WE HAVE A BOAT!

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" - Walt Disney

We have bought a beautiful Lagoon 410, called Katzenellenbogen in St Maarten, Dutch Antilles.

This hasn't come about without many miles of travelling and searching every avenue to find what we're looking for. Stephen flew to the BVI, where he fell in love with a Norseman, we even named it. But it was not to be after the surveyor found too many problems that would take too long to repair. We did 2 trips to Fort Lauderdale, a trip to Sarasota, a 2 day trip to Pensacola, scoured every Internet site and contacted countless boat brokers. They were all either too old, too ugly or badly neglected.
We did have a lot of fun along the way though!

BOAT SHOPPING

THE NEGLECTED

A STORM BUILDING OVER THE GULF

THE DIRTY

THE OLD

HANGING AROUND IN PENSACOLA

THE SWANNEE RIVER

We looked at Katzenellenbogen in St Maarten when we visited Michaela there in February this year. We loved her but she was beyond our budget. She was moored near Michaela's yacht in Simpson Bay. Michaela was lying in her cabin one morning and took a photo of Katz from her porthole and sent it to me on Facebook with the caption "Check the view from my porthole mom." My reply was "Keep an eye on her, we're coming back and we will all sail away into the sunset." That was just a pipe dream and never did I think she would be ours. Our house had just been put on the market and we had huge hurdles ahead before we could even think about buying a boat. But.....she waited for us! The price dropped, we pushed our budget to the limit, the papers we're signed and we move on to our new home next week!

THE PHOTO MICHAELA POSTED ON FACEBOOK

MICHAELA AND I ON KATZ IN FEB

We have not seen Katz since February and we have bought her purely on recollection of what we saw in Feb. This is not the option of choice because Stephen did fly down to St Maarten to see her......but was turned away at customs for not having a visa and had to fly straight out of there on the same plane he arrived on! We did not need a visa for our trip in Feb so didn't check the visa requirements this time, and BOOM, not allowed in!! You used be allowed entry if you held an American B1/B2 visa, but this is no longer the case. He was mad and arrived back after 14 hours of traveling, taking 4 flights with 2 huge bags of excess luggage and didn't actually go anywhere! A hard lesson learned but now we all have one year multiple entry visa's for the Netherlands Antilles.Stephen was meant to be there to meet with the surveyor, do the sea trials and do work on the boat for a week, but everything went ahead without him. Katz was hauled out of the water, the anti-fouling has been done, all the through hull fittings and sea cocks have been replaced and she has been given a clean bill of health.





Katz has not come out of a charter fleet so she comes without extra's on board. We have had to kit her out with everything from kitchenware to linen and towels, so we've been shopping up a storm!! We've been spoilt for choice with amazing stores such as IKEA, Bed Bath and Beyond, The Container Store and of course Amazon. Parcels arrive at the Carcary's daily, it's become quite a joke already. Our BIG problem is getting all this stuff to the boat. We have 11 suitcases, 2 bicycles, a surfboard, diving gear and fishing rods! There is not much of a variety in the islands and anything that is good quality is apparently hellishly expensive so we've decided to rather pay excess baggage and take what we need.

We've decided to moor at a marina in St Maarten for a month so we can do a bit of work on the boat. It will be an easier transition, with Internet, warm showers and electricity......small steps!

We're so looking forward to starting this new chapter in our lives, it's taken 5 years of dreaming and scheming and we're finally getting to the point where we can step on to a boat and sail away. Exciting times ahead!

We have not seen Katz since February and we have bought her purely on recollection of what we saw in Feb. This is not the option of choice because Stephen did fly down to St Maarten to see her......but was turned away at customs for not having a visa and had to fly straight out of there on the same plane he arrived on! We did not need a visa for our trip in Feb so didn't check the visa requirements this time, and BOOM, not allowed in!! You used be allowed entry if you held an American B1/B2 visa, but this is no longer the case. He was mad and arrived back after 14 hours of traveling, taking 4 flights with 2 huge bags of excess luggage and didn't actually go anywhere! A hard lesson learned but now we all have one year multiple entry visa's for the Netherlands Antilles.Stephen was meant to be there to meet with the surveyor, do the sea trials and do work on the boat for a week, but everything went ahead without him. Katz was hauled out of the water, the anti-fouling has been done, all the through hull fittings and sea cocks have been replaced and she has been given a clean bill of

health.




KATZ GETTING CLEANED UP.

