12/27/2011, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji
We're both verging on becoming blog junkies. Everyday, we will view dozens of blogs looking to see what others are doing where ever they are around the world. Yes, we're viewing boating blogs from around the world. We view many blogs from boats that sailed with us as we crossed the Pacific and we like to keep track of where they are and what they are up to where ever they finally landed. We will routinely scan other posts on Sailblogs to see what others are doing. You never know what you will see from their pictures or what information you will pick up about a place you plan on going to or about a piece of equipment.
Yesterday, Tracy was reading a post for some old friends(Tom & Amy) that used to live on a sailboat called Sandpiper. We first "met" them over three years ago before we had even started this journey. We were still attending boat shows. Since that time, they stopped sailing when they reached St. John in the USVI(started their journey in San Francisco, CA) and bought a business(boat related of course) and sold their boat. Yesterday, while Tracy was reading me one of their old posts, she happened upon a piece of information that we could really use. Ever since we got to Fiji, when ever we try and listen to our FM radio, it seems that it just gets rotten reception. Sometimes a great signal with great reception and a moment later, all garbled in what we hear. Well, yesterday, when Tracy read the post we had an answer to our problem. While the US broadcasts FM in odd numbers--100.5, the rest of the world(or at least out here in Fiji) broadcast in even numbers--100.4. Our radio wasn't set up to receive the frequencies that every one out here was broadcasting! Well, I got right up and started playing with the buttons on the radio till I figured out how to set it for "European" stations and voila, problem solved!! We now have nice clear reception on our radio. It can get real frustrating listening to a station that is just off in what it's playing or what the announcer is talking about. Now we get nice clear music.
From what I have seen, it appears to me that what ever the US does, the rest of the world seems to do it another way. We drive on the right--most out here drive on the left. We use Fahrenheit, the rest use Celsius. Our power is at 120 volts. Everyone else uses 240 volts. What's with us? Do we have to be different or is everyone else just feel that what ever way the US does it, we have to be independent and do it another way? We alway have to watch out as we walk around that we don't walk out in front of a car coming down the street on the wrong side(at least for us). I've come close to being hit because I'm still in US mode for where cars are supposed to be driving. When ever I mention what the temp is back home, 75(ok, that was last Fall) means nothing to them unless I can recalibrate it into Celsius. And now we needed to buy a step down transformer so we can run everything on our boat since we are wired the American way of 120 volts. What's with us? Is it us or is it them? Heck, I don't know. Anyone have any idea why we are so different from the rest of the world? I'd love to know.
It's still cloudy with more rain last evening and more set for today. Yeah, I don't have to shovel the water that comes from the sky(unlike Denver) but it sure gets old and we both know it's going to get worse as the average rainfall in the coming months climbs to 10 inches and more. Get out the buckets, it about to pour!!
With yesterday being a hold over holiday, Christmas was on a Sunday so it got pushed to Monday as the day off. Monday was "Boxing Day" but since Mondays day off was taken up by the Christmas hold over, the official day off for Boxing day was moved to yesterday(Tuesday out here). This will be the first day since Christmas that businesses will be open and the buses start running again. I need to head over to the local butane filling station to get one of our tanks filled that ran dry on Monday. Like most of us out here, we carry two tanks(had four at one time) so running out was just an inconvenience. We'll be back to two shortly. We need the extra one for the barbecue grill. What would a boat be(at least by US standards) without a barbecue grill. Food tastes great off the grill and when it's 90 in the boat, the last thing you want to do is cook something.
More coming.
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12/26/2011, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji
Well, Christmas is now past and we look forward to the New Year coming with all it's surprises.
Here's our Christmas day. As Tracy needed to make a pecan pie(mandatory), I took off for the laundromat here at the marina. Both of us were running out of clothes as it has been several weeks since we(Tracy) did laundry. It was my turn as she was busy in the galley. It took just over 3 hours for it to be done--4 loads of wash and three loads(cost of $22.65US) of dry(1.5 per every two loads work out just fine). I was back just after noon. Tracy had finished the pie so we had a light lunch and waited for 1800 when we were to go to another boat for Christmas dinner. Tracy also made one of her marina famous salads and a bowl of rice to have with our dinner. Paul and Star(off Starstruck) had brought in a loin of pork(precooked) from Fiji Meats on the previous Friday so all it needed to have done was reheat. Along with potatoes(cut in small pieces and cooked in a french onion soup mixture)artisan bread and Jalapeno jelly for the pork, we were set. Dessert was an ice cream pie followed by the pecan pie. Heaven help my waist line.
