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One of the most irksome and time-consuming maintenance jobs, on Beesmej, is the fortnightly cleaning of both hulls. Barnacles and weed grow with limitless enthusiasm on the hulls; this is encouraged by the warm seawater, currently at 27C. It takes a minimum of two hours to clean both hulls; on this last occasion, I actually felt my age! I felt fine after the first hull; but, the second hull really took it out of me! Although the water is warm, I do tend to cool down during the two hours under water; so much so, that, when I cleaned the hulls in 25C, I came back on board with atrial fibrillation! Since then, I wear a wet suit. Barnacles grow in profusion, during the months of January and early February; brown, powdery, algae love the anti-fouling, but are easily dispersed. Green, hairy, weed, however, is extremely reluctant to let go and needs a surprising degree of effort to dislodge from the hulls. An unfortunate side effect of my working upside-down, in attempting to clean the keels and rudders, is that the snorkle seems to retain some seawater, despite my blowing with vigour; as a consequence I aspirate a small amount of water. The waters around here seem to have amoebae, which take a distinct liking to me; the result, after a few days is giardiasis. The resultant infestation is very unpleasant; treatment with specific antibiotics has, up till this last time, been effective. However, this time, the amoebae appear to have developed some resistance: my first course was a three day course of tinidazole; it was ineffective. I moved over to metronidazole and the symptoms cleared...for 12 hours. With the symptoms gearing up again, I combined the two antibiotics; and, 36 hours after completing the three day course, I appear to be symptom free!
Our water maker has given us grief, yet again. I am advised by an extremely expensive agent in St Thomas, where we are currently located, that I need a new membrane. As I had two short membranes as spares, I handed them over; when they had been installed, the agent presented me with the original membrane, which was long and single! He had managed to couple the short membranes together; but, they produce 8 gallons an hour of pure water, instead of 12. I have registered a complaint with the manufacturers, for sending me incorrect membranes in the first place; we now await the arrival of the correct spec membrane.....should have arrived on Friday.
When we are at anchor, as we are in St Thomas Bay, I have tended to leave the side portholes open, in order to allow ventilation. The Bay has two busy ferry terminals. Yesterday, a ferry passed in between the anchored yachts and came especially close to us. His wash must have been significant......inside my cabin, I found my mattress literally floating on a lake of water! The wave flooded the cabin floor and, even, reached a small sofa four feet from the porthole! The mattress, specially made in the UK ( a Vi-sprung mattress ) and shipped at horrendous expense to Florida, was saturated with seawater for one third its length [queen size mattress]. I have, of course, no proof; but, it must have been the ferry. As the mattress is still not dry, I have found it necessary to move in with she who must be obeyed; there is much caution, during the night, so that there is minimum contact between knees and elbows! We both toss and turn; impact by flailing limbs is, almost, guaranteed in a queen size bed. Under these circumstances, Maggie's tolerance levels become seriously reduced. I am keen to return to my bunk, tonight!
Mon Sep 20, 2010 08:24:03 The next couple of days in St Maximin were
spent looking (saw Peta Mathias doing cooking classes in Uzes) around
and generally just having a chill out of a time. However we did visit
another Museum, this time Haribro and this time for fun – it actually
was very interesting, they showed all aspects of lolly & Licorice
making, some wearable art and even an acrylic toilet seat full of jelly
teddies. At the end of the tour we were given a coin so we could get a
free bag of lollies, hardcase though the machine was broken and could
spit out anything from 4 – 8 bags of lollies at a time, the kids were in
heaven. Unfortunately our stay drew to an end much too quickly
and Hester (host see previous blog) put on pre dinner drinks at her
place with the rest of the guests staying at Abso Fabulous (2 more kiwi
couples). We were unable to sit outside that evening as we had a
tremendous thunder and lightning storm the previous evening and things
were only just drying out. Well poor Hester probably thought an hour
and it would be over but as kiwis go you don’t get rid of us that
easily. Well the couple of bottles of champagne turned into many
bottles of wine and then carafes, I would hate to say how much was
consumed between the 7 of us. Then as kiwis do we threw some sossies on
the bbq, made a salad and bread and voila a meal was produced about
9.30pm. The storm arrived again just after dinner, we sat outside Le
Cave under shelter and watched the electrical storm and the rain –
Hester arrived with dessert, frozen Limón cello that would surely finish
us off. The storm was invigorating while some were quite frightened,
the power went on and off, time for bed as an early start the next
morning with a long drive into Italy. Wednesday morning it’s 7.00 am
and we have no power and it’s dark and I am not sure how I feel. Steve
is amazingly well considering how much he drank and he is not a
drinker we pack our bags, have a shower and clean up around, I think I
am not well, then I know I had too much to drink perhaps I need a
paracetamol and that will sort things, I definitely was unwell and had
to sing to the big white telephone before we left. Steve wants to know
who bill is because he says that I was calling for bill quite often, umm
feel much better and ready for the long drive now. Steve says how bad
is that when you vomit the next day. We are off to not sure where in
Italy but somewhere close to the Cinque Terre – pronounced Chinka Teara
- and for those that do not know this means five villages and they are
all on the world heritage list. The villages have been built along the
coastline of Italy. Cinque Terre is quite famous for it’s walks between
the seaside villages. A couple of people that we met said to stay
at Levanto where the accommodation is a bit cheaper so that’s where we
thought that we would head. I thought I must have had it wrong cause I
couldn’t find this place on the map and the closest was Sestri Levante,
aha this is what they must have meant so that’s where we headed. We
arrived late afternoon after doing about 500 kms so now to look for a
