Is it therefore any wonder that they paint the Bailey bridge in CULEBRA in white and bright orange ...... Everywhere you look you see such fresh colours that somehow it almost seems unreal .......
They even make inflatables in these colours ........
But now for that not-so-colourful job ...... THE FRONT CABIN ...... The two front cabins are separated by a central hanging closet with an air coditioner unit hidden in there somewhere, and this is where man's best tool ever, the reciprocating saw, comes into its own ..... Also hidden in there is a glut of wires both 12v and 110V .... And sure enough the A/C unit is unearthed ........
And beneath the parquet flooring, or in this case the lack of it, lies that terrible diesel tank ...... We knew it was leaking diesel into the bilge when we first bought "SOUTHERN COMFORT", but part of the plan had always been to turn the two front cabins into one ...... And now we have it .....Or almost ..... The floor is now cut out to the width of the tank ...... And here's our new plan ...... Cut the top of the tank out ...... Get a new tank made that will fit through the door and the main hatch and let it sit inside the old one, and never have to cut a hole in the deck ....... THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION .......
O.K...... So we are now a long way from those beautiful flowers we started with ...... That was just to get you in ....... With plastic bags on my feet I need to cut out the internal baffle plates ..... Fun stuff .... Slipping and sliding with a metal power saw ... But we are moving forward ..... Sliding forward on 30-year old diesel slime ............
It is done ........And there were four holes in the tank, caused over time by salt water being trapped in the foam that held the tank in place and slowly eating up the aluminium tank ...... Still it has been in there for thirty years ...... We had ordered a new tank to be manufactured in Fajardo on the big Island .....
Just a smidgen too big for the main hatch and a 1/4" too wide for the doorway, even though all the trim has been removed ....... This is where the language becomes incredibly colourful ...... But never say die ..... A little here and a little there and Paul and I got it below ......
There's nothing to it, if you only believe that it can be done ...... Someone once said that ...... Now that the tank is in the front cabin, all we have to do is let it do a double somersault with a pike twist and it is in ........ ' VIVA LA TANK ' ......
Tom White is our champion sailmaker from JACKSONVILLE, Florida who has been an avid blog-follower and for whom the temptation to assist us became just too much ....... He jumped on a plane to spend five days with us to help us on 'projects' ....... But we screwed him up 'bigtime' by not working at all, and showing him the sights instead ...... DAY 1 ---- SNORKELLING at MELONES BEACH and LUIS PENA Island to be followed by a late lobster lunch ..... I mean that's the way to punish the guy, right?
Talk about 'Culture Shock' .......... Straight out of suburbia and into our new aft cabin for his beauty sleep, then next morning a fast dinghy ride to blue water and swimming with turtles that are feeding casually on the sea grass bottom ..... Way to go Tommy ......
There something so very serene about turtles ....... Their languid movements ..... Their beautiful eyes, and the symmetry of the shell backs ...... And the gentle way in which they invite you into their world ......
Laurie has this knack of slowly swimming up to them and with her little underwater camera and catching the moment ....... Paul and Lynn from the yacht "KIANA" had also joined us with their dinghy ....... Amazing stuff .... You could spend hours just gazing at them ......
MELONES BEACH has this large area of sea grass and is a favourite haunt for the turtles ....... Tourists rent kayaks to spot them from the surface .... But it is so much more beautiful to swim with them .......
And it is not just seagrass that they feed on ........ Look at the one on the right gobbling up a whole jellyfish ......
It wasn't just turtles and fish that were amazing ...... A bird took pieces of banana right out of my hand ...... Tommy filmed it and when i wasn't looking the bird flew off with the whole banana skin ....... Laurie saw him later rummaging inside our food bag inside the beached dinghy ...... Don't know the name of the bird but we think he's called "Cheeky-something" .....
Finally got a photo of "CHEEKY" ....... Now as to the other photo, well you can just frame it and put it on the wall and call it "TRANQUILITY " or "JUST PERFECT" ...... We all thought it was .......
And if you ever end up being shipwrecked on such a perfect island as this one, then don't forget to bring some cold beers ....... That would really make it the ultimate .......
You don't get to do this in a seafood restaurant ...... Tommy will never be the same again ..... All his sail stitching is going to be crooked .....
Pedro the fisherman calculates what we owe him ............. We really cannot show you how we feasted ......... All that dripping garlic butter and the succulent ...... Never mind .... You'll have to be content with the thought and the visuals of the AMAZING COLOURS ..... Tomorrow is DAY 2: SAILING TO ST THOMAS on ARITA ...
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