Miss Daisie

Bath Time for Miss Daisie

We hope you are enjoying Sunday mornings with Miss Daisie. Emily helped out with Miss Daisie's bath before leaving for the Oronoco River in Venezuela.

A Trinidad Moment

Changed the Racor fuel filters on the Yanmar this morning. To complete the job I needed to buy some diesel fuel to clean and flush out the filter bowl and top off after replacing the filter.

Walked over to the fuel dock to buy a gallon of diesel.

Made my request, "no, can't do! You need to bring your passport and boat papers first. Then I can sell you fuel at the higher international rate" of $4:80TT per litre vs $2.70TT local rate. If you are wondering, yes I did ask to buy at the local rate.... No!

Back to the boat, pick up the papers, back to the fuel dock, more paper work and I get my Diesel from the "International Pump" and I am back to finishing off the filter replacement job.

Oh, the pump attendand said she liked my Aussie Passport.

MIss Daisie

Miss Daisie at the Francis Scott Key Buoy, Baltimore

It's Sunday morning; time to see another time in Miss Daisie's cruising life. Here is a look back at the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, aboard our first sailboat, 30' S2, Sandpiper. We shared a few days cruising with Robert's brother Rex and his girlfriend Louise who were visiting from Australia.

Aerial Photography on a Happy Accident

If I was asked to name the job I’d want most it might be “aerial photographer”.
Who isn’t fascinated with NASAs images of the earth from space? I could spend hours flying high with Google Earth, (from my comfy perch aboard Bristol Rose) getting a bird’s eye view of neighborhoods where I’ve once lived or places I’ve visited around the planet. The nostalgia, the images, the technology, the awe of it all; it’s just so beautiful and so strangely addictive.

Delta

Memories of views through plane windows; Sydney Harbour, the majestic Rockies, the canyons of Arizona, Lake Superior or the patchwork fields of the midwest stay with me. Flying over land or sea, I’m yelling in my head “wow, look at that!”, but my fellow passengers don’t seem to notice the scenes below.
Photographers like Mark Abrahamson show the impact and magnitude of our collective lives and activities upon our earth. Flying in small planes he captures images of disturbing beauty. With over twenty years of aerial photographs to his credit, an environmental student might be able to get a good sense of how we are doing by studying his work. I suspect anyone would find his images interesting.

Desert

With camera in hand, I went flying today. It was raining on and off but it didn’t matter to me. Anyway, the rain shut out the usual scorch of the sun.

The most fluid and amazing patterns emerged as I gazed below. Colours shifted from browns to blues and greens with sometimes a dash of red. I found myself falling into a trance-like state, totally unwilling to snap out of it. It could have been hours for all I cared because I wanted to snap each minute change of scene as it presented itself. To heck with the boat maintenance schedule, self-discipline and time management; we cruisers are time millionaires!

Bloom

I flew out over the bow, the stern, the starboard side of Bristol Rose, clinging to the rigging to make sure I wouldn't fall. It could have been the rain drops or it could have been the fuel fumes but eventually I pulled myself together enough to duck back inside the cabin to the full reality of jobs a-waiting.

River

There's no telling where I got to on my solo flight. The rivers were wide, the valleys low, the mountains high and the colours... see for yourself, unbelievable colour! I hate to admit it but someone else's unfortunate spill was my happy accident; life as an aerial photographer.

Coast

To see Mark Abrahamson's work go to http://www.markabrahamson.com/

A Trinidad Moment

Power Boats, Chaguaramas - a view from our galley

Recieved a message from the boat yard that our mail had arrived, at last. We are expecting some important, time sensitive, documents.

In the office waiting for us is a registered envelope from the Trinidad & Tobago Post Office. Inside is a Parcel Notification. Our documents are held at "The Tackle Shop" in Carenage. Even though the documents are addressed c/- Power Boats, Chaguaramas.

All we need to do is catch the bus to "The Tackle Shop" pay $26.75TT postage plus a customs inspection fee of $100TT and we get our mail. Maybe I will pick up some fishing tackle while I am there.

I am now seeing why it is a popular request on the morning net to send mail via cruisers traveling out of the country. Don't expect postcards from Trini!

Miss Daisie

Miss Daisie enjoys a swim with Robert.

It's Sunday morning; time to share a picture of Miss Daisie's cruising life. We anchored for ten days in Admiralty Bay, Bequia. Tony Gibbons beach (also called Princess Margaret), is one of the best swimming beaches in the Grenadines.

Miss Daisie

In Tune Outdoors

We're more in tune with the weather because we just have to be.

Living on a sailboat can bring unexpected pleasures. We live an outdoors kind of life and nature always presents something of interest. Try as I may to avoid running for the camera every time I see a stunning sunset, which is often, I can rarely resist the chance to capture it for future enjoyment. Another big temptation is the reflection of objects and light on the water. But those are for another post.

These two images were captured within 10 minutes. The image above looks to me something like a rearing horse or a begging Daisie. The image below is of the same cloud mass. We watched it morph before our eyes.