Fast and Easy

Since we went to bed at 8pm we were up pretty early this morning. And we are finally starting to jones for good coffee again. This Maxwell House ‘Bogaty Smack’ stuff (we at least have fun saying Bogaty Smack!) just isn’t cutting it anymore. We have even made a switch to tea but will see how long that lasts.
Mike spent the morning trying to figure out how to wire the solar panels and wind generator from the roll bar to the main cabin. The first idea was to wire it down through the lazerette, through the aft cabin and to the batteries. But after taking down some head liners in the aft cabin, he realized that he would have to drill a dozen holes through centimeter thick steel in awkward positions in hard to get to places. So instead…we decided to just run the wiring on the outside of the boat. Not ideal but ‘fast and easy’ is our motto these days! And the work on the sails and rigging continues. The other day when Mike hoisted the mizzen he found out that it is in need of some repair and also discovered that our brand new main sail has two of the reefing blocks placed on the wrong side. Finally this morning, the sail guys came by to take them to the shop and hopefully they will be repaired shortly. After those chores were done, we both headed into town where we stopped for some lunch and then went our separate ways. My mission of the day was buying a shower curtain, a trash can, and sheets and blankets for our guests. Mike went to the ‘Sanai’ and had some old stainless steel piping from our pulpit welded into a meter and a half rod to support our wind generator. He also bought a shit ton of new line for our rigging! After hauling all of our goods back home, we cooled off with a swim. And I am happy to say that the stress seems to have lifted. The atmosphere feels lighter and we seem to be enjoying ourselves… and each other again.

Mundo de Plastico

I went on a plastic shopping spree today. I took measurements of our shelves and little nooks and crannies to try and find plastic bins that would fit snugly and keep our stuff safely in place. And I think the staff, in one store in particular, thought I was a bit crazy with my constant measuring to try and figure out what would work best. Mike started his morning off with a swim (hey, that’s a good idea…) and then continued working on the electronics and got more needed lines from the nav station up to the cockpit. And we both were pretty wiped by early evening and found ourselves reading in bed with the sun still shining.

A False Summit

My energy was mostly back today so continued on with my cleaning and tackled the galley. In addition to cleaning, I tried to come up with ways to lash items down so they don’t go flying off shelves and counters while we are under way. Mike spent a frustrating day stringing cable lines for the new electronics. When they built this boat they must have installed all of the wiring and then built everything around it, tightly. Because there isn’t a lot of room to add new cables/wires or get them where you want them. After a lot of sweat and swearing, Mike had success with getting the radar cable from the cockpit, to the navigation station, through the bilge and engine room and up to the mizzen mast! Good work Krausser!

My views of Mike today...

And I have to share that there has been a feeling of stress in the air since getting in the water. Mike described our feelings well, “It feels like we have reached a false summit.”. You climb and climb and tell yourself ‘only a few more steps’ and by the time you think you can’t take another breathe you make it! But then only to realize that you haven’t, you can see the true summit in the distance and it is going to a lot more energy to reach it. And you don’t have time to sit down and take a break. At least our path to the true summit isn’t as long or as steep as before. And friends await us at the top! We just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other until we make it out of this marina.
And in celebration of our friend’s Heidi and Aaron wedding, we made a nice dinner and gave a toast to their love and happiness! Happy Wedding Day Heidi and Aaron!

Mike Having Too Much Fun

2nd attempt...

Mike Having Too Much Fun

I wasn’t feeling so hot today. Maybe it was a little bug passing through but I had absolutely no energy so spent most of my day hanging inside the cabin not doing much of anything. Mike however, stayed busy and put on the lazy bags and hoisted the mizzen sail, put up the radar dome, measured for new rigging line. And even made a couple of videos…here’s one!

(Well, it says that it is posted but I don't see in on our actual blog. Maybe it's our poor internet connection or not being allowed to access 'You Tube' in Turkey. Let us know if it doesn't come through!)

No Words

An incredible fire red sun tonight

For some reason it feels different writing this blog now. And really can’t pin point why, maybe because we are in this middle ground, done with the hard haul out but not out sailing yet. And even though we made it to the water and we’ve reached that milestone, for some reason there doesn’t seem much to write about. But I have made it my mission to write an entry every day! And so I will try not to bore you to tears.

I spent most of the day starting the cleaning process of the boat (sorry, not off to a good start!). After 2 years of being on the hard we had quite the layer of dust and grime coating most everything. So out went the cushions in the saloon to bake in the sun for a bit. The shelves got emptied, useless stuff made its way into the trash. The walls and floors got washed down. Ahhhhh…much better.

Mike spent his day by running into town with the priority of finding a new mast head light. He had some luck and the shop came to the boat to eye ball just what we need. But that meant hauling the worker up the mast. I am really glad Mike doesn’t weigh 90kg because this dude did. And it looked like Mike was working hard on the winch, with me tailing the line, to get him up there. But then later in the day, a new mast head light delivered! Now it’s my turn to haul Mike up the mast so he can install it… We then ended the day with watching a new DVD series, ‘True Blood’. We have been told that you either love it or hate it. Well, I think we are definitely on the favorable end because we stayed up way too late to just watch ‘one more”.

Life Is Good

Upon awakening I realized something was different. I knew it had to be after 8am but it was quiet. On the hard I could set my watch to the sound of grinders that immediately started at 8:15am. But not out here, there was only the sound of the occasional scooter or people chatting as they were walking by. After drinking my coffee and taking the long stroll to the bathroom (a compromise, no more ladder but a heck of a long walk), I put on my bathing suit and started washing off the decks. Finally, we can wash all of the dirt, twigs, leaves off and they won’t just blow back on making a muddy mess! Mike was doing some odds and ends but then realized he was pretty wiped. So I was happy to see him take a swim, followed by a nap and just trying to sort out this next phase in his head. I took advantage of the quiet afternoon and took a swim, laid in the sun trying to get rid of my farmers tan, and gave myself an insanely needed mani/pedi. And it is seriously 15 degrees cooler in the cabin now. It's actually a pleasant temperature and we're not dripping in sweat. Thank god for wind scoops! A wind scoop is piece of nylon material that you attach to your hatch and it funnels the breeze down into your cabin. 100 times more effective than an electric fan. There was no way we could have used them on the hard or we would have been knee deep in dirt. Just another bonus to being in the water! Later in the day, we realized that a celebratory dinner of burgers on the grill sounded pretty good. So Mike got the dinghy out, worked on the engine which finally started, and we zipped across the marina to pick up a few groceries. Upon our return we sipped on a gin and tonic waiting for our hunger to kick in and then fired up the BBQ! Oh my god, those gin and tonics and burger were the best ever! We concluded that everything must taste better on the water! But even with this mellow day, and finally being on the water, there still isn’t quite the feeling of being out from under this boat. I think we both know there is still a lot of work to be done in the next couple of weeks. Now it is just staying focused so we can sail out of this marina to meet up with Heather, Shan and Lucca! Now that is going to feel good!

Here is a photo again of the marina. We are on the outer pontoon, about where those two boats are directly above the double 00 in the telephone number.

Our new swim hole