Getting caught up.
20 January 2013 | Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM
Partly cloudy and cool.
Let's get caught up again.
By Friday afternoon, the engine was totally dismantled and parts were all over the inside of Zephyr. Floors, bunks and even the top of the dining table we knee deep in parts and screw and bolts. We were anything but a nice and tidy boat and no matter how much we tidy things up, there is just no place to store all the parts from the engine. We piled many of the parts on the forward berth on the port(left) side. With all that weight, we now list nicely since what had been in the center of the boat is now on one side. Oh well.
Saturday, we scheduled the "Thank You" party to thank all the wonderful people that helped us get into Pohnpei. Tom and Janis off on Tomboy(old friends) were the first make the suggestion that we not go into Kosrae as getting back out would be darn near impossible as the wind and swells were coming right in the narrow pass. Kolonia on Pohnpei was the place to go. Good harbor, a marina(small) and good mechanics. We changed course and headed there. Leslie and Phillip off Karina joined John Ranahan(rep for the Seven Seas Cruising Association) as well as John off Hawkeye all joined in with their dinghies and lines and pulled us in. Kumer Panuelos, who owns the marina, came out in his big boat and with one of our lines attached, towed us to the marina(for free no less!!!). All these people and more deserved our thanks. So we planned a party. When we got in to Kolonia, we found a place that sell barbecue chicken that tasted great, so we lined them up for 30 orders of chicken(we got some hot dogs too). We went to the local bakery and ordered a huge chocolate cake with chocolate frosting(came with cherries on top too). We ordered in a green salad, potato salad and deviled eggs. Beer and sodas were also on hand. Kumer offered to bring the drinks but we declined as this was a "Thank You" party for him. He finally talked us into letting him bringing the ice(owns an ice maker).
Other cruisers joined in as we opened it up to everyone in the anchorage and even invited Peter, our mechanic. He deserves a ton of thanks for getting the engine apart in just a few days of hard work.
Every one showed up about 1730 with Antonia Panuelos(Kumer's wife) showing up at 1700 loaded down with a huge cooler full of drinks and a separate cooler with just ice. She also brought a huge platter of freshly caught Mud Crabs. To say we were surprised is an understatement. What a spread of food!
I spent my time at the grill reheating the chicken and hot dogs as everyone dug into the food and drinks. Kumer came in from a day of fishing and brought in some fish to make sashimi. Antonia did the carving of the fish and with some onion and teriyaki sauce, it was another great addition to the party. Peter, our mechanic, brought in a dish of fresh tuna mixed with onion and garlic. Another tasty dish. A great gathering that went on till 2200 hours.
Sunday was a day of relaxing to recover from the party. We had a ton of left overs to store in the frig and around the boat. With engine parts all over the boat, there wasn't a lot of space for food(beer, water, and soda). We opened up cabinets and slowly fit it all away. While we still have lots of engine parts everywhere, the food was put away.
Today, I headed into Kolonia with Tom and Janis off Tomboy to hit some hardware stores around town. It's a holiday(Martin Luther Kings birthday) and I have a feeling that not a lot of people even know who he was, but the banks and post offices are closed. Our mechanic didn't show up today to start the cleaning and scraping of the dirty parts but that's ok, a day off is fine by me.
The photo at the top is of the fruit basket that Antonia brought down a couple of days ago. Quite a nice collection of fruits.