Final day at Tenacatita Bay
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sat 13 Mar 2010 01:28
and I ended up with the kids. But we had fun and rowed to the beach, where
we played all morning, finishing of with Cevishi under the palm trees at the
local beach bar/ restaurant. We had other cruisers joined us to discussing
the main topic weather, when the weather window will be best, and it appears
tomorrow, so expect a major exodus tomorrow heading in both directions, as
time is running out for people to get to their locations for the summer.
It is 5 PM I have just come back from a late afternoon surf on that lovely
right hand break. The sun was golden as it sets, through the palm trees that
move in a gentle breeze, I my dinghy in anchored just off the break and went
over the side, picking up the waves and slide across them, I was the only
one, and beach only had a couple of people walking home. As I turned and
paddled out the site of all the yachts anchored at anchor swaying so very
slightly but all lit up in a bright evening sun reflection, and then you see
dolphins 15 feet away, could I ask for more. I was able to pick up a couple
of waves, and slide across them, this brought many memories of my child
hood.
We packed away the boat and toys ready to leave tomorrow morning on a 45
mile run down the coast, I completed the final engine and system checks
which I have a check list, and updated the maintenance logs, I have found
this good to double check on maintenance items, and maintain an inventory of
spare parts located all over the boat. Out here we find 3 types of people
when it comes to maintenance:
1/ Those who are still working their boat as they cruise still getting ready
to cruise, this puts strain on the cruise as they spend 80% of their time
working the boat.
2/ Those who just use the boat and wait for things to break, these go into
panic and find it very costly but they are not doing regular work.
3/ People like Ethan and I and others who maintain records and schedule
regular maintenance, I try to average 10 hours a week, which is not hard and
is not excessive but you just check items (like I went through all through
the thru hole valves making sure they are all free to move this only happens
every 2 months). Will it stop break downs and issues NO but it will
hopefully reduce them and allow us to catch them early, like the whole
battery charging review and redo I have done over the last 3 weeks has
improved the battery situation and reduced the chance of fires etc.
So my final thought for the week, is get a maintenance program, log or paper
log and regular check on the boat, you will find it pays, we preached this
at Wonderware and now I am applying like we did when I was an apprentice
back in the steel works 25 years back.
We have Ethan and Nancy and Zada over for a final dinner and drinks, it has
been great to catch up with them, and we have now future dreams for 2 to 3
years join up in Africa again the "dreams" are what keep us going.
I ran into a semi returned judge as he is only 52 and he was diving, he left
a year ago after being a judge for a small town for 15 years, now he is
reading, and loving the freedom, while we have very different back grounds
due to the common bond of boating we are able to talk for hours on different
topics from weather, to anchoring, to education etc. As you all go into the
weekend, a number of the boats here have done a dinghy raft up for Friday
evening drinks, I wonder what you all plan as the sun sets behind the
headland here and out comes the Chilean white wine.
As I close I look to bow and see the boys in St Patrick crowns they have
built in art today, and feeding 100s of birds with old bread, there are box
fish also coming up to the surface, and the sun has just set in a golden
haze glow.
Cheers for Friday.