​We are back in Canada! Although we arrived in beautiful temperatures of around 17 degrees Celcius (62 degrees Fahrenheit), the weather quickly switched to being slightly below seasonal (-2 C / 28 F) and we have snow. Compared with Florida, it is cold! But we are happy and fully enjoying our time home.

Want to see what I mean? Click the buttons below!

Wild Horses was hauled out of the water about two weeks ago and we prepped her for a hot summer in Florida. She is now safely sitting on land at Green Cove Springs Marina in Northern Florida and, yes, she is hurricane-strapped to deal with the worst Florida wind events. Everything on the boat was removed and either put in our climate-controlled storage unit near Green Cove Springs Marina, or it was loaded into our car to be brought back to Canada. But the prep work didn’t stop there! All the walls, cabinets, floors and ceilings inside the boat were cleaned and sprayed with a mold control solution. We placed several moisture wicking containers throughout the boat to deal with condensation and lots of cockroach houses to kill any roaches that decide that Wild Horses might make a lovely place to stay for the summer. In order to further dissuade roaches and any other bugs, we closed our seacocks (water pipe outlets) and also stuffed them with steel wool. To also help with mold control, we have to make sure there is some ventilation within the boat. Since every hatch (our usual go-to for ventilation) has to be firmly closed to protect the interior from weather, we opted instead to just offset our cowl vents (also called dorades), with one facing forward and the other facing backward. Cowl vents are those odd-looking vents that sit on the boat deck. They are shaped to mitigate rain or seawater intrusion while still allowing fresh air to flow into the boat. And although they are effectively open tubes, one layer of screening at its base prevents any bugs or critters from entering the boat. These fabulous cowl vents have been our solution to allowing sufficient airflow to circulate within the boat while it is closed up tight during hot Florida summers. Awesome.
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All this prep work was what we did last year for our first Florida summer on land and it worked very well. There was no mold and almost zero bugs. We did have three roaches that tried to take up residence but they were quickly evicted. Then we immediately upped our roach prevention in both the boat and in the storage locker. Staring eyeball to eyeball with a cockroach while you are lying in bed is no fun!!

So, here we are, back in Canada with our boat back in Florida. Our plans are to return to the boat in October and then journey back to Grenada for the summer of 2026. But…
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There are lots of ifs, ands and buts with our plan!

​Unlike our first trip to Grenada, we now have a car that we have to store or sell. We will also need to figure out a good solution for health insurance. Last time, we were eligible for a two-year extension for our provincial healthcare. Coupled with travel insurance, we had low-cost health coverage for emergencies where ever we travelled, including the United States. But that option is only available every five years, leaving us ineligible for this next journey south. Likely, we will need some sort of “Expatriate health insurance” to cover us once we have exhausted our seven-month out-of-province health insurance.

And then there are new regulations, and a new political climate, around travel to the United States. We are unsure how this will play out but are watching carefully. Right now, our concern is low. Although we feel confident that we can navigate the environment today, we are working on back up plans, just in case travel to the United States becomes far less than welcoming. Still, our feeling is that all will work out just fine and we will be reunited with Wild Horses next fall.

For now, we still think of ourselves as liveaboards but with a temporary status of having land full time under our feet. It has been a fun two weeks of getting back to the conservation areas and trails we have missed, the climate-controlled living that make our days super comfy, and hugging our family and friends that we love dearly. Yay!

Oh my. What a season. Or, non-season, to be more accurate. Yeesh.

We happily launched Wild Horses a few weeks ago and quickly moved her to a dock at Reynolds Yacht Centre, a mere 1.3 nautical miles north. Yes, you read that correctly. After four months living on the boat on land, waiting for our engine to be rebuilt, and dreaming about heading south…our first trip on the water was to head north.
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But this wasn’t a move borne in craziness. No, Green Cove Springs is on the St. John’s River and the only way to get to “getting south” is to first go north to Jacksonville, where the St. John’s River meets the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and also provides an inlet that opens itself directly to the Atlantic Ocean. Sailors take either of these two routes as they head south.

