2022 has been a great year with a host of things for which we are thankful. Most of all I am thankful for our health and for our family and friends. We have had quite the year since our return from the Bahamas in April of 2022. We hit the ground running with family issues, boat projects and house projects. Shortly after arriving home, I was able to sneak away to Waynesboro and spend a couple of weeks with my favorite (and only) grandchildren and their parents. That always brings a smile to my face and lightens my heart as I watch three (what use to be) little ones become more independent and engaged in their various activities.
My dad had been living is a senior apartment since about March and things were getting a little more out of his control. He was not able to get around and care for himself as he once had and some medical issues that needed attending to weekly made it necessary to move him to a different facility. After a ton of research, the family decided it was time to consider a more permanent solution for him…..one that would have all the amenities he would need. He is living now closer to family in Chesterfield County and adjusting well. Hard to believe he will be ninety years old this August.
Since our departure this year for our annual Bahamas trip, we have dealt with some health issues ourselves that we have accepted as the new “norm” and a couple of boat issues. The generator issue we have already blogged about in detail, the second issue is one that would catch us by surprise. Remember that we had a great Christmas trip with the kids at St. Augustine and then we headed to No Name Harbor and then on to Tavernier. It was during our overnight on the second night that one of the stabilizers sounded funny so we centered them and shut them off until we could ask our experts if that was a “normal” noise. When we got to Tavernier we were tied up to the bulkhead in front of the “train” that had our starboard side tided up. We would stay at the train about a week as we enjoyed the New Year celebrating (a day early) by heading to “Bobs Bunz” for some music, dinner and dancing. The owners of Seascape (Larry and Laurie), Lady J (John and Jennifer), Sweet Dreams (Ed and Mari-Etta) and us all piled into two cars (girls in one, boys in the other) and headed to Islamorada where we indeed had a fabulous evening. Bob got up and sang as well as the regular band and boy could he belt out some blues.
The next morning Lady J and Seascape would depart Heart Harbor and start their trek to the Bahamas. We grabbed a quick photo of Ed and Mari-Etta with John and Jennifer from Lady J before they departed. Larry and Laurie would wait to depart after their crew arrived later in the day. Meeting new folks is always fun and we made plans to catch up to them in the Bahamas along with any Amazon packages that arrived after they left……two to be exact.
So with the emptying of the docks from of the main house, Greg and I took the opportunity to move Paradigm Shift over to the bulkhead there and tie up in front of Sweet Dreams. We would now be tied up on the port side…..this becomes important! We would spend a couple of days enjoying the tiki bar and allowing the “boys” to roam in the fenced area of the yard. Mari-Etta had been “up-cycling” with Jennifer and Laurie……finding treasures along the way and making them part of Heart Harbor.
Next would come the surprise we were not expecting. Greg and Ed were discussing vaccu-flush toilets and they walked over to Paradigm Shift so Greg could show him our system. This is when Ed pointed down in the water and asked what was that weird thing attached to the hull under our boat. Greg took a look and said, “you know….I don’t know what that is but I know what it is supposed to be…..our stabilizer…..and it is missing.” Oh boy! With that news Greg donned his snorkel gear and decided to dive on it to see if he could see any other damage. Immediately he is on the phone with his contact in Fort Lauderdale at Stabilizedmarine. Being a Niad authorized repair group, they could get us fixed up but they had only four days in which to do it. We had to immediately call marinas to see if anyone could haul us out for the repair and within a day we had it all lined up. The marina/boat yard in Key Largo could take us immediately…..the only thing is that they have the skinny entrance with the infamous “crash corner” and the slim entrance for us to enter the travel lift.
The captain, Ed, the boys, and I would see that Paradigm Shift got into this tight spot without an issue. I must say the captain had most of the work for sure and did a great job. We would wait for the travel lift to be put into place before making our departure from the boat. Mari-Etta was there to grab the boys and our bags as we would be checking into a hotel for a couple of nights. The hotel was right down the street from the boat yard and made it very convenient for us to run to the boat when we needed anything.
Now that it is out, we can see better the damage. The entire outer casing of the fin is missing. Wow! We remember hitting a possible sunken tree trunk in the Pungo Canal back some time ago but again never heard any noise until our overnight passage entering No Name Harbor. It was evident it did what it was supposed to do…..it broke away and there was no other damage. The repair guys came in and assessed the issue and the next day they installed our shiny new stabilizer fin. Wow…..it was a quick repair and sea trial and then we are off for No Name Harbor again where we would stage for our crossing to the Bahamas. We bid farewell to Ed and Mari-Etta and crossed to Chubb Cay just last night.
