Current Location: Boat - Curacao Marine Boatyard. Us - Ebley UK.
Date: 11th December 2021
Just a quick catchup today.
We're back in the UK. The trip back via Amsterdam was fine but we arrived 7 hours after the "Day 2" Lateral Flow Test became a Day 2 PCR test. Total confusion meant we weren't officially out of quarantine until Day 10. Still, that's what you have to plan for nowadays I'm afraid.
Anyway we continued with the jobs list in the water. Gill's big task was to make a cover or "chaps" for the dinghy. In the tropics, even with the more rot proof hypalon dinghies, the tubes are affected by the ultraviolet light and can become useless after a few years. Dinghy chaps can help to slow this process and generally protect the dinghy.
A big, difficult job but it looks great now it is all finished.
Before long it was time to haul out. We have had a worn cutlass bearing (a sleeve the prop shaft run through) since we bought Mehalah and we wanted to fix it. This entailed a trip along the coast, through the world famous heritage site Queen Emma Bridge and then a couple of miles upriver to the boatyard. Crazy Swiss friends Zoltan and Sabine together with Uli and Gabbi thought they would film our arrival at the bridge. Here is the result. It does incorporate a few in jokes I'm afraid but I still thought it was worth posting.
Now it was time to fix that cutlass bearing.
The propeller needs to come off, then the rope cutter and then the bearing needs to come out. Usually the prop shaft is pulled out and the bearing cut out. But on Mehalah the rudder gets in the way so it has to be done with the prop shaft in place. So we got help with it from the excellent CMS team. They used this special tool.
And here it is at work.
So there we are. Back in the UK for Christmas. It'll be great to see our daughters and to help brother Phil and Jane care for our ageing mother. Back to Curacao on 20th January, Boris and omicron willing.
Our next decision will be what to do when we do get back. We're off to Bonaire to start with (the "B" of the ABCs) where Cumbrian friends Dave and Vera will visit us. After that it's north to the Dominican Republic (no), back to the Eastern Caribbean (no), through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific (no), to Colombia, Panama and the San Blas Islands (probably) or through the Panama Canal and turn right to Mexico (probably not). Watch this space!
Happy Christmas to one and all.