On the 26th, I figured it was time for more bread as what I had baked a week or so ago was just about gone. I changed the recipe a bit and added a bit more sugar and a bit more yeast(let it ferment a bit longer too). I took a spoon and stirred up the flour to get it unsettled from the lump it had become in the bag. The last flour I had used was truly a brick after many month of sitting vacuum packed down in the cabinet. With the yeast, sugar and water properly fermented, I added the fluffed flour and went to work. Once every thing was mixed, it had to rise(or proof). I set the bowl in the engine room(the perfect place for dough to rise) and we took off for a quick lunch at the marina cafe. An hour later, it had more than doubled in size and was unlike any dough I had made before. Big and pouffy. I pounded it down and kneaded it a couple of times and put it in two loaf pans(one silicone and one metal) and let it rise again in the engine room. Again, it rose like never before. I preheated the oven to the 350 the recipe called for and put them in turning 180 degrees at 20 minutes. The heat didn't seem quite right--not hot enough. Surprise, surprise, we had run out of propane half way through the baking. Heaven only knows how long it they had sat in an oven not at the right temp. They looked fine. Bigger than any loaf I had ever made before. Out I went to the propane locker and switched out the tanks(always carry at least two) and fired up the oven again. Ten minutes of preheating and back in they went. Fifteen minutes later, out they came as beautiful as any two loaves I've ever made. Light brown all around and far lighter(in weight) than what I had done previous. New flour, plus having it "fluffed" I think made all the difference. We had two great loaves of bread. Slices of it ended up being our dinner that night. Yeah, I know, not the most health of things to eat for a meal but it sure tasted great.
We planned on heading out to the islands to do some more scuba diving so I grabbed our cart and two gasoline tanks and headed for the fuel dock here at the marina. It's still a holiday here even though it's the 27th so it is only open for half a day. I bought 40 liters or just over 10 gallons of gas. The total was $100 fijian or about $54US. That makes the price at $5.40 per gallon of gas. Let's not hear any more complaints about what you are paying for gas back home. The picture above is of Zephyrs fuel truck. It get stared at every where we take it. It folds up to a relatively flat piece that stores nicely on one of the front bunks. Hauling 10 gallons of gas or a big tank for Propane(tomorrows task) is made a bunch easier with it. We used to have one from West Marine but it rusted to death long ago after only a couple of years of use.
It is continually overcast with showers every day. Some heavy and some light but after 1600, all bets are off as to wether it will ran or not as normally it pours. We even had a small squall come through just after 1100 this morning and it's totally overcast now. Rain is coming. And every day for the for seeable future in the weather forecast is for rain. Each day--88 degrees, 70 percent humidity and 60 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms. Sure glad we put tarps all over the boat. It has kept several of our more major leaks down to next to nothing. Always looks bad having buckets scattered around the boat. Sure glad we have those micro fiber cloths around. Sure do absorb lots of water.
Peanut(local dog) loved his new squeaky toy we gave her for Christmas. She's afraid of loosing it so instead of playing a nice game of fetch, every time I throw it, she picks it up, plays with it for a bit and then rushes back to her sleeping space under the concrete wharf. I have to get under it(not all that hard) grab it and we start all over again. If I take it far enough away from the wharf, she will play a bit better sometimes bringing it back to me. We got her some tennis balls and it's the same thing. Run after it and take it back to the wharf. Afraid of loosing it I guess. We're still working on it. All in good time I guess. I'm doing a better job of fetching than she is.
And that about it for us for the last few days. The ship bringing our new anchor is supposed to be leaving Aukland, NZ today. We're tracking it on a program we found that shows every AIS signal in the world. Go figure. Amazing what you can find on the internet.
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12/23/2011, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji
Well, Happy Anniversary(December 23rd) to us. Yes, that's right, it's our 40th anniversary. And here we are in Fiji celebrating it. Not bad for an old married couple. It was a quiet day with not much happening(other than lots of heat and humidity). We planned dinner for a steak and potatoes with a nice bottle of wine to top it off. If I don't have curry, a steak is a great replacement. Christine off Teka Nova brought us some chocolate cup cakes for a celebratory dessert. We got notified(at 1400 the same day of the party) that the marina was putting on a "thank you" party that night to thank everyone for a great season(and too encourage everyone to eat at their restaurant rather than the resort next door(First Landing). The previous evening, a group of ten of us gathered at the restaurant for a pizza dinner. Normally, we have gathered at First Landing but they stopped having "Pizza Thursday" with specials on some pizzas so we decided to move it over here. Heck, the pizza(even when not on special) is $4.00 cheaper and the beer and coke is about half of the price of over there. The gathering, both "Pizza Night" and the "Thank you" party were great. Lots of conversation between all types of locals and cruisers. There were at least 18 people at the "Thank You" party as all the food and drinks(alcohol included) was free. Wave free booze at a cruiser and they will follow you anywhere. Our steak dinner just got moved up a bit and with the barbecue running, the steaks came out great. Nice to have a solid piece of meat again, especially if it's beef.
