work, work, work...

Friday 19^th November

I discovered today my cut off point, a time out, enough’s enough, an everything stops here… a place where I am no longer able to tolerate anything and react with a degree of dignity.

My day started before dawn, my choice I would hasten to add.  I like to get up early it enables me to write without interruption, writing is a passion, for whatever reason it’s what I enjoy doing.  I really don’t care if anyone reads what I write.  I also know I’ll never be a literary genius, I just really enjoy writing, putting my thoughts and experiences out there for anyone who cares to be interested to read, or not, “whatever floats your boat” as they say!

But today! today really tested me… We had to get the boat back into the water, absolutely had to, because if we didn’t, the world as we know it would end IMMEDIATELY!  Really it would…

We still had a hundred jobs to finish while Daisy was out of the water, and everything had to get done so we could get launched. When Bob decides something has to be done he’s like a dog with a bone he never lets go, he has never and will never leave a job unfinished, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, or what the personal cost, unfortunately I am the other end of that, and unfortunately I do not have the same work ethic as Bob, I work very hard, harder than just about anyone else I know, but when I am tired I stop, or at least I will stop prior to collapse. Not Bob, he will work himself to dropping point. Obviously this is nothing new I have lived with it for 32 years now, but living on a boat brings a whole new meaning to tolerance. 

Once you stop work here there are no cool air conditioned rooms with comfy couches to flop into with a drink and relax, the condition our boat is in right now, there’s not even a bed that’s not covered in stuff.

At six O’clock I stopped work, the boat was in the water, but we had no power, all the power supplies on the dock were different to the cables we had, so Bob had to re-wire everything, in the dark with just his head-lamp.  I went up to the shower block and took a long hot shower, I ached from head to toe, and my hands were so sore from using heavy power tools, and lifting the anchor chain, which weighs about 1,000 lbs.  I hadn’t stopped to eat since 7am and I was feeling pretty miserable. 

Daisy all re painted and polished, on her way back to the water...

We had planned on going out to dinner, but I fell asleep waiting for Bob and ended up going to bed without anything.  My daughter Niki would say “look on the bright side Mum, just think about all the weight you’ll lose”I guess I do need to lose a pound or maybe 50.  

There is a local guy who works in the yard here, I give him bottles of water and he always rushes to help if he sees me struggling to carry something heavy, anyway, this morning he called me over to see a photograph of his Mother, and with the brightest smile told me “you are just like her, she too is short and round”! 

Daisy, back alongside.

Cleaning the Diesel Tanks

Thursday 18^th November

Just for a change today it rained! I really don’t remember the last time I saw so much of it.  I can only imagine it was while I lived in Wales, because my memory of Wales, beautiful as the country is, is of gray cloudy days and rain.  This is not what I expect in Curacao.

On the bright side, there are no mosquitoes around when it is raining, and it keeps things cooler for working.  As most of our jobs are inside the boat, what the weather is doing really doesn’t matter anyway.

 Daisy out on the hard, at Curacao marine boatyard

The guys turned up at 10am to clean out the diesel tanks, not exactly “first thing” but at least they arrived.

Last night Louie stopped by for a beer, and I had whipped up a batch of prawn crackers for a snack, which filled the entire boat with a nasty greasy fat odor, a little like the local fish and chip shop.  So this morning I decided to bake a cake to hopefully make the boat smell more appealing, why did I waste my time, about 10 minutes after the guys arrived the entire boat was filled with diesel fumes…

Cleaning the diesel tanks! 

I found it impossible to do anything inside the boat, the saloon was cleared of everything to enable the men to access the diesel tanks under the floor, the galley and all the bedrooms were so full of stuff piled up on every surface so I decided to go and mark the anchor chain.

Our anchor and chain are currently resting on a pallet outside the boat, waiting for inspection, a perfect opportunity to place the markers. I spent the morning laying the chain out and fixing the markers every 20 feet.  We have tried several methods of marking the chain, and none of them have been very successful, hopefully these colored plastic pieces fitted inside the links will work.  I have worked out a colored system that will enable me to know exactly how much chain is out.

Cleaning out the diesel tanks, and filtering the cleaned diesel back into the tanks took all day, the guys didn’t finish until 10 past 5, although they had managed to take a 2 hour lunch.

I’m so excited that we can get the salon back together and start making some sense of the interior.  We hope to get launched tomorrow and we still have a number of jobs that must get done while the boat it out of the water…

Who works in the islands?

Wednesday 17th November

         The inside deconstructed, notice the bottle of rum, it won't be full for long!


The rain stopped, the sun came out and I got to work wire brushing the strainers, "wow does that sound weird", I was doing really well restoring the original look of Brass from under all the green oxidization when I dropped the bloody thing.  Thankfully it didn't land on my foot, but one of the long metal pipes broke off...
Another repair job, OH well what can you do, boat life is all about jobs. Thankfully Bob wasn't mad, he said it shouldn't have broken so easily, so it probably needed fixing anyway.