At Reynolds, our plan was to spend about a week provisioning and emptying our storage locker before making our own journey south, with a new plan to go to the Florida Keys rather than the Bahamas. We had about two months left in our season, which sounds like a lot until you start factoring in distances and weather. The Bahamas is hundreds of nautical miles from Green Cove Springs. And the weather was forecasted to be terrible for crossing to the Bahamas over the next week. We knew it would improve but our fear was being in the Bahamas and trying to rush back to the States to haul out before we needed to be back across the border. We do our best not to move Wild Horses on a schedule and all we could see was a big old schedule if we tried to get to the Bahamas. We would be rushing provisioning, rushing the crossing of the Gulf Stream, rushing to get to a Bahamian sandy beach. Maybe we would have one moment to breathe deep and dip a toe in the beautiful blue Bahamian water and then…we would be rushing back to stage our crossing of the Gulf Stream again, and then rushing to haulout and to prep the boat for another summer in Florida. Yikes, it only sounded stressful to us. No, we wanted some calm joy on the water. So, instead, we set our sights on the Florida Keys, or as far south in Florida as we could get.

We started to get the boat cruising ready. We attached our sails, installed our full enclosure, set up our boat cushions, and made a loose plan of our journey.

​Sigh. Two weeks later and we are still at Reynolds Yacht Centre.

What happened?

First, another boat issue reared its ugly head. On our short cruise from Green Cove Springs Marina to Reynolds, we saw that the navigational instruments tied to our autopilot weren’t working. That means no depth, wind or speed readings and no autopilot. All of this is not critical…except depth. Without a depth reading, running aground becomes a real possibility, especially in the ICW.

We did some troubleshooting of the issue ourselves and with some of our sailor friends, but we couldn’t find the source of the failure.

At our wits end, we called Al’s Mobile Marine Service (our fabulous mechanic!) and he had one of his electronics technicians come to our boat to diagnose and fix the problem. This added a one-week delay to our plans.
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During all of this, we were chatting with family and friends. We are very lucky to have lots of support and cheering from the sidelines, biggest among those are our moms and dads. They share our joy and our pain, and make both even better, no matter where or what we are doing. It was after one of our calls back home that we realized that a quick trip to the Florida Keys is not where our hearts and our heads are fixed.

We are ready to be home, back in Canada, where we can give real hugs to our moms and dads and to give back some of that support that they so freely give to us while we are living out our dreams on the water.

Lucky us 😊.

Our sails are now off again and Wild Horses is getting ready for its second summer in Florida. We will move the boat back to Green Cove Springs Marina in about a week and then head back to Canada. The boating season wasn’t much for us this year but it hasn’t spoiled our sense of adventure. We will return to Florida next fall with plans of sailing south once again. Where? Not sure but the dreaming is in full swing and we are ready for whatever is next for our cruising life 😊.

Our fabulously talented mechanic at Al’s Mobile Marine Service finished our engine rebuild late last week. It was a daunting job of putting the engine, damper plate, transmission, muffler and prop shaft back together. Seeing all of our engine and other parts scattered about our cockpit, awaiting installation, was intimidating. Somehow, all of these pieces needed to find themselves carefully puzzled back together and perfectly aligned. Yikes!! We were very thankful to have a professional on the job!

But it hasn’t been without challenges, of course.

First, the screw holes for our new motor mounts were misaligned. Yikes! Thankfully, the on-site welder a.k.a. Chuck-the-miracle-worker, saved our bacon. Not only did he expertly re-drill proper holes but he dropped his other projects to do it. In 10 minutes, we had perfect motor mounts for Al to install, and for a mere $20 charge by Chuck. He is incredible!

Second, the…ummm, wait a minute…there were no other challenges! Al was able to get all pieces installed and aligned without too many adjustments or obstacles. It took a full four days but he did it. Finally, on Wednesday, the engine test could be done. I held my breath as Mike turned the engine start key for the first time in over 9 months. But I shouldn’t have worried. The engine turned on and purred like a little kitten. She was quiet. She was smooth. She took our breath away. Al was very pleased with all of his tests and retests. There was nothing left to do but smile. We have a working engine again! Check out the video of our test engine run. 

