Happy Salty New Year

January 2, 2016 by Carly Filed Under: Alaska, Arctic, Australia, bahamas, Beaver Road Trip, Caribbean, New England, Newfoundland, Northwest Passage, Nova Scotia

Of course it’s the 11th hour and I’m writing a post for the New Year. I’m late for everything, never on time, always in a flustered rush. But hey, if I was on time that wouldn’t be me.

New year resolution…. better time management.

Ha! Let me put that on the list of eat better and exercise, those New Year’s resolutions seem to roll over year after year.

We all know very well on the improvements we need to make on ourselves but what of those achievements we’ve reached previously in the year? Lets check those puppies out people! What did you pull off in 2015? [Read more…]

one down ____ to go

December 8, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, New England, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Sailing

1021 hours underway, that’s just over 42 days

Averaged 6.7 knots

6872 nautical miles

So we have been living aboard and cruising for just over a year now and loving it. When we started we weren’t really sure if this was going to be the life for us. But like with everything we sold all our possessions and jumped in head first. The first month was challenging for us. The girls took their time to adjust while we did projects on the boat readying her to sail to the Bahamas from North Carolina.

Once we got going there was no turning back. It was tough sailing at the beginning, after all I was 6 months pregnant and we had a 2 and 3 year old running around. But boy did we make the best of it and packed a lot into our first year.

We bought a boat, readied her to sail, sailed to the Bahamas, had our 3rd baby, sailed up to Massachusetts to visit family for a breather. From there we sailed further north to Nova Scotia and circumnavigated Newfoundland. We found icebergs, we ate icebergs. Back down to Maine. We found lobster pots, we snagged lobster pots, we cursed those F*#KEN AS!HOLE lobster pots. Had another breather in Massachusetts. Set sail for the Caribbean and that’s where we are now. Wow it was a lot to cram into a year.

Here are some other fun highlights:

Did my first crash jibe and bent our boom
Experienced a natural birth in the Bahamas – drugs next time please, not that there will be a next time!
Saw our first killer whales in Newfoundland
Found out that whip lash is possible when hitting rocks at 5 knots – gotta love a steel boat
After countless swim lessons and bribery Pri finally learnt how to swim from an 8 year old in 30 minutes at a pool
Keeping a container of hermit crabs onboard with no lid is never a good idea
Don’t leave garbage on deck in the States, raccoons will board you
Never sail when pregnant, severe seasickness is inevitable.
Sailing with kids is 100 times harder than without

We are still waiting on the evening that we can actually sit in the cockpit, cocktail in hand and watch the sunset. Every day seems like a marathon with kids onboard, but every month that goes by it gets easier.

So have we learnt anything? Yeah probably a bit. Carl is definitely a better sailor than me and I’m better at teaching the girls. It has been tough on our relationship but I believe we are stronger for it. So how long are we going to do this for? I really don’t know, put it this way we’ve been travelling for a year and feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Plans for next year…

Things are pretty up in the air at the moment. We’ve been trying to stick close to the States due to some unfortunate family illness’s. But we are bold enough to want to plan on doing the Northwest Passage this summer? Maybe.

So has cruising changed our marriage? In a way yes, Carl now forces me to read every sailing book ever written and happy hour now begins at 5pm, maybe a smidge before. We spend 24/7 with each other and the kids. What does this mean? This means going to the bathroom while still in conversation, waking up to kids in the bed and not realizing how they got there. Lots of beer, lots of rum and mostly good times.

2013

October – Wilmington, North Carolina
November – Wilmington, North Carolina
December – Wilmington, North Carolina

2014

January – Bahamas
February – Nassau, Bahamas
March – Nassau Bahamas (Crew’s Birthday)
April – Bahamas (Easter)
May – Massachusetts
June – Massachusetts
July – Nova Scotia
July – Newfoundland

August – Newfoundland
September – Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts
October – Massachusetts
November – BVI’s, Caribbean

Newfoundland Epilogue

September 6, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, provisioning, wildlife

All I can say is what a trip! We left Massachusetts around the middle of June and headed north to Nova Scotia. We discovered the brilliant Bras d’Or Lakes and circumnavigated Newfoundland in 2.5 months and with 3 kids under 5. Suffering from some form of dementia? Probably so.

