Beckie is here.
We're leaving for St Barts in the morning and St Kitts and Nevis after that.
For those of you watching at home, I'll turn the SPOT on for ya.
New pics in the galley. maybe
See ya - Bye
a&b
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Comments [2]
Happy Holidays
A gentleman I met a few years ago at Oak Park on his way South told me, "You have to do 3 things a day to maintain your boat while out cruising".
Of course not everything below was done in one day. There other tasks that get done way to boring to mention here
Scrape barnacles off dinghy.
I hoisted the dink on to the foredeck and spent 2 ½ hours scraping the little beggars off the bottom of the boat. Then scrubbed the algae with Simple Green and a sponge. Then spent the next 45 minutes blasting the dirt and junk off the foredeck. Note to self - wear shoes when working around barnacles.
Polish steel work
I spent most of the morning polishing the stantions and steelwork for the Dodger and Bimini. I am not a guy to polish this stuff any other time then in the spring, just before launching. But, if you don't keep up with the salt - everything starts to show rust stains, especially cheap stainless. I was actually out there with a toothbrush. I got to tell you, the first thing that flashed through my mind was "oh man, I am becoming Skip".
Fix tools
I spent close to two hours trying to get my crescent (ok, adjustable open end) wrench to work. Well an hour on the wench and an hour on my dial calipers. Seems salt water, salty air, anything with the word salt in it and tools don't mix. I keep a can of WD-40 on the cockpit table next to my water bottle and suntan lotion.
Quick story - I was sitting in the cockpit reading yesterday and a guy comes by with a dinghy full of boat parts. He showed me everything he had, then asked me if I was interested in anything. He told me he was selling his boat and wanted to get rid of some of the junk he had accumulated. I asked what boat he was on and he pointed towards a rock that juts out from the shore not far from me. His boat, an Endeavor 30 something, is tied to the rock and a derelict half sunken steel boat. Turns out he lives on the boat with his wife and 4 kids. I think their expecting their 5th. A million thoughts crossed my mind, all of which I'll keep to myself. But, you got to hand it to the French,,,,,,
I ended up buying an almost new 6 lb propane tank.
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Imagine, a packed Wegmans parking lot with no stripes and you could park anywhere you wanted.
Imagine, a body of water twice the size of Sodus Bay but only 9 feet deep and jammed wall to wall with sailboats.
Imagine, a place where anarchy rules.
Throw in the usual Sunday Power boats (but every day of the week).
Put it all next to the Rochester International Airport.
That is Simpson Bay Lagoon in December and I am on the French side, so it's all free,
I had been in a marina for the last couple of days repairing the exhaust on the Red Beast. Which by the way is fixed. Easy Peasy. Came right off after I stood (then jumped) on the pipe wrench. (Not related to back injury below)
I was only going to stay a few days, but I hurt my back so I decided to stay a couple of extra days. No sense being a wounded duck out in the anchorage. Nobody would ever check to see why that boat is still there after 2 years. Just another derelict live-aboard.
Noise, no breeze (or breeze from the wrong direction), 5.00US a day for garbage (even though in 4 days they picked up only 1 bag). I was ready to be on the hook again. I can dispose of my own garbage for free thank you very much.
So, I moved over to the French side of the Lagoon this morning. It's only "about" .425 nm from where I was last week. The other side of the airport runway. So instead of them flying over head when they take off like when I was on the Dutch side, I get a great side view. The 5:15 AirFrance is still the marker for the start of cocktails.
It's Sunday night and I have 5 days to get the boat cleaned and the barnacles scraped of the dinghy before Beckie gets here..... Just not enough hours in the day.
Oh, Last night I met "Marco" at Jumbo's (local watering hole). "Marco "is a delivery captain. "Marco" is from Italy. For those of you on or following the VA to Bermuda leg, ours was a cake walk........
Anyone figure out the answer to Dons' question about the camera?
Enjoy your Monday
a
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Enjoy the holiday. Think yourself blessed as you have 80 degree weather, we have sub zero and snow.