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LIVING IN AMERICA

Laughter is America's most important export - Walt Disney
I write this after living in Tampa, Florida for 1 month today! The time has passed so fast and it seems like our home and life in Cape Town is part of another lifetime.
We moved into our lovely apartment on West Gandy Blvd the day after we arrived. Our rental of around R16 000p/m includes electricity, Cable TV, high speed Internet and gym membership. We have 2 bedrooms, aircon, a washer and dryer, dishwasher, a massive swivel TV with surround sound and modern furnishings and finishes. We're a 5 minute walk from the beautiful Bayshore Boulevard, 5 mins from our gym and a shopping complex and only 2 minutes away from our favourite place, Yogurtology, which is not such a good idea!! It is incredibly hot and humid and we're spending a lot of time outdoors, exercising along Bayshore and swimming at the gym pool. The gym is similar to that at home with spinning and yoga and we cycle and run there from our apartment.

Stephen on his fold-up bicycle

Beach day at Pass A Grille, St Pete's

Our Apartment

BAYSHORE BOULEVARD

OUR GYM, YMCA

We have rented a Chevy Malibu for 3 months and have 2 fold-up bicycles with every accessory available attached to them, so we're getting around! I have still not plucked up the the courage to drive any further than round the block in Shona's little Smart Car.....I'm still not sure where the traffic is coming from when I walk across the road, so heaven knows what will happen when I'm on the right hand side of the road on the wrong side of the car!!!
Everything is easy and convenient here, within 3 days of our arrival we had an apartment, a car, cellphone contracts and a bank account!
We're trying to get into a routine with Tayne's homeschooling and do a few hours every day. We've 'Americanised' the syllabus to learn about the different States, American history, the different measurements, etc...........why does everything have to be different to the rest of the world, we wonder? They don't even have A4 sized books and printer paper, it's all a size smaller. Even shoe and clothes sizes differ, so we're constantly working things out with a calculator.
We are pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful the American people are. When shopping, you're a bit nervous to stand in one place for too long, before you know it there will be someone coming along to ask if you need any help. If you can't find something they will go out of their way to find it for you....and even have it delivered to your home....for nothing!! I'm loving the beautiful shopping malls and the wide variety, and quality, of the different clothes and homeware you find here. The outlet malls are amazing with top international brands at really good prices. Marshalls and TJ Max are fantastic and we're shopping at Walmart, Target and Publix for groceries. I'm spending far too long in the supermarkets trying to find the equivilent to what we have in SA, there is a huge variety to choose from and everything is packaged for convenience.
Between Stephen and I, we have compiled a list of things which we have found a bit different to SA:

1. Drivers are extra cautious and polite. No cars weaving in and out of lanes on the highway, all travel at a constant speed in the correct lanes and no one stops where they aren't supposed to.
2. Pedestrians have the right of way. If you are just walking towards a pedestrian crossing a car will stop a good distance away to let you cross. At first we hesitated, thinking the car must be stopping for another reason, but realised they were waiting for us to cross the road.
3. You very seldom buy anything without checking the price online, most times it is cheaper and delivery is included. They sms you when the parcel leaves the store, where it is along the way and the time of day it will be delivered. Parcels are delivered to your doorstep, not requiring a signature of receipt. If you're not home that parcel remains on your doorstep until you get home....and it doesn't go missing!
4. People are dog crazy, there are dog parks everywhere where they provide a fenced in play area and packets to pick up the poo! Everybody cleans up after their dogs on the pavements and all dogs are on leads in public areas. There are designer dog shops everywhere and restaurants with an outdoor area allow dogs, even providing dog bowls and a doggie menu.
5. We've found, on a few occasions, that if you're standing in a queue in a shop with only a few items, people will tell you to go ahead of them if they have a trolley.
6. Beware of the yellow school busses! When they stop to drop kids off, you are not allowed to overtake, no matter what lane you are in. If you're approaching in the opposite direction you also have to stop until the bus starts driving again.
7. If you want your laundry taken to the cleaners, you call and leave the laundry on your doorstep for collection. Once its done, they drop it off at your door and if you're not home it's left there....and will still be there when you get home!
8. The houses look like dolls houses, there are no fences, people take pride in their gardens and the manicured lawns roll onto the pavement. Most homes have the American flag flying. It IS like Desparate Housewives, and you do stop chat to your neighbours when they walk past.
9. Rates and taxes are very similar to SA, but includes school fees, school lunches and the yellow school bus, no matter how many kids you have. No school fees!
10. Your cable TV subscription of approx $90 per month includes around 2000 TV channels, unlimited home telephone line and unlimited internet with a 30 mbps line.
11. Eating out a restaurants is very expensive, double what we pay in SA. Grocery costs are pretty similar to what we are used to. We've scratched around and found some reasonable wines, beggars can't be choosers!
12. Shops exchange goods and refunds are given without questions asked. Tayne had a problem with a button on his 8 month old iPhone, took it to the iStore and they replaced it with a new phone immediately. Stephen exchanged his Garmin watch he received in SA for an upgraded marine model at no extra charge. A woman even returned her pot plants that died!!
13. Everything Works!

