Monday morning Ruth and I headed out to the casino… at 9.00 am!  We left the guys indoors to fend for themselves while we went off to have some fun. Ruth usually plays the ‘penny’ machines and I was keen to try them out too…. What fun – we played for three hours and both ended $50 up at the end of the morning!  Really enjoyed myself…. 

When we got back to the house we found that Richard and Dan had gone on the missing list!  We made some lunch and eventually they returned – having been spirited away by a family member and, of course, beer was involved!

Now it was time to pack and get moving – Ruth was driving us into Minneapolis for our final night in the States. Unfortunately Dan had a prior engagement so we had to say sad farewells…… Eventually we were packed up – said goodbye to Bob the martial arts dummy in the garage who had made me jump every time!  – and admired the countryside as we drove into town. I was on the lookout for bears but still didn’t manage to see one. Guess I’ll have to return to Wisconsin another time then?!?

Checked into our hotel quickly and headed off for dinner. We got a little lost trying to find the West End but made it under an increasingly nasty looking sky. We were a bit worried about Ruth driving home later, especially as there was a severe weather warning in place for thunderstorms. But I think we were more concerned than she was! We met up with Kristin and Andy and had a lovely time catching up with them over dinner. It was great to see them again….

Then back to the hotel and time to say goodbye to Ruth. Oh dear…. felt very emotional. We had had a fantastic time in Wisconsin – a beautiful lakeside home, loads of water toys, wonderful food, fun evenings and incredibly welcoming and generous hosts. Thank you both sooooo much.

And so to bed….for a little while…… Up very early Tuesday morning and on the airport shuttle at 3.30 am. Checked in and we were ready for our short hopper flight – we loved the little American Eagle plane ride…  We arrived into Chicago and thankfully our bags were checked all the way through to London so no mucking around this time. We had some breakfast and went to our gate for the 9.00 am departure to London. Everyone was boarded – onto the worst budget American Airlines plane we have ever seen!  Must be one of the oldest planes they have in their fleet – not even seat back entertainment, with drop down monitors for everyone to watch the movies…. Oh well…. Never mind….. Then the captain tells us that we have a problem with a fuel injector. So we sat and waited and then the doors opened again. Oh no – not looking good! Then we hear that the problem has been fixed and we are going to be taking off – but have missed our slot into London and are now scheduled to arrive later than allowed into Heathrow. Well – it seems that AA paid a special fee / fine for Heathrow to wait up for us LOL – and we took off almost two hours late.

The flight went without a hitch – they even fed and watered us, with complimentary bucks fizz and wine…. The plane was pretty empty so loads of room to stretch out and no queues for the toilets – so all was good. We arrived into Heathrow and, of course, being the last plane in we got through immigration, baggage collection and customs in record time – and into the taxi waiting for us.  We arrived home, finally, at 2.00 am our time on Wednesday and went straight to bed.

Thursday and Friday were spent sorting ourselves out and opening the mountain of mail. The weather had deteriorated into rainy, chilly, grey days since we arrived home although it was lovely and sunny on Sunday so we decided to take mum out for lunch. Oops… seemed like the whole of the county had had the same idea, so loads and loads of traffic and jams…. We finally arrived into Southend to be greeted by the sight of the beautiful 150+ year old barges racing in the Thames Estuary.  They were moving quite well despite the lack of wind!

Unfortunately all the car parks were full and the place was heaving so we turned around and headed back to our own high street and had fish and chips! Fat proper chips….not fries…..yummmmmm……

Lazy day on Monday because the weather was atrocious with heavy rain and a bit chilly – it’s a bit early in the year to be wearing fleeces even in the UK – but we cheered ourselves up by having a roast lamb dinner. First time we have eaten roast potatoes for nine months…. Amazing what you miss you know!

