First Meeting

Has anyone seen a missing US Air plane?  Apparently they've misplaced one.

About two hours after our intended departure from Philadelphia, it was decided to pull  one out of the maintenance hangar and get us on our way.  They did reassure us that it was a good plane and it did hold together through some fairly rough turbulence, but I am still left wondering whatever happened to the plane that was intended for this flight? I do believe the pilot was determined to make up some of the lost time as our max speed on our GPS during the flight was 1137 km/hr.

What a wonderful reception we received at CYOA! Joanne met us at the airport, it seemed the whole crew turned out to welcome us and there was Mowzer decked out with ribbons and flowers and looking absolutely beautiful. Congrats to all the folks at CYOA who made her look so pretty! Nancy gave us a quick briefing to see us through the night and then we set to, to make her our home for the next two weeks.

Sitting in the dock-side bar, “Hook, Line & Sinker” for dinner in the evening, it was a little strange watching the Canadian women’s curling team defeat Sweden. It amazed the fellow sitting at the bar next to us when I told him we’d been curling just yesterday. Turns out, he’s the hired captain of a ‘little private motor yacht’ (only 112 ft long) and he gave us all sorts of pointers on where to go for some nice off-the-beaten-path experiences. He actually referred to his boat as a ‘dinghy’ in these waters. What does that make us? A flea on the dinghy to the dinghy?

At Home in St. Thomas

For the next few years Mowzer will call the CYOA docks at St. Thomas home.  Arrival happened earlier this week and we were thrilled to receive the first pics from Kirsten of Mowzer as she settles in.

Like the passing of the Olympic torch, Laurent and crew have delivered Mowzer safely across the ocean and left us with this passing shot.

Now the fun begins as it is just a week before we will be able to put our own feet aboard, but in the meantime, there is much to be done.  Electrical system updates, canvas installation, all the onboard supplies for linen and galley, etc - the To-Do List is quite lengthy!  Mowzer has been installed at the docks, just next to Arcola - the Athena 38 we sailed last March with John, Eleanor and Carl.

 I guess squeezing into tight places becomes a necessity on a boat - glad to see the hat is safely stowed!  With the sun beaming down out in the cockpit, the canvas has all been installed and looks great.  The davits are on and work in the engine compartments is underway.

Back home in Ottawa, we haven't had much snow this winter but there is still a foot of the white stuff on the ground.  Talking to Nancy, she said it's been a strange winter down there as well with lighter than usual winds from the S/SE - sounds delightful and we're eagerly anticipating our visit.

Registration Decision

Had a long chat with John the other day and we've now decided that while we want to eventually persue the Canadian registration, especially as we get to the end of our charter period, it is not urgent to do so and certainly not to the tune of $1000 for a haul-out and tonnage measurement.  We've decided to put this off until annual haul-out in August in Puerto Rico and we will hopefully find a measurer who can get the job done once the boat is up on the hard.  For the short term, Mowzer can sail under her USVI registration which is required for the chartering business anyway.

In the meantime, Mowzer has arrived in St. Thomas and according to Kirsten she is beautiful, but could be prettier with a stylized logo and hailing port.  Even though we haven't finalized the Canadian registration we still want to identify Ottawa as the hailing port, so we're going with it.

Delivery Update #6 - arrival in St. Martin

They've done it!  Mowzer and crew arrived in Marigot on the island of St. Martin last night.  French crew - French Island (or at least half of it) - sounds like they knew where they were heading!  We were in Marigot in 2008 and the food is fabulous so I can bet the crew had a great meal off the boat last night.

The plan is now to sail to Tortola, BVI and then the crew will have to ferry into the USVI on the commercial boat to obtain their visas, ferry back to Tortola and then bring Mowzer into the USVI.  Apparently, foreign nationals cannot arrive by private yacht in US waters without visas with the exception of US citizens (d'uh) and Canadians.  Too bad we're not on board.

Here's the last log track (for this voyage) ... and below are a couple of pictures from our previous visit to Marigot.

In Marigot - notice the proximity of the restaurant table to boats in the Marina!

Sunset over Marigot, Simpson Bay Lagoon and Sandy Ground (view from Pic Paradis).

Delivery Update #5 - 478 nautical miles to go!

One month since departing La Rochelle, Mowzer and the crew are within a couple of days of St. Thomas.

January 31 18:42 GMT N19 26.733 W56 35.083 (591 nm since Jan 27)