Back to Work

The morning brought a feeling of urgency after taking yesterday off. We got to work on various projects such as working on the ‘turtle’ shell (where the companion way hatch slides), getting a final coat of paint on the roll bar, painting the boxes which will go on the roll bar. Mike also got a small plate welded in the hole from where the propane hose was. We also got brave and re-installed one of the windows in the dodger. Thankfully, this time it went much, much better. And for the exciting stuff…Mehmet came to start the engine and it fired right up after 2 years! Engin also surprised us with putting up our spray hood! It’s starting to feel like it’s all coming together.

Visa Run

Today we got to make a visa run to Rhodes! After getting up early to get a second coat of paint on the decks we were off to the ferry. After a bumpy ride, and lots of white paper bags being passed out, we arrived and immediately walked to the harbor where we were with Independence three years ago. We also made a stop into one of the grocery shops in the harbor and eyed a hunk of salami we would be coming back for! After another reminiscent stop at the gyro shop (the best gyros ever) we filled our day with some shopping, sipping on retsina, basically a lot of nothing. It was glorious and 4:30pm arrived much to fast. After a return to the harbor market we made our way back to the ferry dock with our haul of yummy goods. And luckily made it through Turkish customs with our wine, cheese and pork products still in hand! After a quick stop in town to watch the USA vs Algeria game we made our way back home where we proceeded to feast on our goods. We realized how relaxed we were and look forward to many more days like this.

A smiling boat

A snack of salami and swiss cheese before getting on the ferry!

Our goods!

All You Need...

Today we started on painting the rest of the decks, the grippy part. In the past we have used sand that we have collected from the beach. But this time around we got a good tip for finer sand that is cheap…sand used to line the bottom of bird cages. So after a run the one of the many pet shops in town, we made our sand shaker from an old oregano bottle and got to painting. This part was much easier. I rolled out the paint on our flat surfaces and Mike sprinkled sand. It was over and done with in no time. Mike also installed some additional stainless steel bars for our soon to be arriving spray hood. He even got the thru-deck fitting for the propane hose moved to the very aft deck so it will sit underneath some boxes we are mounting on the roll bar. Now we just have another big hole to contend with on deck but that is where the convenience of a steel boat and welding come into play. In the evening, we were invited to dinner by Mike and Anne on ‘Mithral’. They are a very nice English couple who we besieged with questions while they were hauled out on their homemade Bruce Roberts steel boat. Their boat is also about 25 years old and immaculate. Very impressive. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with conversation ranging from family to history to, of course, boats. And since they have done a lot of sailing across the Med and the Atlantic we had lots of questions for them. The big question was ‘What do we need to do to prepare for the Atlantic crossing?’. We thought we would get an answer such as make sure you have a wind vane, a SSB, emergency equipment. But guess what their answers were… a good fishing rod and bread recipe. And this isn’t the first time we have gotten those answers. We will definitely add those to our list of preparations!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Despite our water and propane tanks running dry just as Mike was attempting to make coffee and another steel boat owner telling us that we have much more than 2 weeks worth of work to do before we are in the water…this has already started off to be a better week. The temperatures are cooler, although it is really, really sticky! I got the second coat of paint on in one area. And ugghhh! There are still drips on the vertical surfaces. I tried so, so hard to make sure that didn’t happen but actually, overall it looks ok. And it’s going to be far from perfect which I have to, or try to, accept (especially when people put their dirty little toes all over your fresh paint). And we have still more cutting and grinding to do which will only spread metal dust to grow more little rust spots. But that’s life on a steel boat, right? I also spent a little time cleaning up today which always makes things feel better around here. Despite Mike’s lack of sleep last night, he worked all day on starting the get the windlass mounted. And a guy came and installed our plexi-glass window in our dodger so we will have a little more ventilation. Now we just get to install the laminated windows which I have to say scares me a little bit after our last experience. We quit a little early today in order to have time and the energy to make and enjoy dinner, which felt good. And we even watched a movie. Ahhhh, the good life. And have I mentioned that we are going to Rhodes on Wednesday to renew our visas?! Yes, we have been here for 3 months now… I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am! A whole day away from the boat, no work, just sight seeing, walking around, eating, drinking retsina(!), maybe a little shopping. It sounds like heaven.

Another Sunday...

