Wednesday, January 30, 2008

January 14th, 2007

We cannot believe that almost a month has gone by since our last general update. Thank you to everyone that has emailed us over the past weeks with your good wishes.

We are basically as ready as we feel we can be to set off officially on our first leg of our journey. Now we wait for the weather.

These past few weeks have been absolutely full of shopping, shopping and more shopping. Most of the storage spaces are maxed to the point we felt the boat had too much weight on the port side, so we busily emptied the aft head of all the beer and back up water we had stored in it.

Our recent purchases/special orders have all arrived. These included a back up 55kg. Anchor, Honda Gas Generator, Mercury 9.9 hp. Dinghy motor, the Furuno Navtex Receiver, and the Sailrite Sewing Machine. We have decided to purchase the sewing supplies we think we will need to make our own dodger and cockpit cushions. We have had the Generator and Sewing machine up and running.

Here I am making our safety tethers.
Randy and Derek were checking the steering cable and Derek noticed it was frayed, so we had it repaired and then Randy did the re-installation.

We have actually made a floor plan of the whole boat and broke the food/provisions into groupings hoping this will make for locating everything an easy task. Where does one put 48 tetra packs of soya milk???

We have mounted all our fire extinguishers and recently purchased a back up 12 gauge flare gun, new flares, plus a couple of baseball bats and a new lock for the companionway door. Our first aid kit is as complete as we can get it. We also purchased and mounted a life ring, MOB pole and MOB strobe light. Sounds like we’re ready…Hope so!!

This past Monday we went and saw “Moe” at the US Customs Office and he gave us our Vessel Clearance Statement. This officially means we have cleared customs to leave the US. However, by the end of January we have to fax back proof that we have arrived in the Bahamas in order not to pay the Florida sales tax.

The key now is to be patient and wait for the proper weather window. Looks like Monday and Tuesday should be good. We have a couple of options in mind to get to Bimini. One being head south to the Biscayne Cay which is off of Miami and then head East to Bimini, or as Harry our “seasoned sailor” friend has recommended---“just head south for about 12 miles and then East using everything you’ve got-sails and motor together”.

We will spend today washing down the boat, topping up the water tanks, putting out our jack lines (which is what we will attach our safety harness tethers to);and putting everything securely away .( We just made our safety harness tethers and will try and forward a picture.)

Enjoy, love lynn and Randy


January 5th,2007-Happy New Year

January 5th,2007

Happy New Year Everyone

After 29 years of living on the Malahat; always having family and friends with us for Christmas, this year certainly was different. We were thankful we had each other and that we could call home and speak to Ash, Sean and Mom. Because we had so many traditions at home we decided to do none of them here. We did go out for a fabulous Italian lunch to celebrate Christmas Day.

On New Year’s Eve we tried to go and see what “DANIA JAI-ALI” (pronounced Highli) was all about, however it was closed. Instead, we went for a nice walk and then had a visit with Harry on the dock.

We go by the DANIA JAI-ALI building almost daily. On the outside it also says POKER so we thought it was like a casino. (Weeks later we did manage to go and watch this centuries old sport from Basque, Spain. It turns out it sort of is like our game of Squash played in teams, where the winner of each point stays on the court and then meets the next player in rotation. The players use a “cesta” which is a curved catching and throwing basket; (sort of like a lacrosse stick but longer and narrower). It is made of Spanish Chestnut and reeds from the Pyrenees Mountains. The “Pilota” (ball) is slightly smaller than a baseball and is made of two layers of goat skin over nylon thread covering tightly wound strands of virgin rubber. Stats are kept on players and teams. This is where the betting comes in. People play the odds. Normally it is $1.50 to get in to watch. We happened to hit” Senior’s” night, which is free and were asked to show I.D. It looks like there is 42 different players and the stats show that the majority are from Spain, Mexico, France and then the U.S. As for the POKER—we never went to see.

New Year’s Day, Derek, Evelyn and Caylin came over dressed up as “Pirates” for a Games Night.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Dec.16th 2006 Update


Update from Lynn and Randy Dec. 16th , 2006

Good morning everyone. Well, I’ll try and write this again.

