The last few days we have been busy working on the boat and now well into the rhythm of getting up at 0700 and heading down the port for some sanding, painting, varnishing, deck-cleaning, mast-fitting, drinking and jamming. It’s been quite an experience so far and a good feeling of satisfaction after a hard days work in the scorching heat. The departure date has been set back until Thursday 22nd, but progress has been made with the aluminium mast. It’s now been successfully welded, the primer has been applied and it’s ready for painting and cabling.
The aluminium-box to strengthen the fore-mast was also welded and put into it’s final resting place which is a vital anchor point for the mast. All is looking good, apart from the small bend in the mast due to the initial snap, but it’s negligible and could eventually be compensated by tightening up the ropes on deck. Monday was bank holiday in Colombia so we couldn’t get access to the mast, however, making sure the aluminium-box is properly fitted within the current wooden box is critical and will take a good day to fix it in so it’s watertight within it’s new home.
Apart from all the huff, puff and sweat it has been quite chilled and we had a few nice evenings together with Coen, Richard and Ruth, cooking some tasty dishes, jamming with guitar and drums, smoking a pipe, chatting, jokes and chess games as Coen is a keen player, although Victoria has yet been successful in beating him. We will have to also teach the guys how to play hearts, a game we learned from our Romanian friends and recently fell in love with after playing 15 years of glorious shithead.
We also checked out of our hostel to embark on the Grazia, a boat that was also mostly built – as I found out yesterday – by Coen. It’s quite a beautiful boat and seems to have a nice natural feel to it I must say. The two wooden hulls are tied together with four main beams and a good portion of rope and fancy knots to keep it all together. The sun catchers on the front and back of the boat (trampolines) are awesome for chilling out on and they have small holes that keep you nice and cool.
Over the weekend we dropped the outboard engines once again and cruised with the guys to chill and swim in the fresher waters just outside of harbor. We also stocked up on some pristine clean water by turning the osmosis water treatment rig on while we were there. We even had a visitor on-board, a pelican who was very interested in the boat and so decided to perch right at the front to get a better view. It was a good day and a nice change of scene from the marina. The evening followed with a great pizza and a rainbow that just looked incredible.
More action to follow and of course there are always more pictures in the gallery!
