We have been home a week and three days, but who is counting. Am I ready to go again - you betcha! This trip - a very quick five weeks - confirmed that we are ready for more: more adventure, more challenges, new experiences, learning and sharing.
While Ron and I do liveaboard, we do not spend every waking moment together. We both work and both have our personal interests. While on our vacation we did spend all our time together. I can tell you there was no period of adjustment. We have a great amount of respect for each other's space, feelings, opinions and energy. Equally important is that we are madly in love and we just happen to like each other.
We have each been joking with our respective friends and workmates that we brought our spouse home.
There are numerous thanks you in order. First and foremost to our families and friends for the ongoing support of our dream to sail and of our liveaboard lifestyle. Thank you to Len Burton for taking on the responsibility of holding our Sail Plan. Len had the responsibility to make the decision of whether or not to hail the Coast Guard in the event we lost touch. Equally important was Barbara Hodgson VE7KLU. Barbara manages the Great Northern Boaters net from her home in North Saanich. Each and every day she ensures the net is on for boaters to check in. Barbara also held a Sail Plan as she is also a key person to relay information to the Coast Guard.
Thank you to buddy Kevin in Toastmasters who encouraged me to use this blog site and assured me that I could do it.
Thank you to all who read the blog and posted comments. Your unsolicited compliments leaves me no choice but to create another blog for next year. Don't tell anyone but I enjoyed reflecting on our days activities and how to put it into interesting reading material for you.
Prior to leaving we felt that our boat was well equipped and well stocked. With some of the new equipment (e.g. Hydrovane and SSB) it would have been great to get a little practice before departing. Can we do better next time? Ron and I believe that there is always room for improvement. Preparing for a trip such as this is no different.
Would we do anything different? Yes, we will choose a different time of year - likely June / July. We will spend some time this year recruiting boating friends to join us. We will do more and see more .
Life just keeps getting better.
What's stopping you? You too could be living your dream.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Did I mention to you that we were graced with the presence of good friends again on Wednesday. This time Ken and Janice from Sidney and I cooked ribs following Aunty Ivy's recipe. Ron says they were delicious (maybe the best ribs I have cooked). Ken ate his fair share too and no complaints. Unfortunately Janice couldn't join us until a bit later in the evening. We were all sufficiently saffonsified, needless to say.
I had a very weak signal on the SSB this morning but did manage to get our location and planned destination to the Great Northern Boaters Net. I am looking forward to being Cadboro Bay to try the SSB there.
Thursday morning when we awoke it was blustery weather. Mother Nature had changed her mind on what kind of a sailing day we would have. What we had expected is not what we were experiencing. Instead there was wind, rain and limited visibility.
We left Sidney at 1030. The rain was relentless so coupled with limited visibility we decided to push onwards but under power. Dare I say that there is a favourable forecast for Juan De Fuca on Friday for us to come home.
This is the first time Ron and I have been to Cadboro Bay. It is a great little bay tucked in and sheltered from most winds except the Sou'Easters! Every winter this bay and Oak Bay get hammered and if you listen to or read the news there is always a boat or two that drag anchor and find the shore.
As we were motoring in there was a great gaggle of Laser sailboats. Most of these were one man
(or wo-man) or two man (or two wo-man). We discovered that these people, some young, some older were qualifying for 'the nationals'. We were told that these people are Olympic hopefuls and how they did today would help establish funds for their future training. Good Luck, One and All!
Once at Cadboro Bay - the home of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club - we registered and let Winston stretch his four little legs. I had an upset tummy so had a bit of a lay down before supper. We had our final night out dinner at the Club. The Chicken Satay was very tasty with a kick of spice. Feeling better after dinner - yes ladies - I challenged and won yet another game of Scrabble. Ron has been the Crib Champ for our few games.
Friday was our day to be home. Sad but true - it is time to head for home port.
