Whatever will be, will be…
We may not be particularly skilled, or smart, or wise, but Ann and I do have one great talent: the ability to role with the punches.
Since what we’re doing is just life, and not some vacation where we have to get somewhere before time runs out, it doesn’t really matter where we are, or what we do. As long as we’re having fun, it’s all good.
And so it has been with our entire sailing season. Newfoundland/Lewisporte turning into Newfoundland/Corner Brook, turned into Lake Ontario/1000 Islands, turned into Canada Day on Main Duck Island. But persistent engine problems kept us tied to the dock. We had planned to sail with Stillwater friends to an island in Lake Ontario for Canada Day, but ended up celebrating from Stillwater instead. And this despite the valiant efforts of dock mates Chris and Fred.
So we settled into a couple more weeks of life at the dock, which really isn’t a bad life at all:
One of the great plusses though was that we had another great visit with Mom and Kathy who came down to Belleville to spend a few more days wineing and dining in The County. In the meantime Ann and I kept working on the engine, trying to stop the leaks. But after exhausting all our limited skills, and with Dave our stalwart mechanic being too busy with real customers, we finally called in another diesel whiz that had been recommended to us.
Gord Proud is simply amazing. After a couple of hours (for which he charged us not nearly enough), we were up and running with no more diesel dumping into the bilge. Awesome! A few more days of provisioning and cleaning up, and we were off!
So yes, we finally left Stillwater Marina — in gale conditions no less! We sailed all of ~5 nm east to Sandy Cove and dropped the hook. It doesn’t matter where we are; it’s just great to be swinging from our own anchor!
For now we expect to wonder around the area, up over to the Thousand Islands and around the Lake. No plans, and no schedule. We just have to be back a couple of weeks before haul out (near the end of September). Feels great!
One thing we did do over the last few weeks is to get serious about what we’re doing over the winter. I had been reading and learning about house/animal sitting, so I signed us up at HouseCarers.com and began to investigate possible winter gigs. The perfect one came up in Penticton, BC so we sent off a note, got a quick response, did a FaceTime interview and were offered the job.
We will be spending November to early April in Penticton, staying at a lovely house and watching over after a great looking cat named Maxi. The owners seem great, and since they’re winter RVers, the timing works perfect for us. This should allow us to live inexpensively for the winter months, plus we’ll get to stop in on the family folk in Calgary on our way through.
For now we’re lovin’ the anchor life. Relaxing, and enjoying the views.