Inside Daisy we have all the seating removed, stacked in all three bedrooms (leaving no where to sit or sleep) the table deconstructed and spread about in various locations throughout the boat, all the floor boards up.  The galley counters are covered with the contents from under the seats, all in order to clear space for the people coming this morning to clean out our diesel tanks.

 "Don't worry" Bob said, noticing my dismay at all the chaos "once they have finished we can put it all back, and we'll have seating and beds again".  Yeah right, this is the islands who does he think he is kidding, no one ever turns up on time, or does what they say they are going to do.

I almost thought I was wrong when at 3 this afternoon they turned up,  to tell us it was too late in the day and they will be back in the morning AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rain, Rain, Rain & Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip...

Tuesday 17^th November

Removing the strainer from under the floor was really difficult, it was heavy and covered in nasty green oxidization.  While lifting it up onto the deck a black oily liquid spilled out and ran down my back, lovely!

Bob drove it to the steel fabricators to have some new pipes welded, while I went to the local supermarket. 

The shopping here in Curacao really is quite good, and the prices are not as high as many of the islands.  I was excited to be able to shop so we could have something other than canned food on board.  The fridge and freezer are still turned off because we are out of the water, but we have the table fridge working up on deck, its normally used for drinks, but makes a great standby fridge for times like this.

In the supermarket I was really delighted to find “Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip” manufactured by Robert Rothschild Farm, in Ohio. www.RobertRothschild.com  or call 1 800-356-8933. I highly recommend that you try it, its scrumptiously delicious especially with cheese, or in fact anything you care to put it on, chicken, pork, salad or sandwiches.

I bought 2 jars, but may go back for more while they’re still in stock.

It rained again on and off all day, I worked in the rain scrubbing the decks and washing the fiberglass, which was caked in black sticky dust from the boatyard, the rain helped wash off the soap suds and kept me cool while I was working. Not much chance of getting sun burnt here so far, Curacao is having more rain than Wales.

Bob’s friend Louie, very kindly filled one of our gas tanks for us, while we gave the other one to Budget Marine to fill, they usually take a couple of days, so I was very happy, I can have a cup of tea and cook now…

Bob’s still having problems with the battery charger, hopefully they will be resolved before too long.

Copy of an e-mail to my children

Tuesday 16th November

Curacao is currently having the heaviest rainfall in its entire history, we may not need to be moved by boat lifting machine to be put back in the water, Mother Nature may just do it for us.

We arrived back at the boat to discover that the boatyard had not done what Dad had paid them to do;  ie charge the batteries weekly, so we were greeted with totally dead batteries, no electricity, no water, no refrigeration etc etc etc…

An entire day was spent getting the boatyard to replace the batteries for us, which they did eventually but that was not without its problems, stress, stress and yet more stress!!!

The boatyard forgot to give me the key to the ladies bathroom, so last night while sweaty, exhausted, covered in mosquito bites (yes there are MILLIONS of them here) and bursting to go to the loo, I had nowhere to go, the men’s (my only other option) was busy and I really didn’t feel like using the facilities with them so I had to wait, ooohhhhh painfull!

In desperation and fighting back the urge to pee in the bushes I went back up to the bathrooms and waited for a woman to arrive and open the door for me, I had to wait 20 minutes, by which time I was almost peeing my pants.  As you can imagine I was not a happy bunny.

We opened a tin of tuna and corn for dinner last night, OH such gormet delight's we enjoy on Crazy Daisy, this morning we had water and a nutrigrain bar, yummy! No tea, no coffee no hot food because we also have no gas.  We need to find somewhere to fill the bottles and quickly, I’m needing some luck with that…

This morning Dad is working with the battery charger which is malfunctioning, yes more problems, I have lost all my ability to keep cheerful under these continuous problems.   I keep dreaming of the house in North Carolina next year and that thought alone is keeping me sane right now.

Just helped Dad remove the strainer from under the floor,  and managed to ruin a lovely pale blue t-shirt when a load of oil  spilled out all over me as I lifted it up on deck.

We have 15 days to get everything done and get to Aruba for Edi on 2^nd December, but we are 2 days already here and have not really even started all the jobs we should be doing.

I hope to be able to write with more cheerful news soon.

Back to Curacao

Sunday 14^th November 2010

We left Columbus at 7:30, and enjoyed a trouble free flight to Miami, where we walked straight to our next gate and got the 10:45 flight to Curacao. We were upgraded to first class, OH what a luxury, comfortable seats, a decent (for airline food) meal, a couple of gin and tonic’s and I slept peacefully for most of the flight.

I really have to applaud American Airlines, the flights were enjoyable and on time, the food was good and they didn’t lose my bags, which is more than I can say for Delta, I can’t remember the last time I had a trouble free flight with them, one of the reasons we changed to American Airlines.

Curacao was quite overcast when we arrived.  The island had some bad storms over the last few days, with very heavy rain, leaving the roads flooded in places. The area immediately around the airport is very poor and run down, it’s not the best introduction to the island.

At the boat yard, Daisy was sitting out on the hard with her newly painted bottom (hull).  I didn’t stay out of the car for very long as there were millions of mosquitoes “OH joy”.

