Dispatches from the not so far away or exotic

Cape Lookout lighthouse in our "backyard".

You may have noticed we have not posted in a while.  Life on land these last several months has been full, despite the fact that we are not in some exotic port. Here are some dispatches from the not so far away or exotic.  These should bring you up to date.

A Pain in the Shoulder

As you may recall, Bud had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder at the end of January. As we understood we would have to go to physical therapy and otherwise have limited activity, we settled into a more sedentary life.  You may be impressed that Bud has perfected his classic French omelet, we explored making Dutch Babies (it's not as sinister as it sounds!), and our experiments into fermentation have produced some excellent dill pickles. The jury is still out on whether the sauerkraut is worth the effort and smell.

These are "Dutch Babies", or German pancakes - one of our successful experiments - a silky, custardy, pastry treat.

A dill if you will - another successful experiment.

Bud's recovery is taking as long as they said (up to at least 6 months).  In April, to improve flexibility, he had a “manipulation”, as they call it, which is like calling waterboarding a “procedure”. Fortunately, the manipulation was performed while he was under anesthesia. DO NOT watch any of these “procedures” on YouTube! There is a reason they also call this procedure “snap, crackle, pop”.  With physical therapy and the additional exercises at home, the shoulder is improving. Thanks to Mike, Bud's physical therapist, for his “magical tricks” in bringing some discipline to his shoulder.

Home therapy with some of the instruments of torture, including the colorful elastic bands and pulley.

Despite his talents, Mike has yet to give Bud those big bicep guns, abdominal six pack and massive “pecs” he has been wanting.  As Bud is running out of therapy visits on his health plan, he probably won’t be improving those parts of his physique any time soon.

Back to School

     

We went back to school at Carteret Community College.

We had talked about doing this for several years and because we weren’t doing anything else, we decided to go back to school. We reasoned that rather than simply sitting at home, we could sit in a classroom.  We went to the local community college to take a two week course to qualify for the US Coast Guard “Operators of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV)” certificate, or as it is also called, the “six pack” Captain’s license.

   

Why did we do this?  Ever since Bud saw the movie, “Captain Ron”, he wanted to be called “Captain Bud”! (Remember in the song “La Bamba” and the refrain , “Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan, soy capitan”?) Of course, the course does not train anyone to actually be a boat capitan, but it does provide all the fundamental navigation rules, marlinspike seamanship, navigation, etc. that all mariners should know.  We did not have to obtain a commercial captain’s license to operate our boat, but the license is required if we ever wanted to charter our boat (i.e. take passengers for hire), or in some cases, to deliver a boat.  Also, the Coast Guard certification can reduce boat insurance rates.

There are some other benefits as well, but really, the main reason we wanted to do this was to expand our formal training along with getting official recognition of our efforts.  Also, we will get a nifty, very official looking license (that looks like a passport) after we have the entire package approved by the Coast Guard.

Back to study.

It was a challenge to be back in the classroom. Bud had taught at a community college many years ago in a former life and all of those sights, sounds, and smells came flooding back. This time he was on the opposite side of the instructor’s desk.

Our instructor, Captain Ross, was an “old salt”, a 78 year old sailor, who, when asked why he did this, simply said, “I like to do this”. He certainly made a tedious course more stimulating, interesting and less stressful. We think we were his “pets” because we were the only other sailors in a class of motor boaters. This was a difficult class. It was very clear that nobody would get a pass for just showing up. We had multiple tests, including the first test on Navigation Rules that required a 90% to pass. The exam questions were often very evil –written to be tricky as possible. Imagine this, combined, we have over 25 years of education since high school, and have earned 5 degrees. Nonetheless, this did not change the fact that we were nervous as 5^th graders the night before the exams.  It was stressful and mind-numbing trying to remember all of the seemingly endless details.

Argh!! Captain Ross did keep us “on course” and escorted us to completion of a successful voyage. We passed!  To receive our nifty license we need to send off the complete package for Coast Guard approval that includes the captain’s exam certificate (done), physical exam (done), CPR/First aid certificate (done), sea time documentation (done), Transportation Workers Identification Card (done), and drug testing (waiting on results).

We did it!  Certificates of our completion of the OUPV course.

Very Short Road Trip

The weekend immediately prior to taking the captain’s course we made a very long road trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida (think Miami) to look at a used catamaran. The boat had only recently become available on the market and it had promise as possibly our next boat. This was actually just one of the several boats we inspected over the months since we made the decision to sell Layla and move to a ‘multihull’. It was fun to be back in the truck and buzzing down the highway and we were excited to see this boat. It was an Island Spirit, a sister ship to the other cats we knew (Alleycat, Alleycat Too, Rat Catcher, Moon River).  Unfortunately, the search will continue as we decided this was not to be our boat for a variety of reasons. That is just the way it goes. There are a lot of boats out there. We will keep looking.

What about Layla?

Layla is doing just fine “on the hard” in the yard at Beaufort Marine Center. Layla had waited patiently, but has now demanded we return to making some cosmetic improvements. Bud's arm is sufficiently healed to tackle cleaning, refinishing teak, and completing a variety of chores. The latest news is that we have a very interested potential buyer coming for an inspection in July! Layla is already looking better than she has in many years. She is in great shape and we are looking forward to showing her off.

Bud did a light sanding on the forward deck chests to prepare for the final top coats.

Visit from Cassie, Al and Anissa

Bud's sister, Cassie, her husband Al, and their granddaughter Anissa (Bud's great niece) made a long road trip from Tucson, Arizona for a short visit this past month.  It was wonderful to visit local sights (lighthouse, aquarium, beaches, Maritime Museum, etc.) and share mellow time with them.

Anybody else out there want to come for a visit?  

Cape Lookout lighthouse opened on the day we arrived.  It was great timing for our visit.

Uncle Bud and Anissa take a break on the long climb to the top of the lighthouse.

Anissa, Cassie, and Al climbed more than 200 steps to get a great view.

Brother and sister shared the beach on Core Banks.

Anissa, Cassie, and Al searching for shells and other treasures.

Uncle Bud shows Anissa how to dig for mole crabs.

Cassie and Al are not impressed with the newly caught mole crab.

Crabby Cassie at the North Carolina Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores.

A beauty shows off her beautiful strawberry tart made from just a few of the strawberries they bought from a roadside stand in South Carolina.

Tracy’s Anniversary Present

We don’t typically go to extremes in recognition of birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and such. We don’t know why exactly, but we don’t. But come to think of it, on some of these occasions we have had some extraordinary and unusual “gifts”. For example, we closed on Layla’s purchase on Bud's birthday nearly 7 years ago! How cool is that? It was not intentional, but it was cool anyway. That brings us to our latest. A couple days before Cassie, Al and Anissa left, our old heat pump (air conditioning unit) failed. It was 30 years old and had served very well, but when the AC guy said he had not seen one quite like this unit, we knew parts were going to be impossible and/or expensive to replace.

Technicians make final delivery of Tracy's anniversary present.

Two weeks later we installed Tracy’s anniversary present- a brand new shiny heat pump! And you know what she got Bud? A shiny new haircut! Life is grand.

What’s Next?

Bud has just a couple more physical therapy visits remaining.  We will be continuing to clean, polish and make Layla pretty for her inspection.  We will also continue to search for prospective catamarans to go visit.

If you want some inspiration for your next adventure, check out “Drive Nacho Drive” and the sequel, “927 Days of Summer” by Brad and Sheena Van Orden. The books chronicle their adventures in driving a VW Van (“Nacho”) around the world. While their adventures may be more than you might want to replicate, they might inspire you to head out somewhere.