Dear Friends, I want to thank all of you who have responded to Elyse and me about Moose's death. We had both grown to love him and at times his loss has been more than we can tolerate. Your kind words have been a blessing. At the vet's office when we were most distraught about what to do with his body one of the assistants said she had a friend that might bury Moose. At our request she called and the friend agreed. We had the woman's name and were told she lived in Hope Town. Marsh Harbour became a difficult place with many memories so we pulled anchor and left.
We went to Hope Town. It is a delightful little town surrounding a small harbor. We picked up a mooring ball. When we went ashore we tried to locate the woman, who we never met, who was to pick up Moose. Several people knew her but couldn't tell us how to reach her. Finally the post mistress told us to go see her sister who is the principal of the local elementary school. When Elyse asked about her sister the woman knew all about us and what happened. She gave Elyse a big hug and they cried together. She assured us her sister had buried Moose in a wonderful place on her property which it turns out was on another island. She told us where her sister's house was located and promised to give our contact information to her sister.
Elyse received a wonderful email from the sister who described that Moose had been buried on a hill overlooking the Abaco Sound. He lies among other loved pets. She said that she explained to Moose when she buried him that he was a wonderful dog and was greatly loved. It was good to know he is at rest. Yesterday we sailed to Man of War Cay. We were able to pick up a mooring in the small and crowded anchorage. We had been there less than an hour when a dingy with a French Canadian couple came up to our boat. They had been anchored near us in Marsh Harbour and had heard about Moose. We had never met them but had been told by friends. They way people have reached out to us has been incredible.
This morning we went for a long walk ashore. It's Sunday and everything is closed. When we first arrived in the Abacos in Little Harbour Elyse met an elderly woman who had been a stunt pilot in the 1950's. Open cockpit with goggles. She and her husband moved to Man of War Cay in 1976. On our walk she and her husband past us in their golf cart. They stopped and embraced Elyse when they heard the sad news. She had, like most people, remembered Moose more than us. He brought out the best in people and was invited to join us everywhere we went to include other boats, restaurants and stores.
We will have to return to Marsh Harbour when the new motor for our windlass arrives. My excitement about a price reduction of $47 was offset when we found out two days later that because of the sale, nothing would be shipped until next week. I am hopeful we will get a ship date tomorrow. We still have to get documentation to customs so we won't have to pay duty on what is a repair part. Our cruising permit expires on April 13th and we have to get it extended. We can only do that 5 days before it expires and there are only a couple of islands where can happen. Not a big deal. We think we can do it in Green Turtle Cay where we will top off out fuel tanks before we cross back to the US.
When we finally leave we are hoping to catch a weather window that will allow us to sail directly from the Bahamas to Charleston. Ridding the Gulf Stream can be a real advantage, speed wise. Too bad we can't control the weather. Thank you again for your support and encouragement. We will be in touch.
John & Elyse on Spunky
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