Friday night, as promised, Richard took me out to Ginger for dinner. Absolutely stunning Asian fusion food – thoroughly enjoyed it. Curious that this time round the naan bread really was naan – in August they were chapattis. We had mentioned this to the chef when he came round the tables checking all was well and it looks like he took our feedback on board!!! Wow didn’t expect that…. We had an absolutely lovely chilled evening – enhanced by the talented duo that performed. He was clearly Spanish classically trained on the guitar and she sounded like Eva Cassidy at times…. Amazing.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed off to the boatyard. We were not going to be staying all day as we had a long list of things to do. We visited Morphie – unpacked some more stuff we had bought from the apartment – patted her and said goodbye for the day. Then off to the gas filling station and – hurrah, our new adapter worked – so we now have two filled propane tanks!!! That’s a relief otherwise we’d have been living on sandwiches for a while….
Then we went off to the supermarket and back to the apartment to unpack. The Christmas Fayre was setting up and we actually had to move one of the stalls to get through our front door – they were clearly not impressed at our impertinence! Back out again to drop off the cute (but expensive) hire car and returned. We were going to spend some time in the pool but the fayre activity was all around and we stayed put indoors whilst trying to block out the sounds of White Christmas coming from outside the front door. After a lazy few hours we wandered down to Miles to meet our man in Curacao – Michel – who was renting us the wreck again…. Spent a few fun hours with him over a beer or three and then wandered the Fayre.
A bit disappointed really as it was just stalls selling mainly decorations or jewellery. There was face painting for the kids, a women’s choir, and some young talent playing in Ginger to the amusement of the little ones……
But we were expecting local food and at least a sight of Sinterklauus and Black Pete…. Nothing. So we headed to Rock Beach for some food and it was average at best. Shame – but we had a nice time anyway. Not so sure some of the parents would have been amused when they got back to their clamped cars!
Sunday morning up bright and early and we were on board Morphie by 7.30 am! We unpacked some more stuff we had bought with us – I started on the stainless and Richard had his head down the engine compartment doing useful things like changing the impeller and fan belt…. He also used his new tap and die set to replace our zincs… and put a new board on the stern of dink as the other one had rotted. Amazing what you can do with an old plastic breadboard!!!!
We were busy most of the day and didn’t get back to our apartment until almost 5pm – but decided to cool off in the pool – only to find that Richard’s swimmers had been stolen from our patio! He was not a happy bunny – they were brand new from M&S and he’d only worn them twice…. The citronella candle had gone too – this is a secure area but I guess the Fayre made it less so. Irritated we still managed the pool for a while. We then had a quiet time in front of the TV with a stir fry tea….followed by an early night.
Monday morning back to Morphie early again….. laden down with more stuff as we started to empty the apartment. Unpacked and then got on with boat jobs again….. I finished the stainless steel cleaning and Richard got on with more engine stuff and fixed the seized Y valve in the heads…..(he gets the stinky jobs!)…. We also talked to Curacao marine about our boot stripe. This has got small ‘holes’ in it – only a year after being applied by Grenada Marine – and they have accepted verbally that this should not happen!
Curacao marine are giving us a renewal quote but are unable to do it for us at this time – so looks like we’ll have to put up with it until we reach Florida at the end of the season. Hopefully Grenada Marine will stump up some cash towards it…. So I washed it down, polished it and then applied a protective coating, hoping that it will at least stay as it is until then. We then returned back to Pietermaai to enjoy our last afternoon in the area and our last time in the pool…. Had a lovely bob and then another early night.
Tuesday morning and we finished our packing… then headed out for breakfast at Mundo Bizarro. Great continental breakfast while we admired the unusual driftwood Christmas tree – although did note that it had been chained down to make sure it wasn’t stolen! And then a final farewell to our apartment.
Back to Morphie and we are finally moving on board….. on the hard… This means – for those non-sailors amongst you – that we live on the boat while she is stored on land and we have to climb up and down a ladder to get on / off, and that means we have to use the marina toilets and shower block too…. And of course there is little breeze… Oh joy! Can’t wait! But we are definitely going back into the water on Thursday so it isn’t for long…. And there will be no distractions of pools etc as the marina is right opposite the oil refinery.
So it was a mammoth unpacking job along with reorganising cupboards and cleaning everything that didn’t move! We were pretty much done by 5pm and we headed off to the supermarket to buy dinner…. Being out of the water means we don’t have a working fridge so we are using it as a cooler with ice cubes for essentials and buying the rest as we go. Back on board we had tea and retired early….. Wow it was hot! Like sleeping in a sauna – with the constant hum of mosquitos as you try to keep everything covered… I managed to get a bite in my ear and up my nose before I retreated beneath my sheet completely. Sounds funny but with Chikungunya out of control here in Curacao this is one mosquito borne illness we definitely don’t fancy catching!
This morning – Wednesday – and we were up with the lark…. Very tired from lack of sleep but determined to get on. Richard did more engine jobs like oil changes, oil filters etc…. and he got the outboard out onto the rail. He also got the generator started again… I spent most of the day under the boat cleaning the propeller – but doesn’t it look great against her new anti-foul paint….
I also sat under the boat for a while putting a hose up into the engine intake so that we could run the diesel engine and check no leaks etc…. Jobs done – well done Richard – and we are now relaxing. We splash tomorrow so will be pleased about getting back into the water and getting the rest of the jobs ticked off the list. Can’t say either of us are looking forward to sleeping on board tonight though….. I think we might have a glass of wine first LOL!
Bye for now
Jan