Sounds like you’re having your share of bad weather too. Randy has a site that he checks daily. It not only shows your weather patterns, but shows a picture of Dallas Rd looking south. Here we have had an incredible amount of rain…Not just a drizzle, but downpours. Of course when it stops the little no-seeums start their attack. You know what a really bad case of chicken pox looks like…well, that’s what my legs look like. These little guys look like a speck of dust so of course you don’t know they are there until they decide to feed on you. For some reason they love me. Upon reading The Cruising Guide to the Bahamas, it is recommended when one spends time in that area you have on hand two different products that help relieve itchiness. They are Safe Sea and Lands End Oil. We will try and find at a Pharmacy.

We received an email from Margo suggesting we should keep a journal. Great idea as I know I’ll never remember all the details of this great adventure in our lives.

This past week after spending three days cleaning off the previous owners boat name we held our official de-naming ceremony. We have ordered the lettering for our new name through a contact from Ben Pollon (this is Larry and Mary’s nephew) who lives in Florida.—By the way Larry and Mary, Ben is a very nice young man.

We have been trying to find someone to make us a dodger to no avail. Because of Christmas everyone says they do not have enough time to have one made for us by mid January. We are trying to decide if we should just buy a Sail Rite sewing machine and make our own. With the type of machine we are looking at we can do all the sail repairs when needed. The benefit of this brand is they can be run without electricity.

This past week we have also purchased our dinghy. It is just over 9 ft in length. Randy has set up the blocks, lifting rings etc. to make it easier for us to pull the dinghy out of the water. We probably will go today and purchase a motor. We originally were interested in a Yamaha. Talk about customer service…we went to three different businesses, the only three in the Ft. Lauderdale area and were never even approached. At one place we went to the service desk and said we wanted to buy a motor. They said to go and speak to a salesman at the front of the store. We waited and waited. Now we are looking at a Mercury. We went to a place called Outdoor World, which sells everything for every kind of outdoor activity. They only sell “Merc” motors, but the fellow approached us right away and was interested in looking after us. Needless to say we made our purchase.

We have received notice from the Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club that our application has been accepted. Suzanne and Norrie—thank you for sponsoring us. Yesterday I pulled Randy up the mast so that he could put up our Halyard Kit so we can fly our burgee (Yacht Club Flag) plus our Quarantine Flag/ Bahama Flag when we get over to the Bahamas. Our game plan will be to be fully provisioned and ready for a window of good weather starting around the beginning to mid January .

Dec.6th,2006- A Message from Lynn and Randy

A message from Lynn and Randy on “HIGH STATES” Dec.6th, 2006

Hi everyone, this first week has flown by. It sounds like you all are in agreement that I left just in time. Every airport had its problems, plus in Calgary my room had no hot water, so needless to say I arrived at the airport really early.

The boat is wonderful. Randy has been real busy his first month down here. He put in new refrigeration, hooked up the propane stove and did numerous small tasks.

On Dec.2nd at approximately 0500 hrs., our friends Leo and Mary onboard Sea Song left for the Bahamas only to return around 0800 as the seas were real choppy and they were having trouble with their brand new generator. Randy went over to help Leo and between them they determined the problem was an uncharged battery. Mary along with “Tucker” (their dog) , and myself had a nice visit however we know they were disappointed that they couldn’t complete this part of their journey. They actually arrived to the slip beside us about two weeks ago from Rhode Island traveling down the Inland Waterway. They own a 38 foot Grand Banks that they purchased this past spring.

On Monday I cleaned our forward berth area. Hard to believe it took all day, but by the time you tear everything apart, give it a good clean and then organize the chaos, I was tired.

We seem to be spending a lot of time shopping. Not that we are making many purchases. You wouldn’t believe how many stores we had to go to just to find notions like thread. When we went into Kmart and I asked if they had a fabric dept., the woman thought I was daft. She wanted to know what I was doing and when I said I wanted to make curtains she said they sell curtains already made. No point in trying to explain.

This past week we also met Derek Rutherford and his family who are also from Victoria. (It really is a small world.) They also bought a Beneteau from the same broker and at the same time as us. He moved their boat to the same Yacht Basin we are at and they actually hope to head to the Bahamas around the same time as us. Who knows maybe we’ll have our own flotilla.

Well, I don’t want this to get too long and/or boring.

Thanks again mom for the beautiful curtains you made for the berth areas. I am still putting them up, and will take pictures when I have completed that task.

We wish you all a safe December. Hopefully your weather will warm up soon.

Love Lynn and Randy