We have become part time caretakers of one of the local dogs--"Peanut". He belongs to one of the locals that lives on a two story house boat here in the marina. Well, he left Peanut in the hands of Star off Star Struck and she asked us if we would help. No problem. Here was a sorely neglected dog that was down to skin and bones when we came into the marina. Dogs out here are rarely "pets". More likely, they are for protection. I don't know if they teach "barking 101" but most dogs around here are good at it. If you see a dog with a collar, he is normally treated a bit better but not much. There are no pet stores in Fiji so the huge selection of pet products is not available out here. It's hit and miss in the grocery stores. We went down to Namaka to pick up some lettuce(with the roots attached) from one of the local vegetable peddlers we had met a few days ago. While there, we found a grocery store that had some pet products(toys and chew bones). We bought some and brought them back as Christmas presents for Peanut. When I gave them to him, he had no idea what they were for. He has never had a toy or a chew stick. He has no idea of the concept of "fetch". We throw a stick and he just looks up at us with a bit of bewilderment on her face. We will try with a ball tomorrow but I fear that we will have the same result. I've never heard of a dog that can't fetch!! Being under the care of Star and us, she has put on some weight and is looking much better. With me spraying insecticide, the ticks are getting fewer. We're down to two or three a day on her(yuck). Let's hope her real owners don't come back anytime soon.
We got notification that our Christmas present should be arriving here on January 2nd instead of the 18th. We've ordered a Rocna anchor for Zephyr. It's a big step up for us weight wise as this baby comes in at 88 pounds. Our current one(a CQR) is only 65 pounds. This baby is highly regarded by every cruiser we have talked to about their anchors. Not one has had anything bad to say about theirs. Now our CQR has been great in just about every situation we have dropped her in. We just wanted a bigger anchor that sets quickly and digs in deeper. Having seen our same anchor(on a different boat) brake while we were at Suwarrow Island gave us a good bit to think about during the last part of our cruise to Fiji. Having talked to so many cruisers about their anchors, when we got to the marina, I got on line and sent emails to several dealers in New Zealand as no one carries these types of anchors here. I got all kinds of prices. One wanted $1699.00NZ plus $578.00 to ship it here. YEOW!!! That's $2277NZ($1763US). Another could get us the anchor and have it shipped here for $1440NZ or just $1115US. A great price. If I had purchased it at West Marine in the US, it would have cost me $1299!!! I got it from a place called "All Marine" and worked with the owner--Bob Broome. They are located in Whangarei,NZ with two stores. I called him(God bless Skype) and placed the order. He has arranged to ship it right into Lautoka so it will be an easy taxi ride getting it back to the marina. I just hope it fits on the bow. Guess we will see when it gets here.
Here's picture of our restaurant today. Tracy had the chicken pie. Similar to a chicken pot pie with no pot, just crust and lots of chicken and veggies. I of course had the chicken curry. Lots of chicken but sure gave my tongue a serious work out finding all the bones that it comes with. Don't just put it in your mouth and chew. You will get an ugly surprise.
Here's the Namaka vegetable market. Lots of veggies I've never seen before and it doesn't get much fresher that right off the farm. One stall gives out their business card so you can phone in special orders(lettuce with the root still attached). Great stuff at great prices.
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Figi
12/21/2011, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji
The project is done--sort of. I grabbed the bus into Lautoka yesterday in search of a fitting to either cap off the pressure relief valve on the water heater or find a replacement valve to really fix the situation.
