Advertisement
Published: April 23rd 2013
Edit Blog Post
The Rain Brings the Green
The rains in March definitely made it very green here in Lagos . The last blog showed a few of the activities we did for enjoyment during the last 2 weeks of March since returning from the US. We filled the rest of the time with book exchanges, computer group get togethers where we shared ideas, caught up with friends, Sandra and John as well as numerous cruising friends and treating ourselves to eating out a few times at local restaurants. Between rainstorms we also managed to do the usual household errands such as going to the grocery store and doing laundry.
On the morning of April 2nd everything changed; we had a beautiful sunny day with no wind – a perfect time to pull the boat. This was the first time we moved the boat since arriving in our slip on October 3rd. We were scheduled to be the first to be pulled at 9AM but saw another boat hanging in the sling when we arrived, so we waited… we got word that there were 3 boats ahead of us – one of them being a police boat. Oh well, when in Portugal, do as the Portuguese do, relax and wait. It was a sunny day so we tied up next to
Marina de Lagos
A view of the marina we have been staying in Lagos – it has been a wonderful place to stay with a great location and nice facilities. another boat and waited. About 11AM, 2 hours after our scheduled time we were told to back into the slip. For those of you that don’t know, a sailboat without a bow thruster does not back up that well. Add in the wind that picked up about 15 minutes earlier and we (Bob) now have more of a challenge. The water level was going down as the tide was going out making it more interesting with the rocks being closer to the surface and the pier being much higher in comparison to the level of our boat. Fortunately we made it into the sling and after being adjusted a few times by the crew at the boat yard we were lifted out and moved to where we were to stay for a couple of weeks. Fortunately when Tsamaya was lifted out the bottom was reasonably clean of barnacles thanks to the brackish water ( mixture of fresh and salt water) we have been in since arriving. The paint job we had done in Trinidad about 20 months ago held up fairly well except for the bow and the leading edge of the keel. These are the places where bottom paint
Fishing Boats Come in Daily
The fishing boats come in each morning to a pier nearby and the seagulls are very pleased when they do arrive. (anti-fouling) takes the most beating. The boatyard power washed the bottom and there was very little growth remaining. This made putting on the new bottom paint much easier.
When most of the projects were completed, we set up for a launch for Tuesday, April 16th – it is good to have a deadline to work toward. What had we been doing? Unfortunately Bob has had the hardest and dirtiest jobs – cutting a new keyway in the coupling to the prop shaft and re-installing it, overhauling our outboard motor for the dinghy, sanding the current bottom paint and then re-applying 3 coats of anti-fouling, and polishing the hull, twice. With the turn in the weather to dry conditions Janice concentrated on sanding and refinishing the teak. Throw in meal preparation in the middle of chaos and re-organizing and repacking storage areas, finding items on the boat that have not been used and donating them to 2nd hand shops, grocery shopping, and organizing the donation of all of our remaining cat food and cat litter to a local charity that places animals. This last one was difficult as it was the final closure of not having a cat on board.
April 2nd Move to Dry Land
Tsamaya was pulled out of the water on April 2nd so we could do work on her to prepare her for the year ahead. We had thought we would get another cat, but have made the decision that it would be best to wait until we return to terra firma before doing so. With the traveling that we plan to do it will be easier without a pet – a hard decision but one we will adjust to. When we dropped off the cat food they were very interested in finding out if we would like to adopt a cat, but we were able to stay firm (at least this time) and didn’t break down and get a new crew member. Surprisingly though we many times keep expecting to see her greeting us at the door or laying on the bed waiting for our return. Hopefully over time this will reduce and we will get used to not having a 3
rd member on board.
The yard asked us if we could postpone our launch one day so were launched the morning of April 17
th instead. There is plenty to do so we didn’t have a problem with waiting and we decided it was best to wait to have our boat put in when the staff were not in a rush. We returned to
Moving To Our Place of Rest
The American flag flew high over Tsamaya as she was being moved into place at the boat yard. the marina to sort out the boat and get it back to a sailing vessel after having it torn apart for 2 weeks. It sure feels good to be in the water again. We have been hoping to leave Lagos shortly, however, we have a few technical problems right now – Bob has been working on an electronics problem which has been frustrating him and there has been a recent small fresh water leak we would like to try to find the source of. In looking at the weather we thought we might have left today, April 23
rd but… we decided that we would not be able to make our move yet. We want to be sure we are shipshape before leaving. We had decided to replace our lifelines and the work had not been completed yet so with all of these factors we will wait. Looks like we will have to watch for the next opportunity to head north toward the Baltic. It is hard to believe that we will have been back in Portugal for over a month, but we feel comfortable knowing that we have gotten Tsamaya ready for another sailing season ahead. This haul out needs
An Excellent Driver
This person controls the sling that moves the boats around the yard with this yellow box full of controls. He does an excellent job of maneuvering them in close quarters. to hold us until we get to Turkey in two years.
We have booked our winter in London for the 6 month period mid-October to mid-April and already checked with a few of our European friends about visiting them during this time. Still lots more planning to work out our itinerary for the trip through the Baltic but we still have time to pull that together.
A few positives this month have been the increase in activity level from walking everywhere, climbing up and down ladders, crawling around in small spaces, sanding and polishing. We are hopeful that this has helped to burn off a few calories. A bonus to working outdoors on sunny days has been getting our tan without even trying. It seems to have turned to summer weather overnight!
Today, April 23rd we had a treat in that we helped some fellow cruisers move a 65 foot sailboat from a boatyard down the coast to Lagos. It was great to be back on the water even if it wasn't with Tsamaya - it definitely has added that extra incentive to get our projects done and back on the water traveling to other places. Thanks
A view from the Boat Yard
A typical fishing boat that we can see in the harbor from the boat yard we are in currently. The view is looking back across the channel toward the town of Lagos. Ian and Cindy!
Hope by now wherever you are, your April has brought you more pleasant weather full of sunny skies! We will keep you posted on when we finally head out from here and start exploring new areas.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0489s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Cindy & Ian
non-member comment
THANKS
Bob & Janice.....was really great to meet you and hope to stay in contact. Your blog is VERY well done....gives us inspiration to do one ourselves!