It is good to be back on the water again - after a few glitches we seem to be back in the groove of the cruising life. Our first day out (Friday 13th) we had a great sail down Charlotte Harbour doing 7 knots under just the jib with the wind picking up and the waves building. We reached the narrow dredged channel to our marina destination to discover that the engine was not pumping water (so would quickly overheat). We recalled Bill Stephenson's comment re towing insurance..."It's not IF you'll need it, it's WHEN you'll need it!" So we called [View Full Entry]

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We're back in Florida - the past 2 weeks have been spent prepping Gust O'Wind for another southern sailing season...and blowing the budget in the process. As every boater knows, there is nothing sane about boating.. Our favourite analogy is..."Sailing is like standing under a cold shower tearing up $100 bills." We launched yesterday, but now will have to wait while hurricane Ida decides what she wants to do...she is the boss! [View Full Entry]

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Bonavista: we saw our first puffins at Elliston, near Bonavista. They get our vote for the cutest birds going. - also really enjoyed the Trinity pageant - we followed a group of actors through the town as they played out the history of Trinity. - another highlight was a tour of a recreated outport - featured in the mini series Random Passage. Placentia: settled by the French in the 1600s it was a stop on our way to Cape St. Mary's and Cape Race. Witless Bay: another great Newfoundland placena [View Full Entry]

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From Gros Morne we drove to the northern tip of Newfoundland and L'Anse aux Meadows - the site of the first European settlement (Norse) in North America over 1000 years ago. The UNESCO site recaptures the struggle to survive in this harsh climate with actors in role (with local accents) in sod huts going about their daily tasks. On to Twillingate. As there is only one road to the north we had to retrace our route - but we have found that the views are still fresh from the other direction. We are really enjoying B&Bs - meeting the locals and [View Full Entry]

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Not having access to Gust O'Wind this summer has been a mixed blessing - it has not been a good sailing season on Georgian Bay - so our typical trip to the north Channel might not have been up to past years. The Whytes rented our place again for 3 weeks and we have taken off for the east coast - Halifax, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. We'll send along a couple of blogs of our travels over the next 3 weeks. Halifax is a great place to visit - we picked a B&B close to Downtown so we could walk everywhere. [View Full Entry]

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Gust O'Wind is back on the hard for the summer. That is hard for us to deal with - winterizing the boat has been a routine in September for the first 8 years - this is the first experience of summerizing her. Since our last report we returned to Cayo Costa for 5 really good days to wind up our season. The fishing was successful - finally! - thanks to some good advice from a fellow cruiser from Lion's Head (just north of Wiarton) After a rough (30 knots) crossing to the canal system leading to our hauling yard we spent [View Full Entry]

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This is as far north as we plan to get this season. We had a reunion with Wiarton Marina friends this afternoon at the marina. In a day or two we will begin heading back to Port Charlotte for our haul-out on March 28th. We had a great visit with Brian and Valarie in Venice - they have a CS 34 at Wiarton and also cruised these parts 9 years ago. A couple of recent highlights were finding fossilized sharks' teeth on the beach at Englewood and being lucky to see the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from the other [View Full Entry]

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Probably the reason we have enjoyed Florida's west coast so much (beside the great weather) has been the relaxed pace. We no longer feel we have to make 40 or 50 miles a day to get to a destination - and if we like a place we stay a few more days. The past several weeks have been a nice blend of quiet, scenic anchorages and convenient small city moorings or anchorages. We have been able to avoid the expense of marinas for 2 weeks so feel a 2 day splurge here in Punta Gorda (visiting with Brian & Lydia and [View Full Entry]

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We have enjoyed great weather during the past few weeks and have been lucky to have had access to some excellent beaches. The anchorage just north of Marco Island reminded us of a long weekend at Sauble (in the summer of course!) - but instead of cars on the beach, here it was boats - literally - rammed up at full throttle. A TowBoat US lurked nearby to pull off those who proved to have been overzealous. At dusk all the weekend warriors raced for home leaving us to enjoy the beautiful sunset, the dolphins cruising by and pelicans crashing into [View Full Entry]

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After 2 weeks in ultra crowded Marathon we decided to head north (!) up the west coast of Florida - and both agree it has been the highlight of our cruise so far. A 50 mile day found us in the Little Shark River - totally isolated - no McDonald's or roads or cell phones or wifi for many miles. The wildlife was spectacular - a dolphin almost joined us in the dinghy during one ride. Big rays lept clear of the water, flipped and splashed down noisily - always when you least expected it. Big turtles drifted by and the [View Full Entry]

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