Laurie has been hanging upside down in the engine rooms for a day and a half now, with limited success. At the end of the day, after starting one engine (connected to a water hose to simulate being in the water), he received the good news that it was spitting out cooling water and running fine. However, the second engine gave us no such joy and he's hanging upside down in the engine room once again this morning. I try not to take in all the details as this is clearly a 'blue' job, not a 'pink' one! Yesterday, he sweat so much that only after drinking water steady for a few hours did he finally recover.
Yesterday morning, I took advantage of the Members Only taxi service, where in spite of the name, all boaters are welcome! The outing was a grocery shopping expedition, where you meet at the gate of your marina and get picked up, delivered to a grocery store, given 1 1/2 hours of shopping and then returned to your marina/boatyard, all for $30.00 TT which is around 5 dollars. All was going well for me and my cart was fuller than all the others in the group. I intended this to be our only provisioning before heading up the island chain and I knew that most prices would be better than I could expect elsewhere. I had my order all checked through and all bagged only to find that neither of my credit cards would work! The total was around 2500.00 TT, which is around $450.00, which included wine, beer and rum, and of course some food. We had failed to let CIBC know that we were leaving the country and we were SHUT DOWN! We always do this, but somehow it was overlooked this time. Probably, a 'pink' job! I only had 2 dollars on my cell phone and knew I'd be cut off from CIBC half way through a call to them, so I convinced the check out girl to hand over her cell phone. All the other women were outside by now and the vans loaded up waiting for me. Well, anyone who knows me can imagine what state I was in; almost to the point of not being able to press the digits for the phone. Anyway, long story short (oh yeah, it's too late for that!), I talked to a couple of people from CIBC, got the problem all sorted out and I headed out to the vans. The drivers had to rearrange everyone to get all my stuff in! Everyone was very understanding, so the job got done. It felt like the temperature went from 35 degrees to 40 over the last half hour there. Oh, I forgot to mention that the sales clerk came running out to tell me that the phone call wasn't toll free afterall and I owed her $13.00 TT - I gladly gave her a 20.00, which is around 4 dollars and once again apologized.
When I returned to the boat, it took over an hour to find homes for all the things I bought and I was forced to crawl over tools, engine parts and the like to come and go with the goods!
My afternoon was spent outside with the hose and a brush trying to get all the green and black slimy mold out of the rub rail cracks and anywhere else it decided to grow. Any rope left outside to touch the deck was black and fuzzy. In the middle of the work we had a tremendous rain storm which suited me just fine!
Today, I will wash the rest of the boat with a soft brush on a pole by standing on the ground. Yesterday, I worked topside. When we left the boat in May, we were convinced by a couple of locals who were looking for a quick buck, to have them wash and wax the boat and leave the wax on over the summer months. I was a bit skeptical about this, but I've seen many boats left with the wax covering them. The boat looked horrible when we returned, but now as I soap it up and give it a light wash with the soft brush or cloth, I am convinced! All the crud comes right off, leaving it shiny as can be. We're so glad we took their advice. It took them one full day with 2 guys, so we're on the other end of it and it's cleaning up like a dream.
All for now...it's 30 degrees inside with the air conditioner slaving away and it's time to get to work!
Cheers,
Dawn (and Laurie)
