I write to you from beautiful Friday Harbor Washington. Yesterday I began my two week charter aboard the Grand Waltz. The Grand Waltz is a 36’ TollyCraft; my crew is my sister in law and niece (who’s Ginger and who’s Mary Ann?) for the next couple days. On 8/1 I’ll be dropping them off and picking up a firend (who had a trannsplant for 14 years after 19 years of dialysis) and two other urinator friends ; will travel around 'til 8/6 when I’ll drop them off and pick up my Mom and her collage roommate and spouse (who I’ve been referring to as the Howles). My Gillagan (Cairny, my dog) was not allowed on board - no dogs.
I think I’ll be spending the beginning and end of the trip in thhe San Juan Islands but in the middle I think I’ll be going up to the Canadian Gulf Islands. Then I’ll be able to add Canada as a country I’ve dialyzed in - 21 countries total.
I did a treatment last night. I packed the supplies for the trip in early July so I have 160 cartridges which is great since I could get to Qb=450 but even with a three hour run I was up past midnight.
We’re going out looking for whales this afternoon and then I’ll dialyze in Port tonight taking Monday night off and spending the night anchored out at Sucia Island - one of my favortie place in the world that I have not been able to visit since I had a working transplant. Thank you NxStage.
[quote=Bill Peckham;14055]I write to you from beautiful Friday Harbor Washington. Yesterday I began my two week charter aboard the Grand Waltz. The Grand Waltz is a 36’ TollyCraft; my crew is my sister in law and niece (who’s Ginger and who’s Mary Ann?) for the next couple days. On 8/1 I’ll be dropping them off and picking up a firend (who had a trannsplant for 14 years after 19 years of dialysis) and two other urinator friends ; will travel around 'til 8/6 when I’ll drop them off and pick up my Mom and her collage roommate and spouse (who I’ve been referring to as the Howles). My Gillagan (Cairny, my dog) was not allowed on board - no dogs.
I think I’ll be spending the beginning and end of the trip in thhe San Juan Islands but in the middle I think I’ll be going up to the Canadian Gulf Islands. Then I’ll be able to add Canada as a country I’ve dialyzed in - 21 countries total.
I did a treatment last night. I packed the supplies for the trip in early July so I have 160 cartridges which is great since I could get to Qb=450 but even with a three hour run I was up past midnight.
We’re going out looking for whales this afternoon and then I’ll dialyze in Port tonight taking Monday night off and spending the night anchored out at Sucia Island - one of my favortie place in the world that I have not been able to visit since I had a working transplant. Thank you NxStage.
Sounds great Bill, would love to see the vid but my Mac won’t open it. Any ideas??? I am going to a meeting where the main topic is dialysis and travel, would love to show what can be done with Nxstage.
That’s wierd, Beachy, my Mac opened it and I didn’t have to do anything. You may be missing a plug in or something. I have Quicktime and Real Player (they’re both free downloads).
Can’t think of what would help Beachy - maybe check for updates for your browser? I’m using Mozilla 2.0… and it played with out any bother.
I’m in Rosario Resort’s marina - spent last night bobbing in Shallow Bay up at Sucia. I just got back from the pool bar where a took dip, and slurped a strawberry daiquiri. I’m going to wash down the boat and then get ready for dialysis - my SIL and Niece promise to bring room service - or boat service - tonight while I’m dialyzing.
It been a great trip so far - we’ve seen pods of dolphins, many seals and we think sea otters - it’s hard to tell but we saw a sleek looking animal swimming on its back eating a fish off its stomach - I don’t think that is seal behavior so we’re saying it was a sea otter.
Here is a photo taken by a passing kayaker when we were moored at Sucia Island last night. The sunset was incredable I’ll edit this post and add photos as I adjust the file size on the pictures.
Just a quick update. I’m up in the Canadian Gulf Islands at the Port of Sydney. I dialyzed last night so I can add another country to my lifetime list - I’ve now dialyzed in 21 countries.
I had a little excitement last night - I had been dialyzing for a couple hours and had fallen asleep. SUddenly I was jolted awake by the System One alarming - I could not see any informaiton on the screen and I asumed that it was because the sun was shinning in but as my head cleared I realized that I had lost power.
My crew had plugged in some battery charger that tripped a circuit breaker. Long story short I lost the treatment so I only had a half run. I will now make it clear to the crew to not plug any aadditional device into the electric system while I am dialyzing. I have an extra treatment worth of supplies so I’ll dialyze Sunday instead of having a day off.
[quote=Bill Peckham;14110]Just a quick update. I’m up in the Canadian Gulf Islands at the Port of Sydney. I dialyzed last night so I can add another country to my lifetime list - I’ve now dialyzed in 21 countries.
Bill,
How large is your crew? How many does the vessel sleep? Are you the captain or are you more of a passenger? Are you doing any fishing? Just love to hear about your trip. Thanks, Erich
Right now it’s just me and one other. There is an aft stateroom that I have taken over with a full bed and a single bed and in the bow there is a vberth that my friend Sharon is using; both have heads attached. In between there is a salon with the galley and lower helm along with a settee. Up above is a fly bridge where I pilot the boat.
I’ve managed to get us on and off docks without incident; in fact yesterday I parallel parked the 36’+ boat in about 45’ of dock space at the customs dock up in Roche Harbor. The Grand Waltz is a single screw (one propeller) with a bow thruster but back in a previous life (that short period when I had a transplant) I owned a yacht brokerage and charter company. I had two boats of my own - a 34’ CHB and a 41’ Chris-Craft - that I chartered plus I managed 6-8 other boats (ranging up to a 48’ Defever) for other owners.
No fishing but I’ve managed to catch some crab. You can only crab from Wednesday through Saturday so I’m looking forward to trying my luck again next Wednesday. I’m dropping Sharon off tomorrow and picking up my Mom and her collage roommate +spouse and we’ll do another circuit of the San Juans looking for Orcas and crab - eat the crab/photograph the Orcas.
Tonight I am on a buoy in the harbor by Rosario resort. For $25 you get full use off their facilities so I was hanging out at the pool bar drinking daiquiris before returning to the boat to dialyze off the generator.
Curse you & bless you Capt’n! I shall be forwarding the link for this vid to my consultant & a few other folks! Some of em need to walk the plank to see the sense of portable haemo!
I’ve been back for awhile - the trip was cut short due to mechanical difficulties. The System One preformed flawlessly but the big Cummings diesel engine in the Grand Waltz blew a gasket - spewing oil in the engine room and requiring me to get towed back to Anacortes.
It is a real shame that what had been a flawless trip ended so abruptly; it was a real disappointment for my Mom and her friends (the Howles) who did not get a chance to go looking for adventure in the beautiful San Juans. I’ve already booked a five day make good trip for May 24-29 next year so I’ll be back.
I need to sit down and write up my thoughts but I have to say one impression is that I was worn out by the time we towed the Grand Waltz back to Anacortes. Having novice crews and being a bit rusty at the whole captaining a boat business combined with getting myself on and off dialysis was a challenge. By the end I was ready for someone else to be in charge.
I have put a number of photos up on flickr. Check them out by going here:
There is San Juan #1 and San Juan #2 by the time I am done uploading there should be over 100 photos.
