Four Weeks and Counting

Well down to the last month before departure. Everyone asks if we are excited, "Uh Yeah!"   Our whole life is about to change drastically.  Im full of all kinds of emotions: excited, scared, anxious, happy, frankly emotionally exhausted.

The first week of October we will sail and anchor in Galveston somewhere and wait for the perfect weather window. Hopefully that will give us a little time to get calmed down and get more of a taste of what like will be like living anchored out. We will not have a car or a phone. We will have to dinghy to shore and walk to the store if we need supplies. 

No need to worry about Fairlane on board.  She  potties on the forward deck.  We just rinse her potty grass off. 

We have given our notice to the Marina. Steve will give his notice at work two weeks before October. Our cars are in the process of being sold. Transportation is a bit tricky. We might have to ask favors of friends or ride our bikes to where we need to go. 

We have requested a TIP (temporary import permit) which is regarded for Mexico. We will also need to get a Zarpe.  That is basically an exit form. Letting our first port' country know where we have come from. Oh and we have also requested fishing license from Mexico. 

We have copies of all important forms with them backed up on the computer and flash drives. We are taking two laptops and an ipad. One will be kept in watertight container for backup. We have a small portable printer, as well as 3 terabytes of back up storage for movies and music. 

I have bought silica gel packets and containers to put in our cabinets and with our electronic devices to help with the moisture we have been warned about. I have also started collecting things to trade with. I bought a case of toothbrushes that are individually wrapped and fishing hooks. A friend gave me a carton of cigarettes and some jeans. Lol I hope those are wanted for trade. When we go to remote islands the locals like to trade produce and lobsters for items. Not everyone trades but we thought it was a good idea to try and save some cash. 

Next Saturday is the big party to say good bye to everyone. I hope to see everyone there. Its Saturday, the 6th, at 7pm, Waterford Marina Pavilion.  

I think Ill follow the advice from a Sea Turtle

Well the boom gallo is installed. Now we will wait for the canvas to get made for the cover along with the sails to come back. Not too much left on the list of todos. Mostly buying back up items and he has a few odds and end things but nothing big. I still need to contact the phone company to let them know we want to turn off our service in October. Uggg. No phone!  Lol. Im doing it all by choice but its still going to be difficult. I have been practicing leaving my phone behind. Its getting a little easier. Maybe Ill try turning it off for several hours a day. We shall see. 

What inside looks like during this installation

Steve' tool bags 

What Steve looks like when he is done 

Lists After Lists

Not a lot to blog about this week. Going down the list of to dos. We both have gotten our yellow fever and tetanus vaccinations. The JIB sails are at the seamstress to have a foot rope put on them. The Boom Gallo is still at the welders. Address changes are in process of being done. Notice to Marina has been given. I copied my address book for my daughter to keep. I made sure everyone had each others contact information. Provision lists have been made and prices out.  Lists after lists are being made 

Two more weeks of the television and then its coming down. Thats been a big discussion around here. We decided to just go without a TV. It takes up space and I would really like to stop that habit along with the phones. We will be able to find internet where we go and that will be enough to correspond with family and friends and we can catch up on the news. We have two laptops  and  an ipad. That should be plenty.   I really want to get rid of my phone and television addictions.  Im actually looking forward to sending handwritten letters and post cards.  I also want to get out and explore the new places we go. 

What Happen to Sunday Blog Days?

What happened to my Sunday Blog Day!?  I am running out of things to tell you because we are still in the waiting mode. The things that remain on our todo list  are there mostly because they are things to do right before we leave. 

Steve is still in the process of refitting the boom gallo. Its with the welder. The fabric for the new Bimini has been ordered.  

There is a farewell party date set to send off our Neighbors who are headed to the East side of the Caribbean and ourselves, whom of course always go the opposite way of most, is headed to the west side of the Caribbean. We hope to see everyone there. 

Saturday, September 6th @ the Waterford's Pavilion around 7pm (potluck style). 

The subject came up with friends the other day about how will they know when we leave and when we have arrived safely. We are giving up our phones in October and we are not taking one of those Spot devices. But we do have an AIS device that you can track us on. Here is the website for that and you will have to search for our boat Saga Sea. You will be able to see where we were when we last turned it on. 

http://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels?name=saga

Of course we have a key person dedicated to be our person to call if we pull our emergency device. She will call our family. My daughter will have a copy of my address book and my passwords to the Blog and my Facebook to notify people of any event. I believe I have covered all the bases in case something goes terribly wrong. I think I am more prepared than most people and we all risk our lives daily getting on the road. 

I believe we have decided to wait for the northern front anchored in Galveston. That will give us sometime to get adjusted to living at anchor and traveling by dinghy.   That should be interesting. 

The only pictures I have to post this time are from my last White Linen night in the Heights. 

So how are things?

Things seem to be right on schedule. This worries me a little. Im the kind of person who tries to prepare myself for the worst. Im not sure if it is my way of protecting myself or some sort of controlling thing. In any case thats how I operate. So I was just trying to foresee what could go wrong in the next few months.  Im sure a ton of things, do I really want to know? Does any of us?

I just returned from a trip to Lake Jackson, where I attended a wedding shower. One of my close friend' middle child is marrying a boy that is enlisted in the Marine Corp and she is at the tender age of nineteen. Oh memories. ...