But it is not just our old engine running again. No, Al added modern checks and balances into the system which will make it so much easier to troubleshoot. He also took the time to walk through how to maintain the engine so that it stays pristine. This was the most incredible part for me especially. I was very curious about this engine rebuild and Al eagerly answered all of my questions and patiently taught me some of the tips and tricks to make our maintenance and troubleshooting so much smoother and more thorough. Of course, he did the same for Mike but the incredible part is that he worked through the engine information with me directly. Al was very keen to get me involved. He handed me tools. He asked me my opinions. He answered every single one of my questions as though it was his life’s work that I completely understood. Brilliant and refreshing.

​The few days that followed were a whirlwind of finalizing tasks so that Wild Horses could be launched. And she was. We were placed in the water yesterday morning and it was a wonderful moment for the whole Wild Horses crew. The next several days will be very busy as we finish prepping the dinghy and boat for life on the water. We plan to start heading south later this week 😊.

​Now, the whole week wasn’t super easy. Ocean managed to dislocate one of her front toes rushing down the stairs from the boat. She was a week with a splint and is now working through the tenderness of the toe but her limping gets less and less every day. There is never a dull moment on Wild horses! 😉

Real life really happens. Yeah, despite what the 6/49 Lottery ads tell you, there isn’t some crazy magical nirvana-type life that happens when you live on a sailboat. And social media? You are not helping! Yes, we have those fantastic, magical moments. Yes, we do. And they happen day-after-day at times.
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But normally? Most of the time? Yeah, it is regular life. Stuff breaks. Lots of stuff breaks. It rains. It is too windy one day and then not windy enough the next. We bang legs, arms, heads on whatever and barely notice. Oh the bandages we go through!

Just recently, I was chatting with a fellow cruiser in a very crowded laundry room. She asked how we liked living full time on the boat. My response? “Oh my gosh, we love it, love it, love it”. I paused as I thought back to the events of the morning and then quickly added “ish” (meaning “sort of”). It was honest. It was real. It hit the funny bone of every cruiser in that laundry room. They got it. It is a great life, for sure, but it isn’t protected from reality.
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So, what were the events of the morning? It began with trying to accomplish a few items off our to-do list. Simple enough. Mike was in our back cabin, adjacent to our battery display. We are plugged into shore power so our batteries should always be at 100%. That was the expectation as he quickly glanced at the battery display.

But they weren’t. We were somewhere around 85%. Not super low in terms of lithium batteries but, as I said, we are plugged into shore power so anything less than 100% is weird. And curious. And frustrating.

We immediately did a few tests of circuits and wires and it really seemed that our Xantrex battery charger had just decided to die an untimely death. Ugh. We stepped outside to clear our heads. We were wandering around the yard, talking to each other about this crazy battery situation, when a cruiser friend happened by. Mike gave a quick explanation of our charging issue and within half an hour we had a whole bunch of people on Wild Horses, including the yard manager who has the same battery charger as us. There was lots of chatter and various electrical testing tools were pulled out of pockets and bags. Reset buttons were pushed, electrical connections were tested, theories were put forward. The troubleshooting was in full bloom.

But alas, no solution. We even went so far as to get a price quote for a new Victron charging unit which could be delivered within a week (we have a Victron sales dealer as one of our cruiser friends). At the end of the day, the decision was that the charger was dead but we should call Xantrex Client Support first thing the following morning just to leave no stone unturned.
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We went to bed that night feeling very tired. Very tired of things breaking and very tired of our bank account getting a full workout.

The next morning at 9:00am we called Xantrex Customer Support. By 9:02am the issue was resolved.

What?????

It turns out that Mike had inadvertently pushed a button that changed the charging level of our Xantrex to 5 amps. Oops! The level was increased to 30 amps and, yeah, problem solved.
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We both smiled from ear to ear. Then we cancelled our order for that new Victron charger. And Mike promised to wear his glasses for all future button pressing of any kind 😉.

​And where are we with our engine rebuild and eventual launch? Still waiting unfortunately. But all is fine. We are thinking of getting wheels attached to our hull just so we can still explore the world by sailboat. Hmmmm. 😊

As we await our engine rebuild, we have been hard at work getting small and large tasks done on Wild Horses.

