by Judy Handley | Feb 10, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 107, Year 5: Walkabout and Now Thinkabout
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Weather: Sunny and Warmer
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
I took off early this morning by myself and did what I’ll call a reconnaissance walk about Ernakulam. I went to the Tourist Information Booth at the main ferry terminal, walked to the far end of town to the Fine Arts Center, walked to find the location of the Cochin Flower Show, and then walked to the train station to check out schedules. After two and half hours of walking, I finally took an auto rickshaw to the bus station to check out schedules there, and then took another auto back to the jetty. While I did this, Mark installed a new heating element in our oven and did a myriad of other odd jobs. And then tonight, we went to shore with Ed and Lynne of Constance, had dinner, and walked back to the Cochin Flower Show-this time to really see it. But what had been a very peaceful day changed once we got back to Windbird and I read the dreaded email. “Judy, call as soon as you get this message.”
My brother Dickie has not been well for sometime now. I talked with him on his Monday morning of this week to congratulate him on being a new grandfather. He seemed fine to me, but Mark did say his voice sounded a little gravely. Evidently he had pneumonia and didn’t know it, and is now in the hospital in critical condition. It is so hard to be so far away in a situation like this. So now all I can do is think about Dickie and wait for news. The time difference is difficult in this situation. It is now noon on the East Coast and time for me to go to bed. So I will get up early and call during the evening. Hopefully there will be good news.
by Judy Handley | Feb 9, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 106, Year 5: Just A Day In The Life
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Weather: No Change–Sunny, but Hazy; Temps in the 80’s;
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
I think we finally had a normal day with not too many glitches. There was one, but I will talk about that at the appropriate time. We got up and Mark worked on computer issues while I did a laundry and started bread rising. Mark went with Ed to Bolgatty Island to get water while Ed inquired about the best way to get to the airport. Their auto pilot parts have arrived at the airport, but they received an email message instructing them to fill out eight different forms, go to the Port Captain to get a letter saying something was broken on the boat so that they can import the parts needed, and then bring the completed forms and letter to the airport tomorrow. While I baked bread (the one glitch of the day), Mark and Ed took the ferry to Willingdon Island to see the Port Captain. Of course, the Port Captain said no letter from him is necessary, so tomorrow Ed will go to the airport and hope to pick up his parts. While Ed and Mark were gone, I tried to light the oven to bake bread. It would not light. The pilot came on and tried for fifteen minutes to light, but nothing. So I assisted with a butane lighter for an additional ten minutes, and finally the oven burner lit. Just one more thing that needs to be fixed.
I spent my entire afternoon doing trip planning and when Mark returned home with a tourist flyer listing the dates of festivals for this month, my job became much easier. He also brought home a map of the province of Kerala and it is so much bigger and has so much more detail than my little Lonely Planet map. So he gets and A+ for getting these things for me. By the way, if you are interested in learning about God’s Own Country, the tourist slogan for Kerala, you can go to www.keralatourism.org and get loads of information.
So much has been happening that I forgot to mention that we got a new neighbor a couple of days ago. Rod Heikell on Skylax, author of the Indian Ocean Cruising Guide, is anchored just behind us. I thought of this because another UK boat came in today and anchored right in front of Skylax and right next to us-way too close. It’s not like there is a lack of space, but maybe the new boat, Astra, is just fine. We will have to check after the tide changes and see how we lie next to each other.
I think we will be leaving for our first inland travels this weekend. This will be a trip into the mountains to the tea plantations, possibly over the border into Tamil Nadu (another province) to the city of Madurai, back to Kerala to the Periyar Wildlife Reserve in Kerala, and then home. We may have to divide this into two trips so we are not away from the boat too long, but we shall see. There are also some exciting things happening here in Cochin, so beginning on Saturday, we should have some exciting adventures. It’s about time!
