Sunday, March 1, 2015 to Thursday, April 2, 2015
There is no shortage of work to be done when you own a boat. That is probably an understatement. The last few of weeks in the Bahamas we spend refinishing wood on the toe rails, benches, table and floor, waxing the fiberglass on the hull, deck and cockpit, as well as doing all the regular storage chores like pulling down the sail, canvas and solar panels, and washing the entire interior. Of course, the weather turns hot while we are hard at work, but we are able to cool off at the Green Turtle Club pool. We also take advantage of the nice weather (finally!) to do some al fresco dining and explore the island of Green Turtle Cay with our rental golf cart. Because we are wrapping up our trip early this year, not many other boats are around — in fact we are the only transient boat for a few of the nights we are at the Green Turtle Club.
The chef at work!
Yummy kabob’s!
Finally the weather is nice enough to eat outside
Lovely dinner at the Green Turtle Club restaurant — the lobster risotto is amazing!
Silver Maple all alone at the Green Turtle Club Marina
Captain working hard refinishing the table
Our wheels for the week
Touring the island — its like a jungle
On March 6th, Silver Maple comes out of the water and into her resting place for the season without incident. While we are doing the final storage preparation on the boat, we move into an apartment in the town of New Plymouth. Its feels wonderful to be back on land with so much space and air conditioning. It feels like luxury!
Silver Maple coming out of the water
The crane moving it into place
Apartment seems huge after living on the boat for months — love the air conditioning!
Balcony of our apartment in New Plymouth
View from the balcony
Silver Maple is put to bed
Heading back home to Canada, we catch the ferry in the morning for the short trip to Treasure Cay. It’s a gorgeous day. We arrive early at the Treasure Cay airport and relax at the airport bar until our flight.
About to board the ferry at the town dock
Looking back at New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay as we leave on the ferry
The ‘big’ (not) Treasure Cay Airport
Randy relaxing at the airport bar
The plane! The plane!
When we get home to Canada, we have two days before we fly out to Tahiti to catch our ten day cruise. We haven’t done a lot of cruising together, so this trip is a bit of an experiment to see how we like being on a big ship. Our friends, Nancy and David, are on the cruise with us, so we enjoy hanging out with them. The cruise is on the Oceania ship named Marina. Its beautiful and we have a really nice cabin. Service is fantastic too. It is a nice treat to be pampered after all the work we’ve had the last few weeks on Silver Maple. The food is fantastic and we eat way too much. Thankfully, the ship has a nice exercise facility. Randy does better than Lee at getting to the gym. We also do lots of snorkeling, touring and walking to burn some calories — but not enough! Our favourite place is Bora Bora where we rent a jet ski and burn around. Fun!
Boarding the cruise ship in Papeete, Tahiti
Enjoying breakfast outside on the deck — Randy loves the croissants
Lee by the pool on the ship with the hills of Tahiti behind
Lee and Randy on the snorkeling trip in Moorea, French Polynesia to see sharks and stingrays
Nancy and David on the snorkeling trip too
Beautiful Moorea, French Polynesia
Randy in front of the ship at Raiatea, French Polynesia
Oceania Cruises gorgeous ship Marina
Marina docked in Raiatea
A local uses Lee to demonstrate how to tie the lovely wraps
Finished product
Lee and Randy on Bora Bora
Bora Bora is beautiful and one of our favourite spots
Randy in the clear clean water of the beach on Bora Bora
Enjoying the signature beverage at Bloody Mary’s Beach Bar
Randy gets up close and personal with a stingray
Lots of them!
Lots of fun snorkeling
Shark in the water with birds just above — hills of Bora Bora in the distance
Tour guide serves us fresh fruit on the beach
Nancy enjoying the water
Marina anchored at Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands — photo taken from the chocolate brown sand beach
Marina has only slightly nicer accommodations than Silver Maple
Randy and David looking over the pool deck on Marina
We loved eating breakfast outside on the deck at the back of the boat
Sunset as we leave Nuku Hiva
Cocktail hour before our dinner at La Reserva — one of the fancier restaurants on board
Sergia, our housekeeper with, Xavier, our butler — great people!
Randy on snorkeling boat in Rangiroa, French Polynesia
When we arrive back home on March 26 it is still winter. Thankfully now that April has arrived, the last couple of days have been warmer and the snow is starting to melt. Yeah!
Still winter at home — ugh!
As for Silver Maple, we will be heading back down to the Bahamas early November 2015 to get her out of storage and back into the water. Plan is to cross the Gulf Stream mid-November and head back to Florida.
Until then, we hope everyone has a great spring and summer. Cheers!
Silver Maple Blog 