See you in November

Posted on: August 25, 2010

We are writing from Canada today.  We’ve been home for two weeks and are staying in Horseshoe Valley, Ontario in a quiet condominium.  Everything about our situation is opposite from what it has been for the last 10 months.   Our lives no longer change with the wind.     We have not been on the water nor have we seen it.

Dolphins at the bow

It is a funny thing leaving a boat that you have been living on for 21 of the last 24 months of your life.  It takes about a week before the small reflexive worries subside.  I think we were watching weathercarib.com for over a week and subconsciously thinking… galley stove solenoid off, dock lines secure, hatches closed and locked, yes dear, no dear, weather checked, sky checked, double checked, triple checked….  Now we are just watching the National Hurricane Center online and enjoying very temperate weather in sweaters and pants.    We are slowly getting used to not living in our work space.

Dolphin chasing, Little Harbour

Here are some pics of our last two charters and of Yes Dear being retired for the season at Nanny Cay Marina in Tortola. The picture of Gabriel almost touching the dolphin was taken in Little Harbour. We swam with that dolphin for hours and when we finally dropped our stern line and lifted anchor he chased us almost to Great Harbour before finally disappearing.

Ready for a rest

Here’s a rough list of what is new on Yes dear for 2011: a sound system in No Dear  (yes, that is right, the tender for Yes Dear goes 40 Mph, has a ski pole and now a sound system), new dinghy cushions, more new artwork, new lines, a second double kayak, a new tube, new kids water-skis and a stand-up paddle board.

Last year we had one charter booked going into our first year in the private industry and we were quite nervous about how to run a business in the private charter world (I’m sure our owner David was more nervous).  We ended up completing 16 charters and thoroughly enjoying the season.  We had more freedom than we were used to but also much more responsibility and paper work.  As of today we have 10 charters booked for 2011, that’s nine more than last year!

Thanks to everyone that helped make Yes Dear’s fist first private season and third charter season a success – especially the guests!

Sandy Spit, Jost, Van Dyke

See you soon.

Your crew,

Ian and Jody