2018 Season Three: Back to the boat then return to North America

After our short stay on Lanzarote Island, we returned to Right Meow in Marina Di Ragusa Sicily, where it remained in the yard. It was a bit disappointing to realize that the bottom job had not progressed over the past 2 weeks, beyond the pressure washing and sanding phase. We had hoped they would have completed the fiberglass repairs and fairing (smoothing) of the patches. Fortunately Todd had anticipated this and booked us a funky little hotel for 2 nights until we got more of a plan from the yard about our relaunch date. The wet weather wasn’t helping matters, but we continued to check on the boat 2 times a day, and then we moved aboard Sah Sen with Sandy and Doug for 3 nights (Big thanks again guys!).

It was great to be back in the cruising community, and there were some fun social events to help let off steam between everyone’s boat jobs and end of season winterizing. Halloween was on a very windy and squally Wednesday, but the rain stopped in time for the  kids to come around the docks decked out in costumes ( a couple had made paper mache masks), of witches and pirates, ghosts and zombies.

Sandy and I put together 2 blue “Trick or Treat” buckets, one of cold slimy spaghetti with 2 water-filled gloves buried in it, and one with treats. (In Italian, trick or treat is “Dolcetto o Scherzetto”). The kids had to reach inside without seeing the contents, and there were a few surprised squeals when they grabbed a handful of “guts and worms”. There were two Italian boys enjoying their first Halloween, and they were the most stylish Devil and Dracula that we had seen in years! (We did successfully terrify the little Devil with the spaghetti trick though, and his Mum was heard all the way back down the dock telling him the guts and worms “were only cold spaghetti”!)

It was amazing what the yard accomplished (with a bit of a nudge), in the spells of dry weather, and the boat was splashed Friday evening November 2nd…which gave us 2 full days before we were leaving again. It was a real pain that we couldn’t get any of our remaining pre-departure jobs done while it was in the yard, and it meant we had a bit of a scurry at the end. (Fortunately we had removed the jib while it was dry before we left on the delivery, as the recent rain and high winds was making this a challenge for other cruisers). After getting our boat back in the water Friday evening, we spent the next few hours helping Doug celebrate his birthday. This coincided with the Friday happy hour and an entertaining evening was had by all with more live music, dancing and general hilarity.

Sunday evening we invited a few of our neighbors over for a chat and snack. Joan and Daz were planning on staying through the winter, while Sandy and Doug would be returning home for the holidays, and Barbie and Wayne were also planning some off-the-boat travel. Daz, the lovely bloke that he is, offered to keep an eye on the boats for us. He would be checking the bilges and batteries while we were all away, and making sure everyone’s lines were in order. It was a huge relief to have someone on site to do this!

Monday the 5th we loaded our bags in the rental car, finished up with final sump and bilge cleaning, and unplugged the power cord. The solar would be able to keep the batteries topped up and this would run the bilge pumps if needed. Without the fridge, freezer, or electronics running, there was negligible power consumption and it wasn’t worth the risk of leaving the boat plugged in.

It was just over a 2 hour drive up to Catania where the airport was, and our flight out was at 10.30 the following morning when it was due to be raining again. After seeing how flooded the roads could become we had decided to spend the night at a little motel near the airport, which worked out well. (Other than having a great deal of difficulty locating the “return” lane for the rental car that is!). Our luggage was checked all the way through to Vancouver BC so we didn’t need to collect it in Amsterdam where we had a 22 hour layover. Todd hadn’t been to Holland before, and my last trip was in 1994, so we dropped our carry-on’s at a Citizen M hotel that afternoon, (which was a short walk from the terminal at Schiphol), and headed off for some sightseeing. The Blue Barge Canal tour took us around some of the more established areas and out to the Port and back. It was a great way to get a feel of the city, see some of the architecture, and be astounded by the number of bikes there. The space under all the canal bridges was a prime spot for storing them, and we even saw a 4 story bike garage! After the tour, we walked around enjoying the lively atmosphere and dodging the many “rush hour” cyclist’s that were making their way home.

There were a good selection of restaurants to choose from and we settled on a little Indonesian place (we were officially on a pizza break!), which was upstairs and overlooking a busy street. It was back to the hotel after that, (no we didn’t end up going through the Red Light District or visiting the coffee houses), and an early night before the 9+ hour flight. One of the other things that stood out (apart from all the bikes!), was the Tesla taxi’s that we saw. We had only seen a few of these cars when driving through Seattle so it was an eye opener to see so many of them in the livery service in Amsterdam.