Farewell Cop Out

It was fitting that the handover of Cop out should be at Rebak—it was where David and his family had come for Xmas last year and Kristen and her family for Easter. It is a beautiful resort island which has a gorgeous setting. The rooms are condo style set in the palm trees and the marina is close by. The marina has its own Hard Dock Café where the food is good and the prices are reasonable. The resort has an upscale restaurant with a pool surrounded by frangipani and palm trees—the idyllic tropical island!!! Many boats we had come across were there and we quickly realized how lucky we were to have sold Cop Out so quickly with such a seamless transaction. A lot of boats from Europe or North America are here having been halted by the Somali piracy and are not sure how long to sit it out. The only other options are to ship your boat which for us would have cost $60,000 or to sail around South Africa. It is a long and often difficult voyage and a lot of boats do not want to do that. The boats which left this year all seemed to have had tough passages. We were envied by many as selling a boat in this market is not easy. Once again we were grateful that we had chosen a catamaran in the first place as they definitely are the easiest to sell. We spent the first few days cleaning the boat which now started to look great—why does your home always look best when you hand it over!!! We were able to spend late afternoons at the pool where all of the yachties congregate to visit at 4pm. It is still 32C and it is a welcome respite. This is followed by happy hour at the beach palapa for the $4 frozen marguerites. American thanksgiving was on while we were there and the Americans organized a great feast where they provided the turkeys and we all brought food for a typical yachtie pot luck. John and Paula arrived a few days after us and we were able to have some great visits with them. It was nice to have “old friends” be with us at that time. It was now time to have Cop Out hauled and we would move into the resort while the sale was finalized. It was a sad time for us and although I had already had my teary moments, Ken, who had been stoic until now felt the emotion of letting go. The rest of the time we were there he was compelled to visit—Adam and Kay were very understanding and I think it was a strange time for all of us. They could not feel as though they had full ownership while we were there and I think we were all grateful that it was only a few days. We are comforted that they will love Cop Out and treat her well. We will always be grateful to them that the sale was so seamless and they made our choice to leave this lifestyle as easy as it could possibly be. The surveyor did the inspection and as we had expected did not find anything of any consequence. Adam and Kay had workers cut and polish the boat which was gleaming when they were finished. The quality of the fiberglass as everything else on the Privilege built at that time was amazing. Both the rigging and fiberglass which are now almost 15 years old are still in great condition despite it having traveled half way across the world and been in the harsh tropical environment for most of that. We did get a car from Mr Din again--$13 for the day with no questions asked and $3 worth of fuel to take us around the island—ohhhh we will miss this!! I took one last trip on my own to the craft centre where I bought some small souvenirs and watched a dance performance along with some very appreciative boys from the navy who had been bussed in for a visit. It was now time to leave and we collected our backpacks and boarded the ferry to leave the island and our beloved Cop Out. We left Calgary 7 years ago and when we arrive back in April it will be 7 years since Cop Out was our full time home. It has been a wonderful journey and we will always be thankful we have been privileged to be able to have the amazing lifestyle and adventures that this life has afforded us. We have made wonderful friends many of whom we hope to see in the future and have met many wonderful people around the world. One of the things it has taught us is that our world is a wonderful place where beauty abounds. The local people we have encountered on our journey have treated us with warmth and generosity and we hope that we are able to be as welcoming to foreigners in our own world. I am sure that those of you who have followed my blog envy the wonderful opportunities we have had on our voyage—we will miss these days but treasure the memories. We will travel to Myanmar, Hong Kong, China, Australia and New Zealand on our journey home and I will keep the blog until we are back in Canada. We are now traveling with a pack on our back which is quite the contrast from traveling with our home.