ARRIVAL IN ITALY

 After a 7 hour flight and a very long wait at Fiumicino airport to get our luggages (the door of the plane's cargo was stuck!!!), we finally took a bus bringing us in the heart of Rome. It was Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining and there it was: Rome! We had a small hotel near the Vatican and were very very glad to be able to walk  for about 30 minutes from Piazza Cavour to the hotel (we used caddies to carry our luggage ...wisdom from our cruising life).  Despite the fatigue of the trip, we had to go out after a very refreshing shower! The streets were animated: the bridge Sant'Angelo over the Tiber offered romantic views of the surrounding hills and buildings. 

The view of the massive Castel Sant'Angelo build in 135 by Emperor Hadrian was imposing and gave us a taste of the days to come! So much to discover.

And of course, the Vatican being in the neigbourhood, we had to march to Saint-Peter to catch a glimpse of this site.  After seeing hundreds of pictures of this place, one becomes almost used to its view and forms impressions of how big or how beautiful it is... and so, our first impression of the real thing was that Saint-Peter's piazza was smaller than anticipated! 

Italien, das Land wo die Zitronen bluehen! This citation is taken from Goethe' s diaries while traveling through Italy:it has always been synonymous of Italy for us with its mild climate, its soft and harmonious of landscapes, and easy living. Goethe might not have known the expression La Dolce Vita!

While residing in Europe we visited the North of the country in places like Venice, Trieste, Verona and the Como Lake: 30 years later, this voyage was going to bring us to Rome and the Lazio region, the Marches, Umbria and Toscana.  If Italy is a very small country compared to Canada, it has something to offer at about every 10 km!!! How exciting!

The skies are really beautiful..and at night the loons can be heard.  We still like the anchorage at Beaurivage. 

On our way to the Canadian islands, we found a beautiful little bay...another canadian boat was also anchored there. I just loved the stillness of the bay and swimming was great...although, water temperature is only about 20C! Yep, one must swimm here: bobbing along like in the Caribbean waters guarantees hypothermia! Just kidding...it is wonderfully refreshing past the first shocking seconds!

After a quiet night, we lifted the anchor early and had a pancake breakfast in the clean morning air.  Our destination that day was Clayton, NY..just 10 miles East of Cape Vincent.  To get there, one has to sail past Carleton island where this noble mansion is still standing...its history is a bit dauting: imagine, it was constructed in the 1890s by William O. Wyckoff, who made his fortune marketing Remington typewriters. He died on his first night in the mansion in 1895. His wife had died one month previously. No one has lived in the estate for sixty years.  http://www.thousandislandslife.com/BackIssues/Archive/tabid/393/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/71/Ghost-of-a-gilded-age-Carleton-Islands-Wyckoff-Villa.aspx.

One of our goal in visiting Calyton was to visit the Volvo Mecca  (French Creek Marina) to inquire about the costs involved in rebuilding a Volvo engine. ..Clayton is a quaint village, well known for its antique wooden (motor) boats...it has changed a lot since we were here in 2007.  A huge complex (museum and refinishing hall) have been erected downtown (!).  "Pardon Me" was being renovated: this huge antique motor boat used up 100 gallons oif gaz per hour!

Après la pluie, vient le beau temps...Some remaining thunderclouds, a rainbow and a beautiful sunset!

We had a second "mini-cruise" to the 1000 Islands with our first destination being Cape Vincent.  About 1 hour after departure, the sun was shining and the wind was weak...there were some grayer skies in the north over land and Marleyne could not resist commenting on how unreliable the weather forecasting can be...Heiner pointed towards the clouds over land and thought that the forecast of thunderstorms might be coming through. Anyhow, half an hour later, the skies were really darkening and there was some thunder rumbling.  We had all sails up because there was not much wind. We kept looking at our back to check how the clouds were moving...and then, my captain's voice announced: Take the sails down! Oups...no time to discuss! (Marleyne seldom discusses taking the sails down). Heiner saw some water "boiling" may be half a mile behind us and there was barely enough time to grab the mainsail that the wind had already piped to 30 knots!  We were fast enough to take all the sails down and to secure the dinghy (blown by the strong wind upside down) very close to La Buena Vida's hull. The rest was easy...just idling with the engine until it blows itself out (that took an hour!).  Compared to our squall weather in the Caribbean, this was really a low key affair despite the strong winds as the waves were non existent...and the boat needed a good rinse!

We anchored as usual in the bassin of Cape Vincent..a second thunderstorm cell blew over us in the evening!

 We left Kingston with a light brise and sunshine...and sailed around Amherst island to arrive at Pryniers Cove on Prince Edward County at apéro time.! It felt good to be in the water and the boat looked really good...the Admiral is happy!

We had forgotten a couple of items, decided on new cushions for the salon, and realized that we had not enough beer for those long hot summer days so we went into Picton...unfortunately, our Yamaha had some issues, carburator issues! No problem: we brought the big boat close to the Yacht club, close enough that is that Heiner was able to row the dinghy to the dinghy dock! What are oars for???????????

