Repairs, Road Trips, and Chaos in Florida

After we sorted out our US Customs issues we headed up to Fort Lauderdale to get some warranty work done. We had scheduled to get some gel coat cracks fixed on both bows, some blisters on the coach roof, and some random minor fixes. I also needed to go back to BC for a short trip to check out some issues with our apartment buildings then I was off to New Brunswick to drop off our truck and trailer that we used to get to Florida. 

After we got settled in at Harbour Towne Marina we made sure that the work would not be finished or more importantly that we would not need to be off the dock until I was back to help move the boat. We wanted to make sure I was back in time and that we could find another place to dock the boat for when I went to take the truck to New Brunswick to my folk’s new home.

Barry’s Adventure 

The flight home was good. I rented a car for the time I was home. I had a bunch of socializing to do with a bunch of our friends that I hadn’t seen in over 6 months. It was nice to stay with Bob and Sharon and I thank them for giving me a place to stay. 

Once my time in the big city was finished I drove to Chetwynd to inspect our apartment buildings and to meet with potential new property management. They seemed to be good and we needed to make a change so we hired them and started to transfer management. Chetwynd is a nice area and the drive North is fantastic. I love driving these remote highways. 

After I was done in Chetwynd I stopped off in Langley to visit my folks and grab the keys for their new home in New Brunswick. They bought the home a few months ago and are in the process of wrapping things up in BC before they move out East. I was also transferring ownership of our truck and trailer to them. 

Which brings me to my second trip…

After wrapping up in BC, I flew back to Florida, as soon as I arrived we needed to move our boat off the repair dock. Nikki had been searching for options as we needed to move our boat off the Leopard Dock in Harbour Towne where we had been getting our work done. In Florida, there are several homes on the different canals that have docks but no boats and these owners often rent the dock space out. The dock Nikki found was great, it was central and there were lots of places to walk close by. The owner was a nice woman whose husband had passed away a few years ago and this was a way for her to make a little money and meet interesting people. The only downside it was a super tight fit and it required you to parallel park at the dock, no easy task. 

After safely docking the boat I headed off the next day on a road trip to Cambridge Narrows, New Brunswick. This was over 3000 km in three days through 13 states. As I said above, I love road trips and traveling through remote communities. This was not that. This was a big highway driving with a pickup and trailer so not the same scenic trip as in BC except for Connecticut and Maine. It was so nice to get out of the big cities and into the remote areas of these states. My brother Brad met me at the lakefront home my folks bought, a gorgeous home. I hope they get to move there soon. 

Brad was picking me up so I could go to his new home in Nova Scotia and have a couple of days with him and Andrea. Their place is amazing, and the town, Lockport, is fantastic with a big beach and great views of the water on just about all sides. Such a nice couple of days with them but all good things must come to an end. It was back to Florida to spend some quality time with Nikki and Zorro.

All said and done it was almost five weeks of travel for me and over 5,000 km of driving. So it was nice to be back on the boat and back with Nikki. There was no time to rest as we needed to start preparing to head back to the Bahamas, this time we will explore the Abacos. 

Nikki’s Adventure:

I had a lot of excitement while Barry was away. 

• They dropped our boat while hauling it out

• There was a tornado warning and massive flooding

• Friends came from Australia and visited me 

• Moving the boat without Barry

• Spending 2 nights solo on anchor

Let’s start at the beginning, our boat needed to get hauled out to repair the fiberglass that had cracked on the bow. I rushed back to Harbour Towne when I got the call they were going to haul us and pulled into the haul area right as they started to lift it. As I am watching the boat drops about 4 feet and then gets caught in the straps. I was so stunned, I didn’t understand what I had just seen until I went over to the boat and saw that the keel had been damaged. The haul operator hadn’t placed the straps correctly and as they were lifting the boat they caught the edge of the keel. As the boat got higher up more weight got loaded onto the keel and suddenly the edge of the keel collapsed and that strap slipped off causing the drop that I witnessed. It felt like a big deal to me and all the workers just kept saying “It’s nothing, I’ve seen way worse than that” I can honestly tell you it didn’t feel like nothing but they repaired it in a couple of days so I guess in the end it wasn’t such a big deal as it felt in the moment. 

Tornadoes and flooding, where am I Kansas? I was driving down the road running some errands and the car radio started wailing and then there was an announcement to take cover as there was a tornado warning.

Water Spout in Ft Lauderdale

At first, I was thinking I didn’t need to go back to my Airbnb where Zorro and I were staying while the boat was hauled out but then a quick call with Barry brought me to my senses. By the time I returned to the house, the rainfall was torrential and the roads were starting to flood. I had a little conversation with the owner and he said we may have to evacuate in the night. I had no idea where we would go so I asked if you evacuate can you make sure to come and get me as I don’t know where to go or anything and he promised he would. Fortunately, we didn’t have to evacuate but it wasn’t a particularly restful night! The next morning we walked around the flooded streets and there was a lot of chaos in the city with traffic lights down, cars that died in the middle of the roads because they drove through too big of a puddle, and trees and debris everywhere.

Claire used to work for us at Momentum Fitness, a few years ago she and her husband moved back to Australia. They had a friend's wedding in the Caribbean and organized a visit with me while Barry was away.  We had a lot of fun exploring the murals in Wynwood, trying some delicious restaurants, and catching up. It’s great when you can stay connected to people even if you aren’t physically close. That’s a big part of life when living on a boat. You meet all these great people and then everyone goes their separate ways but you can stay connected with them if you put a little effort into it. 

As Barry said we moved the boat onto a private dock and I thought I had booked it for 10 days… I had only booked for a week. So on Sunday, I asked, “When do you have more people coming to use your boat?” Thinking it would be Friday as Barry didn’t get back until Thursday when she said tomorrow I started to panic. Where was I going to go, and how was I going to move the boat? Fortunately, our friends are Turnerboat were close by, and after a couple of calls, they said they could come over in the morning and help me move the boat to an anchorage that wasn’t too far away. Remember how Barry talked about how tight that parking spot was? Did you watch the video I posted above that showed how tight that space was? I now had to get the boat out of it! It was super stressful but I managed with the help of our friends fending off the hazards. We got the boat nicely settled in the anchorage and they headed back to their boat. 

Nicely settled, well not exactly, as the tide turned our boat started swinging closer and closer to some pilings in the water for a construction site out front of a house. I recently bought a range finder that you normally use for golf to see how far away things are from our boat. I got that out and spent the next 8 hours watching as the tide changed back and forth. The closest we got was 22 feet but that felt incredibly close when I didn’t feel like I could haul anchor and move the boat by myself. I think I have a new rule that I am happy to stay on the boat solo but not sure about at anchor solo! 

Next blog we explore the Abacos with our first-ever boat buddy, Turnerbout.