Next stop was Helen’s old school where she was able to briefly say [...]]]>
Next stop was Helen’s old school where she was able to briefly say hello to many, but not all, of her old friends and colleagues. There was just not enough time to catch up with all. While she was doing this I was off to the bank, the sports store for fishing gear, BestBuy for a spare camera battery and an Asian food store for some Wasabi.
Picking Helen up from school we headed south to Sam to take him clothes shopping. Later we met up with Ben and went out for a final meal together. We said goodbye to Sam first as he was off to college and spent another hour or so with Ben at Jess’s apartment. We said our goodbyes to Ben before heading off to JFK.
The trip to JFK was smooth so we arrived with hours to spare. Often, the trip to that airport can be a nightmare so time needs to be built into the trip to cover jams but this time it was superfluous.
While waiting at the airport, Air Jamaica had a little thing going as they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of their route from Grenada to JFK. We received some free cake and juice, substantially more nourishment than we received on the plane coming up here.
We slept uncomfortably on and off and arrive around 6 in the morning here. Having waited forever to clear customs we were sent through the goods to declare line as we had loads of parts for the boat on which we had to pay duty. Had we known to ask for permission in Carriacou when we first checked into Grenadan waters we could have got away with a 2.5% duty. As it was, we had to pay 5% of our estimated value of goods (which was far less than they were worth). That being done we caught a taxi to Prickly Bay Marina where Jim was waiting to take us to Dignity which he’d already opened up to air.
First thing on the boat (after blogging to say we had arrived) was to get some additional sleep. Upon waking we had to clean the mould off the fridge and unpack. I also fixed the watermaker with the replacement salinity probe which worked fine. I’ve also set up the new power inverter temporarily with the new wireless hub to try things out. It seems to work but the local internet seems swamped. I could be wrong about this so we’ll need to test things further.
I have been asked what the total goodie list was. Here it is as best I can remember:
- EPIRB (for our travels west)
- Pure Sine Wave Invertor (to power the wireless internet setup without issues caused by transients)
- Portable inverter and battery for quick recharges of phones, etc.
- Wireless Hub (to replace the dead one)
- Netbook (so we can surf together)
- Camera & spare battery (for better picture taking)
- Outdoor speakers (to replace blown existing ones)
- More writable DVDs
- 12V LED Xmas lights (for next Xmas)
- New L-Ion battery for spare GPS
- Replacement salinity probe for watermaker
- A bunch of SD memory cards and USB sticks for sharing movies, etc & storing music for player
- Reading books
- Pressure switch for deck wash pump
- Weighing machine batteries
- Total Dissolved Solids meter to test purity of water
- A couple of computer mice
- Headphones
- More interior LED replacements including some brighter ones
- Choke knob for dinghy outboard
- Fishing tackle
- Clothing
The boat is fine after our absence bar some mould that grew in the fridge. This afternoon we’ll move her to the dock ready for the upgrade that should go in tomorrow morning. Once we’re on the dock we’ll recharge everything.
Right now Helen has gone back to sleep. The heat is back compared to NJ which turned quite chilly on the last day. In a day or two I’ll expect we’ll be back in our groove.
]]>Today we’ll take Sam shopping for clothes and have a final meet up this evening before we head back to JFK on our way to Grenada. Flight is 5 past midnight. Hopefully we’ll sleep. Back in Grenada we’ll need to move Dignity onto the dock ready for her upgrade.
For now, here is a video of Ben graduating compiled from clips taken by Jess on her camera.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W44QXeihpMk[/youtube]
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Yesterday we helped Ben
move some of the stuff out of his apartment into our rental property’s basement. It is so useful to have this. Later, we met Sam’s girlfriend, Annie, yesterday for the first time and really liked her. We all went out for a walk in the University gardens. The weather was perfect for this. I took the new camera and hopefully the results show.
After the walk we went to the movies to watch the new Terminator movie which seemed to be enjoyed by all. After it was wings and pizza back in Jess’s apartment.
Today we’re leaving Jess’s place where we’ve stayed for the last three nights. We’re going to visit some of Helen’s friends from school then go to Anne and Johns, our friends who helped out so much when we were in transition. There we’ll get to open all the boxes that have arrived that we ordered over the internet from Dignity. Lots of ‘testing’ to do. Tuesday we’ll take Sam shopping. He didn’t think he needed much extra in the clothes department but fortunately Annie was there to advise.