We enjoyed Picton ...pretty as always with its historic houses.

Summertime...........we are getting ready to go sailing for a few days, we have time to BBQ, Marleyne had time to go to the hairdresser! Wow! what a leisurely life!

June 26th: we are leaving Kingston marina and passing the LaSalle Causeway liftbridge!  Two days ago, la Buena Vida was finally ready to be launched: during my absence, Heiner worked very long hours in order to have the boat launch ready....by friday!

What a great feeling to be on the water once more! It was not sunny but that's ok...at least it was not cold ad windy! I kept looking at the water surface for flying fishes or dolphins! The Caribbean feels so far away but also so present...

We did it! The toe rail is finished: what a difficult and challenging task! To put on the wooden rail was ok but when it came to also install the genoa sail track, the alignment of all the holes (wooden rail, steel rail and genoa rail) required much more precision.  We sincerely hope NEVER to have to do that again!

After lunch, we decided that yes, we had enough stamina to start painting the cabin walls! The paint has faded and the bright and shiny look of these newly painted walls is very rewarding. There is only a little problem: we are running out of paint AND our marine shop did not place the order as we thought they had....sooo, hopefully, there will be just enough to apply a second coat tomorrow.

Heiner does not run the risk of getting sunburn because he spends all the time on his knees with his head downwards!

We enjoy sitting at this place for lunch, admiring the serene Cataraqui river ...

Le boeuf bourguignon fut ...deliciozo!  There is nothing like a good meal to end the day.......
Buon appetito!

The 2 pieces of mahagony rails are attached together and glued with epoxy...

S C A R F I N G ....by popular request, here is a better picture of how the two pieces of our toe rail are "attached" together...a method also called scarfing.  The "slits" in both pieces of wood in which biscuits are inserted are cut with a tool called scarfing router.

The drawing of Brian Dixon is to be found at this link on John's Nautical Website...:
http://www.boat-links.com/Scarfing.html

Today although rain was forecasted it just started at 17h00! We used the time well to do a bit of painting and then drove to our favorite lumber yard Card's Lumber on Highway 38 to buy more mahagony wood.  We like the guys there: very knowledgeable, generous (they'll do cuts and planing for free) and the prices are good! Heiner spent the whole afternoon cutting and sanding while Marleyne...played ! Yep, I visited a couple of garden centers, prepared trellis for clematis and for beans! But I also prepared a boeuf bourguignon!!! Somebody has to feed the crew!

Five days later...and we accomplished a lot!  We have finished the window jobs. Removed two small windows, grinded the rust away, applied 2 coats of epoxy, some West System, and one coat of paint before sticking the window frame back again using white rubber butyle (did we say that we would never use that stuff again...?). The big challenge was to replace the 4 large Lexan panels and choose a solution which, we hope, would hinder rust building up between the pane and the steel window frame (this space is now completely filled with Sikaflex).  This time around, we used Plexiglas instead of Lexan, and affixed the panes instead of using screws...they look absolutely great, very professionally made!

And what about the new toe rail that Heiner is making out of African mahagony???? I never thought that this thick wood rail would bend! But with the right application of force (!) it actually does! This was our trial run and the scarfing system proved to work out perfectly! (This illustration found on Brian Dixon's page

 gives some idea about scarfing)

TaDa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The exterior hull is ready: water line, antifouling and below the toerail...hull polishing will be our last step!

We don't count the hours of work anymore! Some people at the marina must think that we are the new managers as we are there 7 days a week from 9am to 5pm...

We now excel at multitasking! While the paint in the bilge dries, we attend the hull related jobs: Heiner is taping the hull to mark the water line...and of course, there were the 2 coats antifouling paint that needed to be applied: the first one being more critical as it had to be applied onto a still very fresh epoxy paint.  That makes for long long days.......thank God, our weather is now excellent (dry, sunny, and around 20-22C): it sometimes crosses our mind that, had we done the sandblasting in the Caribbean, we would have had to work with temperatures of 30C!

 We could not have much of a birthday celebration - calorie wise - because Heiner had to fit in the bilge (or basement as we like to refer to in landlubber's jargon)..Thanks to my shapely female figure, I cannot go in as deep as Heiner can! So, I was allowed to eat more birthday cake than he was ! After all, cheer leading takes energy!

In a way, it was easier to weld plates from outside than to continue the repair from inside the bilge.  Loose rust needed to be removed, sanding and hammering ..in those really small spaces, not at all easy! Heiner did a great job, though...

 ALMOST DISAPPEARED!

For my dear captain's bithday, we usually have pre- and post-celebrations! Yesterday, May 29th, was a really really tough pre-birth day! Heiner spent all day welding and fixing La Buena Vida's beautiful body! Grrrrrrrrrr...he finished the work and was quite exhausted when we got back home! He even had difficulty lifting his beer glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But our friends Karen and Lindsay came for supper...Thanks to good company, good food and rum, he managed to blow all the candles without difficulty!

 After the boat work, we like to come home and relax in the garden: the trees and flowers are just gorgeous at the moment...