Monday 27 May, Annapolis day 2: Starting the long list of jobs to prepare Cloudy Bay for haulout.
We slept a solid 11 hours, waking up at 10am. Funny, when doing a long passage you get into the sporadic sleep routine, but once you stop your body tells you the truth – you are totally knackered!
The day is bright and sunny. So lovely to wake up to cool air. The temperature seems much more palatable today than yesterday, which was severely muggy and hot. Also nice to wake up to decks clean of ropes and lines. And we note the decks themselves are the cleanest we have seen them in months. It almost looks like they’ve just been sanded. All the salt spray of the last weeks, followed by the rinsing thunder storm last night has done a great job for us.
We pay our £5 to get unlimited internet on my phone and a hotspot, which allows Oana to start posting the backlog of blogs and photos. We have about 12 days to catch up on! Sorry about that readers. But for the sailors among you, we think the passage blogs will be quite good reading.
Then dutifully call CBP, again. They seem just as disinterested to check us in as ever. Looks like we have to wait till tomorrow, once the holiday weekend is over. Luckily, we are in no hurry. We still want to relax today and gently wind ourselves up to all the jobs we need to do before haul-out next week.
First job is the bow navigation lights. One stopped working on passage. The expensive LED bulbs are fine. It’s just their stupid bayonet pins. They have broken, so the bulbs don’t stay in their sockets. I replace the pins with small screws and all good again.
Next job is giving all the bedding and pillows a good airing in the sun hoping it will help to hold off any mildew forming over the summer. All the bow locker stowage is cleaned too. Just how did it all get so dusty?
Final job is to start the big stainless steel polishing job. Last year I was quite fanatical to keep on top of this, but this year we clearly have been having too much fun. The result is a lot of dull stainless and quite a few rust patches. But with some effort, it all cleans off. Actually, the job is more satisfying when they are this grubby. Hopefully, now that we are a long way from the salt water environment, this polishing should last the summer.
With our late wake up and busy (but relaxed) day, the evening is quickly upon us. The holiday weekend is over and the town is quiet again. Tomorrow we go in search of canvas shops and generally have a look around the marine center. And, hopefully, finally get our customs inspection!