Monthly Archives: September 2024

The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

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The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

We stayed in Jekyll for two weeks and it was time to start heading west.  We decided to start making our way across the southern route and to stop at one of Ron’s old friends who lives in Texas, Ricky.  It was a fun couple of days where we played pool, drank a few beers, got to ride in their side by side, and enjoyed the company of old friends.  After a few days of driving we are now in Colorado hoping to explore the area a bit and see how far north we can make it before the weather gets too cold. Hopefully we can get to northern California before having the venture south to warm up.  Although we had kicked around the idea of skiing this winter any long term stay in the cold isn’t very appealing to either of us since we haven’t seen snow for nearly 4 years.

We have head from the insurance company about Mariposa and they have decided to make her a total loss.  The price we could of bought her back was insanely high for what needed to be done to fix her so we decided to pass. It was a sad day to know that the boat with all our belongings and all the work we had put in was now gone.  The only bright side is we could potentially buy a non-hurricane damaged boat in the future for close to what we will get from insurance.  The process as a whole has been impossible and the insurer had made it as difficult and frustrating as possible.  They decided not to total the dinghy. Instead they give us half of what is was insured for. Much like Mariposa getting g her fixed is next to impossible where she sits and once fixed worthless to us since we had no main vessel.  So we have a dinghy and no boat, which essentially doesn’t help us at all.  The payment from them had not arrived yet but thankfully we at least have the RV to distract us from the chaos.  We are no longer yacht owners but at least we are still sailors.

While we stayed in Jekyll, Ron made a quick hop back to Grenada to retrieve the few sentimental items we could get into a couple of suitcases.  Outside of the few things in the RV, it most of what we own.  Once again, we are homeless and possessionless (?).

Currently, we are struggling with finding available campsites in Colorado. Luckily Ron made a couple of RV upgrades while in Jekyll which increased out solar and battery set up.  This helps us since we will now have heat while boondocking!  Yeah!  BLM land in the west is available and we are hoping to test out this concept here soon.  The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, and I am glad we are this far.  Over the next few days, we will have the chance to see Zapata Falls and Great Sand Dunes National Park.  Travelling and exploring again takes our minds off the boat insurance issues and the fact that it’s the end of an era we have enjoyed immensely.

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

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Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

It has been over 8 weeks now and we just kinda heard from insurance.  We are somehow supposed to exercise diplomacy and patience but man it is hard!  As of now here is what we know…the insurer has one quote from a salvage company and is waiting on a second one (hopefully we will get one in the next day or so) and they will “tell us what our options are.”  Let’s translate this.  It means the insurer likely wants to total the boat and is trying to get the highest bid possible for the salvage boat.  If we cannot match or beat the bid then…we have to make some tough choices.  We need to decide if we even want to keep the boat, if so how much would we offer insurance to keep her and if we cannot come to an agreement, Ron has to go down again and retrieve the rest of our personal belongings and give the boat to the insurer to do with what they will.  One decision we have made is that we are not done sailing.  I am not sure the timing or what it would look like but more adventure to come and boy have we learned a lot through this entire process.

In the meantime, we have spent our time visiting out daughters in Ohio (daughter #1 was home from Spain so we took advantage of that).  Now we are back visiting my parents preparing for Ron’s likely trip back to Grenada.  We are also watching the weather as we are still in the peak time for additional hurricanes, which may impact Ron’s trip and frankly, the boat overall.  My Mother has had some recent health concerns and my Dad needed help building a shed in his back yard. Those along with a few other projects seem to keep he and Ron busy.  Note, we currently have the RV here in Georgia and if a hurricane is on track to hit  here, we will need to move the RV inland.  But it has been great to see family, Ron and I have started running here on the island which is beautiful, and depending on the decision from insurance, we may use this as a jumping off point to head west til Christmas…

Beauty everywhere!
Drift wood beach.

As far as the people of Carriacou, they still have no power, aid relief workers and food is no longer arriving, and the looting has begun on the island bringing concern for what will be left even if we do decide to keep the boat.  So far, the boat yard has cut all the rigging we had planned to save making a fix to her even more unlikely and it is certain we will need to have her moved to Clark’s Court Grenada in order to have any work done.  With the keels damaged, no mast, and a laundry list of other issues, I am not certain the boat is seaworthy enough to “sail” her south to get all of the items done.  Not to mention Clark’s Court doesn’t have room for us nor is any of the talent available til mid-November at the earliest cutting short any sailing season we may have.  So many decisions, it will be an interesting few weeks from here.