Thesee's countdown to Winter in the sun

Friday 6th November... LINDA... Hello again Thésée Followers out there all around the World. I hope that Dean's blogging kept you entertained whilst I was away from camp. And of course Saffy did a great job of keeping guard I see.

My trip went very well and without too much fuss and palava, considering the rules and regulations these days. I have to say that the views of Mount Etna from the plane were just spectacular, and worth taking the trip for just this alone! 

A few photos from my trip.... 

Getting ready for take-off

Mount Etna letting off steam

I'm almost on top of it now!

This is a view of Elba from the aircraft

Good job I had a window seat

It's great to see all the places we sailed to

Family outings in the countryside

The kid's Halloween pumpkins

Etna again on the way back

Getting my money's worth of views this trip

So arriving back in Sicily I had some goodies that Dean had ordered plus bits and bobs for his upcoming jobs, and also not forgetting Trifle mix, Heinz Beans, Chocolate Hobnobs. Italian regulations stipulate that I had to get a Covid test. The first two Doctors (with long chaotic queues) I tried here said there were no tests left in Licata! Great, what do I do now? Thankfully, the third Doctor that I tried was in fact able to provide a test and my result was 'Negativo'.  So that was all rather stressful trying to get that sorted out.

Some luggage

Some important luggage

Dean's been having just as much stress with fitting the new GPS antenna. And after a week, it still does not do what it is supposed to. Watch this space for updates.

Wiring in the new GPS antenna

Just got to get it to work now

The marina is getting quieter and quieter as lots of people leave for the winter. Two of our good friends left yesterday, and another two leave tomorrow. Still, it's still busier than last winter in Gaeta. With regards to the Covid situation, this week has seen the closure of bars and restaurants, and a curfew from 10pm to 5am. We are able to walk around town and go shopping and exercise, so it's not too bad at the moment really. 

Well now we are back into routine, hopefully next week we shall have a lot more news and photos for you. The weather here is still good, and has been extremely calm and sunny. Still about 21 degrees so can't complain at that. 

Thursday 12th November... Getting back into the winter routine, and this year's Thursday blogging. Dean is looking after none other than three other boats whilst the owners are away, and we found ourselves recipients of gifts of wine and food. 

That'll go down nicely...

in fact I think it might have already

Dean also has his list of winter jobs. He had done all the main winter jobs and is now working on the extras. He had some new steel washers made for the gooseneck on the mast, to replace the worn ones. However trying to fit them was another thing, and we ended up having to raise the mainsail in order to take weight off the boom. It was still a really awkward job and a lot of cursing went on. Finally he managed to fit the washers but he's still not completely satisfied and is considering further improvements which may lead to him buying a new gooseneck block.

Main sail up. but not for sailing today

Trying to fit the washers

It's a bit scary with the bolt half way out

Trying to get the bolt back through the gooseneck

We still have the GPS antenna issue. It's just not working and we think we shall have to order a new one, as the company are refusing to replace it unless we send it back and they accept the fault is theirs. Trouble is the cost of sending it back and having to possibly pay for a repair is not much less than buying a new one. We're in a bit of a dilemma. 

One day i found Aladdin polishing up his lamp that I brought back from home.  Unfortunately I was the only person to appear to take his photo, still he looks pleased with himself after the polishing was complete. 

I dream of genie

More ambience on board with the hurricane and miners lamps

There was more polishing going on the next day when he gave all the chrome taps and showers a good going over. 

With his favourite scrubbing toothbrush

I went round to see Ant, Cid, and Oscar earlier in the week, only to find out that Oscar has got a new girlfriend called Millie. I daren't tell Saffy that she has been replaced with a younger model.  Whilst i was there Cindy and I decided that we should get the guys out for a walk one day. So yesterday the four of us walked across to the beach. It's the first time that we've been, and it really was quite lovely. Not half the amount of rubbish that we had expected to find. We walked as far as we could go and there was even a beach bar that was open so we thought it only right to get a beer. We should have taken the kite really as it was a bit windy, but it was so nice to just have a change of scenery. 

