Day 26, Year 6 All Work, No Play Today
Date: Friday, November 19, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day, Winds NE 20
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa
Thursday play day, Friday work day. We are still enjoying the visual memories of yesterday. It was so exciting to see so many exotic birds that I felt like a kid in a candy shop by the end of the day. But today, we had our noses to the grindstone all day. On Tuesday Mark removed the bow protector and today’s big job was putting it back on. It took two full tubes of caulk and was a messy, messy job, but it is done. That makes one more boat job we can check off the list. I was busy with ‘pink jobs’ today, doing a huge laundry, baking bread, cleaning the outside of the boat, and assisting Mark when needed. It doesn’t sound like much, but I only sat down for about ten minutes to eat lunch. Mark went to town with Ed to check on the alternators. Ed’s was ready to pick up, but they are still looking for parts for ours. We’re hopeful that they will be able to repair it as we can’t bear to think about the cost of replacing it.
Tomorrow is another play day. Mid-morning we will head into Richards Bay for the Zulu Dance Competition and tomorrow night one of the restaurants on the dock here, the Upper Deck, is having a special braai (barbecue) for yachties. Pieter of Odulphus has been organizing it and anyone who can play a musical instrument is invited to bring it along. So it should be a fun day from morning ’til night. The next morning at 6 am we leave for Kruger National Park. We are driving through Swaziland on the way and I know nothing about it. So I must find some time tonight to read a bit about this tiny country.
We had one moment of excitement this afternoon when one of our laundry buckets blew overboard and Hebron dove in the water to retrieve it. He had stopped by to help us put in some of the more difficult screws that hold the bow protector on when he saw the yellow bucket flying into the water. I don’t think I would dive in this water to retrieve a bucket, but we did appreciate his efforts. He was more concerned about the bucket sinking and littering the harbor than he was just saving the bucket and we also appreciate that kind of thinking. He will watch over Windbird while we are in Kruger and we are very thankful to have someone so trustworthy to make sure the boat is safe while we are away.
I didn’t have a minute today to work on naming the photos from yesterday so that will be tonight’s job. Peppe is sharing her photos with us and I’m hoping they will fill in the gaps where our cameras just weren’t up to the low light situation. So I’ll sign off so I can get to work on those photos.
