My OperaHomeward bound
Friday, September 12, 2008 7:50:29 PM
Today finds us in pensive mood as we contemplate returning home for the Winter.
The plan is to carry on wandering about in Maine (of which more later) for the next month or so, and then haul FG out in Belfast (the other one) where we’ll give her some much needed TLC for a few weeks before flying home. We’ve given our tenants notice, so will move back into 2CV in late October or early November.
Halcrow has kindly suggested that they might be able to find us some work through the Winter (thanks Steve!) so this really feels like a temporary return to our past life, as it now seems to us. We’ve both been becoming keen to have a break from the cruising life, to spend time with family and friends and to enjoy some home comforts. However, having made the decision, we’re now feeling slightly nervous about stepping back into normality. Objectively, I’m curious as to how we’ll feel about coming back at the end of the time. I’m pretty sure at this stage that we’ll be keener than ever to return here and carry on, particularly as Maine is spectacularly beautiful.
We only stayed a night Tenants Harbour, where we left you at the end of the last entry, as we were keen to make it up to Belfast. We knew that our friends from yacht Hannah had been due to go back in the water a few days previously and were planning to head off further north. We’d passed messages that we were on the way, but hadn’t been sure that they had got through so were afraid that we might have missed them.
Although apparently none of the messages had actually got through, we eventually found them tied up and looking much the same as when we last saw them heading out of Cienfuegos in southern Cuba into a distinctly lumpy sea...... with us heading east to the Jardines de Reina and them heading west around the corner. The same that is except for Hannah looking very smart after her haul out, and Mick and Bee looking decidedly worn after all the work. However they still showed us around the delights of Belfast, which are considerable, and introduced us to some of the many friends they’ve made during this and their previous visit.
We spent a very special afternoon with Jean and David at their gorgeous house in the hinterland. Sitting in their lounge, we saw hummingbirds (I for one wouldn’t have believed this in Maine if not seen with my own eyes) groundhogs woodpeckers woodchucks nuthatches etc, all within a few metres of us, then listened to David and Jean’s repartee and laughed until our faces hurt.
FG’s antifouling is getting pretty tired after a season in the tropics and was already starting to show quite a bit of growth since I last went over the side in Beaufort North Carolina to scrape it off. As I figured that in this water I’d die of hypothermia before managing to scrape the rudder alone, we decided that we’d take advantage of the decent tidal range here and dry FG out against a wall. Well, perhaps Sunday wasn’t a good choice from a spectator point of view, but at least we managed to get most of the work done before the bulk of helpful comments started.
So, with a newly slippery FG, and lockers restocked largely from Ocean State Job Lot (not dissimilar to Trago Mills but with food) we headed back out into Penobscot Bay with the firm intention of not covering more than 10 miles per day and not motoring. We’ve largely succeeded so far on both counts and have been spoilt for beautiful anchorages. The weather is settled and, apart from keeping a look out for hurricanes (of which there are no less than 4 currently active) sneaking up on us, we’re just loving it.......... and wondering exactly why we’re planning to fly home.
Small World #1
Who should we find in Belfast (apart from Mick and Bee) but a couple who we last saw more than three years ago just a few of moorings away from us at Wearde Quay in Saltash. While we were still doing sensible jobs and dreaming of escaping the following summer, Robin and Jackie were a year ahead of us, desperately trying to get Blackthorn ready for their departure south. And here they are, looking good and heading off again after 10(?) months out of the water while they toured the states in the Happy Bus, a colossal (by UK standards only, you understand) camper van, complete with 1000cc BMW bike which they lent us to drive up to see a nearby music festival.
Small World #2
.... another reminder, as if we needed it, of the smallness of this world of ours........ While we were in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which incidentally is a rather atmospheric, peaceful and lovely place (apart from the biting flies) on the Virginia /North Carolina border, we stopped for the night at a small quay to look at the visitor centre. Anyway, an English couple wandered by and naturally started talking. It turned out that he was a retired civil engineer and insisted on taking a photo of us....... fair enough I thought, and forgot all about it........ until we heard that he had spotted one of our ex-colleagues surveying outside his house in Wareham, told him he’d seen us and showed him the picture to prove it. Hence the photo came back to us via Halcrow! (Lucky Lucia thought to cover up the Mowlem logo on my tee shirt!)
The plan is to carry on wandering about in Maine (of which more later) for the next month or so, and then haul FG out in Belfast (the other one) where we’ll give her some much needed TLC for a few weeks before flying home. We’ve given our tenants notice, so will move back into 2CV in late October or early November.
Halcrow has kindly suggested that they might be able to find us some work through the Winter (thanks Steve!) so this really feels like a temporary return to our past life, as it now seems to us. We’ve both been becoming keen to have a break from the cruising life, to spend time with family and friends and to enjoy some home comforts. However, having made the decision, we’re now feeling slightly nervous about stepping back into normality. Objectively, I’m curious as to how we’ll feel about coming back at the end of the time. I’m pretty sure at this stage that we’ll be keener than ever to return here and carry on, particularly as Maine is spectacularly beautiful.