The guys lead us onto the beach

Some nice houses along here

Forestry too

Here's Cindy enjoying our little afternoon outing

Ooh now me and Cindy 

having a rest before we found the beach bar

Only right we should stop for a beer and support the locals

Cindy and I have joined the yoga group and pilates too, but that was cancelled this morning so we just had a walk to the other beach on the east side of the marina. It's the marina's private beach with lovely sand so i think we shall be visiting more often now we're getting into the swing of things. 

Sunday we stood at the bow of the boat for our two minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday. We did it twice, once Italian time zone, and once UK time zone. 

We've removed the back part of the bimini with the solar panels on, and stored it away for the winter. My aft cabin is getting fuller and fuller of boaty things. The very old solar panels on the sprayhood are going to be replaced as one is definately not performing and we think the other two have not got much longer left. 

One more job and this was repairing the pedals on our folding bikes. Apparantly, they are worn and no longer level and our feet keep sliding off. Not any more though with Dean's quick fix of a slither of plastic tubing. He's so handy and ingenious. 

And we also found a new supermarket in town with a good quality/choice butchers counter. This is great news for us as Conad and Lidl don't really have much to offer in that department. This new supermarket even had turkey crowns for sale. That's Xmas sorted then.

Thursday 19th November... Here we are, another week gone by in Paradise. Well that's probably an overstatement as pretty much the only paradisal thing at the moment is that the weather is still warm enough to wear shorts and Tshirts. 

It's been a pretty up and down week with some things going well and others not, so we can't complain too much really. Thesee being in the marina for winter, means that Dean has the chance and 'opportunity' to get the big jobs and modifications done. Unfortunately these things have a habit of becoming a pain in the neck, as you can't get the parts and people don't seem interested in doing any work or being able to supply you.

One thing that did go well (eventually) this week was the making of a dyneema strap for the anchor chain snubber. When we anchor, Dean always attaches a snubber to the chain so that the strain is taken off the windlass and onto the bow cleats. Although the hook he uses has never let us down, he felt that he wanted to improve the set up and make the whole caboodle stronger. Hence the mighty Mantus Chain Hook that I brought for him in my suitcase... and one of the reasons my suitcase was so heavy! You can see it here on the right of this photo.... big shiny thing.

So here's the dyneema strap that he made, spliced into itself at both ends to create loops. Dyneema is really strong and expensive. Fortunately one of our friends had some going spare and was willing to exchange it for a bottle of vino. 

The strap loops into the hole of the chain hook and the other end will attach to a strong line around the cleats. Apart from giving the set up more strength, the way Dean has arranged it will mean that he no longer has to lean right over the front of the boat to put it on. Something you don't really want to be doing in bad conditions. All he has to do now is attach the hook to the chain as shown in the photo and then release extra chain. It's a little bit confusing to explain but that's the gist of it. 

In real circumstances the anchor will already be deployed 

before he attaches the hook and lets out more chain

The weather is still trying to hold onto itself but has become more changeable this week. This was one of the mornings when we took a walk around the marina....beautiful.

The marina's private beach

Not very accessible though, and the water polluted

Friday night Ant and Cindy joined us and the guys fetched takeaway pizzas and chips. Then we played Rummikub. Cindy won. Saturday was a beautiful morning and we walked around the marina and along the big harbour breakwater. The whole of Licata seemed to have the same idea and the place was heaving. Later that day back on the boat we commented how quiet it seemed but though nothing of it. Then we found out that the police had cordened off the roads and stopped locals coming in and walking about. Good for us, but a shame for the locals. Still, we are in unusual times and at least they are taking the Covid situation seriously and dispersing crowds. 

