http://www.svelysium.net/blog ...Trials, Tribulations, & Adventures in the restoration and sailing life of a Westsail 42; Elysium. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:01:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Cruising and exercise have a difficult time mixing. People think we swim all day, drink Margarita's at Sunset and just laze around.  Some of that is true!  But it's not all day, everyday. We do get lazy. We hang out on the boat and read, do Sudoku, I play chess; ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1871 Yep, there is some progress. We've ordered all that we can afford. :)  We actually now have [caption id="attachment_1863" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Wooden Tops Warped"][/caption] the butcher block tops replaced on the refrigerator and the freezer with Meganite. We came up with the idea of putting a "Star" in the top of the ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1860 Mike always said "It costs what ya got"!  Dirk called us "High Rollers" (I guess cause there are times we use marinas? .  Don't know where exactly we fit in the group of cruisers we see around here. I know there are yachtsmen  here that spend in a week what ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1852 If I was rich and had a lot of time on my hands I would challenge the US government. Yep!  The idea of holding tanks on vessels is just plain "shitty". Pun intended. This would be my tact. I would surely get arrested for not having a holding tank on the ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1843 We're here in Trinidad and we're starting to work on items from our list. First and foremost was getting all our ducks in a row.  We've been running around ordering supplies, and making commitments to pay local contractors. We've hired Shawn at Cruise Inn for a few days. He cleaned ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1824 When we hiked the Appalacian Trail one summer we heard tails of true altruism. One such tale involved a hike along the ridge in the White Mountains. We heard this from the horses mouth; oh, I mean hikers mouth. The hiker was walking along on a beautiful clear day and ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1816 Yep, that's my score. I went on 3 trips or tours in Grenada. Zero wins for me, Two losses, and one tie.  The trip to Guave was pretty mediocre, and the Turtle watch IMHO was a bust. The last one I went on was to Carnival  was the Pan (Steel ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1805 When sailing or cruising you read a lot. If you're not a reader and you spend much time on a boat you will become a reader.  How many times can you watch Waterworld or Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons (a really fine movie ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1798 Every place seems to have it's own special ambiance. Dominica - rainbows and boat boys; Antigua - classic yachts and a sense of style; the BVI's is best described as Disney World for boaters. As we've gotten closer to South America the natural world seems to be changing. Around St. Martin, ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1750 You know, one thing about cruising and being retired is that you have time to do with what you want. Not always, but quite often. The other day I actually opened up my FaceBook act. I really don't have a great deal of love for Facebook but so many people like ... http://www.svelysium.net/blog/?p=1775