We only stayed a night Tenants Harbour, where we left you at the end of the last entry, as we were keen to make it up to Belfast. We knew that our friends from yacht Hannah had been due to go back in the water a few days previously and were planning to head off further north. We’d passed messages that we were on the way, but hadn’t been sure that they had got through so were afraid that we might have missed them.
Although apparently none of the messages had actually got through, we eventually found them tied up and looking much the same as when we last saw them heading out of Cienfuegos in southern Cuba into a distinctly lumpy sea...... with us heading east to the Jardines de Reina and them heading west around the corner. The same that is except for Hannah looking very smart after her haul out, and Mick and Bee looking decidedly worn after all the work. However they still showed us around the delights of Belfast, which are considerable, and introduced us to some of the many friends they’ve made during this and their previous visit.
We spent a very special afternoon with Jean and David at their gorgeous house in the hinterland. Sitting in their lounge, we saw hummingbirds (I for one wouldn’t have believed this in Maine if not seen with my own eyes) groundhogs woodpeckers woodchucks nuthatches etc, all within a few metres of us, then listened to David and Jean’s repartee and laughed until our faces hurt.
FG’s antifouling is getting pretty tired after a season in the tropics and was already starting to show quite a bit of growth since I last went over the side in Beaufort North Carolina to scrape it off. As I figured that in this water I’d die of hypothermia before managing to scrape the rudder alone, we decided that we’d take advantage of the decent tidal range here and dry FG out against a wall. Well, perhaps Sunday wasn’t a good choice from a spectator point of view, but at least we managed to get most of the work done before the bulk of helpful comments started.
So, with a newly slippery FG, and lockers restocked largely from Ocean State Job Lot (not dissimilar to Trago Mills but with food) we headed back out into Penobscot Bay with the firm intention of not covering more than 10 miles per day and not motoring. We’ve largely succeeded so far on both counts and have been spoilt for beautiful anchorages. The weather is settled and, apart from keeping a look out for hurricanes (of which there are no less than 4 currently active) sneaking up on us, we’re just loving it.......... and wondering exactly why we’re planning to fly home.
Small World #1
Who should we find in Belfast (apart from Mick and Bee) but a couple who we last saw more than three years ago just a few of moorings away from us at Wearde Quay in Saltash. While we were still doing sensible jobs and dreaming of escaping the following summer, Robin and Jackie were a year ahead of us, desperately trying to get Blackthorn ready for their departure south. And here they are, looking good and heading off again after 10(?) months out of the water while they toured the states in the Happy Bus, a colossal (by UK standards only, you understand) camper van, complete with 1000cc BMW bike which they lent us to drive up to see a nearby music festival.
Small World #2
.... another reminder, as if we needed it, of the smallness of this world of ours........ While we were in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which incidentally is a rather atmospheric, peaceful and lovely place (apart from the biting flies) on the Virginia /North Carolina border, we stopped for the night at a small quay to look at the visitor centre. Anyway, an English couple wandered by and naturally started talking. It turned out that he was a retired civil engineer and insisted on taking a photo of us....... fair enough I thought, and forgot all about it........ until we heard that he had spotted one of our ex-colleagues surveying outside his house in Wareham, told him he’d seen us and showed him the picture to prove it. Hence the photo came back to us via Halcrow! (Lucky Lucia thought to cover up the Mowlem logo on my tee shirt!)
auveq # Tuesday, September 30, 2008 12:02:43 PM
guess who is sending regards?
erik and heike who have just read your ideas and worries about returning back to normal life.o.k.we have already experienced normal working life since july/august and we are still alive and in good spirits.at the moment we are staying with a turkish friend of ours at the turkish west coast because when you work normal hours you also have holidays-autumn holidays. and although erik had said after coming home that he is a bit full of all the impressions and does not need any holidays for the next....he was the first to book the flights to turkey after our friend zeki had invited us.
erik did the trip back again on his own because the booking with dockwise was cancelled a week before the embarkment was due.i had already returned to germany and guess how happy i was when erik told me on the phone that everything about his return had changed ! to cut a long story short he did very well and fortunately he sold auveq to an englishman in maldon on sea/blackwater river,that is the place where auveq had once been built..so old auveq is back in her homeland,isn`t that sweet?while erik sailed back my ex husband and i had sold our house and i moved into eriks little flat.that was a big job and a real challenge.when he had reached the azores he encouraged me to move into his place by saying that i could change a bit here and there.well i told myself to meet the challenge and i nearly changed everything to sqeeze myself comfortably in.of course i was very anxious to see his reaction,but i should not have worried because he liked every bit of the female decoration improvement...his friends say he was so happy to be safe back home and he is really glad that he could sell auveq.erik has met lots of guys who are keen on taking him on board,no matter where and when..and i am quite happy that i have survived and as i am sitting here writing this e mail looking onto the sea i am quite content that i am not on board because it is again VERY windy as it had been so many times in the past year.
lucia and pete do not worry too much about coming home,there are so many pleasant aspects and how lucky you are to have the possibility to escape again.
take care,love erik and heike
erik lost your e mail address
this is his kruegererik@gmx.de