We went down to Gypsy yesterday; put a charged to her batteries, measured her chain (to make sure we get compatible chain for the new anchors), measured the waste tubing in order to get the right sized Y-valve and picked up several boat parts that we had on order. I’m no stranger to the high price of boat things but even so I was surprised; one engine pulley (cooling water drive) $365, one quart of Sikkens marine varnish $45.00. Wow.
All in all it was a good trip and we managed to gather all the parts we had hoped to (a first). Again, even in the cold of winter, I love being down by the water.Today we went cross-country skiing with friends.
Susan announced that exactly nine months form today we head out to Bermuda and beyond. She also built a snow “person”.
I wondered if this would be the last time that I ever ski. Being that our round-the-world trip will keep us mostly in the tropics with no certain itinerary and an unspecified return port, who knows when or where we’ll end up. I love cross-country skiing and the stark beauty of winter but I’ll gladly give that all up forever, for the incredible opportunity of the voyage. I love the unpredictably of our journey and it’s open-ended nature. It wouldn’t be half as powerful if I knew in advance where we were going to end up.
9 months till departure
