Bizerte: Winches, Pontoons and Sandy Rain!

Wanderingdragon
Stephen & Anne
Tue 18 Aug 2009 10:40

37.16.422N 9.52.817E

 

Having said in the last blog the weather had got humid, we have had several days of even higher humidity (80%). Eventually we had some short sharp thunder storms and rain showers. Actually it was not so much rain as a 50:50 mix of rain and sand. It was the first rain we have had for a few months and it was quite a nice change watching it as long as we were under cover at the time.

 

Our entertainment has changed. The marina decided to close the visitor’s pontoon to start building a new marina. We are not sure why they decided to start in the height of the season mid August when they were full (according to the locals this is “French logic”). One morning they sent away all the boats moored on the visitor’s pontoon and then removed the pontoons.

 

The last few days they have been working on one of the pontoon sections with a pulley retrieving the chains that supported the pontoon. Our entertainment now is watching the men maneuver the pontoon by a small boat and then pull up something from the sea bed. We also watch people’s faces as they arrive and find barely any marina left. Being on the locals pontoon turned out to be a very good choice.

 

Anne also tackled servicing the 3 speed winches. She proudly took them apart, cleaned each bit, replaced a few worn pawls, and using her skills of doing jigsaws when she was a child, reassembled them. Each winch took one long day as they were considerable more complex than the 2 speed winches (they have 117 separate parts). She even managed to work out why one of the 3 speed winches was only working with 2 speeds and fix it. The picture below is a proud Anne with all the bits cleaned and polished! She also made winch covers to help keep then cleaner.

 

The other picture below is the last but one section of pontoon being floated away. The final few boats on the last section of the pontoon moved on later in the day.
 
 

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