July 20, 2025
Up late with the electrical issue of the batteries being drained again. Found the culprit. The main positive cable to the engine battery was loose and had moved off the post from tossing that sometimes happens at the mooring ball. Only a smaller secondary positive wire (not sure why its there) was attached securely. This must have drained things, somehow, and the engine had to be run to recharge the batteries. The engine ran late into the night recharging the house batteries. Finally at 3:00 100% SOC was reached.
With the engine charging until all hours it seemed a good night to go online. Found that the Kids were up and keen for another session on Ashes of Creation.
We had a great experience grind with all three of our characters leveling up by the end of the session! There will probably be one last character wipe at the end of the summer, yet these sessions are good practise how to work as a team and will hone us for future and final character development.
July 21, 2025
The late night led to me sleeping in a bit. It was about 10:00 when finally getting going. Gave the South Shore Marine in Gold River a call while having coffee. They had been recommended by Stevens Boat Yard who did not have the depth to pull Makina.
Stedman took my call. He explained that the biggest factor of them being able to bring Makina on the hard would be her beam. Their limit was 12'. With Makina's 11.65' beam she would just make it if brought up on a high tide.
He asked that photos of the hull be sent as well as any other areas that needed work. We could work out a date to have her pulled. An added bonus is that they sell diesel at their marina; which may come in handy when exploring Mahone Bay. The next opening would probably be at or after the 14th of August. This would work well with the idea of visiting Chester Race Week which takes place in the first part of that month.
The next call was to customer service at Canada Post to see if a parcel, which had not made it to me when visiting Lunenburg at the beginning of the summer, could be recovered. A wonderful agent helped to track it down to a warehouse in Ontario where such parcels go to die. It looks like it will now be retrieved from its present location and sent back to my Daughter's residence in Halifax. She warned that it could take up to 3 weeks so we shall have to wait and see how that goes.
With all my calls done it seemed like a good time to row to shore for coffee and a cookie at the cafe beside the Post Office; then on to Foodland, afterwards, for a few needed supplies. Once back onboard ran the engine to recharge the batteries to 100% while taking a nap. Awoke around 15:00.
When waking from the nap there was a feeling of an epiphany. One may have had the feeling awaking from a dream to some revelation; yet there appeared to be no dream which could be remembered. Just the feeling of thoroughly embracing my current lifestyle. By lifestyle it is meant the moment to moment aspect; not only the general water gypsy general lifestyle which the last year has been.
It was taking a nap while the head's cold water tap needed repair without remorse. It was holding up in Lunenburg while plotting my exploration of Mahone Bay down to its finest of minutiae while days ticked by at my mooring ball.
For example it was my understanding that diesel was hard to find in Mahone Bay and it was kind of in the back of my mind to use as much as possible of my present supply before replenishing and taking off for Mahone Bay. Hearing that they sold diesel at South Shore Marine allowed me to reset my departure for other reasons, like weather and a satisfied inspection of the sheet halyards. Diesel was no longer an immediate factor of departure.
This epiphany had me seeing the focus more on Makina than on me, the Skipper. Once the destination was formulated then Makina's only schedule was that which took the safest path.
Not sure if that was explained well, but it has made my living aboard experience feel less stressful and less about expectations; both of which had been mostly self imposed.
For lack of a better word, there has been a bit of guilt around some aspects of my day. That may just be my latent Catholic upbringing. 😇
Will be watching for weather and winds for that comfortable moment to strike off on a solo-exploration of Mahone Bay. That is unless Life sends me a willing crew. 😉
