A Magical Family Visit

Magical Disney World – what an amazing thing to do with a 4 and 7 year old! We all had so much fun, which ended with two nights with the family on Sea Change. As Levi boarded the boat, half asleep, he exclaimed “Wow - it’s so great to be here – I haven’t been on the boat in such a long time!”. J

We spent a lovely sunny day hanging out on the boat, trying out the new dinghy and exploring the boatyard. It ended with a surprise early 70^th birthday party for “Dadoo” (Jeff) – gluten-free birthday cake and all.

Today we did laundry, cleaned up, and most importantly – finally got the engine fixed – ah, the joy of that purring motor!! Thank you, Jeff, and our generous across-the-dock neighbor, Ingo, who is an electrical engineer. Tomorrow he and his wife, Annalise will be over for a “thank you” dinner from this grateful Sea Change crew.  We should be ready to sail in a few days….

A Rainy Day at the Cottage

Well, not quite rainy – but cold, windy and cloudy L. Can’t complain, though - this is the first time we’re not seeing the Florida sun in a week.

So no testing out of the new dinghy today – instead we did indoor things – laundry, packing for Orlando, e-mail, choir rehearsal, reading, etc. Not a bad way to spend the day aboard Sea Change. Jeff is recuperating from a week of heavy labour, so he slept and read most of the day.

Tomorrow we need to get the dinghy on the davits, with the motor attached – no easy feat! And the plan is to leave for the 2-hour drive to Orlando by 3:00, to meet our family for a visit to Disney World. So I probably won’t be blogging until after they leave next Saturday. We’ll be spending 4 days at Disney, and then 2 nights on the boat – should be fun! Back to the blog in about a week …

A New Dinghy!

The big news today was the arrival of our new Highfield Dinghy (made in Australia) – and a beautiful boat she is! She’ll be named “Small Change” (like our last dinghy) – and have a place of honor on the davits on the stern of Sea Change.

Launching Small Change was a bit of a challenge – we’re on a concrete dock, with a distance of about 10 feet to the river water below. “Just throw her in”, taunted the fellows observing her arrival on shore. Yeah right … no one was throwing this expensive little boat anywhere, as far as we were concerned.

So my captain rigged up an interesting launch system with four lines, each held by a near-by volunteer – and we just gently lowered the boat into the water (see pics below). Then we carefully walked the dinghy with a line in the water alongside the dock, until we reached the big boat and could safely tie her up. Mission accomplished! Can’t wait to take the dinghy for her first spin tomorrow – hope the motor starts J.

Bit of a Glitch!

January 31, 2017

Day 2 – Bit of a Glitch!

A beautiful, sunny, cloudless day in Florida – what could go wrong? J

We made our way back to the marina, and finished preparing to launch just on time. The hydraulic dolly carefully hauled Sea Change to the water’s edge, and was about to launch her, when one of the guys exclaimed – “hey wait – she has no propeller!!”.

Whoops … Dan, who had done some boat repairs for us in November had forgotten that little detail L. No prop, no movement.  So Dan was called back to the marina, and two hours later we were in the water.

Now, if we can repair the non-functioning head (read “toilet”), and the not well functioning engine, we’ll be in good shape. The mainsail is up, the stainless is polished and ready to receive the bimini (sun protection), and the cabin below is ship-shape. Tomorrow our new dinghy arrives, and we still have 4 more days to get things in order before we leave to meet our family in Orlando – so life here is pretty good. Just let the sun keep shining …

A New Adventure Begins!

Now that we’re on land, we’re noticing some things of cultural interest about Northern Florida …

We’ve eaten grits for the first time – and probably for the last J.

We haven’t caught or eaten catfish – but we notice lots of people do that here.

We asked about getting a senior’s rate at a museum, and the cashier quipped: “No special rates – everyone’s a senior in Florida!”.

We were told it was “Bike week” here in Daytona – and we envisioned lots of healthy people on bicycles – NOT! As our biker/mechanic put it – “quite the opposite”. Lots of not-so-healthy looking men and women on Harleys – tattoos, heavy metal, etc.

Cars and trucks driving along our beautiful ocean beach, right outside our window!

Not a cultural curiosity – but lots of pelicans – certainly a curiosity for us. I painted one below.

We’re having a good time here, though we miss Sea Change.