hotel – we came across this one near the promenade so I ran in to find
out if they had any rooms and what might be the horrendous price as it
is so close to the beach. The lady on reception couldn’t speak much
English but we established we could get a room with breakfast at a
reasonable rate, fantastic. Parking always an issue, but the Manager
appeared and I worked out he had a car across the road and he would move
it so Steve could park there, up a one way street the wrong way, no
worries for Steve and the manager even came over and helped us with the
bags. Steve said did we get a sea view, let me show you he said for 10
euro more you can have a window with a view, for 60 euro more you can
have a view and a balcony, the window was great we took that one. Hard
to believe that someone was so obliging, we later found out that his
grandmother had started the hotel in 1951 and the family was still
running it. So we said we would give him a plug, go to
www.hotelceleste.com excellent value for money, great service and
location. Thursday we caught the train that was literally 2 mins
walk from the hotel to the Stazione to catch the to Cinque Terre, 26
Euros for the day, gave us walking rights to the tracks between all the
villages, unlimited train use and our tickets to the village. What a
great day, we started at Riomaggiore the furthest village and the
shortest walk, we started walking along a narrow pathway above the
roaring sea. Along this pathway you are to declare your love to your
partner, kissing as you go, the pathway is a scattered mass of tangled
padlocks attached to where ever imaginable. The locks came in all sizes
and some had even been engraved specially and left on the track. The
rain came and went over the day but we managed to keep dry, probably the
rain helped to keep us cool. We had a lovely lunch at Corniglia and
then headed to Vernazza a steep and windy path which took about an 1 ½
hours, we finished our walk there and a train ride took us back to
Sestri Levante, we had a fantastic day and probably needed another
couple of days here but it was on to Montecatini. Montecantini near
the Leaning Tower of Pisa, went there on the Trafalgar and we liked this
place so wanted to come back. Stayed in the same hotel but not the same
room in fact it felt like the basement cell and we weren’t that
impressed, I suppose we have been too spoilt. The couple of days were
spent at the park, a trip up the funicular to Montecatini Alto 300
metres straight up from the town, had a coffee and a look around not
much else. Then on to Cervia pronounced Chervia, on the Adriatic
Sea. Not far to get there, a couple of hours drive which was great.
This seaside resort probably has 8 kms of beach dressed with thousands
upon thousands of deckchairs and umbrellas and concessions, unbelievable
the population you need to fill these. It costs 15 euros a day as a
casual to hire two chairs and an umbrella and that can be quite a way
back from the water, up to 200m back. As it was coming to the end of
season we got upgraded to a sea view with balcony, very nice indeed.
Our last chance to catch some rays before heading to the UK, so our day
was spent in the sun walking and enjoying the seaside.  Comment
Update
After unsuccessfully trying to avoid a car accident having
aquaplanning in Newcastle, Australia; 3 1/2 days groaning with pain like
a woman whos pregnant doing budrubbing in a vineyard in Blenheim, NZ;
seeing someone suddenly come in and fall over in Auckland, NZ,
having the best Christmas kayaking to a lonely beach and drinking
coconut in the Yasawa Islands, Fiji; loosing life when the campervan
with everything except 2 shoes (of 20!), 2 pants and 2 shirts &
"valuables" gets stolen in North Melbourne, Australia; living in the
middle of nowhere, in a countryhotel of a town with 700 habitants, the
next (but even smaller) one 200km away, in Meekatharra, Australia,
throwing tons of money out but at least seeing elephants drinking from a
pool in the night in Botswana, South Africa; booking a wrong flight
being drunk and ending up spending only the day in Vegas, USA, looking
forward to going back so much and then actually noticing that this is
not feeling right in Munich, Germany, walking 300km on the Camino de
Santiago (cheating the other 500km by catching rides with the total of
55) to Santiago de Compostella, Spain; experiencing one of the
biggest disaster in the world staying in Osaka, Japan; obviously being
followed by natural catastrophes having monsun rains in March leading to
a kneehigh flood and a night with candles/morning with no water in
Krabi, Thailand yesterday and getting my breasts massaged by a Thai
woman doing my first oil massage, what I didnt notice is actually the
full body just about an hour ago in Phuket, Thailand; and several people
asking for it I finally decided to start writing a blog.
I
am on the road since exactly 22months tomorrow and I am not planning to
get off until I am 30 years old. Until then I am planning to enter every
country in this world as I can't imagine my curiosity disappearing
before that so I am able to live in a place constantly. But this plan
might change as all my others did, recently booked a flight to Bangkok
to meet a friend who was supposed to make it to Seoul, but was too
concerned about the Atomic plant. So, I still have friends in Tokyo!!!
But Thailand sounded like the perfect place right now anyway. I didnt
look forward to China that much yet. Heard more stories about Thailand,
especially about the nice weather... Now I don't even know if I can make
it to the place close to Surat Thani, because apparently the road is
broken so even on the mainland (I was already freaking out yesterday
morning when I heard the boat to Phi Phi isnt going and I have to skip
it, then again when I heard the buses arent going for me either cause
theyre full, when i found a private one and one of the three German
girls I was with noticed she forgot her passport after halfway and then
all together when they cancelled the last bus to Phuket (with some more
people who had a flight the next morning)) we are STUCK!! See what
happens, I have to find a way this or the other way. From tomorrow I'll
be living in a temple, get up at 4pm, meditate and do some yoga at 8am.
Thats how it goes on all day. Oh shit, and what am I doing with the two
bottles of alcohol I carry around with me since 2days? Have them for
breakfast maybe. Cheers!
Desperately seeking Christian from Norway! We met at Delhi Airport.
Please email me so we can talk some more about edwin collins and
drumming! Brian from england
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