Recent Missions

Stuart is a good place to get stuck for a little while. Provisioning here is easy and a lot of interesting places, like stores, bars, restaurants, car rentals, supermarkets, parks, downtown, and much more, is within walking distance from the anchorage. Renting a mooring ball at South Point Anchorage is affordable, but also very popular. The winter season is extremely busy, so it pays to get your name on the waiting list.

The main reason Mark and I wanted to come here, was to leave Irie in a safe spot for our trip to Boston. On January 7^th, he and I had an appointment with Homeland Security. An immigration officer would finish the process of my green card application with a dreaded interview. Since we wanted to take the dogs, we decided to rent a car for ten days and drive the 1500 miles north (and back).

The third day of the new year was a very windy one. We’d been rocking for two nights and a day, and the waves were considerably big. This made moving our stuff to the mainland with our dinghy quite challenging. Motivated to have an early start, we soon discovered it was still dark at 6:30 am and the waves had not diminished at all. We were trying to figure out how to move all our gear to the rental car without getting it, ourselves and the dogs too wet. Buzz, the harbourmaster, came to our rescue around 7am. While he braved the bad weather and waited patiently hopping up and down, we emptied the dinghy again, hauled it up on the davits, secured it, and transported everything, including dogs with life jackets, onto his boat. Plastic bags, doggie jackets, and foul weather gear removed, we found ourselves safe and dry in our temporary, brand new, Ford Focus at 7:30 am. Mission One accomplished.

The hardest part was the long drive. Mark and I took turns on day 1, only stopping briefly to fuel up, pick up lunch and take care of the dogs. Eleven hours later, we spent a comfortable night in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Day 2 was a little bit shorter, and brought us to Uxbridge, Massachusetts, where we stayed the night at Ryan and Denise’s place. Mark took care of all of the driving and still managed to have enough energy left for a night of socializing, eating and drinking with friends. Kali and Darwin loved playing and rolling in the snow.

The following days, our hosts were Tim (Mark’s brother) and Kristen in Newbury, MA. We had a very pleasant time with them and their kids, and enjoyed the luxuries of a hot shower, a comfortable bed, and deliciously prepared food. We also managed to spend some valuable time with Mark’s parents. It was great to see everybody again and share stories, but also a bit tiring. The interview on the 7^th went fine, and the expected tough questions remained unasked. We lucked out with our very friendly and understanding immigration officer, who mainly verified all the information provided by us through the mail. Now, it’s only a matter of weeks before I will be the proud owner of a green card! Mission Two accomplished.

The drive back to Stuart was tough, since we were both extremely tired. We stopped in Greenwich, Connecticut, for a quick visit to Mark’s sister Dru, and Brian. It was good to catch up with them, even though we had to leave again early in the morning. It took us another two long days, with a motel visit halfway, to get back to the boat and the warm weather. On the last day of our rental, we drove and ran around like mad men to obtain all the canned and boxed food needed for our trip to the Bahamas. The last American Missions will hopefully be completed this month, and then… it’s time for new and different horizons!

Recent Missions (pics)

Holly and Travor


Mark, Jake, and Ryan


Darwin and Kali are crazy about Ryan


Part of Mark's family: Kristen, mum Carol, dad Stan, Randell, Jo, and Mark


Mark and Liesbet


Kali and Darwin play with other puppies on Plum Island beach

Brrrraving the Cold

The alarm clock goes off. It’s six o’clock. Mark and I are still holding each other. It doesn’t really help. Our body heat seems to have evaporated. We are two ice cubes, attached, holding our position in the warmest spot of the bed. My winter hat kept my ears comfy during the night. My nose peeks out from under the covers and immediately freezes. At least, that’s how it feels. Our breath creates white puffs of clouds. We don’t feel like getting up and emerge in the cold air. Another day on the waterway awaits us, so we have to get moving in order to leave at first daylight.

Then, it all comes down to speed. As quickly as we can, we jump out of bed and grab all our layers. I kept a few clothes under the sheets, so they would cause less of a shock when I put them on… Undies, tight shirt, long sleeved shirt, T-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece, pyjama pants, socks to tuck ‘m into, jeans, another pair of socks, rain pants, shoes, Mark’s ski jacket, and the hat stays on. The sailing gloves come on after breakfast. That’s a little tough, because my fingers feel numb. Better than nothing, though, since we don’t have winter gloves.

