Leap Notes: When Did It End: The Year 2014

Since our last blog post from Rio Largatos, Mexico we have sailed the Gloriamaris (GM for short) to Belize and then on to Guatemala. We did not do much sightseeing along the way as we were on research assignment for the GM family and also had to be in Guatemala for a haul out scheduled for mid-November. GM needed bottom work and bottom paint.

One of the last stress free memories of 2014 is pulling into El Tortugal in Fronteras, Guatemala located on the Rio Dulce on Nov 18th. Happy to be reunited with Leap and looking forward to Bryna and John's visit starting on Dec 28th. While in the Rio we did enjoy the movie nights at El Tortugal and Mar Marine. A much needed respite from the boat projects.

The following days were packed with boat projects on both boats. The rain was incessant making everything take twice as long and we truly were operating in a misty fog. A blur so to speak, and consequently when we woke up from the work schedule, it was January 17, 2015. Our GM family was disembarking and we were happy to be returning to a Leap State-of- Mind and Leap Time.

We could go on and on with blow by blow descriptions of all the hurdles we encountered from Nov 18th through Dec 31st but that seems tedious. It is tiring to sit here and try to remember it all. A bullet list seems the most practical way to rein in the runaway horse that is delayed boat maintenance.

*Numerous extensive boat maintenance projects on GM**
* Preparing Leap for Bryna and John
*More GM maintenance
*Move our belongings to make room for Bryna and John
*More GM maintenance
*Provision for GM family Christmas Trip
*More GM maintenance
*Work GM Christmas trip from 12/16 to 1/4***
*No idea GM family was staying til 1/4 so miss New Years with Bryna and John. Grrr!
*More GM maintenance
*Retrieve lost GM shipment and the passage is on GM during norther with 10 ft following seas
*Sail with Leap to Utila - light winds no storms. Need to change Leap fuel filter at sea.
*Provision for next GM family trip
*More GM maintenance
*Work GM family trip 1/9-1/17 Family brought colds with them.
*More GM maintenance
*Sleep - Colds show up in both of us.

**Had we any idea the extent of the maintenance and projects the GM needed we may not have taken this position. We like working on boats but she is sorely in need of so many things. We currently have a major project to undertake - and that is new flooring. The GM has carpet throughout and it needs to be taken out. It is old and musty; actually disgusting is the appropriate adjective. We have a teak and holly vinyl flooring that we will be putting down. The flooring and all its component parts were in the last shipment retrieved.

***Working a trip entails: Getting the boat to the country or island of the family's choosing, menu planning and provisioning, running the boat to wherever the owners want to be for that day, filling dive tanks, fixing things that break, cooking three meals a day and snacks and washing dishes and washing more dishes and picking up incessantly. We had 4 trips inside of 14 weeks along with all the projects.

Now we are looking forward to sailing with Bryna and John as they are with us until the end of March. We are sorely in need of a Leap Sate-of-Mind and the pleasure of Bryna and John's company. To be fair, Leap also requires maintenance to keep her beautiful and operating smoothly. Although her maintenance check list is much smaller and more manageable for the time being - knock on wood! Such is the way of boats and the cruising life.

We both have a blend of friends and family arriving for visits throughout Jan, Feb and March.
Plus we have a GM trip Mar 2-8.

Hopefully, it will not be so long between posts now.

Christmas Day Norther