Valentina is on the hard at La Ceiba Shipyard.  We work on her during the day and have a beautiful home to return to at night.

We went on our walk this evening around the resort and nearby villages.  The resort is such a beautiful place that we sure have enjoyed.  The villages are filled with friendly people working the fields, cattle, and whatever they can do.

In the early evenings, they spray for mosquitoes.   It is a young man, riding on a bicycle, fogging as he pedals along.  The fogging machine is a deep, distinct sound that you can hear far away.  It is so intense, the fog fills the air and drifts in the wind.  

We filled up 3 of our 5 gallon diesel cans with diesel and hauled up the ladder of Valentina and poured into our tank.  Finally, it is full after several trips.  Now, we just need to fill our jerry cans for the deck and we will be done with that.

Then, we started scraping the old, black anti-fouling paint off  the bottom.  We made huge progress today, as we scraped for at least 6 hours.  Some of it comes off fairly easy, but some of it....is almost impossible.   It is just a mess with safety glasses, masks, sweat bands....and trying to scrape with a 3" scraper.   We may have to sand some of it, but prefer to scrape it all off.

Our bodies are tired and sore....but, that is a good feeling.

It's a beautiful mermaid!

We worked on our companionway steps and cover and steps to our engine today.  The engine doghouse has grooves in them, on the top, that is very hard to keep clean.  So, we decided to fill the grooves with West System epoxy, and varnish over them, smooth.  Much easier to keep clean.

Well, it was a job trying to get the grooves level, but, finally we did it, after much re-applying, sanding, and cleaning.  It is ready for some varnish now.

So, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck Honduras at a depth of 24 km (14.9 miles), the quake hit at 10:16:42 a.m.  The epicenter was 36 km (22 miles) Northeast of Siguatepeque, Comayagua, Honduras.  On the map, it looks like the epicenter was less than 100 miles from La Ceiba.

This afternoon, Enrique and Barb stopped by to visit.   I prepared nachos for us as we visited and shared life stories.  He is originally from Guanaja, Honduras and they now live in Arizona.

We had a good work-day.  Got a lot done.

I looked everywhere this morning before we left...for my camera.  Could not find it anywhere.  Looked in my purse, in the car, and thought it 'must' be on Valentina.  No....no where.

After we got back to the house, I looked all over again.  It was in the drawer where I keep the cord for downloading pictures.  So thankful to find it.  I cannot live without a camera....so, pictures tomorrow.

We waited....and, waited....and, waited.  Manaña did not really mean today, I guess.  Maybe, tomorrow?  We will see.

While we were there waiting, Sonny repaired a spot in our anchor locker with epoxy and changed the fuel filters.  I sanded on the sole (floor), to prepare for epoxy and varnish.

We were invited to Barb and Enrique's for fish soup.  I have to brag about how delicious it was!  The soup was a creamy base with coconut milk.  Very, very good.

Happy 6th Birthday to our Grand-daughter

Riley Kay in Austin, Texas

Manaña is Here!  We drove to Valentina early this morning, and...Bodden, the painter showed up.  We were very concerned, he arrived with a compressor and spray gun.  To paint the name on Valentina's hull?  I am not so sure about that.  It has only been hand painted in the past.  So, we grabbed our chairs and sat and observed the artist at work.

First, he put tape over all of the area, then, he cut out the shadow of the letters.  After spraying primer paint, he painted gold for the shadow.  When that dried, he applied more tape, and cut out the Valentina lettering.  Then, priming that, he sprayed dark green paint.  Then, we sprayed a clear finish.  For both sides, it took him six hours.  It cost $80 and he did an excellent job.

Before:

Painted 7 years ago

During:

After:

While he was working on the name, I went down below Valentina and started sanding on the sole (floor).  What the heck am I doing?  This is a crazy job!  Living aboard for six years has taken its toll on our floor.  So much has been dropped on it and the varnish is fading, so, while we are not aboard, it is time to do the nasty job.  So, I am.

I am not smiling though...but, 'when it is done'.....it will be so much better.

Another good work day...

In the shipyard, there are cows, sheep and a horse grazing all around.  We saw these new babies.....

I am thankful....I need to turn the settee and cockpit tables over to varnish the other side, but I am going to wait a few days so this side dries good.

And, it rained....all day.                 

So, we watched movies....The Help and Water for Elephants.  We had read the books and were excited to see the actual movies.  Both are excellent.

