Archive for November, 2007

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

The Watermaker

We’ve spent the last couple of days de-bugging the boat, in particular that watermaker which has come up in our conversation so frequently. Does it work? Is it crap? We still don’t know. Cycling through the settings determined that the unit was able to suck in seawater and drain it out again. I guess a [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Padma de-bug by anitab

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Back in the Game

Chris and I managed to get through security this time without a hitch. Unlike the Neanderthal at security in Toronto, this guy was very pleasant. When we told him we were given visas, he shook his head and sighed, and then stamped our passports giving us as much time as we needed. Whew! That was [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in security woes by anitab

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Run for the Border

After an exhaustive search into our alternatives to resolve our visa situation we have decided to flee the country…. and re-enter to renew our visa. To recap, when we entered the US we were only granted a two month stay which expires on Dec 1, and we will need another three weeks or so to [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by cgailey

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

Weighty Issues

We picked up a couple of cheap folding bikes yesterday. They fit nicely into the forward lockers, mine in the port side and Chris’ the starboard side. We can finally get rid of that car. At 13 kg each, the folding bikes are a little heavier than we expected, but we didn’t pay much for [...]

5 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by anitab

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

Puzzle Palace

Well, there is no doubt that this boat totally rocks. The more time we spend on board the more we love it. We both independently worried if there would be enough space for the long term and now we are thoroughly reassured. The cockpit is veeery roomy, lots of space on the foredeck to roam [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Padma by cgailey

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

Homeland Security

When Chris and I flew down here from Toronto, we made the error of getting a one-way ticket. The border patrol at the airport didn’t like that and because we were carrying three extra boxes, we looked as if we were moving there permanently. They gave us a two-month visa, which expires on December 1. [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by anitab

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Office of Truth

To comply with Canadian boat registration, we needed to do a Tonnage Survey. Someone from the Bureau Veritas (the ‘bureau of truth’) came by and took a several measurements of the boat. The boat registration office in Toronto requires this before we receive our official number. The tonnage survey is used to identify the boat [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by anitab

Monday, November 19th, 2007

Moving Aboard Today

Because we are moving onto the boat today, yesterday was taken up with mundane tasks like laundry and getting new linens. We didn’t expect shopping for linens to take all day, but when you’re in a place that you don’t know so well, you spent a lot of time driving around. We went to Macy’s [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by admin

Sunday, November 18th, 2007

What you find

Yesterday was spent going through the equipment on the boat. We haven’t moved aboard yet and are still cleaning it. As I mentioned earlier, there is all kinds of stuff, including: four GPS’, and three VHF radios (one standalone, one remote and another handheld) in addition to a chart plotter, SSB receiver (which we’ll change [...]

6 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by admin

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

Moving the boat

The official documentation for the boat arrived yesterday afternoon. Our Documentation and Registration person, Lisa was unusually swamped. When we went in to pick up the papers, she said she had six people who were all closing that afternoon. Recession? What recession? Anyway, Lisa Borkowski is highly recommended. She’s very efficient, knowledgeable, and can pretty [...]

3 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by admin