Home is where the anchor lies

Life at the dock … much better than living on the hard, for sure. The boat moves with the water, we don’t have to climb a steep ladder to get on board, and we can use our water system (instead of hauling it up, 10 litres at a time). But there is still so much to do to get the boat livable and sailable. So we settle in for a couple of weeks of boat work.

 

One of the first tasks was to climb the mast so we could reinstall our lazy jacks, and then attach the wind instrument. This meant going up the mast, all the way to the top. Ann got all pouty and demanded that SHE get to do the climb this time. Hard to argue with a mouing Ann, so up she went.

 

And then there was that other little project of mine that involved installing a water flow meter into our fresh water system. This is the same flow meter that had to be ordered THREE times from Amazon; the first two of which came all the way from China only to be turned back at the last step by Canada Post … grrrrrr. Anyway, this little project turned into another week-long saga which required not less than three sets of fittings from three stores and five full install attempts before it was all working. Ah the joys of boat life… 😉

But of course, life on our boat is not all work. Truth be told, the ‘work’ part really only occupies a small portion of each day. How else can we spend all the necessary time relaxing, and eating, and drinking, and hanging out with friends both old and new.

We had grand times with fellow club mates Byron & Paula, Brian, John and Kenny and Caroline. Cockpit parties are spontaneous once the day’s work is done (and often even before it’s done 🙂 ).

   

But we also met some wonderful new friends, including a couple of people I originally only knew via online forums. First was Howard and Elizabeth, and then Bill. I’d ‘met’ them online in a couple of sailing/cruising forums that I dabble (and babble) in. Howard has a boat in Lewisporte (and another down south), and he was on his way back when he reached out. We had a great breakfast together. Then Bill sailed over from the Chesapeake area. He spent about a week changing crew and sorting out a few problems. Great to meet them both.

We then met the crew from s/v Dutch, and Vera & Dominique from s/v Richard Parker (as in Life of Pi). Dutch’s crew (a family of four: Rhiannon, Sebastiaan, Emma & Macsen)  beckoned from the Netherlands. They are sailing their Boreal 44 from Europe, up around Newfoundland to near the top of Labrador, then making their way back to Halifax where they plan to live. We donated the use of our car, and spent some time over at their fancy boat. As a parting gift Emma gave us these beautiful little miniature clogs. So sweet.

Vera & Dominique were dockmates with us for about two weeks. They’ve been on the water for going on two years, sailing from their home in Switzerland. They are making their way back home but came into our marina with some problems with their autohelm, and then discovered they had an engine issue as well.

We spent a number of evenings over at their beautiful boat, or sitting in our cockpit. We shared drinks, and stories. They fed us yummy food, and we happily loaned them our little red car so they could run around town, and even get over to Gros Morne one day. They left us with a full gas tank and a copy of the book that inspired their boat’s name.

Despite our slow pace the day finally came when we ran out of excuses. Everything seemed to be working on board, order had been brought to the mayhem down below, and we were well stocked for many weeks at sea. So off we went … back to Wood’s Island anchorage.

Here we dropped anchor and have made it our home — at least for the next little while.

Almost the first night out we met Reg —  one of the locals who spends most of the summer at his place on Wood’s Island. The island was once the largest community in Western Newfoundland, but after “resettlement” is now just home to a few dozen camps/cottages. Reg, who is nearly 80, grew up out here and still fishes all he can. Reg offered to take us fishing, so naturally Ann jumped at the chance (and naturally I said NO WAY!).

True to his word, Reg and fellow fisher Gord showed up at our boat early the next morning to pick up Ann. It was raining, and kinda cold, and they were betting Ann would bail out — not my Annnneeeeeeeeeee! Off she went. But sadly, it all happened so fast we got no pictures. She did manage to catch a beautiful cod though, and we enjoyed the freshest fish dinners for the following three nights.

After weathering a few good blows now the anchor is good and set. We’re hooked off near the end of our little bay, away from the few cabins and the club’s dock. We dingy over when we want to party, but mostly we’re on our own in the semi wilderness of our island anchorage.