On our walk we did see a lone heron fishing for his dinner, and a not so lone endless pile of trash along the inside of the breakwater. It's such a shame to see this rubbish, plastic especially, and no-one is doing anything about it. Still, it's not our place to interfere, we are just guests after all.  

Hungry Heron

Trash everywhere

.... all along the breakwater

Still hungry

Looking back onto the land

View across the marina looking east to west

....and again

Now, what else have we been up to? I got the travel iron out this week. First time in about 18 months. I had to iron a pair of shorts that I'd altered. I tell you, I can't believe how much I enjoyed ironing them. We honestly don't iron ANYTHING on the boat, and to be honest I should have stopped ironing years ago as we haven't notice any difference to our clothing. But I guess we don't have to dress up for work anymore.

Dean filled Thesee's water tanks. We had lightning and rain one night. I went to Yoga again, and Dean did his circuit training. They charge one euro for the circuit training, and this goes towards feeding the breakwater clowder of cats. He tells me they are no longer able to share the equipment at training and so they all took tins of beans and tomatoes for their arm exercises. I thinks someone suggested using tins of cat food and then handing them over for the cats, instead of paying a euro. Good idea!

We have started to try and make covers for some of the sprayhood windows out of a large piece of blue canvas we were given last winter. After a lot of faffing around, Dean laid the material out on the pontoon and cut the shapes out with his electric hot knife. It's amazing to see it cutting through material in an instant. Eventually we got the sewing machine out and was going to try and make the small cover for the top window. But after a practice sew on a spare piece of material, it was obvious that the sewing machine was not up to it (this was an old machine someone gave us back in Almerimar). What do we do now???  After some days of debate and online searching we ended up ordering a Singer Heavy Duty Sewing Machine.  It was a very reasonable price and it was coming from Italy so there was free postage too. Excellent. We can't wait for it to arrive.

Starting the cutting process

Meanwhile...

I'm watching another boat with its storm sail up

Back to the cutting job

We bought this hot knife by chance in Portsmouth from a guy who was selling us a fishing rod. The hot knife has certainly paid for itself. Shame the fishing rod isn't doing the same. 

Measuring up

Next up is the fan that Dean has fitted inside the fridge freezer. We have lot of trouble with the freezer always frosting up quickly. Hopefully this will do the trick. 

We're having a go at making our own Aloe Vera hand sanitizer from our Aloe Vera plant. The leaves are amazing. This is Dean doing his thing extracting the aloe vera from inside the leaves. It's our first attempt.... more to follow on this story.

And finally, our Wednesday Walkies with Ant and Cindy took us across the river to the other part of town. We inadvertantly walked past one of the packs of dogs in town. They did a lot of barking at us but as instructed by people here in the marina we just carried on walking quickly and ignoring them, and so they didn't bother with us. We ended up at the other beach which was not very nice really, and I think we shall not be going that way again. Next week hopefully up to the castle on the hill.

Crossing the river bridge over the River Salso

It's quite wide

Someone's old fireplace?

On the beach now, nice looking eastwards

Shady characters

Not so good here on the beach

Almost back to the river mouth

Marina in the background

Walking over the river bridge

Here's Ant taking some video footage for his You Tube channel

Almost back now, and in the local shopping centre

Christmas has arrived

Thursday 26th November... Almost at the end of November and the work here on Thesee is moving along. The three new solar panels have been ordered and the old ones removed, two from the sprayhood and the one from the deck which Dean is modelling here... We will try and sell two of them. The panels have performed well since we fitted them about 4 years back but we felt it was time to upgrade them while we have the chance as they are made in Italy and easy to get. Plus this solar panel company are very helpful and efficient, not like the very useless and extremely awkward company we had problems with in Spain last year. If you remember their panels basically disintigrated within weeks and they totally refused to replace them. 

