Movin' On Up

Well Hello Friends and Family!

We are now Marina Queens. (Folks we met over the years who were too cheap to tie up at a dock always spoke disparagingly about "Marina Queens." 

At the dock!

In order to get the broker on the boat, get some repair work done and to show the boat to prospective lucky new owners, we have to be on the dock. So we don't get dolphin visits now that we've moved.

Now that wasn't supposed to be easy. No dock spots to be had. But, we had a stroke of luck as I happened to check by the office and they had a sudden, unexpected vacancy! So here we are... looking down our noses at those poor slobs out in the mooring field. 

Now, when we get the urge to have a shower, go for a walk, or check the treasures on the "free table," we just swing our legs over the side, jump onto the dock and walk leisurely down to the marina complex. It's a nice place. If it wasn't so damn cold and rainy it would be a nice place to hang out for a while.

By the dinghy dock, in front of the marina complex

Where we used to park on our visits in from the mooring field

We have arranged to have a rigging guy to come and sort out a problem with the reefing system. But not for a couple of weeks from now. Also, a fibreglass guy to repair some minor damage caused on our delivery up from Antigua. Install a new autopilot (who we will still call Otto, of course) and finally a small repair to the mainsail. 

So we sit and wait. These guys are busy and we are trying our best to be patient. And we clean, declutter, do small bits of varnish. Also Wordle, crosswords, solitaire and sudukos. There are some nice walks around when the weather suits.

Looking aft

The main salon

The galley - where Pam creates genius meals!

In the meantime, we are in the process of getting Blue Pearl listed for sale (sob.) Everyone who walks by heaps praise on the condition. 

"Nice boat!"

"Beautiful boat!"

"Love Island Packets. This one looks awesome!"

So we are hoping someone will fall in love... as we did. And that will be that. I envy them.

We are missing our family and friends and really looking forward to getting home. Expect that will happen before the end of February.

Cheers for now!

Capt. Chaos

Need a Holiday

Hello Friends and Family,

I feel negligent that we haven’t posted more regularly but we are really living our most boring life right now with very spotty internet. 

We’ve made the decision to sell the boat and so there are so many things to put in place.

It’s not like a used car lot. We’ve got to find a place to moor or haul so the broker can show interested parties. Also, there are a couple of boat issues that need to be remedied before we are good to pass it on to new owners. Finding the parts and services is challenging and time consuming.

The weather hasn’t been wonderful. We had 3 weeks of cold, moist and cloudy days and then last week was nice. That gave us a chance to do a service coat of varnish all around. We will continue with that while we wait for our final fixes. But it is forecast to rain for the next 3 days so we are busy doing crossword puzzles and reading. We need a holiday from our holiday!

Too wet to add another coat of varnish

Clearing out 15 years of accumulated junk has been educational. Many treasures have gone on to local marina “free tables.” Stuff that has value, stuff that we thought we might need, but now just clutter that needs to go. Our “treasures” seem to be well received. We put them on the free-table and later see folks walking out with our junk and a smile! 

The boat has never looked better. The shelves are clean and empty and the cabin looks like a promotional sales brochure.

Island Packet 38 for sale!

Escape to the tropics!

Eat street pizza in Stuart

Looking forward to catching up back at home when this phase is done!

Cheers for now.