So what was it like cruising with our now family of 5? I won’t lie it was tough. I thought we had it bad being on a boat with two kids but you toss in a baby and your life just went down the head. Our little man is a fantastic baby as far as babies go but you must remember that he’s still a baby. He always wants to be entertained and would prefer to be attached to my breast 24/7. I tried getting back into a little bit of homeschooling with the girls, they’re still quite young so it consists of reading books, worksheets and practicing letters, but eventually decided to take the summer off because every time I got set up to do an activity of course the baby needed my attention. He’s getting more into a routine now so I’m hoping to pick back up on the school work in a couple of weeks.

Other issues we found were that the kids didn’t really understand colder climates, they still wanted to run around with their panties on and refused to wear jackets. So for majority of the trip the girls didn’t want to be out on deck so were cabin bound until we went to shore. But when we went to shore oh boy did we have fun. Newfoundland has so many beautiful hiking trails that are so well kept that I swear they have little machete fairies lurking about. Oh and the whole island smells like Christmas. Everyday I would inhale and feel like I’m home – the smell of Christmas trees always makes you reminisce of your childhood Christmas’. Now I’m just rambling.

Even with all the beautiful hiking trails we noticed a lot of the locals in the smaller villages were quite unhealthy, fresh produce up there is not so much on the fresh side and the meat is quite expensive. Leaving NL I was happy to eat my last slice of stale bread in a while. I know I could just make my own bread but with 3 kids under 5 my mornings are a little full. If you’re planning on heading up to NL make sure you provision your boat with dry goods and clothes, things are pretty scarce on “the rock”

We didn’t stop much on the west coast, we were tracking icebergs and wanted to get all the way to the tip in order to catch them before it got too late. Sailing up the west coast was great, a little gusty but good. Everyday the weather report called for 15-20 knot winds and we got 25-30 everyday, but that’s ok our tank needs some wind to get her going. Up the west coast is where I decided that we needed a new boom, I bent that baby up real good. What can I say I’m a shitty sailor.

Icebergs! ICEBERGS! They were magnificent!!! Made the rush north all worth while. And it wasn’t all that cold up near them. We definitely do need to get better protection in our cockpit. We don’t have the typical sunken in cockpit, our deck is all one level so when those icy winds come howling there is no escaping them. We spent majority of our watch time sitting on a 2” ledge of our companion way. We put up our mosquito screen to try and help block some of the wind. It did pretty good but it was still bloody cold at times. I have now replaced the netting with clear plastic we picked up at a hardware store.

After the excitement of the bergs we didn’t really have a plan. Do we beat into the wind and retrace our steps back down the west coast or do we continue around and circumnavigate NL? the guide book mentioned that only real adventurous sailors circumnavigate and we thought that’s definitely not us but screw it we could catch the Labrador current down the east coast and make good time. Maybe we should have done our homework better. We motored majority of the way due to poor wind, from all that money we saved in free dockage we made it up in diesel. We wouldn’t change a thing, from the west to the north to the east to the south coast, Newfoundland has so much diversity. The west coast had the small towns that rarely saw visitors, the north had the icebergs, the east had the larger towns and beautiful buildings and the south had the outposts and waterfalls. Whales on the west, puffins on the east, caribou and moose in between.

So what have we learnt from the trip??

* I want a washing machine, and we WILL be getting one in Massachusetts

* You can never wear too many layers

* It is possible to mistake a high of 60 degrees for a heat wave of 95

* Always ALWAYS put a preventer on when sailing downwind

* Not all rocks are charted

* When it takes longer to pump out your poop then it takes to actually poop it’s time to rebuild the head

* Breastfeeding while trying not to puke on your baby is never fun

* Babies and kids may slow you down but they make you life more the richer

We didn’t find many blogs with information about cruising in Newfoundland so I hope if there are any cruisers looking for info on NL or NS that my blog helps out.

For now we are planning on coming north again next summer and maybe even further north. But plans are just plans, they could change once, twice, 10 zillion times – like our kids changing outfits in a day.