I stopped in at Hydrolink, probably the best place in town to find any kind of good fittings for any kind of work that has to be done, either for water, diesel or gasoline. It's where I found the fittings I'll be using for the new diesel filtration system I'll be installing shortly. Before I left Zephyr, I'd taken off the floor boards that cover the valve trying to put on the end cap I'd bought when we were in Namaka the day before. In my typical fashion, I'd bought not only the wrong size fitting but also one made of the wrong type of metal. I needed brass and got galvanized steel instead but of course that didn't matter since it didn't fit any way. On first glance, I thought it was a 3/4 inch fitting(sure looked like it). The end cap(had the bleed nipple on the end was actually just a 3/8 inch fitting. I took a wrench to it early in the morning to dismantle the valve. What I got was just the end cap. OK, I could still screw a cap onto it. All I needed was a cap. The actually pressure relief valve as farther in in the assembly. If I could avoid tampering with it, there was less chance of be trashing the entire water heater. After 30 years of operation, it's on borrowed time. Heck, even one in houses far away from what this poor thing has been exposed to only last normally about 20 years. This poor heater has more rust on it than my knees and they feel like they have plenty in them many mornings(age sucks). I took in the end cap just to make sure I got a cap with the right treads. Hydrolink came in like the champs they are and had the right fitting. I talked to them about a valve to replace the bad one and they talked it over and came up with where they felt I could find it---Digital Valve. With directions in hand, I took off to further check out the town. Tracy had stayed on Zephyr awaiting a delivery from Cost U Less. They tell you the day they will be coming but no estimation of time(worse than the cable guys back home).
As I rounded the corner, there in front of me stood the Madras Curry House. A sign out front told the specials of the day--curry, curry curry. All types of curry lay in front of me. I looked to the left--chicken curry. I lode to the right--lamb curry with the goat curry right in front of me. My pulse quickened and my knees got weak. Which should I choose? Decisions, decisions. In I went, chicken curry won. I added a bottle of Coke and then took a seat. The entire restaurant is maybe 15 feet by 20 feet with a half dozen tables crammed into the space along with the serving counter and a refrigerator for the drinks. One of the tables had 5 Fijian girls having lunch(I got stared at). I was the only other person there. As time passed, other men came in, got their lunches and either took it with them or sat down and ate quickly. This place is off the beaten path so I wasn't surprised at me being the only non Fijian(Pa'longe is what they call us white folks out here) in the place. I'm sure they don't get many off islanders during the day. Now for those of you new to my postings, I LOVE curry! It's one of the reasons I love Fiji so much as just about every where you go, you can find a restaurant that serves curry in one form or another. When my plate came, it was loaded with a nice bowl of the curry(bones included), rice, a small side salad, a bowl of soup, and some type of bean dish that I had no idea what it was. If you want curry with no bones, it cost lots more but as they say, "when in Rome". OK, so you eat a lot slower having to search out each mouthful to see what surprises await your tongue. I just piled up the bones along the side of my plate. After your first few times in restaurants like this, you get used to searching for bones no matter if it's chicken, lamb, or goat curry. It's a cheap way to feed the masses. The curry flavor was excellent. I just dumped the entire bowl of curry(bones included) onto the heaping pile of rice and dug in(slowly). With the bottle of Coke(no ice), my entire meal came to $7.00 Fijian($3.78US) and I left stuffed.
On to Carpenters Hardware looking for more things. I needed to find a small hand held garden sprayer to spray the Diazanon we had bought a few days earlier. It's a great bug killer and still available out here. Not so much in the US. I found a small 3 liter sprayer. Perfect for the small spraying job I had in mind. All of the boats in the marina have a problem with ants crawling out your dock lines and taking up residency looking for a meal. Add in what appears to be small flying cock roaches(still not sure they are cock roaches) and the boat can come alive some nights. As no rain was forecast for the night, I started spraying after dinner. A few slips down from us is a houseboat(two story no less). They have a dog(Peanut) that has had a problem for several years with fleas and ticks. The owners have gone away for a few weeks and left her in the care of Paul and Star off Star Struck and we volunteered to help take care of her also. When I came back from the US, I brought Peanut a flea and tick collar. They are very hard to find out here. So far, while she may have fewer fleas, the ticks are on her in full force. Every day, we are picking a couple off her. With the sprayer and Diazanon, once Peanut was on her chain for the night, I took off for the docks. I sprayed behind our boat as well as the dock lines and then over to Star Struck and did theirs. Over to Peanuts boat and I sprayed everywhere I could behind her boat. Extra heavy where she normally sleeps during the day. I'll spray again in a few days just in case more hatch out. Star came by this morning to ask if I had sprayed as they had no ants this morning for the first time in a long time. This stuff works great!
I continued my trek around Lautoka and finally found the valve company that I had directions for. I described what I needed and he came forth with a new pressure relief valve. Cost---$300 fijian($162US). YEOW!!! I could buy an entire heater for that amount. I had the brass cap in my pocket that should solve the problem so I passed on the new valve. I can order one on the internet and have it forwarded at a later date.
