Land Lubbers For A While

Blossom under cover 

Well, we’re back in CA now. After 10 hours of travel we found ourselves 3000 miles away, 30 degrees cooler and land-bound once more.

Our last week at AYB was crazy busy. We were so sad to say goodbye to Jo & Robbie after spending the most wonderful time with them coming up from Charleston. We enjoyed our last dinner out at the Pirate’s Cove and then said goodbye the following morning as they continued their journey northward.

Neither could believe that this “corn bread” was not a sweet cake, it was that sweet!

Us saying goodbye (thanks for the pic Jo!) I forgot my camera :/

The heat index was over 100 degrees the last few days and we were melting. It was so bad that they had to send the yard folks home in the afternoons, it was just too much. Thankfully, we could leave the AC on until the very last minute. It was still tough, especially for Martin who had a lot of outside tasks.

Yup, that says 102F and it was just as humid :/

We enlisted the help of an employee at AYB, Levi, for three days and he was amazing. Blossom is cleaner today than she has ever been! It proved very fortuitous that we had help too, as the first day of cleaning I managed to fall down/off a stair and twist my ankle. I hobbled for a few days but managed fine.

 Ouch, ice at night helped 

As for the prep work we did on Blossom, we have an extensive list that we used last year when we left her at River Forest in Florida. This year we made some changes since we’re leaving her in the water (fresh/brackish) and under cover (in a shed) rather than on the hard. The basics, however, were the same: clean, prep, wrap all vents in plastic and leave with a dehumidifier on and fans blowing.  Our list from last year is a long one so I thought I’d just link to it here if anyone would like to see it. I'm quite sure it's overkill but hey, she's our baby! Of course, we didn't do any of the things that required being out of the water.

Blossom resting

Here’s a list of some "boat business" items we took care of and some things that we did differently this time:

• Ballast. Martin moved a total of 1500 lbs of lead from the port side of the laz to the starboard side. (In that heat, yeah, it was a drag.) This significantly improved our left-lean. We should only need to offset the current lean with about 100 gallons of diesel, a much more acceptable amount.
• Weevils. I couldn’t figure out what they were eating and they were all over the boat. So Blossom got bug-bombed a couple days after we left. The exterminator said he’s only seen a weevil infestion a dozen or so times in his 20 years on the job but that it can happen. Lord knows what they’re eating but they are in every room of the boat and there is NO food on that boat. I’m suspicious of my quilt batting so we removed it all. (My 3 quilts from the boat are currently living in our freezer in the garage. 1 frozen week and they should be dead!) The bomb should take care of any other little creepy crawlies that try to get near the boat for a few months as well.
• Rugs. We steam cleaned the rugs, carpets and couch with a Bissell. It’s small and portable and yup, it was life changing. (I bought one the day we returned and just finished doing all the rugs in the house – if you have pets and/or allergies, it’s amazing!)
• Spiders. AYB is known for spiders – specifically, spiders pooping on the boat from the roof of the shed. She was cleaned and waxed early this week and will be washed down monthly. Hopefully a full wash and detail in the spring will keep her looking like new, despite the spidy poop.
• Winterizing: the folks at AYB will be winterizing B this fall. Their winterizer guy used to work at Deltaville and knows Nordhavns well. He and Martin went over the plan and we feel confident all will be well. (We shouldn’t expect a “deep freeze” but best to be safe…)
• Diver. We'll have a diver check periodically on our bottom growth and zincs (or aluminums as they are), 
• Canvas. We spoke with a contractor and ordered a few more pieces. We’re replacing the large piece that covers our kayaks as the one we have is too lose and flappy. We’re also having a cover made for the dinghy helm and the storm plates.

We celebrated our last night in Virginia by going to see The Secret Life of Pets and having Mongolian Barbecue for dinner. Such the rowdy couple!

We’ve only been home for a few days but we’re adjusting to life on land. We both miss Blossom but I think we’re also ready for some off-the-boat r&r. It was a fabulous, busy cruising season and now it feels decadent to be home without the list of boat chores to attend to! We’re looking forward to our time in CA, knowing that we’ll be itching to get back to Blossom next spring!

See you all in March…

Safe travels and fun adventures to everyone!

 Our new view for sundowners (note fleece jacket and slippers), it's summer (near) SF after all :)

ps: This is actually the penultimate blog post of the season, though my last. Martin will be posting a map of our travel route and stops for 2016 as he did last year!