Week 5 MdR – June 18- 24th – Rain, Thunder, Lightning and Sun

Well…., we did a week long plan on Sunday night of all the jobs that needed completing. Hew saw the yard manager Monday morning and they agreed on the jobs. By Monday afternoon it was raining and at the end of  the day they were already half a day behind. The inside jobs were not finished either.

Tuesday: Rain, lightening and thunder and the same Wednesday but cleared in the afternoon.

Wednesday: I took the rental car back to Catania airport (2 hours away) and then caught the buses back. Really regretted not having my car here to run on these speed unlimited roads!!!!

Hew meantime had been given an account(by the boat yard) for all the work and was told we could not go in the water until it was paid . Problem is none of the jobs have been finished either, and at the current rate will not be done by Friday.  Some discussion ensured about the amount of work done, or lack of it, followed by some reduction accordingly.  Hew was given a long history of the yard and the mess they are currently in. No money to do anything , no overtime or their own maintenance, due to the dire financial problems they have. They are  currently being run by the bank who is trying to sell the marina and boatyard but will have to keep some shares as no one will pay what is owed to them.

TV on the boat is now working , but the TV which is retractable was  stuck in the up position for two days then suddenly decided tit could retract again????!

The RIB motor is also operating after changing out all the old petrol. We went out for a quick swim at the end of the day – you guessed it -it was only me swimming and I almost didn’t as the water seemed full of jelly fish – not little ones but two huge varieties. One was all browny green, not pretty and the other white with a purple/blue stripe both the same size. Here is a photo of the Rhizostoma pulmo (SCYPHOZOA) Common name: Barrel jellyfish Umbrella diameter: up to 40 cm. The photo is copyright of OCEANA Juan Cuetos. The mediterranean has an apparent problem of too many jelly fish as they have expanded to fill the gap left by overfishing. It will be interesting to see how they are on the rest of our travels as we didn’t see much sign of jelly fish last year when sailing in Greece.

Thursday:  Bow thruster is now in but they have found a relay is not working – no spares here so ordered and delivery expected next week.  Engine  maintenance not complete – promise for Friday. Gel coat done. One lot of antifoul done. Inside port aft divider under floor fixed  – it was floating separate from the hull.

Friday : Apart from out problems one of the big charter yachts hit the ground hard and has broken the keelson so all hands were dragged out to help them. I didn’t get a look inside but Hew saw some photos and a huge amount of damage to the floor and furnishings and yet you cant see anything on the outside. Surprise  surprise everyone worked in the weekend.

Our boat was lifted to shift props and enable those parts to be gel coated and antifouled. One coat of  antifoul was finished and some patches on the hulls above the water line completed. We shifted out of the accommodation and onto the boat- on the hard still. Plugged in the shore power but that for some reason does not seem to work – no 220v power for the weekend – grrrrrr

Saturday: Second antifoul coat was completed and the tape for the water line added. I have sorted out all the sheets and ropes but we have little idea of how the boat was rigged  and lots of the fittings that are here have been broken, bent or cracked and so have had to be thrown out. I am not sure why they were ever kept????

Sunday: Hew and I had a big clean up of the yacht, put most things that have been laying around the cockpit away. Tied down both spare anchors and stowed all the spares under the floor boards up in the port forward area. It now looks like a boat and not a boys  shed.

I took a couple of hours out and went to the beach – very hot and crowded – then on into town to get a data card and when I got back we got our onboard wifi operational. We now have a network on board and contact with the outside world. 

Since the car has gone the bicycles are really getting a hammering – well worth the purchase and I am not sure what we would have done without them.  Interestingly the saddle bags being so low it means you hardly notice them, except for the weight when they are both full.

Sunday was a lovely evening and we had first dinner on the aft deck under candle light (unfortunately no table cloth). 

  

In summary we are inching towards getting afloat but deadline has shifted again. It is great to be aboard but it would be much better if we were afloat.