No room at the Inn...............well hotel really.

andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Wed 19 Oct 2011 14:57
No room at the Inn...............well hotel really.

We returned to a sunny and warm Trinidad and an" island wide curfew" from
11pm to 4am called to stem some drug related issues over the past few
months across the island. We had a great visit back to the UK for two
lovely weddings, congratulations to David and Lou and especially to Phill
and Ruth, and to Jenny and Paul on the birth of our newest, beautiful
grand-daughter, Shayla.

Everything went well with the big events and we enjoyed ourselves
immensely. We had a lovely visit to Manchester see Alice and Isaac who
are growing up so fast and, as Chris now has a new job, have recently
moved outside of Aberdeen and are really enjoying their new location. We
saw much of our families and friends and had a wonderful time with the
three months flying by and having travelled 5,250 miles in a hire car on
many journeys criss-crossing the UK, going as far east as Norwich, west to
Chippenham, north into a very sunny and warm Scotland via Manchester
before heading south again via Yorkshire and the furthest south we got was
the Isle of Wight. We visited all different parts of the coast and house
and cat sat in Portsmouth for two weeks whilst Phil and Ruth were on their
honeymoon. But it all had to come to an end and reality beckoned. Thanks
to all for the hospitality shown and we have the waist-lines to show for
it! We are very sorry it wasn't possible to see everyone - time and
waiting for Shayla to arrive proved more challenging than we thought.
Susan only managed about 6 baths over the entire period, we were that
busy!

The flight out to Trinidad was very full all the way to St Lucia and on to
Port-of-Spain so there was no opportunity to spread out across the seats
for a nap. We spent an hour in a queue for Immigration on arrival here but
that was really the only delay we had. Our taxi was waiting and we soon
arrived back at Peakes where we asked for our hotel room key - booked
before we left in June - only to be told that one hadn’t been left for us.
Phone calls followed and a car journey to two separate hotels - both full
- saw us contemplating getting on Andromeda for the night. We had wanted a
couple of days to air Andromeda out before living on-board - well that was
the plan. Finally we were directed to a motor boat, Calypso, which had a
couple of clean beds for the night and also boasted a very efficient and
very loud air-conditioner - not a whole heap of sleep for us! Especially
as the air con was very cold and there were no blankets but Nick kindly
paid for a late night snack as we had been on the go for nearly 24 hours
by then.

The following morning saw us meet with Nick who had found us a room for
one night so at least a reasonable night’s sleep beckoned. He accompanied
us to see Andromeda and we were very pleased with the new deck and the
hull – hope the photo's do it justice. However when we went on-board we
discovered a lot of water in the bilges and in several places on the sole
as well as mould on the interior woodwork and we were very, very nervous.
The mould was because the air-conditioner had been turned off for the hull
work and not switched back on - once some extension cables were found it
was soon back on but tackling the mould took several hours. The water in
the bilges was because extension pipes for the scuppers (these channel
water from the deck into the sea) were not properly in place. All the
sea-cocks and thru-hulls were removed to peel the hull and we had insisted
that the scuppers be carefully watched. As two were knocked inside
Andromeda and one was completely missing, all the rain and the water from
cleaning the deck from the last week or so came inside Andromeda - this
took another 4 hours to sort out - we, and Nick, were mightily not happy.
It also started to rain! Well rain is a bit of an understatement –what we
mean is that it absolutely bucketed it down. Susan who was moving our
things to the hotel room spent nearly an hour trapped on Calyspo as the
wind buffeted the boat away from the pontoon and she couldn’t get off.
Once it had quietened down a bit she came back to Andromeda to see how
things were progressing and looked like a drowned rat – well that is a bit
of an understatement, she actually looked like she had taken a shower in
her clothes but at least it was warm rain she said. However once things
were sorted our on Andromeda we went back to the hotel room and fell into
bed at 4.30pm and slept through to the morning.

We moved back on-board on the Sunday and continued with cleaning and
sorting out what we could. Monday saw us organising Dynamite to come and
replace the thru-hulls and contacting Clint to see when, and if, he was
planning to visit Trinidad to help us with the sails - which are now in an
air-conditioned sail loft, waiting to be married to Andromeda - can't
wait. The new asymmetric sail, which replaces the parasail, is, wait for
it........Susan's getting very excited.....is.......is........Orange -
with a bit of blue!

In addition we now have another piece of work to sort out - the prop-shaft
showed signs of corrosion and we needed to get it replaced or the prop
might fall off which would not be very good at all. So it’s now been
pulled, which required lifting the engine to get it out (the lovely big
skeg and rudder making this impossible from outside without a big chunk
being carved out of them) and we are awaiting a replacement. The bent and
buckled stanchions from the dismasting have now been replaced (a lovely
job done by Andrew) and we have lovely new guard rails to go with them.
The fridge is being worked on, but not yet operational, so we are still
carrying bags of ice on a regular basis. We also have one more engine job
to finish, a leaking fuel pump, so we are well and truly back in it up to
our eyes!! There is, however, progress....... :-)

Clint arrived in Trinidad last Wednesday and came to see us and on
Thursday fixed the top of the mast. The main halyard has been re-run - we
are hopeful that this time it won't fray again! Clint hopes to be back in
Trinidad before we leave but has arranged for another good sail-maker to
be on hand when we bend the sails on just in case – and talking of sails,
he took us to see them and drool in
anticipation......orange...mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

But its not all work and no play, we have, in a odd moment of leisure,
started to play Mexican Train-Wreck dominoes – a game with 91 ones
dominoes going all the way up to double 12, good fun, we didn't win this
time and need to learn some tactics - but there will be other Sunday's
whist we are here to improve our game.

So for the moment we are looking to go back into the water in mid-November
to give ourselves up to a week to sort out any remaining problems and to
get the sails bedded in. Then we plan to head north................ watch
this space........more as and when....it’s been a busy old time...

More in due course
Susan and Andrew
S/V Andromeda of Plymouth
Trinidad



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