Back on Time & Tide

We are back on our floating home!!

While I was back in South Africa visiting my family, Gary and our friend, Wayne drove the 5th wheel down to Green Cove Spring, Florida where we kept the boat for the summer.

I spent some time with my ailing mother and visited my sisters and family.

Here are some pics I took while in South Africa

My sister Marlene and her husband live on a plot near Bethlehem and this donkey is a frequent visitor

Antelope

The three sisters, Joey, Marlene and me

Not an actual family member but rather one of the monkeys that
hang around my sister, Joey's neighborhood.

The City Hall in Pietermaritzburg,  my old home town

Vossie is my brother in law.  

Marlene and her daughter Yolandie

Joey and her daughters Renel and Karin

Only in South Africa

The view from Van Reenen's pass

Blou Wildebeeste - Blue Wildebeest 

Zebra

My mother has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers 

My last day in SA was spent with good friends and Andre took me around to show me the new Mandela
statue at the Union Buildings in Pretoria

Madiba

Andre and me

MEANWHILE..............................

Gary arrived at the boat finding it covered in mold. Never one to back down from a challenge he set about cleaning the whole boat and fixing things....Thank you to Wayne who helped!!!

Things that worked perfectly well when she was put away on the hard, now inexplicably needed fixing:
Both engines wouldn't start,the water-maker developed a leak, the macerater pump was seized , the on board water pump needed fixing, Gary's head flusher had to be replaced, bath drain pump stopped working, fuel drain for SB engine was just plain broken off.

Gary also installed a new solar panel, a new engine start battery, a new heat exchanger on the SB engine and new new zincs throughout.

All of this he did in two weeks. The man is a machine!!

So, as we are getting ready to head out tomorrow, I must say both of us are a little nervous. Our confidence in the boat is a little shaky, to say the least. Last year we had so many issues and even though we have tested and retested everything, it will probably be a while before I will relax completely not always expecting that unforeseen thing to happen that will throw a wrench into the works.

But for now, I am just going to trust that things are ok and will be ok.

Sunset at Green Cove 

Ready Set.....

May I just end by saying thank you to all of you who read our blog and follow our little life's adventure. I am constantly surprised by how many of you there are and how many of you I have not even met yet. Thank you for reading.

....................to be continued