Well everyone it is Thursday and I am heading to Miami at 600 knots, so I must be on an airplane or setting a new sailing record. TJ and Patrick left the boat on Saturday and I spent the rest of the week getting the boat ready for me to be off it for almost two months.
I woke up Sunday getting bounced around a bit with surge as the wind had shifted to the west and I was anchored in Simpson Bay and could not wait for the bridge opening so I could get into the lagoon where it was flat calm. Once in I topped off my fuel tanks, took down my headsail (first time since I owned the boat), secured the main by wrapping it tight with line, and other small jobs of securing items. In the evening I got wifi and had my family’s fantasy football draft (I know it is dorkie but it is with my family so it’s fun to rib each other) where I plan on winning the league this year (let’s see which one of them is the first to read and comment on this 🙂 )
On Monday I had the boat hauled out of the water and stored on land at St Marteen Shipyard ran by Merven who is a South African and knows boat building (not to be too much of a sterotype, but South Africans are one of the two top catamaran builders in the world!!!) He used a Sea-Lift to haul the boat, which is a machine with two long arms that has air bags on them. He stuck the arms under my bridge deck and lift up. It was pretty cool and I got to stay on aboard during it (we are not in the USA anymore). Once they blocked the boat and it was in its spot they power washed it (the bottom was not as bad as it looked in the water) and Merven and I went through a list of potential projects I would like them to do (I am not going to tell you what they are yet, but hopefully when I get back at the end of October they will be done and I can brag a bit.
I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday finishing getting the boat secured and ready for any hurricanes by taking off the cockpit canopy, having the outboard and headsail picked up to be serviced, changing the oil in the engines, cleaning out the fridge, and other miscellaneous jobs.
Having your boat sitting on dirt is an odd feeling to say the least, but one of the most disturbing sights for me had to be when I was changing the oil and looked out my escape hatch (which looks down under the boat and is called the aquarium by guest) just in time to see a minivan drive under my boat. Think about that…a minivan driving under a boat!!!