We have put QuickStar up on the hard (which means taking her out of the water) to get some routine maintenance work done, as well as some boat projects that we’ve added to the list. She is now secured on the hard, where we will be living aboard. While Peter supervises all the workers, I take off to the internet café each day to get my work done. While we are here, we don’t have any facilities…i.e. running water, washroom, etc. So it’s more like camping in the midst of a war zone (the boat is torn apart inside) with access to the ground only via a shaky ladder.
Our home for the next couple of weeks – nice ladder entry – and no, I’m not comfortable on it!
Peter decided for safety sake that he should secure the boom over to one side to avoid the workers banging in to it. The only thing is he forgot to mention it to me. When the guys were busy polishing the deck I offered them water. When I took it up to them, I bashed in to the boom so hard with my head that the entire yard stopped work to see where the thud came from. I now have a large goose-egg on my head to add to the large bruise on my foot that I got when I bashed in to the top of the ladder getting on the boat. I think being out at open sea is safer for me.
The guys hard at work polishing the deck
Note the boom far off the centre line…thanks for telling me Captain!
While the boat is out of commission, we have planned a few land excursions. Our first one was a sun-rise hot air balloon ride to celebrate Lori’s birthday. She is my oldest girlfriend (we’ve been friends since we were 10). She is also the bravest person I know having fought breast cancer five times!
Peter & I in the balloon gliding over the countryside
We had a glorious day to do go ballooning. In addition to great scenery the pilot was quite gifted and he took us up and down skimming over treetops and soaring over fields with us touching the tops of the sugar cane. We began running out of real estate to land as we got closer to the sea as the winds weren’t favourable for the chosen landing sites. Instead we had to make an unplanned landing in a home-owners field. The rough landing only added to the fun!
Oops, isn’t the basket supposed to be upright?
Later in the week, we celebrated another friend’s birthday – Shorry from Victoria. We left at 5:30 in the morning and did a day-long white water river rafting trip, getting us back to our boat at 8:30 that night. We had a fabulous day, with much of the excitement coming from hiking in to the site, as well as driving the rough mountain roads in the middle of nowhere. The rafting company has bulldozers and drivers on hand to pull the bus out of the mud and to help get the bus up the hill. Luckily we didn’t need it, although it had been raining for two days and the roads were really slick. It also made the colour of the water brown, but the good thing is the rain made the river fast-moving and quite exciting.
About a 20-minute hike up and down the hills to get to the start.
The scenery was amazing as we paddled through canyons, which they have dubbed the Green Canyon. After each bend there was another waterfall to greet us. At the final waterfall we all got out and enjoyed a “massage”. When we arrived at our take-out site, we unloaded in a village. The rafting company contributes 20% of all revenue to the villages at either end, has built a primary school in each one and also built the roads leading out to connect with larger roads. I was honoured to be introduced to the chief when I gave his village a supply of exercise books for the school children.
A free massage
During the week, while I’ve been kicked off the boat, I have gotten lots of work done, including making slow and steady progress on my Spanish lessons. I have launched my new venture, which is escorting Women’s Adventure groups again. It was one of my favourite things to do when we owned the travel agency. I’m also thrilled to be working with my old friend Rita from Merit Travel. It will be nice to just be doing the “fun” part of traveling and not having to worry about invoicing, collections, ticketing, etc. Also, much as I love being with Peter, it will be a treat to have some time away from living together on a 46 foot boat and to do lots of adventurous trips with like-minded women. This is the link to our “Ignite Casting Call”.
http://tinyurl.com/3kjskvs (if you are unable to click on this to open, just copy and paste it where you put website addresses)
Peter has discovered that the boat is going to be more work than originally planned. We had intended on repairing the rudder (from the reef episode in Tahiti last year), painting the bottom, servicing the engines, replacing worn teak, resewing the canvas bimini, etc. We had a very unpleasant surprise though when Peter was doing his routine checking of the keel bolts (those things that keep the keel attached to the bottom of the boat). He discovered that the heads of the aft obolts had rusted ALL the way through and were no longer securing the keel. That means that our keel is only being held on by a few bolts. As I write this, three guys, including Peter, are currently grinding off the bolts to see if they can be replaced without us having to lift the boat up again and having to remove the keel.
Either way, this is a big job (muchos dineros!) and will keep us in the yard for a lot longer than originally planned. Having said that though, we really feel like we dodged a bullet with finding this out now, because if the worst case happened while on our next open ocean crossing to Vanuatu, we might have lost the keel altogether. That, of course, would mean that there would be a huge hole in the bottom of the boat and without a keel the sailboat would tip over. Assuming that happened hopefully we would have a few minutes to spare to spring the life raft and get in it before QuickStar sank to the bottom! Not a pleasant scenario! Our good buddy Halldo, will be crewing with us on that leg, (around September 18th) and although he has joined the dark side by moving over to the corporate suit and tie world, I don’t think he needs that much excitement in his life.
Living and loving life to the fullest
We did receive great news this week from Peterborough. One of our oldest friends was getting the results of a very serious test and he was given a clean bill of health! Sadly, Peter’s Dad continues to lose his mobility and is now in quite a bit of pain. However, he is one of our biggest fans and is the first to encourage us to do this sailing trip while we can and not to take life for granted.
Our adorable granddaughter Addison cheering on her Dad at the Ashcroft Rodeo – now how did this picture get in here?
Until next week…do something that fuels your passion.
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