Monday, March 31 to Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
Like us, most of the boats in the Bahamas from the US and Canada now seem to be wrapping things up and heading north to put their boats into storage for the summer months. Some are storing them in the Bahamas, as we are. Others will be making the Golf Stream crossing back to the US.
On March 31st we leave Hopetown where we have been for the last few weeks and move up to Green Turtle Cay, via Great Guana and the Whale Passage which takes you out into the ocean for a few miles. The group we met in Hopetown who we have been hanging out with — Debra and John from Annapolis, MD (on Mandalay), Guy and Louise from Sarnia, ON, but recently moved to Vancouver, BC (on Miss Ellie) — join us a day later in Green Turtle Cay as they too move north. Julie and Dawson from Sudbury, ON (on Jazzebelle) who we met while in Cape Eleuthera join the group there too. Although we are wrapping up the trip we manage to take some time for fun at the pool and beach.
Debra (Mandalay) and Louise (Miss Ellie) on the beach in Hopetown. We stroll and look for sea beans and sea glass.
Shark comes right up to the shore where we are walking along the beach. Yikes!
Louise and Guy (Miss Ellie) wave goodbye from the dock in Hopetown as we leave
Enjoying morning coffee at Great Guana Cay before to we do the Whale Passage to Green Turtle
Green Turtle Club Marina where we dock until we pull the boat out of the water
Miss Ellie and Mandalay join us in Green Turtle Cay the day after we arrive
The ladies (Left to right: Louise, Julie, Lee and Debra) at the Green Turtle Club pool
The guys all pitch in to help Randy fold up the jib
On Monday, April 7th, the boat is pulled out of the water and put ‘on the hard’ in storage racks and tied down with hurricane straps. It’s a windy day for haul-out, but all goes well and without incident. While we are working on finalizing things on the boat for storage for the week — including taking down sails, refinishing wood, waxing and cleaning — we move into an apartment in the nearby town of New Plymouth. Very cute town and so quiet!
Silver Maple being pulled out of the water
Silver Maple put to bed for the season
The apartment in New Plymouth (with rental golf cart) where we stay while preparing the boat for storage
Everything is done and the boat is closed up with a day to spare. We have a farewell lunch with the group the day before we leave and are off to Canada on Monday, April 14th. We catch the 7:30AM ferry from New Plymouth to Treasure Cay, then taxi to the airport there. By 7PM we are on the 401 Highway in Toronto and heading home to Catchacoma Lake north of Buckhorn, ON. Unfortunately, winter has been holding on so we arrived back to snow and cold. Ugh!
Waiting with all our gear for the ferry to the airport to head home
Getting on the ferry
Look what we get home too! Randy has to brush the car in the morning. Ahh!!
Well, that’s it for this year. We had a great trip and are looking forward to further travels next year. Have a great summer, everyone! Cheers!
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