July 15, 2025
The Kids had another nice sleep in until after 11:00. My Son-In-Common-Law and myself had some business in town, so we dropped into the Laughing Whale cafe for some calories for all those Lunenburg steep hills. He had their tasty samosa with me choosing the quiche.
We made our stops at banks, pharmacy and even a clothing store where my Son-In-Common-Law bought a cool hat that looked kind of like Miller's in The Expanse.
My Son-In-Common-Law's sister had been taking care of Big Boy, the cat at home, and her videos showed that he was missing them dearly. They decided it may be best to head to town, as shuttle service was available from Lunenburg. Bobby, the Taxi Driver, was called and arrangements were made for an 8:30 pickup in the morning with the shuttle leaving at 8:50.
My Son-In-Common-Law made some great hash brownies from Afghan Hash purchased in Brooklyn. This was followed by a yummy supper of perogies and bacon. We sat in the cockpit for coffee and to watch the lovely end of day.
Afterwards we set up our machines and everyone got some gaming in.
The boat further up the dock was fresh in from the Marblehead Race and was having some electrical problems. At a little after 22:00 we started to get a reverse polarity warning on the electrical panel.
We suspected he was corrupting the local electrical post so we unplugged from the land power and the Kids resorted to a streaming series they were watching on Amazon and it ended up being an early night for me.
July 16, 2025
As wonderful as the week had been with the Kids onboard, the flip side was the feeling of seeing them go. We were up fairly early so that they would have time to shower and the time was taken by me to ensure that all recyclables and garbage was sorted and left at Zwickers Wharf; as it would be back to the mooring ball, again, once the crew had gone.
Bobby was the champ that he always is and arrived at 8:30 to take them to the gas station where the shuttle makes its pick ups in Lunenburg. It would be a lie to say it was not a bittersweet feeling when waving them goodbye. It was then back to Makina. Topped her up with fresh water and then cast off to the mooring ball. Once moored it seemed a good time to try one of my Son-In-Common-Law's Hash Brownies and boy did it hit the spot!
There is somewhat of a tradition, now, to take the day after a crew leaves to re-assess things and plan for the next stage of the Adventure. With the brownie's help there was a lot of daydreaming and some real napping in the heat of the afternoon yet a plan began to form. It was not totally new as the idea was to have some work done on Makina and there were a number of projects already on my mind.
She has been in the water now for a full year so there is likely a garden growing under the water line. She should be brought to the hard to paint her under and above the waterline. There is also the issue with the head (toilet). It's been finally decided that an older traditional head should be installed with a switch to be able to send the waist to a holding tank onboard or over the side when in international waters.
There are also a few scrapes the could be buffed out as well as getting new or previously enjoyed sails. Then last but not least radar installation! The repeated fog this summer had demonstrated its practicality in these climes.
Did some DuckDuckGo searching and it turns out there is Stevens Boat Works just next door in Mahone Bay. Will give them a call tomorrow to see if they could fit me in sometime over the next month. It would be nice to be ready for Chester Race Week at the Chester Yacht Club which starts in the second week of August. It is a fun week of boat activities and partying. It has been a number of years since taking part in the festivities. There is a great anchorage in the back harbour of Chester which would be prime property during the race week.
In the meantime it might be second hash brownie time and chill out with some mindless gaming.
