Dec 1, 2017 Back in Vuda

Dec 1, 2017. Back in Vuda Marina.

So we are back after two months and created like long lost friends by the staff.  I had emailed several days earlier and we were expected.  Our old slip was waiting but we actually decided to move a little bit further along, next to High Aspect.  High Aspect is a beautiful 70’ charter sailboat and they pay for an extra slip so that they will not have anyone banging into them.  This means we also will not have and one banging into us.  Lots of room between us to launch the dingy and no way for Jack Sparrow to jump onto the boat next door.  The other side of us is an equally large but not nearly so beautiful boat from Russia.  It has been tied up in the same spot for 2 years with no one aboard so we do not have to worry about noisy neighbors on that side either.

Almost all of our friends from last year have left, either taken their boats away for cyclone or put the boat in a pit and flown off to visit friends.  It is very quiet here.  Also very hot and buggy.  First order of business is to put away the blankets what we had gotten out for cruising and put up the big sun awning.  Second is a trop to town to buy a fan, a  new hose and some fresh vegetables and meat.  Now that we are back I the marina we can start putting our water jugs in their freezer and once again have a cool ice box.

One of my first projects now that we are back and plugged into shore power is to replace the plastic cover on our mattress. It has several tears and the sticking is coming apart on one side.    Obviously it is a project that should be done all in one day so we can sleep on it at night.  I tracked down some shower curtain material in town, planned carefully, cut and pinned everything.  When I was all ready to stitch I hauled the mattress out onto the roof of the cabin where I can get to it and proceeded to remove the old cover.  I hauled my sewing machine out and set it up, ready to get to work and it would not run.  It is a nice new Mexican Singer machine given to me by our friends on Mary Madeline when they sold their boat.  Unlike every other sewing machine I have ever had it is not set up for personal maintenance.  It does not come apart easily.  Some areas are impossible to get to and the manual is not much good.  So the mattress went back onto the bed, naked, while I tried to figure to what was wrong.    Thank heavens it is not raining these days since the roof over the bed leaks.  After several days of fiddling and searching the internet I finally found the problem.  The bobbin case had rusted and was not turning.  Once I got it off and cleaned and oiled,  I was back in business.  Most of a week was devoted to rebuilding the captains chair in the cockpit and fixing up the sun awnings.