-
01/12/21 Weds. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANN! OK, yesterday I was bored to death! Days of sitting around doing nothing is driving me crazy so today I went back to the stanchion base job that I started before going to KK. I had already taken off the guard wires, sheets, pulley blocks and all the other associated fittings, now it was time to remove the stanchion and base. As expected of course, the bolts and nuts were all corroded and refused to budge - a major problem of dissimilar metals in contact with one another. The toerail and stanchion base are aluminium, the stanchion itself and the securing bolts are stainless steel. After an hour of trying different methods to remove the stanchion and bolts, I resorted to the angle grinder and cut the base open! I couldn't find the new bolts I had bought for a previous base renewal, so we had to go over to the yard and buy some more and have a coffee with Brent and Shane. By the time we got back onboard, it was too late to do any more, so tomorrows job is to fit a new base and replace the stanchion, wires, sheets and pulleys.
02/12/21 Thurs. Rain stopped play after fitting the base and stanchion, so the job was abandoned until another time.
04/12/21 Sat. Replaced the guard wires, genoa sheet, furling line, spinnaker pole and jerry cans just before the rain started again! Tomorrow will be our 500th day away from any contact with marinas or pontoons - most of which has been spent here at anchor in Kudat due to the Covid pandemic.
05/12/21 Sun. Day 500 9pm and it's been raining 24 hours now, and still coming down hard!
07/12/21 Tues. Received a phone call this morning from the hospital, another appointment with Dr Ramesh at 1100 on the 9th. Booked rental car again and hotel.
08/12/21 Weds. Here we go again, driving down to Kota Kinabalu!
09/12/21 Thurs. Up to KPJ Hospital this morning to see the Doc. All good news with regard the biopsy on the lump he removed a few weeks back and I'm obviously pleased with the result, but..... 2 nights hotel, 3 days car rental, 8 hours driving plus fuel, and a 200 ringgit hospital fee, just for him to tell me he had done his job properly by removing it all (for a 10k fee).......couldn't he have told me that over the phone??
10/12/21 Fri. Before driving back today, we went to the ophthamologist (for Ana) at 0800 with me thinking it would be a reasonably quick eye examination. I really should know better by now! Two and a half hours we were there doing various tests, all of which showed that her eyes were fine - that'll be 250 ringgit please. It's been a few days like that, I won't even go into the trouble we had posting a parcel to Manila, or getting an exit receipt for the underground parking, or even the simple task of ordering pizza in Pizza Hut!! Arrived back at the boat about 4pm.
11/12/21 Sat. Heavy rain all night long until about 5am. At 6am we went into town for the market and to return the rental car. We were back onboard at 7am, and another full day of rain, so no work done today.
13/12/21 Mon. We have had a couple of days of weather improvement now, but a storm is brewing north of us and looks as if it will cross Palawan at Puerto Princesa on Saturday next. That will be very strong winds there and of course it will drag the air from here northward which will give us 30 knots of wind or so. Time to get all the lines checked!
24/12/21 Fri. Typhoon Odette crossed the Philippines as expected, some friends survived the high winds unscathed, others were not so lucky and sustained severe damage to their boats. Here, life goes on much the same, with little to do until such time as a couple of packages arrive in Kudat. No work now until the 'festive' season is over!
25/12/21 Sat.
29/12/21 Weds. Well, the weather has been crap since Christmas Day! Ana and I went over to Craig and Josephine's boat for dinner, had an enjoyable few hours over there, chatting and eating! Ever since then, the weather has been wet and windy and we've spent hours watching old and new films.
30/12/21 Thurs. One package arrived today, the ventilation hoses for the new engine bay fan, but I will leave it until tomorrow before trying to fit it all in - don't feel like crawling into tight spaces today!
31/12/21 Fri. The end of the week, and the end of the year. I, for one, am glad to see the back of 2021, it's been an awful year for the entire World.
Did you enjoy your visit onboard? Please sign my Guestbook
For previous logs, click Here
