A Tale of Two Chemists: Tough Transitions

Tough Transitions

Wednesday 13th Nov 2024

We are so lucky to be able to have a lovely home and beautiful boat, and to be able to spend our time divided between the two. We really enjoy our lives at home and on Cotinga, but the transitions between the two can be tough, in either direction. There is just so much to get sorted, endless lists and jobs to complete.

The past 5 months, living back home, have been great. We enjoyed settling in to a land-based routine, catching up with friends and family, and having a complete break from our sailing lifestyle. I made a 2-week trip back to the UK in August and Gloria went up to Maine a couple of times to see her sister. In October my brother Martin came over to visit and we all flew out west to see Tasha and Mac, and spent a few days touring the Olympic peninsula. The months flew by, and before we were ready, we were hard at work preparing to leave the house and head back to Cotinga.

We left home at the ungodly hour of 3.30 am. Our friend and neighbor, Frank, kindly gave us a lift to the airport … what a hero! Our flights to Grenada via JFK went fine and with a ton of gear (four checked bags plus carry on), including boat parts and some food items, we decided to declare the boat parts. This all worked out easily and was not a great expense. A short taxi ride brought us back to Clarkes Court marina, where we will spend four nights in an apartment before being launched on Friday.

Our friends Pete and Jo are going to join us on the first leg our our journey from Grenada up to Martinique, and they have already arrived and are staying at an AirBnB a couple of miles away. Fortunately, they have a rental car which is really helpful for getting together and re-provisioning. I have to confess that I thought we were launching on Thursday (my mistake) and so none of us had anywhere to stay for the additional night, but we have managed to book a room here at the marina for the extra night. We could stay on the boat, on land, but that’s not very comfortable, so we’ve opted for a cozy but air-conditioned room!

When we left Grenada in June it was hot and dry. Yesterday, our first day trying to prepare Cotinga, was the wettest day I have ever seen in the Caribbean! There were heavy showers in the morning and then a thunderstorm in the afternoon that dropped torrential rain for over 2 hours. There were landslides on the island and roads were cut off by flooding. There was a waterfall off the edge of the upper area of the boatyard. We did manage to get a few jobs done, but it was a challenge.

The biggest problem that we have identified so far is that the two screw clamps on the outboard motor were seized solid, presumably due to steel / aluminum corrosion. Without these clamps you can’t attach the outboard to the dinghy or the rail of Cotinga. I bent both of the stainless steel screws (10 mm) trying to get them off. I eventually managed to free one, but snapped the other clean off and had to drill it out. The first screw fitting has now been replaced with a regular 10 mm hex bolt, but the drilled out hole would not hold the bolt tightly, so we have had to put a nut on the inside make it function. It’s going to be a pain in the butt to take the outboard on and off the dinghy, but it’s the best we could do.

I haven’t yet had any time to take photos so I’m going include a few of my favorites from our recent trips to Cape Cod and to the Olympic National park in Washington.

Mike