day 102
IVE BEEN WRITING THE WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS HERES OUR OLD EMAILS OK
-----Original Message----- From: Sent: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 10:27:17 -1000 Subject: day 102
Ia orana, Megan here. Did we tell you we got to do laundry here?? I can’t remember if we mentioned it. And because we did laundry, and also because I stink, I have been forlornly peering into the bucket I’ve set up to collect rain water -aka my shower water- for several days now. All while squalls zip past us, lifting their skirts up and scooting right over Bluebird before letting them down again with a great sigh and a deluge of rain just out of range. This morning as I sadly swirled my meagre collection of perhaps a quarter cup of water and debris, Qwalen told me there are actual showers here. Well! I knew what my final destination would be today.
I walked right past the head, gave it a big middle finger, said see you tomorrow you bastard, and instead headed out for a day of sun with a chance of showers. I tagged along to talk to boatyard Tony, and pet the sweet old dog Anaho. Turns out there are three showers and they’re free to use!! My god this boatyard has everything: free showers, a dog, allegedly 200 chickens… maybe a pet shark somewhere around here. Internet for sale. Heck maybe I’ll get internet one of these days. We’ll have plenty of them here.
Anyway. I traveled to the outer edge of our island and walked for hours finding shells and gazing at tide pool creatures. A guineafowl puffer gazed right back and then spat water at me! And then when I felt properly grimy, I turned around and trotted back in maybe 30 minutes. That’s the great thing about collecting shells and creature features, you spend so long crouched over and peering between your legs that it never takes long to get back. Then I had a SHOWER. Surrounded by the largest geckos I’ve seen yet, and wielding an very crusty bar of soap from the boat, I scrubbed from top to toe. I feel rejuvenated. …enough I suppose to go back to embracing the toilet tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your suggestions! Maururuuuuu.
Miriam: I woke before dawn to a lemon rose sky and witnessed the day arrive, all clear brilliant sunlight and vibrant turquoise sea. As the mechanical department is full up my job was to get out of the way and return in perfect timing to enthusiastically cheer on the valiant efforts of this tenacious, skilful team. And so I spent the day slowing down, remembering spaciousness, taking time to bask and swim and bask again, moving at the speed of wonder from tide pool to fragrant flower to inner reef edge where new coral is growing in rose bulbousities and lime spires, a testament to resilience and hope in these times of ocean warming and reef die off. I am so grateful to witness the beings and patterns of this place, the strange orange tendrils strewn through the jungle, the spiky black feelers of a sea slug in motion, the tiny fish with their neon teal eyebrows, the few special shells that make their way into my pocket, the frigate birds soaring overhead. Kayaking out far into the lagoon and floating there, feeling the rock of wavelets in this calm enclosure of ocean, watching the sun move across the sky, taking the time it takes to watch the sunset from magenta limned beginnings to a copper stippled sea fading to deep indigo below an infinity of stars… . Jamie - feeling like we have achieved something today. Took the prop shaft off while the boats still at anchor is pretty sweet! Butter chicken on the simmer - now that’s been exciting making BC from scratch. Learning so much about the bum of the boat with this knowledgeable crew. WOD - Cistern. Cistern - the eggshell white part of the toilet. Hard and brittle this is an important part of any bathroom . Used in a sen: my parents blessed me with a younger brother AND a younger cistern.
Q here, phew…. big day, honestly don’t have a tone of energy to write about it, But we got the cutlass bearing out, the old one, the one we don’t want, and have no use for, it is out! I think I spent at least 6 if not more hours in the ocean today. It puts a whole new metric to how pruned a human body can get in part of a day. I also had my hand at some underwater cinematography, which has been one of the multitude of laughing stocks of this evening. Drink more water……
Ellen: Wa ha ha ha ha, the old bearing has been removed!! Theoretically this is typically the trickiest part of the process, so all the participants in our underwater circus act are very stoked and very tired. We easily could have been going to bed right now with the shaft still out of the boat, the rather large hole plugged with a wooden plug and a rag in a plastic bag, and a hacksaw dangling from the strut, but instead the tools are in the cockpit, the shaft is back where it started (for now), and the old bearing is in shreddy pieces in a bucket! We even got to use some hard plastic beach trash, whittled down, to pound out the old bearing, although first there was much underwater hacksawing. Once the shaft is out you take apart a hacksaw and reassemble it with the blade inside the strut/bearing and very carefully saw through only the brass of the bearing and none of the strut. We accomplished this in two-person teams as if we were using a tiny crosscut saw, one person on each end of the blade helping to guide it straight, the other team catching their breath on the surface before trading in again… it looked very silly and took quite a while. By first cutting through the tightly fitting bearing we were hoping it would curl inwards when pounded out, but the brass on this particular specimen was so thick we ended up having to make a second cut close to the first and chisel out a “key way” with a screwdriver and a mallet. Our cylindrical beach trash then proved itself extremely useful by pounding out the rest of the old bearing… and getting very stuck in the strut in the process. Ironically we used the old bearing to pound the plastic back out, and thankfully did not accidentally reinstall it! Shaft is temporarily back in and the boat is not leaking - time for bed!
Naomi here Today we spent a very long time holding our breaths and diving under the boat, thankfully not sinking it while we took out the shaft and quickly pounded in a through hull plug wrapped in a rag and encased in a plastic bag, to block the hole made by pulling out the prop shaft. After many hours hacksawing and pounding the screwdriver/chisel into the bearing to peel away the wee channel key way we made in the old bearing (this was hard work) we got tired and cold and got out to scoff some emmenthaler, salami with hazelnuts in, terrine and pickles (food isn’t cheap here but at least it’s French) (forgot to stock up on crackers so we had it on a leftover pancake from brekkie). We had coffees and tried not to dilly dally too much but it’s tiring work, it was getting late, the salt was making us somewhat delirious. Still. We had made all the cuts, now we had to see just how difficult it was going to be to pound out the bearing from the strut, do a little sanding, and call it a day. Qwalen got in the water first and reluctantly I donned my snorkel gear to join him under the boat, presumably he would need to pass off tools as he took a breath so I could take over whatever we needed to chisel or mallet at in that moment. Upon dipping my head underwater I watch him inspect the keel, which has a swept back bulb on the bottom, promptly mount the bulb and start riding it like a buckin bronco, complete with pretend lasso action. Other delights was the tiny baby Guinea fowl puffer hanging around the hull, about the size of my thumbnail, looking like a fish head with a tiny tail glued to the back, which Jamie promptly tried to scoop up in his mouth like a basking shark. Plus we only dropped one screwdriver once today, and the cutlass bearing when it almost unexpectedly popped out after much malleting. Now fingers crossed the new cutless bearing Tony has promised us - we have ordered 2 different sizes this time! Will arrive Friday, with any luck one of them will be the right size, and with even more luck we will actually be able to pull the prop shaft again, get the dang thing on and put the boat back together!!
Miriam has laid her weary head now down to sleep and I must get to sleep before she does otherwise the deep rumbles of her snoring which vibrate the whole hull of the boat will not allow me to fall asleep till daybreak.
Bluebird out!