Today I wanted to stay out as long as possible. For those who do not frequently sail in this area the current plays a big role. Fortunately we had the current in our favour for the morning. Out came the sails and off into the Juan De Fuca we sail - dodging container ships, dodging tall ships and whale watching boats. We had a nice breeze and were sailing along at 5 knots - can it get any
better? Apparently it can get a bit more challenging - the wind dropped and the current changed. I knew Mother Nature beat me again. We were going nowhere fast. Ogden Point was not getting any closer. Ron was on the ready to douse the sails - I had him wait just a few more minutes. "OK" I finally said as I realized it would take us forever travelling at 1.8 knots with a 1 knot current against us. I was defeated.
We motored past Ogden Point to our home of WestBay Marine Village. We were absolutely delighted by our neighbours greeting us and taking a line as we docked. Thank you Tim, Lynn and Bev, Dave and Elaine for your big welcome! We truly have the best neighbours.
If the truth be known, we had asked Doug for 3 fire boats and a Scottish Pipe band as our welcoming but it did not transpire. Perhaps we need to go away much longer than 5 weeks - hee hee.
It is truly great to see our friends and neighbours but I must admit I am not ready to be home. There is far more to see, do and experience.
Stay tuned for "Final Thoughts" in a day or two and perhaps a word to three from Ron.
I had a very weak signal on the SSB this morning but did manage to get our location and planned destination to the Great Northern Boaters Net. I am looking forward to being Cadboro Bay to try the SSB there.
Thursday morning when we awoke it was blustery weather. Mother Nature had changed her mind on what kind of a sailing day we would have. What we had expected is not what we were experiencing. Instead there was wind, rain and limited visibility.We left Sidney at 1030. The rain was relentless so coupled with limited visibility we decided to push onwards but under power. Dare I say that there is a favourable forecast for Juan De Fuca on Friday for us to come home.
This is the first time Ron and I have been to Cadboro Bay. It is a great little bay tucked in and sheltered from most winds except the Sou'Easters! Every winter this bay and Oak Bay get hammered and if you listen to or read the news there is always a boat or two that drag anchor and find the shore.
As we were motoring in there was a great gaggle of Laser sailboats. Most of these were one man
(or wo-man) or two man (or two wo-man). We discovered that these people, some young, some older were qualifying for 'the nationals'. We were told that these people are Olympic hopefuls and how they did today would help establish funds for their future training. Good Luck, One and All!Once at Cadboro Bay - the home of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club - we registered and let Winston stretch his four little legs. I had an upset tummy so had a bit of a lay down before supper. We had our final night out dinner at the Club. The Chicken Satay was very tasty with a kick of spice. Feeling better after dinner - yes ladies - I challenged and won yet another game of Scrabble. Ron has been the Crib Champ for our few games.
Friday was our day to be home. Sad but true - it is time to head for home port.
Today I wanted to stay out as long as possible. For those who do not frequently sail in this area the current plays a big role. Fortunately we had the current in our favour for the morning. Out came the sails and off into the Juan De Fuca we sail - dodging container ships, dodging tall ships and whale watching boats. We had a nice breeze and were sailing along at 5 knots - can it get any
better? Apparently it can get a bit more challenging - the wind dropped and the current changed. I knew Mother Nature beat me again. We were going nowhere fast. Ogden Point was not getting any closer. Ron was on the ready to douse the sails - I had him wait just a few more minutes. "OK" I finally said as I realized it would take us forever travelling at 1.8 knots with a 1 knot current against us. I was defeated.We motored past Ogden Point to our home of WestBay Marine Village. We were absolutely delighted by our neighbours greeting us and taking a line as we docked. Thank you Tim, Lynn and Bev, Dave and Elaine for your big welcome! We truly have the best neighbours.
If the truth be known, we had asked Doug for 3 fire boats and a Scottish Pipe band as our welcoming but it did not transpire. Perhaps we need to go away much longer than 5 weeks - hee hee.
It is truly great to see our friends and neighbours but I must admit I am not ready to be home. There is far more to see, do and experience.
Stay tuned for "Final Thoughts" in a day or two and perhaps a word to three from Ron.
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