Francois, Newfoundland to Lunenburg Nova Scotia

August 26, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Sailing, sails

No nausea, not even a little! It has taken us 2 nights and 3 full days to get from Fancois to Lunenburg. We had calm conditions which were good for my stomach but no so good for the sailing. We were downwind whole time and were only able to sail for 20% of the time but when we did we flew our code zero sail and were flying. 6 knots apparent wind and 7 knots SOG (speed over ground). The girls were bouncing off the walls the first day but got wore out and have been great ever since. We’ve been coloring, painting, playing with jigsaw puzzles and of course there’s always the classic Disney movies. We would love to say that are those parents that don’t let their kids watch tv while onboard but we need our sanity especially when we only get 6 hours sleep a night. When the baby takes a nap we put on a movie for the girls and this allows us to actually hang out in the cockpit and have an adult conversation. The girls also have a bunch of phonics and math apps on their ipads that they’re allowed to play with during “quiet time”.

So I’ve put it down to Fenurgreek causing my seasickness. I’ve gone off the supplements (it helps increase my milk supply for breastfeeding) for about a week now and nothing, not even a twinge of nausea. I even ate icecream on my night watches. Sweet! I could be cured!

We are approximately 6 hours out of Lunenburg as I write this, I can’t wait to get in and turn off our loud engine. The noise and vibration is wearing me down. I’m also sick of yelling at everyone, the motor is killing my soul.

We are running extremely low on food so we have been eating the basics. Pasta, jar alfredo sauce and frozen veges. We have no fresh produce and no bread left. We could still survive for a few weeks on canned vegetables, beans, pasta and homemade bread but we’ll definitely hit the grocery store in Nova Scotia.

I caught Pri giving Wags a haircut under a sheet yesterday. Thanks Pri now Wags looks like a punk rocker! I’ll have to email the professionals (Mum and sisters – all hairdressers) to see how to fix this one.

…. and there goes lunch

August 14, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Sailing

In 2 months we have sailed from Massachusetts up the east coast of Nova Scotia and almost circumnavigated Newfoundland – we’re currently about to do the south coast. This is a lot to do with a 4,3, and now 5 month old. Exhaustion seems to be a word flung out there a lot lately. When you think of sailing, images of kicking back in the cockpit with a beer often comes to mind, cheese and crackers at sunset or maybe stringing up the hammock and reading a book on the deck. This is not the reality for us. When sailing there is always someone on deck dealing with navigation or sails and the other is in the cabin cooking, cleaning and dealing with kids. You think hey that’s not that hard. Well toss in a 65’ boat. Carl has a good handle on sailing solo but its rather lonely up there by yourself, we definitely miss that nice companionship that most couples get to enjoy. We often change it up, I go outside and Carl inside. To add to our difficulties it’s a little on the chilly side up here so whenever someone goes on deck they have to suit up with layers and fowl weather gear, that wind really cuts through you. We’ve been trying to do 8-10 hour runs during the day and entering a port just before dinner time. This leaves us time to take the kids for a quick walk around town before settling back in on the boat. During this time the boat pretty much gets trashed. It’s hard to keep up with 2 very active girls while the boat is heeled over and bouncing up and down.

I’ve been doing ok with the sailing so far. Like most I get a bit on the queasy side when the swell picks up. You know that horrible rolling motion that tosses you from side to side and you realize that you really didn’t stow the boat as good as you thought. Drinks get knocked over, toys run from port to starboard – starboard to port then under my feet and I go flying.

I met Carl on a boat and I was always the stew that didn’t get sick in the large seas, I just motored on through. Heading down to the Bahamas being pregnant was MISERABLE but I knew that I would get sick because of being pregnant, just didn’t think I’d be that deathly sick. Once the baby was born I thought all that seasickness was behind me and now we could get down and dirty into some longer passages. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m breastfeeding, that my hormones aren’t back to normal or that I’m taking Fenugreek for milk supply but I’m extremely susceptible to seasickness again. Has pregnancy changed my body forever? How will we do crossings? We just finished a run from Trepassey to Saint Pierre in just under 20 hours, it should have been longer but we made really good time sailing between 8-10 knots. We had a side swell that we making us roll around, my favorite motion! It took about 2 hours before I was feeling the effects. Headaches, fatigue and then the nausea. Nothing like trying to take care of 3 kids below deck when all you want to do is lay in bed and die. Oh then chuck in a baby that needs to breastfeed because he refuses to take bottle. Mmmm buddy you’re about to get a double lunch, mummas milk AND mummas honey and peanut butter sambo (on your head!) So people its not all puffins and whales these days. We’re not too sure what to do when it’ll come time for us to make our way to the Caribbean, we were planning on inviting some friends to help but if I go down then Carl has to deal with the kids and the boat all at once. There’s no way that I can fly and meet the boat wherever it’s at, that’s not part of the budget. For now I’m going to try and get our little man to take a bottle, stop the Fenugreek and see if that improves my sensitive belly. If one crew member goes down everyone suffers.

