September 1, 2013

     Hello to our family and friends on land and in the cruising community.  It's been about two and a half years since our last posting on this site and a lot has happened.  Most of you have  kept up with events by e-mails sent to everyone who gets the link to this blogsite, so you know that Sally had to fly home before reaching the Bahamas for medical diagnosis and treatment of an immune system disorder that occurred after she was injured during a docking incident in November, 2009.  I and our son, Derek, and Seth, a friend of Derek's, had cruised on for another three weeks and then left the boat in in the Bahamas December 2010 and flew home for Christmas.  Our last cruise ended in December, 2010 in the Bahamas.
     Sally's original injury and autoimmune disorder was treated successfully and was resolving by November, 2011, but then she started feeling nauseous and, when the cause of that was investigated, it turned out that she had a lymphoma tumor on her pituitary gland.   She and her family and friends spent a lot of time in the hospital during chemotherapy from December, 2011 to April, 2012, at which time she was done. Followup MRI's and examinations have indicated she is free of the cancer and she has regained much, but not all, of her strength and physical vigor.  Sally is walking without any aides and has regained leg strength and balance that allow her to move carefully about on the boat. And she is able to use a  device that clips onto our boat hook to reach a docking line out to a piling or a cleat, so no one has to step off onto the dock during docking maneuvers.
     Our recent August cruise tested our ability to dock, sail and anchor as well as giving time to do necessary repairs and preparations to the boat.  We did well and had fun, so we have decided to head south for the Bahamas again.  Southern Belle sails South again.....
     Our scheduled departure date is September 4th as we finish preparations, provisioning and Lynn dives under the boat and cleans the prop.  When the current crop of thunderstorms passes, we will head west down Long Island Sound, through New York Harbor and down the New Jersey coast.  We'll keep you posted.  Love, Sally and Lynn of Southern Belle