It Only Takes One

The mozzies were after us last night! After going to bed at 10:30pm I awoke at 12:30 to the sound of a mosquito buzzing in my ear. At 2:30am Mike awoke and joined me in the hunt. It’s the middle of the night and we’re lying there wide eyed with the light on trying to kill a tiny little mosquito. But we got the sucker(!) and then attempted to drift back to sleep. It was fitful after that but we managed to stay in bed until 9am which is kinda late for us, well for Mike that is. We were then off to town for another day of errands. The day was successful in getting many of the things we needed…including some Velcro to help improve the effectiveness of our mosquito screen! When we got home we had a visit from Ishmail, our “family carpenter”, who dropped off our new cockpit table! It’s beautiful and we can’t wait until the boat is in a place where we can put it up. In the summer we always eat outside because the cabin gets way too hot. It will be nice not to have to eat on our laps, it makes us feel a bit more civilized. We also got some trim for our windows (And guess what? All 44 pieces need to be varnished!). I continued work on the head and Mike got some epoxy putty on the plate he welded which was all followed by beer and peanuts in the cockpit. Another dinner of beans, the Turkish version of Nutella for dessert and LOTR then off to bed with hopes of sleep….hopefully the Tylenol PM will help with that.

I Don't Like Mondays

Maybe the weekend was too much of a get a way because I found myself having a very hard time getting motivated today. I was also feeling a bit under the weather and low energy. I managed to get a little painting done but that was about it for me. Mike on the other hand was super productive and got the new plate for the mizzen mast support welded in place. It looks fantastic and his welding gets better and better. As for the evening, we continued watching our Lord of the Rings marathon (Mike’s request) and hit the sack hoping we get another good night of sleep.

A Sunday in Bodrum

Ahhhh……we awoke slow and rested. We both slept peacefully through the night and it felt so good. After no rushing, we made our way downstairs to the outdoor patio for a traditional Turkish breakfast of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, olives, cheese, hard boiled egg and of course fresh baked bread. We enjoyed the view, the cool morning air and the chatter of the Turkish families on holiday around us. We then took a leisurely walk down to the beach and through the historic (to say the least) town. We started by dipping our feet into the crystal clear waters of the Aegean for the first time this season. The air and water were still a little cool but it helped us recall past memories of jumping off the boat into bath like water and can’t wait until we can immerse our whole bodies again! We then followed the boardwalk along the water’s edge with a view of Castle of St Peter jutting out into the bay, past endless cafes and shops, as well as fishing boats with the fresh catch of the day and eagerly awaiting cats.
We decided we had given Hasan enough time to sleep in and gave him a call. He was on his way into town to pick up his girlfriend at the bus station who was making a last minute trip Datca. He shared with us that they had been fighting all night on the phone but when we met them at the café it looked like anything but fighting. They are obviously pretty smitten with one another but working out some kinks caused by long distance and stressful jobs. After some tea and relationship advice (…it was asked for!) we decided to go our separate ways for a bit….I don’t think it was her idea to take a 5 hour bus ride only to hang out with us.
While they went to “fight”, we went to find one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We took a lovely walk up a narrow cobble stone road through houses and gardens to find the site. It is the tomb of King Mausolus of Halikarnnasus (now known as Bodrum). It was a grand and ornate mausoleum (get it?) designed by himself and his wife Artemis around 353 BC. It stood 180 feet tall and was topped by a large golden chariot and horses. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century and then the stone was taken by the Knights of St Johns to build the Castle of St. Peters. All that remains on the site today is a large hole at the level of his tomb. The most surprising thing is that for being one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World we were the only tourist there. A refreshing experience from past visits to ancient sites.
To continue our tourist experience we had to get the obligatory ice cream for our leisurely walk back through town. After more sitting by the water’s edge we rejoined Hasan and his girlfriend (I am going to call her Dahlia because that is what her name sounds like…to me anyways) at a nearby café. They informed us that they are no longer fighting and looked every bit as in love as before. We enjoyed a cold beverage and chuckled while watching Mike being harassed by the waitress. And lesson learned, don’t say thank you as the surly waitress is setting down your change because she will assume it is her tip (50%!) and run!
We had offered to drive Dahlia back to Marmaris to shorten her trip on the bus and the time to leave was quickly approaching. The four hours they had spent together in the past 2 weeks was clearly not enough time so Hasan opted to drive with all of us to Marmaris. He would wait with Dahlia for her bus to Datca and then get on a bus himself to only return back to Bodrum late that night. Now if that’s not love then I don’t know what is! On the drive back we took a shortcut through some quiet roads and villages. I saw such a picturesque scene…late afternoon light shining through the olive trees, two women in traditional Turkish dress and a little girl sitting in the tall grass. They were laughing and having a picnic with black and white spotted cows perfectly placed amongst them against the bright green sea of grass. It looked like a painting. So peaceful and simple. We also stopped at the most incredible field filled with vibrant red poppies. It was a just a lovely Sunday afternoon being enjoyed by everyone.
After our good bye to Hasan and Dahlia at the bus station we headed into town to grab some dinner before driving back to the boat. We had a great meal (despite spending a ridiculous amount on a bottle of wine) followed by sharing some baklava next to the water front, then falling asleep while watching a movie in bed. The day could not have been more perfect or rejuvenating.

