{"id":2039,"date":"2013-05-10T12:39:39","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T12:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2013-05-10T12:39:39","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T12:39:39","slug":"bob-and-brendas-most-excellent-adventure-the-end-of-a-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2039","title":{"rendered":"Bob and Brenda\u2019s most excellent adventure. The end of a chapter…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday at 06:00 I took Brenda to the dock and waiting taxi to begin her journey to our \u201cland home\u201d in CT.\u00a0 Except for a brief trip home for Christmas, Brenda and I have been aboard Pandora together \u00a0for eight months, beginning on September\u00a0 11th<\/sup>\u00a0when we moved aboard, until May 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Our trip took us a long way. \u00a0 We experienced most of the Intra-Coastal-Waterway, all the way from Eastern Connecticut to Ft Lauderdale across to the Bahamas and as far south as Rum Cay and Long Island which sit on the Tropic of Cancer. \u00a0 We made many wonderful friends along the way and visited most of the major areas of the Bahamas and covered nearly 3,000 miles, about 1,000 miles of that in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

While the trip has been remarkable in so many ways, there is no doubt that I share Brenda\u2019s excitement about heading home.\u00a0 Our plan was to make this trip a long one and then, in future years, split our time between land and see.\u00a0 Next winter we plan to spend about three months in the Bahamas with a month or two in Maine this summer and next. \u00a0\u00a0In between we will spend some time in eastern long Island sound home waters and the\u00a0Chesapeake.\u00a0 \u00a0 I wouldn’t want to miss the Annapolis Boat Show, would I?<\/p>\n

As we have been doing for years, I will make the really long runs with crew and Brenda will join me for the duration once the boat is in place.\u00a0 This approach has worked well for much of the nearly forty years that we have been cruising together.<\/p>\n

My plan now is to have my friend Craig join me this Saturday to spend a week sailing in the Abacos.\u00a0 After that friends will arrive to help me take Pandora north with our hope of leaving the Bahamas on our about May 19th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

I have been looking at the weather on the eastern seaboard for several weeks now and I am hopeful that we will have favorable conditions within the two week window that my crew has to get back to CT.\u00a0 The spring winds along the eastern seaboard are generally from the southwest this time of year so, unless there is a cold front passing off of the coast at that time, we should be able to make the run within that time frame and hopefully under sail.\u00a0 As is always the case with weather, \u201clet\u2019s hope it works!\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Time will tell.\u00a0 Making long passages are a lot tougher when you have limited time and visiting crew as it\u2019s not\u00a0uncommon\u00a0to find that conditions are not favorable for making a desired trip for perhaps up to a week at a time.\u00a0\u00a0 With a couple living aboard, it\u2019s easy to wait for perfect weather but with visiting crew, not so easy.\u00a0 As has often been said, \u201cthe most dangerous piece of\u00a0equipment\u00a0on a boat is a clock\u201d and the need to keep to a particular timetable.\u00a0 It\u2019s always better to wait than to head out when conditions are not favorable.<\/p>\n

If we run into trouble keeping to our schedule we will just bail out and head for Annapolis where I can leave Pandora for a week or so and then head back to finish the run.<\/p>\n

I still have to find a yard where Pandora can be hauled for a month or two for some repairs and\u00a0maintenance\u00a0but that will have to wait until I re-enter US waters where I can easily make cell calls.\u00a0 While we did get a Bahamas cell phone, using it to call the US is expensive so we have limited use as much as we can.<\/p>\n

Having Brenda leave today, even though we have been planning it for weeks, was a bit of a jolt to me and to return to Pandora after taking her to the taxi was depressing.\u00a0 Returning aboard to see that all of her stuff gone including the shells and other decorations that were out for display was a real bummer.\u00a0 Pandora has been our home for many months and to see that it no longer looked \u201chomey\u201d was sad.<\/p>\n

So, I was aboard, alone and depressed.\u00a0 What to do?\u00a0 Brenda predicted that I would clean.\u00a0 Yup, she called that one right.\u00a0\u00a0 So, at the tender hour of 06:30, out came the cleaning materials and for the next three hours I scrubbed away.\u00a0 I have to say that Pandora was already pretty clean but she is really clean now.\u00a0 Rugs have been shaken out, floors washed, heads sanitized and dust cleared from shelves and every nook and cranny that I could reach.<\/p>\n

There is still plenty to do to keep Pandora in top shape, there always is, but at least as I prepare for Craig\u2019s arrival and ultimately, the trip north in about a week, Pandora will be ready to begin her nearly 1,000 mile voyage home.<\/p>\n

Is has indeed been \u201cBob and Brenda\u2019s most excellent voyage\u201d and while there have been plenty of challenges, it\u2019s been a wonderful experience.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a great way to close is with a shot taken on the docks at Fayerweather Yacht Club way back on September 11th<\/sup>, our first night out. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>Fayerweather Yacht Club was a fitting spot to spend that first night as it was our first yacht club and the spot where we kept our very first boat, a 20′ long Cape Cod Catboat, way back in the late 70s.\u00a0 Who would have guessed that we would one day have a boat capable of crossing oceans and that we would be in a position to take the time, and have the opportunity, to spend many months away and aboard.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the close of is amazing voyage and Brenda\u2019s departure, we enjoyed dinner at a local eatery here in Marsh Harbor the night before she left.\u00a0 What a great way to mark the end of our time together and the conclusion of our first big voyage.\"\"<\/a>It’s been a wonderful time together, mostly with smooth sailing, and we are looking forward to some shore time, a chance to sleep in our bed at home, the one that Brenda calls her “cloud bed” and then come back to the Bahamas next winter.<\/p>\n

This sunset from our last night aboard here in Marsh Harbor was particularly beautiful. \u00a0Or, is it a sunrise on our new, and\u00a0more carefree\u00a0life together? \u00a0You decide.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday at 06:00 I took Brenda to the dock and waiting taxi to begin her journey to our \u201cland home\u201d in CT.\u00a0 Except for a brief trip home for Christmas, Brenda and I have been aboard Pandora together \u00a0for eight months, beginning on September\u00a0 11th\u00a0when we moved aboard, until May 9th. Our trip took us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2043,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions\/2043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}