If anyone has any recommendations out there I’m all ears.

Zofran – fail

Ginger capsules – fail

Ginger Snaps – fail

Dramamine – don’t feel that great about taking them while nursing

Ear plug in dominant ear – fail

Freezing in the cockpit with fresh air – fail

Lying in the fetal position on the couch – fail

Run blindly into the hills at the next port – it’s a good possibility

These days I’m cursing my body, sailing….. and not having a washing machine.

escaping hurricane season

July 6, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Nova Scotia, projects, Sailing

Everyone around here pretty much knows not to hang out in the Bahamas during the summer months for threat of hurricanes so all sane people either head north or south. We decided to head up to New England then further north to Nova Scotia. Who would have thought the bloody things would follow us up this high!

Hurricane Arthur turned into a tropical storm before knocking on our door up here on the Gras d’Or Lake, we had plenty of time to figure out and plan and weren’t too worried about it. We picked out a lovely sheltered cove not too far from Baddeck and spent the last 24 hours there.

We all started getting cabin fever so we went on a bit of a trek to the lighthouse and another one up someone’s tractor trail. The whole thrill of the last 24 hours was the daring, heroic and down right sexy rescue of a 22’ sailboat that got loose in the cove. Well no not really but it was something to watch with the binoculars. Saw a real cool frog too.

We were extremely protected in the cove while the lake got hammered with winds. I think we only really saw about 30 knot winds. They may have been a little stronger last night but I was too lazy to get up and check. We noticed this morning that we had started to drag anchor but weren’t really that worried about it because we planned on leaving in a few hours, we kept a close eye on the gps and the spit we were edging towards. It was a stunning little anchorage and we couldn’t have asked for a better place to be.

Thanks to Solitude for being our storm buddies and helping us hook up our SSB and Pactor modem.

Carl praying for the strength to raise girls.

The daring boat rescue by Carl, Chuck (SV Solitude) and some other guy – didn’t catch his name.

Our movements during the storm. We put on our anchor alarm and it alerted us once. Thanks Mr. GPS you make our life better every day.

Coming through the Iona bridge. We always love a good bridge.

Bras d’Or Lake, Part I

July 4, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Nova Scotia

What a wonderful place to be – especially when a hurricane is headed your way.

They have crazy fog here.

Entering the Bras d’Or Lake lock at Saint Peter

Bub naps best underway on deck

I think selfies are the only way I’ll get in pictures.

Coming through the mystery cove

“say cheese” and this is what we get

Stalking the bald eagle

You get the great winds like being on the open ocean but not the swell. Today we went from Saint Peters about 2 hours north. I couldn’t even tell you where we are at the moment, we’re anchored in a small cove that Carl picked out on a map that we didn’t think we’d make it into because of the narrow opening. It made our day to see a couple of bald eagles playing in the tree tops on the way in, pictures will never do them justice.

We had a bit of a Scooby Doo afternoon. From our boat we could see this lovely log cabin set up on the hill and just below it a dilapidated dock and a sign saying Smokehouse. A restaurant here? in the middle of nowhere? How strange. We dingy’d over and saw a strange man looking out at us from one the windows. I said to Carl “look there’s a man there….….” “where?” and he was gone. A ghost or a swiftly moving old man? Up we go, up the hill to check it out. A wood cabin in the middle of nowhere with a sign on the door “yes, we’re open”, how strange. I told Thelma (Pri) to lead the way. A quiet German couple own and run the restaurant all year round. Open until 9pm every night. So strange. The place was perfectly kept and huge. But where’s the people. We said we’d be back later for dinner. I told Carl that I bet when we return there will be no one there.

We tracked down the bald eagle again for a couple of photos and tossed what seemed like a trillion rocks in the lake – kids and rocks, what’s with that? Then we went back for a delicious dinner at the Smokehouse. They had hand written a menu for the girls and displayed it on the table. We were the only people dining there…. dah. They built the restaurant 16 years ago after sailing the world on their steel sailboat and now live below. They said that they get group bookings here and there but I think we were the first guests in a very long time.

It’s days like these that make us so fond of Nova Scotia.