Halifax: Heading out to Sea...soon

It's finally time to cast off our lines here in Halifax. We had a dusting of snow here twice already and there is more to come, I'm sure. We have been staying warm by spending the last couple of weeks at Susanne's in Halifax.  We have been commuting to the boat each day (often hijacking her car) to work on a few more projects and to get the boat ship shape for offshore sailing.

Our last couple of weeks have been jam-packed. We crammed in lots of school to make up for lots of carefree days earlier in the month. Soon, we will tuck away the geometry shapes and algebra equations until we are in warmer climes.  The kids are finishing their Halifax Explosion projects. We all agree they had become little history buffs learning about the city of Halifax.

One biggie event was Simon getting older. We tried to get away with giving Simon a trip to Bermuda for his 11th birthday, but he reminded us that the new dinghy sail we purchased last month had been his birthday gift. He started his birthday palooza week with a great birthday meal with Ben and Lana and kids. The week ended with a party at Auntie Susie's with Nancy and Janice, and Susanne's friend Elizabeth. Simon spent his birthday week dreaming of all the fish he is going to catch with his new fishing gear, and creating with new Lego and 3Doodler pen.

Dining at Efendy Turkish restaurant

Yum!

Simon bursting with his new blue water fishing gear from Ben and Lana and kids

Thrilled with his new 3Doodler from Auntie Susie

3Doodler creation made in cooperation with friends

Simon and Nancy blowing out their shared birthday cake

As part of Bomeschool, the kids went out to explore several workplaces. They started with a tour of Copernicus Studio in Halifax. Copernicus is an animation studio (http://www.copernicusstudios.com) that creates cartoons like Teen Titans Go!, Disney online Emoji videos, Give a Mouse a Cookie, and Pickle and Peanut.  Our cousin Janice works here and invited the kids for a tour. (Something like Bring-Your-First-Cousins-Twice-Removed-To-Work Day.) We were amazed to see the animation process in action, learn more about the industry, and meet some of the animators. Thanks Janice and team for a great afternoon!

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Simon and Wavey checking out the foyer 

In the Teen Titans Go! studio

Hanging out with Ron in the Teen Titans Go! studio

The studio

Studio for Give a Mouse a Cookie

Super cool stuff

Janice demonstrating the bowling alley boardroom table

This weekend, we started getting into the Christmas spirit a little (despite the fact that we are in denial it is December.) We attended the Santa Claus parade in the little community of Spryfield, which is 5 minutes from Purcell's Cove. It snowed and rained, and we all got thoroughly soaked.

Beginning of parade

John, Ben, Simon, Wavey and Sam keeping warm

Lana marching in the parade with Search and Rescue team

Miranda and Seamus also marched with Search and Rescue

Prior to the parade, we had the opportunity to visit Ben's company Enginuity; an innovative engineering firm that does some really interesting stuff (http://www.enginuityinc.ca).  We got to play with some of the equipment and take a tour.

Crane demo

Observing a Stirling Cycle External Combustion Engine

To complete our series on Cool-Workplaces-of-People-We-Know, Susanne took the kids to her office at Dalhousie Legal Aid where she works as a lawyer. The kids had a tour, met the team, and even attended a baby shower.  The kids helped Susanne prepare for the December 6th vigil to remember the 14 women who were killed 27 years ago in the Montreal Massacre.

Baby shower for Susanne's colleague Nicole at Dalhousie Legal Aid

I was looking through our photos to help describe the preparations we have been making over the past month.  We don't tend to take pictures when we are replacing plumbing, fixing radios, doing carpentry work, shopping, provisioning or sewing.

Provisioning and stowing our food

One thing I learned on our sailing trip sixteen years ago: there are always problems on boats. Something is always close to breaking or failing, and the key is to roll with it, accept it...and then get John to fix it.

Last month our main focus was solving the problem with single side band (SSB) radio. This radio is our main mode of communication while we are sailing offshore . John could not get the radio to sustain transmission once it had warmed up. After a couple of frustrating weeks of troubleshooting, John found SSB radio expert Neil in St. Margaret's Bay who was extremely helpful in fixing the hardware issue.

Water is an important consideration when we are offshore, as we carry all the water we need. We decided not to purchase a water maker, but to improve our plumbing with more efficient taps. Prior to installing new taps, we noticed that our bilge was filling up with freshwater from a leak somewhere in the freshwater system. It turned out to be a dripping freshwater foot pump. To be on the safe side, John disconnected the pump.

Then last week, our propane sensor started acting up. I was in the galley stowing cans and dried foods into the lockers when the propane sensor unit that detects propane leaks turned itself on and started to beep. Then it would turn itself off. (Galley ghosts I wondered?) There was no propane leak. The sensor just went wacky.  Here is a video John posted to prove to the guy in Vancouver that we were not making it up.

John removed the sensor unit and sent it by courier to Vancouver to the company who said they had never seen anything like it before. Unfortunately, the unit did not fail upon their testing, but they did some updates and returned it. It has not acted up since.  Fingers crossed.

One item on our TO DO list that finally made the top, was renovating the navigation station seat. Previously, the seat had a fiddle around the edge that you kind of had to straddle your butt on. If you sat more than 10 minutes, your legs would go numb. John did some fine carpentry and together, we upholstered it to create a better seat that now seats two bums!

There are other projects that have not yet reached the top, including sewing cockpit cushions and an awning extension from the bimini. However, I am happy to report that I did sew curtains for the aft cabin and we got rods up to hang them. Now we don't have to be up when the sun rises.

We have also been actively watching and obsessing about the weather. We need about a week to get to Bermuda and we want to avoid being out in bad weather if possible. Each evening we hunker down over our devices checking various ocean forecasts and models, while playing around with new weather apps and programs.  Ben, Lana and Julien have been so helpful in interpreting the various forecasts, and have become our new weather gurus. We were gearing up to leave today, but the weather window didn't look quite good enough for our precious crew. So, we wait...

It has taken a village (or a small Cove) to help us prepare for this trip. There are many kind souls who support us by loaning us their vehicles, schlepping us around town, feeding us warm meals, and opening their cheerful homes. This support has come in many forms such as a cup of tea (or stronger brew) and chat, advice to alleviate our decision fatigue, and various tools to complete projects. The kids have thrived by having friends and family around to hang out and get away from us for a bit.

We are not sure where we will be yet for Christmas...hopefully it will be warm, and where Santa can find us!

Hydrostone Market Tree Lighting event

Stay tuned for our departure date!