Day 111, Year 4: Moving Forward . . . Slowly
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Weather: Sunny Weather with Moderating Temperatures
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island

The pace of life right now is certainly slower than we have been used to this year. Well, maybe slower than we have ever moved. We keep busy, but the pace is slower and we actually have time to read. We are working away at reading the four news magazines we bought yesterday, and as always we read before bedtime . . . just a little longer than usual. I continued soaking and washing the lines from Windbird today. Some of these ropes are 115 feet long and barely fit in a five gallon bucket to be
soaked and then rinsed. I’ve made a lot of progress but probably have two to three more days before I finish that job. Mark went to the hospital for his executive check-up this morning. He was quite impressed with the efficiency of the process, but in the end, he found out what he already knew. He is extremely healthy but has high cholesterol and a urinary track infection. He did find out that he has an enlarged bladder, so we need to watch this. He won’t have the results of some of the tests
until tomorrow, but all looks good. The doctor put him on an IV antibiotic drip once a day for the next few days for his stubborn infection.. He will return to the hospital each morning at 10 am to get his daily dose. Hopefully after a couple of days the infection will have run its course.

In the meantime, progress on Windbird continues. Today the dark green stripe above our rub rail was sanded and work began on the cabin top. The progress this week is much harder to see, but the work is moving forward. I think Mark and I will both feel much better once the first primer coat is applied next week. Eric and Robyn of Scorpido walked over to see Windbird today and when they saw us they said, “Windbird looks naked.” She is stripped right now but the redressing will begin soon. On
the other hand, Scorpido is looking great. The mast is back on and she will go in the water tomorrow.

We had to take our little jeep back today and trade it for a different one. Ours was stalling constantly and the air conditioning was barely working. Luckily they had another one just like ours returned this morning and this new one runs much better. After getting our new jeep we stopped by the chandlery to talk to the rigger. The rigger is David Samuelson and we have a connection. About a week ago, Susan Balabuck emailed us. She and her husband Rick were the previous owners of Windbird. She
read in our log that we had arrived in the Boat Lagoon and she wanted us to track down rigger David Samuelson and mention the name of a mutual friend, Betsy Cox. David is a Brit, but he spent some time in the US and he and his wife became good friends with Betsy. In fact, he taught her how to sail. His face lit up when I mentioned her name and he launched into a description of how they knew one another. It is just such a small world and we love being part of these connections between people around
the globe.