The time has come..........to leave our comfort zone of the marina with all its commodities! I absolutely love my toaster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!but must leave on land. It's an absolute no-no for mariners as to toast 2 slices of bread would cost us too much energy!!!!!

Adieu veaux vaches cochons...et grille-pain!!! C'est un objet banni du voilier à cause de sa trop grande consommation d'énergie!!!!!!!!!!Snif!

Finally! It was our turn to host our dear friends Lindsay and Karen who have fed us and supported us throughout the preparation of our trip - mind you, their support will be ongoing#@!! Anyhow, it was a sunny afterwork get together on La Buena Vida and we had a relaxing time! Lindsay will join us for the passage Beaufort to Virgin Islands!

And last but not least, a feast in my sister's new home...the sun and the heat made it a very enjoyable evening. We loved the songs of the crickets, we even liked the neighbours's reggae music fitting the mood of the evening...but we could have done without the moskitoes! But after all this is Canada!

May we wish Liette many happy garden parties at her house!

Montreal! With each visit came the task of saying goodbyes...with good food and drinks! And wonderful company!

Joanne in her most favorite activity: choosing the right wine in a glamorous restaurant (Version Laurent Godbout:Look at the backdrop!) where we loved to treat them to delicious rose wine and delicious appetizers!

Here is Heiner feeding Marleyne tasty Tempura Asparagus!

Annik, Gunnar, Joachin and Eliana...we enjoyed their company and are very happy to have them occupy our house while we are sailing...mind you, the whole family took to sailing very rapidly!!!!! What a wonderful afternoon we spent with all of them...we'd adopt the absolute fearless kids at anytime as they seem to be ready for serious sailing! (The parents were good too, supplying us with all kinds of exotic beers, including Belgian beers of course!)

We spent most of August in a very busy place...lots of traffic...especially around 4h00 when hundreds of adrenaline charged sailors came all at once back to the harbour! No duck in sight....

Our "new" acquisition ... if there were only wind. It is a Hamilton Ferris model, rigging-suspended (as one can see ...) and runs very quiet. To be stored in our engine room when not needed. Félix!!!! C'est le nom que j'ai donné à cette éolienne.......nous attendons le vent depuis son installation il y a 3 jours!!! Quand nous serons en mer pour de longs passages, Félix sera démantelé et ira dans la cale...une éolienne digne d"Ikéa, quoi!!

Another day in the ... office?
Une journée au boulot ressemble à cà, maintenant:quand le capitaine a des réparations à faire - la cale est définitivement son endroit préféré - c’est le branle-bas de combat! Toutes les portes et les compartiments s’ouvrent et moi..j’en profite pour aller faire des courses!!!

Working on a couple of jobs - self-inflicted!

Had bought some spare parts for the boat, an autopilot to back up the old one (20+ years ...), only to install the newer model (all relative, it is a usedone, but with more fancy electronics) ... and it was taking days to get everything in place, wired up, ... eventually the unit fired up ... and after some hick-ups: it worked.

Future will tell if this fancy one will do the job.
Nousavons fait l’acquisition d’un nouveau pilote automatique - lui aussi usagé mais moins que l’autre - et ce en prévision de notre voyage d’une douzaine de jours sur l’océan! L'avenir nous dira si cela était une sage décision!

La cale n’est peut-être pas l’endroit le plus confortable mais au moins, c’est sec!!! La température pluvieuse a considérablement ralenti nos préparatifs, surtout les travaux d’époxy et de vernissage! A chaque jour, ces gros nuages noirs nous laissent présager des orages violents!
But work is severely hindered by the weather. A few days earlier, we had sanded down the toerail - all 75 feet and between showers, hoping for some improvement in the weather to start varnishing. No go ... very heavy rain moved in ... every few minutes significant downpours came our way. Instead of getting to Cetol the toerail, we had to empty the dinghy on a daily basis - if not twice. Did it ever rain!!!!

Already August! the number of projects has been diminishing and we managed to go sailing for a weekend and to invite our (street) neighbours Leslie and Mike for a wine-and-dine cruise! See, that's how happy sailing make people!

Nous voilà déjà au moins d'août et à force de faire des listes de projets, leur nombre a considérablement diminué..au point que nous avons pu aller faire de la voile en fin de semaine dernière et même invité nos voisins Leslie et Mike à faire une petite croisière en fin d’après-midi : n’ont-ils pas l’air ravi?