Toine arrived in Canada and, after a hectic week, was able to hand over the SeaQuest to the PYD crew yesterday afternoon. The girls and I have had a relaxing week socializing with the Canadian family. We are happy to be together as a family again!
The photo on the right was taken by Toine yesterday during the first sailing trip after the SeaQuest had been on the shore for five weeks and was now completely ready to sail again. A nice emotional moment!
So we spend the week apart from each other, but we have a lot of contact especially to follow how Toine and the boat are doing. Toine lives from day to day and is busy every day from early till late. The first days with finishing the work and leaving the house neat and tidy. The following days mainly with the boat. Luckily everything is going well, but just in the nick of time. Especially Thursday is a hectic day. Until late in the evening they are still busy getting the boat ready for sailing (mast on top, sails on top, electrical connections, finishing the front cabin) and Toine is helping out a lot. On Friday the test trip from Bruinisse to Breskens. Yes, everything works! At 4 pm the PYD skipper and his mate will come on board for the transfer. He is very satisfied with the status of the boat and only worries a bit about the amount of water when he sees that we don't have a water maker. Crossing the ocean with 4 men with 1000 liters of water is fine in itself, were it not for the toilets flushing with fresh water. But they will fix that too, buckets enough on board ;-).
Now let go and hand over the responsibility for the boat to the skipper. That feels pretty weird. But the skipper is very experienced and has already made 31 ocean crossings, so I'm sure he'll be fine. At the time of writing we see on Marine Traffic that they are already in the vicinity of Calais.
With help of Madeleine (top!) Toine comes back to Bruinisse and with help of Jeske (also top!) at the station in Breda to take the train to Schiphol. After a short night's sleep and an eight hour flight with Air Transat we are now also in Canada with Teun. Switching off and relaxing can begin!
Mira and the girls spend the first three days very relaxed at Teun, reading, chatting, walking and playing games (like poker, we learned that from Teun years ago!). And of course the 'famous dinner on Sunday night at Helen and John's'. With a fantastic smoked salmon on the BBQ.
On Wednesday we visit the Niagara Falls, what a beautiful nature that is! Afterwards we visit Jackie and Jack in Burlington for a swim. Followed by dinner at Teun with four of his kids, but not Jim. A cozy place!
Thursday and Friday is 'girl's time at the cottage of Helen and John in Sauble Beach'. With Jackie, Helen, Heidi (daughter of Helen) and the three of us. Two hours drive from Waterloo, situated at Lake Huron. A beautiful place in a beautiful nature, that gives a real holiday feeling. Just like we spend many weekends on the boat, they do that 'in the cottage'. We make nice walks, eat nice Canadian lunches, sit on the beach and the girls even swim in the lake. The whole summer it is not so hot in Canada. Also now it is at least 10 degrees colder than normal at this time of year, but that shouldn't spoil the fun. We talk English all the time and also with each other. Sometime this year this blog will be in English I'm afraid because then you will also think in English. The girls are having a good time and feel very comfortable. The two evenings we use the BBQ and I am designated as BBQ'er now that the men are not here. Both nights we watch a movie. Nice cozy days!
Today I pick up Toine at the airport and the girls stay at 'the cottage'. Today Jack, Jim and John also arrived there. It is a long weekend ('Labourday weekend') that marks the end of the vacations and the beginning of the school year. We are now enjoying Teun's company and tomorrow we will also spend a day at the cottage. Next Tuesday we fly to Halifax.