Tuesday morning and Richard went back to work on a short-term contract basis while I’m doing domestic goddess duties. Of course, things never go quite to plan, and my curve ball for the week was the computer crashing and dying when I was typing the blog. Hence the delay – sorry!  Huge thanks to Clive for recovering my data and rebuilding my Netbook with a new hard drive… So I’m finally back on line and can get on with things. Yippeeeeeee……

So it is time to sign off with some thoughts of this cruising season. We sailed 1,613 miles and visited 24 islands – Grenada, Carriacou, Union, Petit St Vincent, Bequia, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, Tobago Cays, Mustique, Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis, St Eustatius, St Maarten, St Martin, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, Jost van Dyke, St John, St Thomas, Bonaire and Curacao – anchored / moored in 40 different locations and stayed in five marinas.  This year we wanted to stretch ourselves a bit more so we did some longer passages – with the most demanding being the 84 hour 450 mile offshore run from St Thomas to Bonaire.

We had a fantastic season, explored new islands – notably Montserrat, Bonaire and Curacao – improved our sailing and yacht maintenance skills and were reunited with some great lifelong friends as well as meeting some new ones. And we juggled four currencies – US dollars, Eastern Caribbean dollars, Euros and Guilders…

So – did we enjoy it?   Yes!    Are we going to do it again?   Yes!    When?   We fly back to Curacao to be reunited with Morpheus towards the end of November. So I leave you with some of our favourite photos of the season and hope that you will continue to follow our adventures later in the year. So it’s a usual ‘Bye for now’ – with an extra thanks for following us on our trip.

Jan

Tuesday morning we packed up and left our apartment for a 3.45 am taxi pickup. Good fast run to the airport and, of course, the American Airlines desk wasn’t open – although they request travellers to be there three hours in advance. Eventually the desk opened, we were first in line, and we checked in relieved that our bags were under the baggage allowance! Then we had to wait for the security area to open. Finally we go through and I get singled out for an extra check having to unpack my bag completely as well as getting an extra pat down. Oh well…. Finally we were through into the departure lounge and drinking coffee. 

The plane took off from Curacao on time – few more tears… Bye Morphie!!!    Although quite a small plane it was pretty comfy. The flight was over before we knew it and time to go through the usual Miami hassle…. We had a long immigration line but were through in less than two hours having collected our bags and rechecked them for our final destination. Phew! By now it is lunch time so we had a bite to eat and a couple of cold coronas before our next flight to Chicago. All going way too smoothly…. So of course we board the plane and get held at the gate….and then push back to the tarmac….and take off almost an hour late. Now we are worried about our connection in Chicago – but what can you do???

We ended up chatting to our neighbour – who was a cruiser anchored in Spanish Water. What a small world eh??? We texted Dan and Ruth to let them know we may have problems! Eventually we took off but the connection is decidedly dodgy – we are going to arrive around 5pm but our next flight is at 5.15 pm. So not much chance… Eventually we landed and luckily our next flight to Minneapolis has also been delayed so we legged it through Chicago airport and made it – just! Then of course this flight is delayed further but at least we are on board this tiny plane – which feels like a private jet – and we are able watch our luggage being loaded onto the conveyor belt, so that’s good news!

Arrived into Minneapolis and were met by Dan and Ruth. Great reunion and hugs all round. Then we drove to their lakeside home and had a few drinks to celebrate. What a fantastic place. Feel so happy to be here… Lots of chatting and laughter followed and eventually we had to give in and retire to bed. Was a long day….

Wednesday morning and we were up pretty early. Today we are planning a lazy day so, after breakfast, we went down to the lake and just chilled out – including a trip around the lake in Iron Wind, Dan and Ruth’s lovely motorboat. Fantastic lakeside properties are scattered along the shore and this is a really beautiful place. Eagles circling – although of course never when I have the camera to hand – and Loons fishing….. Saw a float plane too….

Back onto the deck and Danny turns up for the night. We had fantastic BBQ chicken – Dan is definitely a grill genius! We had a lot of fun….

Dan also said that we were going to start celebrating Morphica – so we get presents each night. These are things that we have purchased on line and sent to Dan’s address to take advantage of cheaper US prices. Well….. mine was not exactly exciting…..I got the replacement part for the genoa furler! Richard, on the other hand, got the underwater camera housing and he and Dan had a lot of fun playing around with it…. Not fair!!!

Eventually it got a bit chilly so we ended up in the basement playing poker on their special card table. Great time had by all…. and we kept Dan up way beyond his usual 9.16 pm crashing time!

