Starboard Side Finished and Another Six Months

This morning I removed the masking tape and did some touch up on the starboard side of the cabin.  In the afternoon I cleared the port side of the cabin.  This included the removal of the book case. I had to drop the port leaf of the cabin table which forced me to raise the starboard leaf which because of all of the gear on the starboard bunk has cut off my access to the forward part of the boat.

The accompanying photo shows the result around the seating area.  Note that I did no work beyond the oval opening to the wet weather locker and beyond.  I find time to do this section before leaving Fremantle and it is in remarkably good shape.

During my lunch break I visited the office to discuss my slip rent status.  The outcome was that I paid for six more months taking me to 21 Feb 2011.  I have accepted the likelihood that I'll keep Pachuca continuously at the marina until my departure for the South in April 2011.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy living at anchor and I would certainly like to avoid  paying the slip rental money.  However, I want to keep the boat at the marina through the hurricane season which ends in November; and besides, I've having a very productive time with sprucing up the boat.  I expect to be away from early December to early January visiting Arnold and Sandra in the Seattle area for Christmas, which means that the boat must be left in the marina for security reasons.  Then we expect Brenda to arrive in mid January and we expect to be away touring during much of her three-month visit, which brings up the boat security issue again. 

There were two advantages to paying for six more months rental up front: a 5% discount and the fact that the humble Aussie dollar is flying high these days, close to parity with the Gringo dollar.  I was charged 37,393.65 pesos which at today's exchange rate translated to $3072 AUD, or $512 AUD per month.  Happily, this is largely offset by the $450 AUD per month that I get for renting out my pen in Fremantle.