The view from our room

Hasan and 'Dahlia'

Our site was the top right

The site now

Road Trip!

What the heck is up with our sleep still? Sorry to keep groaning about it but it’s getting kinda ridiculous. Mike went to bed at 8:30pm and was up and out of bed at 2:30am. I didn’t go to bed until after midnight, still awake when Mike got up and then tossed and turned until the morning. For me, it’s like I can’t turn my brain off. I have these obsessive dreams that go on and on and on...and on. But hopefully tonight will be better since we will be sleeping off the boat. After a morning and early afternoon of work we jumped in ‘Herbie’ for a road trip to Bodrum to see our friend Hasan! After a few errands in town, we made our way over the mountain towards Mugla where there are groves of fragrant citrus trees lining the road which meant numerous fruit stands along the way. We couldn’t resist and stopped at one to buy some snacks for the road. As we ate our oranges and dipped our fingers in a mason jar full of honey we continued up and over the next mountain. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and the views were beautiful…stunning Marmaris Bay, sun dappled pine forests, pastoral villages and farms, groves and groves of olive trees.


As we were driving and getting further away from the Euro influenced coast we could see more of what most of Turkey is probably like. The tractor carrying a family into town, a shepard sitting on the side of the road tending their flock, a man leading his heavy laden horse down the road. It was a nice glimpse into the rest of Turkey and makes us want to see more.
We made our way into Bodrum in the early evening and went looking for Hasan. He gave us some general directions which led us out of town. We ended up meeting him on the road and he told us we would be having a BBQ at the boatyard where he is working and temporarily living. After a brief stop on the dirt road to take in the view of the Aegean Sea we made our way down to the yard.


As soon as we entered Mike said “Listen to those grinders.” and we both thought “What? We just drove 2 ½ hours to spend the evening in another boatyard?” But no fear, the night was relaxing and pleasant. The work in the yard quickly ended and the air became still and quiet. We were also able to get a sneak peek and tour of Hasan’s work project.


A 129 foot steel hulled sail boat that is probably 2/3 from completion. It was impressive to say the least. It has 10 refrigerators, a Jacuzzi tub on deck, and is (will be) completely computer controlled. You could be on your laptop on the other side of the world and open and close hatches, start engines, watch live video of who is doing what where… The only bummer is that we didn’t bring the camera in to share some pics with you all. But if anyone out there wins the lottery we know how you could spend some of that money!
We were then treated to a delicious BBQ by Hasan and his co-workers Cetin and Mustafa.



We ate as the sky grew dark and warmed ourselves by the fire fueled with teak as the night grew cool. Since Hasan had just finished up his 84 hour work week he was a bit tired. And after realizing he was talking with his co-workers about who may give up their bed for us that night we quickly made our way back into town to find a pansiyon. We stumbled upon a charming place and made our way into the twin beds with a good night’s sleep on our minds!

Repeat

More of the same today…painting, varnishing, grinding, cutting, welding and then repeat.

Another day...

Today was much less climatic than yesterday…thank god. Mike spent his day getting to work on the area around the mizzen. After cutting away the deck plate, to no surprise, the box was full of rusty flakes. But good news, the steel structure which is supporting the mast is still intact. I spent the day painting the head and finishing up some varnish projects. For some reason, we both kinda thought the head would be ready to use after Ishmail finished up his work. But then all of the wood either needs to be varnished or painted. It was a long day and a combination of poor sleep, paint fumes and grinding/cutting made us pretty exhausted by evening time. After a dinner of leftovers it was off to bed.

Crazy from the paint fumes!