There are things that constantly surprise us and we can't believe that there are so many systems in place and that people stick to them. We're so happy that Tayne has been able to experience a first world country at such a young age. He is able to see how things should work and how people should respect each other.


We are shopping for yachts and Stephen has been to the BVI to look at a Norseman 40 Catamaran. We really like it but the surveyor found a few problems that need to be sorted out before we commit ourselves.

Landing in Beef Island, BVI

We are really happy here and none of this would have come about without the help of our lovely friends, the Carcary's. It has been wonderful having them around the corner and their house is a warm and familiar place to pop in anytime for a glass of wine and a laugh!

Good times with great friends, Shaun, Shona and Tammy

We are missing our friends, family and our dogs and miss the familiarity of Hout Bay and knowing people wherever we go. We're missing Damon terribly and so looking forward to seeing Michaela in less than 2 weeks. We have 3 children on 3 continents and can't wait for us all to be together again.

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A NEW JOURNEY BEGINS

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

― Ernest Hemingway

Our arrival in America started with bang - literally!! A crazy storm with thunder, lightning and torrents of water welcomed us to Tampa!

On leaving Cape Town, we tried to keep goodbyes brief and said our sad farewells the night before we left. The next day we packed up our lives into 7 bags and left the flat that had been our home for the past week. Damon and Francois piled all our luggage into 2 cars as we rushed to the airport in good time - only to find that we were over an hour early for the boarding gate to open!!

Lyndee, Nicky and sad goodbyes on our last night in Cape Town

Sitting at the Wimpy waiting to leave was pretty surreal, a million thoughts and emotions going through our heads as we saw our BA Jumbo parked ahead. We eventually checked our bags in, packed to capacity with everything from kitchen gadgets, to diving equipment, to every type of electronic device and connection cord, to medicines for a year......and of course the Diemersfontein Pinotage!! To top it all, we had a huge PVC pipe filled with fishing rods.....just this rod cost us an extra R1500 in excess baggage, we'd better catch some BIG fish to make up for that!!

It was so sad saying goodbye to Damon but he has chosen to stay in CT until the end of the year. He is going to the Seychelles with Cass and her family in Sept and they will be joining us in Miami on 29 November....so looking forward to that!
After all the upheaval in the past weeks, I felt strangely unemotional as the 3 of us took off from Cape Town Airport. This was it!! All our preparation and planning for the last 5 years finally came together in that moment. We had a few bottles of wine, toasted our future and slept all the way to London.
We woke up to Stephen's 52nd birthday in London. We had a pretty tight connection and had to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 and then Stephen was stopped at security. They found 'traces', of what we do not know. They unpacked all his hand luggage....not that I blame them, he had enough wires and electronics in there to build a bomb!

Our American Airlines flight to Miami

We hopped onto our American Airlines flight, a whole lot nicer than BA, and headed to Miami. After collecting our bags and 2m pvc pipe we realised we didn't have the correct change to pay for the trolleys so had to get a porter with one of those long trolleys. This dear old man with his little porters cap was our lifesaver. The queues at immigration and to file out of the baggage claim area were crazy and we got to the point when we realised we were not going to make our connection to Tampa. This old man was pushing through the people, the pipe falling off and wacking people is something I will never forget. Just when we thought we were through, they sent us to customs and immigration to have our baggage checked. All that we had not declared were our 3 bottles of Diemersfontein and my immediate thought was of us being deported for illegally importing wine, a testament of our dedication to this magnificent vintage.
All was good but our flight was leaving at 16h00 and it was 15h40 by the time we left customs. Our boarding gate was, of course, at the very end of the terminal and the 3 of us sprinted there, me in the lead due to a 'flat feet' problem with the rest of the pack. After arriving at the boarding gate 5 minutes before our flight was due to leave, like crazy people, sweating in the Miami heat.....we were told the flight was delayed and we only left an hour later.
Everything was so worth it when we arrived at Tampa Airport......there were Shaun, Shona and Tam with a huge neon welcome poster, Verde champagne and American flags with huge smiles and welcoming hugs! How blessed we are to have such wonderful friends, they will never know how much that moment meant to us.

The Dippy's arrive in the USA

Such a warm welcome and lots of laughs!

A crazy tropical storm welcomed us to Tampa

A special moment

We celebrated Stephen's 30 hour birthday with a 'barbeque' and cake and presents and got to Shona's lovely 'grandma's feather bed' at 4am SA time after 37 hours on the move.
America here we come........

