August 20-25, 2001 -- What Else, More Work

Today, we worked on removing the bimi top from the boat so that we could drop it off at the canvas shop at Spice Island Marine. It has some frozen zippers that need to be replaced as well as 2 zippers that have been blown out. This is not an easy process. Our solar panels have to be lifted up in order to free the bimi top. Fortunately, they don't have to be removed and can be lifted one area at a time. As we were removing the last of the connections, we discovered the second problem with our bimi top. The canvas is actually integral to the solar panel supports as well as holding the shape of the frame! We found this out the hard way when we unzipped the last zipper and the solar panels fell on my head and Mike's shoulder. (No Mom, my head did not dent the solar panels) We went inside to rest a bit before running the bimi in for repairs. As I got up so we could leave, I discovered that I had hurt my left knee! For no reason at all, it would work fine for a bit, and then would just buckle on me. We decided that we would take the bimi top in tomorrow. On August 21, we inflated the small dinghy because the roll was to bad for us to drop the big tender. I went into the marina to drop off the bimi top to be fixed. After that, I headed into the market to pick up a few fresh supplies. Mike stayed on board, since the wind was supposed to be up a bit and we just got back to this anchorage. We don't like to leave the boat, until the anchor has had a chance to set well, so we also leave one of us on board for the first little bit until we are sure of the anchor holding. Mike and I discussed who would go into town, it ended up being me since, the chances where greater for more damage to my knee, if something happened and the boat started dragging. It turned out to be a great day with winds of about 10-12 knots. We wanted something different for dinner, so we picked a recipe out of one of the cookbook CD's and tried it. It was nasty, big time... Mike actually ate more of it then I did; I took one bite and could not eat anymore. Mike ate about 6 bites of it. So as usual when dinner fails, we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Thank god I had remembered both bread and milk! On August 22, we spent the day relatively quietly. We changed the oil in Ling-Ling, then checked her capacitors. Patty and Mike from Galadriel stopped by a little bit later with chocolate cake and a computer problem. All in all, it was a very quiet day. On August 23, we went into town. We wandered around and checked out the various shops and markets there. On August 24, our bimi top was completed; we picked it up and reinstalled it. That took about half a day to do and it was so hot and windless out that we collapsed afterwards for the rest of the day. On August 25, we went back to work on the varnish edging. It is really starting to look good