Boating Adventures

First, the plan.  I’d like to spend some time in Northern Europe on my own boat.  That’s my next goal.  I’d really like to follow the Viking Route from Newfoundland east across the Atlantic to get there.

There, I’ve said it. 

I have never aspired to cross oceans.  In fact, I swore off the whole notion about 35 years ago when I moved inland.

But the reality is that I want to keep moving, keep apending a good chunk of the time on board, and continue to explore the world by boat.  I won’t wax on about Norway, but I can’t wait to get back.  I’ve explored small ports in Iceland and England by car and imagined arriving by boat. 

Hence the new boat.  I have lots of trepidations, but I’ve been bumping this use case around for a while, and think the boat fits.  We’ll see.

My basic game plan right now is to launch the new boat – I need to find a new name! – in late June, spend the summer in Newfoundland and Labrador, and head for Halifax in the fall.  That should be a sufficient shake down cruise. 

More to come…

I’m back in Nova Scotia for two weeks with the intention of having Escapade ready for sale before I leave.  It’s great to be able to stay aboard the boat while ashore in the yard.

The boat has served me well, and more than met the needs I identified when I bought it.

I’m struck in reading that needs list that my overall requirements haven’t changed, and in fact the new boat meets the same set of requirements.  My basic game plan hasn’t changed, but my cruising area has.

But this isn’t about the new boat.  While back aboard I’m reminded again of what a cool and capable (and big!) boat Escapade is.  Hopefully the boat will find a good home and many more adventures.

‘Ready for sale’ is a relative term of course.  In this case I’m aiming for clean and decluttered.  The boat needs work that I’ll leave for the next owner, with full disclosure.  Clean and decluttered is a big enough ask! 

In any case, Escapade will soon be seriously for sale.  You heard it here first.  Tell your friends and neighbors 😀.

I expect I’ll ask about $C80k for the boat.  Reach out to jeff@boatingadventures.ca if you want more deets.

As Jeff previously mentioned, we hit a big snag in our return trip. As a result, we left the ship a day early in a beautiful little town, Alesund. From there we flew to the Netherlands via Oslo and Stockholm, before returning to Canada.

Notwithstanding the travel difficulties,it was a great trip filled with glorious sights.

I often got up in the early morning to walk around the ship, looking for northern lights, and waiting for the sun to rise. These photos are from Storfosna (0411) to Averoy (1805).

I’m buying a sailboat.  It’s in Lewisporte NF. 

The seller and I made an agreement a few weeks ago subject to my inspection.  I flew out to St John’s on Saturday, rented a car and drove about 400 kms to see the boat, then did the return trip Sunday.  

I’ll let the owner’s description and photos do the explaining.  The pilothouse really works for me.

https://www.helplink.com/Kashmir/index.html

https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/109374

I didn’t take any photos of my own.  It was cold.

We’re in Amsterdam, heading home tomorrow.  Had another travel challenge when we found out last night that our tickets for the flight out of Bergen today had been cancelled due to our no show on the original flight.  And no seats were available that would get us here in time.

We recovered fairly gracefully.  Got off the boat at midnight in Alesund, stayed in a hotel there, and flew here today via Oslo and Stockholm.  Not unpleasant. 

The trip south was stormy much of the time.  Our outer deck was closed at times, but the top deck was open. 

Great trip.  I’m glad we were able to do it.