by Judy Handley | Feb 8, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 105, Year 5: World’s Best Shopping
Date: Monday, February 8, 2010
Weather: Sunny, but Hazy; Temps in the 80’s;
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
Panama was great for shopping, but I think India is better. Fresh fruits and vegetables in the open markets are unbelievably cheap. There are plenty of eggs, egg plant, cauliflower, red and green peppers, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, green beans, snap peas, cabbages (both red and green), pumpkins, parley, mint, cilantro, potatoes, red onions, and a host of local produce that we can’t name. There are oranges of all kinds, limes, bananas, grapefruit, pomegranates, pineapples, and even strawberries And it seems you can fill your backpack for somewhere between $2 to $4 US. It’s a great bargain. Today we went into Cochin for lunch are our newest, most favorite place to eat, Saravana Bhavan, and met up with Ed and Lynne of Constance. After a fantastic Indian lunch we strolled down Market Road and just oogled at all the goodies in the different shops. There are shops that sell only eggs (duck and chicken), other shops that sell only potatoes and onions, shops for buying fishing supplies, and hardware stores that sell AAA batteries for 5 rupees each. Mark bought twenty for the price of eighteen which was less than $2 US for all twenty. Ed searched every shop for good red onions. He checks every one and buys only the best. Once he has supplied Constance with onions for the months ahead, I am going to ask him to pick onions for Windbird. He has the knack. There are shops that sell only Basmati rice and other shops that sell other types of rice. And then we came to the REAL food market with the array I described at the beginning. We found a thread shop that sold thread and elastic in all widths. We had searched Malaysia and Thailand for elastic and were so happy to find this shop. I bought 10 meters of one width, 5 of another, and 2 of another width, and the total cost was less than $2 US. I love it. And then there are shops that sell only silk and others that sell a wonderful variety of materials. We just walked away the afternoon looking at all the shops and the goodies found within. When you can shop ’til you drop and spend less than $5 US, it’s a great afternoon.
I spent my morning researching southern India and trying to narrow down the places and special events we will try and see while we are here. As soon as I have an itinerary, I will share that, but for now all I will say is that it is going to be very difficult to make the choices. Southern India is filled with spectacularly beautiful places to see and festivals to experience. We have been here almost two weeks and haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. So we are going to be busy tourists in the next three weeks.
Mark spent his morning fixing the leaks in the forward head. So far, so good with the patching of the leaks in the aft head, so he thought it prudent to continue the repairs. We are still waiting to hear if we can buy a new marine toilet here. We thought the answer was yes, but we still have not seen one. And we spent part of our afternoon battling with PayPal on the internet. We need to pay for the new refrigeration compressor that we found in the UK through PayPal, but since we have not used our account for four years, we are having to prove who we are and that we actually have the funds. This process could take the rest of this week, so the shipping of the compressor has been delayed. Hopefully this will all be settled by the end of the week and we will have the compressor by the end of next week.
So . . . repairs and plans for touring are moving along. In the meantime, we are just enjoying being in this incredible part of the world
by Judy Handley | Feb 7, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 104, Year 5: What A Difference A Day Makes
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010
Weather: Sunny; Temps in the 80’s
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
After bottoming out yesterday, everything today seemed to go just right. We ran the engine to charge the batteries and everything worked as it should. We ran water through the toilet that Mark patched up with 5200 and so far, no leaks. I battled with Mark’s computer for three hours trying to place an order with Amazon, but was continually taken offline. So we installed the new modem in my computer and it has been working beautifully. So the issue with the old and the new modems was not the modem or the wireless service at all, it was Mark’s computer. It works fine for navigation, but everything else will have to be done on my little IBM ThinkPad.
We made our second visit to the International Book Fair and bought five books for $30 US total. The price at the book fair is less than half of what it would be back in the US. Not bad. We bought a Southern India cookbook, a Wilbur Smith novel about South Africa, Ken Follett’s The Hammer of Eden, Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth outlining the evidence for evolution, and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. After leaving the Book Fair, we walked to a restaurant that another cruiser had told us about. It is called the Saravana Bhavan. Nothing on the menu cost more than 50 rupees which is about $1.10 US. So for 151 rupees, or about $1.75 US total, Mark had Muttar Paneer Masala, I had Chanah Masala, we shared a wonderful lightly fried rice, had a side order of Naan, and shared a large bottle of cold water. And all of the food was wonderful. We kept watching these huge rolls of friend bread being served to others and asked what it was. It is called Masala Dosai and the next time we are in town for lunch or dinner, we will definitely try that. There were all sorts of little side dishes with the bread and we can’t wait to taste it.
