Working hard

Posted on February 19, 2016

Aidan and I carried the two propane tanks over to Chevron, and were met by a little Jamaican man named George. As we sat with him while filling tanks, he asked if Aidan was my son and when I told him he was, he went on and on about how we look so much alike. I told him I have 11 children, and he chuckled at the small family we have and told us he has 32 children. It’s not everyday that I run across someone who has more creatures than I do! He told us that he doesn’t even remember a couple of their mothers and isn’t quite sure how many mothers there are, but was proud to say that he’s never paid a cent in child support. At that point I had a hard time biting my tongue, but somehow managed, and even left him in one piece. What a guy!

It was Mycah and Aidan’s turn to do laundry, so that’s all taken care of too now. People have asked how we do laundry on a boat. When we are close to a marina or town, we take the dinghy in and do it at the laundromat. If we are out on the ocean or away at anchor, we hand wash the clothes and hang them out to dry. We haven’t tried this yet, but some sailors throw their clothes in a mesh bag, drag it behind the boat for a bit, them bring it on board to rinse with fresh water and hang it up.

Danny has been busy with more projects on Tanda Malaika. He screwed a fishing rod rack into the ceiling of the stern salon. It looks so good, and we won’t have to scrub rust stains from hooks of the deck anymore.

Emma and I spent some time pulling old caulking. Some of it was cracked in places which causes leaking. It was quite the job, but with flat head screwdrivers and knives as our tools, we were successful.

  

    

Once it was all removed, I applied marine grade 4000 to patch it all up again.

My hands were covered in a sticky, white mess, but came clean with acetone.

Aside from all these projects, we have continued to have fun. I found a boat named Danny Boy, and Aidan has continued to get some good boarding and tubing in.

   

   

We are excited for Jude and my sweet Momma to arrive in about 3 hours, and the plan after that is to leave Marathon early Sunday morning and head to Key Largo. On Monday, Tanda Malaika will be lifted with a sling and her sail drive seals will be replaced. We are praying that that will be all that needs to be done, and then she will be placed back in the water that evening. We’ll hang around for a day or two and slowly make our way to Miami to pick up my sister and brother in law later in the week. Exciting times!