Shaking rugs
Back in Georgetown, we acquired a new friend named Dennis. He had this to say about boat chores:
I do one boat chore per day. Today I shook a rug.
If only it were that easy. 😉
Day two in the Turks and Caicos came and went with us still unable to clear into the country. Being the weekend, the customs office has apparently not been manned, as determined by two separate 1 mile walks, only to find a gate secured by chain and a padlock. We’ll try again this morning.
The official rules state that without clearing in, you’re not supposed to leave the boat. That was OK with us because on the day we arrived, we wanted to do little more than chill out. Yesterday was boat chore day though and unlike our friend, we had more to do than shake a rug.
In spite of wearing little more than shorts and t-shirts, it seems that almost every piece of clothing we have on board was due a wash and unlike some of our friends on larger boats, we don’t have a washing machine. This leaves either taking the the dirty clothes to shore to a laundry facility or cleaning it all by hand on board. Rebecca opted for the latter, taking much of the day to work her way through the piles.
My chores consisted in giving our 2 Yamaha 4-strokes some TLC. Some nice clean oil and new spark plugs were the least we could offer them after getting us this far safely. I also took a spray bottle filled with fresh water and cleaned out some of the salt that had caked itself inside the engine’s guts. A little bit of anti-corrosion spray finished the job off nicely.
Unfortunately, during my time playing with the engine, I confirmed that for some mysterious reason, the port engine has quit charging our batteries. Back in Florida, with the help of our friend Bill, we fixed all this. But now, it’s not, and I have yet to determine why. Another puzzle… oh joy.
By the way, I was reading our friend John’s blog about the TLC that he gives his boat Wet Paint. All I can say is that I hope our boat ZTC never reads that blog post!
Rebecca, listening to the Chris Parker weather forecast at 6:30 AM
on the way from Mayaguana to T&C.
I took this pic just before being relieved by Rebecca…
She took this pic just after taking over.
It was nice to have the sails up, even if we were motor sailing.
The charts show this as a rock. Turtle Rock to be more specific. I would call it an island!
Definitely don’t want to bump into it at night.
Even with chores you seem happy to be where you are. Thank you for sharing your day to day life. As always the photos are great! Doesn’t sounds like your arrival has broken threshold with the powers that be . . .
P & S
Chores done in the tropics are always better than chores done in the snow. With that said, chores are still chores.
Oh my god I am famous!!!!!!! Two different worlds…..You are full time cruisers and I am a landlocked weekend cruiser……I know when I charter sailboats I am always washing the boat (paying for water) and by the middle of the week I say screw it………
🙂
Checkout this website: http://2gringos.blogspot.com/
These folks have lived in T and C for a number of years.
Awesome. Thanks Mary!
Welcome to the Turks & Caicos Islands (finally)!
One of our blog fans sent us a link to your blog. The first thing that caught our attention was: ‘Have you ever dreamt of running away to live on a tropical island…”
We just wanted to say hello from two people that got snagged by a tropical island on their way from zero to cruising!
That is fantastic. I heard Simon hailing you on the net. We just cleared in with customs and are finally all official. Now we can legally get to shore to do some exploring.
From the Frugal-Mariner’s Hints and Tips Page: ”
Cleaning your clothing: When cruising, laundromats aren’t always convenient. In your kitchen sink, or a clean bucket, put about a half a cup of ammonia in a couple of gallons of water. Put your dirty clothes in and swirl them around to get the dirt and sweat out, wring them out and hang them on the lifelines to dry – no need to rinse – the ammonia will evaporate along with the water. ”
It really works.
http://www.frugal-mariner.com/Hints_and_Tips.html
Hi Larry
We had read that. Thank you. Where does one purchase ammonia?
I have no idea. Suzi does the grocery shopping. I would venture: Ammonia ‘R’ Us?
Seriously – I think we just bought a gallon in the States before we left.
Good luck. Sail Naked. No laundry! (And in our case, our choice of where we want to anchor. 😮 )
Got it!
As someone who has a larger boat, I can’t ever imagine having a washer and dryer on board. Such a waste of power/ water/ space. We have met some of our closest cruising friends while finding ways to get the laundry done.
Have fun exploring the T&C’s!
Thanks Cindy. Check out the link in one of the other comments in this post from a couple of “gringos” who are living here in the T&C.
Mike, the usual beautiful pics. I wouldn’t want to bump into Turtle Rock in the night OR the day! Any turtle that big gets my respect, for sure! 🙂
Agreed.
My wife and I Honeymooned on a PDQ32 when we got married. Lot’s of great memories, and an awesome island cruising sailboat.
What a cool honeymoon!