Naked!

Today is another beautiful day, cool in the shade and warm in the sun. Sea Otter sits alongside the Yard dock naked without her Mast. While her mast lays waiting for the new rigging. We are getting a quote for a s/s frame to put the huge new solar panel on. It will go on the other side of the transom.

Next on the agenda was to go and buy that Satellite phone! Yep, we decided to splurge out and get one. We haven't decided on the plan yet, but the phone cost $1800. Ouch! Once we have a plan paid for, we will be able to send out the details of our phone number and how to ring or text us and what it may cost you!! and us. We decided not to go for the data plan that allows for emails as this was just a bit too much. It is an Iridium system, that hopefully will allow us to text our position to family and friends cheaply and make brief phone calls. No matter where in the ocean we are. But we will wait and see how it works once we have it all.

Bad news for the day, was that the Autohelm steering system that Sea Otter has is now discontinued!! Aargh. Typical. We wanted to buy one complete as a backup/spare...so now I am searching the country to see if an old one languishes on a shelf somewhere? The good news is, because it is discontinued....we may, just find one cheaper???? You can only hope.

So far the budget goes better in one area, then worse in another. Pretty typical of boating costs. Just as we find out that the surveyor was not as much as we budgeted. We realise that the feathering prop will cost $300 more. Save on one hand - spend more on the other!!

Squirrels! I just love them, and although everyone here says they are dangerous and they bite....well you just can't help but find a fluffy tailed, brown eyed creature cute. Especially when it is eating half a bagel! (no...I did not give it the bagel!) Check out this guy hanging around our Motel this afternoon. He came right up to me to suss out if I had something for him to eat. The locals shake their heads at me, I get the impression they think I would do the same thing with a Grizzly Bear! Is this how it is in Australia with the Asian tourists and Kangaroo's??? hmmm, make mental note not to shake my head at tourists anymore.

Geoff is back on Sea Otter packing away the sails we had to take off for the mast removal, so we can sleep on board tomorrow night. Hopefully we will only be at the Yard dock for one or two nights, then we can move to the permanent berth at Village Marina. Just one dock away from where our Brokers live on their boat a Catalina 42 called Ecstasy.

Dinah and Roger are just fantastic, we cannot believe how much they are doing for us and helping us - after the settlement. They even joked last night how funny it would be if they were on the dock at Brisbane to catch our lines as we return home! 'Now that is follow up service'

I feel very at home and at ease with the whole process, these are the sort of friendships and aquaintances you meet when cruising that make it so special. It is a large portion of the reason why I love cruising. We said that if we do come back to California to do it all again with another boat, we would definately use them as our Brokers.

Now finally, we could be out of Internet access for a couple of days while we are at the Yard dock. Then when we get to the Marina, we will have to see how we can get access or if we have to just go find a WIFI hot spot to connect at???? So there may not be a blog post for a few days.

Otherwise, I am off soon to start buying stores for the cruise. It should be fun, interesting and challenging. Hmmm now how many toilet rolls will it take to get us back to home? How many blocks of chocolate should I hide on board for Geoff to sniff out by the second week? And...how many beers can I stack on board? Well.. over here at least I can buy all the booze at the Supermarket!