We arrived at Wild horses in the Fall with a fairly large to-do list, which we have slowly been working through. The list has big tasks, small tasks, some weather or temperature dependent and others are personal-energy dependent. This last bit is huge. We have definitely learned not to take on a task if we are not feeling physically or mentally ready to do it. Not only will we rush through the process, causing mistakes which need correcting, but we just won’t be able to deal with all those little “surprises” that inevitably happen.

“Surprises” happen a lot so, yeah, you really have to have your head in the game.

Over the holidays, one of these scope-creep tasks popped up about our ground tackle but, thankfully, we were ready to tackle it head on. What is ground tackle? This is everything that is used to anchor a boat and on Wild Horses it includes an 88lb Rocna anchor, 250 feet of 5/16 G4 chain spliced onto 190 feet of anchor rode. This is a great set up that has carried us to Grenada and back, even keeping us AND another 47-foot sailboat set in Carriacou during Tropical Storm Bret when that other boat dragged into us at the height of the storm.

Although we love our ground tackle, we knew that it needed a good fresh water cleaning when we arrived at Green Cove Springs Marina in Spring 2024. Our anchor was clean but our chain was beyond salty and dirty and well, yeah, it could tell a story or two about the places it has been 😊. Last Spring, everything was pulled out of the anchor locker and washed thoroughly with fresh water and then a commercial “saltaway” product that is meant to remove all the last nasty bits of salt from everything was applied. The anchor and chain were looking pretty decent when we set them back in the anchor locker for the summer.

This Fall, our plan was to remove all the ground tackle from the anchor locker again and flip our chain around so that the unused bits of chain at the end of the 250 feet would be attached to the anchor and the really used end of the 250 feet would get re-spliced onto our rode, waiting for opportunities for deep anchoring.
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But surprise! The heat, condensation, and any remaining salt that hid away in the chain links all did a big number on our gear. Oh, Florida summers, you are some nasty stuff! 

​We decided that the best option was to revitalize our gear by giving it a zinc bath. That’s right, our anchor and all 250 feet of chain went off to Metalplate Galvanizing near Jacksonville to get a fresh layer of zinc. This re-galvanization process is an inexpensive way to bring new life to ground tackle and we were thankful for it. One week later, our gear came back shiny and new.

​But, surprise! The “dipping” of the chain in zinc meant about eight hours of hammering the chain to loosen the links. Metalplate Galvanizing doesn’t use a tumbler after they dip the chain so each link had to be hammered free of the one beside it. Mike was onto other projects so this task fell on me. It was definitely a good workout! Did I mention we have 250 ft of chain? That is a crazy amount of hammering! But, I cannot deny how shiny and new it all looks. Worth every blister! 

​Bling #2 is our new spare anchor. We have carried a 45lb CQR anchor around for awhile but we really felt we needed a good modern anchor (Fortress, Rocna, Spade) as our spare, you know, in case things got really wild 😉! Seriously though, a spare anchor is awesome to have if you happen to find yourself at anchor through a particularly strong storm, or if your primary anchor gets snagged and is not recoverable. We have encountered neither situation to date but, if we did, we feel better launching our brand new FX37 Fortress anchor that is meant to hold a 47 foot boat in strong conditions. We are ready for Mother Nature to bring it on, but, just in case she is listening, we are sending an "all hail to Mother Nature" (please don't bring it on!).

​The other bling in our lives over the last week was a fantastic New Years celebration and light show here at Green Cove Springs Marina. The yard chief here had a truckload of fireworks that he had been saving just for this kind of celebration. It was our first experience with a non-city light show and we were amazed on a few levels. First, it was a beautiful show (we were stunned) and, second, it was incredible that it was legal to have such powerful fireworks without a permit (again, we were stunned). Florida is a different place! We were thankful that our yard chief had the experience to properly store, set off and clean up after the show. He did an incredible job keeping everyone entertained and safe 😊.

​Now that we are past the holidays, we are awaiting confirmation as to when our engine rebuild will finally happen. Fingers crossed it is in the next few weeks. It is getting cold here! We need the Bahamas!!

Still in northern Florida. Still in the boatyard. Still waiting for our engine work to finally be done.

But we are hopeful, happy and surrounded by great friends. It has been a joyful holiday season for us.

