The Journey Continues

To all our family and friends,

Bill, Simon and I would like to bring you up to date on our Journey.

We left the Bahamas last March in an uneventful trip up the coast. The weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked but with warm clothing and our new propane heater in the cabin we made it to the Sailrite Marina in Oriental, North Carolina. Lucky for us we met up with a few new and old friends for this last part of the trip and we had a lovely end of the trip gathering.

Our wonderful friend, Patrick, volunteered to drive down to Oriental and bring us home. We were a little crowded in the car but made it safely home. After a few days of debriefing and getting used to our apartment (I experienced significant difficulty locating things) we flew to Paris to spend a week with Bill’s brothers and their wives. It was brother Mark’s birthday and we had a wonderful time—great food, wonderful sights and fabulous weather. The trip ended all to soon and we were back home once again.

We decided not to haul ’Interim’ but we did need to take off all the
extras that were on board. Many, many cans of food, bags of snacks, and the leftover Snickers. We traveled to Mystic for the Sea Shanty weekend with friends and once again the weather mostly cooperated and we had an easy time coming home.

After a 3 day visit to Disney World for my niece’s wedding we took off for the summer traveling through Long Island Sound. We had gentle days and some major thunderstorms but with our new chart plotter and interface with XM radio we were able to choose where and when to leave the moorings. Since we also decided to spend time in the various harbors we met wonderful new friends, connected with friends from the Bahamas as well as with members of our yacht club. It turned out to be a lovely summer.

As Fall approached our thoughts were clearly diverted to the Bahamas. As each anniversary date of leaving NY, leaving Cape May, Annapolis, etc. passed by we began to discuss plans to return to Hopetown next year. We have kept in touch with our fellow travelers as well as several friends who are thinking of making the trip south next Fall.

We hope to spend the next several months organizing our "stuff", going to the theater, and spending time with family and friends. Bill and I love NY during the holidays (we try to go when it is not too crowded) and have already been in town several times. I have been trying to find work and have several possibilities but as we all know the economic crisis is affecting everyone. When we left for the Bahamas last year we sold our second car and having only one vehicle now has resulted in some creative scheduling. But we are managing.

The first real snow is now falling outside our window and it looks beautiful - just in time for the holidays.

Bill and I wish all of you a holiday season that brings you peace, joy, fair winds and good health.