This one was glued down and tricky to remove

A rather dirty deck underneath

Somewhat cleaner after TLC and ready 

for when the new panels arrive

Dean cleaned all the bimini so that we could put it away for the winter. He washed and scrubbed it down with his fancy broom. Unfortunately during this exercise the broom slipped through his hands and went straight over the side and into the water, sinking to the bottom almost immediately. It's about 3 metres deep here and the water is murky. No chance of seeing the bottom and hooking it out, so there was no option but to get his wetsuit on and get in with his snorkel. He had to dive down twice to find it, with touch alone. He said the water was so bad he couldn't even see his hand in front of him.

On his way out after the broom rescue

Now for a good rinse, and then himself

Part 2 of the Aloe Vera experiment went very well. We had to buy some 90% proof alcohol from the Pharmacy. We blended the Aloe Vera in our mixer and added the alcohol and a few drops of Eucalyptus Oil. It's turned out quite well. Would have been better if the alcohol was clear and not pink, but it's all we could get.  

Blending process

Finished product, hand sanitizer

A small job that Dean has been meaning to do for ages was to remove two connectors on his foredeck solar panel, and solder the wires instead, covering with heat shrink as shown in this next photo. It makes it a neater job and now he doesn't have to worry about the connectors getting damaged.

Almost done

This week a (motor) superyacht arrived here in the Marina. It stood out like a sore thumb as almost all of the boats here are sailboats. The yacht was flying a Monaco flag and was 40 metres long. It stopped here for a few days, and after it left we have been tracking it. Looks like it's heading to Toulon. 

Some days I carry Saffy around to the grass by the marina office. She can't make it walking there and back. Once on the grass she likes to have a good sniff about the tree trunks... lovely.

Flags outside the office

The red and yellow is the flag of Sicily

Monday was the day that Emanuel was coming to collect the sprayhood. He is going to replace some of the plastic windows as they are deteriorating in the sun. The one on the top is particularly bad, and Dean uses this a lot to watch the main sail when he's raising it. Here's the guys about to remove the sprayhood. We've never taken it off ourselves before, and therefore the chrome frame has never been fully cleaned and polished..... But it has now 😀

So now without the sprayhood we had no protection over the companionway hatch. It doesn't really matter as no rain would get in, but the ever resourceful Dean dug out an old canopy he's been hiding and rigged it up. Feels like we are in a tent now. This will do the job until the sprayhood comes back.

Sorting out the removed panels

Our new sewing machine arrived. It's our Christmas present but we couldn't wait until Christmas to open it. There's sewing to be done. After realising the instruction leaflet was in Italian, we found an English version online. To test it out Dean set about making two winch covers. I have to say that he has done an amazing job on these.

The Christmas Present

Surely he's not reading the instructions?

Can't wait to get stuck in

Trying for size

Looking good

Howzat?

Saturday night we went round to Ant & Cid's for another takeaway pizza night. We had to go to a different takeaway pizzeria as the normal one had about a two hour wait! And today the four of us went on our weekly walkies, this time up the hill to the castle. It was a great walk, the best so far. Lots of photos.....

The first Church we passed on the walk

Chiesa di Santa Maria di Vetere

Dean showing the way towards the next Chiesa

Stopping for a first glimpse of the view

as we climb up and up

Arrival at the

Chiesa di Maria di Pompei

.... with caves underneath

Which way now?

Almost at the top we find a derelict house

and have to have a good look inside

Someone's long forgotten home

... and looking out the window

to the cemetary view

Couldn't have a house without 

a prayer room

Views across to the harbour

Outside the castle looking out to sea

Castel Sant Angelo at the top

Looking back at our derelict house

Dean and Ant read all about the castle ruins

Like I said, it was a lovely walk. Back in town we walked through the local park. There were some amazing trees, almost like a botanical garden. The tree in the second photo had strange fruit on it, which seemed to turn into a fluffy ball. Cindy called it the candy floss tree.

And finally along the street, this is and example of how they park. I'm not joking, we see this a lot.

Howzat for parking?

The next blog entry will be called ' Hurry up Christmas'