We finally return to Tropical Horizons II

June 26th 2020, COVID 19 has put a damper on our plans to bring Tropical Horizons II back to Canada for the summer, but we have found a way to get down to her and move her closer.

The travel restrictions that have been placed on Canadians travelling to the USA have forced us to change our plans.  We originally wanted to bring Tropical Horizons II up to our summer port at Trent Port Marina for the summer, planning to travel shortly after the Erie Canal would open.  Well, as it is often the case when travelling by water, plans change.  The COVID 19 virus has changed the world and how we interact in it for the foreseeable future.  At least until a vaccine is found and even then no one knows what the effectiveness of such a vaccine would be.  

The pandemic had effectively shut down the world for a number of weeks and months.  This led to the closure of all Erie Canal job sites halting all maintenance and repair work being performed on many of the lock stations.  With these projects on hold, the canal opened much later and as I write this post, some parts will remain closed until mid August.  This closure along with the travel restrictions imposed by Canada has led us to make some big changes in our plans. 

As I am a dual citizen, I am free to travel between both countries without any restrictions.  I often moan about the fact that I need to file and pay taxes in Canada and the USA, but this is a circumstance where I was happy that I kept that up.  Karen on the other hand had to fly down to the USA as this was the only mode of travel available to her without restrictions.  So after I dropped Karen off at the train station in Ottawa for her long day of travel from Montreal to Albany, I picked up a U-Haul trailer and started loading it up.  Tank and I got on the road at just around noon that day, whereas Karen was on the train at 6:30 am.  

Arriving at the border, I was asked why I was heading down to the USA and what I would be doing.  The answer was simple, I was going to work on our boat and move it from a boat yard in Maryland to a ship yard in Albany.  Satisfied that I was not violating any restrictions I was sent on our way towing a 16 foot trailer behind me.

I made it to the airport in Albany about 40 minutes after Karen landed just around 8:00 pm that evening.  Leaving the airport we headed to our first stop, a small hotel outside of Albany not far from where the ship yard that we would be using was located.  I had made arrangements to meet with the yard manager the following morning to provide him with multiple documents about Tropical Horizons II and the work that we would want them to perform over the fall and winter months.  On arrival at the hotel, everyone was wearing a mask and were all keeping distance between themselves while waiting in line.  The hotel clerk was behind a shield and wearing a mask as well.  We checked in and settled down for the night.

Ready to hit the road again after our stay in New Baltimore NY.

The following morning we met with Eric Everson of Scarano Boat Building and left him with a flash drive with all of the documents needed to review the work to be done on Tropical Horizons II.  After a brief discussion with Eric, both of us wearing masks, we heading back out on the road; direction, Maryland.  We arrived later that afternoon in Kent Narrows and checked in to another hotel just across the street from the yard where Tropical Horizons II was laying.  We backed the trailer in next to her and unhitched it from the truck.  I was happy to see her but my heart started to sink when I saw the rust stains starting to show up on her hull.  My heart sank even further when I stepped aboard her only to find out that all of the batteries were dead, switches were left turned on, and our stash of Wicked Dolphin Rum was gone.  To say I was feeling a little overwhelmed would be an understatement.  

Tropical Horizons II, in need of some serious TLC.

The next day, we had made arrangements to meet with John Barrows, the former owner.  He had agreed to help me out with commissioning Tropical Horizons II so we could get her out of that yard and into Lippincott Marina just around the corner.  John was great and offered me lots of encouragement.  We worked tirelessly for 2 days and got her in the water and over to the marina where we would be able to have her plugged in and clean her up hoping that we could breath some life back into the battery banks.

Finally in the water again!

Off to Lippincott Marina.

As a trade for his time on helping me out, I spent two more days working with John on his boat and we called it even.  Needless to say the week long stay at Lippincott revealed some other challenges that we needed to face.  Stay tuned!

Our new home for the next week.

We've made some changes!!

Welcome to Tropical Horizons II.

Over the past 6 years we have enjoyed the short boating season that Canada offers aboard the decks of Tropical Horizons, our 1987 Sea Ray 410 AC.  She has served us well and we've put lots of effort in upgrading her from adding bow and stern thrusters, to a solar system, we've spent a lot of time and effort getting her ready for extending cruising.  However things change and so did our cruising and retirement plans.  When we first purchased Tropical Horizons, she was to be our entry boat into the cruising world.  Karen and I both had experience cruising aboard smaller sailboats and Tropical Horizons was our first "big boat".  We learned a great deal about marina life and about cruising life, while we explored the waters of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Bay of Quinte and the Trent Severn Waterway.  We forged many new friendships along the way and learned about this thing called the "Great Loop".  We joined and currently volunteer many hours with the AGLCA, which is a cruising club for those who embark on the "Great Loop", those who are still in the planning stages as well as those who have completed the "Loop". 

So what has changed?  Well as you can see from the new appearance of our blog page, the boat has changed.  Karen and I made the decision that we would be selling everything we own on land and moving aboard permanently.  We had come to this decision about a year or two ago and at first we thought about renting a storage unit to place all of our "stuff"  while we explored the world surrounded by water.  We then realized that this would be impractical, and costly only to hang onto things that we would never see.  So the decision to downsize and start to rid ourselves of the "stuff" that we had accumulated over the years was taken. Going through the exercise of downsizing still is leaving us with lots of "stuff" that we wanted to keep without enough space on the boat to keep these things.  Some of you who have been to our house, know that Karen and I are collectors of art.  We love paintings, photographs (that both of us have taken), sculpture (mostly wood carvings) and other bits that we have collected throughout our travels or have inherited from family who have since passed.  Some items will be moving to the vacation rental homes that we own in Florida, and others will be passed on to family, while even more items will stay with us.  So we need some space to display these items.  We also enjoy entertaining guests aboard Tropical Horizons, as many of you who have attended our docktails will recall.  We have accommodated up to 12 people on the aft deck and flybridge of Tropical Horizons, but that was a little crowded.  We also want to be able to have family and friends visit us and travel with us as we share our experiences, unfortunately Tropical Horizons would only accommodate two additional guests. 

After a few years of cruising for extended trips with Tropical Horizons we knew that life aboard her would be possible, but there would be limitations.  We told ourselves that really the boat was for the two of us and that our little 41 foot Sea Ray would be just fine.  We loved Tropical Horizons and she kept us safe and comfortable throughout all of our trips.  She was paid for, and I knew her well.  I knew all of her quirks, I knew how she moved through the water, how the wind affected her, best of all I could maintain her myself.  In short we still love Tropical Horizons and will be sad to see her go.

Fast forward to late summer of 2019.  Karen and I will often spend time looking at other boats on a rainy day or in the morning over breakfast, it's what we do.  Throughout the years we have often spent time looking at Burgers, Browards, Linsens, Hatterass, Vikings and Chris Crafts to name a few.  For some reason, we always seem to gravitate to the Burgers, why, I think it's the lines of the older classics that appeal to us.  With that said, we came across a beautiful 1958 60 ft. Burger.  We read the specs and studied the photos closely.  We searched the internet for any additional information we could find on this specific boat and yes we did manage to find a few things but mostly old listings and the associated specs.  So encouraged by new friends and fellow loopers, I reached out to the listing broker and in November of 2019 she joined our family.