It is so much fun for us to get your comments, encouragement and prayer support. Thank you for writing back. The day started by again fueling up but this time the truck drove on a road behind the dock and we passed the nozzle by tying a line to it and pulling it across. No matter how we do it, the fuel is costing more than we anticipated by a lot. But then isn’t every one saying that?

The parts for the water maker arrived and Walt was able to fix it after one false start. So now we can again make fresh water from the salt water surrounding us at a rate of sixteen gallons an hour. Our neighbor on the dock, Gavin, helped Walt with fueling and the repair, then gave us a tour of Corner Brook and fed us a steak dinner after all this. Talk about hospitality! He and his wife, Val, live on their 41′ sailboat with their nine month old son in the summer months. They will lend us their car to pick up Skip, Pat and Shane tomorrow at the Deer Lake Airport.

The refrigerator compressor arrived and we have an 8:30 am appointment to get it installed. Then we will do the final provisioning before departing Wednesday.

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Did you know that Newfoundland is one half a time zone east of Nova Scotia time?  When we got here we set our watches ahead 30 minutes.  Walt said he did the same thing in India last year but I have never moved through half a time zone!  Newfoundland is also the 10th largest island in the world.

We were off early again this morning and did another 100 plus mile day which took us 13 hours.  We were so grateful that the seas were calm and wind less than 20 knots all the way.  We saw three boats all day so we really felt we had the sea to ourselves.  The west coast of Newfoundland is unlike anything we have ever seen with rugged cliffs 1000 feet high dropping to the sea.  On the way into the Bay of Islands we had four whale sightings!  One surfaced and dove seven times in a row much to our delight!  It took us two hours to motor through the bay and arrive at Corner Brook; it is huge.  We had made arrangements with the Bay of Islands Yacht Club to stay here until our crew arrives Tuesday. We were greeted by many friendly folks who were expecting us.  A  phone call revealed our water maker parts are here and we hope to hear the refrigerator parts arrive tomorrow. The club is nice with laundry facilities, showers and wifi!  We have been offered the use of a car already and are planning to do the final provisioning for the trip Tuesday.

I had purchased most of our fruit and vegetables in Halifax and put them below the floor boards.  The 97 degree days in Baddeck caused about a third of the apples and oranges to rot so there is more to get now. We are ready to get to bed!  We find we now get woozy being on land and feel like it is moving all over the place!

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Yesterday we continued in Baddeck, awaiting the verdict on our refrigerator.  The compressor is shot and Baddeck Marine is searching for both a compressor or a new refrig.  The problem is we can’t get the refrig out the door way or through the hatch above.  ARGH!  We are praying for a compressor!  

The weather has been hot.  With time on our hands we decided to add three inches to the height of the table.  With this decision we met a woodworker named Scoggy (second picture) that remembered our boat from many years back when Walter Paine wintered in Baddeck.  He had been aboard then and recalled many details about our boat accurately.

At noon, Robert and John went for lobsters straight off the boat.  What a feast we had with the two pounders they got for us!  We never had lobster as good.  What a treat from such nice friends.

I have been checking out the local galleries as we await the refrig solution and that has been fun for me. But we are not here for sight seeing but continue to be focused on getting fully ready to go.

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Last night around 5:00 Randy, Jenny and Quinlan joined us for a last night on the boat.  We had supper, went to town for ice cream, and then came back to see their pictures of their great time on Prince Edward Island.  Quinlan got one more cooler bath before we all went to sleep 🙂  After breakfast they packed up their things and headed for Halifax and their trip to Boston and then on to California Wednesday.

We then moved Geraldine to the fuel dock and two mechanics came aboard and began to sort out the fuel line blockage and cleared out some debris that had blocked the line. Now we can draw fuel from all four tanks versus just two and this was such a relief.  Stuart advised Walt on replacing the oil pressure switch which fixed our get home motor problem.  This is a back up system that runs off the generator and propels the boat in case of an emergency.  Of course we gave away two pounds of Peets coffee to these talented men!  Thanks for all the prayers.

After seeing all the work going on, a neighbor from a near-by boat asked if he could bring us dinner he had cooked and gave me 15 minutes to get the table set!  We were treated to BBQ chicken, red potatoes and veggies John had made!  The people here in Nova Scotia have been so nice to us.

Today we also remembered mom’s going on to be with the Lord five years ago now.  I painted a frame and spelled out her name using nautical flags “Geraldine” and mounted it in the galley because she was always interested in what was coming out of the kitchen and wanted it to be good!

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