Don't Fall in the Bilge!

In the midst of all this work and projects needing to be completed before we can go in the water, we decide to get our floors redone (yeah Steve, it wasn’t a joke). Our reasoning is that it would help to improve to look of the cabin immensely because the current wooden flooring is chipped, scratched and covered in paint drips. And in the back of our minds we’re always thinking about re-sale value. Another reason is that we really like Ishmail and he offered us a good price on the job. Not sure how good of a reason that is, but too late now! Today Ishmail came to take our floors away. I wasn’t really prepared for this and especially not the fact that he was taking all of the floor boards with him. I think Mike could see the panic in my eyes and he thought I was going to run. It didn’t help when our neighbor asked us seriously if we were going to stay in a hotel. No floor boards means that we don’t have anything covering our bilges and so we get to step on the wooden braces that are every few feet. If you miss then you fall in the bilge. Kind of like hop-scotch. But actually it ended up not too bad because we were able to place some various wooden boards in the high traffic areas. And the door to the head fits perfectly in the salon. We also dropped the table to make our big day bed which is really cozy. We just have to sometimes yell “left! left!” (my job when Mike was driving in Cyprus to remind him to stay on the left side of the road) when we get out of bed or walk in the dark! Other than that, today I went around and fitted the varnished trim into the windows. I was also able to cut some old foam into pieces so they could act as insulation for the head. The ‘ceiling’ was just the steel deck and some flimsy panels. During the day the steel would get really hot to the touch and just radiate heat down into the small head. It often felt like a sauna in there so happy that those old foam cushions came into use. After a beer in the cockpit (and an unintentional meal of peanuts) we skipped dinner but settled on the day bed and started a new movie marathon….The Godfather!

Floors...

...now no floors

The Drama Continues...

We could still see Uli’s mast from our cockpit this morning and knew he never made it in the water. We gave him a call to check in and he stopped by on his way to the airport a few minutes later. He told us how the angry worker had talked to the travel lift operators yesterday and told them not to put him in the water because he was a ‘liar’. For some reason the travel lift guys listened to him and so after all of that work and stress the boat just remains hauled out. Uli had some contact with the office about this whole mess but didn’t really have the time to sort it out because of needing to catch a flight. Mike and I also felt it was important to talk with the office about our concerns because this guy seems like a time bomb. So we headed in and talked with one of the lovely (and stylish) young women who work in the office. She had spoken with Uli and was aware of the situation and us being witness to the interaction. She said she will pass it along to her manager. Apparently, there have been previous complaints about this guy, and he may be banned from working in the marina any longer. We returned home feeling a bit bad about everything but continued on with work to only be witness to another unfortunate event. The workers from Demir (the shop below us) were on the boat next to us. It’s a very expensive sailboat and they were continuing the job of removing the steel structure which had been previously built around it so they could tarp it off and protect it…from people like us! I had been watching them yesterday and told them to be careful as one guy was standing on a one inch wide piece of steel about 15 feet in the air trying to unbolt a large piece above him. Well today I was on deck and the same men were at it again. This time he was on a ladder which was supported against one of the steel beams (if you can call it that). Unfortunately, the steel beam wasn’t welded in place as he thought and gave away. There was this moment where his ladder seemed suspended and then started to fall out from beneath him. There was nothing he could do because he couldn’t jump or else we would fall on a pile of rusty steel pieces. So he clung to the ladder, and good or bad, our boat (and his head) broke the fall before he hit the ground. He had a bit of a goose egg on his forehead and appeared a little shook up. Also a contusion to his leg but overall he seemed ok. And as he was falling an older worker tried to jump out of the way of flying metal but got hit on his ankle and foot. Again, nothing seemed punctured or broken and they both seemed to have luckily escaped worse injury. We tried to play nurse but their co-workers were taking pretty good care of them. After lunch they were all right back at it again, only this time another guy on the ladder. I think the one who fell was done with that job for the day! Right in the middle of all of this a marina employee came by and told us that the office wanted to see us again. So we made our way back and were informed that the marina manager wanted to speak with us. We have to say that it was a bit like being called into the principal’s office and telling our version of the fight in the school yard. But we also took it seriously and really wanted to convey our concerns about this guy’s very obvious anger issues. We weren’t really sure if the manager took us seriously since he laughed at times, but he did tell us that he was most likely going to kick this worker out of the yard. And to make it feel even more like school when we walked out through the reception area there was the worker sitting with his head down waiting to speak with manager as well. And it only continued when later in the day as we were walking to the store we ran into the manager and the worker on their scooters. They came over to us and the marina manager said “Apologize to them!” so the worker told us he was sorry, shook our hands and then also tried to slip in that he wasn’t at fault. The manager was obviously done with our drama and he stopped that conversation quickly and they rode away. We do feel badly about him most likely losing his job. Maybe the whole thing was just a simple misunderstanding. English is both their second languages, and perhaps it was just a simple miscommunication that led to their conflict. I’m sure they both honestly thought they were right, but the workers reaction was way out of proportion to the situation. I have also thought back to the book “The House of Sand and Fog” and my imagination gets carried away. Maybe the worker has a personal situation going on where the money is really important or necessary for him which caused the frustration and anger. Or maybe he’s just an ass after all. But the whole thing was unfortunate and is hopefully behind us now.

