Today Mike pickles the watermaker. This involves disconnecting the seal water inlet from the sea cock, disconnecting the seawater outlet from its seacock and putting the ends of both hoses into a large bucket of water. The first step is to put citric acid into the water (to remove any lime scale) and flush it through for half an hour, then you repeat the process of some other alkaline chemical which removes oil, grease and algae. Finally you repeat it with sodium metabisulphate which you leave in there until we next want to use it.
In between all this he goes around with Mandi showing her how all the bits of the boat work. Mandi is really competent but every boat is different and quirky in their own way so this is really important.
While all this is going on I spend the whole time packing what is left of our personal stuff and the bits that I understand, you know, food and galley equipment and we make the terrifying and to my mind, precarious trip up to Penny’s. The pile behind a sofa in her bedroom is growing.
Back at the boat once more, the stuff continues to come out of cupboards. All that is left now is boat stuff and to show Mike just how much there still is I drag everything out into the cockpit and let him see what there is left to pack into the remaining boxes. There’s some stuff which I swear has never seen the light of day and quite a bit goes into the large bin in the corner of Conch Charter’s car park.
Photos: Packing a small proportion of the boat stuff
It’s almost 7 pm when we’ve finished loading the car. On the way back to Penny’s we stop off at Nanny Cay to find the Thomas’s and arrange dinner. We find Rosemary who has no idea where Bill and Matt are although she presumes they are still working on Crazy Horse and we arrange to pick them up on our way back.
This last trip up to Penny’s is the most terrifying so far. By now it is dark, which is sort of a blessing in some ways as you can’t see the sheer drop. However, as we turn the 90 degree bend onto Penny’s drive, the car tyres slip on the loose rocks that have fallen onto the concrete and we slide backwards just for a few seconds as the car fails to grip, even though we are only in first gear and in four wheel drive. It feels like my heart stops and I hold my breath until the tyres find their grip once more.
We unload the car and make the boxes as inconspicuous as possible, not easy when there are 23 of them plus four huge fabric bags of – oh, and the washing machine. Poor Penny and Peter are in Rome and are going to have a bit of a shock when they get back. I hope they will continue to speak to us.
We have the last heart-stopping drive down to the main road and head back to Nanny Cay. Rosemary is waiting for us – Bill is in the shower and Matt is not present but wants to come out with us, so we leave Rosemary to round them up and get a taxi to our boat while we race back and shower.
The boat is empty except for the ridiculously heavy sail bags. It’s so empty in fact that I have had to borrow sheets, pillows and a towel for our last night as all of ours have now been packed away.
The Thomas’s arrive while I am still in the shower, but with no hairdryer available (packed away), titivating myself takes less time than usual and a few minutes later we follow them around to The Pub, just next to Conch Charters.
We have a lovely last night with them. We had been so tired earlier that the thought of going out for dinner was not a particularly appealing prospect but I am so glad we changed our minds and were able to say goodbye to these people who have become such good friends.
Photo: Dinner with Bill, Rosemary and Matt
After dinner we take them back to Nanny Cay and say our farewells – lots of big hugs and kisses but this time, no tears! I am quite sure we will see them again!
Back on Jeannius, we flop into bed. There’s just the stuff to be put into the bow compartment tomorrow before the laborious trip home. I’m glad I did not know at this point just how laborious this was actually going to be otherwise I would never have got to sleep.
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