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"There's always a plan, but unexpected things happen and we just go with the flow. Though I do believe that fate and destiny often play their part"
sailing blog
The first few days in Malta were mainly spent chilling out with friends and yes....some rather sumptuous seafood did get consumed along with a few glasses of vino calapso. Well....one must ease oneself back into the Med lifestyle gently otherwise you might strain something! However, come Monday morning the real work of getting Comino back up to scratch began. I had organised for Ray, the main Yanma man in Malta, to come and do the special 1000 hour service, which entails dismantling just about half the engine. To cut a long story short, some things were not good. Water in the fuel system had turned to goo inside all the filters. The injectors were fouled up with soot. The saildrive gearbox oil was a pungent black sludge. The compression levels were well below par. The coolant in the heat exchanger had gone a nasty shade of green. The list went on, but Ray worked extremely hard over the following two days to put everything right, whilst I acted as his humble apprentice keen to understand how things had deteriorated so badly. I must be much more pro-active in future with my engine maintenance programme or one day we'll find ourselves in difficulty out at sea - not the place to start learning the in's and out's of diesel motor repairs. The lift-out had to be delayed by two days because of the extensive engine work, but on Thursday morning we left the marina and motored down Sliema Creek to Manoel Island Boatyard with a bit of trepidation about the possible state of our bottom. This would be the first time in two years Comino would be coming out of the water and lord knows what marine life might have made our hull its home. We eased ourselves into position under the giant crane and slowly the slings tightened beneath us. Up she rose high above the water revealing the toll two years takes on being submerged in the sea. Actually, it was no worse than expected. Nevertheless, the next week was clearly going to be damn hard work scrubbing, sanding, painting and polishing if we want the boat to look like brand new again. And so the daily routine of sweat and toil started in earnest. As I write (6 am on Tuesday 9th) we're ahead of schedule with two more days before we go back in the water. I must say Comino is already looking quite good, with today being all about polishing the gelcoat till it's got a mirror like finish. Pics will follow shortly of the final job - in particular Nicki's spectacular efforts on the propeller. In the meantime, here's some photo's of our trip on Sunday when we took a couple of hours off to go exploring around the island in our hire car. We couldn't resist going to Armier where we'll be anchoring for a few days to relax as soon as we're afloat again. Not a bad spot is it!!!
1 Comment
Ray
9/6/2015 03:30:25 am
Wow, is that the same prop that featured in your blog dated 31/5/2013? That's your target Nicki! I'm sure you'll have her ship shape and Bristol fashion in no time.
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A FEW PICS OF COMINOClick a photo to enlarge and use side arrows to scroll through.
COMINO IS CURRENTLY HEREDID SOMEONE SAY SEAFOODOn our journey from Portugal to Greece we enjoyed amazing seafood almost everywhere we stopped. Finding the local fish market was always a priority because seafood was so plentiful and so reasonably priced. And, the displays were a feast for your eyes.
Locating a market sometimes meant pounding the pavements in searing heat, but if you kept your eyes peeled, you often came across a little clue. The pic below was a rather less than subtle advert for a fish market - it was eight feet tall.
Freshly cooked onboard, a plateful of giant prawns, baked in wine and garlic, washed down with a few glasses of local vino, was like heaven. Watching the sunset on the boat eating a meal like that was the epitome of "living the dream".
Now we're in Greece we've another favourite to savour. I'm talking about fried Calamari. It's usually good, but every now and then it's off-the-scale fantastic. At Natalie's Taverna on Kontokali Beach in Corfu, it was nothing short of epic.
We're based in Lefkas now and It's been a bit of a mission to find somewhere just as good. And we have. Rakias is a mere ten minute walk from the marina and this little fish market, with its very own taverna attached, is quite sensational.
Oh...and it's also worth mentioning that, on occasions, a bit of barbequed Octopus is on the menu at some of the tavernas we frequent. Can I resist....no. SUNSETS AND DRAMATIC SKIESNo filters, or any other monkey business, have been used to enhance these images.
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