Thursday and we are taking advantage of the nice weather – so more fun on the water. Danny went waterskiing and then we all had a go at regular tubing and taco tubing. Amazing fun…. Check out the photos!

Sadly Danny had to leave us in the afternoon so we said our farewells and then later on we returned to the deck to eat Dan’s famous recipe smoked ribs…. Wow – fabulous fabulous fabulous!!! Combine that with the sweetest corn you could ever imagine. Yummmm….. Another fun night out on the deck…. Getting a bit chilly so we ended up down in the basement playing poker again. Really good fun and I did win a few hands this time…. And we kept Dan up late again LOL!

Friday and we thought about going to the river but didn’t in the end as the weather wasn’t so settled. Dan and Richard headed off to town for some bits and bobs followed by a visit to the golf club to hit some balls….. Ruth and I took to the dock and bobbed in the tubes. Eventually the boys came home and joined us – so we all ended up bobbing for a while… This was definitely bobbing with style and no holiday would be complete without it!

Later on we were picked up by Rod and Karen on their pontoon boat – and also met Bill and Lorraine – and had a lovely leisurely drive around the lake along with a few cold ones! We met a large duck family too…. Oh yes, and Wisconsin has loads of local breweries so we have had fun trying out lots of new beers! I particularly like Leinenkugel’s Original….

In the evening with joined Ruth and Dan with their usual crowd for Fish Friday. A Wisconsin tradition. We had fish and chips!!! We enjoyed the company of Gary and Judy, Bob and Sarah and Gary and Betty… Was a lot of fun – the people here are very friendly and welcoming – and I was very jealous that Bob and Sarah had seen a bear on the way to the bar and grill. But never mind, I got to stroke a picture of one!!!

Saturday morning and Dan and Richard headed off to the golf course again – this time taking the little sports car…. They looked pretty pleased with themselves – check out the photo….

Ruth and I headed downtown – it is so small and cute – and went grocery shopping followed by a visit to the most amazing delicatessen / butchers store. There was an absolutely incredible variety of meat, fish, cold meats, cheese and sausages on display for sale. The walls were adorned with awards and I could see why people travel miles to visit this place!

Back to the house and Ruth and I start preparing dinner – English food tonight – and eventually the boys come home again. They have decided that they want to go sailing as they are getting withdrawal symptoms! So off they go on the hobie cat – while Ruth and I settle onto the dock – accompanied by a little frog – as it is beer o’clock.

We see them disappear around the corner and we are watching the weather carefully. We decide that the weather is looking decidedly dodgy so we launch the motorboat to go and check if they are OK. Yes – they are very happy but need more beer! So we hand over a couple of bottles – and decide to stay close as the clouds are building. And it got really dark… Then it started raining…. and it is now time for international rescue. The heavens opened – we all got soaked – but Dan and Richard didn’t seem that bothered as they had beer as they got towed back to the house!!!!

After we were all cleaned and warmed up we had our appetizers followed by a break – and we started playing Guitar Hero. Richard and I have never done this before – it is sooooo much fun and actually a lot harder than it looked. After a while we had our main course and then it was Morphica again. This time Richard got the gas solenoid but still looked pretty happy. I opened mine – and oh no – it was another gas solenoid!!!! Hysterical…. Dan now took pity on me so I got another gift – and this was our new cockpit light – hurrah!!!!

Back downstairs to the basement and we continued with Guitar Hero – boys –v- girls now. Well – Ruth is amazing ! She is really very very good….. so I had a bit of an advantage. So we beat them every time. A great evening had by all full of hysterical laughter! And we all ended up having a pretty early night – before 10 pm – as the days out in the fresh air caught up with us.

This morning it’s pretty gloomy – and Dan and Richard have headed back to the golf course. Dan is in a competition this morning and Richard is going to drive his golf cart and plans to drink bloody marys!!! Ruth and I have been watching TV drinking coffee…. Now I’m blogging while Ruth tidies…… and later we are going to have another BBQ evening. I think Guitar Hero might feature again too….