It continues to feel a bit strange here in NJ. It certainly doesn’t feel as though we’ve been away for seven months in the Caribbean. It’s almost as though our life aboard Dignity exists on a different plane. I skype chatted with Jim on Bees Knees the other day and it felt like communicating between worlds. Really strange.
]]>Picking up two days ago. Ben, Sam and Jess (Ben’s girlfriend) arrived at the motel soon after we had cleaned ourselves up and as all were pretty hungry (what changes?) we were off to dinner. [...]]]>
Picking up two days ago. Ben, Sam and Jess (Ben’s girlfriend) arrived at the motel soon after we had cleaned ourselves up and as all were pretty hungry (what changes?) we were off to dinner. It felt like hardly any time had passed except for the evidence of Sam’s further growth. Looks like he’ll be the tallest in the family.
After dinner we hung around a little in our motel room and chatted but soon Helen and I were tired from our travels and we parted company.
Yesterday started off with Helen and I visiting our rental property, sort out some stuff at the bank then do a little shopping. Helen popped into a supermarket to be overwhelmed by choice and I spent time drooling in BestBuy. It’s amazing what 7 months does to what’s available and pricing. Fortunately we kept pretty much to the shopping list.
Next we visited Sam in his loft, picked up lunch then headed off to Rutgers, Livingstone campus for Ben’s graduation ceremony. The weather was almost perfect – just a little too warm. On the boat we can remove more than we can get away with in NJ.
We took some great outd
oor pics but the indoor ones have sadly turned out a bit grainy/blurry. Now I’m convinced we need a better camera and this is more than a little influenced by the big eyes developed during my homage at the temple of BestBuy.
Upon leaving the campus area the next order of the day was to visit Ben’s local bar to celebrate with a few beers though not a lot for me as I was driving. Next we headed off to the movies to watch the latest Star Trek movie which was a lot of fun. Now staying at Jess’s place, the evening ended with Chinese takeaway, bubbly and company.
Today and tomorrow we’ll be doing some shopping with the boys to get them some better clothes and, in Sam’s case, fill his fridge.
]]>The flight was uneventful. Movie was boring. The light refreshment amounted to a bag of crisps.
At JFK we picked up a hire car for the week and drove to NJ shocked at the price of the bridge toll (now $10). Oh well – it’s different economics.
With a stop off to complete our taxes we’ve finally made it to a motel near New Brunswick where we’re cleaning up and soon to meet Ben, Sam & Jesse. Looking forward to it.
]]>Tomorrow we close and move in. For a few days we’ll be camping out on the floor on our camping mats. On Friday, after moving our boxes to the shipping depot, we’ll go and get all our stuff out of storage and move them into our new property to be distributed around the basement and loft/attic. We reckon there will be two weeks of work for us. Not quite sure yet when the builders will be finished – something to work out.
In the meantime, here are a few pics from some of our walks around the parks in the area. Over the last week the fall colours have really come out.
Later we wondered around the town shops, many of which were art galleries followed by an early lunch at the “Haunted Hamburger”. Great burgers. Great view.
Before returning to our lodging we stopped off at a local vineyard for tasting and picking up gifts.
Right now we’re sitting in the airport waiting for our plane. There is a good and free (a surprise these days) internet connection so I’m able to blog.
As an aside, I decided to buy a Magic Jack which will enable us to have a US phone number while we’re off on our travels.
Big, big thanks to Liam & Jo for their fantastic instruction over 10 days. As mentioned, the entire class passed. After we were let out about a dozen of us headed into Flagstaff where we had a Thai lunch. [...]]]>
Big, big thanks to Liam & Jo for their fantastic instruction over 10 days. As mentioned, the entire class passed. After we were let out about a dozen of us headed into Flagstaff where we had a Thai lunch. A very nice one at that. I have added a few final pics to our photo set (see earlier post with slide show)
After lunch we picked up a few items and, after dropping off one of the other ‘WFRers’ back at the campsite we drove to the rim of the Grand Canyon. We took a walk along the rim top to catch the sunset then headed back to our room to get ready for our hike. When sorting out the food for the meals we needed we realized we had a little too much so some was left behind. Once finished, we ate some of our spare food on the wall at the rim.
The following morning was an early start. Alarms went off at 4:30 and we got ourselves ready for the 5am bus to take us to the South Kaibab trailhead. By 5:25 we were heading down into the canyon. This trail follows a ridgeline and has no place to stop over so it’s best to go down. By being on a ridge the views were spectacular. About an hour into our walk we stopped on an outcrop and ate breakfast while the sun rose.