Once I got over the frustration of spending the better part of three hours trying to place a book order with Amazon, I was able to do a lot of research online about travel in southern India. We’re hoping to do the waterway tour this week and the tea plantation and wildlife reserve next week. We have to wait until business hours in the UK tomorrow to get the information needed to send money for the compressor via PayPal. Once that order is placed, I think we will be able to relax and enjoy. At least let’s hope so.
So all things considered, it has been a good twenty-four hours beginning with the Kathakali performance last night. The high point of the day came at the very end when we connected with Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah for a Skype video call. Both boys are sick, but we got some great smiles out of Jonah and Sam pretended to be fishing for tuna and octopus and fed us right through the ethernet. Amazing. We then talked to my nephew Todd’s wife, Shelley, who just had Kyler Channing Martin on February 3. My brother Dickie and his wife Conda are the proud grandparents. Todd and Shelley have two little girls, and now a boy, so they are a very happy family. Our congratulations to the parents and grandparents.
by Judy Handley | Feb 6, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 103, Year 5: Wrong
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Weather: Sunny; Temps in the 80’s
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
I named yesterday’s log, “It Has To Get Better.” But, wrong, it does not. This morning we tried to start the engine to charge the batteries, and it wouldn’t start . . . again. Mark then bypassed the starting battery and tried to start it off the house batteries, as he has had to do many times before and it has always worked, but nothing happened this morning. So rather than try and troubleshoot the situation ourselves, we decided to have Nazar call Anil and get someone here as soon as possible. Actually, we needed an electrician, but what we got was a mechanic. To make a very long story short, the mechanic called in the electricians. While WAITING two hours for them to arrive, we kept working on the problem. Ed of Constance came over and helped troubleshoot as well and we thought we found the problem. We charge our starting battery with a small alternator, separate from the big alternator that charges the house batteries. That alternator did not appear to be working. So we figured the starting battery didn’t have enough charge to start the engine. So we tried using the house batteries, and this time it worked. This told us that the solenoid and the starter were fine, and when the electricians came they cleaned the terminals with a wire brush (which we had already sprayed with terminal cleaner) and all of a sudden everything was working just fine. The small alternator was charging and the engine starts. We can only hope that this is the end of our electrical woes of the past six weeks.
While Mark stayed on the boat waiting for help to arrive, I went to town to see if I could find out why our modem connecting us to wireless internet is not working properly. The short answer to that is because we plugged it into two different ports and needed to reinstall it. But I ended up renting a modem for the month that will give us twice the signal strength. We will try to connect with Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah later tonight to see if the new modem works better. If not I will take it back, but if it does work, we will keep it and loan our other modem to Ed and Lynne on Constance. But to back up a bit, when I got back from my little field trip to town, Mark told me that when he dropped me off this morning, our dinghy propeller got caught in a fishing net right at the jetty (it was low, low tide again) and he had to call Ed to come with knives to cut the net away. He then had to be towed back to Windbird so that he could bring the dinghy motor up on deck to finish cleaning it off. That got mud everywhere, but by the time I returned, the mud was mostly cleaned off and the dinghy motor was back on the dinghy and working fine. In fact, while they were waiting they fixed the lever on the dingy motor that lets you tilt it up out of the water.
We decided that after dealing with so many boat problems in one day, we needed a change. So we went to Fort Cochin to the Kairali Kathakali Centre to see a performance. Kathakali is a story told in mime with the actors using precise hand gestures and facial expressions to tell the story. The make-up, costumes, and headdresses are elaborate and the mime is accompanied by drummers and singers. We arrived just after 5 o’clock and watched one performer applying the intricate make-up. The performance then started at 6 o’clock and for an hour we watched the story of Bhagavata Purana unfold. Tonight there was one drummer and one singer and two actors. It was basically a story of seduction. We knew what was happening with no words needed. The stories performed were mostly written at the same time as Shakespeare was writing his tales in England, but the origin stems from temple rituals in the 2nd century. This was a wonderful introduction to Kerala culture.
We hopped on the ferry to get back to the mainland and then walked along the waterfront to get back to our dinghy (more than a mile’s walk). We ducked into the International Book Fair being held on the waterfront and oogled at the wonderful array of books. We will go back tomorrow and take a closer look but we did buy a novel about King Arthur and a book on the life of scientist Stephen Hawkin. So a good ending to the day.