To make it even better, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for our engine work. Yay! All of the major components that were removed from the engine by our mechanic have been assessed and are being fixed up and made new, or replaced. Phew! This was the nerve-wracking part for us. Throughout this engine drama, we have been plagued by issues of parts being back ordered, or, even worse, parts that they just don’t make anymore. This is normal in the boating world. Even though Wild Horses is a 2002 boat (she is “old” but not ooooooolllddd), getting parts has been an adventure. Days and weeks have been spent by our mechanic’s office, searching for parts amongst their vendors and, when that failed, we did our own dives into google and Facebook to find all the right parts that will fit our 63D Westerbeke engine.
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This past week, just before Christmas, we got there. Every part of the engine, propellor, transmission and rudder has been reconditioned and is now awaiting reassembly. Plus, everything we need is ordered and should arrive in early January. We don’t have a date for the engine rebuild yet but we are hopeful for mid-January.

To celebrate our success, we decided to take a couple of days away from the boat yard and explore Cocoa Beach, about a two-hour drive south of us. There, we met up with our friend Steve from the boat "Lola". He left the Green Cove Springs Marina boat yard on Lola at the end of November and has been working his way south through the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). He is now positioned at West Palm Beach to do the crossing over to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the weather has been terrible for anyone trying to make that leap over the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is shallow and has a strong 4 to 5 knot current pushing north. For a good crossing, it is recommended that you have winds less than 15 knots without a northerly component. In the worst conditions, you can get square waves aimed directly at your bow that can be terribly uncomfortable and even dangerous. Add elevated sea heights to that and you definitely have a mix of conditions that will stop even the saltiest of sailors in their tracks.

On the way back to Wild horses, we decided to make a quick stop in at New Smyrna Beach. We heard good things about this Florida coastal town from our good friend Denys (who, incidentally was also the previous owner of Wild Horses so we know he has great taste 😊). Thank you Denys!

So, as we see 2024 come to a close, we are feeling pretty good. Not only is our engine work on the boat going extremely well, the rest of our boat work is also getting finished at a rapid rate. We are feeling pretty good about our dear Wild Horses.

And, we have met so many new sailing friends. It has been a pleasure to spend the holidays with them. They are all headed to the Bahamas sometime in January so it will be extra rewarding when we get to spend time with them on the water, at the beach and maybe even over dinner and drinks in the Bahamas, as we celebrate our boat successes and travels. 😊
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There is so much to look forward to in 2025! Happy Holidays!

​It is now December and Northeast Florida is dealing with an early cold spell. Our days peak at 15 degrees Celsius and our nights are dropping to a very chilly 0 degrees. Boats have no insulation and are not air tight so the chilly nights really cool down the hull and the deck. The cold air seeps in through any slight opening and whispers its way across our floorboards, giving them an icy feel. Without our little ceramic space heater and our down duvet, we would be freezing. Not good! I praise our space heater often!

Even though it is very cool (for Florida), we have several things to be thankful for. There has been very little rain and very little wind. This makes it so much easier to be cozy, whether we are in the boat or making those late evening walks to the yard bathroom. Also nice is that the sunny days really heat up everything so we are able to throw off our jackets and toques as we work on the boat.
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And there is lots of work to be done! Our main project, of course, is the boat engine. When the engine was disassembled by our mechanic, that was only the beginning of the real work to be done. Even though most of the parts were ordered over the summer, our engine repair has grown to include the transmission, the muffler and the rudder so a few new parts were required. We are also having existing parts tested, cleaned up and repainted. Other parts, like the prop shaft, are being milled back to true (it had small wear etchings from use over 22 years). There are a lot of phone calls, emails and google searches as we search for parts or services. The good news is that, so far, we have no show stoppers. The bad news is that it is a slooooooooow process.

In between the calls and the emails and the waiting, are we twiddling our thumbs? Hell no! This has been the perfect opportunity to break out our long “to do when we have a spare moment” list.