We then drove out to Louie’s house where we were staying for the night.  Louie’s beautiful house is high on the hill overlooking Spanish Waters.  We ate at Mei Mei’s restaurant, before returning to Louie’s for an early night.

On to Lucca & Pisa

Following a truly delicious breakfast of wonderful home made breads, flavorful cheese's, home made jams and chutneys, meats, sausages, fresh fruit, yogurts and of course fabulous Italian coffee, I ate much more than I should have done.  All too quickly we were ready to get on the road again, but not before buying a couple of bottles of Alexandra's Olive Oil, made from the olive groves at Tenute Le Viste. I feel sad leaving here, and wish we had a couple of extra days to just stay and indulge, I will absolutely be back...

I had mapped out several different  route's to get to Lucca, most of them taking in other towns and villages along the way, but we decided to just get to Lucca as quickly as possible and enjoy the day there.  Lucca was another on the list of Edi's "you can't miss" places.

The road from Mosciano into Scandicci, around Florence and on to the autostrada didn't look difficult (on the map), and with the use of Lulu we thought we would have no trouble finding it... Wrong again!

In Italy, one has to drive exceptionally fast because all the drivers literally sit on your rear fender/bumper and almost push you along if you are not driving at maximum speed. I have to say it made me more than a little nervous, and was very grateful that most of the driving was in the country with little to no traffic.

The problem is, if you don't know where you're going, and you're driving like Mario Andretti trying to keep some idiot off your rear, managing the correct turnings off one road onto the next can become a real challenge.  Consequently I missed several of the turnings I should have taken, and ended up on a dual carriageway going in totally the opposite direction to our destination.

We couldn't turn around so we just kept going until we came to an exit.  We traveled seven miles in the wrong direction, fortunately we were both able to laugh about it.  We stopped and bought some water and sodas, and headed off again.  This time we managed to get on the right road, and in the right direction.
We arrived late morning at the beautiful city of Lucca.  It was a glorious day with cloudless blue sky and bright sunshine.  Luckily we managed to find a parking space right outside the entrance gates, but  this time we checked all the signposts to make sure we were allowed to park, I even asked a policeman to make absolutely sure we were legal.  We put enough money in for two hour's, and set off into the city center. As with each place we have visited so far in Tuscany, two hour's was not nearly enough.

Lucca is just another of Tuscany's delightful treasures, one of the precious few city's that is a wonderful example of an almost completely intact historic center, and circled by its Renaissance wall that stretches for 2.5 miles around the city, and is a perfect place to either walk or cycle while admiring the city within.

          A great way to see the city sights of Lucca.

Lucca's  remarkable Romanesque churches, picturesque tree shaded piazzas, and busy market stalls that stretch from the Piazza Antelminelli to Piazza San Giovanni are delightful.  Angie and I strolled among the stalls looking for gifts to take home.  I discovered a quaint book store that spilled out into the street offering both new and secondhand books for sale, I spent way too much time browsing, while Angie was off shopping, and ended up buying "A Companion to Lucca" by Andreas Prindl.

As we continued to explore the little streets, we came across the delightful Piazza Anfiteatro, built in 1830 on the site of a Roman Amphitheater. Practically non of the original amphiteatre remains today as most of the original stones were taken after the fall of Rome, and used for buildings elsewhere throughout the city.  Today the street level stands nine feet above the original arena floor.

I watched a man reaching out of his top floor window feeding the pigeons, and spotted a couple of hang gliders flying over the piazza.  The circular piazza has many little cafes, restaurants and touristy shops, it was a hive of activity this Monday afternoon in September.

        The beautiful Piazza Anfiteatro

Moving on we came to Via Sant'Andrea, at the foot of the famous Guinigi Tower, a familiar landmark of Lucca with its incredible garden of holm-oak trees growing at the top of the tower.  For about 4 euros you can climb the 227 steps to the top of the tower to see the tiny little garden, and admire the fabulous views around, I was more fascinated by the oak trees growing at the top of a tall tower, how weird is that!

Lucca is the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, composer of some of the worlds greatest opera's.  The plaque that marks his birthplace can be seen at the casa di Puccini on the Via Di Poggio.  Unfortunately the house is closed due to a pitched battle between Puccini's grandneice, who owns the house and hopes to renovate it, and the city of Lucca, who want the house to remain in its original condition, until this battle is resolved the house will remain closed.

We briefly looked inside the Church of San Michele, and wandered through the beautiful Piazza San Michele before running back to move the car. At 2:30 we made our way to the Piazza Sant'Agostino to have another delicious Italian lunch, at the restaurant Vecchia Trattoria Buralli.

                Angie shopping at the market      



Angie and I both agreed that Lucca was one of our favorite stops on our Tuscan tour.

Unfortunately Pisa called, we had a hotel booked near the airport tonight, for our early flight back to Bristol tomorrow morning.
I'm not going to write anything about Pisa, we didn't get there until dark, and our  (so called) 4 star hotel was quite horrible, and definitely not worthy of a mention.

Otherwise my trip to Tuscany was wonderful and I can't wait to return.
"Buon Appetito"