What a day. What do exhaustion and stress equal? More emotional backlash. The past few weeks have really been a test for us. We've both been on a knife's edge between composed calm, and loosing it. It sometimes doesn't take much to push one of us over the edge. Little things like access to the computer, a misspoken word or thought, or an imagined slight or complaint. We both know that it is the underlying frustration with our situation, and not the other person, but it can still make for some trying moments. In the big picture however, I think it is a good thing. It is teaching us patience and is honing our communication and tolerance. As Mike's Dad mentioned in one of his e-mails, it is one heck of a way to build a marriage. We are able to end most days on a positive note, and definitely look to each other for support and affirmation. Overall it is making us stronger. But still the day-to-day can sometimes really suck.
Today was no different. And it didn’t help that it was Father’s Day. Upon awakening, I went out and checked out last night’s painting. Despite the big globs and drips it wasn’t so bad. Then I went back inside and back to bed. I am done, stick a fork in me, done. Mike worked on different jobs but only found himself getting easily frustrated and making many trips to the store, at least one being to the grocery store for beer. In the afternoon, he finally gave in and joined me on the day bed for my second nap of the day. I finally roused myself outside to get ready for the second coat of paint. This time I had another approach which helped ease the job a bit. And luckily the paint finished before my patience this time. And Mike was there to help in anyway he could which was greatly appreciated. Then it was back to bed, some reading, emails and finally sleep.

Painting is Stressful

The heat wave is finally breaking and it felt so good to sleep in this morning. The morning started off slow but then got busier and busier. At first I was only working on the blog, then started multi-tasking by taping off the decks while waiting for pictures to upload. Then it was full on prep trying to get the decks ready for their first coat of paint! There has been much discussion on how to tackle the painting to try and minimize the prep time and taping. But we came to the decision (my idea…) that we should break it up into different stages. We are painting the decks with a two part polyurethane and from what I have heard it is tricky to paint with. It can set fast, show all of your poor painting skills, not to mention show all of the deck’s imperfections due to its gloss. Great. Finally around 6pm, the tape was on and the temperatures were cooler so I mixed up some paint and started on the borders. Once those were done there was still a lot of paint so got part of the roll bar. Still a lot of paint (…expensive paint) and it was getting dark. So I decided to start on another section that had some large areas and would use up the paint fast but only ended up spilling paint on the deck in my rush. At this point, Mike and I were both stepping in paint (spilled and recently painted) and I was getting really tired and really frustrated. I got to the point where I couldn’t work any longer so Mike took over the painting. And this didn’t help the situation too much because he was painting in the dark and I was always pointing out where he got paint on the hand rail or missed a spot…this mixed with already frayed nerves. But the paint finally ran out and we survived. And then went to bed.

What? We Have to Set an Alarm?

The alarm went off at 5:30am and after making coffee we were on deck to paint the primer. I can’t say that it was a fun time. Mike had the roller and I was trying to paint around everything that was taped off. Mike works fast, really fast, so I kept getting painted into corners or would have to do my acrobatic/balancing act to get to spots that had already been painted around. Basically, I just started the day off in a really foul mood. And I had a dream the night before that took absolutely no interpretation to show my recent, and mostly fleeting, feelings of anger/frustration/feelings of limited control, as well as my desire for the future when we can be home and start a family. For a dream, it was as obvious as you can get.

Decks primed and now ready for paint!

After painting we headed into town and gave a ride to some British folks on the boat “Youanmee”. They were chirpy and chatty and I felt like I was holding on by a thread. It was a long drive into town. But once we dropped them off we got to pick up Ishmail (our carpenter) and drive to his shop to pick up some boxes he made for us. Then the day started to get much better. His shop is outside of Marmaris in a beautiful spot in the pine forest. And we finally got to see his ’59 Chevy truck and custom chopper he is building. Amazing. And his shop is covered in posters, almost like a college student back home… Robert DeNiro from Taxi Driver, James Dean, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, not to mention a poster for a jeans ad where he was a model back in the day. On top of that, he was the Turkish Motor Cross Champion in the early 90s! Very impressive. After hanging out in his shop and playing on his bike, we took a walk to the swim hole we have heard so much about. Wow. A perfect and deep hole in the river being fed by a waterfall. It was also surrounded by tall rocks which made a perfect jumping/diving platform. It was a playground for Mike. Afterwards, Mike tried to give Ishmail lessons in throwing a boomerang but there was not quite enough room since on the 2nd throw the boomerang got caught high up in a tree. We are just so happy to have met Ishmail, he has become a dear friend. Despite his gruff appearance, he has the sweetest and most gentle soul. I know we are going to miss him when we leave.







On the way back to the boat, we stopped off at the pool for a quick swim. I could have fallen asleep with my arms and head resting on the side and my body floating in the cool water… But we returned with my only task being working on the blog which had been neglected. Mike then worked for a couple of hours before we headed to the bar for the much anticipated US vs Slovenia game! We were robbed! There were some really, really bad calls in that game. Afterwards, we enjoyed a conversation with Martin and Sandy on ‘Mystique’ who are also from Seattle. We reminisced about home and also talked about sailing in Central America which sounds pretty good to us, almost better than the Med…is the grass always greener? At least it’s closer to home this time. And only found ourselves returning to the bar later to see how the English fared against Algeria…a draw, thank god!