Cuba

Early November. The first snowfalls were beginning. Jeff had finished work for the season. The boat was hauled out of the water and about to be shrink-wrapped for the winter. The American election, which we really were preferring to avoid (no offence to our American friends!) was set for November 8th.  What to do?  What to do?We decided to treat ourselves to a week get-away at an all inclusive resort in Varadero, Cuba.  We'd never done anything like that and we weren't sure what to expect.

It was lovely. Most of the week was spent lazing or playing ball by the pool or on the beach.  There was a show every night which was actually pretty good!  One was a show in the pool with synchronized swimmers dressed in sparkly costumes.  Of course Jeff and I had a blast making complete fools of ourselves trying to replicate some of the moves the next day in the pool (not to mention sinuses full of water).

We took two excursions, one to Havana with a couple we met from a small town outside of Edmonton and their two teenagers, Christine, Peter, Korban and Kindra.  The other excursion was a jeep safari, where we got to drive our own little 4-wheel drive.  We shared our vehicle with a sweet young couple from Toronto, Taylor and Hamad.  On the agenda for the day was a visit to a spot for snorkling, an underwater cave with a natural, crystal clear pool for swimming that was absolutely beautiful and probably one of the most refreshing experiences in a long time, a little fishing boat we used to take a spin up a river, and a farm, where I got to ride a bull (Save a cowboy, ride a bull).

Here are a few highlights:

Every day was warm and sunny, with only a couple of very short rain showers all week.  

Days were spent playing ball on the beach or in the pool and chatting with other vacationers.

Many long walks along the shore were enjoyed.  One day we went out on little hobby cat, with feet dangling in crystal clear turquoise water. We even stayed up really late and danced a few nights away in the disco!!  And guess who was leading the congo line (Hint: Jeff).  It was a nice escape.

Summer Interlude 2016

Here it is almost the end of the season already.  It's been a busy summer but things are winding down and we're preparing for our winter in the South again.

Jeff's been working hard all summer with my son-in-law at his family business, Harbour West Marina, launching boats in the spring, then working part-time through the slower summer season, and now back at it full bore, hauling boats out of the water and closing things down.

Not being one to sit around idle, during the slower summer season Jeff joined a crew from our buddy Brian's (m/v Fugitive) company that installs arena board systems all over North America.   He's been on jobs in California, here in the Georgian Bay area and most interestingly, way up in Northern Labrador in a small Inuit community.  This place, with the whooping population of about 350 souls, has no road access and is only accessible by air or water. Pretty interesting !  Pictured are the work dogs, tied up, waiting for the snow to come so they can get back to work.

Me, I've been mostly spending time watching the grandkids, hanging out with friends and taking some painting lessons.





It's been a great summer with lots of friends/family time and work completed, but it's getting cold. There's not much R-value in a boat and I'm pretty sure that was little ice pellets I was hearing pinging on the boat roof early today. It's time to go. We've scheduled a little hiatus for the two of us at an all-inclusive resort in Cuba, which will see us on a beach but out of the States for

the American election (no offense to the our American friends but we'd rather avoid that one).

Then it will be back to Gran Vida and another winter adventure.  We're not sure where we'll end up yet,...   so stay tuned.

Home Sweet Home....Brrrrr

The Heron Clan

Driving home we actually drove through two small snow flurries.  Yikes!  This was ALL WRONG! What about all the rumours we had heard about the early spring??  We've been duped!

We arrived back in Canada on Jeff's birthday.  To complete our family fix we headed straight to Jeff's sister Dale's house and then out for wings and beer with his brother, Scott and partner Sheila.  It's great to reconnect with family.  Happy birthday to Jeffy!

Home to Our Northern Boat

Whaaaat??  Home sweet home??  We didn't expect to have to crawl over snow

to get to the boat or below freezing temperatures. It was a little tricky in my flip flops.

 No running water until it warms up a bit at night.  All good though, once we got inside and

turned the heat on we were as snug as two bugs in a rug.

Then the big moment....  Meeting first one grandaughter off the school bus...  Then the other.

We were delighted with the wonderful welcome banner they made us.

What About the Great Loop??

That pretty much concludes this chapter of our Great Loop Adventure.  We're distractible, we know. We're still hoping to finish our loop someday, somehow.  Until then, we're loving our cruising lifestyle.  We know dividing the year between living on two old boats is not for everyone, but it works for us. Rarely a day goes by that we don't comment on how lucky we are.  We're very blessed. The plan is to spend the summer working to build up our cruising kitty and carry on next winter, God willing.

Happy summer and thanks for following along on our adventures. Until next winter..... wishing you your own version of a Gran Vida (Great Life).

Road Trip Home: Big Apple - Day 3

With not much time and lots to see in the city we considered taking the Big Red Bus, one of those hop on hop off tourist buses.  After enjoying a leisurely brunch at yet another really cool Brooklyn restaurant with Rachel, Mary and Justine, Bartek's sister, we got an offer we just couldn't refuse. The "Little Blue Bus" was in business and offering a tour.

The little blue bus is Rachel's Toyota Matrix.  Off we went!  Headed for Manhattan. We drove over the Queensboro Bridge (of Spider Man fame and also called the 59th Street Bridge, of Simon and Garfunkel fame) and into the heart of the big city, feeling groovy indeed.