I once married a Marine at the age of eighteen. I actually loved military life and being a wife and mother.  I look back at those years and then the years when I lived in Lake Jackson and it amazes me of how life circumstances change and we never really planned for any of it. 

I believe this life change that Steve and I are about to embark on is the first time in my life that something that I planned and worked for many years is coming to be. Thats scary but not scary enough to make me shy away, not yet at least. 

I gave the couple a tool kit and some travel memory things. I wrapped them in a box that I made to look like an old suitcase. I am trying hard to promote traveling and seeing the world. 

Im sure everyone wants to know what Steve has been up to. Well he has been working on changing the dimensions and location of the boom gallo. The new dinghy' measurements have made him move the gallo.  Move it or get rid of it. I requested it to be moved. He is moving it to aft of the cockpit. So far it looking good and should be all completed in a few weeks. 

I finished up the work I was doing for UTMB. I was being a standardized patient for the medical students during an exam. It was pretty interesting but a bit too suppressing for me. The student had fifteen minutes to interview and exam me, then determine my condition and what they wanted to do about it. So no time to play around. I had to keep to the script and no smart comments that would waste their time. All that would be fine for a few times but eight students a day was too much for me. It was too much for me to keep my mouth shut for that long in a confining doctor' office.  Im glad its over, back to being a Boat Diva. 

Two months and one week left for departure month. Exciting Times 

 

Freeport Shake Down

Well we are currently anchored outside the Galveston Yacht Basin. We left Thursday afternoon and headed here to begin our shake down trip. 

Wind was on our nose of course so we motored all the way. Steve wanted to set anchor before dark so we needed to be quick. That night was good. Set anchor and made some pasta. Bugs were a bit of an issue but it was my fault because I didnt put the screens on. 

Friday morning we set off for Freeport. Got out of the jetties and found the gulf to be calm with little wind. So we turned on the castiron gennie as our friend, Johnny, calls it and motored sailled all te way. All this motoring makes was really look forward to the day we wont be on a schedule. 

Made it to Freeport before dark. We stayed at the city marina there. It is located up a passage that I heard the tug boats calling "The Wiggles".  I could certainly see why, very wiggly and the shoulders are shallow so you have to be careful. 

We were greated by a few locals that helped us dock. Asked us where we are going and chatted a bit then offeredus a ride if we needed to get anything. That is what I love about the sailing community. Most are very welcoming and generous. 

We walked over to see an old friend that as his boat there, Montana Jack. It was good seeing him. Wish we could stay longer to visit but we started to get attacked by the huge mosquitos Freeport makes. Lol.  Had to rush back and close up everything. They were attacking me with a passion. I think they even started to go for my eyes. Since we had shore power we closed everything up and turned on the AC. Not sure if we would of enjoye that place without it. 

Saturday, my daughter' friend, Tiffany, came out to go sailing. She grew up sailing with us on our old boat and absolutley loves it. I was afraid we wouldn't have wind for her but it turned out to be a gorgeous day for sailing. We ended the perfect day with dinner at On The River, a place I worked for years with Tiffany and her partents. They were kind enough to drive us. On The River is only place I have ever been fired from. Lol  All because I was the source of scaring the cook with a fake snack. I didnt actually do it but I did provide the snake. Lol always a good story to tell. 

Sunday, we fueled up and headed back to Galveston. Once again, No wind so we motored. I found a nice shaded spot on the side of the dinghy on the cabin top and dreamed of my future traveling. 

Hopefully we will be able to sail back. Usually we can just might take a while. Ill give you the update next Sunday. 

Sitting on the dock

Sitting at the dock in the cockpit trying to pick out this past weeks high points that might be interesting to others. This blogging is not a very easy task ever week. This past week was a three day weekend for Steve. I had a longer work week, all two half days.  Haha. Life is tough for this Boat Diva, some times. 

Lets see, Steve played with the new Honda 2000 generator. Its a little beast. A friend gave us some great information. He said with a Domestic Smart Starter we should be able to run our air conditioner if needed. That is Amazing!  So one more purchase but that is not a big deal, its not a full bost unit. 

On another note, Fairlane seems to be doing much better. She has been wanting to play more. We think we might find her a little sister when we get to Mexico. It will have to be a young dolcile little baby like her. Being on a boat they need to be small. Also I will need to train her to potty on the foredeck so the younger the better. We shall see 

Oh Steve just gave me another subject, the pump out station. We were having issues with finding the pump out station working when we were available to take the boat over. We went twice and we couldnt seem to get the thing to work. I was getting very upset about it since it is the only place available and it is against the law to dump out into the water. Finally I twisted Steve' arm to go when the maintenance workers were on duty and they were able to show us a few tricks to getting the stupid thing working. I really wish those tricks were posted. 

In any case we got it taken care of and te trick is to have the hose completely straighten out, turn it on and put the end into the water and let it start sucking up the water. Once you see that happen its ready to go. So there is all I know for all the others in the Kemah area needing to pump out.  

We are looking forward to next week' trip to Freeport, Texas. It will be another short trip to see what we can break and what needs to be changed or adjusted. Got to shake her out some more. We only have two months and four weeks left. Exciting!