Safe arrival in Virgin Gorda

We arrived in St. Thomas on Monday night and continued on to Virgin Gorda in the morning to check into customs, into an apartment for the week and to look over Cat Tales to see how she summered.

I'm happy to announce that Cat Tales shows NO signs of rats, cockroaches or anything else undesirable! Unlike storing the boat in Trinidad, the outside of the boat was fairly clean. We didn't tarp the boat like we do down south, and it seemed a bit odd that nobody up here tarps, but it weathered the summer heat well. The air is a bit drier up here which kept mould at bay. We had a bit of water in the port hull because of a leaky window in the cockpit. A quick mop up and we were good to go! A little more silicone next season, I would think.

Laurie and I were able to hose the boat down and put up the bimini yesterday before heading to the Bayview Apartments for the night where we'll be staying for the next week before launch. It was lovely to wake up in air conditioning and take a shower before sweating all day at the boatyard! Today, Laurie has already tackled the port engine, installing the impeller and running water the engine when he ran it for a couple minutes. Water was spitting out of the outside exhaust nicely. He is now taking our brand new hot water tank that we had delivered to St. Thomas and will be installing it over the next hour or so.

So, all is well here in Spanishtown, Virgin Gorda.

A special hello to our fellow Canadians (John & Anna) who we met on the flight from Miami to St. Thomas!

Steve and Maria, I'll go check on your boat today and will let you know by email how "Aspen" looks!

Sent from my iPad

Summer Up North 2014

For no better reason than the interests of continuity, we think it is appropriate to advise you what transpired with the crew of Cat Tales during the summer.

Starting with the boat, we had the staff at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour Boatyard check on her just after Hurricane Gonzalo passed to the east in mid-October, and all was fine.

For us in Atlantic Canada, our time home was rather a blur.  There were doctors and dentists, parties and visits, friends and relatives, fishing and sailing, biking and hiking.

In early June, Laurie got in a fishing trip at Scott Kennah's camp on the Nepisiguit River with Scott and Ken Corbett, and the trout were excellent.

The July 1st long weekend had us driving to Buctouche, NB, to spend time with brother Ken Corbett and Linda, and brother Mike and Anne while we visited a lobster boil with our Aunt Marion and her family.  The biking on the trails there was fabulous!  Dawn and Laurie carried on to Bathurst for 3 days with Scott and Tina Kennah at their traditional rental on Youghall Beach.  Both were fantastic.

However, we returned just in time for Hurricane Arthur to hit New Brunswick.  We stayed in the cottage for most of the storm, just watching the carnage.  We were too busy watching trees fall next door to see our Hobie-21 lift up out of its cradle and land on its side 20 feet away.  Amazingly, the boat was fine.  The damage to our cottage was slight - one tree onto and through our shed - but we've been taking down trees every spare moment since.  Besides the dangerous trees on our own property (about 8), we helped our neighbour David Wasson take down over 25 jack pines, all over 70 feet high.  It was interesting in that we dealt with many by using a heavy nylon anchor rode and a pulley to direct the descent to miss buildings and good trees.

Hurricane Arthur

  Still, we found ways to get away.  At the end of July, we drove to Acadia National Park to go camping and biking with Paula and Brian of s/v Magique.  It was fantastic, with great views, cool biking, fantastic lobster rolls, excellent craft beers, and scampering up giant mountains of granite. 

Brian & Paula and Laurie and Dawn in a seaside restaurant in Maine.

   When we got back we continued to cut down trees while we planned our 21 days out west.  That trip had us flying to Whitehorse to spend time with Dawn's sister Valerie and her husband Rick, driving with them to Dawson City, visiting the Dempster Highway and the Tombstone Mountains, taking the White Pass down to Skagway, Alaska, ferrying down the Pacific (our first time in the Pacific) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, taking a train through the Rockies to Jasper, Alberta, driving through the Glacier Trail to Calgary, where we spent a week with brother Paul and his wife Alida, and taking in a rodeo, a trip to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, and another to the Drumheller Royal Tyrrell Evolution Museum.   No way Laurie can express the amazing joy he experienced with the geology, history, paleontology etc.

Dawn & Laurie hiking with Val and Rick at Tombstone, Yukon.

At Heritage Park in Calgary staying with Alida and Paul.  Here we are with friends we just met at the rodeo!

Laurie's in heaven at the dinosaur museum!  Thanks Alida and Paul!!

  We got back to our cottage in time to welcome visitors Steve and Maria, s/v Aspen, all the way from Colorado.  With them, we traveled to Halifax and visited with Michele and Al of s/v Tarantella.  We ate way too well, drank the usual, toured the harbour in Al's 34' powerboat, saw the sights, and laughed ourselves hoarse constantly.

Maria from Colorado, Michele from Dartmouth and Dawn from Grand Lake in Michele and Al's kitchen.

What a feed of lobster Al scored for us!!  We  can't wait to see these guys again down south when we all launch our boats!

 So, now we are tidying up our chores, putting things away, making lists, and ordering parts for our trip back to Virgin Gorda.  We will board the airplane on November 24th, and start Cat Tales chores the very next day.  Chores include the installation of a replacement hot water tank that let go at the end of last season, and the installation of a significant amount of electronics (assuming they get here in time being shipped from Halifax).   At least this year, we hope to minimize the living in the boatyard.  We have booked a week at the nearby Bayview Apartments.  Please stay tuned!