2003 #4  November 23rd  Endings and Beginnings

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From Phyllis and John:

We last wrote from Labrador, just after the crossing from Greenland. Since that voyage account there have been many changes in our lives.

First of all we had to get used to being in North America again where English is the official language, almost every town has a huge supermarket and there are doughnut shops on every corner (not that hard to get used to again!).

Then we had to change our focus from ice in the water and gales in the Labrador Sea to the fall threat of hurricanes, an especially big problem this year. We waited in the Bras D’Or Lakes while Fabian went by after hitting Bermuda, snugged down in a secure harbour in Maine while Isabel went by after thumping the Carolinas and we had the boat hauled by the time Juan went by on its way to Halifax. As we have a house, family and friends in Bermuda and many friends in Halifax, both those hurricanes were white-knuckle events for us. However, none of our friends or family were hurt and our house only received minor damage. Not everyone else was as fortunate.

Then came the biggest change of all. After five years of living aboard we pulled Morgan’s Cloud out of the water, cleaned her from stem to stern, winterized her systems, put everything that might freeze in storage, shipped nine boxes of personal goods to Bermuda and then snugged her away in a shed at Billings Diesel in Stonington, ME. Locking the hatch and walking away was exceptionally difficult. She has been our home, our main mode of transportation, our work, our leisure, our concern, and our magic carpet to wonderful places and incredible people. Making the shift to being landlubbers has not been easy.

But we are determined that this is only going to be a temporary absence from cruising and hopefully only a short one. We are in Bermuda, living in our house, repairing the damage from Fabian and sprucing the place up for a new owner to take possession in spring so that we can get back on Morgan’s Cloud and back out there. Now we just have to find the new owner!

In the meantime we are planning a big revision to the website, we are working on several more articles, we have about 1,500 slides to edit, and we are planning our next cruise.

Many people have asked us, "What’s next?" and often seem to be expecting to hear of plans for far away places: New Zealand, Chile and even Antarctica.  Perhaps that will happen one day, but for now our attraction to the north remains strong. After twelve seasons in the north we feel that we are just scratching the surface with a growing, but still limited, understanding of the places, the history and the people.  Greenland, particularly the east coast, beckons again with a shake down cruise to Newfoundland first. After that there is the more remote twin island to Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, in the Svalbard Archipelago, which we visited in 2001 but would like to explore further. 

The Norwegian Cruising Guide that we took over two years ago is due for a new edition soon, which will give us an excuse (as if we needed one) to return to Norway. Of course once we get to Norway it would be a pity to miss the Baltic like we did last time.

Each time we return to the north we leverage our previous visits to go further and learn more. So that is what we hope for in the next few years.

Thanks for your kind wishes and support during this past cruise and we look forward to sharing our next cruise with you.
 

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