Tomorrow Ruth and I are planning to go to the casino in the morning and then we are heading into Minneapolis to have dinner with Kirstin and Andy – and then Richard and I are staying in a hotel with a shuttle service to the airport as we have a 6am flight to Chicago on Tuesday morning…. Can’t believe our time here has almost come to a close – but looking forward to seeing our friends and family again….

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday morning and we were up and out early…. Climbing back on board and we were amazed by how glossy the floors were….

We had researched the different types of varnish we should use – and clear varnish is allegedly much harder wearing than the satin finish version. To achieve the satin finish we want it is recommended that you build up the layers of varnish with the clear stuff and only use the satin stuff for the final coat. So that’s what we are planning to do – just hope it works out that way!!!! Anyway…. we settled back into the hot and hard work of rubbing it all down again….

before cleaning up and then applying another coat…..  and we left Morphie promising ourselves some restorative pool time to cool down.

Enjoyed a few hours and then retired to a quiet night in front of the TV. Our duplex apartment is quite spacious and we are enjoying staying here….

Wednesday morning and back to Morphie. The floor looked fantastic but unfortunately was a bit tacky and we didn’t want to ruin what we had done already and decided to leave it another day to dry. So we got busy doing other boat jobs. Some examples of the types of things we did: cleaning bilges; fridge and freezer cleaning; vacuum packing clothes and bedding; disconnecting gas bottles; storage maintenance on our diesel engine; taking off all the canvas; servicing the generator; replacing the zincs etc etc etc…. Makes me feel tired just typing the list!  It was a long day, and we retired for another early night leaving Morphie looking incredibly naked!

Thursday morning and the varnish had fully dried over night. So it was time for the final rubbing down session, followed by the clean up, and then we carefully applied the final coat of the satin finish varnish. Phew – that’s the job done. Fingers crossed for the end result!

We went back to the apartment for a rest and then on a little pub crawl around the Pietermaai area, visiting Rock Beach first. It wasn’t very busy so we didn’t stay long, although enjoyed the sunset out to sea. Then we headed to the Bluebird Cafe – which was lovely – but the bar was empty and the music was way too loud LOL. Feeling old….. Finally we ended up at Miles which is a quirky jazz place. Had an enjoyable few hours back for dinner and another early night.

Friday morning – and yay, the floor does have a satin finish and it looks fab!   Very happy…

So we started the final push to getting straight. Mostly cleaning the wood and fibreglass and flushing fresh water through the systems…. Our owner’s cabin looks a little full now!!!

It was a long day followed by another quiet nigh and spectacular sunset over the city.

Saturday morning and Richard went off to Morphie on his own while I stayed behind to get my hair cut. Feel almost human again now!!! Richard came back for me and we both returned to Morphie. Come 2pm we were finished – so the final jobs in putting out damp rid (in an attempt to avoid the build up of mould while we are away) and we ‘bombed’ the boat with a strong insecticide aerosol.

We said goodnight to Morphie and promised to return on Monday… Leaving the working yard behind we had a look at the Customs area in the top yard where Morphie will spend her time on the hard. Glad to see that it is protected by the best security system – huge vicious Dobermans!!!  A large yard – and all very clean and tidy – with hard standing and no mud to wade through, unlike last year in Grenada….

Back to our apartment and we tried out another pool…. Nice place this!

In the evening we headed back to Ginger for dinner and had some fantastic Asian fusion food – with a very enjoyable white chocolate cream brulee for desert. Yum….

After dinner we went to Mundos again to listen to the Cuban band. Enjoyed ourselves but I peaked too early struggling to stay awake past 9pm!!! So we headed back to bed…..

Sunday and we are having a day off…. so are going exploring. We wandered around the Pietermaai area again enjoying the sights of the street art; the renovated buildings; the ruins awaiting investment; the stunning church and an old derelict cinema which looked like a decrepit Odeon!

The first place we wanted to visit was the synagogue – Curacao has the oldest synagogue continuously in use in the western world. It apparently has an amazing interior but, to our disappointment, was closed. Hmmmm….. never mind.

We ended up walking to the edge of the river in Willemstad and enjoyed a nice late breakfast on the river’s edge. The place is teeming with Japanese tourists today – and we spotted their ship anchored outside the city.

