Land bound - Enjoying being Home

How quickly we've had to change focus, coming home to our very special cats and all the planned house and yard projects we hope to tackle before our next sailing adventure.  We had a warm welcome home and the cats didn't feel the need to ignore us after all, even though they hadn't seen us since last September.  They've quickly trained us once again to their routines and were pleased to have visits from their very dedicated pet sitters.  We're so glad to find it was a good experience for everyone while we were travelling.

Sebastian in his tunnel

Rosie loves her fleece blanket

May has been a cool, rainy month and it feels more like fall than spring, but the yard is green and flowers are in bloom.  Kelly has added a new lawnmower to our yard implements inventory and it seems the lawn needs cutting once a week.

We looked forward to attending the May 18th Bluewater Cruising Association meeting and were welcomed by the V.I. Vice Commodore, along with the crews of Dolphin Tales, Narama and Keetya I.  It is somewhat strange to see each other without our respective sailboats, which have become such a part of our lives.  It was great to see many of the "doers, doners and dreamers" and to realize that we were finally "doers"!  Ironically, we weren't able to attend the annual May BCA rendezvous at Bedwell Harbour on South Pender Island - no boat!  Perhaps before the August rendezvous at Montague we'll have made some arrangements to join the gathering and wish the Fleet of 2010 a safe send-off.

Postscript: Why we were in Mexico!

En route homeward, Carol enjoyed an all too brief stay with family in Calgary and was treated to some chilly weather - an April snowstorm!  Foul weather gear only goes so far in these conditions.  Thanks to all my family who kept me warm, in so many ways!

INTREPID II crew are home!

What can we say...our first cruising adventure is "suddenly" over and we are pleased to be back home, in our "very, very, very fine house, with 2 cats in the yard...."

It is surreal to say the least to realize INTREPID II is thousands of miles away in Guaymas.  We are in "re-entry" mode.  We can't thank Lois and Rod, our dauntless house/pet sitters, enough for the attention to our kitties, our home and yard.  They are a tough act to follow as our neighbours have advised us!

Guaymas to Hermosillo to Nogales to Tuscon USA
(courtesy of tourbymexico brochure)

Kelly had a fairly pleasant trip home once he had bid adios to INTREPID II, starting with a cab ride to the TUFESA bus station for a late evening boarding; a long, but comfortable bus ride "executivo" style from Guaymas, through various checkpoints, the border crossing at Nogales, on to Tucson and then arrival in Phoenix around 10:00 am the following morning.  His trip lasted nearly 11 hours (complete with an "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie in Spanish to pass the time).  He checked in at a nearby hotel to get some rest and still felt 'at home' as the neighbourhood had many Spanish signs on the businesses. That was followed by an early night and a taxi to the airport early next morning to catch his 06:00 am flight to Seattle.  Travelling light with no checked baggage kept him moving quickly and he arrived home Tuesday just after noon to a warm welcome.

Since then we've been setting up phones plans, getting car insurance and new plates, "provisioning" but with vehicles this time, buying a new lawn mower, going through 8 months of mail, tax returns to tackle. Where did we stow our warm clothes? Why are we so cold in May?  Our house sitters extraordinaire left us a very special memento of their stay, a journal filled with photos of the adventures of Rosie and Sebastian.  Those kitties weren't spoiled...much. Birthday parties, Christmas presents, St. Patrick's day.

Reality is setting in.  We are looking forward to catching up with our Vancouver Island cruising friends who are making their respective ways home, as well as all our BCA friends.  Having a "virtual boat" will be strange for the summer.  Not sure how we'll attend the upcoming rendezvous, but we are looking forward to attending the monthly meetings.  Thanks to everyone who has followed us on this first season of our cruising journey.  We appreciate your interest and enthusiasm and we will update the blog from time to time as we have items of interest.

Muchas gracias! Buenos nachos (as Henry would say!)

Salud from the Admiral!

And Salud from a very content Captain!

INTREPID II Gets Prepared for Dry Storage

Hola!  This and the following posts had to wait until we arrived home as there was far too much to do for INTREPID II as well as ourselves to get ready to say adios to Mexico.

We worked diligently at the dock doing whatever was manageable, including taking down the sails (see below - not an easy task), washing and stowing the dinghy, washing all the spare lines, gear, running messenger lines in place of halyards (of course - first wandering around Guaymas finding suitable messenger lines.)

Sheets drying - washed to remove all the salty sea spray

The roller furling jib posed unanticipated challenges when the upper drum got stuck about 30 feet off the deck.  Kelly had to don his climbing gear and rig up safety lines to go up the jib halyard to determine the problem - twice.  Once to drop the jib and once to find that the set screws had barely backed out but enough to make for a more involved project.  Thanks Geoff and Ken for your help on the winch!

It was quite the exercise to haul our # 135 jib up the dock to a large enough space by the marina office to lay it out and properly fold and stow it.

Below deck, we were sorting through items to determine what we'd travel back with and what would stay for the next cruising season. Then it was departure time for the Admiral.  Carol caught a ride from Guaymas to Phoenix with the SV Serendipity crew (thanks Cheryl and Frank), who took her right to her hotel.  It was an eye opening experience to travel through the Sonoran desert to a small border crossing at Soynita/Lukeville and into the U.S.   Frank and Cheryl had found this to be a much quicker way to beat the possible delays at the Nogales border crossing.  The next day was a taxi ride to the Phoenix airport and a flight to see family in Alberta after all this time away.

Captain Kelly managed INTREPID II's haul out the next day with able assistance from Ken, Ron, Patrick and a nice surprise from Heidi and Stephen of SV Narama who had just arrived at the dock. Unfortunately all the cruisers who had been working on their boats in the dry storage yard had left by this time, so it's been a solitary experience staying there, although the marina works crew are around.  The week before it had been quite the busy place. Many of the boats who show up at Singlar (and can't get in as they are overbooked) take dock space to clean up and prepare to go over to Gabriel's Marina Seca across the bay, so that's where all the activity has been.