On I went buying this and that till 1500 came up and it was time to grab the bus back to the marina. The next one was at 1620. A short 40 minutes later(lots of stops), I was back at the marina. Once in the boat, I removed the floor boards, wrapped the threads of the cap with teflon tape and screwed it on. Perfect fit. With a bit of tension on the wrench, no a drip came when I turned the water pump back on. We were in business again. Hot and cold running water with the turn of the handle on the faucet. Problem solved at least for the time being.
Off for my late afternoon shower and back for one of Tracy's great salads for dinner. As I grew up, I hated salads and would never eat one which upset my mother as she felt everyone should have a salad from time to time. Tracy makes a great salad that's a joy to eat. Lettuce(not Iceberg), carrots, radishes, bell peppers, onion, pecans and avocado if available, then a bit of home made dressing. I tend to add a bucket load of pepper on mine just to spice it up. If it's not spicy, it's just not right. I figure I burned out many of my taste buds long ago eating jalapenos and fire hot red and green chilies when we lived in New Mexico. Now avocados are new to me. I never ate them when we were back home. Guacamole had never touched my lips. I had no idea what it tasted like but it sure looked like what my son used to produce after eating when he was a small baby and that was just not appealing to my eyes. Once we took off on this voyage, I vowed to try just about anything that was presented as if others eat it, it must be good(or at least passable). Since we left the US(even in the US), I've tried many new dishes and am still alive to write about it.
OK, this rant has gone on long enough. I'll end it here. Oh, it started raining and looks like it will either rain or sprinkle through out the rest of the day. BUT, I don't have to shovel rain!!!!!
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12/20/2011, Vuda Point Marina
Not much has happened in the last few days. One was Sunday when every place is closed on Fiji. Monday was another nothing day as it rained and rained and rained. Sunday was over cast from Sun up to Sun down with no rain till close to 1900 and then it poured. Normally, here in Fiji, it's sunny with a few clouds during the day and then it clouds up late in the afternoon and looks like it will rain and normally it does. Sunday was the exception in that it was cloudy all day but still decided to rain in the late afternoon. It continued on and off through the night and through most of Monday stopping strangely(about 1900) when it normally begins to rain. Today started out sunny and has remained so though most of the day. It's now 1800 and it looks quite block east of us so maybe there is more rain coming. Time will tell.
For the last day or so, the fresh water pump has been cycling on and off every hour or so. Just a few seconds of running and then off for a while and then running again. I'd checked the lines as well as the water heater and storage tank all showing no signs of water. I checked below the water heater where when it has leaked before, it puddled up with water. Every place I looked, no water nor signs that there had been any recently. Strangely, during the afternoon, the emergency bilge pump started up and pumped the water that had built up in the bilge overboard. As I had said earlier, it had been raining and we have enough leaks in the deck that the bilge is never dry so no surprise that the pump ran. I pulled up the floor board that covers the manual bilge pump and started pumping away. At 27 pumps(the norm for us with a full bilge)it ran dry. I turned the pressure pump off and let it sit for a while. When I opened one of the faucets a while later, no water poured out. There was a leak but I had no clue as to where. With the switch on, it began to cycle on and off all over again. I decided to just turn it off as well as the water heater and let them both sit for a while. A few hours later(about 2000)I turned on the pressure pump again and there was a loud wail from under the floor boards beside the galley sink. OK, what went bad now. Off went the switch and up came the floor boards. There was water everywhere! It was spraying out of the pressure relief valve on the side of the water heater. LOTS of VERY HOT WATER was spraying all over the place. With the switch off, it quickly slowed to a trickle. We had found the problem.