Walking across the pontoon bridge and the alarms went off so we “rode” the bridge and enjoyed the view of the pilot boat coming through before crossing over to the Otrobanda side.

We were looking for Kura Holanda. Having admired the huge university building we wandered into the streets behind the river and were stopped by this huge guy who told us he was doing a security role and that we should return to the main street. We think he was giving us the heads up that this was not a safe area – we were very grateful for his intervention!

Kura Holanda is a world heritage site and has been painstakingly restored to its earlier beauty and now houses a hotel, spectacular pool area, combined with restaurants and some great sculptures / artifacts. It also incorporates a slave museum. The owner is a Jewish man who was parented by a holocaust survivor and has been inspired to tell the un-sanitised truth about the lives of the slaves who were transported through this part of the world…. Unfortunately – despite the website saying that it was open 7 days a week – the museum was closed too!!!! Grrrrrr…… Never mind – we enjoyed wandering around the area anyway.

On the way back across Willemstad we spotted a 3D art installation on one of the walls….   Very nice!

Did a bit of shopping and then headed to Rock Beach – which is a strange place with an old VW camper van taking centre stage!  We ended up sitting on the edge of the rocks with our feet in our own personal bubbling pool as the waves pounded in.

We enjoyed getting a few rays and watched one of the day trip boats return to Willemstad and then saw the Japanese ship – the Peace Boat – depart. Not the traditional cruise ship and the ship’s website is a bit weird too “promoting peace around the world”. How does coming ashore, eating, drinking and buying souvenirs promotes peace I’m not sure?!? Seems like the ABCs definitely attracts some ‘unusual’ groups on ships!   After Rock Beach we went to Miles for happy hour – had a nice time chatting to an American medical student – and then had another early night.

This morning we got up early and returned to Morphie. The boat yard was supposed to prepare the hull and topsides with an Awlgrip product on Friday but didn’t make it – every boat yard is the same, it would seem!   Anyway – they were working hard on her this morning when we arrived before 9 am. So that was good…. This is to give Morphie protection from the sun while we are away. We then went into the office to return keys and get our customs letter – stating that Morphie is going to be in the Custom designated area while we are off island.  All sorted and we caught up with Rocky the guy who drives the huge boat lift.  Unfortunately they are not going to move Morphie until tomorrow as they plan to prepare her hull for antifouling on our return in November – so we’re not going to see her move to her final home today.

So sadly it is time to leave her in the working yard.  And, of course, I’m an emotional wreck again. Never seems to get any easier this!!!!  Morphie has had a good season – she has safely carried us over 1600 miles, done some long voyages and tackled some horrible conditions.  A good job done and time she had a rest…. We’ll see you in November Morphie – be good, love you!!!!

Back to the apartment – I’m blogging, Richard is surfing, and we need to return the hire car soon. I’m also heading back to reception to reconfirm our taxi for the morning and then we need to pack. We are being picked up at 3.45 am for the airport so an early night beckons – after a planned steak dinner as we succumbed to the lure of the big supermarket one last time!

Tomorrow we are off to Wisconsin – via Miami, Chicago and Minneapolis. Very sad at leaving Morphie behind but we are also excited about our forthcoming US holiday and our reunion with Dan and Ruth before we return home to our UK family and friends.

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday morning and we were up early. Have to say the views here in the marina are not exactly what we have become used to over the last months….

Inspecting the rusty, disgusting and smelly anchor chain we really couldn’t face putting it back into the clean anchor locker…. so Richard headed off in the car to Island Water World to purchase our new anchor chain and got a really good deal! We chose to have galvanised chain again rather than stainless steel as the breaking strain wasn’t so good with the stainless and Morphie is a heavy girl at 15 tonnes!

Before he left for the store, Richard had taken the outboard off of dink ready to start the winterisation process…..

I used dink – sans outboard – to complete the stainless cleaning and to do some quick varnish ‘keepers’ under the rail. We then manhandled dink onto the dock so that I could clean him. His bottom was pretty filthy after our time in Spanish Water and the tubes could do with some loving care too….. I realised that I didn’t have enough of the outboard marine cleaner to hand but that our toilet cleaner had almost the same products in it – so decided to give it a try. Wow – dink has never had such a clean bottom….. The Swedish guy opposite us came over and laughed when he realised what I was using – he does the same! And I thought I was being innovative LOL….

