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Published: June 26th 2018
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Bob Just Loves His Boat Yoga!
Popping out of the "hole" working on the autopilot We didn’t know how long we would be back in Gaeta, but we would work to try to get out as soon as we could as this sailing season was definitely starting late. It was about 3PM when we got settled back into our slip on Wednesday (the 13
th). Shortly after that Alex from the marina came over to take photos of the engine and get a few more details on what the problem was so he could send this information to the mechanic. He told us he wasn’t sure when the mechanic would be over, but they would let us know. We actually knew of two people that we met that had their boats in the yard needing work on their engines, so we didn’t know where we would fit in. Bob thought of starting to look at the autopilot, but that would mean taking everything out of our lazarette and all of that would fill up the cockpit making it more difficult for the mechanic to get on and move around. With this in mind, decided to hold off until the next morning to get an update on the mechanic. It also gave Bob some time that first afternoon
to pull out the manual to see if there were any tips on what to check. He already had some ideas, but always good to double check the manual.
The next day came and we still hadn’t heard from the mechanic, but figured we’d give them until the afternoon to ask for an update. I was just getting ready to walk over to the office to ask when the mechanic showed up! As his English was limited Alex came as well to help with translations. Bob thought that there might be a loose connection (he had tightened up one before leaving) but wasn’t sure. He could definitely have done this himself but as he had the autopilot to work on, decided to spend his time on that and that the mechanic could probably pinpoint the problem much quicker. In fact that is what happened – within an hour he had determined where the leak was coming from, did some adjusting and we were done – one problem solved!
Bob completed his check of the autopilot and fortunately found there was one connection that was bad so fixed that quite quickly. Did a test of it and it worked.
Now this was Thursday afternoon so we needed to make a decision –what day do we leave? Our first destination was an anchorage and we have been told that weekends at that location were packed with boats this time of year. We checked the weather and Sunday looked good as well so figured another couple of days wouldn’t hurt us giving us time to do some more on the boat and to enjoy Gaeta. With projects on the boat being constant, there was time to do a few small ones and get them off the list. One of the evenings we took a lovely walk down one of our favorite streets, Via Indipendenza. We typically have gone as far as the shops, but this time we walked the complete length of it taking in some of the other details that we had missed before. There was a church that we have walked by numerous times but never visited so poked our head in, saw many more votive icons to the Virgin Mary, enjoyed the plantings that people had at their homes, observed a few more details such as the use of tiles for decoration and of course interesting doorways. A
lovely way to spend the evening with a wander back along the water front.
As long as we were in the marina we figured it would be perfect to do a load of sheets with a great breeze for drying. That done Janice visited for a few minutes with one of the people we met that is having work done in the boatyard. His wife had just recently arrived from the UK so made arrangements to have a drink together at the Yacht Club that evening. Had a lovely visit and then planned on heading over to one of our favorite Italian restaurants for our last meal in Gaeta. As we were walking over we all of a sudden said, “we will be eating Italian quite a bit more on our travels” so we made a right turn and headed to Hermes. This is a place which seems to cater to the military people (NATO base) that are stationed here with their wonderful American style hamburgers, French fries, onion rings, and other delights. With not knowing when we could find this again (yes, sometimes you do need a change from eating Italian – even me!) we had an enjoyable
meal there.
With everything now fixed we went to bed with the plan of getting up early, walking over to the bakery to get some bread and then taking off. We didn’t want to leave too early as always a good idea to plan your arrival time at an anchorage with the crowds. We planned on leaving at 9AM but by 8:30AM we were ready so dropped the lines and we were off, hopefully this time for good and we could start the sailing season for this year.
At times we feel bad about starting the season so late, but then we have to remember that it isn’t only about the sailing, it is about the traveling and what we are learning. This year since being back in Italy we have been traveling and enjoying our time exploring – just getting to the places by land up to now. Not a bad thing either. We have to keep reminding ourselves it is about the experiences and the people we meet that makes this lifestyle great and that the sailing is a means (and a pleasant one at times!) to get there.
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