Migrating Loons

Migrating Loons Picking a blog name was almost as difficult as choosing a name for our new to us boat. Almost, but not quite as hard.  Since we'd already decided on our boat name, we wanted a blog name to reflect it.  Most of our content for the next couple years will mostly be of our travels by boat.  WWW.MIGRATINGLOONS.COM Migrating - It is very easy to see where that comes from.  In Canada, (I am sure I am not about to reveal anything new to you,) our winters are long and cold! Many Canadians, dream of our beautiful long summer days, and wish we could skip right over winter. (Note: That doesn't apply to everyone, we have awesome weather for winter sports: skating, snowshoeing, skying, sledding, etc.) The idea of migrating somewhere warm in the winter and returning home during the nicer seasons is alluring! We are going to be snowbirds going by a different name.   Loons - Loons are a Canadian symbol and icon. And even though we're not craz...

Janvier 2018 – un mois de grosses décisions!  Pendant le temps des fêtes on s’est assis et on a mis les cartes sur la table. Le GROS sujet ? Pouvons-nous "vraiment" faire le America's Great Loop dans le bateau que nous avons acheté l’été dernière? Est-ce que maintenant, cette année, un bon temps pour le commencer? Quoi faire de nos emplois ? Nos pensions des forces vont-elles suffire pour les dépenses de notre maison et du voyage? Etc.... La réponse, vous l’avez deviné, est Oui! Sommes-nous excités? Bien sûr nous le sommes. Avons-nous des craintes? Un peu – nous ne faisons pas ceci a l’aveugle . On est conscient qu’il aura des défis, mais on sait que nous pourrons trouver des solutions pour la plupart des problèmes que nous pouvons faire face. Au besoin, nous ajusterons nos plans s’il le faut. Cela nous a chacun fait un pincement quand on a donné nos lettres de résignation. On avait tout deux des projets intéressants qui s’en venait. Mais on en avait discuté ...

January 2018 - a month of big decisions! During our Christmas and New Year vacation, we sat down and put all the cards on the table. The BIG topic? Can we "really" do America's Great Loop in the boat we just bought? Is now, this year, a good time to start it? What will we do about our jobs? Will our CAF pensions cover expenses for our home and the trip? Etc.... The short answer to all those questions, as you've guessed, is Yes! Are we excited? You bet we are. Are we nervous or scared? a bit - we are not doing this with blinders on. We know there will be challenges, but we know that we can find solutions to most problems that we'll encounter. If we need to readjust our plans, we will. It was bitter sweet to hand in our resignation letters, as both of us have jobs we enjoy and both of us had upcoming projects that we would have loved to put our hands into.  But as we had discussed when we took our decision, we will have other opportunities later on (and worst ...

Cooking on a small boat For over 10 years, we had a Larson 220 Cabrio cuddy cabin power boat (Paco2).  The cooking facilities were somewhat limited, but we learnt how to work with what we had.  A BBQ, butane stove, fixed alcohol stove, cooler and a 5 gallon water tank - that was it! We cooked some great meals on that boat! Sheppard's pie, muffins, and crepes where just some of the non typical foods we prepared and enjoyed during our trips. I will be keeping track of my hits and misses as we travel longer and further by boat this time. I'm sure I'll be applying what we learnt on Paco2, and improve on it.  I've already started collecting recipes that I think will be appropriate, and I can't wait to try them. Until next time, Tina

Trial and Errors - finding the right format Blogging is new for us.  We are typically very private people and keep any drama to ourselves.  We do however love to share positive stories about places we've been and adventures we've had. It will be interesting to find the right balance of information to post and write about.  The object will be to inform, entertain and not bore the reader. Blogging seems like a good venue for us to keep in touch as not all our friends and family have Facebook or Instagram accounts, this should be an easy way for them to follow along with us as we prepare, plan and set off on this crazy adventure that will likely take us a couple of years - then who knows what our next adventure will be! We are going to be using the Blogger platform to host our blog.  There are many different templates to choose from and I am having fun trying out and seeing what format I like best.  The nice thing about Blogger that I can change the format at...

This winter seems longer than most, so we are really looking forward to going to the Toronto Boat Show this weekend.  We're hoping to find a few things and attend a few seminars, all with the objective to make our pending trip more comfortable and safe, and to get a bit of a taste of summer. Looks like we're going on a little road trip to Toronto.

This is the first post of our new blog.  Can't wait to see where this new adventure will take us. We are currently in the planning stages to do the America's Great Loop by boat.  What a trip that will be aboard our new to us (since Aug 2017) 77 Coronet Seafarer! Join us as we blog and share with you what we discover along the way.