MACSEA has now had 2 weeks of pampering and is looking very shmick. John has epoxyed and faired the keel and put on many coats of various products to bring it back to looking like new and ready for a few more years (not unlike one of Ali’s famous deluxe facials!). The hull has had epoxy coats then 3 coats of black anti-fouling and the topsides have all been waxed and polished. We put the foresail on yesterday and after re-painting the length markers on the anchor chain it has now been winched on board into it’s cozy anchor locker. My main job has been sanding and varnishing the companionway stairs and door frames inside the boat which all look refreshed. We have spent today visiting the customs office in Corinth to get our new transit log for this season and pay the newly introduced Cruising Tax (eTepai) which is based on the length of your boat and for us was EUR 105 per month. A bit of a shock for some cruising boats who have had it free for so long but not much really in the scheme of things. 

The highlight of our stay on the hard stand was meeting some new friends from Ireland. Sean was busy getting their Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49 ready for their 6th year cruising the Mediterranean. He was a font of good information with a wicked sense of humor. Bernie, his wife, arrived only a couple of days before launch and quickly got the interiors shipshape and cleaned. We spent a couple of very convivial evenings in their company and hope to meet again over the summer.  We joined another two couples, also working to get their boats back in the water, Eva and John on S/V Destiny together with Can and Barbara on S/Y Tethys for a fine meal at one of the local restaurants. Eva and I also managed a side trip to the markets one morning to stock up on fresh fruit and veges – my favourite thing in Greece

John’s take on “getting the boat ready”

Returning to Almira Shipyard (sounds grander than it actually is) was a bit like riding into Tombstone without the guns. Lots of gravel and dust. The boat was right where we left it, upright but a bit disheveled with its torn tarps and PVC covers. PVC fared the best and keep most of the Sahara dust (yes, as in desert) and oil refinery deposits off the decks.

Just a note – shipyard storage is often in out of the way locations so it is affordable and Almira is an old concrete batching plant. The thing about maintenance and boat work is that it is not really work but merely part of what you do as part of cruising, just like maintaining a house except if you get it wrong you sink? Bit dramatic. The work we did before we left last year put us in a good position but we still had three big jobs. The rudder bearing had seized and so had to be removed. Trouble is that it meant an expensive boat lift  to get the boat high enough so instead we dug a deep hole (on Sunday when no-one was around) under the rudder through the pavement before anyone caught us out. Think there might have been consequences had we been caught but it was better to ask forgiveness than permission and we made sure it was rectified and undetectable when we were finished. Very heavy work removing the rudder but fortunately our friend Dimos came down from Athens to help. Onto the keel and undersides which I will not bore you with except it was 6 days of total  graft to get it right which is why we decided to have a 2 day break and visit Ancient Olympic in the middle of this. Also stripped the heat exchanger in the motor with Allan and Brad Francis’s guidance. Two new truck batteries and lots of cleaning had us finally ready for launch. It is very exciting to see your baby all clean and shiny but looking ungainly on a trailer heading down the yard to the launching pier. All good, no leaks so lets GO.