16:57.440S 145:47.904E

2018-05-23

Coconut Slipway Day 1

landed in Cairns 6:40 AM, got a car, went to supermarket and got to Andromeda around 9 am - after 35 hrs of traveling; which wasn't

too bad, as we had exit seats on the 12hr flight and I a 4-seat row and M. exit seat on 7hr flight, and we had a little stroll around Hong Kong during our 6 hr layover;

so exited to be back, and she looked pretty good! 

at first sight. clean deck, and cockpit, nicely painted bottom, salon also looked pretty good and clean - mainly as in mold free;

and then we discovered there was a misunderstanding about the bilges and bilge pumps/hand pumps; Ray, the guy from the slipway/yard who was looking after her hadn't pumped out the bilges AT ALL over the last five months! what on earth was he thinking?!?! next time I'll do some video checks, or at least have pictures sent; this is so incredible... 

all 4 bilges inside, in the hulls, and one in the sugar scoop outside were filled til the top! as a result, there's a lot of mold in the hulls; all surfaces, cabinets, everything stowed under deck, especially in the aft cabins;

fortunately, I had pretty thoroughly wiped everything with vinegar before leaving, else, it surely would have been a lot worse; like a thick black layer everywhere instead of just a grey hue in 50% of things;

apart from that very exited about our new brand new dinghy! 

the old one is really falling apart, but we got 10 years of good use out of it, so cannot complain here;

getting the new dinghy ready and putting on our last year’s new 4-stroke 20hp outboard (which is considerably heavier than the 2-stroke 15hp) was also a bit of a job;

happy to see fridge and freezer are working well; always happy to see things working right away after so many months of not being used;

finished the day super tired, after at least having rehabilitated salon and forward cabins for sleeping, and somewhat the galley so it's usable for breakfast;

after a lovely hot shower in the boat yard shed, we had our first meal on Andromeda, lovely salmon/chicken, rice and veggies and watched a show in our comfy lounge salon cuddle zone - life isn’t too bad; 

until I bit on something hard and heard a crack! didn’t notice until flossing later that a piece of a molar filling had fallen out :-( fortunately, it’s not hurting; guess I’ll have to find a dentist tomorrow;

Grateful though no cyclone had hit, there  was no storm damage or theft, and it was a sunny, dry, windy day (good for drying, airing out, cleaning and sandfly-free working). 

Gotta look at the bright side, always. :-)