The hike down was quite tiring but not as bad as it was for a few folks we passed who were hiking up. Not sure if they realized how exposed they would be but some looked pretty worn out. As we passed people, particularly those sat down looking exhausted, we asked them in they were ok, ready to dive in and do our WFR act if they were not. Fortunately we weren’t called up.
By 9am we were in the campsite at the canyon bottom. We found a site we liked and set up our tents. We were all quite tired so the morning comprised sleeping and ready followed by lunch around 11am. Lunch finished us off so a bit more dozing was required. We were both tired from the walk as well as the heat which was up in the 100s (F). We were camped right on the Bright Angle creek so we were able to bathe/wash albeit in pretty cold water. In the afternoon we walked to the Phantom ranch for coffee. Afterwards Helen and I took a walkabout and ended up walking the river trail which involved crossing both of the foot bridges across the Colorado River.
One of the main annoyances were the flies which were everywhere and had a tendency to bite. The flies were replaced by bats at dusk which offered us some relief although Sam was worried a bat might fly into him. He was ok in the end. As night fell we all took an early sleep. We’re not used to camping so we all found the ground bumpy and slept fitfully.
Another early morning had us up accompanied by more bats than the previous evening. At 5am we had a cooked breakfast at Phantom Ranch before returning to the campsite to pack up. It was not until 6:30 until we were off – one of the last groups to leave the campsite. The hike to Indian Garden camp ground, about 2/5 of the way up was fairly straight forward and we were there in what seemed no time. I walked this route back in 1984 and remember little of it. The last time I walked down and up in a day so the way down was dark and the way up we were already exhausted so that may explain the memory lapse.
This campsite was a little cooler than the first being at a slightly higher elevation. After we set camp Ben and Sam wandered off and found a little oasis in the stream and even walked out to Plateau Point before returning very quickly to avoid the midday heat.
Lunch was the same as the previous day as it was the packed lunch from Phantom Ranch. The afternoon was lazy followed by dinner at around 4:30am. After dinner we all hiked out to Plateau Point to watch the sunset. This was indescribable. All I can say is that the location places you in the center of the canyon with awesome views all around and 180 degree views of the river 1,500 feet below. Throw in a world class sunset and maybe you can begin to understand how it looked.
The second night was more uncomfortable than our first. We overslept a little and by the time we were packed we were the last ones out of camp. That being said we acquitted ourselves well on the final 3,000 foot climb. Ben and Sam made it up in two hours and Helen and I followed 30 mins later. Not bad considering the gear we were carrying and the lack of preparation.
Back on the road before 10am we headed off to Cottonwood for our final two nights. We heard nearby Jerome is quite nice. We’ve got a pretty nice Best Western room, in fact two rooms, for a very good price. Right now we’re all just crashing. While we do so, here is a vid and some pics.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9BNpVGnXoU[/youtube]
This morning we woke up extra early and started breakfast at 6am. We were on our way by 6:30am and arrived at the trailhead by 7am. The trailhead is at over 9,000 feet and the one way trip 4.5 miles with a 3,300 feet rise in elevation. While light, we were not in sunlight when we began our trek. Very quickly we realized the altitude was going to make this difficult. We are all soon feeling a little woozy and experiencing headaches. We soldiered on ignoring the lessons recently learned which was to go back down. We did slow down our pace and took it very easy.
On the way up we met four people from our course. The first was Don who had hiked up and ‘camped’ under a tarp the previous evening and had caught sunrise from the top. Close to the top we met a group of three. At this point the winds were quite brisk and very cold. Fortunately, at the top windbreaks had been built from rocks so we were able to sit in these and shelter from the wind while warming up and eating snacks and drinking water. The views were better than anticipated and we were all pleased we’d made the effort to get up there. Our original estimates were three hours up and two down. It actually took us four and a half hours to get up due to the difficulty of climbing at that altitude. We figured we’d make up on the way down but were wrong again. The descent went on forever and seemed a lot longer than the way up. Ben reckoned we must have been spaced out on the way up which made it feel shorted.
We eventually got back to the car by 2:30pm, much later than our anticipated noon. We stuck to our plan and drove to meteor crater. It was great to see but we were less than impressed with the exhibits as the science was a bit inaccurate to say the least. We didn’t stay long as we were all quite fatigued from our earlier exertions and I developed a severe headache – a sure sign of altitude sickness.
So here are a few pics from today’s day off :
I’ve also uploaded some pics from our WFR training. Enjoy.