Nor’easter blues!

We’re at the end of our 2nd week and the weather has slowed down my outside jobs (I’m putting another coat of Semco on our cap rails) but Mark is picking away at the inside jobs. It’s been cold, rainy (but no snow – thankfully) and very windy – pushing us up against the pier and heeling us over (a very weird sensation when your sitting at a dock).

We have managed to do some things off the boat to give us a break from boat jobs. On Remembrance Day (or Veteran’s Day here) the Fort in St. Augustine had free admission, so we decided to visit it. We love St. Augustine – it’s one of the few Florida cities that has a “small town” feel about it. It also has a very distinctive Spanish style. We did a bit of shopping (West Marine and Ace Hardware – boat stuff of course), had lunch in the old city and then visited the Fort (just in time to see them fire the dreaded cannon that we heard last season!). This Fort is the oldest remaining fortification in North America and it’s quite small.

We have found another marina to move to for December and beginning of January. It’s basically downtown Jacksonville but it is just docks (no other facilities) which is okay. We’re still hopeful that we can stay here if the pier isn’t too full when December rolls around.

Mark is more than halfway through the big generator repair and it is going well. The oil pan is off and the little pinprick holes are being fixed. It’s a big job but should be completed in the next few days. After that, it’s time to move onto the routine maintenance things. Always lots to be done at the start of a season! This year our boat improvement is to get “Mac packs” for our sails. These things are sail covers that attach to the boom and stay in place all the time. Our current sail covers are big pieces of sunbrella (fabric) that we take off to use the sail. You’ve probably noticed them and if you’ve ever helped us put them back on, then you’ll know why we want a different system. These new covers will make protecting the sails so much easier. You just lower the sails as usual and once they’re down and in place, you just zip up the Mac pack cover – that simple (hopefully!). These bags won’t arrive until mid December so we have a job to do when we return in January.

While we’ve been busy with our jobs, others have been making plans to visit us this season. Caroline is confirmed again to spend 2 weeks with us in Turks and Caicos. She joins us on Feb. 23! Our good friend Jim Ryan will be meeting us also in T&C on February 28 and staying until March 13. John and Sadhana are looking into joining us at the end of March (again in T&C)! So we will have a boat full of visiting fun this season.

The weather has been pretty nasty so I don’t have a lot of photos this blog.