In Boston we noticed that our forward engine mounts were starting to deteriorate. We purchased replacements but expected the current ones to last for months yet. While in Newfoundland, they suddenly started deteriorating badly and over two weeks the isolation material just crumbled away in a pile around the mount. One morning we picked up…
Halifax Arrival
Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia, the economic center of Atlantic Canada and home to Canada’s Atlantic naval fleet. The city has done a wonderful job in rejuvinating its waterfront while keeping the flavor of its commercial and maritime heritage intact. After a run south from the Liscomb River, we passed through Halifax…
Uptown Girl at the Downtown Public Piers
Dylan and Dee Dee just finished attending the Hampton, VA Snowbird Rendezvous and have started their official cruise south as snowbirds. There were far too many times they were left alone while Mom and Dad gave their talks and attended events. Let’s be…
Belhaven, North Carolina on a sunny afternoon
Belhaven, NC is a quaint fishing village in Beaufort County, located in North Carolina’s Inner Banks region. I love the town website description. It says “Belhaven, cuddled in the midst of Pantego Creek and Pungo River. Once known as Jack’s Neck, then Bellport, finally the town became known as Belhaven which means “beautiful harbor”. Belhaven is […]
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Annie-Cat – In Memoriam
We had been expecting and dreading this day since this last rainy Memorial Day weekend in Petersburg when it became pretty apparent that our cat Annie was failing on account of kidney failure. We visited the vet with the expectation that she would be euthanized that day.
Instead, with the encouragement of the veterinarian, Dr Ken Hill, we started a program of subcutaneous infusion of Ringers Lactated Solution for hydration. It made a dramatic improvement in Annie and she ably completed this seasons cruse.
But all along, we knew it was only postponing the inevitable. Her weight continued to drop (our Bainbridge vet thought perhaps lymphoma was in play as well) and she was no longer tolerating the regular 2 to 4 minute subcutaneous infusions we tried to perform.
For any pet owner (or whatever the more current euphemism might be) there comes the time to recognize that additional care is not really increasing the quality of the pet’s life. After 4-1/2 months of care since 
that rainy weekend, we decided that Annie was failing rapidly and the best course was to euthanize her.
We had Annie (short for Annapurna) since she was a kitten over 14 years ago. She accompanied us as one of two ship’s cat (Maggie was the other) on every significant cruise we did on our boats. She was always affectionate, fastidious in her litter habits and had the world’s softest fur. We’ll miss her very much.
FPB 78-1 Cochise – After A Very Quick 5000 NM
FPB 78-1 Cochise has just completed a 1832 NM passage, Fiji to French Polynesia, against the prevailing wind and current, …Read More
Oct. 16 – Our Season is Over
Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina
“Collect memories not things” —Unknown
We left The Pearl a week ago, so I guess it’s about time I do a blog to close out this cruising year. It’s was a great year that started in Marathon back in January and continued up the east coast to Maine, and eventually back to the Chesapeake where we have the boat stored for the winter. We cruised 3434 miles this year, bringing our total miles traveled since leaving Texas in March 2011 to over 17,000…that a lot of miles when you’re traveling at 8 mph.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
Topical — Ring Them Bells
Nothing to do with boats or cruising around. Just a great Dylan tune performed nicely.Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown
RETHYMNO – TECHNICAL AND FOR FOODIES
TECHNICAL
At Rethymno our agent, A1 Yachting organises some servicemen to do a few jobs.
-One of our two 120V aircon units has a sea water cooling pump which is not working. An electrician confirms there is no power coming to the pump from the aircon unit but can’t fix it. His solution is to buy a new aircon unit! No success there and we decide to get it checked by someone we know in Corfu.
-Our washing machine’s water discharge pump, previously fixed by Chris and I fails again. Two servicemen come to inspect it and find it is simply a blocked impeller. A few days later it fails again and this time an AC wire has broken. This wire is too light for its function with the vibration of the machine. They fix it but a couple of weeks later the pump is no longer working. I have rigged up a hand vacuum pump to the machine pump’s water outlet so that we can still use the machine and will get the machine checked later by Miele servicemen in Corfu. Incidentally we are now recycling the machine’s water to clean the boat down, whereas this water normally discharges over the side.
-Our main toilet has had a problem all season. It will discharge into the holding tank (from where we can discharge waste overboard) but will not discharge directly over the side. Experienced servicemen already looked at this in Corfu finding nothing wrong with the toilet. This serviceman does much the same, finding nothing wrong and by a process of elimination the fault probably must be a partially blocked discharge hose to the seacock or a problem with the seacock itself. Since we can still use this toilet (and the forward toilet) this has not been a major problem and we’ll resolve it next time Envoy is on the hardstand.
Probably cruising’s only great frustration is when supposedly expert people come aboard to investigate a technical problem and can’t resolve it or provide a way forward to resolve it.
At Rethymno our agent, A1 Yachting organises some servicemen to do a few jobs.
-One of our two 120V aircon units has a sea water cooling pump which is not working. An electrician confirms there is no power coming to the pump from the aircon unit but can’t fix it. His solution is to buy a new aircon unit! No success there and we decide to get it checked by someone we know in Corfu.
-Our washing machine’s water discharge pump, previously fixed by Chris and I fails again. Two servicemen come to inspect it and find it is simply a blocked impeller. A few days later it fails again and this time an AC wire has broken. This wire is too light for its function with the vibration of the machine. They fix it but a couple of weeks later the pump is no longer working. I have rigged up a hand vacuum pump to the machine pump’s water outlet so that we can still use the machine and will get the machine checked later by Miele servicemen in Corfu. Incidentally we are now recycling the machine’s water to clean the boat down, whereas this water normally discharges over the side.
-Our main toilet has had a problem all season. It will discharge into the holding tank (from where we can discharge waste overboard) but will not discharge directly over the side. Experienced servicemen already looked at this in Corfu finding nothing wrong with the toilet. This serviceman does much the same, finding nothing wrong and by a process of elimination the fault probably must be a partially blocked discharge hose to the seacock or a problem with the seacock itself. Since we can still use this toilet (and the forward toilet) this has not been a major problem and we’ll resolve it next time Envoy is on the hardstand.
Probably cruising’s only great frustration is when supposedly expert people come aboard to investigate a technical problem and can’t resolve it or provide a way forward to resolve it.
FOR FOODIES
In Rethymno we find a delightful restaurant called Veneto in a 700 year old building which has been a Dominican monastery, a Venetian mansion and a prominent Turk’s residence. This is open-air dining at its best on an ancient stone floor, surrounded by arches, shrubs and flowers in ceramic pots and a water feature built around an old well.
Ancient horse trough is now a feature at Veneto restaurant
The meals are sumptuous but reasonably priced and we share: -Marinated sardine fillets upon crispy bruschetta with freshly-ground pepper and secret herbs for 7.50 Euros (about NZ$12.50).
-Apakia smoked pork with whipped goat’s crème and sweet Vinsanto wine for 9 Euros (about NZ$15. -Stuffed vine leaves (Dolmades) and zuccini flowers with rice and yoghurt for 6.50 Euros (about NZ$11).
Our delicious platters served ready to enjoy
This is washed down with some local house white wine at 5 Euros (about NZ$8) for 500 ml, followed by a free dessert of fresh fruit and local schnapps.
Coinjock – Snap, crackle, POP!
Coinjock has become a traditional stopover. It’s a short day cruise from Portsmouth, it requires passage through a lock and several draw bridges, it’s the only stopoff before Albemarle Sound, plus the restaurant there has great prime rib! Sister Lisa has a beach home near Nags Head, and if they are at the beach, it’s […]
