to say it again… New York'ers are NICE PEOPLE… Very Very Very nice people
After 8.5 hours behind the wheel today, we pulled up yet again a Free Dock.
This is a private dock,100's of feet long.. Free water.. Free High Speed internet..
The owner Rocky, has been catering to boaters here since he was 18… lets say he's a little older than that now..
and owns the whole damn place, docks, restaurants, tour boats, and all…

LISA: Creme Bela.. best ever.. here…no kidding.. Rocky's wife wrote down the recipe in Home-EK in grade 9… they can't keep up with the orders !

After dinner (14 oz Prime Rib), Robin and Allie checked out some local shops as Timbo retreated to the tavern for a quick beer..
Sitting beside Rocky… no money can change hands.. I tried to buy a beer.. nope.. on the house..
Robin glass of Italian wine.. Allie anything she wants..
Bottle of Italian 'after dinner on ice' Caravella on the house
One of the girls at the restaurant has close ties to the GoldFish cracker company… your not leaving here without a Jumbo carton
Local water?? apparently something spectacular and you guessed it.. your not leaving without a SixPack… on the house…

We've been spoiled once again… wish there was something we could do for them… but passing the word is all I can do today!

more picas and stories at
www.kozyboat.com

Have a Great Day!
Timbo!

Had some fun in GeorgeTown during their annual Regatta.. Luck be had, we showed up for day 1 of the races..
The locals are allowed to build temporary shed’s on the beach to make restaurants and bars for the weekend event.. they all have to removed by the following Wednesday.
So.. lots of action in town this weekend… the racing was really neat, we anchored in turn 3 of Daytona!! They would come flying at us and tack at the last second.. loved it!
They cruisers have a neat system here.. a pickup truck takes you to a butcher (4 miles away) 3 times a week… The food we bought there was beyond excellent…
(If you’ve been in the Caribbean you know this is hard to find!) Frozen Chicken “parts" are a common item we buy.. it’s just the way it is here.

Heading up the Exumas we pulled into a random spot called Rudder Cut.. We had no idea what was there other than some shelter for the night..
Being the only boat, we found a nice spot near a huge cave.. and a nice beach! Love this place…
A boat on the AIS was ‘following’ us all day… soon enough they peaked around the corner and anchored with us..
Then another boat showed up… and we knew them from San Juan… small world eh! Sundowners on their boat were welcomed!

Eventually a Cat came around the corner with a lot of screaming or yelling go on… or is that laughing??
Looking a bit closer, someone is up the mast, underway? It ends up being a family from Australia (does that explain it?)
They bought the boat in France and are sailing it back, taking an extra year in the Caribbean :)
Their son is up the mast just hang around having fun.. I’d suggest a 2nd safety line, but otherwise he was having fun and seems to be up there all the time…
Later that night his Dad cranked him up again just for a swing..
We soon were introduced and they suggested we shouldn’t miss a pretty cool treasure in the next bay…
We Kayaked and SUP’d over to find a sunken “Piano" in about 15’ of water.
Rumour is David Copperfield placed it there (why I can’t tell you, someone research that for me)… but it’s very cool!
This is our favourite spot in the Exumas so far (of the 2 places we have been ha!).. the caves are pretty crazy..
Having a blast down here…
Hope you having a Great Day!

More stories and Pics at www.kozyboat.com

Timbo

George This Is Your Town

Made it to George Town Exumas, which is part of the Bahamas..
funny just a few weeks ago, I was walking down the dock in the BVI's and Georgie asked me..
Hey Timbo.. that boat's from George Town... where's that...???
Hummmm well we best crack open the Atlas and go check it out!!!

Caught a pretty nice fish on the way over.. Just pulled the line in to clean some seaweed off of her..
Relaunched.. and GPS said time to Turn Timbo... So doing a swift turn around Crooked Island, the Fishing line tooook off man.
We measured the Mahi Mahi at 3.5 Feet.. Allie was still asleep so we were able to keep this one...
Robin took charge and in minutes the filets were in the fridge waiting for dinner

All sunsets and Sunrises were beautiful.. hard to tell them apart!
At around 3am the moon would rise, not to be left out.. with a spectacular show for the the late night crew shift!

Finding our way into this anchorage was interesting.. Robin and Allie on the bow with a portable VHF... while Timbo creeped her in..
Didn't hit a thing.. nice being a totally unmarked channel with coral heads everywhere! GPS co-ordinates from Snowman helped a lot!

Time to drop the dingy and explore this place!
oh ya.. and pay our $300 cruising permit... do ooh! Maybe I can sell that FISH!

More pics and stories at
www.kozyboat.com

Have a Great Day!
Timbo

10 mile Bike Ride - Kayak Through Mangroves - Drink Beer

Turks and Caicos Marathon was pretty awesome! Rather than do the complete event in one day we broke it up…
The resort let you use their beach bikes.. no locks required..
quote from front desk "This be da Islan's mon.. no need to loc dem up, you be fine… If not, we hav your credit card" :)

Rode 1/2 across the island.. you can't really go much further as you hit the Highway.. (much like London road in Sarnia)..
and bike riding there we were told was "crazy".. (of course we tried it.. a short distance to Mis Amigo's!"
High scores from the crew on the Mexican dish's.. Our new friend Dervent treated us to the great food.. very very friendly people here!
I am now qualified to do the most famous Caicos handshake.. took about 5 tries but Dervent wouldn't give up on Timbo until I had it.. :)
You can go into every resort except Sandals? and use their beach/pool… so lots of exploring still to do…
Hopefully that doesn't include too much shopping in town.. this is the Grand Bend of the Caribbean!