Anyway….by the time Richard got back, I was ready to clean Dink’s topsides so we flipped him over and I carried on. Richard finished servicing the outboard and we stored him away in the lazarette. When dink was clean and dry we hoisted him up onto the foredeck using the genoa halyard and secured him under a tarpaulin. After all that….we had an early night after watching the (beautiful!) sunset – although a bit sad to realise that this was our last night sleeping on Morphie this year….

We are not flying directly home to the UK this year as we are having a week’s stopover in Wisconsin to stay with Dan and Ruth from Evensong who have kindly invited us to stay with them.  Very excited about seeing them again.   So we had to think of our US holiday when packing too…..

After bags were stowed in the car, we filled up the water tanks and turned off the fridge and freezer – having disconnected ourselves from the dock facilities.   We then emptied our food stores for use in our apartment later.  Stripped beds and stowed that too….. By now it was 10.30 am and the new anchor chain was delivered with the old one taken away to be donated to the fishermen in Spanish Water. We attached the anchor and stowed it into the locker – and were now ready to go to the final dock of this season’s trip. We reversed off the dock, did a quick turn, and went alongside the berth near the slipway. With Morphie tied up it was time for us to get off….

The boat lift came into the water and Morphie was put into its grip…. the lines were released… and she was slowly lifted out of the water. We were, of course, a bit nervous watching this process – but actually preferred it to the huge travel lift of last year, as it seemed a slower more stable process.

Morphie was jet washed and then moved to the bottom yard in the marina – which is officially the ‘working’ yard. She was chocked up and secured. Phew….stress over for now! We quickly climbed on board, checked all OK, and then left as it was almost 5 pm and we needed to check into our apartment.

We arrived at our apartment and settled in enjoying the air conditioning; unlimited fresh water showers which are open plan behind the wall in the upstairs bedroom; and we unpacked.  I rustled up dinner and we enjoyed a bottle of wine….followed by an early night.

Up early Saturday morning and back to the boat yard. Time to start working on the cabin floors… Here are some ‘before’ pictures….

We cleared all work surfaces and covered what we could from the inevitable dust cloud we were about to create!  Then we spent the whole day rubbing down and sanding …. After a lot of hours of hard work, we cleaned up and applied our first coat of wood sealer. Phew – absolutely shattered!  Richard then took me out to dinner at the restaurant Ginger which is opposite our apartment – lovely asian food – and we had a twist on a tandoori chicken with naan dinner washed down with a great bottle of wine. We also met a nice couple from Tennessee who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary….. And the band were playing plantation type music – really good fun!

Afterwards we walked around the corner to Mundo – an amazing bar with a Cuban flavour – and listened to the band who were doing Latin American type stuff although the guy on the organ was filling in playing some classical stuff.

Very enjoyable time…. and home to a chilled bedroom… Bliss!

Sunday morning up early again…..and time to rub down the floors again….. Unbelievable how mucky this job is!!!!  Take a look…..

Anyway, by the end of the day, we had rubbed it all down, cleaned it all up, and applied the second coat of wood sealant. Back at the apartment by 3pm so we took advantage of the plunge pool to cool down….. followed by a home cooked dinner and an early night.

Monday – today – up early again. This time we went via the “Wash, Dry, Fold” to drop off most of our laundry…. there will be more to come once we have finished the varnishing…. Back to Morphie and another rub down job….. After cleaning it all up we used a tack cloth to wipe over the floors and applied our first coat of varnish. Phew – this is hard work! And so hot down below in the boatyard desperately trying not to drip over the floor when we are working on it – and I’m wearing a scarf to avoid getting any hair mixed up with the varnish. Yes, I’m well overdue for a hair cut again!!!!

Back to the apartment via the supermarket to top up on supplies – and we’re now in front of the television having a cold beer…… which will be followed by dinner and another early night….

That’s it for now folks! Bye.

Jan