It's been a fast 3 years since moving to Punta Gorda, FL. Although we haven't done much sailing, we have made some very nice improvements and upgrades to Santorini. We had her hauled out for bottom paint - this time applying Petit Trinidad 75. It had been 5 years since her last paint job with Trinidad 70 in CA - virtually NOTHING growing on the bottom in spite of rarely having it cleaned. Impressive!While she was un the shipyard we had a bow thruster installed - my, my why didn't we do it sooner! What a great thing to have on a yacht with as much windage as she has. Just before that Tom installed a 2 cubic foot freezer in the cold storage next to the fridge. Now when we catch those yummy fish we can freeze them for later! Another great upgrade was the refrigerator door Tom installed where the front panel used to be. Not only can we retrieve dropped beer cans, but the entire bottom of the fridge is now usable space where it was wasted space before. He used the teak panel he cut as the front of the door - looks fabulous!
Most recently we removed the tired, worn out canvas top. Tom constructed a new hard top cockpit cover. While we are in Mexico this month Fortune Canvas is making and installing the new enclosure. We raised up the front part so the whole cockpit cover is now high enough to stand under - no more hitting our heads on the way to the companionway! More solar panels to support the freezer will go on top.
In June, we closed on a vacation rental property located on our favorite Caribbean Island - Isla Mujeres. (See www.castellito.com) We flew down with our 2 cats for the month of August to escape the S Florida Summer heat and supervise the construction of a new pool. After or lease expires in May 2017, we'll be moving back on Santorini. We can't wait!