Life on land

We are settling in to our life on the land and off of the boat. It has been a bit of an adjustment. We are lucky that the place we are staying has a view of the water and we can see the ferry go by as well as some of downtown Seattle, the cruise ships, container ships and of course sailboats. I miss the rocking of the boat, some of the warmer weather and sunshine (I don’t miss the really hot stuff or humidity), the anchorages, changing scenery, different cultures and some of our ‘stuff’. If you are a George Carlin fan you can appreciate if I say we now have stuff in two countries. I do have to admit it is easy to adjust to a private bathroom with a free shower, a free laundry that is a few steps away, an upright refrigerator and a dishwasher plus being close to grocery stores that have everything you can imagine without having to search multiple places or wish that you had stocked up on it before leaving the United States.

Rich and I joined a fitness center so we can get back in shape. We are trying to go almost every other day. My muscles were a bit sore at first but I am hoping there is some muscle memory left as we get back into our routines. I plan to get back into yoga but I will have to buy a new yoga mat as I left mine on the boat and did not have enough room in our duffel bags to bring it as they were stuff full with all the other stuff I thought I would need while off the boat.

Rich has seen some of his doctors including a cardiologist recommended by his vascular surgeon as well as our friends Doug and Nancy. Rich’s previous cardiologist retired some years ago to go cruising. Go figure. We were able to establish a good rapport with this new doctor and feel comfortable working with him. He went through Rich’s medical history and the documentation we had from his incidents in Portland, May 2011, and now Mexico, April 2012. We are developing a plan and the prognosis looks good.

In the meantime we are doing chores like claiming unclaimed accounts of my parents, working with the insurance company to get reimbursed for Rich’s stay in the hospital in Mexico as well as the fun part, reconnecting with friends.

We had dinner with Dan, Madeline, Megan and Lauren Sego. As you may recall Dan joined us on the Baja Ha-Ha late last year. We stopped by our old dock at Shilshole Bay Marina and visited with Michael Pack of Caelistis. He and his family recently moved from Seattle to San Diego and he was preparing to sail his boat down the coast to it's new berth at Harbor Island in San Diego bay. We wished him fairwinds and following seas for his run down the coast. Our friends, Wendy and Garth of SV Vellala, recently bought a house with a large workshop here on Bainbridge Island where they will live while Garth builds his dream sailboat. Paul and Suzette of SV Altair sailed from Shilshole Bay Marina over to Port Blakely here on the island on Friday after work. Saturday morning we picked them up and drove into Winslow for the day including a visit to the Farmer’s Market, checking out the waterfront walk and a stop at Doc’s for some liquid libation and a snack. That evening we rode with Doug and Nancy up to Port Townsend for dinner with 3 other couples at Doc’s new location at Port Hudson. It was a great evening, good food, good company. We remember sailing to Port Hudson on our previous sailboat, Fairwind, with the kids and stat, Fairwind, with the kids and staying at the marina. The building, where the restaurant is now, once housed the bathrooms and showers.

We look forward to seeing more friends (just give us a call) and family during our stay on land.

Signing off from Bainbridge Island