March 2009 - Turkey
Turkey |Kemer Turkiz marina| Navigator Restaurant | When I'm 64 Party
March 31, 2009
Hi everyone, Happy Spring no April foolin'. It feels and smells so good with spring in the air. We hiked for 5 hours in the mountains Sunday. It was a trail we did last fall along a creek bed ablaze with fall colors. This time we had spring flowers and some fruit trees blossoming. Great to be out enjoying hikes again. We begged off the hikes when we were on the hard especially when the walks planned were cold and rainy. It was a beautiful day, clear skies and 70"s... perfect hiking. Then we had a 64's party. It was discovered 18 cruisers either turned 64 or were turning 64 this year. Just another excuse for a celebration.
Turkey | Turkiz Marina | Artemis | new sail covers
We finished the sail covers yesterday and Al went up the masts today. He checked the rigging and replaced rigging tape on the spreaders. He also replaced the old antenna wire on the SSB and put on standoffs. At one point I had Al cranked between two masts swinging like a monkey. After all that we could only cross three things off our list of chores to do before sailing.
We have a new tennis teacher. I guess we wore the old one out. Things are coming together. Maybe we'll play a real match one day. Tomorrow we plan to tackle sail repair. We are putting a new UV cover on the genoa and some minor repairs. Our baby Josie turns TWO today while on vacation in Mexico. Gee I don't remember such extravagant birthday parties when our kids were young. But then times do change. Actually they are celebrating "Bumpa's" (Nicci's step Dad Al) retirement. He took the whole family to Mexico for a week. Hope your day is prank free. Love and God bless Sally and Al
Turkey | Sapandere Valley | Sunday hike
March 27, 2009
Hi everyone, Well we've been back in the water in Kemer Marina for a week now. The paint job and varnishing look great. It took a few days to set the window frames in Sika and to replace all the "stuff" we had taken off for the paint job. On
Wednesday we started making the new sail covers. Al and his Sail Rite sewing machine are stitching up a storm. I offer my opinon and hold the canvas so he can sew without it tugging and pulling away. They are looking great. We only have the Dutchman zippers to put in on the main cover and all of the zippers on the mizzen. People keep walking by and say how "professional" they look. The weather continues to be unseasonally colder and wetter. We just work around it. It looks like the weather with allow us to resume our Sunday hike this week. Al and I are fair weather hikers. Hope all is well with everyone back home. Love and God Bless. Sally and Al
March 20, 2009
Our life has been consumed with being on the hard but we are ready to launch again. It's been hard to get things done when you rely on others to do their part. The white awlgrip on the cabin top looks good but we have some in spots we didn't want it. Even on the wiring for the autopilot. We are looking forward to having refrigeration again. This living on the hard is tough work. We have some sewing projects yet to do but right now we're just hoping to become social again. We did have another Quartet Concert last night and of course a St. Patrick's Day celebration complete with music and dancing.
March 12, 2009
Hi Everyone, Well our work is coming along. Poor Al got sick on his birthday so we had his cake on Sunday instead. Needless to say we didn't get any work done last weekend. He's feeling better now and we've even started up our tennis lessons again. We finished the bottom paint yesterday except for where the poles are holding us up while on the hard.
The painters sprayed the white awlgrip and will come back today to remove the tape and plastic. So far things look good. There are a couple of hard to get at spots that need to be brushed as the sprayer couldn't reach. Next they will scrape and refinish the teak toe rail. We couldn't get the Signature varnish here that we were using in the states so now have to start over. They are putting on a two part system called International Perfection.
We'll wash and polish the hull today and then we can start the messy job of putting the boat back together again. It's amazing the number of things that were mounted on the white part of the boat. The worst part is getting the sealant on the installs not the new awlgrip paint. Among other thing we have 13 stainless steel window frames. We hope to go back into the water by the end of the next week next.
Social events include a concert Friday in Antalya and Carnival on Saturday in the Navigator. Many of you know what Al thinks of costume parties but we will attend. We are enjoying the rise in the American dollar. The Euro and Lira have dropped considerably. Hope all is well. We love to hear what's going on in your lives too. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
March 2, 2009
Hi Everyone, We so wanted to SKYPE and write a log over the weekend but our internet went down until this afternoon. I'm so bummed because now we have to wait another week to see Josie. We are still on the "hard" (meaning the boat is out of the water). It's tough living with out refrigeration or the ability to buy ice to keep things cold. We climb up and down the ladder a zillion times a day. We hired the marina to awlgrip paint our cabin sides and cockpit (white portions of our boat). We've wanted to do it for two years but the estimates were way too high. With the world economy down and the yard men not working they finally gave us a reasonable bid. The only bad part is we'll stay on the hard for another 10 days :-( Yesterday we missed the Sunday hike as we needed to remove anything that is mounted on the white. Believe me it was an all day job and then we'll have to put it all back on again when the painting is done.
We went to Beethoven's 9thin Antalya on Saturday. The choir was excellent but the orchestra (not our regular Friday orchestra) was too small and had lots of difficulties. The soloists were excellent but the soprano pushed too hard and lost her voice. We are invited to dinner on another boat tonight so we need to get cleaned up early. Hope all is well. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
