Adventures in Cottage Country

So .... Ross has decided that now that we have a bigger boat, he can do some of his island calls himself - in the past, he's been meeting people at marinas and getting them to take him to wherever he needs to be... which has worked fine for the most part, but does mean that he works almost every weekend, since that's when people are up here. A lot of the work - especially repeat calls, estimates, spider sprays and so on can be done without the customer present IF he takes our boat.

So ...a fine idea! Except for the fact that most of our boating over the past several years has been in and around Hoggs Bay - not exactly challenging in terms of navigation, that! So we've been doing some more exploratory trips lately... he's got the maps and I have a Blackberry - which does have some GPS services, although it doesn't yet work with the Navionics app (it needs to!!).... so...we didn't get lost on our first big exploratory trip.

Unfortunately, we also didn't make it home though!!!! Darn boat conked out!!!! Way out in the middle of things.... about half way between Beausolleil Island and ...Sawlog Bay? ... whatever... we were buggered. Had an extra filter - two actually - and Ross tried swapping those out. No way, no how - it just was not going to co-operate.

So there we are - out in the middle of nowhere. Did see a couple of boats off in the distance, but neither of them apparently saw us, even though I was waving life jacket and flashlight around like a damn fool.

And of course, since we'd gotten away much later in the day than we'd intended.... it was already into the evening. AND I had been using my Blackberry for navigation all day - guess how much power it had left? Yeah, not much. Next time, we take the charger!

Anyway .... who to call? Brother in law now has the little pontoon boat ... no way in hell. Several unsuccessful phone calls trying to get help .... no joy ... and of course, all of these phone calls are draining my battery even more - but hey, at least now people know where we are - and where we are going to be spending the night, seemed like. Sure would have liked them to quit wasting my battery power by calling me to tell me they weren't going to help us though!!!!!

Great - the power bar on Blackberry had now gone from yellow to red... and I really REALLY did not relish the idea of a night out on the lake. Then I thought of Phil - Ross' friend from Village Marina, in Honey Harbour. Thank God for Phil!

He not only was there, he got in his boat and came and towed us home. By the time he got to us it was almost dark - by the time we got back to the Marina it was well after dark. I've never had the ~pleasure~ of being out on the lake after dark - especially in unfamiliar waters - but fortunately they aren't unfamiliar to Phil and all ended well. He even went above and beyond by lending us a car to go home in, and arranging to have the boat serviced for us first thing in the morning (it was some other thingamabob filter not the one Ross was mucking around with).

So - all's well that ends well ...thanks to Phil at Village Marina in Honey Harbour.

Boat is all fixed, and we know a whole lot more about where (and when!!) to go, what we need (an ipad, I think!), and what to do if we get stuck. Which, I hope, we never will again!!!!

So there we go.... yes, we do do island calls - and we'll even do them with our own boat, if you prefer.... after all, what's life without a little adventure?

Bed Bugs - A new concern

As if bedbugs were not creepy and disgusting enough, now they are finding them with drug resistant bacteria that causes MRSA and others already on board. Charming!!!! NOT!

Another good reason for Ross NOT to bring his work home with him.