Our first steps on deck are precarious. We both slipped before on the icy surface. After taking the dogs to shore (Mark’s the one getting out of the dinghy and into the water to pull it on shore, because he has rubber boots) and finagling with the lines to get the thing attached to the boat, we are ready to leave. Hours on end, we suck it up in the ice cold cockpit. The north wind doesn’t have mercy. One hand steers, while the other is tucked away between our legs. Even a pocket is too cold. Mark and I take turns steering and navigating. Neither one of us is motivated or able to do anything else. We quietly wished we had dodgers, but knowing the expense, we quickly get rid of that thought. Other sailboats pass us. They have full enclosures. Their owners waive, with a frown on their face and pity in their eyes. They’re not even wearing foul weather gear! We take pride in roughing it and feeling one with the elements. We are pure sailors/motorists! They are wimps and they can barely see what they are doing! Anyway, that’s why we’re going south. Then, what will they do with their full enclosure? All that extra plastic and canvas will just be a hassle and we will be hassle-free! Kali and Darwin are curled up in a ball. They appreciate the thick blankets we put out for them

After anchoring, we rig up some kind of heating system with our camping stove and a cookie sheet. We plot our course for the next day, with all our clothes on. For dinner, we decide to make something in the oven. For once we don’t mind it takes hours to prepare something in there. I enjoy the heat against my back, when I sit down next to the oven door. Of course I’m blocking the warmth for everybody else…

And then it’s eight o’clock: bed time. We get rid of our outer layers, but keep socks, pants, a couple of shirts, and hat on. A few clothes will come off later, when the bed slowly warms up. My hands make one last movement in the cold air to set the alarm clock. The dogs are huddled on their blanket next to the bed. We close the bedroom door to keep all generated heat inside. It makes a big difference. Our conclusion of the day is the same as the previous days: It sucks to sail in cold weather. We gotta go south! Not that we aren’t trying, we’re just barely making progress.

About a week later, a friendly man lends us his car, and Walmart provides us with a small propane heater. That takes the chill out of the air. It sure helps to get our day started less painfully.

About two months later, we are in Central Florida and hope these experiences are well past. It sure makes it easier to write about it, wearing shorts and T-shirt, with fingers staying stiff-less…

Brrrraving the Cold (pics)

A Day on the Waterway: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

This morning, Mark, the dogs, and I finally left Thunderbolt Marine. I can’t believe we stayed here for 9 days. That sure caused a big delay for getting south. Especially if you add the two days it took to get there and back on track. The sail drives are fixed and we managed to do a few other projects. We took the emergency exits out and reinstalled them properly. Hopefully that solves the mystery leak in the starboard bilge. We were very happy with the service provided by our project manager Kevin, and everybody was friendly and accommodating, even though we were the “low profile customers”. The bill did turn out to be more expensive than anticipated, but that wasn’t a boat yard issue. Our time spent in Thunderbolt was pretty uncomfortable and filthy (especially for the dogs), but all in all, we feel it was successful and productive.

We planned for an early start, but when we got up, everything was white. The fog was just unbelievably thick and we couldn’t even see across the river. Everything was soaking wet. The huge sailboat Perseus decided to go for it around 8 am. The crew said goodbye to their friends and there they went, using the bow thrusters to take the sharp turn into the ICW. Within seconds the fog had swallowed the massive ship and all we could hear was the loud fog horn at short intervals.

Irie was itching to go and around 10 am, the sky was clear enough. We felt very happy to be on the water again, and moving… in the right direction! For the first time it was even warm enough to drive the boat in shorts and T-shirts! The temperature rose to the upper seventies (upper twenties Celsius). That’s our reward for having to deal with all this fog, I guess.

The trip went smooth and we used our “expertise” from the other two times we passed through this part of the ICW. Because of the late start we wouldn’t get very far. About an hour from our destination for the night, we had to cross St. Catherine’s Sound. The sound was nowhere to be seen, though. All that was ahead of us was a very thick bank of fog. Mark and I looked at each other, Irie slowed down, and the fog horn found its first use. During a nerve wrecking half hour, Mark carefully steered the boat, while I stood up front, scanned the area and blew the horn. We couldn’t see anything and had no sense of direction. The electronic chart and radar were our only help, until the shore line showed up again. What an interesting experience!

I pushed things again, wanting lower water to anchor, which lead to us running aground. Mark had a good reason to be mad at me, this time! He managed to get us off the shoal and a few minutes later we were settled in peaceful Walburg Creek. We had read about and seen a nice beach entering the Creek and hoped to take the dogs there for a little while. First, Mark had to fix the windlass which was acting up again. Luckily “handy man” knew exactly what to do and with the help of his assistant it only took about half an hour. That gave us about an hour to get the dinghy ready, drive the dogs a mile up the river (and back) and take a walk on the foggy beach. Kali and Darwin had a great time. We enjoyed watching them, the funky, dead trees on the sand and the playful dolphins right off the shore. Around 6 pm, we retreated to our cosy, little home, warmed by a small propane heater, escaping the cold, wet night and the millions of biting no-see-ums.