Drama

The day was pretty uneventful…until the late afternoon. Our friend Uli was trying to get his boat ready to go in the water because he is flying home to Germany tomorrow. He was a bit stressed trying to get everything done before the travel lift came for him, especially getting the bottom paint on, and his worker wasn’t too reliable. In the late afternoon he stopped by and asked Mike to give him a hand with bolting his wind vane to the transom. Mike happily headed over and I stopped by a few minutes later. His worker had shown up and gotten the paint on and was asking for his money when I arrived. Apparently there was some disagreement between him and Uli about how much was to be paid. The conversation became heated and the worker was getting flat out angry. Things came to a head when the worker picked up a stick and advanced threateningly toward Uli. I let out a yell and Mike ran over to Uli’s side. The guy backed down, but left with threats to find Uli at the airport and to “beat him”. It was a bit tense. As it turned out, the guy returned later that night and put a scratch in the new paint job. We don’t want to say who was right or wrong as we know nothing of the agreement or interactions of these two, but advancing on somebody with a stick is not the way to solve things. The episode did put a bit of a damper on things, but regardless we returned home to Indy and proceeded to grill up some yummy burgers, enjoy a bottle of wine, and watch a bad copy of a really dumb movie (again, Mike’s choice!). If you haven’t seen the new ‘Wolfman’ yet, don’t bother!

A Shaky Start

This Sunday wasn’t off to a good start. This morning was the “Boat Jumble” held by the cruisers in the marina. Even though it was just a yard sale of sort we heard it could make people a little ‘agro’. Despite the start time of 9:30am most people felt the need to set up at 7:30 or 8am for the early birds or to get good deals themselves…and we were one of them. Mike ran off the grab ‘Herbie’ so we could load up some of the heavier items. And once we got to the site there was a bit of a stressful vibe going on…and for why again? And it didn’t help that I got yelled at by one of the other cruisers for taking the car from them. At one point I ended up walking back to the boat because it really wasn’t how I envisioned spending my Sunday morning. But decided to return, thankfully to a less stressed (and apologetic) husband. In the end it became sort of enjoyable and was fun to place faces to the boat names I always here on the VHF. And the beer that we snuck in Mike’s coffee cup helped a bit as well. We also ended up selling a good portion of our stuff but still stuck with a few items. However, Mike did make a bit of an impulsive purchase. A bimini (shade cover) for the cockpit. OK, we are looking to get one, but this one might be a bit small. We are hoping it can be modified, but if not the material is worth the money we spent and we can use it to make covers for rails, dorade boxes, etc on the deck. But we did end up spending more money than we made. After the boat jumble, we were both pretty tired but had the car reserved to go into town for a grocery run. We couldn’t really blow it off because we were having our friend Uli over for dinner and had some pretty bare cupboards. We managed to get that errand done and then came back and took a nap, it is Sunday after all! After a little more varnishing, we cleaned up the cabin and started preparing dinner. It ended up being a very enjoyable late afternoon and evening…cool temperatures, good music, making a yummy dinner (chicken and vegetable kabobs!), drinking wine, a semi-clean cabin and someone else besides each other to talk to!

