Mates Log 3.5.09

We did it!! We’re done!! If we could we would invite all of you over for a celebration party!

After 8 long weeks, I would like to take this time to be reflective, pass on scholarly wisdom gained from our time, and recreate the profound lessons learned… but frankly it was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, dirt, grit, bad chemicals, achy muscles, and incredible pain that got us to this point. The wisdom we gained was more along the lines of what type of pain reliever to use for what ache and how to get out of bed in the morning when movement would not come and body parts were seized up. No great wisdom is needed to know that the boat interior needs wiping down so we don’t keep living in all the cuprous oxide of the highly toxic copper bottom paint.

We cannot express how glad we are to be back in the water and no longer on the hard. If we had to write a song about our last 8 weeks on the hard it would go something like this to the tune of “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay”.

Sandin in the morning sun
Be paintin when the evenin comes
Rollin and tippin this cat
Then we’ll do it all over again

Workin on the boat all day
Grindin and scrapin away
Workin on the boat all day
Sandin all the time

Left our home in SoCal
Headed for the life of fun
All we found was hard work
Dude, will this boat ever be done

Sandin in the morning sun
Be paintin when the evening comes
Workin on the boat all day
Sandin all the time

Dude, will this paint ever be done
Every day it’s more of the same
Have ten gallons of paint to apply
So let’s “roll and tip” again today

So I’ll struggle gettin out of bed
And my body will keep feeling dead
Will we be able to move again
And Advil remains my friend

We’re sittin here resting our bones
And this tiredness won’t leave us alone
Three thousand miles we roamed
Just to make this boatyard home?

Sandin in the morning sun
Be paintin when the evenin comes
Sandin in the morning sun
Sandin all the time

Sandin in the morning sun
Be paintin when the evenin comes
Sandin in the morning sun
Sandin all the time

Carey is convinced I can now only see the color green (the color of the old nasty bottom paint and salon sides). I do think he has most of the green out of his beard and eyebrows, but you should see his feet and knees!! I think it will take some time to get all the green out of Carey.

We are currently anchored in Marsh Harbour and, it is good. The winds are blowing like crazy so we are waiting until tomorrow to leave here. We will head south to Little Harbour also on Abaco and hopefully meet up with friends we met while on the hard. We will stay there for a few days and do nothing but snorkel and relax. At least that is the plan but we all know that can change at any given moment.

I cannot tell you all that has happened, well I suppose I could but I doubt I could keep your attention and interest. Anyway, we were invited to a comedy show by the guy who sells bootleg videos out of the back of his truck (all videos that we have seen here, even in stores are bootlegged, so this is not unusual). Well, Frankie drove miles out of his way to give us a ride, and show us around on our way to the place, the show was held at a church. Once we were seated I kept hearing… Lisa, Lisa. Well I thought surely that would not be Lisa me since we hardly know anyone here, being stuck in the boat yard and all. But sure enough… it was me. Victor and his family (the ones who invited us over for a shower and tubby) were at the show with friends!

Once the show was over we waited outside for Frankie (he did not go because he had to work) to come and pick us up. Well… a couple came up to us and asked us if we needed a ride back to town, since they were going that way. Of course we took it so Frankie wouldn’t have to take us back. so far out of his way. As I have mentioned before everyone is SO nice and helpful here.

Sunday we were offered a truck to use (a guy next to us working on his boat) so we could go do all of our laundry and re-provision for our departure. This was huge! We would have been making many trips to the store in the dinghy and it would have taken us 2 days to accomplish it all.

Monday morning SongBird went back in the water without incident other then the “windicator” getting snapped off by the travel lift. Carey made an easy fix of it so no problems there. Once floating we tied up to the boatyard dock, bought ice and invited Captain Morgan for a bit of celebration. We actually sat in the cockpit, cushions out, drinks in hand and pupu’s for a moment of thanks. We had never done this before, and if we had we could not remember ever feeling that relaxed.

Water and gas were the chores of the next morning and then we were off to Marsh Harbour. Wish I could say we had a great sail but we were headed close to weather so we motored all the way. We went into town to drop off some books that we were done with, and ran into Russ, who we had met at Junkanoo. It ends up that they are anchored right next to us. For being on the hard, not getting to town much, and rarely being able to socialize it has been amazing how many people we now know, and how many we run into while out. This is life in a small town, although Marsh Harbour is larger than most in the Bahamas. We do like it here and it is a nice size place, a lot smaller and nicer than Nassau, but big enough for its own airport.

We are getting ready to leave tomorrow for Little Harbour, hang for a few days until the weather suits us, and then off to Eluthera. Not sure how long that will take, not sure if we have to or need to stop along the way and not sure when we will get there… oh yeah, not sure how long we will stay. Shawn from the boatyard wants us to look up his mother while we are in Eluthera. From there we are headed to the Land and Sea Park at Exuma Cay. If you volunteer you get your mooring for free. Russ told us that everyone volunteers, which is funny because you work like you are on a chain gang for 8 hours, saving a $15 mooring fee. Cruisers are a weird lot.

We may head down to Georgetown once we leave the park. This will depend on the date. We have to start heading north in April/May so we can be in N Carolina by June for hurricane season. We will then hook up somewhere with Jared, Ruthie and Jeff. Jeff may come down to help us get back north but it’s too early to tell what will happen.

Well, that’s the short of it. Check out SongBirds new eyes and paint. I’m not sure when or where we can get online again so if you don’t hear from us for awhile, it’s OK.

Cheers and love… Carey and Lisa

Lessons Learned
If you are old, pay someone to paint your boat (start saving now)
Take Advil with your vitamins (don’t wait until you think you will need it… you WILL need it!)
Do not paint in 25 knot winds no matter what your time schedule is
Install a sling to help you get out of bed in the morning
Take seasick pills after having been on land for 2 months
Put your glasses on when trying to get the green off your body