July 2021

It is now July and we are well and truly over the marina life for the moment. The last three months have been super busy and we are keen to finish up and move back up North. Sanctuary Cove has been very pleasant though and one of the better marinas we have been to.

While we have been here the marina hosted the annual Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show.  The show is usually held every year in May, but couldn’t run last year.  This year’s show nearly got cancelled due to COVID, but ended up being a great success – we very much enjoyed it. We had been to a couple of these shows years ago when we were working out what sort of boat we were going to buy. 

For the Show we had to leave our berth, as this area is completely filled with lots of very shiny boats on display, connected by temporary pontoons.  The pontoons were actually built around us; then the shiny display boats were driven in, we drove out and the pontoons were closed behind us – we then moved to the southern side of the marina for the duration of the show.

While we have been here the Marina was also working through a major refurbishment.  Our lovely new berthing finger was part of the early works – definitely thumbs up from us for that work.  During May we were entertained by the installation of some incredibly high shade sails over the SuperYacht area opposite us.  The pile driver tug spent a lot of time doing very clever 3 point (4,5 who was counting) turns in front of us (although he was often far closer to our boat than I would have liked).

The shade sails can be seen on the right. [2022 update: I believe our berth on the far side and those on the left in this photo have now been covered with shade sails].

Meanwhile it was good to see that people’s sense of humour was well and truly on display as you walked around the local shopping centre.

But back to the myriad little jobs we were tidying up.

We had bought more insulation than was required for lining the generator panels.  So, as the starboard side of the boat gets very hot in the sun (it has the walkway above the cupboards acting like a solar panel), we thought we may as well put the insulation to use [stay tuned as to how effective it is].

Peter felt the need to take this photo of me putting insulation on the hull behind the freezer.  The only way to access behind the freezer was through this storage cupboard.  I did manage to get myself stuck this time and Peter had to pull me out by my feet (the indignity of it).

This is more of the insulation lining the storage cupboard (The little panel on the left is where I had disappeared through to access the rear of the freezer yesterday). 

The storage lockers and rear of the freezer are under this walkway.  It gets full sunlight, which is why we often find Neon out there happily overheating and glaring at birds through his netting.

Neon needed to get out of the sun so he came in to see what I was up to.  I’m spraying for cockroaches in all the dark, hard to get to places.  Neon got very excited about this space under a locker he’d never seen before (half way down the stairs to the bedrooms).  He is balanced on the labyrinth of waste piping.  I got a bit worried when I saw him, as that space follows the hull all the way to the bottom of the boat and it would be a really ‘interesting’ exercise getting him out of there.  The family was of the opinion his ‘chubbiness’ (various words used) would prevent him from slipping down to harm.

On my way back from a swim one peaceful, if chilly Saturday, I heard some anti-social tool grinding loudly across the marina, only to find that the tool was Pugwash cutting a hole in my mast!  After the repaired exhaust was installed, we noticed that the angle had changed slightly and the lines for the boom poles now exited the mast far too close to the stack and could possibly get cooked.  Peter was working on a new exit for the lines – fair enough.

We need to get out of this place before he starts rebuilding the entire boat!  Fortunately, the pantry and freezer have been re-stocked and the big boat jobs have been completed, so we are now looking for a good weather window for heading back up North.

Research Ravings:

During the latest COVID lock-down, James Cook University conducted a survey of pet owners and found that 100% of people with a dog said that the dog was happy to see them more often, but 59% of cat owners said the cat seemed to be annoyed they were home so much.  Neon hasn’t noticed any change, but that is retired boat life for you.