#oceancruising

#whipoftheday #oceancruising #islandhopping #labelleîle #haiti #laislabonita #waveriding (at Labadi, Nord, Haiti)

At last...Our self steering is installed, the bow sprit attached. The mast has been packed and sealed and the sails are ready to fly...At last. This past week has been hectic and stressful trying to make sure every affair is in order: We dropped the car off with family of Mike's and no longer have land transportation other than two feet and a heartbeat (Well 4 and 2 but you get it). It was a bittersweet goodbye. It's so strange not being able to see the car from our anchorage. Not being able to jump in and go pick up whatever. But glad we no longer have to worry about these crazy Canadian drivers haha. So we have done our last shop, and stocked up on everything we really need (which is peanut butter, coffee, hot chocolate and chocolate if you looked at our inventory). We have easily enough food to last a few months for our 2 week trip. Which needs to be less than 2 weeks. Since our first booking is on the 23 of THIS MONTH! Ya I'm kind of freaking out 😧😨😫 but we have calculated the distance (~1650 nautical miles) and how much we need to do each day. With a magnificent wind from the west Mike assures me we will make it in time, and that we will have a couple days to spare. He was able to do long runs on his own, having to steer through some absolutely terrible conditions when coming down from Quebec City to Chester Basin, Nova Scotia (where we are now). And it was October...so it was cold. Now we are going to be in 24 degrees water, with 2 of us and an autohelm to help us out. We will be able to go 24 hours a day and do our 4 hour shifts quite happily. Hot chocolate will be my addiction I'm sure. I'm so excited to just see water. In every direction, nothing but sea and sky, sky and sea. The must-do jobs have taken time due to the wind and weather. Going up the mast requires a calm day which are far and few between here in Nova Scotia (yes I'm complaining about the wind again). We've had to wait it out and finally, the winds slowed enough to let Mike go up this morning. Cutting it close as usual. He went up and adjusted the rigging to his satisfaction. I hate hoisting him all the way up there. It's a little bit tough, but the winch on the mast does most of the work. I just have to crank the handle and keep the cable rolling nicely. But then when he's up there I just stand at the bottom waiting, trying not to rock the boat by stepping around, because the movements are so exaggerated at the top of the mast. We kiss before he goes up and we kiss as soon as his feet are back on deck. We do everything as safely as we can but you never know. We are winning! The rigging is set! The rigging job was exhausting; Mike used a lot of concentration and energy being up there so once he was done, we took a well deserved tea and cookie break :) After Mike had rested a bit after that big job, we lifted anchor and went to the marina to fill up our water tanks and every bottle we had. Water is gold and we will treat it as such. I am not concerned that we will run out before we get there but always better to be safe than sorry. We leave Saturday morning as soon as this large system just passes us. The first 6 hours might be a little rough and wet (phrasing...I know) but the storm passes quickly and then we have a beautiful westerly wind to blow us all the way there. The wave pattern is in our favour, with very low waves and in our direction. We estimate it will take 24-36 hours to cross the cold wall where we slip into the Gulf Stream of warm 20+ degrees weather. We plan to head southeast so we intercept the stream in the shortest amount of time but also so that the current is with us and we get a nice ride east with it before it starts looping around. If we go too far straight south, we will hit the stream when there is counter current and will have to fight it. Not a good idea. We have set up the route in our gps and we are ready to start our grand voyage!! No more phone!! No more data!! Ahh. Not gonna lie, I will miss it. I am notorious for scrolling fb aimlessly and I know it will be good to get off of this screen for a bit. Other than to read that is, since I did store a bunch of books on here to keep me busy. We have a lot of actual paper books too so I think I'm set. Mike and I have already finished one that we have been reading together. Wilbur Smith: "Desert God". Pretty good story. It definitely helped us pass the evening hours when it was dark and too cold to do anything without being under a blanket. We bought the next book in the series at walmart. We walked past the books which I don't normally pay attention to and the book caught my eye immediately. The only book from that author and it is the next one in the series that we just read. Coincidence? As Gibbs would say, "there's no such thing as coincidence" But anyways no phone. At least until we get there. Then I will probably pick up a SIM card so I can contact friends and family. At least there's wifi all over the place in any event. The inreach is able to send emails and SMS messages, but only a limited amount. We can post to fb but just text. So I will collect a nice amount of pictures on the crossing and I promise to do a nice big post with all of the pics and the story of our crossing. I bet some of you are wondering about my last blog when I said I would be getting in the water before we pull anchor. Well guess what I did!!! Fully suited up I got in and got a little bit of video and a couple pics. There wasn't too much around today but I did manage to get a school of tiny fish and a moon jelly. But the one I really wanted to get is this devastating looking jellyfish. It's purpleish red and the tentacles are long and stringy. Around the hood it looks like stringy fibreglass. I could just imagine how bad those stings would hurt. There was one hanging around the boat in the morning while I was hoisting Mike up the mast...of course when I can't get a pic. And when I was snorkelling I did find one but he ended up being right underneath me and I had to back away quickly so those tentacles didn't mess me up. When I tried to come in and find it again, it was gone. elusive little bastard. Probably the size of a dinner plate and the tentacles were easily 2 feet long. I will find this jelly again!!! Mike is so great, he rowed around in the dinghy near me in case I needed him and was also trying to spot jellyfish for me to record. We are such a great team together. It was awesome to get in the water and tryout my new wetsuit. It's so thick and warm I love it!!! I get cold so fast in the water. Can't wait to get into some wilder seas. It was pretty sweet. A few vids and pics will be up right after this. So this will be the last blog until we reach the Azores and I am able to get wifi or a SIM card to hook my phone up. But you can follow us at this link https://share.garmin.com/CoconutSeaways (password is coconut) and watch us track across the Atlantic. This is an awesome unit that allows us to share our track, our route and any messages we send out. Every 4 hours our position will be pinged out. I hope you guys have enjoyed the lead up to this great adventure. I know it's been a lot of talk about work and sitting around and waiting for this or that. But now the real excitement begins. The real trip across the ocean is beginning and I couldn't be more excited. Thanks for following us and reading this blog. I appreciate any and all the support we've received in this epic journey we are about to embark on. I love you all and will see you guys on the other side of the Atlantic.