 | ||
| Masking off (left) & applying the first coat of non-skid |
 |
| Starting to look good |
Unquestionably, we can now say that we're getting somewhere aboard Calypso. It's been a long time coming due to one delay after the other, after the other, but when things started happening, they happened fast!
 |
| Some of the team helping out |
This is wholeheartedly thanks (a huge thanks) to Otto, our Australian/Hungarian friend who has lived here for many years after creating one of the largest furniture factories in Jepara. He brought a team of about five guys and five ladies aboard brandishing tools and energy and had them just go for it. The girls sanded every surface preparing it for the finishing and the chaps got stuck into fixing things and tweaking the new teak seating for the cockpit. They all managed quite well despite a few of them turning a tad green with sea-sickness; something truly beyond belief to us being that we're tied up to a solid dock in very calm conditions.
Meanwhile, Paul & I got busy preparing the deck for the non-skid paint, masking it all off and sanding where necessary. We got the stern and part of the bow painted but had to leave the remainder while we had so many workers aboard but what a difference it's going to make.
Otto had also taken all the large doors, cupboard doors, frames, drawers etc that we had previously removed and refinished them beautifully. We're now in the process of trying to get them rehung but each and every door has hinges, ring pulls, snap cleats and storm locks, all of which have to be positioned and reinstated. So far, Paul and I have spent four solid days at this and are only about three quarters of the way through. We can't believe how many there are.
The radar arch has been fixed after a fashion. It's not beautiful but it is strong. Paul's re-installed the solar panels including the new one which replaced that which was smashed. He's busy revamping our wind charger but hasn't yet found the correct cabling to install it.
As a final Calypso 'pick-me-up' we had the team polish all the stainless which is now looking very spiffy indeed. She really will be looking so very much better after all this TLC. The only negative is just how dirty the hull has become over her stay in the harbour; horrible black marks and scrapes all over. When we finally get to haul out back up in Malaysia, we'll give her as much of a clean, polish and waxing as we can but she really needs to be resprayed, not something our meagre budget can cope with right now.
During all this time, life has been made extremely difficult by our bank back in South Africa. Paul dropped his wallet overboard while I was still in London and, despite spending several hours diving for it, never could recover it from all the mud beneath the boat. One would think that things would be simple. Notify the bank, order new cards, have them couriered and we're A for away. No such luck.
Virtually three months later comprising dozens upon dozens of emails and phone calls, we THINK (no guarantee yet), that we may well be about to receive said cards. International banking now has Fica, the Financial Intelligence Central Act, adopted to prevent money laundering and to fight against organised crime and terrorism. All well and good but they need to know our address, hmmmmm, bit tricky that one. They also need to have a certified copy of something like electricity bills, water bill, rates and taxes, or a rental agreement. Hmmmmm, haven't got one of those either. Our electricity is free thanks to the wind, we make our own water thanks to our desalinator, and the bribe paid to the harbour master here is hardly something the bank would recognise as a valid document even were we to get a receipt. They don't seem to have any discipline to follow in the case of cruisers living on a boat travelling the world - we simply fall between the cracks.
Meanwhile, we have been totally hamstrung with no access to any credit card facilities since the end of May. Thank goodness Paul had managed to make a few bucks to keep us going, but time marches on and we need to provision up before long so we can move on out of here.
We remain ensconced at Harry's house enjoying the sunsets each evening. He returned from Japan and then South Africa and last week his wife, Patti, arrived. They'll stay for a couple of weeks then will be off to Japan again. We are so very appreciative of this opportunity to stay in such a lovely place whilst we finish things aboard Calypso and will be sorry to finally say farewell.
Meanwhile, back to the grindstone to get that boat shipshape.
