Hello Wild Horses!

10/27/2025

Oh my, oh my. We have returned to our lovely Wild Horses after seven whole months back home in Canada. We crossed the border on Oct 19 and arrived in Florida, and at Wild Horses, on Wednesday. The trip was easy and the border crossing fast. As expected, the border guard told us that we need to be registered with the US government within 30 days of being in the United States. He offered that it is free to do this on the USCIS website by completing a G325R form for each of us. Great! Easy, legal and free! (If you want more detail on crossing the Canadian border into the US, check out this article => Guide to U.S. Registration Requirements for Canadian Travellers)

Colourful fall leaves are a sure sign it is time for us to head south!

Ocean has one last game of frisbee at our home away from home in Belleville (my brother's awesome house!)

So much to pack, so little space

But we managed to get it all in!

Even little Ocean got packed into a sweet spot in the car

Three days to Florida but we tried to take lots of dog walk breaks

It is hard to describe the multitude of emotions from the past week. We have gone from land-living to boat-living, from family-centred awesomeness to being just our little family of three (yes! Ocean counts!), from easy and stress-free days to the ups and downs of getting projects done on the boat.

The great news is that Wild Horses looks amazing after her seven months in the long-term storage yard. She was a bit grimy on the outside but the inside was just as we left her. Well, almost. There were about half a dozen dead cockroaches scattered about. And one very alive salamander. I guess the cockroach killer did its job on the former uninvited guests, and the salamander? She hightailed it out of the boat as soon as she was discovered. No harm, no foul! The important thing is that Wild Horses had no mould or pesky boat smells. We will take that as a win!

Wild Horses on her jack stands

Oh my! Mike is halfway through cleaning the decks...

Our first two days were spent assessing the boat, sizing up our boat project supplies and reconnecting with our boatyard friends and sailors.

Then day three. Time to dive into boat projects! We have a fairly lengthy list to get through but none are as large and as complicated as our engine refit project that kept us in the boatyard for almost four months last winter. On our list this year: a new hot water heater (it is leaking), fixing our freezer (we have a serious frost issue), servicing our six docking cleats (they need a good inspection for possible corrosion), replacing some halyards (they are old and tired), fully servicing our outboard (it has had some hiccups lately), adding more solar panels (more is always better!) and replacing our 2002 navigation system and autopilot (our current ones have bit the dust). Whew!

Lots of boxes means lots of new electronics

Our dinghy is loaded into the Al's Mobile Mechanic van. She is ready for her spa day!

Reconnecting with old friends

And meeting new ones. This is what cruising is all about!

Our timeline for all this craziness is a bit aggressive. We are hoping to launch Wild Horses in early November and then spend a few weeks at a dock finishing our projects, getting provisions and stocking up on spare parts before we start heading south. South to where, you ask? We are targeting a second trip down to Grenada.

With this big goal in mind, we are ready to spend long days under the hot, humid Florida sun, getting the boat ready. We will be at the boat early in the day and stay until late afternoon. But this time, we are giving in to our soft underbellies. We are not living on the boat while she is high and dry in the boatyard. Truth be told, our four months of living on the boat at Green Cove Springs Marina last winter was hard on all three of us. Many aspects of a floating boat life are challenging but we signed up for all of that. Living on a boat sitting on jack stands in a dirty boat yard, rain or shine, isn’t for the faint of heart and it isn’t what we signed up for. Floating boats have indoor plumbing for toilets and showers and dishwashing. Boats on jack stands do not. Constant dirt, mud, no indoor plumbing, hot days, cold nights. Ugh. This go-around we are staying in an affordable off-site rental that makes our “after hours” life more comfortable for all three of us. Even Ocean is thankful to not have to negotiate a long set of stairs going up and down from the boat. While we are on the hard, all four of her paws will stay off the boat! Yes, our rental is a haven after a several hours of dirty, grimy, greasy, and very tiring, boat work. Every day we are finding our off-site time makes it easier to be well rested and ready to tackle whatever boat shenanigans arise!

Okay, enough chatter! We need to get back to those boat projects!