Counting Blessings!

Most of you will know that we normally head for Canada during the hurricane season to work and refill our cruising kitty for the next season. Of course we had made a contingency plan to cover the possibility we did not get a contract, what we did not expect is Murphy's meddling and taking full advantage of the situation.

I had already booked my nursing practical hours I had to complete to be able to write my finals and had a time limit so was unable to postpone them till the following year I still had to go to Canada, alone. The problem would be that on contract our accommodation is covered under André's contract. Our expenses are living expenses only! 

Blessing number one came in the form of our friend JJ who offered me his second bedroom for the extent of my stay! Thank you JJ.

After many years out of nursing, especially General nursing, I confess to being just short of terrified to enter the field again. Blessing number two came in the form of Peggy and Natasha from the nursing school. Peggy is amazing she is so patient and confident and made me feel so too. Then she chose my tutor to work with in the form of Natasha! I worked side by side with her every day for a month. What a fantastic experience. She patiently and calmly guided me back into the field. Her knowledge and experience were invaluable to me and my learning curve sky rocketed in that time. Natasha I still hear your voice in my head 😇

The next couple of months I was to work with one of the RN's in the unit and Peggy and Natasha in their wisdom once again chose a superstar in Christine. It is very difficult to explain just how much her support meant to me. Her and her dream teams patience in answering my questions as I worked to refresh my nursing knowledge was invaluable and I loved every minute. There are no words to express my gratitude for their professionalism, patience, kindness, friendship and for making me feel part of the team. 

Dream Team

Dream Team Girls on Margies Birthday 

Although glad to be heading back to Rat Catcher and André I was sad to be leaving them. 

As the days flew by to my flight home, Hurricane Matthew had some ideas of his own and was speeding towards St. Augustine, André and Rat Catcher. A direct hit was predicted and Andre was running around doing his best to prepare his beloved boat for the worst. Two days before I was to fly in he and the town was given notice to evacuate. With a heavy heart he packed up Lulu in the rental car and headed North West out of the zone. He had been unable to find a pet friendly hotel and was planning on finding a shelter. On the way he decided coffee was a necessity and stopped at Dunking Donuts, right next door was the Holiday Inn, who had already told him on the phone they were full. Inspiration drove him to walk in and ask again! Blessing number three they did and he settled in to wait out the storm. 

Destroyed building and dinghy!

At the last moment Matthew turned away from the coast and instead of a direct hit he passed St. Augustine 30 miles offshore. The devastation was nothing like it would have been with a direct hit. Blessing number four, Rat Catcher survived with no damage at all. None of the South African boats in the yard were damaged either. There was only very minor damage from the pieces of flying building that broke apart to a couple of other yachts. 

Murphy, as I had mentioned was taking full advantage of our no new income situation. As we had been taking the sails down in preparation for the season we discovered they were de laminating. They might have lasted another season with a push but as we had the boat on the market and the sails are so important to our voyage we had to replace them? We discovered Ullman sails in South Africa would replace and ship them to us at about half the cost of replacing get hem in USA. Blessed!

Then the anti foul which usually lasts two to three years had not held up and to keep the boat in pristine condition she had to be redone. Contingency fund is being eaten fast by Murphy.

Next Andre noticed the boats battery bank was using lots of water and overheating and gassing. Luckily he noticed it. A boat in the yard burnt out while we were there because of the same problem. Murphy Murphy Murphy! We had to replace our entire battery back of six golf cart batteries. We were blessed Andre was alert and awake and noticed the problem before they exploded and caught alight!

Our anchor chain was badly rusted and we had been nursing it carefully but once again with the boat on the market and the chain being literally our life line when on anchor, it had to be replaced.  We were blessed by our friends on Vagabund, Zack and Magda! They had a spare chain they had not used and gifted it to us! Thank you both so very much!

The sail drive seals needed replacing but thanks to google and good friends like Alan on Alley Cat Andre managed to do them himself. What a huge saving of about $600 per side! 

Shortly after I arrived back, André flew out to South Africa. He needed some dental work on a previously replaced tooth that kept falling out and it was cheaper for him to fly to SA and have it done than have it done in USA. He was able to visit our families and get his tooth fixed before flying home.

I took advantage of being alone and spent hours each day studying for my NCLEX. My nursing finals exam I last took 32 years ago. Passing it would allow me to be registered and work in Canada. I had booked my exam for 15th November in Jacksonville. Luckily I was able to go to the exam center there instead of having to fly back to Canada! I chose the 15th as it was our 30th wedding anniversary and it had obviously been a lucky day for me in the past! After two days of gut wrenching terror I was informed I had passed! Blessed again! 

Finally Rat Catcher was prepared and ready to sail. We set out from St. Augustine on an overnight sail to Fort Pierce, then on to Fort Lauderdale where our blessing came in the form of Michelle and Tony Bennett. On the way down our house battery overheated and died!

Andre had made friends with them in St. Augustine while I was away. They have an apartment on the ICW near Sunrise Bay anchorage and invited us to use their dock to get ashore and offered us a car or to drive us around if we preferred! But that's not all, these two angels took us under their wings.  They invited us into their home, drove us around getting supplies we needed as our house battery had died on the way down. Murphy again!. We had a wonderful evening out as they introduced us to their favorite restaurant. Our last night there as we did our laundry in their home as they fed us on Pizza and wine. A fantastic evening. Thank you both so much we are looking forward to seeing you on the water. 

Murphy even lost all my blogs I had written and was about to post lol. I updated the app I use to do the drafts and the update wiped out my last few on the Canada trip, the hurricane and the restocking. Must have meant to be! So this is a rewrite!

That was not to be Murphys last. On the trip over the hinges to the heads seats disintegrated!

Murphy, give us a break!