Tuesday 28 May, MD day 3: Another day boat-bound, busy with jobs while waiting for customs clearance.
We are rudely awoken at 7am when our feet get soaked by a sudden downpour through our aft cabin hatch. And even though the bow cabin windows were on vent, the rain still got in before we could seal them. There is thunder and lightening all around us for the next hour.
After breakfast we try calling CBP again but their line is busy. And this is the same throughout the day. We really hoped they would be contacting us today. We have called them everyday now for the last 4 days! They seem not to be bothered to check in a foreign arrival. Did Mr.Trump relax the immigration laws or something?
So it’s another day of pottering and getting jobs done on board. First, I perform surgery on Oana’s toe, which is still pointing towards the top of the mast and with a 45deg twist to port! My daughter, a doctor, told us that even if we went to seek medical help they could do nothing for a broken toe other than strap it to the next toe. So that’s what we did, with steri-strips and some finely tuned masking tape… there were lots of ouches, oohs and eeks during the intensive operation. It’s not cosmetically perfect (like all woman want to be) but it’s more inline now with the sister toes which are all sailing in the right direction 🙂
Now we start our list of jobs in ernest. First is to get a bunch of things put onto eBay for sale: Seadoo, Iridium-Go antenna, a small 12v evaporator air-conditioner and last but not least, our Inmarsat Fleet Broadband system, which we have never used and are unlikely to, given the minimum $400/mth airtime package… which only gives you 40MB of data. A ridiculous cost. We will survive ok, as we have done so far, using the IridiumGo and the SSB radio.
With photos taken and posted on eBay, we are onto the next job. We need to replace the two stanchions that got severely bent when Cloudy Bay tried to crash gybe and the preventer (which did its job) bent the stanchions inboard. But, where on earth did we put our two spare stanchions? Everything comes out of the spares stowage under the mid-cabin double berth. Hm, they are not there.
And while everything is out, we decide to lift the floorboards under this stowage area, which access the bilge below. And behold… there we find a treasure chest of long lost goodies! For the last two years we have been hunting for lost anodes and spare pumps which I swore we had when buying the boat. In fact it’s now a regular standing joke that I ask Oana “come on, stop teasing me, where have you put them?”. Well here they all are in this hidden corner of the bilge that I’d forgotten even existed. We always knew that one day we would find them again. Counting our anodes stock again, we now have 10 sets of everything. We are stocked for the next decade!
We also find two spare shower diaphragm pumps, a water system pump and electric motor for aft toilet plus some other bits and pieces. It’s like Christmas! They are all counted then restored back into place, only this time we make a list of what’s in there!
Eventually I find the spare stanchions in another locker and set to work. Of course, it would be just half an hour job to drop the life lines, replace the stanchions and re-tension the lines… but not for Glen! Once the lines are dropped, I cannot avoid the opportunity to clean all the rusty marks around the fittings that you normally cannot get to. So the whole job ends up taking three hours! Plus, as usual, I manage to drop something overboard: one of the barrels of a turn-buckle. Just what is it with me and working next to the side of the boat. I always manage to drop something. Well, no finding it in this murky water for sure. Will need to buy a new one.
Late afternoon we try to call CBP yet again. But this time we get answer phone saying office hours end at 3pm! So, another day gone and still not cleared in. If it was not for the worry about consequences when we try to fly out next week, we would seriously consider just not bothering to peruse these CBP guys anymore! It’s not like we haven’t tried to get their attention. We have spoken to them everyday for the last 4 days and every day they tell us they will be back in contact with us.
Today is stiflingly hot and humid again. By late afternoon I just have to go for a swim around the boat to cool off. Meanwhile Oana sits in the cockpit with her foot in ice water. It’s swollen up really badly now and is extremely painful. Maybe my surgery helped with that?! Do 911 come out to boats we wonder? And if we went to hospital, knowing the medical system here, they’d probably insist on a full body scan, MRI and X-rays all over. We’re European, we can’t afford all that! Hm, but I wonder how much an amputation would cost if we don’t get her fixed? We will see what swelling tomorrow brings.
Evening is spent again on the internet. So many things to do and catch up on after weeks of being deprived. Good news: by mid evening the Seadoo is sold with money already in PayPal. Brilliant. But when something sells so quick it always makes me wonder if I priced too cheap. Anyway – best sold and off the boat as its place in the locker is needed for our 6HP outboard, which will become our spare. We have a new 20HP waiting for us at the boat yard. We hardly used the Seadoo. It was pretty useless really, I’m pretty sure I could swim faster than it with one flipper tied behind my back!
And of course, all day and evening Oana is slaving away on the PC posting backdated blogs and photos. How you guys enjoy them. Good night.