Alanya - continued
Yachtforeverfreedom
Tue 4 Aug 2009 14:14
The big news is that we are grandparents again - Libby delivered Arthur John Sharman (8 lb 10 oz) at 1030 in the Dorchester Hospital.
Well, Peter made up a shorepower cable extension and also another short bit of cable on which he deliberately reversed the positive and negative on one of the plugs so we can use it to correct the reverse polarity which we are getting from the marina shorepower - don’t know what that does apart from put out one of the warning lights on the instrument panel.
We walked to the nearest shops - about 20 minutes - bit of a waste of time as the veg selection was pretty useless - but only cost us about 75p for enough to last us a couple of days.
The Marina Deputy Technical Manager came to visit the boat to check we were happy with the new batteries (£ 434) - we are but we need a new battery box as the old one is now too small - “no problem Sir, the carpenter will be round this afternoon to help you measure-up and decide what you want”. He and the carpenter arrive sometime after lunch and get together with Peter over the requirement - it transpires that it can be produced in welded plastic - same as the old one - we now await the quote!
Had to go to the dentist this evening as have broken a tooth. Appointment was arranged by the Marina Deputy Manager with his own dentist for 1800. We took the bus to, and from, the marina, about £1 each return. The dentist has managed to save the tooth and it looks like I am going to have it crowned - I go back on Friday at 1030 for confirmation.
Tuesday 4th August. We go into Alanya on the bus to get a Turkish SIM card for one of the mobile phones. A SIM card with 15 units costs 15 YTL so we get another 250 units for 45 YTL so that we have plenty of phone credit. 60 YTL is about £ 25.
After lunch we visit the marina office and arrange to change our 3- month contract into an annual one - total cost € 1605 (about £ 1365) which is less than half what we were paying in Cyprus. We don’t intend to stay here a full year but an annual contract works out cheaper than doing a piecemeal one of a number of days at summer rate and another number of days at the winter rate. We also speak to the Marina Technical Manager about the new battery box - he says that the plastic version is only available from Bodrum at the other end of the country and will be far too expensive - so we are going to get a plywood box covered in epoxy resin to prevent any damage from moisture or battery acid.
The weather is better today as, although the temperature is still about 36.7℃ (98℉), the humidity has reduced to only 38%. Also, most important, the new marina washing machine (free) has been installed - so no more washing clothes by hand.