Django often comes to the dog park on the weekend. Dora featured her friend on the blog just last week.
Dora and Django always have a good time.
Today Dad decided we should let Dee Dee join in too. We’re not sure if it was the training we’ve been working on or just the fact Django is twice her size, but Dee Dee was the perfect dog park buddy. What a good girl.
View this post on Instagramsent with love from @jeffbeckofficial and meA post shared by Johnny Depp (@johnnydepp) on Apr 17, 2020 at 7:21am PDTNordhavn 57-26 Istaboa
1,300-acre (520-hectare) Portland Harbour was the largest man-made harbour in the world when completed in 1872 (it’s now the fourth largest). The huge harbour, exposed to strong English Channel winds but protected from their waves, is one of the best places for sailing in the UK. Both times we visited we’ve seen plenty of on-water…
Hey, Drift Away blog followers.I’m not sure why, but I started a new blog. It is called Observatatin’. This is about nothing, really, just tidbits of life that I find interesting or amusing. It will not be updated everyday. I’m …
Hey, Drift Away blog followers.I’m not sure why, but I started a new blog. It is called Observatatin’. This is about nothing, really, just tidbits of life that I find interesting or amusing. It will not be updated everyday. I’m …
For the past few weeks Dylan and Dora have been tearing up the dog park with a new friend. A sweet boxer named, wait for it…. Dora!
Dora and Dora love to play bitey face and chase and tug-of-war. The girls had so much fun the two Doras even started meeting in the afternoon for a second play date.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. The “other” Dora’s parents are leaving this afternoon making this morning the final play date, for awhile anyway.
Stay safe, Dora, until we meet again.
We departed Ramsgate at 8pm with the winds blowing in the 20s behind us. We expected conditions to settle down soon and wanted to take advantage of calm overnight weather to make a 125-mile run to the Isle of Wight, or possibly, a further 50 miles to Portland. The winds did indeed drop off, and…
Ramsgate has been a seaside resort town since the 19th century. Today the city supports one of the largest marinas in the southern UK alongside a vibrant and historic waterfront packed with restaurants and pubs. As with most visits to a new city, we spent the first afternoon after our arrival from Antwerp touring Ramsgate…
With the passing of our last cat, Maggie, we took a one year hiatus from having a pet on board while cruising. Having had a cats for 35+ years, we now have taken a leap and gone to the “bark” side by adding an Australian Labradoodle to our crew.
Born in November 2019 as a part of a litter of five males, we picked up Drake (as in “Sir Francis” but formally recorded as “Fur Fantastic”) from the breeder in January 2020. Knowing how formative the first few months of a puppy’s life are to its adaptation, we drove immediately from the breeder in Medford, Oregon to the boat for a 3-week introduction. We returned to Arizona for another six weeks before escaping back to the boat as the Corona virus pandemic accelerated.
So far, he has been a trooper and coped perfectly well with marine life and not been phased by the sound of the engine, bow thruster, walking on dock grates, steep dock ramps or, very importantly, doing his “business” on the deck at the bow of the boat. Descending the steep stairs from the pilot house to the staterooms below are beyond him now so we carry him down. Drake isn’t likely to be more than 25 pounds so even if he never descends the stairs we can easily handle him.
While Marcia had a dog 40 years ago, Kurt never had a dog. Every day we are reminded by how different cats are from dogs.
But isolated, still —
Mel and I won’t complain. We’ve always enjoyed our solitude, though we’ve never thought of it as something that could save our lives. Sadly… we do now.
Like most people, we wake thinking this is all a dream, but no, it’s not. There’s still some bug, virus, out there that’s mercilessly killing some and making others gravely ill. We, especially me, are on the short list of folks more apt to contract this very infectious disease. Though it’s now afflicting younger people it’s us >60 folks that it’s killing most often.
Then there’s the damage this fucking bug is taking on the global economy. Yes, this virus is killing many, but the toll it’s taking on the healthy and those who survive is ruinous. The service industry is being destroyed and millions of people are out of work. Honestly, I don’t see how we’ll crawl out of this abyss anytime soon, but still, I have faith in capitalist ingenuity. We’ll figure a way, seems we always do.
Out of disaster opportunity is born, however one must wait till the flames go out and the smoke clears. Unless you’re Purell or Charmin.
Certainly not tragic, not death nor sickness, but not frivolous either, the lives and dreams of some of our boating friends have been seriously altered.
Our Kiwi friends are on a boat without a country. At this time, they’re anchored somewhere around Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas. Per Ted, “We’re fine. Bahamas have total lockdown. Everything is closed. Can’t leave the boat.”. At first they were allowed to go ashore for supplies, but now the Bahamian Government has stopped that. They can’t move from island to island so they just sit on anchor waiting for something to change. To make their lives even more difficult, The U.S. will not allow them to come back either; seems they overstayed their welcome. Even though Ted is a U.S. citizen, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) says no, no, no. Yes, I know, trapped in paradise. —Right? — but after a while, trapped is trapped.
We have other friends who were making their way south, down the Caribbean chain of islands, then to Panama to cross the canal. After that their dreams would carry them wherever, knowing Roam, a circumnavigation was on the top of their list.
Abruptly stopped by the authorities in Puerto Rico, they soon realized the dream was scuttled. They turned North and due to travel restrictions the Bahamas were bypassed , it took 7 days at sea, but finally they arrived back in the USA. They’re now quarantined on anchor somewhere around Vero Beach, Florida.
This is all so crazy, so surreal. Just weeks ago, the stock market flying high, these times were being hailed the “Roaring 20s”. Seems like one day we were dancing in the ether, then the next we were sequestered in fear, hiding from some unknown pathogen, scrambling for toilet paper.
At first we were told, “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear” then we heard, “opened up, and rarin’ to go by Easter”, after that, “Always known this is a real—this is a pandemic”, and now, “It’s called the invisible enemy, and that’s what it is: it’s an invisible enemy,”
Okay, I’ll crawl out of the Rabbit Hole now.
Life goes on if we’re happy about it our not. Still, it could be worse, though not by much.
So every morning I wake very early, feed the boys, walk out with them and look up at the stars while enjoying the pleasant Florida weather. During this time there is no news, there are no worries, just peace and quiet as the stars fade and the sun rises.
Once back inside, I pick up my laptop and dig through the thousands of pictures of the many places we’ve been so fortunate to visit aboard Istaboa. Every morning I put a new picture on the large TV monitor and all day, every time we see that pic, it makes life seem a little better. Good memories are good things. We need all the good things we can get right now.
Today’s Pic: Leaving Nassau, we passed these cruise ships before turning North for The Abacos. Later that day, just off the Southern tip of Great Abaco Island, we encounter a pod of Killer Whales. This was a very good day.
Happy Days, Indeed
PS
For those of you who enjoy boats, boating, and the folks who live the life:
The story of the extraordinary lives of Nancy and Bob Griffith, who circumnavigated the globe not once but three times between 1960 and the late 1970’s, taking their 53-foot sailboat, and their kids, on 13 major voyages to places no small boat had gone before.
It’s streaming on Amazon Prime Video and well worth the time – and right now, most of us have plenty of that.