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CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. Arnold Bennett

So many changes in so little time! I write this on the day before we finally make the biggest change in our lives but this has not come about without much heartbreak and emotional challenge.

As we start a new week I wonder how we got through the last one, we're still reeling! On Monday we said goodbye to our Skye, our Border Collie, through lots of tears when Karen collected her. She happily hopped into her car after we said our goodbyes, gave us one last glance and we spent the rest of the day with a very heavy heart and expecting her to be around every corner.


My parents had to move out of their garden cottage and it was sad to see the empty shell and to feel their sadness as they were forced to make a move in their old age.


We then had to say goodbye to our live-in domestic, Winnie, who has become part of our family after 15 years.

Our house felt like it was no longer home as we moved our possessions to a storage unit and gave away and sold anything that we could. We then had to move out of our family home we've lived in for 13 years, handing the keys over to the new owners and shutting that gate for the last time was one of the hardest things we've had to do. We were so lucky to have a lovely flat to go to in Tamboerskloof with beautiful views of the city.

On top of all this, I developed an abscess on my tooth and had to spend 3 hours in the dentist's chair, having root canal. As I walked out of the dentists rooms I got a call from Stephen saying that in an hour we were getting a visit from a representative from the Dept of Education to check that our home was condusive to home schooling.....and now we didn't have a home! He visited us at the flat, I was in so much pain and could hardly speak to him, let alone trying to convince him that I was capable of homeschooling my teenage child.

Jethro our dog who was coming sailing with us, had started having seizures a few weeks ago and had various tests to establish the cause. He was put on anti-convulsive medication that made him weak and disorientated and the vet was concerned about the pupil in his eye that was not responding to light. They suspected a brain tumour and he was due to go for and MRI on Friday. In the early hours of Friday morning he took a bad turn and was unable to walk properly or even lift his head. We had to make the very difficult decision to euthanise him, the most heartbreaking thing we've ever had to do. We know now he had a brain tumour and he could never come sailing with us nor could he be left behind in SA with anyone. RIP precious Jethro, our sailing dream will not be the same without you.

This has not been easy on the boys but we have all got through this together.

We've had farewell parties, dinners and far too many sad goodbyes to special people in our lives. We are now so ready to get onto that aeroplane and head off to the start the next chapter in our lives.

PACKING UP, FAREWELL PARTIES AND SAD GOODBYES

PACKING THE PLAYROOM

SISTA!

FAREWELL PARTY

LOVELY FRIENDS

HOW IS THIS TV GOING TO FIT INTO THIS BOX?

BEST FRIENDS, MAX AND TAYNE

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GETTING SOMEWHERE SLOWLY....

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
-Henry David Thoreau

Plans are just plans. They are dreams, ambitions, hopes, intensions and fleeting thoughts. That is until you put them into action, then they become terrifyingly real!

Plans were all we had until the house was sold, then it all became a reality. There was no turning back.

It is now down to the nitty-gritty. It's time to unravel ourselves from a lifetime of accumlation of car payments, credit card debt, homeloans and all other trappings that have made our lives comfortable.

After feeling totally overwhlemed 2 weeks ago, and waking up at all hours of the night, I am now feeling we are getting somewhere. The emotional issues are slowly being resolved. We have found a lovely home for Skye, our Border Collie. Karen, an absolute dog lover and friend from Hout Bay has offered her a home, with her 4 other dogs. We have socialised them by going for walks and taking Skye to her home and she has passed the test!

Winnie has found a job with a great family in Constantia. It's a busy household with 3 giggly little girls and a boy, all under the age of 10. Strangly enough the mom, Coryn, hails from our hometown, East London. Winnie will live in and I know this family will take good care of her.

Damon is back from his travels and has decided he would like to stay in SA until we have found a yacht. Our special friends, Steve and Linda have kindly offered their flat to him. He is very happy and will be comfortable in their home.

My folks are moving into a flatlet at my sisters house, they seem to have come to terms with it and the flat is being painted and carpeted to make it comfortable for them.

We feel so blessed that these wonderful people have come into our lives when we have needed them most.

Tayne has officially de-registered from school and is so chuffed he can now grow his hair long. He now has me to deal with as his teacher......!!

Michaela, meanwhile, has just arrived in Bolivia after a few stressful weeks of visa problems. She is backpacking around South America with 3 Cape Town friends until September and we will meet her in America after that.

None of this has happened without a heavy heart and a few tears, but the load is getting lighter.

                                                            FAMILY TIMES

POPS, GRAN AND ALL THEIR GRANDCHILDREN                                                                    

DAMON, CASS AND GRAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY

OUR WINNIE

OUR LITTLE FAMILY

THE KIDS AND THEIR FRIENDS