I feel like I’m in the big city all of sudden, tucked away in a coffee shop complete with baked goods and -gasp- internet! Sam and Kayda have taken the crew on a walking tour of Hope Town, which, as was pointed out, will largely be a who’s who of Mainers in Hope Town. I can’t get over how much of our state fills this little place seasonally, floating or otherwise. I certainly understand the draw- it has everything a boater or cottage owner would need, plus easy access to protected beaches in every wind direction, and snorkeling to boot. If we knew a winter of ours wouldn’t be focused on sailing, this is the place we’d hunker down to rent a house.
Another front is on its way, and we’re happily dug in just outside the harbor channel to await its passing. After days of hot sunshine, it’s nice for everyone to have a bit of change, with the bonus of having an ‘official’ excuse to hunker down to craft, play games and watch movies. We’ll have our tour here this morning and then head back to the boats to do just that. Tomorrow, no doubt, it’ll be business as usual. We can’t miss too many days without beach house building, can we?
We’re starting to think ahead to our upcoming projects onboard, and we’ve almost completely decided that this will be the year we haul the mast and replace the rod rigging. While we’d also love to paint the mast, cost will most likely be inhibitive, and we may opt to only paint below deck, so poo, there goes my drive for finishing my granny square ‘sweater’ for it. Eh, what the heck, I’ll probably yarn-bomb it either way when Andy’s not looking.
Other projects will most likely be a new fixed bimini frame, and new canvas to match our new dodger. I’d also like to replace the cockpit cushions, which have started to spew their foamy innards despite my efforts to sew the pleathery seams closed. Our house batteries need replacing, and we are in desperate need of a larger, but lighter dinghy (so that we can still feel comfortable in our davits’ ability to haul with a subsequently larger engine). We have our eyes on an aluminum-hulled option, but as this list grows and the dollar signs start swirling in our brains, we have to ground ourselves to reality.
After the storm blows through here in the next day or two, we’ll most likely make our way back south a bit, and attempt for some snorkeling again near Sandy Cay before making our way back north to our eventual ‘jumping off’ point for the crossing back. For now, we’ll continue to grab these last few weeks with a strong grip!
