| Update We seemed to have got tied into staying at Puerto Pollansa for the last few days for a number of reasons and expect to be here a few more days yet. Factors driving this has been varied including - places to visit, weather, maintenance, meeting people, it's free with a great nights sleep and picking up our next set of visitors.
Waking up in the morning after calm nights with flat calm water in Puerto Pollensa bay. Looking east towards Alcudia
Weather The last blog said how the weather had changed and we ENJOYED 2 more days of overcast skies, lower temperatures and light breezes. However, no worries, the seawater remained warm and water activities continued.....
On one of these nights, we were awoken to a very large and loud clap of thunder which almost felt directly overhead. We rushed out into the cockpit to be treated to an amazing lightening show up in the sky. Infact, we saw lightening hitting the water only about 1 mile away - a little too close for my comfort. When at anchor, lightening is one of the most feared things as you sit there with a huge metal stick pointing up into the skies. We do have a lightening conductor installed on the top of the mast but nobody really understands whether it will work or not......I still decided to install it.
The other good thing about this change in weather was RAIN. Yes, for a number of hours, Watermark IV was continually washed down in fresh water. The teak decks now look and feel so much better and the crusty salt crystals have all but been washed away. Result....
The people on holiday here must have been so disappointed, they haven't come to the Med for this sort of weather but we love'd the opportunity to have some cooler temperatures. But true to form, we are back into blue skies now and late twenty temperatures. I love it, particularly when the sea breezes kick in during the afternoon.
Back into the hot sun, blue skies and great sea breezes. All a little too hot at times for Charlie who finds himself an airy position on top of Watermark's mainsheet arc to have an afternoon siesta.....
Maintenance One of the reasons for having to stay a while was that the generator came up with a "Maintenance Is Needed" message on the control panel. We need the generator to produce electricity to charge the ships batteries and it runs for about 1.5hrs per day. At the same time we produce fresh water via the water maker. It was necessary to get the generator serviced as this was it's first 50hr service and is required for the warranty...........much needed on an expensive item such as this.
So, it was a call into Electromarine, the Mastervolt dealer in Palma who managed to send an engineer up in 2 days. Fantastic service and support from them.
The engineer was German called Erkhert who'd had enough of living in the north European climate and taken to the sun and warmth of the Mediterranean - who can blame him.!!! He had the task of spending 3 hours down in the back of the boat in a HOT cramped space in excess of 30 degrees changing oil, filters and impellers etc with no air movement. Hmmmm, rather him than me.
Once this had been done I spent time checking the major items of the main Yanmar engine, serviced all the domestic batteries and performed a back flush operation to keep the water maker's membrane fresh and clean. All jobs that need to be done to keep the boat running smoothly.
"Don't Ruin the Evening...." Whilst on the subject of engineering jobs, there was a small incident onboard the other evening....... Charlie was swimming around and was expressly told what his boundaries were and NOT to go to other boats. Cathy and I were looking for a quiet night onboard. However, Charlie swam off to other boats to find one with an issue with it's outboard. Well - suddenly Charlie was a 10 year old outboard expert showing them how to sort the problems. After a number of unsuccessful attempts he swam back to start preparing Waterwinky to go back........ When asked what he was up to he stated that he was smelling our petrol as he things their's is off.... Again, he was told to stop but as soon as our back was turned, off he went!!!!!! At this point Cathy was steaming but all stayed calm. I was quite amused at his apparent expertise in petrol chemicals.......
Eventually Charlie came back who knew exactly what trouble he was in, he'd even told the other boat that Captain Marky was an engineer and would sort it........
As he climbed aboard he looked at me, could see his mum but simply turned around and said "I know, I know but there's no need to discuss it and LETS NOT RUIN THE EVENING........!!!!!!" Steam was boiling out of Cathy. Needless to say, Engineer Charlie ended up in his cabin for the rest of the night......
As for the other boat, yes, Marky got dragged across in the dark to help as offered up by Charlie - so much for a quiet evening. Unbelievably, it was a Yamaha 4HP outboard and I do own one of these. 5 mins later, it was running. They simply had the fuel valve in the wrong position - so I ended the night a hero with the spanish boat.
As for Charlie, well he decided to make a stand and we found him in the following position next morning....
Rebel Charlie the next morning........I don't think so - guess what his FIRST job was.... Tee Hee Hee
Water Activities We all still love our time in the water. After all, we have the biggest swimming pool that you could ever want and needs no maintenance.......
Even after all this time we find different ways to amuse ourselves, the latest being to use Waterwinky to toe ourselves around.
A new use for Waterwinky with the inflatable donut.........How come Charlie always ends up in the best position and Captain Marky doing all the work?? Something is wrong here....!!!
Charlie justing taking it easy with Captain Marky dragging him along on the back of Waterwinky.....
Cathy enjoying some peace and quiet in the water...... unaware of what is looming to the right. Is that the Jaws music I can hear, NO, it's just Charlie again........Peace and quiet about to be ruined.!!!!
Cathy's Hair The other emergency over the last couple of days have been Cathy's hair - it was basically broken. We rushed her ashore to the casualty equivalent of ladies hair to be told that she was only a few days from having to have it all amputated but with copious amounts of conditioner and a needy removal of the dead ends we managed to save the bulk.
The sun and salt has been punishing on her hair. Everyday I find long curly hair in all parts of the boat, just like a shaggy dog.........
But just now, all is well and I have allowed Cathy an extra 10 secs of water when showering to help.....I know, very generous of me...... And the result;
The new lovely Cathy after major hair surgery on the water front in Puerto Pollansa. Out in town in a nice dress to celebrate.. Hmmm, don't you just fancy her...!!!!!!
Sea-Plane Fire Fighting The one other surprise about where we are moored is that it's next to a Sea-Plane fire fighting unit. The islands are susceptible to large mountain fires and so they have this team that fire fight using a sea-plane. In essence it scoops water out of the sea and then drops it on the fire. It's been fascinating watching them train in the bay. However, sometimes they do come rather close to Watermark IV.......
Fire fighting plane passing just a few metres from Watermark IV and waving at us as we are having our lunch.
Take off, again not so far from Watermark IV......
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