LAUNCH THE KAYAK!!! Trails in the mangroves are all over the national park we are moored beside.. an outfit called Big Blue sends people out all day…
They charge around $75 to do the tour.. so with our NEW KAYAK we had to check it out!
Marathon was almost over.. only thing left was the Turks Head Beer drinking contest..

Our friends from Denver (formally Sarnia) will be here later today (Gerry and Cindy)… will be fun to explore the island with them the next few days.

Mr. Weatherman aka Snowman, is hinting we will be "stuck" here a few days.. some strong winds are on their way… North of 40 knots.. and perhaps stronger?
Tied up the boat pretty well.. we will lash down the floating toys tomorrow and sea what happens!

Have a Great Day!
Timbo



Posted by KozyBoat at 4/16/2014 2:07 PM | Add Comment
Some Ketchup Pics

Haven't had high speed internet for a while, so here's some pics of the action…

First Few are Allie at a Marine Biology School in South Caicos
Old house is the Governors Mansion.. (perhaps previous)
Then some sailing pics on the 3 day cruise..
Then of course PICO!!!! on the Stand Up Board!!!

Have a Great Day!
Timbo


Posted by KozyBoat at 4/14/2014 12:25 PM | Add Comment
New Mooring for Island Dancer

Spent the night sailing across the Caicos islands (14 hrs) fabulous sail.. we're on the west side now in Provo… a Resort Island… Hello Walt Disney!!! We will take IT !!!!

Hotel here is $512.00 a night.. or... our option....dock fee is $48.00 (apparently with cable TV!)?
So.. Looks like we are staying on Island Dancer!

You get to use the resort and all the cool toys including fire ring tables, infinity pool, out door pool table, free Beach Bikes to take to town, swim up bar, bars, beach, etc..
It's over the top elegant and were ready for it!

Spending the next 7 days here doing NOTHING!!!

Here's the comparison of rooms available:


Posted by KozyBoat at 4/14/2014 12:20 PM | Add Comment
Welcome to Turks and Caicos

3 day sail to Turks and Caicos was our first longish' voyage...
No not 30 days across the ocean, but at least we were far enough offshore that my buddy Rusty would be crying to his Momma!
Pics to follow, were on super duper dialup right now...

First Day: Dead calm to start.. Some light Rain.. sun... more wind... rain, sun, sun sun sun...everyone getting into their groove.. 3 hour shifts... lots of sleep for everyone..

Second Day: Calm to start.. then WIND.. sun.. sun.. sun.. beautiful.. can't be beat..
Sailing along without a care in the world.. 3 hour shifts as usual.. Mountains of DR are beautiful.. we really should have spent a month exploring them.. Jimmy Buffett on XM Radio
Sunset comparable to Lake Huron in August.. :)

Midnight: Vessel TwoFish calls Island Dancer seeing us on AIS.. they are on a Cat with 5000 miles so far on their trip heading to New York.. with 2 Canadians on board.. they want to trade the Canadians for a case of beer and a jug of maple syrup... Need more info on the crew eh...
Seems our schedules are the same.. perhaps we meet again?

Third Day: Perfect Wind.. Sunny. BIG Breakfest of eggs, bacon, hash browns, coffee...Then more wind.. then more wind.. then black clouds...

Reefing in the sail a bit.. more wind... more speed.. reefing in the sails again... when the wind hit 40.. then 42.. hummm... boat speed approached 8 with just inch's of sail deployed, but easily manageable to a point Robin said to Timbo: "Are you going to get some sleep?"
I must say this boat can take swells and wind like they are a splash in a baby pool (Not really, but you get my point.. some were freaking HUGE MAN !!! but NO way I was going to bed!!!)

Later in the night the wind died down to 20's again and we hit the sails to make landfall for daybreak...

Customs and Immigration: completed on a freezer at a grocery store.. it was Saturday so we asked a guy on a peddle bike to go to their house (wake them up?) and get them to come out and clear us in... soooo friendly people...

Come to find out there is a Marine Biology school 500 yards from our boat.. Kids from all over the world there.. We open the gate, walk-in, Allie is welcomed with open arms by more than 40 kids her age...
Robin and Timbo leave for Lunch at a local burger joint... Wonder how Allie is doing??? hummmmmm? Apparently a bunch of local school kids were coming over this afternoon for a tour, Allie will love meeting them as well.

According to the Dive masters at the school (who drove us to the burger joint), the diving RIGHT here is next to the best of anywhere, and thats why students are there from all over the world..... perhaps we are NOT leaving tonight as planned... but that will be yet... another story!

more stories and pics at
www.kozyboat.com

Have a Great Day
Timbo!!!

20 knot winds gusting to 25… can't think of a better day to go up the Mast!!!! Whooo Hooo!!!
Captain Ron came over to help Robin crank the cranker as Timbo flew up the mast.
Our wind anemometer (Electronic device that shows wind speed and direction) has never worked…
I had a new one from ol' FatFish that I brought down last August…
After replacing the main halyards I ran out of excuses to delay the job, so UP WE GO!!!
Dinner party on Island Dancer followed with Robin's famous meat balls and spaghetti!

Our friend Joe is in town… now here's a story! Back a few years ago, Joe would rollerblade (inline skate) to work everyday…
It was a 6 mile trek each way...
His co-workers starting joking, he should skate across the country (USA) for a vacation….
So… he did… twice
Then, he travelled to Australia and attempted to circle the island… and almost made it…
Travelling only at night due to the extreme heat, he was changing wheels 5-6 times a day.. The chip asphalt roads were pretty hard on the skates….
eventually he ran out of wheels and had to stop.. but an awesome adventure none the less…
Lots of stories, especially back in the USA near Tennessee… Apparently Deliverance movie is not his favourite :)

Waiting to hear from the weather man for our departure date… should be in a few days…

More stories and Pics at:
www.kozyboat.com

Have a GREAT DAY!!
TIMBO!