• The bottom of the hull is getting sanded to remove the barnacle rings and then we will give it a fresh coat of bottom paint. This is a project we have to work around the weather to get done.
• The hull and decks are getting waxed and any imperfections are getting fixed up.
• Our teak toe rails have dried out from the salt and sun, causing them to crack in a few spots. Mike is fixing the cracks and sanding them down to new. And then we are going to give them a fresh moisture bath with Howard’s Sunshield, a wood conditioner and UV Protectant.
• We are replacing all of our Genoa fairleads (deck hardware) that became fragile from sun and salt over the last few years.
• We have repaired a few of our stanchions that were slightly bent from a wayward docking in the Dominican Republic.
• Mike fixed our leaking high pressure overflow valve for our hot water heater. Woo hoo we have hot water! Very important with these chilly nights!
• The edging around our salon windows had degraded over time so I cleaned and sanded them up to new.
• I have cleaned the engine block and will be priming and painting it back to its beautiful Westerbeke red colour.
• We repaired one of our pantry lids that had been lying askew for the last year.
• We are replacing and repairing our anchor bow roller and getting our anchor guard milled back to true.
• And we finally found a locksmith who could make us new spare keys for our companionway lock. For some reason, it has a specialty lock and finding someone who could create the required custom keys for us has been a real journey. But we found him! Yay!

​What else are we doing? Exploring the area and getting in lots of hikes. There are some great state parks and trails around us and it has been a real pleasure to take a break from our dirty dusty boatyard and breathe in the fresh air of the forests and the ocean.

​And even in the boatyard, the days are not too bad. Of course, it is very satisfying getting lots of boat work done but it is made even better sharing the joys and sorrows of boat work and boat living with our newfound friends in the boat yard. Although we are not where we would have chosen to be in December, we are exactly where we are supposed to be. And that is pretty all right 😊.

On our way to getting our engine up to snuff, more and more of Wild Horses gets stripped off. It is unnerving but necessary!
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When our Westerbeke engine’s heat exchanger blew last spring, we knew it was going to be the start of something big. Our engine had failed a few times as we headed south to Grenada and it was the cause of much angst for Captain Mike. Every time our engine had to be fired up (arriving or leaving anchorages, no wind, or wind from the wrong direction), he held his breath. Inlets and narrow passages seemed to take years off his life. The stress was very real.

On the contrary, Mike never worries when we are sailing. In fact, that is when he is having the most fun. Strategically playing with the sail trim to get Wild Horses in a strong run while also managing the balance of the boat so that his first mate (me!) is comfortable and happy. He loves it!! Unfortunately, sailing isn’t always possible and the motor needs to be fired up every now and again. Even before our heat exchanger blew, Captain Mike’s main objective for our off season was to feel as confident in Wild Horses when motoring as he does while sailing.

From my vantage point, last Spring, it looked like a tall order. Mike wasn’t entirely sure that he didn’t want to just slap a “for sale” sign on Wild Horses. Yikes!

Then we found Al from Al’s Mobile Marine Service. A straight-talking guy with a jersey coast accent who overflows with knowledge of marine mechanics and all things boat-related. He came well-recommended and, truly, every interaction we have had with him tells us why people love him and his work.

He is doing a bang-up job. All parts of our red Westerbeke engine have been removed and inspected. Parts that test well are being cleaned, serviced and repainted. Parts that fail are being replaced. Every inch of the engine is getting some love.

While we are at it, we had him inspect our propellor and shaft, and also look at replacing our dripless shaft seal (stops water from entering the boat through the stern tube) that sits on the propellor shaft. Getting a new dripless shaft seal isn’t an issue but the propellor shaft was showing some signs of wear. We decided to remove it and get it milled back to perfection. Great! Except, removing the propellor shaft is only possible by first removing the rudder. This is a semi-big job that we could do ourselves (with the help of some awesome friends) and we were happy to do it as it gave us a chance to fully inspect the rudder and to replace the bearings that keep it gracefully steering our boat.

So, that is where we are as of yesterday. We remain high and dry at Green Cove Springs Marina. Our engine is reduced to just its block. Our propellor shaft and rudder have been removed and are lying peacefully on the ground next to our boat. No engine, no rudder, no prop, no sails and no water beneath us. We are stripped bare of steering and propulsion. But, we are headed in the right direction and getting closer and closer to happier times on the water.
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I see a little bit of stress leave Captain Mike’s face every day. Awesome.

