We have now taken over the boat

The big day has finally come. This week we have taken over Carpe Diem. Laura, Nanna, June and I went down to La Manga, where the boat is. Tonny came later that day, so he could help getting the engine ready. Freja came down later that week.

We have cleaned, fixed, thrown away, moved in, laughed, eaten and slept. An we enjoyed the weather, having breakfast in T-shirt and shorts – very nice indeed.

A difference to Spain is, that you can’t easily find a chandlery with all items in stock, so you can hold them in your hands and take with you what you need. A chandlery is typically a very small shop, and then you order what you need from a catalogue, and your items will then be delivered to the shop the day after or maybe the day after that. More planning is required this way. The first day, Tonny and I drove around in the area to find a new oven for the boat, exchange gas bottle, etc. ending up ordering a new oven from the ship yard, and exchanging gas bottle in a combined hardware store and chandlery a few kilometers away.

The plan was to work on the engine the first couple of days, and then sail the boat the 12 nautical miles up to Torrevieja, where it will be lifted for hard standing at the yard. It was very windy the days up to departure, especially during then night, and the wind was directly on the starboard side of the boat. At 4am the bow mooring chain (like an anchor chain attached to a big block of concrete at the bottom of the harbour) suddenly broke. Good thing Tonny was there, because pulling a more than 7 tons boat by hand up against heavy wind is really difficult. You should probably have been there to understand it, but it took us an hour of hard work to get Carpe Diem back on the right spot. Luckily she only had a few scratches on areas we are going to repair anyways, and the neighbor boat did not get any damage. Next day we talked to the harbour office, which sent a couple of men to secure our mooring.

With that experience we were ready to leave. Also because we were in a part of the harbour used by the ship yard, and which had no facilities at all. The wind decreased during the next day, and Wednesday morning it was time to go. We were going to sail by motor the 4 hours from La Manga to Torrevieja.

Even though the wind were rather calm, the sea state was not. It was great finally to sail Carpe Diem. Compass and GPS was broken, but we managed with a handheld compass and the GPS for the car to find the right harbour.

The trip to Torrevieja went well, and Freja could now leave home and join us.

Unfortunately the shaft seal was leaking after the trip, so water was slowly running into the boat, a situation that is not good and can’t last. I fixed the automatic bilge pump, which will then pump out the water when it reaches a certain level in the bilge. This way we don’t have to be at the boat all the time, but leaving a leaking boat does not feel secure.

We travelled home Friday and has left the boat for now. Unfortunately she is still in the water as she can’t be lifted until tomorrow Monday, or maybe not until Tuesday. It is a bit uncomfortable with the leakage, but the broker we bought the boat through will keep an eye on her.

We are looking so much forward to get back to the boat again.

 

Update Tuesday: The boat has now been lifted and is ashore in the yard.