Now there are basically only two things that can make a pressure relief valve go off. One--the pressure is too high for the pipes and heater. Two--it is so old that it finally failed. The water pump only puts out about 40 pounds of pressure so "high" pressure didn't seem to be the case. The water heater is approaching 30 years which is amazing for any water heater(especially on a boat) to last that long. We normally don't discuss the water heater even in polite company. It's one of those things that we don't talk about as it has lived so long and is in such a bad place in the boat(right under the galley sink cabinet)that we live in fear of it ever failing completely. If we don't talk about it, it will never fail. Isn't that how it works? It's true that we had problems a few years ago when we found that some crazy plumber had joined together brass with copper with stainless steel with galvanized steel fitting to make a connection. Normally, doing that creates a problem as these metals don't like to play well together and with connections like that, corrosion starts almost immediately which is exactly what had happened to those fittings. Here was something new. A fitting that had apparently just failed. The picture at the top shows the pressure valve with a black hose and hose clamp attached. When I lifted the floor boards, I found the valve spewing water out of a fitting that was designed to have a hose attached and run down into the bilge. Mine had no hose. Now I carry a multitude of spare parts on Zephyr but a spare pressure relief valve is not one of them. I scrounged up a chunk of hose that I thought would fit on the end of the valve. I grabbed one of my large collection of hose clamps and a flash light and headed down for the valve. I fit the hose over the end of the fitting and tightened the hose clamp. I pulled a bar clamp out of my tool box, folded the hose in half and attached the clamp. That should stop the water coming out of the fitting. On went the switch and just a bit of water came out around the end of the hose where the hose clamp was attached. I tightened the clamp just a bit more and the water stopped dripping. Problem solved, at least for now. I needed a new pressure relief valve.
This morning, we headed south for Namaka where one of the biggest hardware stores is located. We stopped in and with some help from one of their assistants, we found that not only do they not carry such a thing, they had no real idea what the heck I was talking about. They carry small water heaters so we took them over to see exactly what we needed as the one that had on display had a valve right on the top of the heater. No good. They just don't carry extra valves. I did find a galvanized metal screw on cap that should fit on the end of the pipe shutting off the flow of water till I can get a new valve. We will still have plenty of hot and cold water but at least the fitting will no longer leak. Now here is the trick, there is so much rust and corrosion around and on the water heater that I fear even touching it as I just know that my finger will penetrate the side of the heater making it useless. I'm going to have to attach a crescent wrench to one end of the pipe and another to the valve and slowly take off the valve all while not allowing the wrench that is attached to the pipe that goes into the water heater to turn or even move a fraction of an inch as I just know that all hell will break loose if that pipe moves even just a little bit. As it is now late in the day and I'll always procrastinate if I can, I think I will put off the job of removing the valve till tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow sounds good to me though it might rain and that could delay it a bit more.
During our journey to Namaka today, we came across a store we had heard of called Yee's Cold Storage. It's located about 15 kilometers south of here. In one of their freezers they had several frozen turkeys. Care to guess the price? They wanted $140 fijian for the 4 kilo(8.8 pound) bird. That works out to just over $75.00 for a less than 9 pound bird!!! This place must love it's turkeys as I figure they will have those birds around for years to come at that price. I can't imagine anyone crazy enough to pay that much for any turkey. Yeow!!! A can of coke runs .96US for just one can in the same store. You can find it for .81 if you look around. Sometime you just need a Coke to cool down. While it's great out here, sometimes the price of things is way out of touch with other places though French Polynesia was by far the worst. I don't know how the people survive out there. It's one reason we left. We couldn't afford to stay there any longer.
Tomorrow, we have a delivery coming from Cost U Less. It's a small version of Costco but lucky for us, they deliver as the closest one in in Suva, over a 100 kilometers from here. Delivery charge--$5.00 fijian($2.75US). Cheap to bring things that far. Several of us here at the marina order stuff from them. They make deliveries out here every Wednesday though because of the up coming holidays, they won't be making another run out here till January 11th so some have ordered a bunch to get them through till the next delivery. We have found that you do have to be careful as some times their prices aren't really that good and the same item can be found elsewhere cheaper. It's like I said, they are like Costco but no where near a good a value sometimes. The really bad thing we have found is that if they don't have exactly what you want, they substituted something else they thing you might settle for. We ordered several bags of potato chips made by one company and got tubes of Pringles instead. The nice thing is that you can return unwanted items for a full credit if you don't like them. Guess we will see what we actually get tomorrow. I'll let you know.
That's it for now. More to come.
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We're going to try and put in multiple images in the post so here goes. The first picture is of Tracy's new English Muffins. The first batch was made with old flour that had been run through the microwave to kill any and all bugs and then vacuum packed. Came out hard as a rock. I made bread out of it and had to put it in the cuissanart to bust it apart. This time, new flour with much better results
Here's the work boat that's two slips down from us. Bunch of divers that are in and out all the time. This job was to bring back the weights that are used to anchor the huge buoys that ocean going freighters use to tie up to so they stay in place during blows. They have hauled in and replaced several of the buoys over the last few weeks. Now, in come the weights. It took four huge floats to get them into the marina and even so, the weights were dragging along the bottom as they came in. Can't imagine how much they weight. The crane that lifted them out groaned as it lifted one.
Here is one of the weights they brought ashore.
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