Our table...at 8am...1.5 hours before it started...

Before...

...After

3 Years Ago Today!

There is continued progress in the head…shower is now plumbed! But geeze, how many things have to happen before it is completed?? Besides that it was a pretty uneventful day. We took a bottle of wine over to “Meander” to say thanks for helping us raise the mizzen. They in return shared the bottle and we lamented over the joys of owning steel boats. But also had some good conversation about other travels which was a nice change from boat talk. Oh, we also dug stuff out for the ‘Boat Jumble’ tomorrow morning and hopefully we will be able to unload some stuff that is just taking up valuable space. But what was fun was reading back through our log tonight from when we first bought Independence. We did keep a bit of a journal and it was fun to be reminded of those first days of haul out in Cyprus. It was also fun to look back at where we sailed to that first season. And we discovered that Mike’s mom Judy and step-dad Kirk met us in Rhodes, Greece 3 years ago today! That really felt like the beginning of our “fun” adventures with Independence and so happy they were able to join us and be a part of it!

A Perfect Day

That is what Mike is calling the day…and I have to agree. We were able to wrangle up some more hands to help us raise the mizzen and it went smoothly and quickly. By 11am it was up and secured which let us relax and enjoy our work the rest of the day. By late morning it was already starting to get pretty warm and I was able to talk Mike into putting on his swim trunks and taking a stop at the pool on the way to the store. Today there was no one there and although it was a bit cooler than yesterday afternoon it felt incredible. We managed to make our way back to the boat and continued to have a productive (and really fun) day. While I was starting on varnishing the window trim, Mike was setting up the BBQ! We marinated some chicken, made up some greek salad, stirred up a gin and tonic and had a great dinner in the cockpit. As Mike was grilling one of the workers from the shop below us was gesturing how good the BBQ smelled. This was from a man who always gives us big smiles and likes to wave and say “see you!”. So Mike ran down the ladder with a piece of chicken to share with him. A few minutes later as we were in the cockpit eating and listening to music we hear someone coming up the ladder. He had bought us a bottle of Pepsi to say thank you. It was very sweet and we asked him to join us but he replied “no English!” and quickly retreated back down the ladder! It really was a perfect day with feelings of accomplishment and promise. We are now looking forward to a mellow weekend with a little break in between the real major projects.

Again, trying to figure out the best approach

Success again!

All 44 pieces...

Beach or Pool?

What a gorgeous sun filled day! It was perfect working weather and I tried to make up for a couple of lost days. Well, that is with a pool break in the middle of the afternoon. Mike took a trip into town for some odds and ends and by the time he came back I was hoping for a break, preferably involving water. The cabin gets pretty warm when the sun shines with out the shade from our dodger. So I put on my suit with thoughts of heading to the water…beach or pool? (And this is where any sympathy I may be getting will end:) Yes, that is a picture of the pool here at the marina. It is pretty awesome...and that's a view of the Mediterranean in the background!) Of course as soon as I got off the boat I was much more comfortable but didn’t let that stop me. I opted for the pool and it was heavenly, hardly anyone there and the water was perfect. Cool and refreshing. And progress continues with the head…Mike got the sink and faucet plumbed! And also hoping the get the mizzen raised tomorrow. Mike is going to put a call out on “the net” tomorrow morning to seek help…kinda like a barn raising I guess. But it should make for another interesting day.

I deserve a dip in the pool, right?