And now we are waiting to try a Skype video call with Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah. Sam and Jed went to the lumber yard and are still not home, but hopefully we will be talking with them soon. I did talk to my sister Patsy and learned that the weather on the East Coast has been ugly and I tried to reach by brother Dickie with no success. I’ll try again tomorrow morning and report on the Skype call with Heather and company in tomorrow’s log.
by Judy Handley | Feb 5, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 102, Year 5: It Has To Get Better
Date: Friday, February 5, 2010
Weather: Sunny with Haze
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
It’s been a long week of searching for boat bits and we know it has to better than this. We’re starting to feel like everything is going wrong, and we know that is not the case. We just need to get one thing fixed or at least ordered. Early this morning we got an email back from a Danfoss dealer in Florida who could send us the compressor for $475 and the shipping would be $450. Too much! We found out last night that we could order a whole unit from West Marine for $700 and the shipping would be about $200. Still too much. So our thanks go to Michael who reads our logs and sent us an email message that we search for a distributor in the UK. We did just that, and finally we had some success. We can get the whole unit for $550 and the shipping will be $150. This is definitely sounding better. And while emailing and calling back and forth with the distributor in the UK, we continued to call the Danfoss centers here in India to see if they could get a unit for us. We still have not heard back from them, so we haven’t placed the order yet, but it looks like we will be getting the new compressor unit from the distributor in the UK. If we place the order on Monday, delivery should be in seven days. So it is our hope that we are on to a solution for that problem, and Michael, we thank you for that.
Now to the toilet issue. Mark spent the part of his day, when he was not on the phone, patching cracks in our Jabsco plastic toilet base. We are letting it cure for 24 hours and using a bucket in the meantime, so success on that one will have to be reported tomorrow. And we are still hopeful that Anil is getting a new toilet for us, but he still cannot tell us what brand, so we don’t know yet if the new one will fit. One way or another, we are hoping the toilet issues are solved by tomorrow.
I spent part of my day defrosting the refrigerator and the other part researching those things we would like to do while here. We want to do a canoe trip through the waterways that trickle inland and do some village tours where farming continues like it has for hundreds of years. We also want to visit the tea plantations and go to at least one of the wildlife preserves that are only a few hours bus ride from here. We will make a small start tomorrow by taking the ferry to Fort Cochin to experience a Kathakali performance. ‘Katha’ means story and ‘kali’ means play. So a Kathakali performance is a story acted out in mime with music. The stories are from Hindu mythology and much of the grandeur of these performances is in the intricate make-up worn by the performers. We will see the make-up being applied from 5 pm to 6 pm, and then watch the performance from 6-7:30 pm. After that we will be treated to traditional Indian music and dancing. So we are definitely looking forward to this.
We heard from Robert and Tina of Shirena who are now in Salalah, Oman. They are dealing with problems with their auto pilot and their watermaker. They say the people of Salalah are very friendly, but they are not fond of the anchorage. Fatty and Carolyn of Wild Card are there and are hoping to leave in the next couple of days. Fatty’s one-year old battery bank has been giving him fits, and when he arrived he found a hole in one of the cells. Robert said he just sealed it, poured more acid in, and is going on. I laughed aloud when Robert said that he had contacted RayMarine about his auto pilot problem and they just said to contact a local dealer and use the back up (which they assumed all boats would be carrying) in the meantime. Robert said he was going to email them back and tell them that he would get the spare from the sailboat they are towing just for the extra parts! I laughed aloud when I read this.
We tried to do a video Skype connection with our daughter last night, but it did not work. We did have a phone connection, however, and found out that Sam has been having full-blown asthma issues and that Jonah has another ear infection. Sam really wanted to do a video connection, but we could not arrange that last night. But he did say the he misses us very much and that was enough to bring tears to my eyes. Oh my, how much we miss those grand babies. We will try for a video Skype call with Heather and gang on their Saturday morning. Hopefully that will work.
And we ended the day with margaritas and burritos on Constance. Ed has a secret recipe for margaritas and they were great. Before we left we got to see some photos of Ed and Lynne’s families and their new grandbaby. It was a delightful evening away from thinking about boat problems. We are looking forward to more times like this in the coming days.
