Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Pigs in Space

And now, the continuing stor-r-ry of ...Pigs...in...Space...

OK, not really, but our continuing struggles with electronics make me feel as disoriented as a Muppet pig in space might feel!

Our adventures on the water continue, however. Thanks to the winds in our faces the whole time, we have sailed maybe four times. I feel as if we've got a not-very-powerful motorboat.

Friday morning we left Cartegana and got about three miles out when Frank decided that we might be able to sail. We were about to raise the sails when Frank thought that he would go have a look at the boom because we had found a large nut on deck. When he got up there he discovered that the pin holding the boom had come very loose. If it were to fall, someone could be killed. Consequently there was nothing to do but tie the boom out of the way and head back to Cartegana.  When we got there the office found someone to fix the boom. It took two men about an hour with much Spanish, clanking, and pounding, but they got it done for much less than we could have imagined. We were afraid that the boat would have to come out of the water.

We also needed someone to look at the chart plotter, but no one could come until Monday, so we were stuck in Cartagena (I still can't spell it, so I will try out different spellings and we'll have a contest to see which spelling looks the best) for the weekend.  Turns out that Cartegana is a very historical town.  Not only the Carthagenians, but the Muslims, Christians, and several other groups were there.  Most of it looks pretty modern, but there is a nice old part of town as well.  It has a castle (although without a dungeon, to Max's disappointment) and a gorgeous Roman amphitheater.

Since we were there we got to see both Wimbledon finals, although finding a place to watch the men was a bit difficult because there was a Formula One race on at the same time. It was during siesta time, but we managed finally to find the only place in town where the staff were not race fans!

Monday morning arrived and Frank arranged for the electrician to come. Isabelle and I went to the grocery store. That was an experience!  We found two grocery carts at the marina, so we pushed them about a mile through town to the Lidl (a German grocery store--we had to go there because not only are their prices low, but we were quite sure that they would stock oats, and this family cannot function without oats!).  Getting there was no problem, but pushing two heavily laden carts back on busy sidewalks was an adventure.  We managed not to run over anyone, though!

Now it's two days later. We've sailed (motored) overnight for two nights now.  It's not too bad with the three of us; we've divided up the night into three-hour shifts.  With the autopilot all we have to do is watch for boats and Max (Hawkeye) likes to do the first watch with me.  He's so excited to stay up late and I am happy for his eyes, mine not having been made for this sort of thing.  Then he sleeps until 9:30 or so.  His comment last night:  "Even I admit it. It's time to go to bed."  He had fallen asleep at 12:57.

Frank is getting to be quite good at the helm and Isabelle serms to know instinctively what needs to be done.  We will really miss her on the way back!

My adventures in cooking are about what you'd expect.  No one is starving but I am not going to win any prizes either.  It's mostly pretty boring and I've about decided that except for a few things I don't  particularly like my own cooking.  I used to love it when my mom cooked on the Three Foot High--couldn't you come and give me some lessons, Mom?

Now we are in Mallorca waiting to get the chart plotter looked at.  Then it's on towards Menorca and ultimately Sardinia!

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