Mizzen Drop

So you’d think that after a couple of weeks, my sleep patterns would have found some sort of normalcy. Yet I still find myself awake at odd hours. This morning I was unable to fall back asleep, so I got up, made a hot cuppa strong coffee, and while Serena continues to saw logs I try my hand at this blog thing. It’s been mostly her writing so far, with an occasional input here or there by me, so now it’s my turn.
But where to begin? This whole boat is such a long continuation of pieces, parts and projects that all bleed together… today’s project actually started last year. I think Serena has mentioned previously how the boat got the better of me last year. 10+ hour days, six or seven days a week, for three solid months with seemingly little progress is enough to discourage most anyone. It definitely left me feeling defeated and deflated. The big issue last year was rust (apparently, steel boats rust. Maybe you’ve heard?). Rust cropping up in places that you’d never expect it, or areas that show no outward sign of corrosion. Where did it all come from? I could blame the previous owner for a lack of maintenance. I could blame the surveyor for not doing a thorough enough job. I could blame myself for being too blinded by the imminent realization of my dream of having a boat in the Med. Trying to assign blame to someone really wouldn’t change anything though, would it? Instead I’m choosing to look at it as just my turn. This boat is 25+ years old, and some of these projects we’re doing won’t have to be done for another 25 years. A bunch of things have come due and we’re the ones who own at the time. Kind of like musical chairs.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yea! Rust. So three days before I was supposed to leave for home last year (I had already pushed back my departure date by a week or so in hopes of finishing up some other projects), it rained. Not unusual, but this time there seemed to be more than a little bit of water streaming into the aft cabin from the ceiling panels. A little investigation revealed that the fittings that take the wires and cables that run up the mizzen mast through the deck to the electric panel had failed. Or I should say the fittings were fine, it was the steel that surrounded the fittings that had failed. A little poking and prodding and soon I had a two square inch hole and a bunch of other really thin, corroded material surrounding it. This was within an inch or two of the mizzen, and it was clear that the metal plate under the mast itself would have to be replaced. Cool. No problem. I got three whole days! Actually, I was nowhere near as optimistic as that. I was done. I whipped up some epoxy putty, slathered the whole area in it, and called it good. Hopefully it would at least keep the rain out.
Fast forward to this year and the continuing masochism. Now that the dodger is out of our way and we have a relatively clear run of the decks, it is time to deal with the mizzen mast. It seemed a pretty straight forward process. Use the halyard on the main mast to lift the mizzen, have a couple of lines to control the swing, and Bob’s Yer Uncle! Since I had never done this before, and it was just the two of us, we thought it best to enlist the help of a friend and co-steel boat sufferer, Uli. Now Uli had dropped a mast before so I was eager to have his input. His approach was entirely different from mine. Instead of using a line from the top of the main to lift the mizzen, he wanted to use a line from the top of the mizzen, via a cantilever, to control the descent. Uhhh…ok! My biggest concern with that approach was being able to control the side to side swing of the top of the mast. We had control lines tied at the spreaders (about half way up the mast), but the best angle, and therefore purchase, that we could get on them didn’t seem like enough. But ah well, you’ve done this before, we haven’t, so we’ll defer. It was when the mast was at a 45degree angle, careened off to the port side, and looking to make a not so soft landing on top of the building behind us (which is a repair shop that was working on a new mast. Would you call that foreshadowing?), and Uli asked if we had insurance that I started to wonder if this was the best approach. But it was too late to retreat now! Onward through the fog! I would have closed my eyes if I weren’t using them. As it was I couldn’t spit by the time we were finished, but somehow we managed to end up with the mast in a mostly horizontal position. Its head was indeed on the repair shop’s roof, and this brought us a tirade of sharply spoken Turkish from one of the women who work in the office. But that and some doubtful/questioning looks from the shop workers were the worst of our injuries. Some more finagling and line wrangling allowed us to move the thing so it’s entirely lying on our deck. Man! That sucker is way bigger than it looked standing up!! The spreaders now have most of the cockpit, and our gloriously clean-run decks are no more, but at least I can fix the plate beneath where it was standing. Of course, putting it back up will be another story. Although… I hear that Sloops are all the rage!

Trying to figure out the best approach

At least it's down...well partially anyways

This shop is coming in handy after all!

Kinda ironic, bringing our old mast down with a bright and shiny new one RIGHT BELOW US!

Ahhhh... success!

See... Serena does have a mast in her cockpit. Our friends have dirty minds:)