Sigh.

I honestly do not know where to begin. Something akin to “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” is probably closest to the mark (sorry, Charles Dickens, I am sure boat yards were not on your mind when you penned those iconic words!).
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We have never “lived” in a boat yard before. We have worked on our boat in boat yards, sometimes for very long days. But we always had a home to go back to where we could have a long hot shower, enjoying all the comforts that let you relax. We also lived for a short time at this very marina, Green Cove Springs, last Spring but that was a whirlwind experience of just patching together some semblance of life on land while also working to exhaustion trying to get Wild Horses ready for her summer in Florida. That Spring, a shower of any temperature and even a tiny bit of air conditioning made us relax after each long day. And there were only 10 days of that before we headed north to ever-present air conditioning and comfort at my brother’s home in Belleville, Ontario.

This go around will be much longer than 10 days. It will very likely be 6 weeks and, depending on how our engine rebuild goes, perhaps even longer. Yikes!
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Don’t get me wrong though. Our boat home is quite comfortable. We have unlimited power and water, and having Starlink means that we have unlimited data for streaming. We have our lights, fridge, freezer, and stove all working. And, Florida’s temperatures are far cooler in Autumn so we don’t crave air conditioning like we did in the Spring. We also have our car and the city of Green Cove Springs as well as Jacksonville and St. Augustine to explore. Each city is super close and well-stocked with everything you could ever need at your fingertips. Wondering how we get Ocean on and off the boat while we are on land? ​Check out this video to see how we do it.   

But there are drawbacks. One drawback is that we have to walk to the bathroom when nature calls. Not a tragedy but definitely inconvenient when nature decides to call in the middle of the night. The other drawback is the boat yard itself. It is dirty and dusty. It is loud and there’s junk everywhere. Yes, we have mail delivery, garbage, showers and laundry. The amenities are there but well short of fancy. The garbages  are old oil drums set about the yard. The showers and bathrooms are clean but very rough around the edges. Same thing for the laundry room. And life in the yard requires some acclimatization. There are a mix of boats and a mix of personalities and lifestyle choices. A pristine boat sits beside a semi-derelict boat that has been mostly taken over by stray cats (don't get excited. I mean actual stray cats and not the 80’s band). Discarded gear and work materials can be found around many long-term boats. It is not pretty.

A funny thing happens, though, as you settle into Green Cove Springs Marina. You stop looking at the place and you start enjoying the vibe. That vibe? Well, it is a little difficult to explain. It is a little Mad Max in a gated community feel. Green Cove Springs Marina is very special. Of course, “very special” is somewhat open to interpretation, and swings from positive to negative depending on the events of the day.

• A chili cook-off at high noon on a plus 30 degree Celsius day. Yes, Green Cove Springs Marina is very special.
• The police stop by for some reason, blocking one of the cars from leaving and engaging in conversations with the marina staff. Yes, Green Cove Springs Marina is very special.
• One of the long-time “I will never have a dog” residents rescues a starving and aggressive pit bull from the side of the road and rehabilitates him into a sweet, ride-along buddy. Yes, Green Cove Springs Marina is very special.

​There is a real cadence and community in this no-rules DIY yard. Some people live on their boats full time in the yard, others are transients like us (working to launch) and a third group live and work close by and just arrive in the evenings or on weekends to continue work on their fixer upper boat. Everyone is hard working, especially the yard crew and marina staff who keep things moving along quite nicely.
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An aura of respect and gratefulness hangs in the air around here. People tidy communal areas (laundry, showers) when they leave them. There is always a “hello” or “good morning” being thrown about as people pass each other. Tools are readily borrowed and returned, as are extra hands and opinions. And although there is a constant buzz of sanders and work equipment starting as early as 8am, it is quiet as a mouse throughout the yard as soon as dusk sneaks around. Even on weekend evenings, people keep their “sitting around the campfire” chatter and music at a low volume.

Yes, we will be here for a while but it will be time well spent. Wild Horses will have a rebuilt engine and many of our little to-do list items will be done. Even better, we will have spent some quality time getting to know some really fine people. Good days, for sure.

