If you read our last post, you know that we've been having some delays in getting Nirvana out of the boatyard. Well, it's happened again! Last Saturday morning, Ken and I grabbed the dock lines, fenders and other gear that we needed to put Nirvana back in the water. We'd already set up the lift with Gary, the owner of the boatyard, and we were scheduled to go in around 11 am. The skies were blue and the weather was gorgeous. It was going to be a great weekend to motor Nirvana to her new location ... until it wasn't.
As we drove into the boatyard, we scanned the waterway to see how the water level looked. It appeared a bit low, but we weren't sure and remained optimistic. As soon as we stepped out of our truck, Gary approached us and said, "You wanna go through all that mud?!". We immediately knew what that meant ... Nirvana wasn't going in. Our hearts sank. I guess Gary saw the disappointment in my face, because he gave me a hug and tried to make things better by saying, "You're gonna be here another year"! Actually, he did make things better by immediately saying that the "clock has stopped" and Nirvana is now staying at the boatyard for free until she goes into the water. The little canal that leads to the yard really needs to be dredged and that's why it's so hard to get outta here. No wonder we haven't seen too many sailboats during our stay the past year. Gary knows the situation makes things tough for us, so he's being fair by not charging us.
Since we live about 20 minutes away and Gary lives right next door to the yard, he assured us he'd give us a call as soon as the water level was high enough to put Nirvana in the lift. Ken and I have already decided that when we get that call from Gary, we're dropping everything and heading to the yard. We may just have to play hookie from work, but it's about priorities right?!
As we left the boatyard disappointed, we started to laugh about our situation. We now refer to the boatyard as "Boatyard California". We can never leave!
Since we were suddenly free on a beautiful weekend, we spent it doing what folks do on beautiful weekends ... fixed a leaky tire on Ken's truck, replaced two tires on my car, caught up on paperwork and invoices, went grocery shopping ... all those fun things! Actually, I'm not complaining. We now can breathe a little easier since we've caught up on these things that we just couldn't seem to get to. Heck, at least we avoided going to our vacant rental to start the repairs that need to be done before finding a new tenant. It's been sitting for a month, but no worries. We've decided that we'll get to it when we can, and that's all we can do. Sometime this month we'll fix the rental and have Nirvana back in the water ... it will be good.
With making plans to move Nirvana, we recently stopped by Oak Harbor Marina to talk to Courtney, the dock master, and pick out a slip. We're very familiar with this marina, as it's right next to the subdivision that we lived in until recently. It's pretty nice, and it's right at the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain. However, after talking with Courtney we decided to put off Oak Harbor for a few months and instead move Nirvana to a nearby place that would allow us to back our truck up to the slip and unload tools. We still have quite a few projects to do on Nirvana, including painting the non-skid, bedding all the deck hardware, replacing some bulkheads, etc. Oak Harbor requires that we park at the back of their parking lot (they also have condos), which would make things difficult. Also, they frown on too many projects on the boats and we don't want any problems. So, Nirvana will be back where she was in 2010 when we did our first haul-out. But this time she'll be in the water! I don't know what to call this place ... it was a boatyard, but it was poorly managed and went out of business. The owner of the land is now renting out the few slips he has, so it's not quite a boatyard but not quite a marina either. We like this, as it will be easy to get things done and is only five minutes away.
So, how long does it take to leave "Boatyard California"? Will we ever leave?! Stay tuned!
Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!
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4 comments:
Waiting for high tide is just what some folks have to do. I know that feeling.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Cheryl,
I have an idea that might work. Shoot me an email at jdeatsch@rochester.rr.com
Jim
When we had Logos (our C30) at a marina in Whortonsville, there were quite a few days when the wind-driven tide would not allow those with deeper drafts to go out sailing. We had a 3'10" wing keel so could almost always get out and back in, even if we were touching bottom (soft) just a bit. But those with 4'-6' keels were outta luck. Such is life on the coastal creeks. :-) I hope you can finally get Nirvana out soon! Sounds like you found the perfect place to dock her while you continue to work on projects. Five minutes away is great -- we were 3 hours from our boat when we owned her and thus didn't get to use her nearly as much as we would have liked.
Oh, what a nightmare! But it sounds like you have a good plan for once your boat does splash. Fingers crossed it happens sooner rather than later.
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