Painting the Scrollwork

One of the last things to do to finish our 'beautification' is to paint the scrollwork on the trailboards (those black things on the bow). That was my job.


We couldn't find gold paint, so we used silver instead. I hand-painted with a small paintbrush. It looked pretty good when we finished. The silver paint matches our grey canvas pretty well.

Yahoo! Bottom Painting is Done!

We put on 4 coats of bottom paint (plus some extras at the waterline and leading edges) in 2 days. Now we let it dry. We have a launch appointment for early Monday morning.

Today we take our 75-lb liferaft by bus to Guayaquil to get it serviced. More on this adventure tomorrow!

Epoxying Is Done, Getting Ready to Bottom Paint

Well, all umpteen coats of epoxy are done on the bottom. We purposely used different colors as we applied layers. It makes it easy to see where you've missed a spot.


We've been white, red, blue, black, and now cammo-green.


Today we have them come lift us and move the blocks and stands around, so we can epoxy the places where they were. We're giving the epoxy time to dry really hard, and on Monday and Tuesday we'll put 4 coats of bottom paint on.

We couldn't get black bottom paint (our preferred color). I kind of liked the red, but I think we'll end up blue. Dave says he read that was the best color to keep from getting sunk by whales.


While the Stewart Yacht Services guys have been applying the epoxy, Dave has been putting the engine back together...bell housing on, the flywheel, pressure plate, transmission, and shaft coupling. He also worked on our starter, which has been a little cranky when trying to start the engine when it was hot.


Dave is also responsible for painting all the underwater bronze bits.


We have had Ignacio working on more varnishing, and he's now painting the 'trailboards'... the wooden (black) trim pieces on the bow, and our second spinnaker pole. (Note the Gator hat we brought back from the U.S. for him). We couldn't find any polyurethane paint at the local Ace Hardware, so we're using enamel. It should hold up for a couple of years.


And I have been working on finances... trying to get everything set so our financial lives will run pretty much on autopilot next year. We WILL be able to get internet in some places in French Polynesia, but it will be slow and expensive, and I don't want to have to spend all my shore time sitting at a computer.

I've also been provisioning... I've made 3 $250 trips to the grocery store so far. We generally spend $300-$400/month on groceries, and I'm trying to buy a year's worth of groceries!! Of course we won't be able to really carry a year's worth, so it's strategically buying and then carefully stowing.

Finally We Start Epoxying the Bottom

We have finally started putting the first coat of epoxy on the bottom today. It took George's guys 2 days to get the waterline right (to Dave's satisfaction), and then another day to finish prepping around the new waterline.


It was raining this morning when we woke up, and we were kinda bummed. But it was just the typical Ecuadorean mist, and it cleared up by mid-morning. They started laying the first coat of epoxy on around noon. It doesn't look like we'll get a second coat on today, but at least we've begun!

While the Stewart Yacht Services guys have been working on the bottom, we've been doing other things, including putting the new name on.



Notice our Paws!!

We used SpeedySigns.com to design, order, and ship our custom vinyl lettering. I don't know if it is the cheapest place on the internet, but their interactive lettering tool sure was easy to use, and it was all waiting for us when we arrived in the States. Putting on the vinyl lettering is a cinch, too.

We have finally finished unpacking all the stuff we brought back with us.

Dave has already mounted the new swim ladder with brackets we brought back. And he's started working on putting the engine back together.

And then there's the socializing--several new boats are in the marina, so we've been trading boat visits and discussing boat projects and Ecuadorean travel. Eight of us got together and shared $2 taxi rides over to Pizza Express in Salinas for two-fer pizzas and beer.

$460 Later... no Immigration Problems

With a lot of hustling and the help of a sympathetic 'External Relations' official, we managed to secure a 6-month Visa to stay in Ecuador.

It is unheard-of to get this done in one day. But when we explained what happened to the official--that we unexpectedly only had 5 days left on our visa, and 4 of those days were weekends or holidays, she went 'above and beyond' to get our application processed and signed all in the same day.

To make it happen, we changed our flight to Guayaquil from 11am to 8am (at a cost of $45 each), stashed our luggage at the airport in Guayaquil ($4/bag), and took a taxi straight from the airport to the government building. Fortunately, (a) We had a very clearly documented procedure that another cruiser did a couple of months before (See here) (b) We had our laptop with ALL of our documentation (c) There was a mall across the street with a passport photo place, copy centers, etc. (d) We had enough cash with us to cover the expense of the visas (e) We got a very nice, competent, and sympathetic official to help us out.

We had finished all the process... photos, copies, waiting in the queue at the MREE office, reviewing the paperwork with the official... by noon. She told us to come back at 4:30 and she *hoped* to have it completed for us (it requires an upper-level official to sign). We got back to their office at 4pm, and it was done.

The only thing we hadn't counted on was the 'registration' issue. We have to register the visa at another office. We managed to get there before they closed down, but the official told Dave that we needed some more stuff (some of the same stuff that we needed for the application). So we just waved it off--we have 30 days to register the visa.

The bus station was a mad house last night... it was Friday afternoon on a 4-day weekend. We did get tickets on the 5:30 'directo' bus to La Libertad/Salinas, though. And by 8pm were back on Soggy Paws.