Mike, Ocean and I returned to Florida and our lovely Beneteau 473 “Wild Horses” on Wednesday October 23rd.

Our summer in Canada had been incredible. My brother’s house is situated just north of Belleville, Ontario and it became our base camp for our summer land-life adventures (thank you Michael, for opening your home to us and being the most fabulous brother ever!!!). We were also lucky enough to find an affordable used Nissan Rogue that could get us around town and to visit family and friends. Perfect! For four months our heads and hearts were exactly where they needed to be whether we were in Belleville or Kingston or Toronto or Ottawa or even New Hampshire. We enjoyed every hug, every bit of news, all the fabulous experiences and so many smiles that really warmed our souls. Heck, we even learned that a couple of die-hard dog owners could fall in love with an African Grey parrot (shout out to our “pretty boy” Rafiki, my brother’s awesome pet bird). 

In a nutshell, being able to reconnect with everyone this summer was inspiring. It was a heart wrenching and sad (and frosty!) day when we started our trip south to Florida.

And, we were nervous.
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We had no idea how Wild Horses had fared through the extremely hot Florida summer. Even more worrisome, three hurricanes had crossed Florida this season. It started with Debby (category 1 in early August), then Helene (category 4 in late September) and, of course, Milton, a category 3 hurricane when it hit land. This last hurricane came as close to Wild Horses as I would have ever wanted a hurricane to get. The eye of Milton crossed less than 100 miles south of our boat (by that time it had downgraded to a category 1 hurricane).

Thankfully, our first leg of our trip south was first to go east to New Hampshire to visit our friends Dave and Lisa on Indigo Lady. We had met them and their all-electric catamaran in Luperon, Dominican Republic back in March 2023 and travelled with them extensively all the way to St. Bart’s. There, we said good bye as we continued our journey south to Grenada and they went to St. Kitts. We never would have guessed that, a year and a half later, we would be visiting them on land at their home in New Hampshire. It was a wonderful visit catching up and exactly what we needed to calm our anxiousness about Wild Horses.
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After a quick but fabulous two days in New Hampshire, we continued our trip south to Green Cove Springs Marina in Florida and to our beloved Wild Horses.

And, yes, Wild Horses was fine. Actually, she was almost perfect. Truly, she was exactly as we had left her, sitting on land in the long-term storage yard, hurricane-strapped to steel bolts below ground, stripped bare of gear and sails, and with our dinghy “Ocean Transport” sitting tarped up and strapped down on her bow.

Whew.

We climbed aboard and opened the companionway door. I fully expected a waft of mold to hit my nose and to see remnants of bugs or dried condensation on the floors. But no. Her interior was wonderfully mold-free. There was no water in the bilge and no “boat” smell. Just one dead bug carcass laid alongside the bug traps I had put on the floor. Take that bug! You can’t mess with Wild horses!

Whew.

Our boat was moved to the work yard on the same day. Although we were anxious to get to our system checks, we needed to take care of priority number one which was to get some stairs so Ocean could go up and down the 9 feet to the stern of the boat. Mike was 100% ready to build the stairs, but we got lucky. One of the yard crew wasn’t using their stairs and they were the perfect solution for us. Yes!!

​Although all was going swimmingly (all system checks passed with flying colours), the boat needed a little tidying up and organizing before we could move aboard. We spent a few more days at our hotel near St. Augustine and then finally moved aboard exactly one week ago.

How long will it take to get Wild Horses ready for the water and a winter of sailing playtime in the Bahamas? Not sure. We have a list of projects and tasks but the big driver of our schedule is our engine rebuild. Last spring our mechanic had estimated that he would need 2 days to tear down our engine and another 7 days to put it back together. In between that time, our fuel injectors need to be sent out for servicing, which he guessed would take 4 weeks. Ugh, that equates to about 6 weeks in the work yard. To add to the pain, the hurricanes have played havoc with our mechanic’s schedule so he has been delayed in starting the work on our engine. He is currently set to arrive on Tuesday November 5th. So, the six-week clock starts ticking on Tuesday.

Hold on Bahamas! We will get there!!
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In the meantime, how are we managing life in a dirty, dusty and noisy work yard in hot old Florida? Check out the next post from Sailing Wild Horses to find out!