For a woman raised in a medium sized city in central Ontario, man, Rachel sure has become a New Yorker!  That Manhattan traffic is NO match for her.  She left those intrepid NY cabbies shaking in their boots and us in awe as she zoomed and wove her way through the highlights of the city, not even batting an eye at the honking, aggressive masses. "Outta the way Piglets!"  Sooooo much fun and lots of laughs as we hung half out the windows with our camera snapping.

Here are a few highlights, taken from the car:

Waiting for a light beside central park I was startled
to look out the window and see this guy RIGHT beside me.
I actually reached out and stroked his nose....  until the
carriage driver shouted at us to "GET GOING".
Gotta love New Yorkers!

Waiting for a light beside Central Park I was startled to look out the window and see this guy RIGHT beside me.  I actually reached out and stroked his nose...  until the carriage driver shouted at us to "GET GOING".  Gotta love New Yorkers!!  

After our tour of the city, we parked the car and headed to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art), one of my FAVOURITE places to visit.  We had about two hours to spend there, which isn't nearly enough time, but we took in what we could:

The Big Apple - Day 1&2

We drove into the Big Apple in the pouring rain.  As we jostled through the traffic (Holy! that's a bit of an adrenalin rush) on our left we spotted the Statue of Liberty, out there in the rain, just doing her thang.  Awesome.

We were visiting my (Susan's) niece, Rachel, and her husband Bartek who live in Brooklyn.  We were lucky that my sister Mary was visiting at the same time.  Also awesome.  We were craving some family time.

After an afternoon of visiting and catching up we headed out to take in the ballet.  Not just any ballet. This one was special.  It was a series of seven dances which paired a visual artist with a choreographer.  The two artists would meet, dialogue and collaborate to produce a performance. The special part is that Rachel, my niece, was one of the visual artists!  So we got the chance to participate a little in her professional life.  Once again.  Awesome. You can read more about it, if you'd like, here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/counterpointe-collaborations-tickets-22360055528?aff=efbnreg

The next day, with lots of coaching from Rachel and Barty, we set out on our own in the big city. Yes, we messed up on the subway a bit and got just a wee bit lost but NYC is a GREAT place to just walk around and find your way. We walked for hours just soaking it up. On our route we took in the 9/11 memorial and took the Staten Island ferry across and back so we could see the Statue of Liberty.

While we were on the Staten Island Ferry two Coast Guard boats came roaring up and circled us with one guy on the bow manning a big gun.  We're not sure what that was all about but after they circled us they took off and circled another ferry.

We made our way back to Brooklyn on the subway (we started to get pretty good at using our newly downloaded apps to find our way around) and headed to a barbeque place that Bart said was one of the best in the city (or State or Country or something).  It was Jeff's birthday weekend and he had a hankering for ribs and really wanted to watch some of the masters (golf tournament on tv).  We settled in at the bar to enjoy.

Next on the birthday agenda:  an NHL game.  Islanders vs. Phillies.  We walked the twenty minutes or so to the Barkley Stadium in the warm Brooklyn spring air to enjoy the last regular game of the season.  Barty met us there.

If you ever plan to visit NYC, here's a short travel video that Rachel showed us.  We found it very helpful:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmPBPWHJu4   Jonny T's NYC Travel Tips.

Road Trip! Day Two - The Barrier Islands

We (well, Jeff) started the day at sunrise.  He wanted to watch the sun come up over the Atlantic one more time.  Today, the plan was to visit the Wright Brothers' monument and museum, the attraction that got us interested in the Barrier Island in the first place, and then carry on our drive.

What a wonderful job they've done with the site of the first flight.  The thing I like most about it the most is that there is a lot that they simply left alone.  There was a visitor centre with models of the planes, information, artifacts etc. They've constructed models of the brothers' summer camp building and "hanger" (shed), and markers that showed the starting point of each of four consecutive flights on the day of the first successful test of their flying machine.  The last of which was just under a minute. That's it.  Other than the markers showing the length of the first flights, it's pretty much left like it was when then brothers lived there. Standing on that big windy field you could really feel the marvel of the accomplishment of that first flight.

Behind that, up on the top of Kill Devil Hill, is the monument. Alongside, behind some trees was a small runway.  Several planes landed and took off over the markers of the first flights.  Wow, aviation has come a long way in a short time! I really liked the balance of simplicity and respect, shown by the beautiful monument on top of the hill. It was quite moving and certainly captured our interest to learn more.

It was fun watching the kids climb all over the sculpture depicing the first flight of the Wright Brothers.  That's the stuff dreams are made of.

We left Kitty Hawk, Big Apple bound.  Our plan was to drive part way and grab a hotel room, poising us perfectly to drive into the city in the morning, when we're fresh and in daylight.  To get there our route took us over the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Yep, they couldn't decide I guess so they built a bit of both. Bridge and tunnel. It's a twenty-three mile long drive with two tunnels and a bunch of bridges linked together to span the bay.  It's quite fun to drive:  Now we're above the ocean/now we're below the ocean/above/below....

We are now somplace in Delaware, ready to head into the big city in the morning.  Eeee...  excited!! We're hearing all sorts of nasty rumours about the weather at home in Canada.  Snow and very cold temperatures.  Um, what happened to the early spring?! As we're moving back onto our Northern Boat we're a little concerned but, what's the worst that could happen?...  Oh, never mind.