In Quito, with Immigration problems

Well, we arrived OK in Quito, all our luggage intact, with no extra fees or problems with our 'boat stuff'.

But just when we thought we had the Ecuadorean immigration situation figured out, we got another surprise. When we went thru Immigration in Quito, they only gave us 5 days!!

This is the remainder of the original 90 days we got when we entered in February. They permit 90 days per year on tourist visas. Period. Even though when we left, our passports from the previous entry said we had about 60 days left. That was because we entered into Ecuador once when the computers were down and they gave us a new 90 days. But the Immigration lady would not budge, not even to give us a few extra days because of the holiday.

We think we know how to get a longer stay visa--lots of paperwork, running around, and some money. But the problem is that Ecuador celebrates Halloween with a vengence. Monday and Tuesday are holidays (and Tuesday is the end of our 5 days). So we are scrambling to get to Guayaquil this morning to try to get the renewal process started before our time runs out and we get fined $200 per passport, on top of the visa fee.

We changed our flight from Quito to Guayaquil to leave earlier, so we have more time today to scramble around. Too bad we're lugging 200lbs of luggage with us (still trying to figure out what to do with it while we run around town).

Just the fun of being sn international traveler on a slow trip around the world...

Headed back to Ecuador

Well, the fun is over and it's time to get back to work.

We fly from Miami today for Quito, Ecuador, and then fly to Guayaquil tomorrow. We should be back on Soggy Paws by tomorrow night.

We will be lugging our usual 4 big suitcases full of 'boat parts' and 'specialty food items' back with us. Not just ours, but small critical parts for 2-3 other boaters in Ecuador. (Hopefully we won't have trouble going through Customs).

Then the fun starts... we need to put 8+ coats of epoxy and bottom paint on. Click on our 'Maintenance' link to see all the bottom products we have stored up waiting for us.

In Atlanta for "Thanksgiving"

I woke up this morning wondering where I was.


We are in Brooks, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, at my sister's house for a family "Thanksgiving". We won't be in the U.S. for Thanksgiving this year, so we decided to have it a little early.

The Gray Family 'Nieces' Show Off Their Gifts

Tucker Heintz, the newest addition to the Gray Clan
Waiting for someone to come play with him
I lay in bed and counted up how many different beds we have slept in since we left Soggy Paws in early September... 23!!

3 Countries, 4 States, and 23 different places we have stayed. No wonder I am tired!! I would like to stay longer in the U.S. and relax (and socialize) a little more, but we are looking forward to getting back on board and getting ready to go into the Pacific.

As of yesterday, we are one week from leaving to go back to Ecuador. We rented a car yesterday in Daytona and dropped Dave's car off at my brother's house in Hawthorne, for storage until we come back next fall. We used the rental car to drive on up to Atlanta, and will use it for a week and drop it off with Budget in Miami.

On the rental car... I was amazed at the price difference in renting from different airports. I have always been aware of a minor price difference between different rental offices--where an airport might be charging an airport tax and a local office won't. But after checking rentals from Melbourne, Orlando, Daytona, and Gainesville airports, we found that renting from Daytona airport was MUCH cheaper. We got a nice brand new Pontiac that only had 92 miles on it! Nice for driving.

Eustis High Reunion, Class of 1964

We had an enjoyable weekend in Eustis, going to Dave's 45th high school reunion. It is the first he has attended, so we saw some classmates that he hasn't seen for 45 years. Carole Kelsey Bozeman, who was the main organizer, did a great job of pulling it off. I enjoyed meeting some of the people that Dave has been talking about, and reading the Eustis High newspaper for his graduating class.

Saturday night, we got to watch the #1 Gators beat the #4 LSU Tigers. We've been holding our breath over QB Tim Tebow's health. But in the end, everything turned out OK. Go Gators! It was nice to actually WATCH the game.. instead of 'watching' it on a virtual football field via and ESPN data feed.

And on Sunday, we actually played a full 18 holes of golf in the 94 degree heat, with a couple of Dave's Naval Acadamy buddies. We just about died out there in the heat.

Back in Florida for a few more weeks

I am way behind on my blog. I do plan to add some blog posts on our French Canal Boat trip. But if I wait til I have time for that before I post anything else, I'll be even further behind.

We flew back from Ramstein Air Force Base on Tuesday night on a C-17 cargo plane. It has a big cargo hold with bench seats along each side. We were the only cargo, though. So we were able to lay a blanket on the floor of the cargo hold and get some sleep. But it was cold and noisy--not as nice as the C-5 we flew over on, but still got us there.


While we were waiting in Ramstein, we saw a whole planeload of troops heading for Kuwait, presumably to be deployed in Iraq or Afganistan. Our hearts are with all those fine young people.

On Weds night we stopped off in Jacksonville to visit cruising friend Tom Service, who's anchored out off Julington Creek Marina.

Yesterday, we thankfully pulled into Satellite Beach.

This afternoon we set off again for Eustis, FL, where we will be attending Dave's high school reunion. He is excited about seeing old friends after so long.

On Sunday we have a golf game scheduled with a couple of Dave's Naval Academy friends.

Next week Dave has Jury Duty in Clearwater, but he's going to drop me off in Satellite Beach before he returns to Clearwater to do his civic duty. We are hoping his commitment is short!