Raymond, a young man working at the La Ceiba Shipyard, is helping us scrape the bottom of Valentina.  He is a very hard worker and we have enjoyed being with him.  He is the one who will be completing our bottom job, as time gets closer for us to splash.

Sonny helped Raymond scrape on the bottom.  We are paying the shipyard to do it, but Sonny cannot just sit.  So, he helped Raymond.  They almost finished.  Raymond will just have about a half day tomorrow, and he will be through scraping the bottom.

I was down below, sanding, cleaning, taping, and then putting on three coats of West System Epoxy/Varnish on the sole.   With this epoxy, you can put on three coats in one day.  So I was determined to get all three coats on today.

We were so tired, after we got home, we ate something and crashed in bed.   Our bodies are aching and miserable.

This big guy came around the corner, and I thought he wanted me to pet him.  But, he kept following me and Sonny said, "Kay, be careful....he is going to butt you".  So, I got away.....

We went back to work on Valentina today.  We need to let the sole dry good, so I sanded the fiddles in the galley and put epoxy on them.  They will be ready to varnish when we finish the sole.

I went to the dermatologist while he was waiting for his procedure.    I have a spot on my nose checked that I have been watching, but he said, all is well.    I have some cream to put on it, and it will be OK.  We are in the sun, too much.

Good reports.....

We are trying to wrap up some of the projects we have going.  Sonny is working on our bottom door of our refrigerator and I am putting 3 coats of varnish on our cockpit table, settee table, and the two screen hatches for our companionway.

A good day.

We brought home the removable boards in the floor and will varnish them.

Will we ever get through?  What on earth have we started?

We went with Barb and Enrique up to the new chaumpa at the resort to watch the sunset.  It was a nice evening.

This morning, we painted some enamel on the bottom side of our floor boards, then went to the shipyard to see our newly varnished floor.

John and Susie, our friends on M/V Cabaret, are at the shipyard for a few weeks.  So, we invited them out to spend the day with us at the house and resort.  I think they really enjoyed it.  It is so good to get away from boat work, sometimes.

We also checked on the price of some new batteries.  Ouch!

Sights on our way to town.

  Before our rugs, for protection.

We grilled hamburgers for lunch, then went to the beach to celebrate at sunset.  We are really through!  Now we can concentrate on some other projects to splash Valentina.

 

We are so thankful that project is over.   Our toast was, "May we never have to do it again".

Another very good day.  Today we worked around the house and I prepared and filed our income taxes.  Another job marked off our list.  It is so much easier now than when Sonny has his plumbing business.   There 'are' some advantages to not making any money.

Today they said, "Yes, we have 10 6-volt golf cart batteries for you".  They went back into a little room and started bringing out an assortment of battery styles, all with different dates of production.  We told them that would not work.  We need 10 of the same style, with the same timeframe of production, not  1 1/2 years ago.

They said, "We do not have them here, but we can have them sent from San Pedro Sula on Tuesday.  But, you have to pay for them first".  Again, we declined.  We definitely want to see them first before we pay for them.

We may have to wait for new batteries.

 

Beautiful flowers in our back yard

 

Paul and Linda ask their guest to find a special rock from the river and put your name and date you visited on it to add to their memory rock garden in their beautiful back yard.  We drove up the river today and found our 'special' Valentina rock.

So, I started at the front, in the v-berth, our bedroom.  I cleaned the ceiling, walls, and took everything out of the drawers, shelves, and cabinets.  I cleaned it, and started putting everything back.  One room...all day.  Whew....

We carry medicines on board for every imaginable problem, just in case you need them when you are away from a doctor.  And, thankfully, we have not needed or used them, so we have a lot of outdated meds to be tossed, some are six years old.

Happy 10th Birthday to our Grandson.....Kawika

Today marks the end of the month long regime of strong antibiotics for Sonny.  We went at 7 a.m. this morning to re-test his PSA.  Then, we went to work on Valentina a few hours; I cleaned a hanging locker and drawers while Sonny worked on getting our dinghy ready to go. 

Then we returned to Medi-Centro for our blood work results at 2 p.m.  Yes, it is that quick here.  Same day service.  We have been so grateful for the medical services here.

We are so very estatic that his PSA was dramatically lowered, due to the antibiotics (which reflects an infection rather than cancer).  We will continue to be diligent to have it checked and take whatever precautions are needed.

So very thankful.