Jungle Has Landed

A little boat maintenance before I head home. The teak has been sanded down and prepped for varnishing.

A little teak oil will protect the wood until I get to that big varnish job.

It's Christmas Eve and Jungle will be put up on land, or in sailing parlance, on-the-hard. This is my dock neighbor, Cameron Mitchell. Cam and I helped each other all week as I prepared to come out of the water and he went in - lots to do. Cameron was a great help for me - also a great guy to hang with. We now have Jungle in position to be hauled out.

"Ladies and gentleman, I'll be your captain today." This fine gentleman operates the 100 ton travel lift that will navigate Jungle to her land based parking spot.

The Nanny Cay yard crew get Jungle into position. Watching them in action confirmed they were a competent team.

Cameron just splashed down a few days ago with his boat and is spending his holidays with family in the BVI's. He has high regards for the marina - good to hear.

Jungle is up and out. All and all a pretty clean bottom. Our friend Scotty from Australia gave Jungle a good cleaning in the Canary Islands.

Jungle is in position for a full bottom power washing. Jungle weighed in at 28 tons (56000 lbs) on the travel lift. Big girl!

Jungle has front row parking, with an ocean front view. We are looking east towards Salt Island and Dead Chest Island. Man, I dig those 'ole pirate sounding islands!

Looking aft, what have we here? That catamaran in the middle is missing her hull bottom - on both hulls! We're going to check this out.

Wow! Turns out this boat was 3 days old and on her maiden voyage, when the owner went down below "just for a minute" before she slammed on to the reef. That's Simon Lucas from Aukland, New Zealand. Simon was crewing for another boat that just arrived from Newport, RI. Simon will keep an eye on Jungle while I head back to SoCal for the holidays. Hopefully, Simon will be able to join us for our trip through the Panama Canal.

For now we check the cat out. The lesson, as always, is to keep a watch. Another good lesson is dont hit the rocks. Especially around land. Another good lesson is don't hit the rocks. A three day old boat - what a shame.

I believe Knotty Dreams sailing days may be over.

We'll check out Jungle's situation. Looking good.

Bottom looks good. I will be adding another coat of antifouling paint before plashing down in late January. I checked the shaft and propeller for any movement after the replacement of the cutlass bearing in April (Cyprus). Solid, checks out fine.

We're in good shape here ...

... and you cannot beat the view - from the parking lot, no less.

Lovely day to be sailing. The temps re around 85 F, 30 C with strong breezes.

Simon and I have time for at least one beer.

One last peek from the beach bar, so I have this memory as I head home tomorrow - Christmas Day. Back to reality. I can't wait to see Jenée, Garrett and Katie (love fluff).

Bam!! How do you like this reality? Bet it will take a while to erase this one out of your memory. "Hey, What does this doo-hickey do, is this the garbage disposal?" Happy New Year everyone.