One more sleep 13:05 N 59:37 W
Ticketeeboo
Sue & Alan
Sat 25 Jan 2014 13:14
Been spending recent days hard at work, cleaning duties (inside & out) mending duties (all sorts) cooking duties (feeding the needy) shopping duties (finding the right stuff & putting it in the right trolley) bunkering duties (getting more fuel to have tanks full to the fillers) water duties (keeping tanks full knowing water consumption will he much heavier soon!) anti-beasty duties (couple of exhausting SCUBA sessions gettin' rid of as many of the buggers before retiring knackered (again) washing duties (keeping all cutlery, crockery & pans spick & span - ready for imminent galley hand-over) carhire duties (no one would expect the problems we've found trying to get hand on a hire car!).
Yesterday, we up-hooked and went into the local fishing harbour and onto the fuel dock. Couple days earlier we did a recci & they let us park our RIB there whilst we went grocery shopping. Ray say's before we gets underway "Is it all fenders on one side?" Me says "Yes please, port side so that we park-up with pointy bit into wind." So here we are, holding up a big stinkpot as we close very slowly doing a 180º turn into wind, ending up nicely port-side-to a dirty great row of tyres with 12 + 2 fenders all on port side - looking like a ship-o-war using fenders like cannon. Our approach was very good, OK we had to lower fenders because the dirty great tyres were gonna touch our beautiful hull, no problem there. It's just that the fuel guys (and Toya) were too busy chatting to each other to spare a thought for our lines. Ray, on the bow slung the byte of our bow line over a bollard and with everything settled (not going anywhere immediately) I left the wheel and tried the same with our
stern line, which unfortunately did not settle t'other side of the cleat. "Excuse Me!" had the desired inspirational effect when a fisherman (who was working below decks) popped his head up and kindly offered the necessary assistance so that I could secure our stern. It was only after we were tied to their fuel quay did they spare us some attention to participate in a little trade. All 653 litres of it!
Once back in our spot with anchor re-attached to ground we pondered as the clouds grew over land to the west. It's gonna rain. There's gonna be a lorra rain fairly soon! There was too. A good final rinse after morning boat wash. After lunch I decided it would be a good opportunity to get my head down for an hour, rather than watch the rain! I had only read about 2 or 3 pages when Ray pops up with "Are we going ashore? It's stopped raining and the sky is blue!" Phenomenal how quickly the rain can pass and glorious sunshine prevails when the temperature is 28ºC. RIB in water and across towards the Carrinage to suss out a suitable landing place, fit for the Ladies to alight tomorrow. One guy, looking after couple of touristy cats, tells us we can part by their dock. This still represents needing certain skills not previously developed by humans sit needs o we spots a ladder and heads for it. This stainless ladder is very impressive. It has a perfect bend which could have been purposely
formed to make it look like a boat has clobbered it! In effect, climbing up the ladder can only be achieved by using the cling-on technique (almost up-side-down)! At the top of the ladder there are 'unremoveable' hairy ropes, which tickle the undercarriage as the first leg goes over. Before starting my acrobatics, much to the amusement of the locals, I strategically added our security locks. One lock is used to prevent our outboard from going astray from our RIB. Another cable & lock keeps our RIB from going astray from the bent stainless steel ladder. Another bicycle lock is meant to confuse a would-be local from attempting to think they could do a quick get-away. Finally another bicycle lock to keep our fuel can from taking a walk. Ray says the local looked on inquisitively and curiously as I put everything together leaving the RIB looking like confused spaghetti.
We walked S towards "Coconut Car Hire". Door was locked and very local-looking lady was making efficient use of all the free the space behind a table. This lady is not for moving. The door 'clanked' and a gentle push by me gave us free entry. No cars available for hire from Coconut Car Hire then! Although we did get couple of maps, freebeez. Ray's map shows another car hire shop, maybe couple of miles to the N. Off we goes, following Ray's map. We arrive at our destination but there's no car hire place anywhere to be seen! Guess the Martians took this one? We then decide to head towards the coat road where we spent some dosh in a local supermarket couple days before. We goes in, the light's not so good but we know where to find what we want and exactly where the cartons of milk are kept. We choose what looks like the shortest check-out que and begin our wait. Unfortunately a lady 2 or 3 people ahead of us has bought quite a few sweeties. (A sweetie is one wrapped sweet, the type nor
mally bought in a bag of sweets and sold by weight - not wait!!!) Not here, every sweetie has to be scanned and some sweeties are not easy to scan and the lady on the till wants to scan every one of them - rather than count how many and key the number in! During this time we notice the lights going dim. Rather the sun's going down (speedily) and we've only got our sunglasses on! Ray says "I'll be able to see the fuzz better in the dark without my sun-glasses on!".
To finish our recci, we get back to the RIB, which is untouched and fine. There's the same couple having a grope on a bench (as when we first scaled the ladder) so it's 'locks away Curruthers' and back to the yacht (in almost darkness). 2 x G&T's. Fried egg, chips and sausage & some Chateau Continente white wine complete the day for us and another day nearer to cuddles! This morning it's just one more sleep to go! Also we know it's nearly time because 2nd load of bed sheets are in the wash and we're having to wait for the clouds to turn to rain (another lorrovit) followed by bright warm sunshine and blue skies this afternoon - if it don't do this the washing won't be dry in time for tonight! Hmmmmmm!
Ticketeeboo MMSI 235071989 Callsign 2CED3, Ham callsign = m0hng
At 21/01/2014 18:45 UT our position was 13°05.57'N 059°37.01'W
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